#so like move quickly through the first few rooms and the dumb shit will all be dumb but you won't be as mad about it

[unopenablebox]

good things from today:

saw an osprey!!! it was circling and occasionally splashed down in a pond to try to grab a fish. it did not succeed while i was watching but i’m rooting for it

it’s been a while but i can still turn a sock heel from memory, including on the bus

went to a restaurant w my parents that i’ve wanted to try but can’t go to with 🌸 bc no vegan options and had an extraordinarily nice piece of fish and quite a lot of moules frites

very bravely did not buy a very stupid clock from an art museum gift shop, because while it was hilarious i did not have a plan to put it anywhere and can get the same thing custom made by my labmate for less if i were for some reason really dedicated to the idea

[castiwls]

i think I'll miss you forever - a.d

Paring; art x ex!reader

Requested; no

Synopsis; leaving always hurts worse the second time around

Warnings; none

Notes;this is long and sad :( reqs and inbox are open !

Masterlist

Taking another sip you felt the alcohol burn slightly as you swallowed. After the day you had you welcomed the burn, it took your mind off the absolute shit show that was your job. 

Placing your chin onto your palm you continued to mindlessly scroll through another report you’d been sent, mentally making a list of things you’d need to change in the morning. Reaching for your drink you moved your wrist in a small circle, watching as the liquid sloshed around in the glass. 

Taking another sip you placed the glass down. Going back to the report you went back to reading a paragraph you were pretty sure you’d already read. A sigh tumbled from your lips as you scrolled further down - mentally noting more things to change.

The sound of your name being called pulled you from the report. Sitting up straighter your eyes glanced round the relatively empty bar for a moment before you felt your breath stop. 

Your heart seemed to speed up slightly as you noticed the familiar figure only a few feet away. He smiled brightly, his eyes sparkling almost as he noticed your attention on him. 

“Art?” You gasped standing from your chair. He quickly strode across the room, his smile only seeming to widen as he got closer. When he’d first noticed you he could hardly believe it.  

It had been years since he’d last saw you, yet his heart seemed to beat just as fast as it did the day that he’d met you. He’d felt like a teenager again, trying to hype himself up to talk to a cute girl yet you were so much more than that. 

You were so much more to him still, and seeing you again after all those years only made those feelings he’d pushed down come crashing down on him.

“Hey.” His arms quickly engulfed you the moment he was close enough. A small noise of surprise left your lips before you reciprocated the hug. Art felt a small sigh of relief leave his lips as his body relaxed into your hold.

His chin rested on your head as he pulled you slightly closer, almost as if he was unwilling to let go. After a moment you loosened your hold, stepping back slightly.

You didn’t miss the way he kept one of his hands on your waist as he watched you for a moment. “I…I didn’t believe it was you.” He laughed his thumb slowly rubbing your hip. 

You raised an eyebrow crossing your arms over your chest. “Are you saying I’ve changed?” You teased watching as his eyes widened slightly and he shook his head. “No..No I uh,” He rubbed his free hand across his neck. “You don’t look a day older.” 

He was telling the truth. You looked exactly the same as you did when he’d last seen you. 

You flushed slightly letting out a quiet laugh. “Thanks. You…you look good too.” You both grew quiet for a moment, the quiet wasn't an awkward one though it was something comfortable. Something so simple and normal it almost felt as if barely a day had passed since you’d last seen each other.  

“Oh, I uh…I heard about your engagement. Congratulations.” You smiled feeling his grip on your waist tighten for a moment. 

When you’d first heard of Art’s engagement part of you had been angry. You knew realistically it was dumb, you and him had broken up a year after college meaning you no longer held any claim over him. But that didn’t stop the feeling of jealousy that had ran through you at the news.

Tashi had been one of your best friends during college and finding out that she of all people was engaged to your ex had left you spiralling - your bedroom wall still had the evidence of your anger.

Art nodded his smile fading slightly as his gaze fell to his shoes for a moment. “Thanks.” You frowned slightly as his demeanour seemed to fall for a moment before he plastered a grin back on his face.

He didn’t know why hearing you mention his engagement stung so much. He was happy truly yet hearing you congratulate him only left a bad taste in his mouth.  “What about you.” He quickly diverted the conversation watching you with an expectant look. “Anyone in your life?”

“Oh.” you gasped before holding up your left hand. “Married actually. 4 months next week.” You smiled watching as he started at your rings for a moment. “Wow.” Art felt his heart drop slightly as his breathing picked up ever so slightly.

You were married.

“Con…congratulations” He pulled you into another hug, this time though to hide the pained expression on his face. When he’d first seen you part of him hoped that maybe by some miracle you were still single but he knew it was naive.

Of course, you’d be married, who wouldn’t want someone like you? He pulled back after a moment. “I’m happy for you. Really.” You nodded feeling his thumb continue to rub circles on your waist.

For a moment you felt yourself get lost in his eyes. Your heartbeat sped up slightly as he stared down at you his lips parted slightly. His grip tightened on your waist subtly causing you to shuffle slightly closer.

‘It should have been him’ The thought continued to circle through his mind the longer he stood there. It had been so long since he’d felt any sense of jealousy that he’d almost forgotten what it felt like.

Yet that little green monster seemed to have returned. Taking a quiet breath he pushed the feelings down. He had the life he’d always dreamed off. He was happy.

“It’s um…it’s late i should probably head up.” Your voice pulled him from his head. Art nodded. “Oh yea…i guess i should to.” He begrudgingly released his grip on your waist watching as you turned around to gather your things.

His mind was going a mile a minute as he realised you were slipping away again. For a few moments he’d been able to pretend that you were still his, but then reality came crashing down and he realised that you hadn’t been his for a long time.

"If I had asked, would you have stayed?" The words made you pause. Turning to face him, your eyes widened slightly as you replayed his words in your head. “What?” You felt your lips part slightly as his eyes found yours.

“If I’d have asked you to marry me. Would you have stayed? He repeated. He almost looked like a kicked puppy as he waited for your response, his eyes pledging with you to say something.

You’d have said yes a million times over. Hell, you’d say yes right now if he asked. But you knew it was impossible, your time had passed.

“Art.” You whispered moving to cup his cheek. His hand came up to cover yours as he leaned into the touch - his eyes closing.

You swallowed letting out a shaky breath. “But you never did.” 

Your words were quiet but they cut through him like a knife as he opened his eyes, a small frown pulling at his lips. Dropping your hand you reached for your bag. “So I guess we never know.” You sent him a small smile before mumbling goodnight as you passed him.

As you walked away tears began to sting at your eyes, walking away the first time had been hard yet doing it again felt almost impossible. Reaching the entrance to the lobby you paused, turning back. 

Art stood still watching you. His arms ached to reach out, to make you stay but he knew it was wrong. His eyes were glassy with unleashed tears as you stared at him from across the room. 

His hands shook slightly as he held your gaze. Before you could stop yourself your feet were moving on their own accord. Art reached out, his hand grabbing your wrist once you were close enough. 

You fell back into his arms naturally, your hand settling on the nape of his neck. You felt him tuck his face into the crook of your neck, a shaky breath escaping him. “I love you.” He mumbled as he pulled back.

“I love you too.” You watched as a tear slipped down his cheek. Leaning up you pressed a kiss to his cheek, your lips lingering for a moment before you pulled back.

Art’s grip on your wrist loosened slightly as you stepped back.

 “Goodbye Art.” 

[ma1dita]

its 2am and im delirious im so sorry but

jealous! (and maybe clingy!)luke x apollo!reader when he sees the same couple of campers constantly coming to you for medical attention over small scratches or feigned illnesses just to get your attention..and reader is just so kind to everyone they’d never refuse to treat anybody no matter how minor the injury, but it drives luke a little mad teehee 🤭

🐥 also happy (late) birthday jo!!

🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥

luke castellan x gn!apollo!reader

a/n: i will never get tired of bf!luke.

wc: 947

“Be with you in a second, sweet boy!”

Your hands were fiddling with gauze as you brush past Luke sitting on the only empty bed left in the infirmary. And you weren’t even talking to him! Your words were directed to his half-sibling and with all the others waiting for you, it was obvious that you weren’t leaving your shift anytime soon despite his plans for your date night.

“Doc, what about me? I feel sick too,” he mutters into your neck, big hands pulling at your waist and playing with the smock tied around your frame.

“What’s the matter, my love?” You coo, brushing back his mop of hair and looking into his honey sweet eyes. He grins and it’s a bit boyish and quite sinister, all Luke with a definite trick up his sleeve. 

“My heart hurts…. because I pulled a few strings to have dinner with you at the lake and we’re not there right now,” he sighs, hot breath tickling your earlobe, “And I need you to fix me up too.” Cheeky asshole.

You bite your lip and slowly pull yourself away from his embrace, not without kissing the corner of his mouth before the fluttery feeling is weighed down by the reminder of your responsibilities at the sound of a scream from across the infirmary.

The room was filled with campers of all ages vying for your attention and waiting for your gentle hands to tend to everything from a scraped knee to a rising fever (though if you ask Luke, he’s so sure he saw Bradley from cabin 9 standing over the forge in the armory trying to break a sweat earlier).

It was sickening. Someone ought to tell these campers to get in line. Connor Stoll almost skips–excuse me, limps, (now that you’re watching him again) towards Luke with a shit-eating grin at his moody disposition at the fact that he has to fight for your attention.

“Beat it, loser.”

“Baby! Don’t be mean or I’ll ask you to leave. Get up, Connie needs to get his knee wrapped,” you say with a furrow in your brow. Your eyes dart around the room wondering where the rest of your siblings have gone to help you heal these campers, but unlike you, they’ve already clocked out for the day. It’s a wonder how many kids at Camp Half-Blood get brutalized, maimed, or both on the daily, but it’s all in a day’s work of being a child of Apollo.

“Yeah, move it bighead!”

Luke grumbles, rising to his feet and shoving Connor a bit harder than what’s brotherly, so much so that the preteen falls face first into the cot. (Luke thought it was dumb that the kid was acting like a baby since the idiot scraped his knee jumping off the roof of the dining pavilion because Travis and Chris dared him to.)

“OWWW!” he groans, and before you can react, Bradley’s asking for another cold towel and little Lila from cabin 4 starts crying about her sun poisoning from being out in the strawberry field—your shaking hands and wide eyes let Luke know you’re at your limit so he ushers you behind a curtain for examinations.

“Honestly, you’re overworked babe. Take a break,” he says sternly, but softens as you look up at him with a pout and a whole lot of love. He smooths your hair down and hands you a glass of water.

“Just need to see the rest of the patients for the day and send them on their way. I don’t want anyone to be hurt,” you mumble through sips, leaning against the wall and shutting your eyes. To Luke, it sounded like the quicker you get through this the more time he spends with you— and so he moves so quickly that you barely process what he’s doing until you hear various complaints from campers (who are annoyed that their new nurse isn’t as pretty as you and dons a fierce glare and curls that hang over his forehead like a dark cloud).

Nurse Luke models after what he’s seen you do here countless times, but in a way that’s very much his own. He gives out ambrosia and nectar, cleans up booboos where needed, tells Bradley to fuck off and take a cold shower, tapes Connor’s mouth shut, and awkwardly jokes to a kid from cabin 6 that he probably shouldn’t be the one doing stitches or he’ll get a scar that looks like the one running down his cheek. They agree to wait until later, holding bloody gauze to their chin.

By the time you’ve calmed yourself down, you pull back the curtain to see an eerily quiet infirmary (and you’re not sure if they’ve been threatened into silence) but everyone is bandaged, fed and watered—to the best of Luke’s ability. It brings up a sunny smile on your face that reminds him of the first rays of morning light which is a view he never gets tired of, and you finally throw in the towel when Leo and little Will come in for the evening shift. 

A resounding sigh is heard from the infirmary’s patients as you leave with your boyfriend, to which you don’t think much of as you look at Luke like he’s the answer to all of your problems. He kisses you in the doorway like its a cure, whispering sweet nothings and promises of a nice dinner at the lake even if it’s pitch black outside now.

It also serves to those damn kids as a reminder that he’s the one who gets to fuss over you and though he doesn’t like starting fights, boy, does he love ending them, in his own little way.

[marlsswrites]

June 25th <3

Horoscope - @jegulus-microfic - words: 1400

“Where are you two off to?” Barty spoke as he ran up behind Regulus and Pandora in the tall, stone walls of Hogwarts.

“Divination.” Pandora replies distractedly, much more interested in braiding a small piece of blonde hair in front of her forehead, causing her to go slightly cross eyed.

“We have charms don’t we?” Barty looked around the halls, confused, before looking at Regulus for an answer.

Regulus ran a hand through his hair and looked towards Barty. “Me and Dora got moved up, we’re in seventh year Divination.”

“Oh! Okay.” Barty replied, instantly zoning out of the conversation when he saw a rather grumpy looking Evan walking past. “Nerds.” He snorted and tan towards Evan. “Evie!”

“Are we sure they aren’t dating?” Regulus huffed out with a smirk. “I called Evan ‘Evie’ once as a joke and he fucking hexed me.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Pandora matched his smirk with a grin. “Enough of them, let’s go embarrass some dumb seventh years with my seer privileges.” She winked.

Regulus rolled his eyes and brushed a loose curl away from his face. “Are we actually nerds, though?”

“You are, I’m just good at divination and shit at everything else.” She tapped her head to prove a point as they walked into the classroom, surprisingly, being some of the last ones there.

Regulus felt multiple pairs of eyes attach to him as he walked into the room, trying to avoid eye contact, he quickly stepped past the teacher to get to a table in the back.

“Not so fast!” The professor spoke as she stepped in front of a rather embarrassed looking Regulus, and an excited looking Pandora. “Everyone, these are some of our new sixth year students, the smartest of their year!”

He quite literally wanted to smash his head into a wall. “Thank you.” He muttered as he sat down at an empty table, Pandora next to him as she tied her platinum blonde hair in a bun with a multicoloured scrunchie, Regulus is pretty sure she sewed that one herself.

A few moments later, just as the professor started to speak, a flustered James Potter ran into the classroom. He apologised swiftly to the scowling professor and made a beeline for Regulus’ table as soon as he spotted him.

“Hi Reggie.” He whispered, Regulus would correct him like he does most people, but he quite likes it to be honest, especially when it’s James whispering in his ear.

“Potter.” How he managed to get that out with a smooth voice was a mystery.

“What did I miss?” James asked in a hushed tone.

Pandora turns to them, eyeing them suspiciously before shrugging and leaning over, propping her head on her hand. “Professor Wells told us that her horoscope predicts that Regulus has a secret.” She spoke in a hushed, overdramatic voice.

“Old nutter.” The Slytherin boy muttered.

“Do you now Reggie?” James asked with a dramatic gasp.

“Shut up and listen.” Regulus hissed.

Regulus saw a suspicious grin start to appear on the Potter boys lips as he spoke. “Ma-“ He stomped on James’ foot, receiving a yelp as James decided to finally pay attention to the class.

His brother and Lupin weren’t even at class today, not sure why, the Lupin kid seems to always be in the hospital wing for one thing or another and Regulus knew for a fact the he and Sirius were attached at the hip. Regulus wasn’t sure about Pettigrew, probably doesn’t take the class.

-

“What is that?” Regulus held the cup close to his face, trying to decipher what shapes the tea leaves made up. He held it to the side, hoping Pandora could tell.

Pandora hummed, a puzzled look appearing on her face. She grabbed her book, flicking through until she could find the recognisable shapes.

“That one…” She pointed at the first shape in the cup. “It’s a stag I think?” She flicked the page and looked at the next shape. “This book is not helpful at all!” She groaned and slammed the book on the table.

Now, James peered over his shoulder to take a look at the cup. “It is a stag!” He beamed and looked at Regulus, who rolled his eyes, yet again, and looked back at the cup. “That one there looks like a heart.” The brunette pointed his finger to the cup.

