#soon ill switch back to using my step and have her stand still while i throw it

[abirddogmoment]

This is a horrible angle but if you can look past her giant butt, you can see our steadiness training is coming along soooo nicely.

[jodilinbio]

We had barely been in the house a few days when a knock on the door jolted me from a sound sleep on the morning of January 5th, at 10:30 AM. I peered out the window and saw a cop standing at the foot of the steps. Right away, I feared something may have happened to Tom. This was just before he switched to working days.

“Yes?” I asked after I opened the door.

“Are you Robin?” the cop inquired.

When I told him I wasn’t, he mentioned something about wanting to get word to her that her father was ill, asked for my name, and then left. I was too relieved that nothing had happened to Tom to think much more about the strange visit.

The next day, another rude awakening came—this time at 8:30 AM. Frustrated to be woken up twice in a row, I groggily shuffled to the door. The same cop was there, but I didn’t notice the others, who were hiding.

I flung the door open, ready to say, “Hey, I’m not Robin!” I figured I could just show my ID, go back to bed, and move on with my life. But before I could say anything, the cop stepped aside, and in walked a Black man who had been hiding around the corner. His shirt read “Biased Crimes,” and I’d soon learn his name was Jerry.

He wouldn’t explain why he was there at first. He asked for my name, showed me a picture of Tom, and asked if he was my husband. I said yes, then asked how he got the photo.

He shrugged and said, “I’ve got pictures of all your relatives.”

Was that supposed to intimidate me?

They let me dress in the bathroom, then led me outside. That’s when I saw four or five cruisers parked outside—some from Pinal County, others from Maricopa.

All this for one person?!

While I suspected the freeloaders in Phoenix were behind this, I started to wonder if something bigger was going on—something I didn’t know about. Could it be more than the journal excerpts I had shared when we left Phoenix, where I made it clear what I thought of the neighbors? Yes, I had used some very harsh and controversial words. But those words weren’t because I hated them for their color; I used them because I knew it would piss them off, and I wanted them to feel as angry as they had made me for years. It wasn’t about race—it was about them. Yet, they saw this as a perfect opportunity to make it about race. Sadly, after the OJ Simpson case, this became all too common.

I was cuffed and placed in a Phoenix PD cruiser with two white officers. The ride to Phoenix felt like it took forever. Meanwhile, Tom, still at work, had no idea I’d been legally kidnapped. I knew he’d be worried when he came home and found me missing but I was later able to call him and get a cab ride to his mother and sister’s place. That was the thing about the police; they’d gladly give you a ride when they wanted you but would happily leave you stranded when they were done with you.

I tried not to worry, reasoning that it was just words on paper. But then there was this Black cop—Jerry—who, for all I knew, might hate whites and was using his power to spite me. I told myself that kind of thing only happened in movies. Surely, this wasn’t about power and control. He couldn’t be that corrupt or vindictive, right?

Still, the way he looked at me—with such contempt blazing from his eyes—made me wonder. I had been lied to by law enforcement before, more than once.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Jerry was a personal friend of Joely, and both of them were everything they accused me of being—full of hate and vindictiveness. I also didn’t realize how anti-Jewish Arizona could be, or how corrupt law enforcement was. Ironically, I wasn’t even really “Jewish” just because my family was. I wasn’t religious at all, wasn’t sure I believed in God, and saw religion as a bunch of silly rules and superstitions, often narrow-minded, especially toward women and gays.

The scariest part of the whole ordeal was realizing that if this could happen to me, an ordinary person, it could happen to anyone. More and more people were being framed or jailed for petty or trumped-up charges, while real criminals walked free with barely a slap on the wrist.

Minorities were gaining the upper hand in the courts, especially after the L.A. riots. Judges were afraid to rule in favor of whites when minorities were involved—fearful of riots or accusations of racism. Because I was white and Jewish, I suffered greatly, as did Tom. Hurting me meant hurting him too. Tom would have to spend six lonely months apart from me, forced to take on both my responsibilities and his own.

Looking back, I regret being so polite and cooperative with Jerry once at the station. I should have kept my mouth shut and demanded he either charge me or let me go. That probably would’ve angered him enough to book me on the spot, but it didn’t matter—I was destined to end up in jail anyway.

I didn’t realize until nearly a year later, after my sentencing, that I had been convicted of sending a threatening letter. I had been tricked into pleading guilty to something I wasn’t even charged with because I was led to believe the case was about the journal excerpts, not this letter. This letter that either came from someone else they had crossed or was to frame me when Jerry handed it to me to ask if I had seen it, ultimately getting my fingerprints on it.

It still stuns me to this day that I spent six months in county jail, followed by years of probation, all because of a letter. Even if I’d been 100% guilty, it was a ridiculously harsh sentence, and anyone can make threats. But what’s that saying about actions speaking louder than words? No one was forced to read anything I actually did send.

So there I was, sent to jail in late October of 2000 for nothing more than words. First, Jerry told me the case would be dropped, then a public defender assured me I’d only get probation.

My probation was supposed to end in October 2003, and the minor felony dropped to a misdemeanor. But much to my surprise, my probation officer, Scot, told me I was off probation in May 2002, and in the end, I was vindicated.

But it was too late. The damage had already been done, and I had no intention of forgiving anyone involved. This paled in comparison to when my sister Tammy called the police on me after I wrote a threatening letter to her ex, who had been abusing my niece. I was stunned when she took his side after everything he supposedly put her and her daughter through.

I blamed my sister for my legal troubles just as much as I blamed the freeloaders and the corrupt cops, lawyers, and courts. After all, when the cop came to talk to me about Tammy’s complaint, he found, to my shock, that there was a Failure to Appear warrant out for me. I had no idea it existed because we didn’t have mail service where we lived. We had to pick up our mail from a PO box. If it weren’t for her, that warrant would have eventually expired, and I wouldn’t have gone through the hell I did.

She always denied calling the cops, even though it was a no-brainer that she was involved, especially since the cop mentioned her name as the main complainant. The only thing we weren’t sure of was how she got our address because we never told her where we moved to. I cut ties with everyone on my side of the family, including a few friends, upon moving.

[manjiroscum]

JASMINES

Character/s: haitani brothers

Warnings: f!reader, hints of sex, stepcest, fluff, bonten does not exist in this timeline, mature language, all characters are above 18+ as always, poly relationship, and use of pet names. Minors do not interact.

Note: this is for bby aly @riszu 🥺💕 get well soon bby

Synopsis: Taking care of their sick little step-sister is what good brothers do.

WC: 1k

Rain, sunny, pouring rain, and another hot day was an assurance for one to feel unwell due to the constant change of the weather. Believing yourself to be healthy enough to avoid getting the usual colds that were going door to door in the neighborhood, you begrudgingly found yourself lying in bed, sick. Tissues up your runny nose that were drenched with snot that resembled the used condoms sitting in the bin next to your messy desk. A cool patch on your sweaty forehead that was far more uncomfortable than the aftermath of last night’s illicit activities. The regular agenda of heading to the university went down the drain since even the mere thought of making a letter of absence was making your head spin faster than your step-brothers could switch holes. It cemented your fate in staying in bed until you felt better.

Fuck my life.

Thinking back whether you caught the illness during the commute to work, the bedroom door slowly swung open to reveal a mop of purple hued hair cut short, still damp as a towel was hanging loosely on Ran’s shoulder while his own violet irises assessed your exhausted form. The shirt he wore was still unbuttoned while the tie he chose for today sat in his hands.

“You okay?”

“Does it look like I’m fucking okay to you?” you snapped before wincing at how your voice croaked in the end. Throat dry and itchy. Upon realization that you used a harsh tone to address your concerned step-brother, you sighed. “J-just leave me alone and go. No need to feel sorry for me.”

Already used to your cranky self whenever you were sick or your monthly visitor had arrived, your Ran lightly laughed as he made his way closer, sitting on the edge. His hand was cold against your head, touch so soothing that you were almost lulled back to sleep.

“Now why on earth would I leave my darling sister alone while she’s sick, mhm?” Ran softly chuckled, pulling his hand back and crossing his arms across his chest. Those limpid eyes raking your pathetic form. Silently deciding whether he should go to work or stay behind to take care of you. “At least you’re not acting stupid like Rin who still went to class when he could barely stand and was hacking his chest.”

“Fucking heard that, ‘ya know,” Rindou huffed, making his presence known. The ends of his lilac hair tied back while his bangs were clipped back. The furrow of his brows lessened at the sight of you, one quick to rise in question. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s got a cold.”

“Yeah?” At the information, Rindou sighed and trudged to your bed. He ignored your protests when he had you move to make more room for his huge stature. “Then why are you rushing around? We had sex last night, she’s now sick so that means it won’t take long before we also start coughing like it’s New Years. Fuck work, I wanna lay down.” Muscled arms wound their way around you, pulling you close to Rindou’s warm chest that had you groaning. “What? Don’t want cuddles from me now, angel?”

“But Rin, it’s already hot—”

“Nonsense.” Nuzzling his chin on the spot between your neck and shoulder, Rindou’s lazy violets met Ran’s annoyed ones. They may not have spoken during the bit where you were whining at the sudden act of affection—one that you were secretly happy for—but it was evident both of them were at conflict on whether who should go out and buy medicine. Sadly for Ran, his younger brother was quick to latch onto you and he’d be heartless to pry you both away. Still, going out of the comforts of the apartment and being out in the rain did not sit well with him. But what choice does he have? “Let’s just stay in bed, yeah? Ran could go buy our medicine, won’t he?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Bending down to press a kiss onto your forehead, Ran smiled down at you. The sight of it had your heart pounding in its ribcage and making your flushed skin even more hot as if he was touching you intimately under broad daylight. “Will be back in a few, ‘kay? If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask Rin.”

One nod was all you gave, giggling at Ran side eyeing his brother prior to his exit. Rindou huffed lightly at the action then grinned at you, his left hand caressing your thigh and drawing abstract shapes on the flesh. “Sleep, angel. Don’t let me distract or prevent you from resting. I’ll just be here, ‘kay? Gonna wake you up once Ran’s back.”

Relaxing in his hold, you breathe in the familiar soothing scent of fabric softener and hummed. “You sure you’ll stay at home? I know how having perfect attendance means to you…”

“Nah.” Shaking his head, Rindou’s embrace slightly tightened. “Taking care of you is a priority. Plus, Ran and I did a number on you last night that I thought you got sick because of that—this is the least we can do.”

Snorting at the statement, you stared at the window across you. Raindrops on the glass, the sound of pitter patter a sort of lullaby to have your eyelids fluttering shut. And sleep, you did. In the protective arms of your step-brother who was better company than anyone whom you dated. Wrong it may be, but you didn’t have the strength to tackle or question your relationship with the brothers right now. Probably you never will, enjoying their presence enough not to. And really, they were good to you.

Really good.

Rindou waking you up by pressing kisses all over your face while Ran enters your room with a bouquet of jasmines was proof of that. The sweet scent of the flowers alleviated the weariness off of you momentarily. A bag filled with medicine and other essential stuff placed on the nightstand. Yes, your step-brothers indeed knew how to keep you satisfied.

🎐taglist: @ranilingus @wakaslut @festive @marism @wakasa-wifey @zuuki @stffychn @keijisprettygirl @cryptred @tobidabio @leavemealonebutinpink @blueparadis @kamisoria @h-shibas @chloee0x0

[songmingisthighs]

Hooked

introduction pt. i | pt. ii | pt. iii

ch. lxiv - cowards

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??? × reader, ateez × reader

A freshman hookup rekindled into something new. With an incentive, of course. But what would happen if your 'relationship' led you somewhere you never thought would happen to you ?

After sending the last text, Mingi and Jongho didn't waste time and immediately rush to (Y/N)'s room. When they arrived, the door was ajar with Seonghwa standing inside. He was staring blankly around, seemingly confused.

"Hyung, have you been here?" Jongho asked, breaking Seonghwa's trance.

"Y-yeah, I did- she left? Just like that ??" Seonghwa asked, still not believing anything that just happened.

Maybe it was Seonghwa's guilt. The fact that his last interaction with you was him accusing you of being a whore didn't sit right with him. There was a lump in his throat and a heavy feeling on his chest. It felt like he was suffocating.

The three of them stood silently, not knowing what to answer.

As they stood silently, the other boys walked in one by one. Wooyoung walked in first with San in tow, they both immediately took note of the silence and just stared at each other with guilt.

One by one everyone else filled the room, staring blankly at the emptiness and letting sorrow and regret fill them.

"S-so that's it? She left us yet AGAIN after having just came back last night?" Hongjoong asked in disbelief. There was no malice in his tone, there were no ill intentions. He was shocked, surprised at the sudden tension.