And he was right, anyone could tell that it was a love heart. But would Regulus admit that? No way.

“No it doesn’t.” He scoffed.

“Yes it does.” Pandora and James chimed in at the same time.

Regulus pointed at James, ignoring it when the Gryffindor licked his lips and grinned that stupid, gorgeous smile of his. “This- this is none of your business.” He turned to point at Pandora. “And no it does not.

“Yes is does!” She sang, in a slightly too loud voice, causing multiple people in the classroom to turn and look at them

“No it-“ He sighed. “I’m not winning this am I?”

Pandora’s grin widened. “Nope.”

-

Regulus left the class before Pandora as she spoke with the Professor about crystals, he didn’t even pretend to understand that nonsense, it’s a mystery how he ended up in higher Divination.

He turned to corner into an empty looking hallway, their class had finished early so not many students crowded the halls yet, which was nice.

Sitting down in a small alcove, he folded in on himself, tucking his legs to his chest and letting his head fall back onto the wall with a soft thud.

He heard footsteps nearby, but he passed it off as a student or teacher passing by. His gaze was glued on the roof, he traced the patterns in the stone with his eyes.

Only moments later, he felt a hand ruffle his hair, a hand he would recognise the feel of from anywhere.

“James.” He sighed with a laugh, the corner of his mouth tipping up into a smile.

Watching carefully, he saw James sit on the other side of the alcove. The older boy lifted Regulus’ legs up ever so softly, go place them on top of his own.

Regulus felt a soft flutter in his stomach as those honey brown eyes locked with his stormy grey ones. James’ tan, golden skin shone in the sunlight. It was perfect the way the sun hit him, just like a spotlight, like he deserved to be in.

But no, Regulus didn’t want to share James’ beauty with the rest of the world, that was his. His to keep, to touch, to cherish, to love.

“There’s no one here right?” James said in a low voice as he leant over to Regulus, their noses practically touching.

“No, but Pandora is very suspicious, you couldn’t be worse at hiding this.”

“It’s not my fault, I need you.” James sulked.

Shaking his head fondly, Regulus leant in to connect their lips, probably too eagerly, but he couldn’t care any less right now when James was smiling again his lips.

“Regulussss.” He sang in a sweet voice, pulling away but only slightly. “A heart and a stag? I’m flattered.” He spoke as he brushed a loose dark hair away from Regulus’ flushed face.

“Those things are fake.” He grumbled under his breath.

“Are they now?” He fake pouted, Regulus hoped it was fake anyway, he hated upsetting James. “So you don’t love me.”

Regulus looked James in the eye, his big wide doe eyes shone with pure adoration and love.

“Fuck off.” He said through a smile, there was no hiding the amount of feelings he had for this boy, he was just wonderful, so loving, so kind, so gorgeous. Regulus was sure James was crafted just for him, so they could love each other so much it hurt.

“You love me.” The Gryffindor teased.

“Sadly I do love you, what was I thinking?”

“That I’m super hot and a good kisser?” James asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

Regulus nodded slowly and pulled James in again, the kiss was deeper, slightly rougher, yet still it was perfect. More than perfect.

James traced Regulus’ bottom lip with his tongue, sending shivers down his spine and having his heartbeat speed up shockingly fast. No matter how many times James does that, Regulus thinks his reaction will always be the same.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Regulus mumbled against his boyfriend’s lips.

[evera-era]

heal me.

there’s a new medic in town, and ellie williams is about to find out who she is.

ellie williams x fem!reader, pt 2 here

warnings: fluff, mention of cuts/wounds, medical setting, suggestive themes. wc 1.3k

a/n: first time writing an ellie fic! if this does well i might post a second + third part <3

Ellie hated anything to do with doctors. She could take care of herself perfectly fine, she swears. But Dina witnessed her earning a nasty gash during a patrol, and wouldn’t shut up about it unless she got it checked out.

Word was that there was a new medic in town. Ellie’s pretty sure she’s seen you around Jackson. Walking around in those dumb white clothes, tending to everyone who needed you.

You’ve seen her too. Sneaking glances anytime you could. I mean, Ellie was pretty, and it was no big deal, right?

That is, until a flash of auburn hair ducks into the med clinic, and you nearly jump out of your skin.

Ellie clears her throat. “Uh… you guys are pretty much done for the night, right?”

She’s hoping you would say yes so she could just go back home and rest. Watch a movie, maybe. Have everyone fuck off and leave her alone.

You nod, clicking your pen, when you notice her clutching her side. “But I’ve got time for one more.”

You were on call, anyway, so your shift was never really over.

Fuck, she thinks. Ellie has always had trouble asking for help. She could take care of herself just fine. It didn’t help that you were so nice — nauseatingly so — but she figures that’s why you’re the town medic and she’s not.

“Follow me,” You add, motioning her over to the first room on the left. Even though meds were hard to come by, bandages were plentiful, and you weren’t gonna pass up the opportunity to tend to your crush.

Totally innocent crush.

“So, what was it?” You ask, eyes scanning over the girl as she takes a place on the edge of the hospital bed.

“Some fuckers we ran into, lone group. Nothing too serious... think they were looking to steal shit.” Ellie mutters. “But one took a swing at me and I fell on something sharp. My friend’s been bugging me to come here, get it checked out.”

Your conversation pauses as you take her vitals. Everything is in a normal range.

“The group…” You break the silence, looking down. “Are they a concern?”

“They’re gone, if that’s what you’re asking.”

You felt a light blush rise on your cheeks. Ellie was so strong, and brave. It showed, even in the way she just talks about her patrols.

You flit your eyes back up, trying to refocus. “So can I see? The wound?”

“Oh. Right.” Ellie’s fingers dip down to grab the hem of her shirt, and pull up. For a moment, you only see her toned stomach. You try not to get distracted.

Then you see the bandage under her ribcage.

Your fingers are gentle when they graze over the gauze. It’s a barrier, but Ellie swears it’s like you’re touching her directly. You move to peel it off of her.

Ellie absentmindedly sucks her breath in through her teeth. You whisper a small apology.

“It’s not… bad right?” She says after a moment. “I mean, I’ve had worse.”

She made a mental note to get onto Dina. This whole thing made her look like a fucking pussy.

“I’m sure you have,” You smile meekly, examining the cut. “No… not bad.”

After washing off your hands, you pull up a chair in front of Ellie. She watches you carefully as you sigh.

“Won’t need stitches, and no signs of infection.” You add. “But I can at least disinfect it and send you off with some new dressing.”

“I mean, it’s fine, I can—“

“No, let me.” You say quickly, cutting off her retort. “You’re already here, right?”

Ellie opens her mouth, then closes it. You had a point. She merely nods instead.

You reach down for the bucket of clean water. When you come back up, you notice Ellie has removed her shirt completely. The only thing clinging to her upper body is a flimsy sports bra.

“Oh,” You all but whisper accidentally.

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

The rag becomes stained as you wipe the area. A few swishes, and the water in the bucket has turned a cloudy mahogany.

“So… your friend,” You add. “Was it Dina?”

Ellie raises her eyebrows slightly. “Uh, yeah. Yeah.”

“She must really care about you.” You say quietly. It takes Ellie a moment to realize what you’re implying. She’s quick to answer.

“Oh, yeah. Not like that anymore, though. It’s… just friends now.”

You take that as confirmation that their relationship ended. And even though in a way you were happy to find out Ellie is now single, it would be rude not to apologize.

“Oh.” You mumble. “Sorry.”

She looks down. “It’s cool.”

You disinfect the wound with some alcohol before applying new dressing with gentle fingertips. You smile up at the brunette.

“Good as new.”

She feels herself smiling back. She wants to kick herself; she didn’t even wanna be here in the first place. But now it doesn’t feel like a mistake after all.

“Thanks,” She says. Her gaze has softened.

You grab something out of the cabinet. Ellie realizes it’s fresh bandages when you outstretch your hand to her.

“So, just… use these. Every couple hours, change it out, till it scabs over. If you ever need more you know where to get it.”

Ellie knows this. But she realizes that she likes hearing you talk, so she thinks of something else to ask.

“Uh, and how do I know what to look for? If I have an infection?”

“Oh,” You say. “Here, lay back. I’ll show you.”

Something about the way you’re hovering over Ellie has her stomach fluttering. You were so tentative. Why hadn’t she tried to talk to you sooner?

“Gotta check it everytime you change your dressing. If it smells weird, or feels hot…”

Your fingers trace over her body yet again. Her eyes are stuck on you, the way your hair falls into your face. The way your lips move to explain everything. Not to mention how soft your skin felt on hers.

She thought the whole “hot nurse” trope was something that only happened in movies. It was pretty clear now that she was wrong.

“Got it?”

“What?”

Shit. She wasn’t listening.

“Do you get it now?” You repeat, looking down at Ellie.

She blinks before propping herself up with her elbows. “Uh… yeah. Think so.”

You smile again, leaning back so you’re no longer positioned over her. You take your place against the counter.

Ellie didn’t hear a word. But she’ll make the effort now to be extra gentle with herself, because of you. If that’s worth anything.

Silence fills the room once again as Ellie pulls her shirt back over her head. You sneak in one last glimpse before she’s fully clothed.

“If something changes you can always come back and see me.” You add with a breathy laugh. “I’m in here, like, all the time.”

“Oh yeah?” She asks, looking up at you. “I’ll have to stop by again sometime, then.”

Your heart skips a beat. Is she trying to flirt with you? No, it’s probably nothing.

You clear your throat. “Hopefully not under these circumstances.”

“Right,” She says. Her eyes widen as she realized she’s extended her stay. “I’ll, um… I’ll go. Get out of your hair.”

Ellie’s never used that expression before. She nearly facepalms. So stupid.

But then you laugh a little, and it’s such a beautiful sound when it hits her ears.

“I don’t mind.” You add bashfully. “But… you need to rest and get better. Go back to kicking ass, all that stuff.”

Ellie feels her face wanting to turn red again. You were so sappy, and shameless with it. She wasn’t used to this kind of attention, really. She didn’t think people like you even existed at all anymore.

She merely hums, unable to find the right words to say. If she sticks around any longer, she might actually develop feelings for you as if she hasn’t already. So she opts to bid you goodbye.

“Well… see you around.”

You nod, watching her head for the door. You hold the clipboard to your chest in an effort to soften your heartbeat.

“Night, Ellie.”

— part two

[roosterr]

bad idea

note: my contribution to gazfest 2023! check out @glitterypirateduck for the prompt list and more info!

paring: kyle 'gaz' garrick x gn!reader

wc: 1.5k

no use of y/n

genre: oneshot promts: 14. 'you're in trouble now' & 19. 'stay still'

summary: you do something dumb to get you and kyle out of a bad situation. he patches you up.

warnings: canon-typical violence, blood and injury, light whump, fluff, established relationship

ao3

of course, you’d expected resistance as you pushed into the building, but the crowd of enemy soldiers you ran into was a lot more firepower than you’d predicted

everything happened so fast; price, ghost, and soap dived one way, and you and gaz dived the other in the same moment the enemies opened fire, effectively separating the five of you and planting the seed of dread in your stomach.

before you knew it, you’d been cornered in a room, the only way out being the door you’d come in through, which was now crowded with people who very much wanted you dead. there wasn’t much in the way of cover in the room, but there was a large, sturdy table that you and kyle had flipped onto its side so you could hide behind it. a few hostiles had ventured closer to try and finish you off, but those foolish few quickly met their death.

you were well and truly pinned.

price had radioed that they’d make their way towards the two of you as soon as possible, once they’d taken out their own pursuers. the only thing you could do until then was try to survive and kill as many hostiles as you could in the process.

you aim down your sights, bones aching more and more with every second, but when you pull the trigger, all that meets your ears is an empty click. the noise sends an ice cold wave through your veins like an omen of death.

you're out of ammo.

shit.

"i’m out!" you call to gaz, and in response he shoots you a fleeting wide eyed glance.

"just hold tight," he calls back, furrowing his brow as he fires shot after shot, "reinforcements are on the way, we just have to stay alive ‘till then."

he tries to sound confident, but you can tell he's just as panicked as you are. your eyes dart around the space, desperately pulling at threads to find a way out of this impossible situation, to make it out alive – to make sure kyle makes it out alive.

it's then that you spot it.

a grenade, on the vest of an enemy solider you'd shot earlier.

his body wasn’t far, but it was beyond the cover of the table, meaning to grab it you'd have to run into open fire; but if you got it, it was a guaranteed way out of here.

you glance back at kyle, still returning fire with his own limited supply of ammo. he hadn't noticed the explosive, still focused on the group guarding the door, but he couldn’t defend your position forever. you'd be risking your life if you went for it, but you'd both be killed if you didn't.

it was a terrible idea, but you were doing it anyway.

with a sudden burst of renewed energy in your exhausted muscles, you launch yourself towards the body from your crouched position, wasting no time in pulling the grenade from his vest – except it wasn’t as easy to grab as you’d first assumed, there was a strap holding it in place that the tremor in your hands made unclasping difficult.

in the back of your mind you hear kyle scream your name, but he’s drowned out by the blood rushing in your ears.

your heart is in your throat as your fingers miss the strap once, twice, and finally get it free on the third try.

you snatch the grenade and prepare to bolt back to cover, but before you can move a blinding pain shoots through your leg, knocking you off balance causing you to tumble backwards.

you’re hit, you realise that much, but through the panic you can’t focus on anything else. you desperately try to shuffle backwards, towards your cover, but without the use of one leg you just can’t seem to move fast enough.

another bullet whizzes by your face, just catching the skin of your cheekbone and leaving you with a noticeable slice. you can’t dwell on how close a call that one was, however, because before you can react you’re being yanked backwards by the strap on the back of your vest.

you hear gaz’s voice calling to you again, his words passing through one ear and straight out the other.

mustering all your remaining strength, you rip the pin from the grenade, push yourself up on your uninjured leg, and pitch the grenade through the doorway with surprising accuracy considering how much your head was swimming.

no sooner than the grenade leaves your fingertips, gaz has an arm around your waist and uses it to haul you to the ground with him. he doesn’t get the chance to scold you before the explosion, both of you squeezing your eyes shut at the flash of light and the boom that makes your ears ring.

when you pry open your eyes, kyle is hovering above you with his hands supporting him on either side of your head, glaring at you with a fury you've never witnessed from him before.

if you weren't so distracted by the agony radiating from the bullet hole in your thigh, you might have had the mind to be flustered by the position. but thankfully – for your dignity, at least – you don’t have the mental capacity to be embarrassed.

"you're in trouble now," he growled down at you, sharply pushing himself off you and leaving you heaving air into your lungs on the floor. you watch him peer over the table, gun poised as he waits a second or two for any movement, but he doesn’t fire.

if the eerie silence is any indication, it sounds like your slapdash plan actually worked.

"what the fuck were you thinking?" kyle yells, ripping the small medical pack from his vest and dropping to his knees next to you as he rifles through it.

"i was– ugh–" you grunt as you agitate your leg sitting up, "thinking, i’m gonna save both of our lives!" you hiss, leaning your back against the table.

"and let yourself get killed in the process?" he pulls out a roll of bandages, piling the material onto your wound and leaning on it with all his weight. a pained groan escapes your throat before you can stop it, but kyle doesn't relent. "you really think that's a good plan?"

"i would if it meant you would live!" you cry, gripping his wrist and clenching your jaw so tight you were worried you might break a tooth.

"just–" you jerk with a yelp when he shifts his weight on your leg, "stay still!" he sounds almost pleading, stunning you into freezing where you sit.

kyle sighs deeply, sitting back on his heels and dragging a hand down his face. when he drops his hand again, your heart clenches at the sight of his glossy eyes and conflicted expression.

"kyle…" you reach a weak hand out to him, resting it on his upper arm, and he snaps back to reality. with a slight shake of his head, he grabs a fresh handful of bandages, putting his weight back on your wound as quickly as he could.

"you're lucky it went clean through." he mutters, sounding significantly more choked up than he had before. "never pull that kinda shit again, you hear me?"

you smile, the pain twisting your expression slightly, and move your hand up to cup his cheek. "not plannin’ on it, garrick."

the bleeding has slowed significantly by now, allowing kyle to lift one of his hands to cover the one holding his face. your thumb strokes the rise of his cheekbone, exhaling as the tension melts from your shoulders. even with the ringing in your ears, the lack of gunshots was almost peaceful.

"oi!" kyle jostles your shoulder, your eyes snapping back open where you hadn't realised they'd fallen shut. "you're not allowed to die on me, love, i'll kick your arse if you do."

"i'll keep that in mind." you breathe an airy chuckle, giving his cheek a gentle pat and dropping your hand into your lap.

there's a pause in the conversation, as kyle grabs more bandages and concentrates on your leg – which had more or less stopped bleeding thanks to his efforts, but despite this, you could still clearly see the panic in his eyes.

"hey," you call out to him, his gaze snapping up to you with a concerned frown. you grin, and gesture for him to come closer, pointing to the small cut on your face. "you missed a spot."

kyle rolls his eyes. "you're an idiot." he chuckles, wiping as much of your blood from his hands as possible before swinging one of his legs over both of yours. he's careful not to touch your injured leg when he leans closer, cleaning the dried blood on your cheek and covering the cut with a large bandaid.

once he's sure you're not bleeding from anywhere else, he takes your face gently in both hands and presses a featherlight kiss to your cheek, right over where the cut was.

"there," he utters, moving to kiss your forehead, then your nose, and finally pressing a lingering kiss to your lips. "all better."

you bring your own hand to rest on his back, smiling against his lips as you press your forehead to his. "yeah, all better."

[yeppeun-riaa]

Husband Ran who fucks you in his club and like that wasn't enough the mess he made will take you home and fuck you until you can't remember your own name

How were you not supposed to get jealous of all the attractive women approaching you husband? Yeah he was hot, handsome, sexy so it's only natural women would cling to him, you knew that back when you first started dating him, and it never stopped you from falling in love with him and marrying him, but it did piss you the fuck off because they all knew he had a wife you. They never seemed to care that he wasn't interested in their ugly ass, or that you were right next to them when they were flirting with him, and boy did that make you upset, "get. the. fuck. off. my. husband" you snarled at her and she just stood there making you even more upset, "did I fucking stutter!" You say loud enough to catch the attention of a few people over the loud music, and finally she glared at you before going to whothefuckevencareswhereshegoes.

You look back to ran who was smirking at you and suddenly you were mad at him, if only he was ugly, "don't fucking smile at me ran, whores like that piss me off" you say firmly when he snakes his arms around your waist and pulls you close, "I only have eyes for you baby, you know this." You lean into him, relishing in the jealous eyes on you, "show me then, ran.." you locking eyes with him, and you swore you could see stars in his eyes with the way he smiled at you, dragging you to one of the private VVIP rooms in his club that you both knew no one wold dare enter.

He pushed you up against the wall, locking both of your lips in a hot kiss, you sigh softly into his mouth and you could feel yourself getting wet already. His big hands slid under your dress, pulling your panty aside and putting two long fingers in, "ra-ran" you chant his name and he moves his fingers inside you at a faster pace. He kisses you again, his movements don't falter when he slides the top of the dress down, along with your lace bra to expose your soft breasts to him. You nipples harden because of the cold air but ran quickly puts one into his mouth, sucking and biting while he twists the other with his finges, and he puts two more fingers in, "ran!" he smirks when your back arches, "you gonna cum for me, hmm?", "fuck, yeah I do, please! Please let me cum ran!", "cum for me, I want you to make a mess" some more thrusts and his lewd words sent you over the edge, your body twitches as you orgasm, his fingers fucking you through you high, he slowly pulls his fingers out and sucks on them, so sexy, you think.

"Come on baby" he says fixing your clothes, "let's go home so I can fuck you dumb on my cock" you get a bit flustered at his words, he knows the effect he has on you.

The dive home seemed longer than usual and you didn't blame ran that the moment you arrived he practically manhandled you and threw you on the bed as if you were some ragdoll.

And within a matter of seconds he was all over you, your hot tongue sliding against his, he ripped you dress of, "ran! I liked that dress" you pout and he just shrugs, "I'll get you another one" you were cut off by his mouth on yours, and his fat dick sliding into you. "Ran..fuck, that feels good..." he moves inside you and you call feel all of him, "you like that, don't you, my little wife's so naughty" he smirks, pressing down on that small bulge in your tummy, and it draws the most angelic moans out of you, music to rans ears.

He trust into you, you can't remember how many times you've came, 3, 4 times maybe? All you could think of was ran, and how good he was making you feel. Your screams were loud and you could barely form a sentence, ran thinks you look best like this, dumb of his cock and head empty, "fu-fuck, you like being treated like a whore, huh?" You clenched around him and nodded, babbling random shit because you genuinely could not form a sentence, rans hands connected with your thing, earing a yelp out of you, "answer me, shut, use your fucking words", he spread you legs wider, bring a hand down to rub circles onto your puffy clit, thrushing the breath out of you with his huge dick "yes! Yes! Love it!", ran slapped your thigh again and flipped you over so you're ass was up and resumed his brutal pace.

Your back arched so much it was painful, but the pleasure made the pain worth it as you felt you high approaching, "ran! i wanna, please, i-i", ran slapped your ass and gripped you by you hair pulling you up and fondling you breasts with his other hand, "cim on my cock, you slut, facing cum" you let out the most camgirl like moan and you fucking squirt, wetting the sheet below, and that made ran cum too, he thrusted slowly into you filling you up with his cum and riding both of you through your orgasms.

He collapsed next to you and you used your little energy to turn and face him, he looked at you with a small smile, "I only have eyes for you, got that?" You hum softly and your eyes feel heavy, ran picked you up and cleaned you and himself up, afterwards going to the guest room (since the bed sheets in your room reeked of sex) and you both fell asleep cuddling each other.

[rhey-007]

*+:｡.｡ 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖓 𝕸𝖆𝖟𝖊 ｡.｡:+*

FP Jones x reader | 18+ SMUT

Summary: after saving your brothers ass from serpents, you get a pleasant surprise from FP

Warnings: 18+, smut, masturbation (f receiving), slight age gap (reader is 20, FP in his late 20's), outdoors sex

Author's note: it's my first time writing smut 🫣 so I apologise in advance (just in case) 😅 enjoy!

It was 31st October 1995, Halloween.

Your first Halloween as an adult.

Your father was a farmer known for his halloween corn mazes so it was obvious that you would help him prepare it for halloween. You would go inside and place various decorations, starting from jack-o'-lanters through scarecrows, finishing at bedsheet ghosts. That was a standard, but this year you also decided to hire your friends to dress up as monsters, hide in the corn and scare people. Of course you weren't an exception either. You dressed up as a blood thirsty nun that greeted children, teens and adults by the entrance, and later joined your friends inside the maze, while your father sold the tickets dressed as a murderous clown.

You found scaring people fun, especially the kids. But your enjoyment came to an end later that evening when you had to come back to the reception and replace your father for a while. That's when a scarecrow like creature came running in your direction. Though it didn't take you long to figure out it was your older brother Ben, who must have gotten himself in some shit again, followed by a couple of furious serpents.

You didn't say a word, just shook your head disapprovingly and shoved Ben into the maze. As you later found out, your brother angried the serpents by stealing from them, it wasn't a lot but you knew each gram of heroin was worth the anger. Ben quickly left but managed to shout you a short thanks and sorry.

Now you just had to deal with the serpents...

When they made their way to you, you would finally see who it actually was, and of course it couldn't be anyone esle than Forsythe Pendleton Jones II with his two sidekicks. In that moment you knew you'll have a hard job to do. You didn't know FP personally, but you heard a lot about him, mostly bad things, and you started to worry you wouldn't be able to handle them.

''What do you want here FP''

You stood in front of the gateway and looked the man up and down, just as he did to you.

''Move. Kid.''

He hissed, but you just furrowed your brows and crossed your arms. No one's gonna call you a kid, especially not that douchebag. You stood there in silence for a while, neither of you planning on moving, so you finally spoke up.

''I don't care what he did, but I'm sure you're not pleased with that. But instead of chasing him and trying to beat his ass maybe you should try to think of a way to prevent more situations like that, huh? ... Oh wait! You can't, you're too dumb''

You smiled at him sweetly after your short speech. FP curled his hands into fists angrily, a vein about to pop on his forehead. He had enough of the bratty girl so he just shoved her to the ground and run into the maze. The girl took too much of their time already.

After getting up from the ground and dusting yourself off, you looked at your watch wondering how much time it would take the three to come back. In fact it didn't take them a lot as just after few turns they were lost. Good thing one of them memorised the way, so they came back the same way they went it. You smirked triumphally seeing three slumped figures leave the maze, you knew well they wouldn't make it far.

At night you sneaked into Ben's room to retrieve the stolen goods, you couldn't let him take it after all.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🎃 ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

The next day was time to clean the maze and gather the corn. You and your best friend Ashley cleaned it from the early hours of the day and just by accident FP knew about it. In reality he met one of your friends he's seen you once with in the town and forced that information out of him. He came to the attraction early enough to already find you inside. The man sneaked in without Ashley noticing and found you quite qickly as you weren't far away.

''You already finished Ashley?''

You asked as you heard someone move behind you, but you couldn't care enought to turn around. Well... not until you heared his voice.

''It ain't her''

He said as he came closer to you. You gulped softly not expecting to see FP there.

''The attraction is closed, come back next year''

You huffed, trying to stay calm and not show the slight fear that boiled inside of you. Why you were so scared suddenly? Because you had nothing to defend yourself with and the look in his eyes made you feel uneasy. FP looked at you as a predator would look at his prey. He moved closer and closer until he had you squished in a corner.

''If the attracion is closed then why are you still here, sugar?''

The nickname made you feel sick, which you couldn't say about his cologne that weirdly calmed you down. FP put his hands on your hips and squeezed them gently.

''Not a lot of people stand up against me... Yet you...''

He licked his lips while looking down at you.

''You did it without a second thought just to defend your stupid brother. And you know what?... That turns me on''

FP didn't even give you a chance to say something before he smashed his lips on yours. You had to admit you were pleasantly surprised, which sounds weird considering the fact that you didn't even know him. But he was handsome... really handsome, and you always had a thing for him that you never admited out loud, even though he was older than you and it felt a little inappropriate. So when he kissed you, it just took you a few second to kiss him back, which surely satisfied and exctied the older man.

You pulled away when you felt breathless and looked down not wanting to make eye contact with FP, a dark blush appearing on your pale face.

„You've just kissed me as if your life depended on it and now you're all shy?"

The man mocked, his hand reaching up to capture your chin and lift it up so you would look back at him, a wicked smirk was painted on his face. It really suited him. Soon FP's hand wandered back to your hip to then grab your ass. You squeaked when he picked you up, your arms immediately wrapping around his neck. He put you down on hay bales stacked together then started his unholy ministrations on your neck, earning quiet moans from you every now and then. If that wasn't enough, one of his hands rubbed your thigh up and down, each time coming closer to your aching core, while the other creeped under your shirt, slowly making it's way to your breasts.

„Fp... „

You moaned out, your hands gripping his mucled arm and burgundy T-shirt. The man took it as a sing to proceed further, his hand slipped under your bra and started to massage your breast. Your palm slid down his clothed torso to meet his semi hard member and grip it gently. He groaned into your ear when you did that and bit it softly then captured your lips into another, more aggressive but still passionate kiss.

„God dammit sweetheart... „

FP couldn’t wait anymore, he unbuckled his belt, pulling his pants and boxers down then did the same to your shorts and panties. You looked down, your mouth in slight agape. He was huge, at least he seemed like it, you didn’t think you'd be able to take him all but you were wrong. With one swift thrust he was balls deep inside of you. A juicy moan escaped your lips which made FP slam his hand on top of them.

„Shh... We don't want anyone to find out, do we?"

He whispered and tilted his head softly. You just nodded obediently and let him fuck you. His hips moved with an agonizing yet sweetly pleasuring pace. You never thought sex could be that good, and it wasn't your first time.

„Shit... Ya feel so good... „

He groaned out. His palm moved from your lips to your neck to grip it softly, your own hand quickly following it signaling your worry about the act.

„Don't worry... Don't wanna loose such great pussy so quickly... "

The man breathed out between grunts. You decided to trust him so you moved your hands to his cheeks to pull his face down for a kiss. In meanwhile FP started to circle his thumb on your clit, giving you even more pleasure and almost immediately making you reach your orgasm. He groaned dissatisfied into your lips and mumbled.

„Thought you'll last longer... Now you gotta gimmie another one sugar...”

He sped up his movement both on your clit and inside of you.

„I... I-I can't take it... Anymore... "

You've managed to say between moans, but it didn't seem to affect the man in any way, he just kept fucking you relentlessly.

„You on the pill? „

He asked suddenly when he felt the two of you were about to finish. You just nodded and soon another wave of pleasure hit you alongside the warmth of FP's seed spilling out inside of you. You both breathed heavily, neither of you going to say anything, just indulging in pleasure and silence. Soon FP pulled his member out of you, his semen slowly spilling out.

„Look at you...”

The man smirked triumphantly after tucking himself back into his boxers and pulling his pants back up.

„Wouldn’t thought Ben's sister's pussy could be that good of a fuck”

You just rolled your eyes, you were kind of annoyed that you've let him fuck you but also really satisfied. You cleaned yourself with a tissue then put your underwear and shorts on.

"And I wanted to give you this back"

You said as you wiggled the bag of heroin in front of his face and shook your head with a smirk. FP smiled back at you and snatched the bag away to then hide it in the pocket of his jacket.

„When's next session? ”

You soon blurted out earning a little confused look from FP at first but his expression changed rather fast, as now he was smiling from ear to ear.

„I'll pick you up at 7. Now lemme help you get this maze cleaned”

After a some time, what seemed like a few quickies and fuck sessions turned into something more.

[akiraiscute]

Yandere!Steven Universe X Reader

Tw ; Yandere shit, idk what else help

Steven Universe Future! || NO SMUT U FLITHY ANIMALS.

A/N ; bro no one is writing for steven universe and i badly need smth😭

Steven was talking to garnet, on the couch while garnet was petting cat steven. It was 2AM, both of them were waiting for you, Steven sighed as he heard the door opening. Garnet was looking at you already, Steven turned around as he saw you… he looked shocked, You were in baggy jeans, a long sleeves and crop-top but you stole his jacket before you went out, which both of them were sleeping or gone.. You were slowly taking off your sneakers, getting the silent house uncomfortable really so you tried to distract yourself and kept into your head really until Steven spoke up.

“Soo.. Where were you?”

You looked at Steven confused before smiling.

“You know how sadie is Back into town for her tour with the sadie spects? They asked me to go shopping with them and of course i said yes!”

Garnet looked away from steven to look at you, smiling as she already knew that. She just wanted to make sure you were alright, Cat Steven jumped down from Garnet’s lap and ran to you. Quickly starting to purr and rub against your leg, you bent down and pet her gently as to pick her up as well.. Steven was still looking at you, slightly jealous that you spent all your night talking to them instead of him. Why didn’t they invite him though? That’s- weird, he was the one who introduced everyone to you when you first moved in which was probably when.. he still didn’t know his own powers, those times made him shiver sometimes.

“Were you safe?”

“Why wouldn’t I? We have nothing to fear anymore so I just have been relaxing. Why aren’t you in bed Steven? You planned to propose to connie to tomorrow or is it today since… it’s 2AM??”

“Well, i wanted to wait for-.. my best.. friend.”

“As you are already here (N/N) {Nickname}, I should get going as I have some stuff to do.”