Mingi turned to look at the eldest with much disdain, "After what happened to her last night, could you really give her blame?"

inking that Hongjoong felt wronged, as he thought his assumption was justified. To be singled out as such was a little bit too much. "Are you trying to be a hero here?" he asked the taller guy. Mingi scoffed at him, "Hero? You think I have some sort of a complex?" "I don't know, do you? I don't think it's a hero complex, but there must be some sort of a messed up complex in you. Because you've been all over the place and overreacting, acting like a mess when you can't find (Y/N) and yet not saying anything when she was here, letting Yeosang ran his mouth at her, driving her off,"

At the mention of his name, Yeosang spoke up from the corner of the room. "I drove her off? Are you fucking serious?" to which San, who was by his side scoffed, "Weren't you the one who verbally attacked her last night? Calling her out on leaving without any explanation was one thing, but to call her a wandering tramp?" "Okay, I was looking out for all of us. YOU especially, San! You don't know how much it affected me seeing you all broken down and you even fell into depression! As your friend, I was fucking worried!" Yeosang defended himself.

Wooyoung chimed in, scoffing at his long-time friend, "Looking out for us? From what? From who? The woman we love? If you wanna go off on her, that's one hundred percent your choice, but don't use us as your excuse. That's just pathetic, man," he told Yeosang whilst glaring at him.

Seonghwa got in between the two, preventing them both from going at it even further. "Okay, enough with you two, you both can't be fighting during this time. Yeosang might've said some... unnecessary things to (Y/N) last night, but things aren't completely his fault," he reasoned.

Surprisingly, Yunho chimed in, smirking at the older man, "You got that right," he muttered. Yunho's voice was intentionally loud enough for everyone to hear, but still low enough for it to seem snarky.

At his chime, Seonghwa furrowed his eyebrows at Yunho, "what's that supposed to mean?" Yunho stepped to Seonghwa while tilting his head as if challenging him, "Don't play dumb, hyung, I heard you last night. Here, you mentioned Yeosang calling (Y/N) names when you basically called her the same thing,"

Whilst the others were left confused, Seonghwa visibly froze. His demeanour changed to a nervous one.

"Yunho, what the fuck are you talking about?" Hongjoong asked.

Yunho looked to the side at Hongjoong casually, "I walked by when I was about to get water last night when I heard yelling from inside her room. Whatever they were talking about, I heard Seonghwa hyung yelling something about (Y/N) staying with guys other than her cousin. The implication was bad, I even heard (Y/N) crying,"

All eyes suddenly shifted to Seonghwa. "Hyung, you made her cry?" San asked, not able to completely believe that Seonghwa was capable of doing that to (Y/N).

Tension rose in the room and suddenly everyone was arguing with each other. All but Jongho who stayed by the sideline, watching the whole thing unfold between his older friends with disappointment in his eyes.

"What happened?" you asked him, appearing by his side out of nowhere.

Jongho sighed before crossing his arms, "They're blaming each other because you left again," he muttered. You frowned and furrowed your eyebrows, "But, I haven't left yet?"

At that, Jongho finally looked at you properly. His eyes widened as wide as they could go, "Oh, hey! You're still here!" He exclaimed loudly, capturing the attention of everyone who was bickering inside.

You stared at them weirdly, "Yeah? Why is that so surprising?"

Mingi stepped out towards you slowly, his hands reached out to grab yours in his softly, "W-we thought you had really left again," he told you, his voice broke from how glad he was.

But that relieved feeling was soon crushed when he heard your answer.

"Well, now I am. I was making sure of something and waiting for Haknyeon to come to pick me up. Since he's here now, I'm... Gonna go," you smiled at them gently. Despite that, there were clear indications that the smile you wore was one of a broken heart.

Seonghwa couldn't help but let his words slip without thinking properly, "You're going back with him and his friends?" to which Yunho immediately nudged him hard on his stomach.

You turn to look at Seonghwa directly. You shook your head at him before answering, "No, I'm not going back to his apartment. Wouldn't be right for me and wouldn't be fair to him. He's just escorting me to my old dorm where I will be staying," you told him. Seonghwa immediately gulped after hearing your answer. He felt bad for jumping to that conclusion, especially after you told him where you were going.

At this point, San had tears brimming in his eyes, blurring his vision, "Wh-why are you going again, (Y/N)? You just got back," he asked as he walked closer to you.

Seeing his tears, you couldn't help but get emotional as well. you let one hand off of Mingi's grasp to cup San's cheek, rubbing it gently with your thumb, "I just have to, Sannie, I'm sorry. I... Just came back up here to tell Mingi and Jongho directly that I'm gonna go now,"

Wooyoung pushed people away to charge directly at you, "Only Mingi and Jongho? That's it? The rest of us didn't even deserve your goodbyes?" there was no resentment in his voice, you noticed. His eyes, however, showed much sorrow.

You sighed and shrugged at him, "With how things went last night, I don't even know if you all wanted to see me again, that's why I tried making my escape as quickly and silently as possible,"

Hongjoong suddenly spoke up, "See, I don't think you wanna leave at all, because if you do, you wouldn't tell us at all and just leave,"

The way he said it set something off in you. Your previous calm demeanour switched within mere milliseconds as you answered Hongjoong bitterly, "of course I don't wanna leave. You think this is easy on me?"

Without realizing it, you slipped your hands off of Mingi's grasp and San's cheek. The others who were in the way moved to the side to let you face Hongjoong directly, slightly afraid of you, "You really think that I came back here just to leave the next day? If so, then not only that you're dead wrong, but you're also an asshole. Every single one of you is acting like I've only been playing around with you all, going back and forth as I please because I don't know what I want. You don't even know why I left. Maybe most of it was because I didn't tell you guys, but part of it was because neither of you even gave me the chance to even explain last night. All of you just turned your backs on me and walked away," you laughed bitterly.

Your words struck them deep. Because they were all true. You might have been the one who started the fight, but they were the ones who delivered the final blow. Not to mention they're male adults who should've been able to communicate and made better decisions. Lastly, there were eight of them and one of you, how was that fair?

The silence and the expression on their faces said a lot, you realized if you were to tell them everything, that was your chance.

So you took a deep breath and spilt everything to them.

You told them about the threat Sunhee gave you, the proof they had, and how they planned on ruining their futures. You told them about how you felt like you didn't have any choice and how you didn't want to make things worse so you just listen to them until you were able to think of something, you wanted to protect them. You also told them how paranoid they made you and how you almost went crazy from worrying over them whilst having to be worried over what those crazy bitches might do.

When you finished talking, you realized that the boys had had tears streaming down their faces. You could see their resolves wilting away and being replaced by regret and shame.

Without even saying anything, Wooyoung pulled you into his arms tightly. He cried, saying how sorry he was for how he acted last night and how he should've trusted you more. Yunho and San wrapped their arms around you too, despite the tears streaming down, they managed to utter how sorry they were for not doing anything. Soon, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Mingi, and Jongho attached themselves to the growing group hug as well, wordlessly showing their remorse. Despite their lack of words, you understood them just fine.

At that moment, you felt safe, you felt relieved that you were finally able to tell them everything. Things finally seem like they will go back to normal.

Maybe except for one thing.

You lifted your face from where it was nestled in the crook of Wooyoung's neck to meet eyes with the one person who was still rooted in his position.

Yeosang immediately looked away, an attempt you assume was to cover up his own tears.

Though heartbroken that he seemed to still resent you, you took the current win and let yourself bask in the warmth the guys were giving you.

You promised yourself then and there that you wouldn't act so carelessly anymore.

At least not without letting them know.

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[discoscoob]

Fires of Pompeii | Loki x Female Reader

Loki (Marvel) x Doctor Who

You and Loki meet each other while you’re both running for your lives through the streets of Pompeii.

Part Two | Chapter Index

Words: 10k +

Warnings: blood and injury

Read on AO3: here

You huddled under the arch of an abandoned doorway just off the high street, it provided you suitable enough shelter from the miserable rain which pathetically drizzled down from the night sky. The light from the street lamps, traffic and shop fronts reflected off the soaked concrete while in the distance you could hear the laughter and chatter of groups of people as they made their way to the pubs and the clubs, the night was still early for them but you intended to be home and curl up in bed within the hour but first, dinner.

 You warmed your frozen fingertips around the paper wrapping which contained a piping hot portion of golden chips from your favourite chippy. Just as you were about to pop one of the steaming chips into your mouth using one of those tiny wooden forks you only ever find in chip shops, something caught your attention and you paused.

 “You’re not mating with me, sunshine!” A woman gasped in a broad east London accent that you would recognise anywhere, it belonged to your auntie Donna, a fiery redhead with an unmistakable dialect. Reluctantly you dropped your wooden fork, with your chip still attached to it, back onto the pile of chips which sat on the wrapping paper cradled in your palm and you ran out from under the doorway to investigate.

 “A mate. I want a mate.” Came a reply and you turned your head in the direction the voice came from to find your auntie, half shielding herself behind the door of an old police box, while a man you didn’t recognise stood before her wearing a pinstripe suit with a pile of luggage gathered around his feet.

 “Well just as well because I’m not having any of that nonsense. I mean you’re just a long string of nothing, you know, alien nothing.” She asserted, now standing fully outside the police box.

 “Is everything okay?” You approached the pair, completely lost by the conversation or argument you had picked up on midway through. Upon hearing your voice Donna gasped your name suddenly looking like someone caught doing something they shouldn’t.

 “Oh chips! I love chips. Can I have one?” The man smiled and pinched a chip from your pile before you could even answer.

 “I can explain.” Donna offered and that is where it all began.

 Donna’s explanation had consisted of an elaborate story about how the man she was with, known simply as The Doctor, was the last surviving member of an advanced alien species which specialised in space and time travel and that he had offered to take her exploring with him through all of time and space. Naturally your initial response was one of disbelief, you questioned your auntie on how much she had to drink that night, then you quickly switched to concern wondering if this strange man had drugged her.

 Donna looked offended that you believed she was anything but sober while the Doctor was startled that you believed he had any ill intent and was quick to sincerely reassure you that he meant your auntie no harm and that he was more than happy to extend his invitation of space and time travel to you, either in order to prove what they were telling you was in fact the truth or to allow you to come along to ensure Donna’s safety.

 You were tempted by his offer until you found out that their mode of transportation was the cramped police box the three of you were stood in front of, the Doctor informed you that it was called a TARDIS, an abbreviation for something you were sure you wouldn’t remember, and that it’s appearance as a police box was merely a disguise however the function had stopped working several decades ago meaning it was stuck like that permanently. You questioned how all of you would comfortably fit inside, along with the huge pile of Donna’s luggage. Images of scenes from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure ran through your mind, the two teens faces pushed up against the glass of phone box which they were squashed into like sardines along with several prominent figures from history.

 Your concern soon developed into wonder after you were ushered by the pair into the box to find it was much bigger on the inside, and not in a ‘its size is deceiving’ sort of way where they cleverly maximised the limited space inside, it was literally impossibly bigger. You had to immediately step outside and circle the boxes perimeter to make sure it wasn’t attached to any walls but it stood in the middle of the street completely detached from any other structure or building. That is when you first started to believe that maybe what Donna had told you wasn’t so far fetched after all.

 Barely 10 minutes later you were rendered speechless as you were stood in the middle of a busy outdoor market, chippy tea long forgotten. Beneath your feet the ground was no longer covered in puddles or reflected the colours of the different city lights, instead you stood on cobble stone covered with dry sand and stray piles of straw. The black night sky was replaced by a flawless blue with not a single white cloud in sight as the heat of the midday sun caressed your skin. You were quick to unwrap your scarf from around your neck and shrug off your bulky winter coat and carelessly throw them back into the TARDIS without a care where they landed.

 “Ancient Rome!” The Doctor enthusiastically announced.

 Your eyes scanned around the bustling market once again and you took in the sight of all the people dressed in period typical clothing, tunics, sandals and such. The air way filled with the smell of fresh baked goods, scents similar to a barbeque and the faintest smell of horse stables. Some people who walked by were even wearing armour with long red capes draped over their shoulders, you eyed them cautiously as they passed.

 “Oh my god!” Donna gasped, grabbing your attention you quickly turned around. “It’s… it’s so Roman! This is fantastic.”

 You rolled your eyes at her dramatics as she threw her arms around the Doctors neck to pull him into a hug and he laughed happily with a proud smile on his face. You had to admit, you were impressed, more than impressed, you were astonished. You could hardly believe your eyes as you took in your surroundings, you would have believed you were on a film set were it not for the lack of a technology crew, cameras and director yelling at you to get out the way of the shot.