You smiled and waved bye to garnet as you saw her disappear into her room. You turned to steven and walked over to him, gently putting cat Steven in his lap and watched cat steven purr softly and get comfortable on steven’s lap. You giggled as the thought of cat steven and human steven being alike, you walked back and walked to the hallway of the bathroom saying..

“Alright! You should prepare for bed Steven! Ima take a shower!”

Well sorta yelled that out, Steven watched you leave him with this cat steven… He sighed softly, fully forgetting that he told the gems and you that he liked connie, when he was mildly obsessed with you… well he wasn’t always, half way through his past he got obsessed. Can you guess how? Well, really. he got obsessed with you because you almost died by the hands of the diamonds. You're human.. not like him, not like the gems where you can poof but come back better and new, not like him where he can magically heal himself if he got hurt. but at that point, he didn't even realize it was obsessive, he just thought it was friendly love untillll….

He got rejected by Connie which was a few weeks ago, It was bad enough he had to deal with humiliation but she literally pointed out that she thought he liked you. That made him shocked, as you and him well before had nothing in common, he and you only saw each other as friends until Connie pointed out how he looked at you after everything with the diamonds, she pointed out how he looked at you with so much admiration, so much love in his eyes. Connie found it adoring, cute, sweet. She wasn’t even mad.. Which got Steven absolutely confused. If He saw connie being like- oh. He slowly started to realize that he does and did do that.. how dumb is he that he didn’t notice himself? It got awkward quick..

It was already morning as he got the sleep he needed and so did you. Steven was happily okay with you sleeping on the bed as you two got older, he didn’t find it weird that you guys had to share a bed when you two grew up, which until you told him if it was okay if you slept on the couch and not with him and not near him? That absolutely made him feel like shit, he didn’t know that at time either really. You slowly got up and looked at Steven, confused.

“Steven.. why do you have brea—”

Before you could finish your sentence the gems were already coming up, you sighed softly as you ate the breakfast sandwich Steven made as he talked with the gems. You were too tired to say anything so when you got up, you realized they were already downstairs. You softly shook your head as you started to get dress already, you went down to see them talking.. it was nice seeing it. You liked seeing them all talk, happily.. it felt refreshing, You walked to the bathroom and opened the door to start your routine. You walked out to see Steven get piled in snow, you giggled as you started to get something to drink.

“You know what we haven’t played in awhile..?”

Amethyst said as she looked at steven, before slowly getting up and then. Turning into young steven, which made you look shock as you started to laugh, hard.

“STEVEN TAG!”

Steven looked tired before looking at you, his eyes looked a bit shocked before they softened of all of his tiredness, suddenly gone just by hearing your pretty laugh. Before he knew it, he kept dodging Amethyst from tagging him. He kept complaining until he ran into the bathroom, quickly rolling a towel up and putting it in the gap of the door, he sat on it until he heard your far away laughter fading away and amethyst footsteps walking away. He slowly started to put the towel back and open the door, he walked out as garnet was looking around.

“Steven.”

“Yea Garnet?”

“Have you seen Cat Steven, I have been looking all over for her. Can you look for her in the cabinets?”

Steven nodded as he walked to the cabinets, about to ask this one before he dodged amethyst’s trying to tag him. He gasped a bit as he dodged it, looking at her going into garnet and tagging garnet instead but also making you fall down since garnet almost knocked you down. You laughed it off as it didnt even hurt, being trained witn Connie and pearl, you could deal with a lot of things whicn always made steven admire you from afar. Speaking of Steven, he looked shocked before running to you.

“Are you okay?!”

He said as he kneel down and checked you. You chuckled softly as your laughter died down, you nodded before steven dodged both of them and ran to the warpad. Running into pearl..

EEK!! Finished it myself, 6 more drafts to complete. Im dying slowly omg- i should write each other that im planning until Christmas broskis😊 TOMORROW IS TWO STORIES OKAY?? DW DW I’LL DO TWO BECAUSE I HAVE TOO SO IT’LL WORK. I promise it’ll work😭😭 anyways!! Enjoy this my pretties, i have been having mentall problems so im sorry for being gone for awhile of couple times.<3

— Akira!!<3… Akira!!<3 is.. iss… Logg- Logging off. Goodbye!

[pedges]

the one where things are messy

pairing: joel miller x reader (no apocalypse and accidentally on purpose gender neutral)

summary: you leave joel a drunk voicemail.

content: drunk reader. like, drunk. miscommunications, angst, but mostly just a silly little time. reader is joel's neighbor of several years. gratuitous use of the word "fuck." let me know if i've missed anything!

a/n: this is 100% based off friends the tv show. the one where ross finds out. i have not written in a very long time, so i apologize in advance! this is just a nonsensical drabble that ended up being 5k words, so please enjoy <3

The thing is, Joel doesn’t like cats. 

Joel doesn’t hate cats, but he has never expressed any sign of liking cats, at least not enough to warrant the sudden desire to adopt one. With his girlfriend. Who he plans on asking to move in with him. When he tells you, it’s like he just ordered an airstrike to your chest, and you’re thinking maybe you should have slashed his tires before he went to Dallas on business for two weeks and came back with a sweet little thing shacked up in his heart. 

It’s just that when Tommy and you got drunk together a few days after he left, sitting on the couch in Joel’s living room while Tommy played world’s worst babysitter, he had dropped the first of what now seems to be a series of inconvenient bombshells. 

“Don’t get rom-coms, they’re real fuckin’ dumb,” he had been saying, adamantly complaining about your choice of movie. When Harry Met Sally was too cute and too good to receive his vitriol, but the alcohol in your system tore down your usual defense mechanisms. All you could really do was roll your eyes. “Just fuckin’ talk to each other, maybe, maybe this shit wouldn’t take so long.” 

“The hell do you know about communicating, Tommy?” you said, and though you were mostly teasing, you had to bite back a remark about his past relationships never making it past the six month mark. Still, you kept the levity in your voice, the drunken grin on your lips. “Swear, you and Joel think you know everything. Must be an annoying Miller thing.”

“Know more than you,” he said with a scoff, then a hiccup. Taking the last swig of his beer, he set the empty bottle down on the coffee table and looked at you. “Way fuckin’ more than Joel. M’like—the fuck is the word—ret-i-cant. Always watchin’. You wouldn’t get it.” 

“Reticent, and I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.” 

“Bull,” Tommy insisted. “Cause—‘cause I know if Harry and Sally just admitted shit from the getgo—they’da saved so much fuckin’ time.”

You wanted to argue. You want to tell him that was the point of the story, of the insistence for two people who very clearly wanted each other being brought back together each time they tried to stay away from one another. You wanted to tell Tommy that sometimes difficult things were beautiful, and romantic, and heartfelt, and great. But before you could, he was grumbling something as he sank into the couch, something that sounded like, “S’like I kept tellin’ Joel, tired of him tiptoein’ ‘round you.” 

“What?” you said in lieu of everything else running through your quickly sobering mind. 

“Ah, shit.” 

It only took a couple threats of bodily harm for Tommy to tell you that Joel had feelings for you. Keyword: had. He stopped asking about it a while ago, stopped caring when it was obvious Joel “wasn’t goin’ to do a damn thing,” so don’t ask him if he knew more than what he did a few months ago. All of it was quickly followed by pleads to not say shit and that he was sorry he said anything at all. 

You wondered what he would have said if you told him you'd wanted Joel Miller since the moment you laid eyes on him. 

But, you didn’t. And a week and a half later, when Joel came back talking up a storm about an old flame he met up with in Dallas, how fate would have it that she was moving back to Austin—well, needless to say—Tommy’s inability to keep a secret meant nothing now. 

Now, six months later, you’re left to wonder if it hurt Joel this bad when you went on dates, and had partners, and did everything you could to drown out the feelings you had for him. You’d think finding out he had feelings for you—but was now in a relationship with a woman who didn’t playfully (annoyingly) bicker with him, or snort, or make fun—would kill the ones you had for him. But the universe is cruel, and your heart has never really been one to quit. 

Part of you feels bad for thinking it wouldn’t last. Well, not thinking—hoping. But it did, and you realize woefully that you’ve missed your chance with Joel Miller—the man you have spent too many years pining after, too many nights thinking that his brand of affection meant more than he was letting on, and buried too many sorrows in glasses of wine or bottles of beer over. But worst of all, you realize that Tommy was right. 

So, he tells you he wants her to move in with him and Sarah one Saturday evening on his porch. Then he tells you she wants a cat. And you say you’re happy for him. 

“You, uh, don’t think it’s too…soon?” he asks then, like he’s looking to you for a reason to back out. Every fiber of your being is aching to give him one, especially with the way he looks at you with those big browns of his, but the words scratch at your throat hard enough that they don’t make their way out. Instead, you shake your head slowly, forcing a shrug as you sip on the coffee Joel so tenderly prepared for you—the way you like it; he didn’t even have to ask. 

“I think,” you start, though these words aren’t any less sharp than the ones you truly want to say, “if you’re happy, you should do what you want.” 

“You ever picture me with a cat?” Joel snickers. He wears the gentlest smile, enough of one to form those crinkles by his eyes that you love so much. 

“I think you’d look adorable with a cat,” you tell him, and it might be the first true thing you’ve said all night. You picture it, a purring cat curled on his chest, and someone he loves at his side. In your mind, you can’t help but put yourself in that spot. “But,” you continue, “can’t say I’ve ever thought of you actually getting one. You’re more of a…hm. German shepherd guy, maybe even a lizard.” 

Joel laughs—that hearty, full, intoxicating laugh of his. It floods your veins and gives you goosebumps. If the world were to fall to ruins tomorrow, you’d survive on the memory of it alone, you think. 

“Can’t say I disagree with you,” he says then, a leftover grin still curled on his lips, and you want to do anything in your power to keep it there. But then he gets lost in thought, and you watch it soften. It doesn’t disappear completely, but the fact that it’s gone so quickly makes you ache. He speaks again, voice soft as he says, “Guess I just want to make her happy. Lot of things stopped bein’ about me a long time ago, I think.” 

Your heart cinches. Of course he’d say something like that. Of course he’d go and utter words that remind you why you fell in love with him in the first place. And god, that realization hits hard. You are quite, disgustingly in love with Joel. Though it stings, and you’re going to go home and lick your wounds for the hundredth time soon, you get what he means. You stayed silent when he got back from Dallas for the same reason—the smile on his face when he talked about someone he might truly, genuinely like. 

That, and because the someone wasn’t you. 

-

You pull up your britches. 

You have no other choice, you decide, because you’re young, and you’re an adult, and you can get over someone without feeling like you’re going to die. You use your little black book (read: an old Lisa Frank notepad) to call up the fling you had last winter. He’d wanted you, badly, but because there was a night where you thought Joel might’ve kissed you, you never called back. It seems stupid now, looking back. 

But, you thank your lucky stars, or one man’s utter desperation, that he’s still single and he still wants you. He takes you out to a nice restaurant, in a nice suit, and nice shoes. The conversation isn’t even bad, and he’s putting your drinks on his tab. The second one in, you think maybe this could work. 

It’s when you lose count that things go bad. 

“I don’t even think Joel likes cats,” you’re slurring to this poor man, who is desperately scanning the restaurant for a waiter, a check, and a way out of your ramblings about Joel’s love life. You can’t tell if you’re crying or not, though it really feels like you want to. Because one moment you were having a nice time, and the next someone was ordering Joel’s drink—whiskey on the rocks, with a twist—at the table over and you weren’t able to keep him out of your mind from that point on. 

It’s ridiculous, because it’s not Joel’s Drink, it’s A Drink—one that Joel only ever orders, but you could see someone in a worn down green and gray flannel and wonder when Joel Miller became such a trendsetter. Still, nothing can stop you from ordering one yourself, and then another, and then another. It’s like you’re trying to flood your senses with Joel Joel Joel because you know it’ll never be him sitting across from you with the intention of taking you home and maybe kissing you outside your door.

Though, if you weren’t gone by your fourth whiskey, you’d see that your date has lost any and all intentions of that manner. It’s probably not even because you’re drunk, it’s because you’re still wearing Joel’s name on your lips like it’s going out of style. 

“Like—like, I can’t just tell Joel, no, y’know? Or, I don’t think you should get a cat with a woman you had a thing with before you met the mother of your child, and especially shouldn’t have her move in with you after six months. But I want to. Because he’s smarter than this, and I don’t think it’s the right move, especially because of Sarah, and Tommy, ugh, Tommy. Idiot. They’re both idiots. Joel especially, methinks.” 

You don’t know when your date finally flagged down the waiter, or when he dropped you off at home, or when you got inside and picked up your landline. You especially don’t know when you dialed Joel’s number and left him a voicemail when he inevitably didn’t answer. 

All you know is that you mixed your alcohols that night, and you’re probably going to wake up in some version of hell in the morning, but it seems like falling asleep has never been so easy before. 

—

Hell is an understatement. You don’t get sick, but you wish you could throw up your brain, or at least the part of it that still gets headaches like this. It’s with the most gut wrenching revelation that you don’t have any ibuprofen, or any recollection of the night before.  

For the time being, it’s truly the least of your worries. The most of them are getting rid of your life threatening headache. So, after making yourself as presentable as you can, you trudge across the street to Joel’s house—it’s because his house is closer than the drugstore three blocks down. Not because seeing his face would make you feel better anyways. 

“Aren’t you a beauty this afternoon,” Joel laughs when he opens the door, because really, you look like death, and you hadn’t even realized it was past one o’clock. You’re grateful it’s Saturday, and Sarah has soccer practice right now, because she looks up to you, and the last thing you need is for her to see you like this. 

“Shut up,” you grumble, shoving your way past him despite his teasing. He doesn’t mind, and you know he doesn’t. If the smile still on his face is anything to go by. It’s then you realize that yeah, okay, seeing him does make you feel better. Even if it’s just by a fraction. 

“Thought you left your partyin’ days in college,” he continues with his teasing. “Let me guess: you came over here to raid my medicine cabinet.” 

By the time he closes his front door and turns around, you’re already sinking into his plush couch, giving him a look with raised brows that could only mean, You mean you’re going to raid your medicine cabinet, for me. 

“Ah,” he says. Any other moment, your heart would stutter at the ease in which he reads you. Now, your heart is threatening to fail for an entirely different reason. “Got it. Be right back.” 

Joel sticks by his word. He comes back, not just with painkillers, but with water, warmed up coffee, and one of the store-bought muffins you love so much. If you weren’t dying, you’d hug the man. If you weren’t so smart, you’d probably even kiss him. 

“Don’t die on me, alright? Need you around for shenanigans and such,” Joel tells you, leaving you to your devices on his couch. The pain meds go down, and the coffee does wonders from just one sip. You allow yourself to lie on the couch, pillow over your face to block out the harsh light. It seems that as the seconds pass, and by some miracle, you start to feel more and more at ease. Fragments of last night come back slowly, but not enough to piece together the entire puzzle. 

You drank a lot, that much is clear. 

It’s not until you hear a series of beeps from the kitchen, where Joel keeps his landline and answering machine, do the cogs in your brain start cranking a little harder. One voicemail plays over the speaker, something about work that makes Joel sigh and skip it before he can play it all the way through. 

Beeeeep. 

“Heeeeello, Joel. Hi, hello, howdy. It’s me.” 

Joel calls out, “Did you call me last night?” 

You sit up in record time. 

It comes rushing back. 

“I just don’t see why he can’t get something that doesn’t live so long. Like a hamster. Or goldfish. Or a fruit fly. It’s just so—“

“Listen! Listen. I don’t know who Joel or Tommy or Sarah are. You sound—hung up. But if you really want my advice? Get some closure. You clearly have feelings for this guy and you won’t get over him until you do.” 

“Closure! Oh, you’re a genius!” 

“Joel,” you call over the sound of your own drunken voice, dread now filling your body to the fucking brim. But it seems like your body can’t move fast enough. “Joel, hang up, hang it up, hang it up.”