 “Hold on a minute, that sign over there’s in English. Are you having us on?” Donna spotted and you looked in the direction she pointed in to find a sign which read ‘TWO AMPHORAS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE’ and your shoulders sank and the prospect of being lied to this whole time.

 “No, no, no,” the Doctor calmly reassured her “that’s the TARDIS translation circuits, it looks like English. It works for speech as well, you’re talking Latin right now.”

 That certainly was very clever and convenient, you thought to yourself.

 The Doctor lead the way as you continued your stroll through the crowded streets in search of landmarks like the colosseum, the pantheon and the circus maximus. You were excited by the prospect of seeing these ancient landmarks in all their former glory but the Doctor appeared lost as he aimlessly wondered the streets with no sense of direction.

 A sudden deep continuous rumbling caused the ground beneath your feet to shake and vibrate, causing tremors to ripple through your entire body, almost knocking you off balance, while the pottery from the market stalls could be heard smashing as they fell to the floor and the scent of smoke in the air intensified. You panicked and grabbed onto Donna’s arm for balance, you caught her staring upwards her eyes transfixed on the sight before her. You followed her line of sight and your face dropped when you saw a mountain top standing tall over the small buildings which surrounded you, as black clouds of ash emerged from the top of it, your heart hammered against your ribcage and your grip on Donna involuntarily tightened.

 “Pompeii. We’re in Pompeii and it’s volcano day.” Your throat closed up as you heard the words leave the Doctors lips.

 Without another word the Doctor began sprinting back in the direction you previously came, you and Donna quickly followed on his heel. As all three of you dashed through the busy streets as fast as your feet could carry you, in an attempt to make it back to the TARDIS and escape the city before the volcano erupted, you collided into someone’s chest just as they were running in the opposite direction, your foot got caught on their ankle, causing you to trip and before you knew it you were heading straight for the floor with barely enough time to brace for impact.

 “Watch where you’re-“ You heard a raised voice behind you and cringed as you prepared to be yelled at on top of the humiliation of already tripping flat on your face, but his voice faltered mid-sentence and you cautiously looked over your shoulder to find a man dressed in modern attire staring back at you with a slack jaw and his brows pulled together as his eyes roamed over you. Obviously your modern clothes caught his attention, just as his caught yours and you could practically see the cogs turning behind his eyes, you were sure your expression mirrored his as you studied each other. You pushed yourself to your feet and glanced over his appearance from head to toe. His shoulder length dark hair was windswept indicating that he must have been running for some time, he wore a brown jacket with its collar pulled up, over a plain white dress shirt paired with a thin dark tie and matching straight leg brown trousers and on his feet he wore a pair of smart polished black shoes. He definitely didn’t belong here, you concluded.

 You barely noticed him take a quick glance over your shoulder before he grabbed a firm hold of your wrist and pulled you into a small nook hidden behind one of the market stalls and clamped his hand over your mouth before you could let out a single sound. You glared up at him to try and communicate how aggravated you were, only to find he wasn’t even looking at you as he was too occupied with searching the market with shifty eyes. So you gave up on your glaring in an effort to try and spot what he was looking for, that is when you caught sight of a man who stood out in the crowd, due to the fact that he, too, was dressed in modern attire. You could see he was searching for something, no doubt it was the man who had you pinned against a secluded wall with his hand over your mouth, for your own good you had to ignore the way your stomach flipped ever so slightly by that predicament.

 Once the man on the street was out of sight the stranger slowly removed his hand from your jaw and took a step back to give you some space. You were about to open your mouth to ask him what exactly that was all about when another rumble shook the ground beneath your feet and reminded you of how urgently you needed to catch up with Donna and the Doctor before the entire city was destroyed and you along with it. You had no time to stop and interrogate the stranger with all your questions such as where he came from, how he got here, who was that man on the street and why was he hiding from him and why volcano day in Pompeii was such a popular destination for time travellers. Perhaps you could bring it up with the Doctor later as he seemed to have all the answers. 

 You were about to step foot back onto the street and continue your sprint back to the TARDIS but the stranger had other ideas. He wrapped his large hand around your upper arm and tugged you back against the wall, with no concerns about being gentle and this time he managed to cage you in with both his arms placed on each side of your head.

 “Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was low and intimidating, as he loomed over you threateningly and stared at you from under his dark eyebrows but with adrenaline already coursing through your veins you were feeling bolder than usual and with your mind occupied by the imminent threat of ash clouds and burning hot magma, it would take a lot more than a deep voice and an intimidating stare to scare you into submission right now.

 “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you have somehow failed to notice that you arrived in Pompeii on the same day the volcano famously erupts and I think it goes without saying that I’m not too fond of the idea of being here when it does. So to answer your question I am trying to get back to the time machine that I came here in so I can get out of here before the city is destroyed. I advise you hurry back to yours and do the same.” 

 The man looked taken aback by your abrupt tone and you momentarily allowed a fluttering of pride to fill your chest but it didn’t last long before it was once again drowned out by the heavy feeling of anxiety caused by the life threatening natural disaster which lay just around the corner, both literally and figuratively.

 “The volcano doesn’t erupt until tomorrow,” the man finally explained once he regained his composure, dismissing your concerns. You blinked, contemplating whether or not to believe him. “But more importantly, I couldn’t help but hear the fact that you mentioned you have a time machine.” 

 “Of course. How else would I have got here? Don’t you have one?” Despite your positions you were beginning to feel less threatened by the man as your interaction shifted into feeling more like casual conversation.

 “It’s a long story.” He vaguely answered.

 “What about that man you were hiding from?” You suggested.

 “What about him?”

 “Does he not have a time machine?”

 “It’s a long story.” He repeated and you sighed with the realisation that this conversation was going nowhere fast.

 “Right. Well, it was... interesting to meet you but I need to get back to my aunt and the Doctor before I get left behind. Then I would be in trouble.” Donna wouldn’t leave you behind, you hoped, surely she was worrying about you right now, wondering where you were.

 “I need safe passage on your time machine away from here.” The stranger rushed to explain before you could duck out of his makeshift trap.

 “I mean... technically it’s not mine.” You awkwardly scratched the back of your neck, as you cleared up the misunderstanding.

 “You just said you have a time machine.” He narrowed his eyes as his expression grew dangerous.

 “I have access to one but it’s not mine. It belongs to the Doctor.” You quickly clarified.

 “Then you will take me to this Doctor.” He commanded, leaving no room for negotiations.

 “I don’t even know your name.” You hesitated.

 At this the man paused and finally took a step back once again granting you your personal space.

 “I am Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief and you will answer to my request.” Loki answered as he raised his head with pride and looked down his nose at you.

��There was a momentary beat of silence as you stared at one another before you couldn’t hold it any longer and you let out a snort of laughter.

 “I’m sorry, does that amuse you?” Loki look mortified and you quickly bit your lip to contain your giggles, realising he looked truly offended.

 “Wait, you’re being serious?” You paled.

 His quiet glare was enough to tell you he was not messing around and you looked down and awkwardly cleared your throat. Had you met this man yesterday you probably would’ve thought without a shadow of doubt that he was suffering from delusions of grandeur but today you were in Pompeii in 79 AD so your mind was beginning to open up to new possibilities, one of those being, meeting a God. Stranger things have happened.

 “Okay, Loki, God of mischief...” you began as you introduced yourself following the same format, telling him your name followed by the country you lived in and jokingly adding ‘mortal of existential crises’ at the end.

 “Don’t do that again.” Loki didn’t appear amused.

 ***

 “No, no, no. This can’t be happening.” You panicked when you returned to the exact spot where the Doctor had left the police box only to discover it had vanished, leaving no trace behind.

 “What? What can’t be happening?” Loki asked you from where he stood a few steps behind, his eyes were still shifty as he seemed paranoid about that man he was hiding from finding him.

 “The TARDIS, the time machine... it’s gone.” You could barely believe the words coming out your mouth, they couldn’t have left without you, Donna wouldn’t have left you behind. Unless the Doctor forced her, but no she would’ve fought him, you would never want to get on the wrong side of your auntie, she was a force to be reckoned with and the Doctor was no match, like she had said he was a long string of alien nothing. There had to be an explanation.

 “Are you sure that this is where they left it?” Loki impatiently offered.

 “Yes, I’m certain. It’s a big blue police box, you can’t miss it. He parked it right there.” You gestured to the empty corner with both your arms, before you brought one of your hands to your forehead while the other rested on your hip.

 “Excuse me.” You jumped when you felt a tap on your shoulder and turned around to find an older man with a head full of curly hair stood behind you. “I couldn’t help but overhear you’re looking for a blue box.”

 “Yes, it was stood right there,” you pointed behind you. “Did you see it?” 

 “I sold it. A young couple came looking for it not too long ago, I sent them to Old Caecilius’ villa on Foss Street, he’s the one who bought it, if you’re quick you might be able to catch them, I think they might try to steal it.”

 “Steal it? You can’t steal something that already belongs to you!” You complained.

 “Well, it belongs to Caecilius now, don’t it? After all he bought it off me fair and square.” The man haggled and you finally noticed that he was speaking with a rough cockney accent which was very fitting with his sleazy disposition, presumably the work of the TARDIS’ automatic translations, this offered you the peace of mind that it was still here along with Donna and the Doctor.

 “It wasn’t yours to sell!” You argued in return.

 “It was on my patch, weren’t it?” 

 You growled, ready to argue back but Loki quickly stepped in.

 “If you would be so kind as to point us in the direction of Foss Street and we will be on our way.” Loki charmed the older man with a polite smile and your jaw dropped at the contrast to the abrupt and arrogant attitude he had treated you with since your encounter began. 

 “Straight up there, big villa, can’t miss it.” He pointed to the street behind Loki.

 “Thank you, sir.” Loki slightly nodded his head before before he took a hold of the back of the shirt near the small of your back and began tugging you towards Foss Street, while you stared at him speechless.

 “What?” He finally snapped when you didn’t take your eyes off him.

 “What was that?” You asked as you shrugged his hold off your shirt.

 “What was what?” 

 “Back there,” you gestured behind you with your hand. “‘If you would be so kind... thank you, sir.’ What possessed you? You’ve been nothing but rude since I met you.” 

 “You we’re doing nothing but wasting my time by engaging in an argument with him and being polite was the quickest way to get the answer I needed so I could be on my way.” He curtly answered, never once meeting your gaze as he kept a vigilant eye on his surroundings.

 “Why is that man looking for you?” You wondered out loud a few moments later, finding his constant surveillance of the surrounding area concerning. If you were going to help this man escape, undoubtedly you had a right to know what you were helping him run from. 

 “He wants to erase my existence.” He answered so bluntly it stunted to silence for a moment.

 “Why?” You finally asked.

 “I’m a glitch in the timeline, I’m not supposed to be here.” He admitted but you were lost.

 “What does that mean?”

 “It’s a-“

 “Long story.” You rolled your eyes but you meant no harm, Loki realised, when he fixed you with a hash glare which softened when he saw your teasing smile.

 Your eyes quickly snapped away from Loki’s when you heard your name being called and found Donna running towards you, you left Loki to run over to her and she pulled you into a bone crushing hug once she finally reached you.

 “I thought you had left without me.” You admitted, as you snuggled into her embrace, all your emotions of the day finally overwhelmed you and you felt moisture building at the rim of your eyes. 

 “I’d never leave you behind, besides your mother would kill me if I let anything happen to you.” She assured you with a small laugh, she wasn’t exaggerating. “But where did you go? You vanished into thin air.” 

 You were about to answer her when her eyes fell on Loki who was quietly stood behind you with his hands resting in the pockets of his pants, his modern attire immediately making him standout to Donna as he did to you when you first laid your eyes on him.

 “Who’s this?” She asked, her interest clearly peaked.

 You invited Loki over by extending your arm and he stepped up beside you.

 “Loki, this is my auntie Donna. Donna, this is Loki. I crashed into him while we were running back to the TARDIS, he’s the reason I fell behind.” You glared at him accusingly and he rolled his eyes.

 “You found your very own time traveller?” Donna looked at you with genuine excitement, obviously putting two and two together from his outfit.

 “I am a God.” Loki narrowed his eyes, frustrated at his status being reduced to ‘someone’s time traveller’

 Just like you had, Donna burst into laughter and you awkwardly pulled your lips together while you waited for her to realise he was being serious.

 “He’s a bit full of himself but at least he’s easy on the eye.” Donna did a terrible job of trying to subtly whisper in your ear and you massaged your eyebrows in embarrassment.

 “I heard that.” Loki sighed exasperatedly, already finding your aunties lack of filter tedious.