“I just—just wanted to call and tell you I am so happy for you. And your future cat. And I think you should name it Frank. And because I am giving you names, that means I am getting closure—“

You can hear your heartbeat sounding against your eardrums, but feel it falling to the ground as you finally muster up the memory of how to work your legs. But by the time you’re stumbling into the kitchen, you can hear the worst of the voicemail that has Joel’s face drained of any possible readable emotion. You start praying for the ground to swallow you whole and munch your bones. It would be a more peaceful way to go than this. 

“Because you’re over me, I am over you, my sweet Joel. That’s right. I am over you. How’s that for closure?” 

The machine beeps, and then the heaviest silence enters the kitchen. 

Seconds, minutes, maybe even years pass as you stand in the doorway, looking at Joel looking at the answering machine. Then at you. 

“You’re…over me?” he finally says. You swallow the softball that had lodged itself in your throat and almost choke on it. “When, uh, when were you under me?” 

Suddenly, you think the whole life flashing before your eyes thing is true. Because you feel like you’re dying, and all you can think about is every happy moment you’ve had surrounded by Joel. The first time you met, the way Sarah took a liking to you, the unlikely friendship you formed with his brother. You think of all the nights spent on Joel’s porch, sometimes talking, but most times in such a genuinely comfortable silence, where you could do nothing but enjoy each other’s presence. You think of all the fleeting touches, lingering glances, pet names reserved just for you—and how you doubted all the thoughts that they could mean something more. 

You don’t know what hurts more—the fact that, according to Tommy, they did, or that now they didn’t. 

But most of all, you think of how when you were searching for a home several years ago, you didn’t expect to find it in the family of a man named Joel Miller. 

And you didn’t expect to lose it in the worst way possible. 

When you remember where you are, what is happening, and realize that you haven’t actually died, you let out a pathetic little noise. Halfway between a whimper and the words you can’t yet form. 

“What, uh—what did you mean, over me?” Joel finally asks. He’s never been one to beat around the bush, but god, you wish just this time he would. In fact, you wish he’d pretend that this never happened. But you know better. You know there’s no ignoring this. 

“I—“ you barely manage to choke out. Because truly, what do you say? Against your better judgment, you opt for the truth. “I…may or may not have feelings,” you say, and then, “For you. Tommy told me you—you used to feel the same.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.”

“…And you’re over me?” 

You wince. Maybe drunk-you convinced yourself so briefly that saying it would make it true. But by the weight of your heart, and the way it feels like there’s been barbed wire wrapped around it, gripping it tight, you know any answer besides No would be a lie. But because you can’t really bring yourself to say it, not with the way tears threaten to burn your eyes any second now, you instead say, “I don’t know.” 

It seems though, Joel wanted so desperately for you to say yes. By the way he jumps into action, grabbing his keys from the kitchen counter and making a break for it, he wanted you to say Yes, I’m completely over you. But you didn’t, and now he’s leaving you alone in his own house. 

-

You don’t speak for a week. 

You’re not exactly sure who’s avoiding who. You just know you’re wallowing in something that feels akin to lava that refuses to swallow you whole. Inside you there’s this ache, like there’s an empty space where someone should be inside your heart. It feels like three empty spaces, actually, and you had never weighed the consequences of losing Joel before. Part of you wishes you could have just gotten rid of your feelings for him a long time ago. Collecting the evidence now, though, told you there was no easy way to do that. Maybe quitting him cold turkey would have done the trick, or moving to Antarctica. But apparently, when you fell in love with Joel, you fell in love with his entire family, and three people was a hell of a lot harder to give up than one. 

In fact, on day seven, you’re stealthing your way back inside your home after a trip to the grocery store, like you have been all week, when you hear a familiar voice call your name. You turn to see Sarah across the street, standing at the backdoor of Tommy’s truck in her soccer uniform, waving at you with this sad little smile on her face. One that says she doesn’t know what’s going on, just that she hasn’t seen you in a while, and you realize that this is the longest you’ve gone without speaking to her since you first met her. 

You look around like you’re going to get caught committing a crime when you send the most timid wave back. It ends up feeling like a crime anyways when the face you’ve been aching to see comes out of the house, followed by his brother, and he follows Sarah’s line of sight. Meeting his eye is a serrated knife slicing through you, jagged, and harsh, and no clean cuts. 

But what hurts the most is when he opens Sarah’s door and all but forcefully guides her inside the truck, like he’s ushering her away from a bad thing. You think maybe he is. 

You rush inside afterwards and think of ways to never leave your house again. 

Hours later, you’re sitting on your couch watching another ridiculous rom-com, the only comfort you’ve found, with perpetual tears brimming your eyes. Tommy really was fucking right, wasn’t he? Had there been some inkling of communication, you wouldn’t be here. But there wasn’t, and you are, and it sucks—somehow, it seems like this will never not hurt. 

At ten o’clock, there’s a knock at your door. It makes you jump, mostly because this sense of knowing dread fills your body—like you know who it is before you can even open it, because you do. When Joel is standing on the other side, those big brown eyes of his full of something you can’t make out, he asks if he can come in. You aren’t even sure he’d listen if you said no, so you say yes. 

He steps inside, you close the door, and there’s a beat of silence before, “Sarah was askin’ about you all day.” 

You stand at your door, hands together as you toy with your own fingers nervously. Your heart is racing and your mind is reeling, but most of all, there’s this resounding ache echoing throughout your entire body. 

“Sorry,” is all you can really say in return. 

“I didn’t get a cat,” Joel says then. Your heart jolts at the mention. 

“Oh.” You look down at your hands. “Interesting.” 

“No, not interestin’.” When Joel speaks this time, he almost sounds angry. Frustrated, maybe, but he doesn’t sound happy, especially not with you. When you force yourself to look up, he has the face to match—brows furrowed, pout on his lips, gaze firm. “I should have a cat right now. I should have a movin’ truck outside my house, I should be living with my girlfriend—instead I’ve got a daughter askin’ too many questions, a shit talkin’ brother, and I’m standin’ inside your living room angry as all hell right now.” 

“Angry?” you say. He absolutely just said too many words with too many implications, but that’s the one you happen to get caught up on. Mostly because it lights a fire in you. Part of you thinks he has every right to be angry, but the other part feels justified in your own anger. “I’m sorry, why the hell are you angry with me?” 

“Because,” Joel responds quickly, voice harder, louder. He looks as if he didn’t expect you to fight back, but what a dumb presumption to have made. “Because you had no fuckin’ right to tell me you felt something about me.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Joel,” you spit back, voice dripping with sarcasm, but really? You are. 

“No, it’s not fuckin’ fair, and you don’t fuckin’ get it.” Joel steps forward, and for the first time, he does look genuinely angry. But after looking at him for a second longer, you realize it’s not that. He’s hurt. “I was doin’ fine before you came along with that mess. I was doin’ fuckin’ fantastic before I found out about you!” 

“I was doing great before I found out about you!” you shout back even though you weren’t doing great before. Not even close. Still, you want to stay angry, but your voice betrays you. “You think it was easy to find out you used to feel the same way about me? You think it was easy watching you be all happy with someone else, huh?”

“Oh, like I haven’t done it a thousand times, darlin’.” Joel’s words are sharp.

“You never said anything!” Yours are too. 

“There was never a good fuckin’ time,” he says coldly. Your own blood begins to turn icy in your veins as he huffs angrily. 

“And now is?” you respond coolly, before your walls begin to crumble. They had a while ago, actually, but now you’re resorting to kicking the rubble around. “Why did you come over here, Joel? To rub it in my face, tell me that you’re just—just going to get rid of whatever you felt?”

There’s a flash of pain on Joel’s face before he resolves to a glower at you. “I was happy.” He says your name, broken and small. “And I’ve been doin’ it for a helluva long time, sweetheart. I can keep doing it now.” 

Even though it truly does sound like he’s trying to convince himself of his own words, the suffocating pain in your chest is becoming too much to bear. So you point towards your door. “Then go.” 

“Fine,” he spits, stomping towards the exit at your command. 

“Fine!” 

Before you know it, he walks out, your door slams, and he’s gone. 

You finally reach a crossroads. As tears brim your eyes, you realize that this is it, isn’t it? You were an asteroid that missed Joel by a mile, and now you were sentenced to a life drifting aimlessly in space. You missed out on a place to land—this is it. 

Moments pass. You do whatever you can to soak in everything that unraveled before you, and there’s no hope in picking up the pieces. No hope in weaving them back together. Before you can let out a pathetic little sob and stalk off towards your room, you suddenly hear footsteps leading back to your front door. Then there’s a knock at it, soft—quiet. 

As your heart begins to race, you step to open the door, only to find Joel on the other side. As if you could be surprised. It’s safe to say you’ve never seen the man look so dejected, like a dog bringing a bird to your front door. He’s illuminated by your flickering porch light and the glow from the moon, and if you weren’t suffering so, you’d tell him you’d never seen a man look so ethereal. 

Searching his eyes for any semblance of an answer to all the questions you now have doesn’t last long. Because before either of you can say a word, Joel’s hands are cupping your face and he’s kissing you like he’s been underwater for far too long, and you’re fresh fucking air.  

And you let him. 

You let him, because the universe hasn’t offered you any other choice—if it has, you’re not fucking taking it. You let him kiss you, and push you inside, and kick the door closed behind him, because you’ve wanted this for years. You’ve ached for this, yearned for the feeling of Joel’s lips on yours, the warmth of his mouth and tongue—the feeling of his hands on your waist. 

Joel kisses you for as long as either of you can stand it, which is a pretty long time considering the way your hearts are racing and lungs are clawing for air. It’s when the back of your knees are pressed against the arm of your couch, and you’re falling backwards onto it, pulling him down with you, do you both pull back long enough to breathe. Though, it’s mostly huffs, recovering from the sudden fall and shock of the best fucking kiss either of you have ever had in your life. Still, the urge to smile hits you for the first time in over a week. 

You start to speak, whispering, “What about—“ 

“It’s over,” he says quietly into the space between your lips. “It was over the moment I heard that voicemail, I think. But only officially as of this afternoon.” 

Your throat tightens. You look up at him, your eyes still glistening with unshed tears, but that ache in your heart has begun to dull. “So why did you—“

“Scared, mostly,” Joel interrupts you again, because it really isn’t that hard for him to know what you’re asking and why. He brushes stray hair from your face. “Confused. Because I really thought I was over you, sweetness. Took me a week to deal with the fact that I wasn’t. Didn’t even truly figure it out until my feet dragged me over here.”

Your brow furrows, but a sweet smile draws over your lips as you bring your own hand to his face. You caress his cheek, running your hand over his beard. Deep down, you get it. You really do. But you no longer have it in you to ask any questions. Joel is here, and he is kissing you, and even though nothing has been set in stone, you suddenly don’t feel the need to carry the hurt you had anymore. 

“Think I owe Tommy a drink or two,” you joke then, and you both laugh. Joel even snorts. 

“Like hell you do,” he scoffs, “Tommy ain’t do shit besides spill my secrets and cause us grief.” 

“Okay, then we need to send Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal some gift baskets, at least.” 

“What?” Joel laughs, but you pull him down for another kiss that melts your goddamn heart. You’ve had a taste, and you’re never going to get enough. But instead of getting into it completely, you just soak in the moment. Maybe Tommy was right about the whole talkin’ it out thing, but so were you, you realize. 

Sometimes difficult things could end up being beautiful. 

So when you pull back and meet Joel’s eyes once more, you give him the softest little smile. 

“We’ll talk about it in the morning,” you say. “Promise.” 

-

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[pepsiconcoction]

Hi I’m new to your page and I think you write so wonderfully <3 I really hope your blog blows up!

I was wondering if you can write something fluffy and suggestive for Han <3 I love it when he leans in for a kiss but never actually does it, but what if you pulled him in for a kiss unexpectedly? The rest of skz know that you both like each other but they try to get you both alone 🥰

alright I see you anon.... so i threw this together in a couple hours, i hope it's everything you've ever dreamed of.

pairing: skz Han Jisung x gn!Reader

tags: reader undresses him kinda? light swearing, jisung is an IDIOT, fluff, suggestive? but no explicit smut, kithy kithy

wc: 1,541

Han Jisung is an oblivious man. Disgustingly, worryingly, hilariously oblivious. It’s honestly quite frustrating at this point, you have no idea how you’ve lasted this long without just straight-up murdering him. 

The problem is: you like him. Like, really like him. And he really likes you. His crush on you could be recognised by a stranger, just by the way he looks at you. Ask anyone and their mom, Han Jisung is head over heels (or maybe converse) for you. In the beginning when the realisation first dawned, you kind of got mad at the fact he’s never made a move on you, but your second realisation came with time: Han Jisung is kind of dumb.

Felix, his best friend, and the kindest person you’ve ever met, helped you devise a plan. You were going to bag Han Jisung. And if it didn’t work, then you were sure he should be put in the Guinness World Records for… something.

Tonight was the night. The guys were roughly 5 minutes from finishing performing their latest concert in Seoul, and here you are in their dressing room. It’s decently large and you relish in the crisp atmosphere created by the large air-con unit on the ceiling, no doubt that the nice, clean smell will only last a few more minutes until the boys barrel in, hot and sweaty. 

You hear them before you see them, particularly Changbin who is shouting, seemingly in a battle with Lee Know as to who will finally lose their voice first. Your bet is on Changbin. Felix enters after them, patting Changbin on the back and he catches your eye, a small smile tugging at his lips. The plan isn’t necessarily complicated, but the both of you think it may be tricky to pull off due to the nature of the people it concerns. Have you ever tried to wrangle 6 young adult men? Didn’t think so.

“How were we, Y/n?” Seungmin asks as he walks past you, undoing his microphone belt. A few of the boys look over expectingly.

“You were all wonderful, but I don’t need to tell you guys that.” You roll your eyes playfully, trying to hide the small fizzle of nerves as you realise what’s about to go down. 

“How was I?” Jisung makes his way over to you, standing right by your spot on the couch. He grins down at you cockily, the stage energy still flowing through him.

“You, Han Jisung, were phenomenal,” you laughed as he celebrated. As you watched him peacock his chest out a little, you neglected to see the knowing glances and smiles coming from the other boys. You also don’t notice Felix nonchalantly going around some of the members, whispering something to them.

Your presence in the green room is nothing uncommon, the boys comfortably changing in front of you, so you hardly respond as the boys begin their routine of changing, removing makeup, and packing up whatever shit they brought with them. Jisung is still jumping around the room, going up to Minho and teasing him about him slipping on stage. You think you see Minho attempt to slap his ass in retaliation, but Jisung narrowly escapes with a squeal.

Before you realise it, Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Seungmin are all leaving, conveniently saying something about removing their makeup at home. Chan and Changbin have surprisingly changed into gym clothes and you think for a second that they might be crazy for doing a workout directly after a show, but it quickly dawns on you that they are in fact, crazy, so you’re not actually all that surprised. You watch as they slowly make their way to the exit, the volume in the room slowly decreasing. Thankfully Jisung doesn’t seem to notice the abruptness of it all.

One of the stylists is still going about, tidying up some last few things, and asks Jisung if he could lend a hand lifting something out to the car. Fuck, your plan might just be a bust. Just as Jisung is about to agree, Felix cuts in.

“Actually, I’m just about to head out there,” he says, throwing the last things in his bag quicker than he was before. “I can help you.”

You notice Jisung look between the two and you think for a second that he may finally be clocking something. You watch as Lee Know slips out of the room, headphones on. 

“I might need help with my clothes, this zip on my back will be impossible for me,” Jisung says to the stylist, she’s about to respond, but you cut her off.

“I can help,” you try not to sound too enthusiastic. “We can meet you guys outside.” You walk over to them, with your most convincing smile. Felix practically answers for the poor stylist and he drags her away.

Suddenly, the two of you are alone. The air feels crisp again, but no less intense. Your standing close enough to Jisung that it could be entirely platonic, but you get to see the little details on his face: his eyelashes, the sweat still clinging to his hair around the edges. You kind of expect him to say something but he doesn’t, he just continues to remove the jewellery and other random accessories from his outfit.

You go up to the mirror next to him and start fussing with your outfit, running your fingers through your hair.

“You look nice tonight,” Jisung says from beside you and your eyes meet in the mirror as soon as he says it. A small blush creeps onto your cheeks. Damn it, how can Jisung compliment so easily?

“Do I usually not?” you deflect, laughing.

“You do, it’s just that you look more dressed up than usual. Usually, when you hang with us backstage, you’re comfier.” He says, easily. 

“Oh,” you think for a second that he’s finally caught on. “I guess I just wanted to look nice.” 

“Well, you do.” He ducks away quickly by bending down and beginning to remove his boots. You fall into a small silence as you lean back against the counter, watching him with something like admiration warming up your chest.

“Can you help with the zip?” He asks.

“Come here.” You nod, outstretching your hand, and he steps into your space, close enough that you almost instinctively part your legs. You take this opportunity to appreciate his back, his time in the gym not going unappreciated by you. As you lower the zip, it’s probably not a coincidence that you let out a small sigh as your fingertips lightly graze the smooth skin on his back. You think you see him tense.

Once the zip is undone, he spins around, suddenly you have a very shirtless Han Jisung in your close proximity. You try to avert your eyes.

“Hey, eyes are up here.” He smirks, chuckling lowly when you laugh. Leaning into each other as you laugh, you meet his eyes, something flickers in them. His eyes flick downwards, and immediately back up. This is it, you think, just a subtle move, a head tilted perfectly and you could finally break the barrier of whatever tension is between the two of you.

You hold his gaze for 1 second… 2 seconds… And it’s gone. His shoulders huff in a laugh, as he looks down in between you. Something like frustration flows through you.

“Han Jisung.” This gets his attention as his eyes snap back to yours, a little wider than they just were. You bring your hands up, grazing them up his arms a little, and you feel him tense a little, but he doesn’t look away. Your hands settle lightly on his neck.

“Are you going to kiss me or not?” You ask. He looks dumbfounded. You laugh. You watch the cogs turn in his mind, the sparkle in his eyes brightening slightly. He opens his mouth to say something. You don’t let him.

With your hold on his neck, you pull him towards you, and he goes easily. Soft lips crash into yours and your eyes flutter shut. You feel his hands finally respond as he places them lightly on your sides. It’s weirdly everything you’ve ever imagined, it’s soft and gentle and sweet, everything Jisung usually is to you. He pulls back from you, mouth parted in a grin.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Then why did you stop?” You say, chuckling.

“God, you’re so right.” He says and dives right back in, a little harsher this time, his grip on you moving downwards to your waist, gripping a little tighter. You gasp slightly at the movement, and he seizes the opportunity to deepen the kiss. Your hands move up into his hair, ruining it just a little in the process. It all becomes too much as you drag your hand down his front, feeling the warm, still slightly sweaty, skin of his chest. You pull back, your heart skipping a little as he attempts to follow. With a firm hand on his chest, you push him back a little, relishing in the look of his kiss-bruised lips and the blush creeping up his neck.

“We should get out of here.”

“God, you’re so right.” He grins.

taglist (lmk if u want to be added!) - @lethallyprotected

[here4kpopfics]

Put It Out | JJK

just a quick little something to put our minds at ease about that stupid candle. @minttangerines asked and I...I don't know, honestly. Here we are. I'm tired. Enjoy. Thank you beautiful @mikrokcsmos for the edits and being wonderful. 💜💜 also gonna tag @pamzn @minisugakoobies and @sugakookitty bc i can. hi i love you all.

Masterlist | AskBox | Taglist | Coffee? | Patreon

jjk x reader | fluff/stupiness | 1863 words | pg15 but really 13 but really who cares | Jungkook better put that shit out before his house goes down in flames.

“I’m gonna go live, jagi.”

“It’s two in the morning, Koo. Let army sleep.” You turn over in bed to see your boyfriend throwing a shirt on and fixing his hair in the bathroom mirror before turning back to you with a pout. 

The dumb pout that wins every argument. You hate it and love it. 

“I’m sure some of them are awake! I’ll make it a chill live. Put the galaxy light on and get a candle. They can fall asleep to it.” 

“Like any of them can fall asleep to you singing to them.” You mumble under your breath, getting up and grabbing your phone and a charger. “Let me grab something to drink and a snack first.”

“You’re gonna watch?” Dumb bunny smiles with the cute crinkles around his eyes. You want to kiss him stupid but you’re too tired. 

“Someone has to make sure you don’t do anything dumb.” You quip, quickly pecking his lips with yours as you make your way to the kitchen, grabbing supplies. You hear his feet following you and smile. 

“I don’t do anything stupid!”

“Unholy. Body roll. While not stupid, I'm pretty sure a good handful of people had heart attacks that night.” You grab your laptop off the dining room table, “Boxing. Moaning and groaning while on the floor and out of sight. Stupid only because you were out of sight and that led people to have ideas about things that only I get to experience.” 

“I wasn’t—”

“Yes you were. But it’s fine. I accept that you’re a flirty hoe, it’s who you are baby. Embrace it. Have fun. I’ll be in the room waiting for you to come back to bed.” You take a quick inventory of the room, making sure he moved anything of yours out of view when you spot the candle.

“Why the candle, though?” 

“To lighten it up in here…and it smells nice.”

“Baby, you have a ring light.” 

“Ring light doesn’t smell nice.”

You groan in defeat, shaking your head and walking past him, back to the room, “blow it out when you’re done!”

“Kay!” 

You settle back in bed, charger plugged in and a pillow acting as a laptop stand while you snack on whatever it was you blindly grabbed. You hear the music starting before you get the notification about him going live on Weverse pops up. You pop in your AirPods and get ready for a long night. 

You scroll through tumblr and Twitter as he finally appears on the screen, quietly giggling at everyone freaking out over specific songs and him and his hair. You can’t blame them, though. His hair still makes you giddy when you see it. 

A few songs in and you realize quickly what playlist he’s going through. The playlist you created together, tossing random shit that either reminded you of one another, was just a fucking vibe, or was just something you personally wanted him to sing because you knew he could. 

One of the very few perks of dating him that you participate in. 

But he’s doing that thing, that thing you hate. You do it, too. You’re not afraid to admit it. But it’s worse when he does it because he’s singing at the same time. 

He gets a little more than half way through a song, either reaching the second chorus or even the bridge, and then just skips to the next song. But not just the song right after, no. The man skips and skips and skips and skips, letting you hear a second of each song and getting excited before he skips to another one, repeating the process. It drives you mad.

Thankfully, it drives army mad as well, so at least you have that to validate your annoyance. 

You accidentally laugh out loud when he starts singing along with Leave The Door Open and you pray no one had heard it, watching the chat to see if anyone says anything. Thankfully, no one heard a thing and you relax, but only a little because he’s got the damn candle in his hand and he’s moving the melted wax around and you have to bite your tongue to suppress yourself from laughing again when the flame goes out. 

“Serves you right.” You mutter. 

He continues on with this “chill night” of blasting his music, getting more drinks, watching Hoseok’s new music video twice without saying a word, accidentally swearing while singing a Charlie Puth song, and unabashedly flirting with army again. 

You watch his mood start to dip when he gets to some slower songs, one that you put in when you were feeling insecure about your relationship with him. 

He looks exhausted as he talks about the current situation he’d been forced into with ‘fans’ not respecting his privacy and treating him like he’s not human and your heart cracks for him. Part of you wants to run out there, turn off the live and hug him. The other part knows he needs to get it off his chest. Even if he’s tipsy, it’s something that needs to be discussed. You can comfort him after. 

But of course, never one to let the mood be sad for too long, he switches to a fun more upbeat song and says he needs to go to the bathroom.

A few seconds later, he’s opening the door to your bedroom and leaning over your little set up and grabbing your face, pulling you in for a deep kiss. 

“I love you” the words fall off his lips quietly and you repeat them back without hesitation, smiling when he gives a shorter kiss before bolting to the bathroom. He comes back out, stealing some of your snacks and snickering at your reaction, throwing up a finger heart as he leaves the room. 

He seems to have woken up a little bit, but not by much from the way he keeps laying back on the couch for a minute or two at a time. 

“I swear if you fall asleep on camera…” you whisper at the screen, glaring at the slow rise and fall of his chest. 

“I'm not going to sleep.” He groans, trying to wake himself up, “if I’m gonna sleep, I’ll tell you and get off but I don’t feel like sleeping right now, okay?” He’s whining which you know perfectly well he’s about to fall asleep. He turns into a toddler, confused and upset that his body would betray him like this. 

Not even five minutes later he’s picking up the candle again, placing it in front of the camera for aesthetic reasons, you’re sure. 

“I’m gonna rest a bit. Just a few minutes. Promise.” He disappears out of sight and you’re sure he’s laying down. 

Aw, fuck. He’s gonna sleep on camera.

You wait five minutes and then you hear it, clear as day in your AirPods, the sound of his snoring. It’s so light, but so very obvious your boyfriend has fallen asleep on camera and millions of people are now watching him. Although, not really watching him, because he’s off camera. But it’s close enough! 

You quickly send a text to Taehyung, praying he’s still awake. 

Y/n: Koo fell asleep on camera. What do I do?

Tae: you have to end it or I’ll see if any of the team can…did he really fall asleep? 

Y/n: yes! And he has a stupid candle burning still right next to his phone. I can’t go out there until it’s over. 

Tae: oh my god he’s going to get so much shit for this from us, that’s amazing. 

Tae: I’ll call and see if anyone can turn it off, but I doubt it since it’s four in the morning. Try to do it in the meantime. 

You groan, tossing your phone to the side and looking back at your laptop. He’s still asleep. And that candle is still burning. The chat is yelling about it, tumblr and Twitter are both freaking out about it. 

Fuck. You’re gonna have to do something about it. You take out the AirPods, getting back out of bed and throwing one of his sweaters on as well as his sweatpants. 

You quietly and slowly open the door, thankful the door can’t be seen from that angle on the stream, and slowly drop to the floor. 

Time to mission impossible this shit. 

Using the sweater and pants, you’re able to softly glide on the floor that you’re very thankful was cleaned earlier today and Bam wasn’t here to ruin. You make your way behind the couch until you’re on the opposite side of his phone. He’s just off to the side, very clearly out of sight and you sneak up on the floor next to the couch, keeping yourself hidden. 

“Baby?” You whisper it as quietly as you possibly can manage, but he doesn’t respond except with a soft whimper of a snore. He’s too adorable.

The sound of the tv going into sleep mode makes you jump. 

You can’t wake him up without either making noise or him saying your name when he wakes. So you sneak away from him again, creeping directly behind his phone and reaching around, trying to keep your finger out of sight as you tap where you're sure the end live button is located. You stay sitting behind the camera, grabbing your phone and checking if the live is off, and thank god it is. 

You stand up, blowing out the candle and taking it to the kitchen to set it somewhere safe. You turn off the galaxy light and make your way back to your tired and dumb boyfriend, crawling on top of him. 

“Jungkoooookie. Baby. Wake up, dumb dumb.” 

He groans in annoyance, and as suspected, the first thing he says is your name.  

“Y/n? I’m live right now. You can’t be out here.” He whines, but his hands find their home on your thighs, squeezing softly. 

“I ended it, you goober. You fell asleep on camera. Snoring and everything.” You grin, cradling his face in one hand and kissing his nose. “Come on, let’s get you to a real bed.” 

“Here’s good.” He says, pulling you down to him and flipping you both on your sides. 

“Nuh-uh. To the bed, mister. You’ll thank me in the morning.” You reach out, patting his butt and laughing when he bucks his hips once towards yours. “Not that either. Let’s go.” 

You climb out of his grip, pulling him off the couch and grabbing his phone, leading him to the bedroom. You quickly remove your stuff and he quite literally flips over onto the bed while you plug his phone into your charger. 

You have to maneuver him to get under the blankets, doing so yourself when he’s finally in bed, getting comfortable when a giant tattooed arm reaches around your waist, dragging you to have your back against his chest.

“Goodnight, jagi.” A small kiss on your temple. 

“Goodnight, dumb boy.” Your free hand wraps around the hand on your waist and you both fall asleep. 

He’s gonna be in so much trouble when he wakes up.

Booga Booga I'm tired

[azurlily]

Dont ask where this came from, but I was tired and came across a tumblr post abt means lesbians. My first thought was, mean lesbian gf smut???." So now you get: Mean Lesbian NSFW!

She's a bit of a yandere, but that's okay we love her anyways.

TW: The three G's. Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss!

Mean Lesbian

NSFW

[ML stands for Mean Lesbian, I dont have a name for this character yet.]

The whole Mean lesbian stereotype never fit in my eyes, I mean becoming nice for the sake of your girlfriend? Yeah no, how about making your girlfriend worse than you, for the sake of yourself? That's right up my alley, but when you like a girl that's as sweet as apple pie...it takes time to get her to your pace.

"All I'm saying is that she deserved it, I don't care if people think I'm doing it because I like her. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. She was flirting with you."

Very recently a bunch of nude pictures of some random girl had gotten out around school. The culprit being none other than ML, she'd been out snd proud about it. Knowing damn well no one could, nor would do shit. Her daddy has money, her moms a lawyer, how are you meant to fight someone like that?

You aren't, and that's the point. No on is meant to be able to fight someone with power like that. So no one does, and ML likes it that way. No matter how much her sweetheart disagrees.

Quiet whimpers and soft sighs bang around the room, while ML was having her little monologue her girlfriend was in a sticky situation.

On her knees, head laying against ML's thighs, a thick ball gag in her mouth, and pink silk adorning her skin. Soft cries attempt to leave the girls mouth, although it's all in vain. ML runs her hand through the girls hair, and dark smirk on her face.

"Oh pretty girl, my baby girl. You look beautiful you know, you look like a piece of art. Ready to be torn in two, just for me..."

Fake innocence runs thickly in her voice, she wants you to think she pitys you. She wants your dumb brain to think she cares,(which she does) think she loves your weak, useless body.

ML's hand grab at your body, slowly pulling you up on the bed. She's picked up heavier girls than you, she used to be a cheerleader and then she didn't even enjoy picking them up. She gently sets you up, just on her lap. Soft hands running up and down your back, up and down your ass.

Her face is bright red, while ML has had plenty of girls in her bed before, you're her favorite. Which is exactly why she made you her public girlfriend a while ago. Well, you don't know you're her girlfriend, but everyone else does. That's good enough for her!

You feel two long fingers press against your entrance, her long slender fingers scoop up some of your slick. She puts the two fingers in her mouth and sucks on them. She continues this activity by rubbing you with her fingers, giving you just the tiniest sparks of pleasure. Then taking it all away as she tastes you.

You whine louder and louder, you like foreplay but this was too much. You'd pass out before even getting to actually cum as this rate! You whine and attempt to move around, quickly remembering how she has you tied up.

Your arms tied behind your back, your feet tied but not your legs. She wants easy access, one of the rops running down your back onto your ass. And tightly around your chest. ML mentally praises herself for such amazing work.

ML hears your whines and sees your breaking point arising.

"Oh, I know baby, you wanna cum so badly! So let's make a game out of this, I'm going to take that pretty gag off and ask you a few questions. For everyone you get right; I fuck you more. For every wrong answer; I spank you. Seem fair?"

ML didn't wait for you to nod your head, she took the gag off and asked the first question:

"Am I better at fucking you than your exes?"

You feel two long finger slide inside of you, while her other hand is on your ass. She's just waiting for a wrong answer, or maybe she's waiting to reward you...

"Y-yes you're better than them!"

You answered as honestly as possible, and you were greatly rewarded for it. You feel her fingers pump in and out of you, you whine loudly as moves them through you at a painstaking slow pace. She slows even more as she asks the second question:

"Good answer. Second question is easy: would you ever cheat on me...or have you?"