 “Come on, let’s get you inside. It’s getting dark.” Donna put her arm around you and guided you into the villa, in an effort to run away from Loki’s glare. Loki followed a few paces behind the pair of you and he glanced over his shoulder one last time before he stepped through the entrance to the villa.

  ***

  As soon as you entered the villa you could see how grand it was compared to the other houses on the streets of Pompeii, it was obvious that the family who lived here were well to do. Everywhere you looked all you could see was marble, it covered the walls and floors and the room was decorated with various marble sculptures and other art pieces, Caecilius was clearly a collector. Sculpted pillars ran through the room, supporting the high ceilings and in the very centre of the room there was fountain. You thought it was a shame that it would all be buried under rocks and fire within less than 24 hours, but you tried to let yourself think too much about it as Donna introduced you to Caecilius, the man who bought the Doctors TARDIS, which you noticed was stood in the far right corner of the room, and Metella his wife, she explained that they also had two teenagers, a daughter, Evelina but she was sleeping and a son, Quintus, who was currently out with the Doctor.

 “The Doctor isn’t here? But we’re meant to be leaving.” You asked, your voice slightly raised in pitch due to your panic.

 “Something came up. Strange things have been happening, he just wants to make sure nothing untoward is going on.” Donna answered.

 “This Doctor...” Loki stepped forward. “He will return soon, yes? I am in quite the rush to leave.”

 “You’re coming with us?” Donna looked between you and Loki for an answer.

 “Yes.” He answered

 “I mean, if it’s okay with the Doctor.” You answered at the same time.

 Without warning the whole villa began to shake as tremors ran through the floor again, Caecilius and Metella held onto their valuables to stop them from smashing against the ground, it reminded you of the scene from Mary Poppin’s where Mrs Banks and the maids cling onto the furniture when the admiral sets off his cannon. You noticed that this time the tremors felt different, they weren’t continuous, they came one after another mimicking the rhythm of footsteps. Before you could question it, the Doctor came running loudly into the room just in time. A teenage boy, presumably Caecilius’ son, Quintus, followed close behind him.

 “Get out! All of you! Get out!” 

 “Doctor! What is it?” Donna yelled, she and the Doctor were holding onto each other for stability and that’s when you realised you had instinctively held onto Loki after the tremors started and he was holding onto you, the both of you stepped away from each other as soon as you realised. 

 “I think we’re being followed!” The Doctor explained, before his eyes landed on Loki and he took in his appearance.

 “Who are you?” 

 “Loki of Asgard-“ Loki started.

 “The God of Mischief?” The Doctor finished, his pitch raised several octaves as his face scrunched up in confusion.

 “Hold on, for real?” Donna looked between Loki and the Doctor, now realising Loki was serious about being a God earlier and in normal circumstances you would have face palmed.

 “You’re not supposed to be here.” The Doctor thought out loud and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a device the size of a pen and pointed it at Loki, the tip glowed blue and it emitted a high pitched bleeping sound as he scanned it over his body.

 “What is that?” Loki quickly jumped back, dodging the device in the Doctors hand and with a flash of emerald light he was holding a dagger in his hand, that appeared out of nowhere, causing you to gasp and Donna quickly pulled you to her side.

 “It is a sonic screwdriver.” The Doctor answered distractedly, not even noticing the weapon in Loki’s hand as he closely inspected the device with furrowed brows and mumbled something about not being able to get clear readings, but before he could allow himself to get too concerned over the matter, you were all reminded of the bigger problem by the sound of a loud clatter which came from inside the room, it was caused by the metal grid flying off one of the square grills.

 “Just get out!” The Doctor yelled at you all again, as he flapped his arms towards the doors but you were frozen to the spot, you could hear a sinister growling from beneath the floor, there was definitely something alive down there and from the cracks that were beginning to form around the grill, it was obviously trying to break out.

 Gradually a large creature made of magma and stone began to rise out of the ground, until it stood to its full height of about eight foot. 

 “The Gods are with us.” Evelina, Caecilius’ daughter, cried as she entered the room and her mother wrapped a protective arm around her.

 “That is no God! I am the only God present.” Loki seethed in offence.

 “Water, we need water. Quintus, Donna, all of you, get water!” The Doctor yelled above the growls which came from the threatening creature. 

 You were about to follow Quintus and Donna out of the room as they rushed to get buckets of water like the Doctor instructed, but Loki grabbed hold of your wrist and kept you by his side. You looked at him and pulled your brows together confused by his actions, but he offered you no explanation as he closely watched the beast which stood high above all of you.

 “Talk to me, that’s all I want! Talk to me! Just tell me who you are.” The Doctor cautiously approached the tempered creature, with his arms held out before him. “Don’t hurt these people.” He continued to try and reason with it, while it just continued to growl and snarl aggressively at him. 

 Quickly Quintus came rushing into the room with a bucket of water and threw it over the beast. A loud hissing could be heard, as steam evaporated around it, and the Doctor shielded Quintus with his own body as he backed him away from the creature which began to crumble to the floor into a heap of rocks.

 “Like I said, not a God.” Loki smugly remarked to no one in particular. 

 “What was it?” Caecilius shouted at the Doctor, quickly learning that he was usually the one with all the answers.

 “Carapace of stone, held together by internal magma, not too difficult to stop but I reckon that was just a foot soldier. Still... If there are aliens at work in Pompeii, it’s a good thing we stayed.” The Doctor pondered aloud. 

 “Excuse me, aliens?” Loki stepped forward.

 “Oh yes, I still haven’t figured out what you’re doing here.” The Doctor drew his focus back to the God, clearly intrigued by his presence.

 “It doesn’t matter why I am here, I only wish to leave.” Loki answered with a scowl.

 “Why don’t you just leave the same way you got here.” The Doctor challenged with raised brows.

 “I cannot.” 

 “Why not?”

 As you observed the exchange you saw Loki falter and his eyes cast downwards.

 “It would result in my death.” He answered truthfully.

 The Doctor suddenly looked upon Loki with eyes that seemed filled with familiarity and a hint of sympathy. 

 “You remind me of an old friend of mine, I think you would’ve liked him,” he paused as if imagining it. “Actually, perhaps not… your personalities would’ve probably clashed.” The Doctor digressed. “Since you’re not supposed to be here you’re welcome to join us on the TARDIS.”

 Loki’s brows shot up, as he seemed genuinely surprised that the Doctor agreed to let him travel on the TARDIS. 

 “We should be on our way, it will not be long before,” Loki glanced at Caecilius and his family who were all comforting each other after the ordeal they just witnessed, without wanting to mention the volcano out loud in case they might overhear he resorted to miming an explosion with is hands while adding a “boom” sound effect by blowing air through saliva at the back of his throat.

 “Not just yet, I need to- Donna?” The Doctor paused looking around the room in search of Donna and you began looking around for her too but she was nowhere to be found. “When did you last see her?” The Doctor looked at you.

 “She ran out when you asked for water, I didn’t realise she hadn’t returned.” You scolded yourself for not focusing, you should have noticed she wasn’t there.

 “Donna!” The Doctor shouted at the top of his lungs, as he began to run out into the street but before he could leave Evelina stopped him timidly.

 “I saw members of the Sibylline Sisterhood take her while you were confronting the beast.” She quietly confessed.

 “The who?” You questioned, completely confused, while the Doctor grumbled under his breath wasting no more time before he dashed out the door and you were quick to follow after him. Behind you, you heard Loki call your name as he followed after, but you didn’t listen, Donna had been taken and she needed your help.

  ***

  When you sneaked into the temple between the Doctor and Loki, who had caught up to you halfway, and saw Donna bound to a slab of stone, surrounded by a group of women dressed in red robes and one of them holding a dagger above her head ready to plunge it into your aunties chest, you were ready to attack, but the Doctor held you back before you could do anything rash and silent put a finger to his own lips to signal for you to keep quiet, his eyes silently assured you he had a plan.

 “Let me go!” You heard Donna yell above the voice of the woman who held the dagger. The Doctor quietly made his way across the room, ready to intervene at any moment while you stayed by Loki’s side near the back of the room.

 “This prattling voice will cease forever!” The woman yelled as she began to lower the dagger towards Donna.

 “Oh, that will be the day.” The Doctor casually commented, causing all the women around Donna to gasp in shock, while your auntie sent the Doctor and you a wide smile when she realised you had all come to save her.

 “No man is allowed in the Temple of Sibyl.” The woman who was clearly the leader of the group warned the Doctor, before her eyes also shifted to Loki.

 “Well, that’s alright, just us girls.” The Doctor joked as he made his way towards the women, while in the corner of your eye you caught a glimmer of green light only to do a double take when you found Loki had transformed into a woman.

 She sent you a proud smirk as you gaped at her with a slack jaw, your face full of confusion and astonishment.

 You turned your head back to Donna and the Doctor when you heard the sound of his sonic screwdriver, which he held above her restraints and they immediately fell lose, freeing her bound wrists.

 “I have got to get one of those.” Loki commented, her voice sounded more feminine to match her changed appearance, but it still kept that low and slightly intimidating tone.

 As soon as Donna was free she came running over to you and you gave each other a hug, when she pulled back her eyes were on Loki.

 “You’ve changed.” She stated the obvious as her eyes dragged up and down Loki’s new form.

 “I am respecting the sisters temple.” Loki raised her chin and crossed her arms over her chest as she answered.

 “Respecting the sisters temple?” Donna sounded exasperated. “They just tried to kill me!” 

 “I saw.” Loki offered no concern.

 “I’m just glad you’re safe now.” You quickly interjected before the argument escalated, you put your hand on Donna’s shoulder and moved yourself between the pair while you sent Loki a disapproving stare.

 “Show me this man!” A voice echoed through the temple, startling you and drawing your attention back to the Doctor and the sisters. Immediately they all turned and fell to their knees and bowed their heads.

 “They dare kneel before another being whilst in the presence of a God?” Loki seethed as her brows cast a shadow over her eyes.

 “And after you respected their temple n all.” Donna poked from beside you, feigning sympathy.

 You placed a hand on Loki’s chest to hold her back when you heard her grumble under her breath.

 “High Priestess, the stranger would defy us.” The leader spoke, being the only sister left standing.

 “Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake.” The voice echoed again, coming from behind a set of sheer drapes at the top of the temple.

 “Where do these words of wisdom come from?” The Doctor asked as he approached the voice.

 “The Gods whisper to me.” It replied.

 “If they’re hearing voices, it’s not mine.” Loki raised her hands innocently.

 “Might I beg audiences? Look upon the High Priestess?” The Doctor suddenly requested and the sheer drapes slowly pulled back to reveal a woman made of stone sat upon a bed.

 You watched closely as the Doctor inspected the Priestess’ condition, and inquired her about it to try and figure out the cause.

 “The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts.” The Doctor observed. 

 “This word... this volcano... what is that?” 

 “More to the point, why don’t you know about it? Who are you?”

 “High Priestess of the Sibylline!” 

 “No, I’m talking to the creature inside of you. I demand you tell me who you are!” The Doctor commanded.

 “We... are... awakening!” The Priestess spoke, but her voice had suddenly deepened and multiplied, she sounded possessed.

 “The voice of the Gods!” The leader of the sisters cried, before those who were on their knees before the Priestess began repeatedly chanting ‘words of wisdom, words of power...’ your eyes widened at the scene before you, Donna’s jaw was slack with shock, while Loki just rolled her eyes and appeared bored.

 “We... are... rising!” The possessed voice of the Priestess grew louder as she rose from the bed and stepped toward the Doctor.

 “Tell... me... your name!” He yelled back, mirroring her tone.

 “Pyrovile!” The voice inside the Priestess roared.

 “Pyrovile, pyrovile, pyrovile...” The sisters chanted.

 “And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor.” The possessed Priestess threatened.

 “I warn you I’m armed!” The Doctor yelled as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.

 “Is that... a water gun?” Loki squinted her eyes at the yellow plastic toy the Doctor held in his fist.

 You heard your name yelled by the Doctor as he instructed you and Donna to lift the grid off one of the grills, similar to the one the monster smashed through in Caecilius’ home.

 Without hesitation you followed Donna over to the grill and you both hooked your fingers into the holes on each side and attempted to lift it, but it slipped from your fingers since you weren’t expecting it to be so heavy and it crashed back into place. Loki quickly joined you and Donna to offer a helping hand and together the three of you lifted the heavy iron grid, while the Doctor continued to argue with the Priestess behind you.

 “Got it!” Donna yelled at the Doctor, once the grid was completed removed.

 “Now get down!” The Doctor quickly shouted back, and you looked down into the hole in the ground which hot steam was rising out of.

 “What, down there?” You asked, wondering if the Doctor had lost his mind.

 “Yes, down there!” 

 “Sisters, I see into his mind, the weapon is harmless!” The leader of the sisters yelled.

 “Yeah, but it’s gotta sting.” The Doctor shrugged before he began squirting water at the Priestess who groaned in pain as steam evaporated from where the squirts of water hit her stone surface and she stumbled backwards.

 “Get down there!” He repeated louder when he saw none of you had yet made a move to jump into the hole.

 Donna jumped in first.

 “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Loki spoke, her eyes almost looking spooked as she glanced down at the steaming hole.

 “It’s either climb in there or stay here and wait for the volcano. Your choice.” The Doctor told Loki as he urged you to climb in next.

 Sensing Loki’s anxiety you offered her an assuring nod. “You’ll be okay, look watch me and then follow right after.” 

 Once you joined Donna you found yourself in an underground cave, you could instantly feel the change in the temperature as the air was thick with heat. You looked back up through the hole to find Loki looking down at you.

 “See, perfectly safe.” You assured her.

 Hesitantly Loki climbed into the hole and you helped her down, once both her feet were on the ground she swayed and stumbled as if she was about to faint but you caught her with your arm around her waist and helped her regain her balance. She held your shoulders and shook her head and forcibly kept her eyes wide open before she looked back at you, suddenly aware of how close you were.

 “Are you okay?” You asked, concerned by her behaviour.

 A green light shimmered over her body and he returned to the form you had met him in, you noticed he instantly grew taller and you needed to tilt your head slightly to maintain eye contact, your arm was still wrapped around his waist but it was no longer holding him up as he was supporting his own weight now although you could still feel his body swaying slightly as it was pressed against yours.

 “I’m fine.” He answered curtly, before taking a step back to put some distance between the two of you.

 “This way!” The Doctor led as soon as he jumped into the cave.

 “Where are we going now?” Donna sighed.

 “Into the volcano.” The Doctor answered as if it were obvious.

 You failed to notice Loki’s face fill with dread beside you.

 “No way.” Donna challenged.

 “Yes way.” The Doctor smiled as he twirled the water gun around his finger.

 “Wait, for once I agree with her. We can’t go into the volcano. It could be dangerous.” Loki argued before quickly adding, “for mortals.”

 “It will be fine, it doesn’t erupt for another few hours yet.” The Doctor dismissed. “Now, come on!”

 Before anyone else could protest he had already turned on his heel and began leading the way through the cave, Donna followed behind him, you followed behind her and Loki was at the back.

 As you followed Donna and the Doctor through the winding path of the cave, you kept taking quick glances over your shoulder to check on Loki and you grew increasingly concerned as his condition appeared to deteriorate each time you looked. The further you walked into the cave, the hotter and thicker the air became, you were surprised to find Loki seemed to be the one who was most affected by the conditions out of all of you. While your breathing had become heavy and a thin layer of sweat coated your skin, sweat literally dripped from Loki’s forehead, he started using the walls of the cave to hold himself up as his legs barely carried him, the skin around his eyes grew darker and you could hear him straining on each breath. 

 Once you reached inside the volcano Loki rested his back against the wall and began to sink to the floor, his chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to shrug off his jacket, his white shirt clung to his body due to his sweat and he attempted to loosened his tie with trembling hands.

 “Doctor!” You called, as you rushed over to Loki who looked as though he was about to pass out. The Doctor quickly joined your side, as did Donna once her eyes fell on Loki’s condition.

 “What happened?” He asked you urgently.

 “I... I don’t know, he hasn’t been right ever since he entered the cave.” You explained.

 “Loki! Loki, can you hear me?” The Doctor tried, he gently tapped Loki’s cheek but his head just lulled to the side and he struggled to keep his eyes open as he mumble some incoherent in a cracked voice.

 The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began scanning it over Loki.

 “That’s not possible.” You heard the Doctor whisper to himself as he looked over the readings, he quickly gave Loki another scan and read them again and his face squished up in pure confusion.

 “What is it?” You urged him.

 “He’s... he’s Jotun?” The Doctor answered while sounding more like he was asking a question.

 “What’s a Jotun when it’s at home?” Donna asked.

 “He isn’t Asgardian at all, magic is suppressing his true form. He’s from Jotunheim, a frost plant inhabited by Jotuns, they aren’t designed to withstand heat of such temperatures as this. We need to get him out of here.” The Doctor quickly explained as he crouched down to scoop a barely conscious Loki into his arms and held him bridal style, once he knew he was secure he began running further into the volcano, leaving both you and Donna trailing behind after him.

 You all stopped in your tracks when you found more of the giant stone beasts roaming around inside the volcano. 

 “There’s tons of them.” Donna gasped. “You better hurry up and think of something, Rocky 4’s on its way.”

 “There’s an escape pod!” The Doctor noticed.

 “Maybe... it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?” Donna offered, since obviously the escape pod belonged to the stone creatures which were currently invading Pompeii.

 “Oh, it’s worse than that.” The Doctor whispered.

 “How could it be worse?” You frowned.

 “Heathens!” You heard a man cry. “Defile us! They would desecrate your temple, My Lord Gods!” 

 “Come on.” The Doctor started running towards the escape pod, which looked like a huge hollow boulder with circuits inside.

 “We can’t go in!” Donna shouted after him.

 “Well, we can’t go back.”

 “Crush them! Burn them!” The man who you now noticed was stood on top of some rocks looking down at you as you tried to escape.

 A giant monster blocked your path to the escape pod and growled causing you all to slide to a stop.

 “Get the water gun, it’s tucked into the back of my pants!” The Doctor called your name, unable to get it himself as he was still holding an unconscious Loki in his arms. You wasted no time reaching for the water gun and squirted it directly at the creature and it stumbled back with a groan easily allowing you all enough time to rush past and continue your dash towards the escape pod.

 “There is nowhere to run!” The man screamed.

 “No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the Gods, before we perish, once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?” The Doctor yelled up to the man.

 “My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. There is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise.” 

 “Yeah, I should warn you, it’s 70% water out there.” The Doctor explained, nodding his head to the world which lay beyond the mountain.

 “Water can boil, and everything will burn!” The mad man argued.

 “Then the whole planet is at stake.” The Doctor concluded to himself. “Thank you. That’s all I needed to know.” 

 He quickly turned and gently lowered Loki to the floor of the escape pod then ushered both you and Donna inside before he squeezed in as well and used his sonic to seal the door shut.

 It was cramped inside of the small escape pod with the four of you squashed inside together, once you got inside you immediately crouched down beside Loki to check on his condition.

 “Loki, can you hear me?” You gently nudged his shoulder. His eyes fluttered slightly but he failed to open them and he let out a weak groan, but you were just relieved that he was still conscious. 

 You were conscious of the fact that inside the cramped space of the escape pod it felt even hotter, even you were starting to feel faint. You were still holding the water pistol in your hand and had an idea. You took a gentle hold of Loki’s chin in your free hand and encouraged his mouth open, in his weak state he didn’t fight you, and you pulled the trigger of the toy gun to spray water into his mouth. Once he felt the cool liquid hit his tongue he gladly accepted it as it provided him a little relief from the heat. Loki offered you a small grunt as thanks.

 “See? The energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds the Pyrovile to human. Now it’s complete, they can convert millions.” You heard the Doctor explaining how the Pyrovile planned to take over the human race to Donna, sounding completely horrified.

 “Can’t you change it? With these controls?” Donna tried, her voice filled with panic.

 “I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes. But that’s the choice, Donna. It’s Pompeii or the world.” The Doctor revealed the heavy decision you were all faced with.

 “Oh my god.” Donna paled.

 “If Pompeii is destroyed then it’s not just history, it’s me. It was always meant to be me, I make it happen.” The Doctor realised. “Push this leaver and it’s over. 20,000 people.” 

 The pod fell silent as the Doctor froze with his hands held over the leaver, Donna watched him with tears building in her eyes and you looked at Loki who was barely unconscious and you made your choice.

You used the wall to push yourself back up to your feet and you stepped between Donna and the Doctor. You placed your trembling hands over the Doctors. You looked to your auntie when she whispered your name and saw the tears brimming out of her eyes your chest felt heavy. At first you thought she was going to talk you out of it but when you felt her hand rest on top of yours you couldn’t control the tears that threatened to fall from your eyes as well. She gave you a final nod and then you knew you could do it, all three of you pushed down the leaver and within seconds the entire pod was shaking, you braced yourself against the wall, careful not to trample over Loki and prepared yourself for whatever fate awaited you.

 Your body got flung around as you were pretty sure that the pod you were in was currently flying through the air, you could only pray you would survive the crash landing. A force pushed you to the ground and you landed on top of Loki’s chest, while the Doctor fell down beside you and Donna miraculously remained the only one standing. Your eyes snapped open when you felt the first breeze of fresh air brush your cheek and you saw the Doctor crawling out the pod. You felt hands wrap around your upper arms and you looked up to find Donna helping you to your feet and you both stumbled out the pod on shaking legs, while the Doctor lifted Loki back into his arms and you noticed that he had sustained an injury to his head during the escape.

 You didn’t have much time to do anything other than run when you noticed the heavy cloud of ash quickly heading straight for you and all three of you began running as fast as your legs could carry you, hoping you could make it to the city and into the TARDIS before it was too late.

 You and Donna held onto each other’s hands as you ran ahead of the Doctor who was slowed down by the extra weight of Loki, but he still managed to run pretty fast. You weren’t far from the city when the thick ash blocked out the light of the sun and plunged the city into darkness, though it was daytime it felt like night as you raced through the streets, trying to remember the direction to Caecilius’ villa. 

 Ash fell down from the sky like snow as the people of the town scrambled in different directions in attempts to make it out of the city alive, you could hear nothing but their cries and the thunderous sound of the volcano as it felt like the whole world was crumbling around you.

 As Caecilius’ villa came into view you pushed yourself to go even faster and you looked over your shoulder to find the Doctor not too far behind with Loki still in his arms, his injured head fell limp over the crook of the Doctors arm, revealing his long neck and prominent adam’s apple and dread struck through you, you had to remind yourself he was only unconscious.

 You pushed through the doors of Caecilius’ villa and headed straight towards the TARDIS but the sound of whimpering stopped you in your tracks, you looked to find Caecilius and his family crowded together on the floor, holding on tight to one another as they cried. 

 “God save us, Doctor!” Caecilius begged the Doctor when he came running in behind you, and he stopped beside you and Donna for a moment as you all looked at the family, you thought the Doctor would encourage them all to get on board his TARDIS but eventually he turned away kept running towards his TARDIS in the corner of the room.

 “No! Doctor, you can’t!” Donna called after him, you silently looked between the Doctor and the family, as he kicked the TARDIS door open with his foot and disappeared inside with Loki. You pushed away the feeling of guilt which fell heavy on your chest as you followed after the Doctor into the TARDIS.

 “Donna!” You pleaded with her when she remained frozen in place, she couldn’t look away from Caecilius and his family as they looked straight back at her, silently begging her to save them. The sound of one of the windows smashing through snapped Donna back into reality and she looked back at you before she hesitantly made her way towards the TARDIS, leaving the family behind. 

 When you entered the TARDIS, you saw the Doctor had placed Loki down onto the floor while he operated the console, preparing the TARDIS to leave. You rushed over to Loki and immediately checked his pulse and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when you found it still beating. 

 “You can’t just leave them!” You heard Donna yell as soon as she entered the TARDIS but you couldn’t lift your eyes from Loki, looking over his pale face and hovering your hand over the injury on his head, drops of blood had ran down the side of his sharp cheek and matted into part of his hair.

 “Don’t you think I’ve done enough? History’s back in place and everyone dies.” You heard the Doctor answer, as you checked over Loki for anymore injuries. 

 “You’ve got to go back. Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back!” Donna demanded.

 The TARDIS shuddered and your whole body jerked letting you know the Doctor had sent it into flight, once the tremors subsided, the ship fell silent.

 “It’s not fair.” Donna whispered.

 “No, it’s not.” The Doctor agreed.

 “But your own planet. It burned.” Donna cried, and you finally looked up, you didn’t know what your auntie was referring to but you looked at the Doctor with sympathy. It suddenly made sense why he froze when it came to pushing the leaver, if he had already watched his own planet suffer a similar fate. 

 “That’s just it. Don’t you see, Donna? Can’t you understand? If I could go back and save them then I would, but I can’t. I can never go back. I can’t, I just can’t, I can’t.” His voice broke.

 “Just someone. Please.” Donna bargained. “Not the whole town. Just save someone.” 