Cheat? You two aren't even dating, right? Right? You ponder for a second too long and a sharp hand slams down on your ass. Your cry out, but it doesn't matter and she does it once more. After the second time she stops, you don't dare move or speak for that matter. Her fingers stop and you almost cry at the loss, you dont though because you know what would happen.

"You took too long to answer, I'm talking it as a yes. And because of that I'll be asking something different for my third question. Were you actually flirting with that girl, hm? Or did I just take it the wrong way and...accidentally ruin her reputation?"

There wasn't any anger in her voice, quote the opposite, she was happy and you knew damn why. You've seen how obsessed she gets over someone, you're the example after all. The worst part is that you hated that girl, that's exactly why you were in fact flirting with her. You knew exactly what she would do, and you loved it.

"I- I was flirting with her, why are you jealous? Green isn't a good color on you-"

She gently flicks you on the back of your head, you don't need to look up to know the look on her face. Angry with a hint if pride.

"Hm, wrong answer."

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 3

Ch 1 Ch 2 ao3 link

*Eddie - 1986*

Eddie wasn’t dumb enough to break into a house in Hawkin’s wealthiest neighborhood in broad daylight, so he came back later that night once it was fully dark. Steve’s house backed up to the woods, so he parked a few streets over, where his beat up van would be a little less conspicuous, and snuck through tree-lined backyards until he reached the Harrington place.

He came alone. The kids would be mad when he told them about this, if he ever told them about this, but he wouldn't risk any of them being involved if he somehow got caught. 

Eddie tried the back door first, thinking it might be kept unlocked for showings. No such luck. Looking at the flimsy lock, he thought about it for a moment because honestly, sliding glass doors are super easy to break into, but he decided it would be best not to leave any evidence that someone had been here.

Windows were next, and after trying several along the back and side of the house, he finally found one that was unlocked. Jackpot. It was tiny, and looked like it led into a laundry room. He took off his leather jacket and battle vest, knowing it would be easier to squeeze through without the extra bulk. He tossed them both behind a nearby bush and hauled himself up through the small opening.

Eddie’s not sure he’d be able to accurately describe just how creepy it was walking around Steve Harrington's empty house, if anyone ever asked. It was dead silent, dark, and the little remaining furniture was covered in white sheets. It made him jumpy, he kept expecting something to pop out at him, like a bad horror movie. 

It only got worse as he explored. 

There was nothing to see, as far as he could tell, on the first floor. Not that Eddie knew what he was looking for, exactly. He figured he’d know it when he saw it. Shivering slightly, he headed up to the second floor, where all the bedrooms were likely to be. 

An odd sense of deja vu overcame Eddie for a moment as he looked down the hallway. He shook it off, knowing it was just him scaring himself. The first two doors led to an empty bedroom and bathroom, respectively. There wasn’t so much as a toothbrush left behind in the bathroom and every surface was spotless. The third one he tried is where things got…strange.

He opened the door quickly, expecting to find another empty room and move on. Instead, he found the fully furnished bedroom of a teenage boy. Eddie’s jaw dropped. The bed was made up with a dark blue comforter, and nestled between the two thick pillows was a small well-loved brown teddy bear. It looked like one of those generic stuffed toys you might pick up at the last minute in a hospital gift shop. 

A low dresser sat against the wall opposite the bed, along with a bookshelf that held more model cars than novels. There was a wooden desk and swivel chair, and hanging from the back of it was Steve’s old letterman jacket. Eddie turned slowly around the room, taking it all in. Apart from it being a little too neat for your average 18-year-old, and the frankly atrocious wallpaper, it’s exactly what Eddie imagined Steve's space to look like. 

If he didn’t know better, and if the rest of the house wasn’t deserted, he’d think Steve had just stepped out for the day, that he might be back any minute. Eddie wondered why the boy’s things had been left like this, and what would happen to it all when the house sold. Out of morbid curiosity he checked the drawers and closet. Both were full of familiar looking jeans, sweaters, and polo shirts. Jesus, the whole room was a goddamn time capsule. He wasn’t sure if any of this amounted to a clue or anything, but it was definitely the kind of weird shit he was looking for.

Reluctantly, he left the room to explore the rest of the floor. There were two more doors to try. One led to the master suite, as bare as the rest of the house, the last opened up to a set of attic steps. Eddie wasn’t a big fan of attics, they tended to have bats, another thing he wasn't a big fan of, contrary to what his tattoo might imply.

It was dark on the stairs, and he cursed himself for not bringing a flashlight. It seemed like a reasonable decision at the time, he hadn’t wanted to risk someone seeing his light through a window and calling the cops, but it was almost pitch black up there. 

It wasn’t as empty as the rest of the place, he could make out the shape of several boxes stacked in one corner and a small bed frame or cot along another wall. He tried to walk around a little, but quickly ran into a beam and almost knocked himself out. 

Deciding it was too hazardous, and since he couldn’t see anything anyway, Eddie turned back towards the way out. He tripped over something and bent to pick it up. It felt like a book of some kind. He was curious but couldn't see shit, so he tucked it under his arm and went back down the steps. He'd get a better look at it later, in the light. 

It was definitely time to go, he’d already been in the house for much longer than he planned to be, but as he passed Steve's door again, Eddie felt compelled to take one more look. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw headlights turning into the Harrington’s driveway. Shit.

Eddie ducked down. It was unlikely that whoever it was would notice him in a second story window, but better safe than sorry. He had to get out of there in case whoever it was decided to come inside. Who on earth would be viewing a house this late at night? No, it had to be something else. 

As Eddie crouch-walked out of the room, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Steve's jacket. It was stupid, impulsive, and someone would almost certainly notice its absence, but he couldn’t stop himself from grabbing the thing and taking it with him.

He hid behind a half wall in the living room until he heard the car and its mystery driver pull away. Not feeling like climbing through a window again that night, Eddie left through the back, though he was unable to lock it from the outside. He’d already broken all the rules, so what was one mysteriously unlocked door.

Walking around to the side of the house, he went straight to the bush where he had stashed his jacket and vest, but they were gone. Motherfucker, he was so screwed! Eddie might not have been caught red handed, but he knew that his vest stood out, it was personal. If whoever found it was curious enough, they could easily find out who it belonged to. He didn’t waste anymore time looking, if he stayed here it’d only up his chances of getting snagged. He took off through the trees and sighed in relief when he finally reached his van. 

It was after midnight when Eddie got back to the trailer. Wayne was working so at least he didn’t have to explain where he’d been. He set the two items he’d stolen down on the bed to look them over, going for the book first. It was an old Jcpenney Christmas catalog dated December 1983. Tucked in between its pages was a purple marker with some kind of pink fuzzy puff ball thing on the end of it. Too juvenile to belong to Steve’s mom, and he was sure the guy hadn’t had any siblings. Maybe a younger female cousin had left it behind? He supposed it could be Steve’s, he wasn’t one to judge, but he’d be surprised. Eddie flipped through the pages, taking note of the items that had been marked. A lot of girl’s clothes, some pretty pillows and blankets, more stuff for a bedroom, but also nail polish and a friendship bracelet kit.

It was curious. He didn’t know what to make of it, and although it probably had nothing to do with Steve's case, he still tucked it safely away in his nightstand drawer when he was done looking through it. Just in case.

He picked the jacket up next and held it up to his face, breathing in deeply through his nose. It was faint, but he could smell Steve's cologne on it. He didn’t know what it was called, only that Steve had been wearing the same fragrance since junior high. Eddie would recognize it anywhere. Under that was the faint odor of cigarettes, and sure enough, when he dug into the pockets there was an old pack with two very dried out cigs left inside. 

Damn Harrington, I didn't know you smoked, Eddie thought. Little bit of bad boy in you after all, wasn’t there? 

He checked the other pocket and pulled out a single polaroid photo. Eddie’s breath caught in his throat as he looked down at the face he hadn’t seen in over two years. 

Steve was pulling a goofy grin, no doubt for the amusement of the little girl who joined him in the photo. She smiled wide, eyes practically shining with happiness. She had dimples, and very little hair. Eddie didn't recognize her, but something about the girl was familiar, like he'd seen those eyes before. He wondered if she was the person the puffy pen belonged to, and who she was to Steve. 

He took out his wallet and stuffed the photo inside for safe keeping. The jacket, he folded carefully and tucked under a stack of junk in his closet to keep it hidden. 

-

Eddie slept in late the next morning. On top of going to bed well past one in the morning, following his criminal escapades, he’d spent the whole night running from one weird dream to another. All of them starring Steve and the mystery kid from the photo. It’d been a while since he dreamed of Steve, though it used to be quite a common occurrence. It made sense, Eddie figured, he’d been so fixated on Steve lately, it was no wonder the boy was haunting his dreams again.

Rolling out of bed, he threw on the first items of clothing he could find. Normally he wouldn’t bother until after coffee, but the boys were coming over today and they didn’t exactly respect things like decent visiting hours, or knocking on doors. The last thing he needed was Dustin and all his friends busting into the trailer to find Eddie standing in the kitchen in nothing but his holey underwear. 

When he did finally step out of his room, he was doubly grateful that he had taken the time to get dressed. Sitting on the living room couch was uncle Wayne, who should have been sleeping, all of the younger boys, and chief Jim Hopper, who was holding Eddie's leather jacket and battle vest in his hands. He didn’t know how he hadn’t heard this many people in the small trailer, he must have really been out of it. 

All eyes fell on Eddie when he entered the room. The boys were sulking, Wayne looked worried and Hopper… well, Eddie didn’t know the man well enough to interpret his expression, but it looked a lot like Wayne’s. Which was weird. He had clearly been caught, Hopper should be pissed. Why wasn’t he being arrested right now?

Hopper rose from his seat and approached Eddie cautiously. He held the bundle of clothes out to him and Eddie took it, eyes wide. 

“I think we need to talk.”

*Steve - 1984*

The early days at Hawkins lab were rough. Steve was stripped of everything, given a plain gray sweat suit, and tossed into a windowless room on arrival. He could hear Eleven screaming his name over and over again, as she was dragged off somewhere down a long hallway. 

His accommodations were bare-bones. A small cot was shoved against one wall, covered in only a thin cotton blanket and a single pillow. There was a small writing table with a chair, and a toilet and sink sat in the corner. He spent the entire first day pounding on the locked door and demanding loudly to see his sister. 

He continued to beat on the door long after his knuckles had split and blood began to stain its surface. He screamed himself hoarse but didn’t stop until Brenner came by for a visit, and a warning. “I’ll remind you, Steven, that you are only here at my discretion, as a courtesy. I would just as soon have you killed as have you released, if you continue to be more trouble than you’re worth.”

He stops banging after that. 

Steve gave it a few days, but when there’s still no sign of El he started to panic. Not having many options, he briefly considered refusing to eat the meals he’s served three times a day, until he remembered that a hunger strike is worth nothing when your tormentors don’t care if you live or die. All he would accomplish is making himself weaker, and that wasn’t acceptable. He needed to stay strong, for her.

In the end, three weeks go by before the door opens and he is finally greeted by a set of familiar brown eyes. She was wearing clothing similar to his own and her hair had been freshly buzzed. The smile on Eleven’s face was dull, but present, as he surged forward to wrap his arms around her. 

He pulled back after a few short moments and studied her face. “Are you okay? What did they do to you?”

She didn’t answer, instead she took him by the hand and led him further down the hallway. Two men dressed all in white followed closely behind. 

They entered a room through a set of double doors. The guards remained outside in the hall, or would they be considered orderlies? Steve didn’t know, and supposed it didn’t really matter anyway, the bottom line was that they were being watched closely. Steve hadn’t seen much of the lab yet, apart from his own cell-like room, but after hearing eleven’s stories, he would know this place anywhere.

“The rainbow room.” He whispered, a little awestruck to be seeing it in person. It was just as she had described, the bright colors standing out in stark contrast to the white walls and floor. There were various games and activities set up at different stations throughout the room. Eleven went straight for the chess board and turned to look at Steve expectantly. He looked around for another minute, willing away the painful tightening in his chest, as he took it all in.

Finally, he joined her on the other side of the game board. “I don’t know how to play.” He said softly. 

“I’ll teach you.”

She patiently showed him how each piece was allowed to move. He didn’t really get it, but that didn’t matter, she explained, it was just something to make them look busy while they talked.

Steve inclined his head towards one of the cameras in the ceiling. “Can they hear us?”

El kept her attention locked on the chess board as she answered. “No, there’s no sound. Only video. If we are too loud, the guards might hear from outside, but otherwise we can talk freely.”

He followed her lead, attempting to look casual, disinterested even, as they spoke.

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to come see you. Papa wouldn’t let me until I agreed to help them put the monster back.” She said.

“Monster?” Steve asked, blood running cold.

“The day I ran away, I was looking for something, in the dark place..”

Steve nodded along. He didn’t really know what the dark place was, but he was used to this by now, not always knowing what she meant when she described something to do with her powers, but doing his best to follow along anyway. 

“I didn’t find it, but something found me. A creature, taller than you, and it had no face. Its mouth opened like a flower. I shouldn’t have touched it. It screamed, and I was so scared. I pulled away too fast and I think it used me to cross over to this side.” She maintained a neutral face but her eyes looked haunted.

It was so hard not to react, to concentrate on their game, when all Steve wanted to do was comfort her. 

“Is that how you got away? Because they were busy fighting the monster?” He asked.

“Yes. It’s been here all this time, they were able to trap it, but needed me to get rid of it.”

Steve ground his teeth. He could tell she blamed herself, but as far as he was concerned they brought her back here to clean up their mess. She wouldn’t have found the monster if Brenner hadn’t been forcing her to look for some mysterious bullshit. Why hadn’t they just killed the thing?

“I did it.” She continued, “but I was so tired after. I slept for a really long time. I needed to…” She trailed off. Her vocabulary had grown so much in their time together, but she still got stuck sometimes.

“Recharge?” Steve offered.

She let out a small smile. “Yes.”

“But you’re okay now? You’re sure?”

Before she could answer him, the doors opened and an unfamiliar man walked in. He wore a white coat over his brown suit, so Steve assumed he was another Doctor. Their time together was up, it seemed.

“Hey kiddo.” The man said, greeting El warmly. 

Steve bristled, moving to stand in front of her.

“Please, Steve. There's no need for that. I’m not here to hurt her.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the man dubiously. He didn’t believe it, but he knew there was no point in arguing.

The man shook his head and offered Steve a smile that, if he didn't know better, he would say looked fond. 

“I’m Doc Owens” He said, extending a hand. Steve shook it automatically, years of having good manners drilled into him making it a reflex.

“It’s okay Steve, I will see you tomorrow.” El said, stepping up beside him.

“Will she?” He was looking at her as he asked, but the question was directed at Owens.

“Of course, that was the deal. Eleven has agreed to continue our work in exchange for having you here, and getting a minimum of one hour of family time.” Steve had to squeeze his eyes shut. He would not cry in front of this man, but god did he hate this. 

“What exactly is your work?” Steve asks.

“You’ll have to speak to Doctor Brenner about that. I don’t know what I'm allowed to tell you. I’m sorry.” 

The thing was, Owens sounded like he meant it. Steve didn’t understand. Maybe he was actually a nice guy, or perhaps he was just a good actor. Either way, Steve filed the information away for later.  

-

He does, in fact, get to see his sister daily after that. He cherishes what little time they get together, even if he is frustrated at her new refusal to talk about what she does when he’s not around.” 

Steve also gets put to work, finally. It’s nothing exciting, cleaning mostly. He isn’t given a key card, for obvious reasons, so he has to be escorted to each new area when he’s done with the last, but it's fine. He doesn’t mind cleaning, had always found it therapeutic, and honestly he’s just happy to have something to do with his time because he was starting to lose his mind here. The new job also came with an exciting perk, the opportunity to learn the layout of the building.