 “You saved him,” you spoke, as you looked at Loki, who was laid out in front of you. “You can save them too.”

  ***

 The Doctor had returned to Pompeii and saved Caecilius and his family, he and Donna were currently outside bidding them fair well where the Doctor had safely dropped them off just outside of Rome, while you stayed inside the TARDIS by Loki’s side waiting for him to regain consciousness.

 You had cradled his head and moved so you could cushion it against your lap, since you imagined his head will already be hurting from the injury it wouldn’t be very comfortable for him to rest it against the hard floor of the TARDIS. 

 The first sign of Loki regaining consciousness was his eyebrows drawing together as a groan slipped out between his lips, no doubt quickly becoming aware of the pain in his head. His eyelashes fluttered against the top of his ash covered cheeks before his eyes slowly blinked open and the first thing he saw was your face above his.

 “Hi,” you began, unsure of what else to say.

 You barely leaned back in time to avoid his head colliding with yours as he suddenly shot up, so he was sitting up straight on the floor with his legs still lying out in front of him. This appeared to make his head rush as he moaned and cradled his head in the palms. You slowly shuffled up to him so you were at his side, careful not to startle him, you hesitantly placed your hand on his strong shoulder.

 “It’s okay, you’re safe.” You assured him softly.

 He lifted his face to look at you, his eyes filled with something you couldn’t quiet put your finger on. 

 “Where are we?” He asked you, for the first time since you met him his voice sounded gentle.

 “The TARDIS.” You answered him, just as gently.

 He let his eyes roam over the room, taking in his surroundings, before they finally landed back on you. “Am I severely concussed or is this thing bigger on the inside?” 

 You laughed softly. 

 “It’s bigger on the inside.” You confirmed. “Don’t ask me how, I have no idea how it works, if you’d like to know I’d recommend asking the Doctor.”

 Loki nodded with a slight smile as his eyes fell to his lap and you both stayed like that for a moment, neither of you saying anything.

 “Thank you.” Loki eventually broke the silence.

 “What?” Your head shot up, afraid you had misheard him.

 Loki avoided your eyes and his dark hair shadowed most of his face, protecting him from your gaze as he continued.

 “For what you did in the volcano and for...” he cleared his throat, “for the lack of a better word... saving me, I guess.” 

 “I mean to be fair the Doctor did most of the heavy lifting.” You humbly joked.

 “Where is he anyway?” Loki asked, since he noticed it was only you and him. “Isn’t he the pilot of this thing?”

 “He’s just outside with Donna saying goodbye to Caecilius and his family, he dropped them off safely just outside of Rome.” You don’t know why your chest felt heavy as you asked Loki your next question, perhaps it was due to the fact that you had just started warming to his company and he would be leaving soon. “So do you know where you would like the Doctor to drop you off?

 Loki seemed stumped by your question, as if he hadn’t gave where he was going much consideration, instead he was more focused on just escaping Pompeii rather than where he was escaping to. When some time passed and had yet to answer, you decided to break the silence.

 “I mean, if you’re not sure where you want to go, you could always stay with us.” You offered, it was now your turn to avoid his eyes as he looked at you with as much shock as you had when he thanked you.

 “You think the Doctor would be okay with that?” Loki worried.

 “Sure, why wouldn’t he?” You now looked up at him with your brows pulled together.

 Loki opened his mouth about to answer you when he realised, you didn’t know him, you didn’t know any of his previous actions, on Asgard, on Jotunheim and on your very own planet. Then it crossed his mind, he didn’t know what year you were from, in his time it had been about a week since he attacked New York, he imagined his face would have been all over every media outlet after the attack but you hadn’t even recognised him when you first ran into each other.

 “What year are you from?” Loki quickly inquired out of nowhere and you were a bit confused by the random question.

 “2008.” You answered him anyway.

 4 years before he first stepped foot on midgard, 4 years before he attacked New York under Thanos’ control, 4 years before you would know him as the man who tried to take over your planet and rule the human race. Right now you only knew him as the time travelling God of mischief who you ran into while you were both running for your lives. He had anonymity with you, you offered the perfect opportunity for him to start a fresh. He could join you on the TARDIS for a while, with your auntie and the Doctor plus he imagined it would only make it harder for the TVA to find him if he was constantly moving through time and space.

 “I would like that.” Loki confessed.

 “To stay?” You asked hopefully, just to make sure you weren’t misinterpreting him.

 When Loki nodded you couldn’t hold back the smile that took over your whole face, you we’re excited to spend more time with Loki, learn more about him and explore all of time and space with the God of mischief.

[reincarnated70sbaby]

linger

listen before you read!

robert plant xfem!oc

warnings : drug use, swearing, trucklot of angst ;)

word count : 2.1k

an: was listening to ‘linger’ by the cranberries and I couldn’t pass up this angsty idea I got 😎 timeline is off but yolo ig...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sloane leaned down to the table to take an extra line for her pre-performance nerves. She felt a little more nervous today, this particular concert being one of the largest yet. She was the front woman of The CAPs, who were opening for Led Zeppelin for their summer of ‘69 tour. This was exactly the break the band needed, finally getting recognition for all their talent and hard work over the last two years.

She applied a little powder to her face, and patted on her classic red lipstick to her slightly chapped lips. Securing the clasps of her platform red heels, she shook her body in hopes of shaking away her anxious jitters. Once she had finished her body-shaking ritual, she walked out from the wings of the stage.

As she walked across to centre stage, wind blowing through the holes of her white crochet dress. The crowd cheered loudly as the band waved to them.

“How’s everyone doin’ today? It’s so hot today, my boobs are sweating off!” She greeted the crowd with her bubbly nature. Adjusting the mic stand to her height, she continued to address the huge crowd. “Today’s set list will have a slight adjustment to it, we’re starting off with a new song I wrote just last night. It’s a little softer than our other music, so just sit back- or should I say lean back on the person behind you - and relax. This is called ‘Linger’ "

While she was speaking to the crowd, a teenage roadie ran onto the stage and placed a stool, for Sloane to sit on, and disappeared again in a heartbeat. The crowd, didn’t even take notice of the young boy, entranced with the tawny blonde singer as usual.

Sloane sat down, crossed her legs and nodded toward Rory, to begin. Rory started picking a simple guitar melody on his trusty Gibson acoustic, the first guitar he ever picked up. Sloane swayed lightly to the rhythm, eyes on the horizon above the crowd. Soon after, Marshall joined in with quiet, but strong beat on drums. At the same time, Oscar added the baseline to the song.

Taking a deep breath, Sloane began the song.

If you, If you could return, Don’t let it burn, Don’t let it fade, I’m sure I’m not being rude, It’s just your attitude, It’s tearing me apart, It’s ruining every day

I swore, I swore I would be true, But honey so did you, So why were you holding her hand? Is that the way we stand? We’re you lying all the time? Was it just a game to you?

Sloane sang gently, her eyes closed with a pained look on her face. She thought back to the day before, when everything fell apart.

———

“Sloane, honey, please tell me what’s wrong! You’re being so closed off with me today!” Robert pleaded, grabbing her hand while she was walking away. Sloane yanked her hand away and walked towards an empty storeroom in the hotel corridor.

“Don’t get any ideas, we need to talk privately” Sloane commanded as she entered into the storeroom. It had barely enough space for both of them to fit, being crammed full with towels and bedsheets.

“Please, love, jus’ tell me what’s bothering you, I wanna make you happy”

“Oh fuck off Robert, you’re so fake and a liar. These past couple of months have all been a lie!”

“What’re talkin’ about? I have never lied to you once”

“Seriously? ‘I’ve never lied to you’? Are you actually for real right now? Do you know what I just found out Robert? You’re fucking married! And she’s coming here tonight! You didn’t think I would deserve to know that!” She yelled, ignoring her previous statement about keeping this private.

“I didn’t tell you because I was scared okay? I have never felt like this before with anyone else. All the groupies were just for sex, but when I met you I had fallen for you Slo, you make me a better person in every way”

“I don’t care how I make you feel, you’re still married! With kids! How would they feel if they found out their father was in a relationship with a woman other than their mother? I can’t believe you did this to me willingly, even after I told you what happened with my parents. That messed me up, seeing my father with another woman, and leaving my mother for her. Never seeing him again, choosing his new family over me and my siblings. That hurts me the most Robert, you knew my history and you ignored it!” Sloane cried out, tears falling freely on her face, running her dark eye makeup.

“I never meant to hurt you love, you mean so much to me. I just didn’t think- I never fuckin think, but I my feelings were so strong for you, I never thought about Maureen, I’m shamed to admit it” Robert plead, guilt weighing on his conscience. He reached out to wipe her tears away, but Sloane turned her head, the same pained look on her face.

“We’re done. I can’t stay with someone who could forget about their own wife and kids, and forget to tell their girlfriend that she’s actually a mistress. Goodbye” Sloane said, pushing her way out of the cramped closet, before running to the elevator at the end of the hall.

———

But I’m in so deep, You know I’m such a fool for you, You got me wrapped around your finger, Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to? Do you have to let it linger?

Sloane sang emotionally, a single tear escaped her tear duct. She took the break for guitar solo to take a couple deep breathes, and to calm her heightened emotions down.

Oh, I thought the world of you, I thought nothing could go wrong, But I was wrong, I was wrong

If you, if you could get by, Trying not to lie, Things wouldn’t be so confused, And I wouldn’t feel so used, But you always knew, I just want to be with you

———

Sloane sat at the large round table, sipping her wine. The two bands had just completed all the concerts in France, and were having a celebratory dinner for the night. The lights were dim in the fancy restaurant, but Sloane could still see the heartbreaking sight of Maureen and Robert cozying up to eachother. She longed to be the one Robert was dedicated to, to be his Maureen, to be the one who sipped on his beer instead of her wine for a change, to rest her hand on his knee. She wished to be the one who would sleep with him in bed each night, without a worry of cheating or unfaithfulness. Her heart was also broken for Maureen, she was so inlove with Robert, as was he with her. She was also probably the greatest mother out there, being a single parent for a lot of the year.

Sloane switched her focus from the smitten couple, to Marshall and John Bonham's discussion on gongs, congas and all exotic drums.

Everything had been going so well, the concerts each night going to wonderfully, the bands got on great together. Even all the touring crew and management got on well with eachother. It was like one, big, slightly dysfunctional family.

Sloane wished she could vent to one of her bandmates about her case of ill fated love, but she knew if she told any of the CAP boys, tension would arise between the bands, and she simply couldn't bear to break the harmony.

“I’m sorry everyone, but I feel a bit ill and I think it would be best if I went to my room” Sloane announced, rising from her chair. She briefly locked eyes with Robert, before averting her eyes that threatened to fill with tears.

“Are you sure you’re okay Slo? I can come up and look after you if you feel faint or anything?” Rory asked genuinely, concerned for his little sister, he noticed she had been a little less bubbly than normal today.

“I’m fine Ror, I’ll think being on the go and travelling for the last couple of months has caught up with me. I’ll call you if I need you. Love you” she said, hugging him tightly.

“Love you, stay safe sis”

A chorus of goodbyes were heard as she left the table and walked out of the brassiere restaurant.

As soon as she entered her large room, she decided to clean up her stuff in order to distract herself. She folded all her clothes, tucked all her shoes into her suitcase, and cleaned up her makeup station on the vanity, placing the assortment of beauty products in the black makeup bag she owned.

After she was done cleaning, she ordered a couple bottles of wine, with some croissant from room service, taking advantage of the readily available French delicacies.

Lowering herself into the warm bubble bath she ran while waiting for her room service, her mind wandered to the whole situation, creating lyrics in her head. Luckily she brought her songbook, so there was no need to get out of the bath in search for it. She poured her heart out into the lyrics. After finishing the lyrics up, she soaked for a little longer, until she felt herself pruning and wrapped the fuzzy bath robe around herself.

She was about to turn off her bedside light to sleep, when she heard a light knock on the door. Her head scrambled, trying to figuring out who it was. Must be Rory checking up on me she thought. Opening the door, her heart skipped a beat at the visitor.

“Sloane let me-“

“Robert, please, I told you we were over”

“Will you let me speak, I need to talk to you”

Sloane stepped aside from the door, letting him in. She guided him to the seating area of the room, not wanting to risk being near the bed.

“Uh, d’want tea or something?” Sloane asked the blonde man, the air heavy with awkward tension.

“Yeah sure, love. That’d be great” Robert answered warmly.

“So, what do you want to say” Sloane asked, pushing his tea on front of him.

“Sloane, I’m sorry. I still do love you and I hate that I fucked everything up. I was just so infatuated- I still am, and I regret that I made you feel upset. I just want to say sorry”

“I- I still love you too Robert, it wasn’t just one sided, I really thought you were the one”

“Sloane, I don’t know what to say… If- if you ask me to, I will. I want you. I want to be yours.”

“Robert- I. I can’t do that. As much as I want to love you and be with you, I can’t be a homewrecker. I’ve seen the way you are with Maureen, you love her. I know in my gut that you’re better off with her. She loves you and deserves you 100%” Sloane’s face was wet with tears.

“Uh, okay. I’m sorry love, I really wish I didn’t fuck up our relationship. I really hope that one day we can be friends again, when you’re ready” Robert got up to leave, but was stopped when Sloane grabbed his hand.

“There’s a part of me that will always love you Robert. This was wonderful while it lasted” She spoke with a sad smile on her face.

Robert squeezed her hand in agreement, before exiting the room.

———

And I’m in so deep, You know I’m such a fool for you You got me wrapped around your finger, oh, Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to? Do you have to let it linger?

Oh I’m in so deep, You know I still have love for you, My love has wrapped me round your finger, oh, Do you have to let it linger? Do you have? Do you have to let it linger?

The CAPs finished their song, and Sloane stood up to thank the crowd.

“Robert, darling, there you are. Was that singer at the dinner last night?” Maureen asked warmly to her husband, joining him in the wings.

“Uh, yeah, but she left early because of travel sickness y’know the sort” Robert answered absentmindedly, his deep blue eyes trained on the lead singer, who was preparing for the next song in the band’s set list.

“I must have missed her. She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? I love that song she just sang, great voice” Maureen mused, admiring Sloane’s confidence , akin to her husbands.

“Yeah, yeah she is. She’s a beautiful person, inside and out”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my first Robert fic!!! I’m more of a Jimmy girl, but I love the golden god too (Leo men <3)

as always, any criticism/ideas are welcome in my inbox or comments 🤍

tag list : @dreamersdrowse @rebel-without-a-zeppelin @princesspagey ask me if you would like to be added!!

[falcqns]

Free Fall

Pairing: Henry Cavill x Reader (First Person POV)

Chapter Summary: You finally work up the courage to tell Henry about your daughter, but he doesn’t react well

Word Count: 1098

Warnings: Mentions of childbirth, fluff, mentions of mental illness (mainly post partum depression), swearing, slight angst.

A/N: hope you enjoy!

chapter one | 

Chapter Two:

The next morning you were awoken at 4:30 am sharp by your daughters cry. You sat up and grabbed her out of her bassinet, and immediately latched her to your breast, to nurse her. 

You took a quick look at your phone, but seeing nothing important, you left it charging on your nightstand, before standing up with Lavender securely eating in your arms and heading to the kitchen for coffee. 

You skimmed over the call sheet for the day while the coffee brewed, and realized you only had an hour and 15 minutes to get yourself, as well as a baby and a diaper bag for the day ready.

Your coffee finished brewing, and you put in your favourite mug before taking it, as well as Lavender, who had finished eating into the bedroom. 

You changed her diaper before dressing her in a white diaper shirt, some mustard yellow muslin shorts, with a matching yellow fleece sweater and headband, along with white socks. After you laid her down in her swing which sat on the other side of the dresser, you began to get yourself and the diaper bag ready. 

You pulled out a few more outfits, definitely more diapers than you would need but knowing that she was still technically a newborn, she’d probably use them all. You added some wipes, and a few of her favourite stuffies and soothers.

You didn't bother changing your outfit too much, other than the shirt which currently has baby spit and breastmilk on it, opting to leave on your grey sweatpants. 

You glanced at the clock, before heading into the bathroom to brush your hair and teeth, and wash your face.

Once you were fully ready, Lavender had drifted off to sleep in her swing, and you didn't have to leave for another half hour, instead opting to go over your lines.

Lavender, to your surprise, stayed asleep for the remainder of the half hour, and when you moved her to her car seat. She woke up when the car started a few minutes later, but didn't cry. Instead, her little head turned and seemed to gaze out the window. 

You smiled at her through the baby mirror, before focusing on driving. 

The closer you got to set, the more nervous you got. You knew everyone was going to be supportive, especially Michelle, Rebecca and Vanessa, but you were worried about how Henry was going to react.

You two worked very closely, and became friends almost immediately after meeting. So much so, that you considered him your best friend. The best friend that you told everything to, except the fact that you had a daughter he didn't know about. 

You pulled into the parking lot a few moments later, and quickly took notice of who was and who wasn't there yet. So far, only Michelle, Rebecca, Simon and Tom were there. You pulled into your parking space, and turned off your car. 

You hopped out of the vehicle just in time to see Tom walking towards you. You smiled and waved, which he returned.

“Hey! How are you feeling about this?” Tom said, as you grabbed your purse and diaper bag, before hitting the unlock button on your side console to get your daughter out. 

“I’m a little nervous, mainly about Henry’s reaction.” You said, as the door glided open, revealing Lavender, who had once again fallen asleep. 

“How so?” Tom asked, before taking the diaper bag off of your shoulder to you could lift the carseat off the base.

“Thanks,” You said, and lifted the seat. “I’m worried because him and I tell each other everything and I’m worried he’s going to be mad that I hid this from him. I mean, I know she's not his or anything but I’m just worried.”

Tom nodded, as the two of you made your way on to set. You silent hopes of being able to get Lavender settled in before introducing her to everyone was shattered when you turned the corner to the trailers and saw Rebecca coming out of hers, and spotting the two of you. 

Her eyes were suddenly clouded with confusion when she saw Lav.

“Y/N, did you have a baby?” She said. You smiled, feeling a blush start to creep onto your face. You nodded.

“Yeah. She’s two months old.” You said. Rebecca immediately smiled, and brushed her finger over your daughters cheek. She pulled her hand back, and took the diaper bag from Tom. The two of you headed to your trailer, while Tom was stopped by McQuarrie.

“She’s beautiful! What’s her name?” She said, looking down at her once more.

“Lavender,” You said. “I’m sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner, I was never asked if I had any kids, and then I just didn't know how to tell you,” you said, quietly. 

“Dude,” She said, as you guys arrived at your trailer. “It’s totally okay. Everyone's going to love her!” She said, and watched as you set the carseat on the bed and took her out. 

“I hope so. Do you wanna hold her?” You asked, and Rebecca immediately nodded, holding her arms out for the little girl. You smiled and handed her off. 

Lavender woke up, but didn't cry, instead just gazed up at Rebecca. 

Rebecca held Lavender the entire way to the make up trailer, with you walking beside her, diaper bag in tow. 

You walked in first, so you could hold the door open for Rebecca.

Everyone in the room gasped. 

“Oh my god! Did you have another baby Rebecca?” Simon asked, as he stood up and rushed over to see the baby, followed by Michelle.

“No, uh, I did.” You said, and Simon immediately pulled you in for a hug, while Michelle pressed a gentle kiss to Lavender’s forehead. Simon and Michelle soon switched, Simon going back to admire the baby, and Michelle giving you a hug. 

“I’m sorry I didn't tell you guys,” you said, and Michelle hugged you tighter. 

“It’s totally fine, honey. You’re the parent,” She said into your ear, and Simon nodded in agreement. 

Everyone sat down to get their hair and makeup done. Thankfully you didn't have to wear too much makeup, and your hair just needed to be in a pony for your scenes today. Lavender was passed around to everyone in the hair and makeup trailer, and got lots of cuddles.

Not long after, everyone else had finished, Lavender was handed back to you, and you were the last one in there, your loose hair in your pony just being curled. You heard the door open again and your heart dropped, as you saw the large body of Henry step through.

He smiled at you before his eyes drifted down to where Lavender was sucking her fingers and looking around the room on your chest.

“D-did you have a baby?” He asked, but before you could answer, Eileen, the hair stylist announced you were done. 

You stood up, supporting Lavender’s body. “Just, um, come to my trailer when you're done here, and I’ll explain everything, okay?” You said. He nodded, not meeting your eyes. You walked out and headed back tp your trailer to wait to be  called to set.

You had just laid her down for her morning nap on the bed when you heard Henry enter your trailer. You took a deep breath, but turned towards him.

He cleared his throat before talking. 

“You - had a baby?” He said, looking past you slightly to where Lavender was snoozing.

“I-” You began, before Henry cut you off.

“Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends.” He said, in a hurt tone.

“Henry, I didn't tell anyone here other than Tom and McQuarrie, and they only know because they met me when I was still pregnant.” You said, hopeful that that would calm him down. It only appeared to make him angrier. 

“That doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell me you had a child. You gave birth to a whole ass human, and you didn't think that that was something I deserved to know?” He said, glaring at you.

“Henry, I-” you began again, before you were cut off again.

“I mean its not like you didn't have a chance! We work together every goddamned day, Y/N! You're one of my best friends! We hang out all the time! Why the fuck didn't you tell me?” He said, his voice become louder. 

You walked up to him and led him outside, not wanting to wake Lavender up.

“I'm sorry okay. I didn't know what you would think-” You said, before Henry started to yell.

“WHAT I WOULD THINK? YOU DON’T THINK I WOULDN’T’VE BEEN HAPPY FOR YOU? HELL, I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND!” He yelled, clearly hurt and confused at the whole situation.

You stayed quiet, waiting for it to be over.

“I FEEL LIKE I DON’T KNOW YOU AT ALL! I mean for gods sakes I was going to ask you out today.” He said, before turning away from you and running a hand through his hair.

“What? You were going to ask me out?” You said, shocked. 

He looked back at you, that same hurt expression on his face. In that moment, you wanted nothing more than to make it go away.

“You know what? Yes. I was. I have liked you since the moment I met you in pre-production. I have been working up the courage to ask you out because everyone has told me that you liked me too! Everyone has told me you were single, and that you have liked me since BEFORE WE EVEN MET! I’m the idiot for thinking that you actually liked me too. Actually, I’m not even surprised that you hid this from me. You won't even tell me when you have a boyfriend for cryin-” He rambled. 

You felt yourself getting angry and had no interest in stopping it. Eventually, your anger exploded and you lost your mind on Henry.

“YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING HERE! YOU IMMEDIATELY JUMPED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I HIDE EVERYTHING FROM YOU, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING! FOR YOUR INFORMATION I DON’T HAVE A BOYFRIEND! HER FATHER HASN’T EVEN MET HER BECAUSE HE WOULD RATHER BLOW HIS MONEY AT A CLUB AND SLEEP WITH OTHER GIRLS WHILE HIS GIRLFRIEND IS AT HOME PREGNANT THAT SPEND TIME WITH SAID GIRLFRIEND! SO YOU CAN FUCK OFF HENRY! YOU DON’T KNOW A THING ABOUT THE LAST YEAR OF MY LIFE!” You yelled, before storming back into your trailer to comfort your now crying baby, who had awoken when you yelled. 

“Shhhh, baby, shhhh. Mama’s sorry,” You whispered to her, trying to will yourself to not cry. 

Not long after, you were called to do a scene, thankfully not with Henry, but with Michelle. You tucked Lavender into her carseat and gave her a stuffy to hold onto, and headed to set.

You didn't see Henry on your way to set, and you were thankful for that as well. You knew you would have too speak to him about everything, but now was not the time, especially after a fight that big. You walked past his trailer and thought you heard him talking to someone, but dismissed it.

Lavender stayed asleep the whole time you were filming the scene, which only took about an hour and a half.

The rest of the day went smoothly, with Tom or someone holding her while you filmed, or her sleeping in her carseat at McQuarries feet. 

You were glad that you only had one scene with Henry, and you and him didn't have to be close to each other. You took notice of how he kept trying to catch your eye, and how he kept stealing glances at your baby. 

The day came to an end around 7 pm, much earlier than yesterday, and everyone eventually made their way home. You were one of the first ones to go, along with Michelle and Rebecca who wanted to give Lavender some more cuddles and kisses. You said goodbye to them and headed out when you saw Henry walking towards you with Kal in tow.

As you pulled out of the parking lot, you heard your phone go off with a ding, letting you know someone had texted you, likely Henry. You ignored it, and focused on the road, and getting home safe.

You didn't even glance at your phone until an hour later, after Lavender had gone down for the night, until 10, when she’d wake up to eat.

You opened the text and your heart sank when you saw what it said.

“I’m dropping Kal off at home, then I’m coming over. I know you're mad at me but we need to talk.”

Just as you finished reading it, you heard a knock on the door.

[supergirlimagine]

Who Knew pt.2

Hi! Thank you guys for all the cool new Requests I got! Def want to write some of those! My most requested was to write a Part two of a Story I wrote a while back! Sorry it Took me so long, I really hope that you guys like it! Lmk what you think and what else you wanna see! 