Eventually, Steve starts having his own weekly sessions with Doctor Brenner. He imagines this is what therapy would be like, if your doctor was a manipulative sociopath, that is.

“I’m sure by now Eleven has told you what we do here.” Brenner began.

Steve had refused to speak at first during these sessions, but was again reminded of the consequences if he chose to be uncooperative.

“She hasn’t told me anything, but I'm sure you know that. I’m guessing you threatened her into silence with me?” 

“We both know that’s not entirely true. She told you about the creature, didn’t she?”

Steve scowled. “You’re right, she did tell me how she had to save your asses.”

“Now, son, It was her mess to clean up.”

Steve snorted.

“You believe she has done no wrong, but I wonder. Has she told you about the man she condemned to death by sending him into that place?”

Steve wasn’t dumb, contrary to popular belief. He knew what Brenner was trying to do, and it wouldn’t work. There's nothing this man could say that would turn him against El, but he never knew what information would be important, so he decided to play along for now.

“No, she didn’t”

“Henry was an orderly here. He’d taken a shine to Eleven, but it ended in disaster. More than one life was lost that day.”

Steve was at a loss for words. He believed in El, even if she had done what Brenner was implying, there must have been a reason for it. If it was true, she would tell him one day, when she was ready. He refused to let this man get in his head.

-

It’s been almost impossible to keep up with the days, but Steve is pretty sure it’s Fall the first time disaster strikes.

He and El were in the rainbow room when the alarm started blaring. They’d been having a good time laughing and drawing jack-o-lanterns with silly faces for each other. Steve wasn’t certain, but he thought it was near Halloween. As they drew, he told her about the holiday, and how kids would dress up in costumes and go trick or treating. He wished, as he did every day, that they were back home so he could show her these things instead of just telling her about them. 

The sound of the alarm is jarring to Steve, but Eleven looks stricken, terrified. 

Before he can form words to ask what’s going on, the two men who were tasked with looking after them today burst into the room. 

“Time to go.” One of them said, as he gripped Steve roughly on the arm. The second man grabbed Eleven. They were forced out into the hallway, where he shrugged off the man’s grasp.

“What’s going on?” Steve demanded. 

Neither of the guards answered or acknowledged that he spoke, Steve knew they wouldn’t. He was getting really tired of all this cloak and dagger bullshit.

When they reached his room, Steve was shoved inside. He expected them to move on quickly, to take El away, but instead he could hear the two men arguing in the hall.

“She needs to be put in her own room.”

“We’re in lock down, her wing is cut off from this side!”

“Take her back to the rainbow room then.”

“There's no lock on that door!”

“Fine!”

The door to his room abruptly reopened and Eleven stumbled inside. Steve could hear gunshots and men shouting. It was distant but still too close for comfort, and they were sitting ducks in here, trapped. Steve pulled El over and sat her down on the bed. She was shaking.

“Sweetie, please. Do you have any idea what’s going on out there?” He asked, carefully.

She was crying fully now, and he felt awful for pushing her. 

“I didn’t mean to do it, I told them it wasn’t safe!” She wailed.

Steve's stomach sank. “What isn’t safe, El?”

Her lower lip wobbled as she spoke. “I opened a door. To the place where the monster lives.”

It’s not good news, but Steve thinks if these people were able to contain the thing once, they should be able to do it again, right? He’s about to say as much, to reassure her, when the sound of many echoing growls reaches them. More than one creature then, great.

“Is that..” He trails off, looking at her.

El shook her head. “I don’t know. It sounds…I think they are something different.”

Before Steve could panic further, the door opened again, revealing a frantic Doc Owens. 

“Kiddo, I know you have no reason to help us but we need you. There’s too many of those things, and you’re the only one who can close the rift.”

Eleven looked at Steve for a long time before she nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“But, El, sending back just one monster put you down for weeks. What if..”

“I’m stronger now. It’s okay, you don’t need to worry. I’ll be fine.”

He knew he had no choice but to trust her, but he didn't have to let her go alone. “I’m going with her, I'm not letting her face, whatever those things are, alone.” Steve said, turning to face the other man. It was a statement, not a question. He was determined not to let her out of his sight tonight.

To his credit, Owens quickly agreed. “I understand. Come on, we need to go now.”

In the hallway, Steve asked to stop off at the supply closet. He knew better than to ask for a gun or something, but he didn’t want to run around empty handed either. Along with cleaning products, mops and buckets, the supply closet also housed some old sporting equipment, things that must have been leftover from the days when they had let the kids outside for exercise. Steve snatched up the baseball bat he had seen collecting dust in the corner, and the three of them headed for the elevator.

-

Steve was wholly unprepared for the things he saw that night. Like a pack of wild dogs, these smaller creatures, who shared the same flower petal mouths as their taller counterparts, guarded the gigantic pulsing red portal in the basement of the lab.

Several men wielding automatic weapons covered Steve and El as they boarded a platform that would lower them closer to the center of the opening. Steve’s head was on a swivel as he tried to keep his eyes on all of the creatures at once. He didn’t know how many there were, he tried to keep track but quickly lost count. 

More than once he was forced to wind his bat back and swing, hitting the creatures in the head with a sickening crack, as they tried to get to Eleven. As if somehow they knew she was here to stop them. 

Steve watched transfixed, as this amazing girl, who he was lucky enough to now call family, reached her hands out and screamed. She threw everything she had at it, as blood poured out of her nose in thick rivulets, and slowly the giant rift started to close.

Eleven swayed, and Steve was forced to drop the bat to catch her. She kept going as he held her up. He offered her his strength the only way he knew how. He held her,  kissed the top of her head, and told her he wasn’t going anywhere. He told her how amazing she was, and that he believed in her.

As soon as the rift was sealed all of the dog-like creatures collapsed. Unfortunately, before that happened one of them got a little too close and sliced its claw into Steve’s back. He ignored the pain and kept a firm hold on his little sister. 

When it was all over he lowered El to the ground slowly, careful not to drop her. She had passed out once her task was done. He worried for a moment that she had given too much of herself this time, but her pulse was strong. 

Steve laid down next to her to catch his breath. He only meant to rest for a moment but he was fading fast. He didn’t know how bad his wounds were, but distantly thought he might be bleeding out. He reached for El, so afraid to leave her here alone, and managed to drag her to his chest before the world went black.

Chapter 4

@penny00dreadful @buckleybarnes @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga @goinsteddie @brbsoulnomming @the-s-is-silent @paintsplatteredandimperfect @estrellami-1 @herebedragons404 @epiclazershark @iaminmultiplefandoms @adaed5 @mentallyundone @hardboiledleggs @hotshot9 @manda-panda-monium @ellietheasexylibrarian @stxrcrossed186 @5ammi90 @meccaminayah

[hockeyblogg]

Not Enough - F. Andersen

I'm afraid to say i'm officially back so i'm not going to :| however, I have been getting more inspired to write and I have a few works that i've been wanting to post.

this drabble is full of angst which is something i've been writing a lot more...and before you say it, No...this isn't a self indulgent fic lol. It's simply something I thought of when I gained motivation while watching kdramas

in whatever way you take this, i just hope you enjoy it :) it's been a while so forgive me...

Fred walked in your shared apartment, placing his keys down and wiping his forehead to rid himself of the sweat he still produced from practice.

He would have showered at the arena, but he hoped you’d be willing to shower with him when he got home, seeing as you both haven’t had too much time for each other in the last two months due to your new promotion at work and the Canes being in the playoffs, and now that it’s the weekend and you’re both free for the first time in what feels like forever, he’s been a little excited to spend some quality time with his girlfriend.

You on the other hand, had just finished packing an overnight bag and are now sitting on the edge of your bed, tears now dried on your cheeks with new ones threatening to leak over your eyelashes.

You knew your and Fred’s relationship was on the rockier side for awhile, barely seeing each other despite living together, having little to no time to say more than two words to each other. You knew it was getting to Freddie, but you also hoped that you’d pull through, like you always do.

You didn’t expect this.

“Hey elskede.” Freddie’s words made you jump, quickly turning your head to look up at his figure entering the room.

Freddie’s smile turned down, a look of concern washing over his face upon seeing your dried tears and red eyes, “What’s wrong baby?”

You could practically scoff at his audacity.

“Why don’t you ask Brady, you two seem to have gotten awfully close lately.” You mutter bitterly, wiping your nose and cheeks with your sleeve

Freddie’s heart stops for a second,

no…there’s no way you found out…

“Elskede, what are you talking about?” He’s playing dumb, he knows he is, but in his defence, he never thought you’d ever find out.

“Freddie please, the last thing I need right now is for you to lie to me, I already know…I just-I need to hear you say it.”

You’re practically falling apart in front of him, the news hit you like a ton of bricks, and you don’t know if there’s any hope for your relationship after this.

“Let me explain…” Fred started but paused when you closed your eyes and sighed defeatedly

“W-we were going through a tough spot in our relationship a-and I didn’t know what to do, when you said you couldn’t attend Mitchy’s wedding I was even more frustrated, and the guys wanted me to loosen up so-”

Catching his words, you cut him off, “Woah, wait-wait!”

Freddie stops.

“You mean to tell me…that this has been going on since Mitch and Steph’s wedding?!”

Realizing his mistake, Fred can’t say anymore, knowing he fucked up.

It made since now; the arguments about his lack of free time, the last minute “new year’s trip” to see his family, him being way busier this time around the playoffs than usual, having a newfound understanding of all your late-night workdays, his late evening workdays where you assumed practice ran later than usual…

“Oh my god…I’m such a fucking idiot!”

You couldn’t take it anymore, you gather your things and sling your bag over your shoulder, a fresh set of tears flowing freely

Fred moves fast, grabbing your upper arm, “No please, elskede you can’t-”

“I can’t leave? Not only did I find out you cheated on me, but I find out it’s been multiple times, since Mitch’s wedding which was what, in July? It’s fucking April you piece of shit!”

You push him off you and rip your arm from his grasp, “So yeah, I think it’s safe to say I’m allowed to leave you.”

Tears are gathering in Freddie’s eyes, and he finds himself losing control of his breathing, “Please, I’m sorry baby, don’t leave, I’ll fix this.”

He follows you out of the room, and as soon as you open the door, he smacks his palm against it, slamming it back shut

“Fred, move!”

You aren’t in the mood for games, but Fred isn’t willing to give you up this easily

Taking a deep breath, you will yourself to look in him in the eyes, almost breaking at the fact they’re even redder than yours, but you remind yourself this is his fault, he did this to you both,

“Just…tell me one thing…”

He puts his full attention on you, reaching to hold your hands in his

“Were they different every time, or is it the same person?” You’re honestly scared of the answer, not sure which one will make you break more. If it’s multiple, then there’s something he’s missing that you guys no longer have in your relationship, but if it’s just one girl, then there’s something he’s missing within you.

He’s quiet, and you’re searching his face for any sort of hint or giveaway. When his face drops, you have it.

“Well…” you muster all of the strength you have inside you, “I hope she was worth losing everything that we had, everything I sacrificed to build this life with you, a life that was so easy for you to throw away.”

You shake his hands off you, ripping the door open and leaving him for good, “Goodbye Freddie.”

Fred falls to his knees as soon as the door closes, letting out everything he was holding in.

“FUUUCK!!” He grabs the shoe rack in the closet, tossing it to the living room and hearing a loud crash to which he pays no mind, it doesn’t matter anyway.

Nothing matters anymore, he’s lost you for good and it’s nobody’s fault but his own. He knows he can only call one person right now, someone he knows won’t be upset with him, someone he knows he really shouldn’t call, especially right now. But Freddie is in love, or at least, that’s what he thinks.

Freddie is simply infatuated, he’s in love with the idea of what is, and honestly, what better way to take his mind off you than to call the one person he knows can do just that.

Picking his phone up, he swallows back all the guilt and sorrow he’s feeling right now,

“Hey Anna, you should come over…”

[fortune-fool02]

Home

Jason Kolchek x female reader

Summary: After surviving the horrors in Iraq, Jason finally returns home. 

Warnings: Fluff

Hey! Thank you for taking the time to read this fic, I played this game once again and am now ready to give love to this man. Please like, reblog and comment as it really helps. Thank you! 

The soft ticking of the clock was the only sound that filled the room. The usual bustling streets were silent at this time of night, or more accurately, this time of morning. Sleep evaded [Name] as it had for the past few nights. Worry gnawed away at her, a tight wire straining within her, ready to snap at a moment’s notice. Something that had become common whenever Jason left for his missions. They would call whenever possible, though she didn’t receive anything for the past couple of days; the spark needed to ignite her worry and steal sleep away. 

Jason was tough. Headstrong and focused. Just some of the traits that pulled her towards him in the first place. He was safe, wherever he was, he had to be. Shaking her head, she pulled herself out of bed and headed downstairs towards the kitchen in search of a drink, despite her body’s protest. Before she reached the bottom step, she froze. A light slipped past the living room door, falling along the bottom of the step and scaling up the wall. She knew she turned that light off before she went to bed hours ago. Panic quickly clawed up her spine, a flurry of questions hitting her. Was she being robbed? How did they get inside? Could she reach her phone without being noticed? 

Taking a calming breath, she tried to quell her rising nerves. She needed to calm down and think. With quiet steps, she tiptoed towards the door, trying to peak through the gap. All sense of panic was snuffed from her in an instant, replaced by a rushing sensation of joy and relief. There, sitting on the couch, was Jason. He was back! She practically threw the door open and rushed to him, unable to contain her excitement, her arms wrapped around him, catching him off-guard. His arms moved, rolling her weight off and over him and pinning her onto the couch, his arm to her throat.      “Jason! It’s me, darling.” His eyes focused and he was off her the next second, helping her up as apologises spilled from his mouth.      “Shit! Fuck, I’m sorry, love!” In truth, [Name] couldn’t give a damn about that. All that she cared about was that Jason was here, alive and well. Her second attempt to hold him was much more successful as his arms pulled her close, wrapping around her in a warm, aching embrace that both had missed terribly so. Fragments of dust and dirt, the smell of sweat and something old came of him, indicating that he finished whatever his mission was and came straight home without any stops nor anything along the way. Even his clothes were still a bit dirty. 

A part of this didn’t feel real. Like this was all some delusion caused by blunt-force trauma to the head. He feared it to be true, and that any moment now he was going to wake up back in that Hellhole, surrounded by those monsters, ready to claw his eyes from his skull. It was supposed to be a sweep for a chemical-weapon silo and it became the furthest thing from it; a nightmare that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Be it by Divine intervention or sheer dumb luck that they had survived that Hell and clawed their way out of its depths, and back to the morning sunlight.       The second Jason got back, he got the light on. He couldn’t sit in the dark, not when every little shadow was a shifting wing or distorted jaws reaching out to latch around his throat, to drag him back there. He was still struggling to keep his hands from shaking despite his best efforts. But now, that didn’t matter. He was home. Just as he had promised [Name] before he left. 

[Name]’s lips found his, pulling him into a loving kiss. His lips felt just as soft as she remembered. The warmth of his body more than anything the sun could offer. The sense of security, of protection, his embrace gave her ensured no harm would ever befall her, not while he still had breath in his lungs and blood in his body. With a smile, she pulled back, her hands moving up to gentle caress his cheeks; her forehead resting against his.      “I was starting to think something happened.” She confessed, gazing into his eyes. Something wasn’t right though. His soft eyes held this look to them, this sharpness that was not there before. A blackness forced over something deeper, trying to conceal it, to bury it deep down into a forgotten corner. It somewhat reminded her of the stories she was told as a child. The stories of men who claimed to have seen the Devil himself.      “Jason? What happened out there?” Concern painted her face, her voice quivering with worry. Her touch on him like a Summer’s morning. Jason simply smiled and held her hand in place, nuzzling into her touch. His body weighed down by a heavy exhaustion that filled every muscle.      “... nothin’ to worry ‘bout, love.”