Thanks for all the love 

Who Knew pt.1 

It was way past her bedtime, Alex had to be up in the morning and shouldn’t stay up this late. God knows she needed the sleep. But these kind of things just keep you up, at least that’s what she'd tell herself. It had been about two weeks now since she had seen you in that Bar with that...guy. Two weeks since she had felt your lips on hers. Touching her Lips absently at the thought, as if she would find yours there. As if you were still with her and not God knows where, doing God knows what. But that wasn't her problem, right? She tried to help! She really did. Sure, knocking your Boyfriend out might have not been the best Plan, but who can blame her? The way he touched you, the way he- he tried to possess you. It truly disgusted her. And she offered you help! She told you to come Home with her that Night and that she would help out in any way she could. But you had refused. Your Pride was greater than your Pain, however even possible. You had scooped up your drunken and bruised excuse of a Boyfriend and stumbled with him out of the Alleyway, leaving one last glance over your shoulder as you rounded the corner. Walking out of view and out of Alex's Life. The brunette Feet frozen solid to the ground. Alcohol and Adrenaline pumping through her veins, her Lips feeling like yours again and her knuckles stinging. 

The worst thing? She couldn't even blame you. No, she couldn’t even be mad at you if she had the right to. Because she was the one who ended things this way. You were easy to love and easy to fall in love with. Alex, at the time,  was in love with you. Just..not enough. It was too soon and too fast and the feelings were too familiar to the ones she had with her Ex-Fiance. That alone was too good to be true, right? No one gets two great loves in the span of a short time. No, Maggie was her one shot at happiness and she ruined it. She wasn't allowed to walk around acting like she deserved more love from someone as caring and kind hearted as you. She started to feel her love for you run deeper each day, so she really had no other choice. What else was she supposed to do, other than to end it before it got too far and someone really got hurt. But she could see now, it was already too late for that, because someone had already gotten hurt. Lucky for her, it was the other Party. Alex knew that she subconsciously always kept you at Arm's length, because deep down she always knew it would end. That was Information unfortunately only one of you had, as you freely and childishly fell more and more into love. You feel hard, thinking someone would be there, ready to catch. She always knew that wasn’t going to be her, but having you around and unconditionally love her, just felt way too good to let go at that Time. And thats the fucked up Part. 

Alex tried in the days following the Incident to find you and to make contact with you, clearly seeing you were in trouble  and you needed help even though you would never accept it from her. Even with the help from Kara, you stayed hidden. That was, up until this Moment, when an unsure knock made Alex turn away from the city Lights through she was staring at though her window. It was late so she grabbed her Gun from under the sofa cushion and looked through the Peephole. Her breath caught when she saw you standing on the other side, looking over your shoulder and fidgeting. 

“(Y/N)...”, she breathed out and unlocked the door in a hurry, being scared to move her eyes away from the Peephole. The irrational fear that you'd be gone by the time she swung the Door open, growing with every Lock turning. 

But there you were. An oversized hoodie hanging off you and almost reaching your knees, your naked calves almost looking blue from the cold. You were holding a bag of your shoulder, the Hoodie covering up half your Face as you looked at each other in Silence for a beat just too long to be comfortable. 

“Can I come in, please?” , you sounded tired. 

“Oh..yeah, of course. Sorry, come in.”,  Alex stepped away and you moved past her and  inside, the Door locking behind you. Silence again. 

“I don't need anything from you. I’m sorry I’m showing up late and unannounced. I just need one Night”,  You spoke with your Back still turned to her.  Not ready for eye contact and then unpacking what you would find in them. 

“(Y/N)..I-”, Alex words were coming out shaky. 

“Alex. Please don't make me beg, don't make me explain. Please, I just need one Night. That's it. Ill be gone after that. That's all I'm asking for.”,  You turned around after you last word, trying your best to seem sure of yourself. 

Alex was shocked when she got a good look of you in the Living Room light. Your Eyes were bloodshot and puffy, half of your right eye and cheek were hiding under your Hoodie and Hair, but even then she could see the swelling and a dark bruise casting a shadow over that part of your Face. Your Hands looked cold with dried Blood between your Fingertips and bruised knuckles. She couldn't help but stare. The bag over your shoulder was actually hers. It was the same one you had packed all these Years ago. You didn't have one at the time she pretty much kicked you out of her Apartment and she let you have it. It looked worn out now, used up from moving around so much and probably never seeing the comfort of being packed away in a closet. It looked like it lived by the front Door, always ready to grab and be on the road again. 

You dropped the Bag on the floor with an exhausted exhale, which made Alex catch up with her Brain, which was still going a Million Miles an hour. 

“Yes”, she cleared her throat 

“Yes, of course. Uhm, let me get you something more comfortable to sleep in.” 

Your stance relaxed a little bit, grateful knowing you would be warm and safe at least for the Night. 

“Thank you.”, you avoided her eyes and sat down on the couch.

She came back with a set of clothing a little bit later, having left you a couple more Minutes to adjust yourself to the new and at the same time familiar sensation of being here. She laid the clothes down next to you and sat on the coffee table directly in front of you. Not having any answers was killing her, this was all just not right. 

“(Y/N)”

“I don't want to talk about it, ok? Like I said just one Night, you owe me that much”, your voice was harsh. Risky for someone who really needed the help right now, but you couldn't stop yourself. 

“Will you at least tell me if you are hurt. Please?” she tilted her head down, trying to catch your eyes. Silence. 

Alex reached out trying to hold your Face, to turn it and have a better look, but you wouldn't let her. Pulling away by moving down the cushion, away from her line of vision. Her hand still raised, she exhaled in defeat before dropping her Arm again. She got up without trying for eye contact again and poured you a glass of Water and grabbed some Tylenol from the Cabinet. She set it down on the Coffee Table and looked at you once again. You had the clothes in your lab now waiting for her to leave so that you could change and then silently cry yourself to sleep. You were exhausted. It took you a lot to swallow all your Pride to show up here, but you had no other choice. It was this or the Streets, knowing the Shelter was already closed at this time. 

“I don't know what happened to you and I am not pushing you for answers. I am just worried. Believe it or not, I care about you. A Lot. I just want you to be safe.”, she stooped to take a deep Breath.

You were listening, but not moving a Muscle. 

“Just..Please. (Y/N), please be here in the Morning. Just be here. Whatever you are fighting. I want to help.” She sounded sincere. 

All of this was in complete contrast to your last meeting. Which had been physical, passionate, full of surprise, suppressed anger and raw emotions. This was different, this was open and vulnerable. It was soft in the way that makes you forget all the bad stuff that ever happened and made you want to let go into the Person. Curl up and never let go. Yet, you stoped yourself. That's not what you came here for, not at all. You just needed to sleep. 

Silence, another beat. Alex started to walk toward her Bed, you heard her climbing up the steps and getting into Bed. She turned off the Light by her bedside, leaving you with the lamp in the living Room as the only source of Light. Sitting for another Moment, exhaustion overtook you once more, so you threw on the Sweats and switched out your oversized Hoodie for a clean Shirt. You grabbed a blanket from the basket next to the table, downed the glass of Water and turned the light off, laying your head on a pillow. 

“Yeah. I’ll be here. I promise.”, You spoke into the darkness, knowing she could hear you and that she was listening. 

Sleep overtook you in what felt you just seconds later. 

[avasnotalee]

hiiiiii i made another terrible miraculous t-word fic lol

Word Count: 1383

Ship: MariChat

Switch!Mari Switch!Chat Noir

It was yet another night of waiting on a desertedrooftop for Chat Noir, as he waited for Ladybug. Although he knew she was busy being the new guardian of the miraculous, he couldnt help but wish his partner were there with him. Chat missed the nights they shared, when they leaped from building to building; making sure everything was in order. He missed the jokes and remarks they exhnaged.. he missed it all. Then he thought of the most hurtful time he had been stood up by Ladybug, and how he went to Marinette’s place. He had begun to go there more frequently on the days he was left to patrol himself, as marinette was good company, although he could never stay there for very long.

As everything in Paris seemed in order, Chat Noir made his way to the rooftop of the Dupain-Cheng family’s bakery. With a knock on the little trap door, Marinette popped up to answer it. Before Chat had came, she was very busy learing about her new responsibilities as the guardian, but thankfully she had her new kwami friends to help her through the journey. Those new friends of course, had to hide in marinette’s miracle box, which the box itself was safely hidden in a pink dollhouse on her desk.

“Oh, um- hey Chat!” Marinette exclaimed nervously, she was not prepared for his presence, as she was deep into her studies.

“Hey Marinette, Ladybug didnt show for patrol again tonight, and I was wandering if I could hang with you a while to feel less lonely?”

“Yeah! Of course, come on in.”

Suddenly, it hit marinette like a brick that she still had all of her pictures of Adrien up in her room! (not that it mattered, becuase they were for research purposes only, right?)

“wAIT- hold on my room is uhhh- a little messy.. um.. yeah! wait here for a minute.”

suddenly, the trap door was closed in Chats face.

“Shes a terrible liar” Chat thought to himself

“What is she hiding?”

Marinette came back with a nervous smile plastered across her face

“Okay all clean like a bug in a rug! super sparkely- nice haha..”

“Are you okay mari?”

“Oh me? what? pshhh yeah im great”

“ooookay then”

Chat noir climed down the steps into Marinettes vibrant room

“Soooooo what are you really hiding from me?”

“Me? Hiding? Something? I have no secrets from you Chat Noir” Marinette nervously giggled

“Are you suuuuuure?” Chat teased, lightly poking her in the side

A high pitched squeal escaped mari’s lips, causing chat noir to give her a smug look of suspision

“Oh now theres defintley something youve never told me before”

“I have no idea what youre talking about”

“that youre actually pretty sensitive, huh purr-incess?” The blonde teen smirked

“I um.. no-“

without giving Marinette a chance to defend herself, Chat Noir tackled the poor girl to the ground

“cmon chat, were not 5 years old”

“well too bad there is nothing you can do about it” he grinned, pinning marinette at the wrists above her head. Chat proceeded to take his free hand, and start spidering her helpless midsection

Marinette began to buck and squirm “come ohohohon chat noir hahaha” she pleaded

“this is the most convenient way for me to get information out of you, isnt it marinette?”

“nohohohoho theres nothing to hide hahahaha”

“I know how to get you to tell me”

Chat began to dig and wiggle his thin fingers into her underarms

“PLEHEHEHEASE CHAT NOIR NAHAHAHA” Marinette threw her head back in laughter, with her legs kicking out in front

“Please what? Keep going? Sure I will!”

“ILL GET YOU SOHOHOME FOOD FROHOHOM THE BAKERY PLEAHEHEASE STOHOHOHOP!”

Chat Noir let up his fingers to think about the deal

“hmm I could go for a macaroon right about now. I’ll set you free, but the macaroon has to be grapefruit.”

Marinette lay on the ground panting “fine, I’ll get you your grapefruit macaroon.”

She got up to get the treat, and as she quietly went down the stairs, it struck Chat Noir that he may be able to find what she was hiding while she was gone.

Chat looked everywhere, but couldnt find anything interesting. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed a diary free on marinettes desk. As soon as he was able to walk over, he could hear marinette coming up the stairs. He quickly grabbed the book but didnt get the chance to open it.

Marinette walked into her room to see Chat Noir standing very awkwardly, with his hands behind his back.

“Um, Chat? What do you have?”

“Nothing. Why do you ask?”

“Obviously becuase youre hiding something behind you.”

“No I’m not, I’m just respectfullly holding my hands behind my back. Did you get the macaroon?”

“Of course I did” Marinette extended her hand to give him the macaroon. Although the grapefruit macaroon that she makes weekly was reserved for adrien, she considered making another one another time would be worth it to get out of Chat Noir’s Claws

As he went to grab his snack, Mari realized his other hand was still behind his back. He was definitley hiding something.

“Chaaaaaaat, what do you have?”

“I already told you, I dont have anything.”

Marinette ran behind Chat, and got a glimpse of her diary just before he was able to turn around. He shoved the whole macaroon in his mouth, then held the book high above her head, just out of reach.

“Hey! I need that!” Marinette whined, jumping to get her diary back.

“You didnt read anything in it did you!?”

“Not yet”

“I really need that back chat”

“onlly if you can reach it first”

of course Mari couldnt reach it. She defintiley wasnt short, but she was not near as tall as Chat Noir. She remebered once when she had tickle_ him as Ladybug, so it was definitley one of his weaknesses. If she couldnt reach, shed need to use another method to get back the holder of all her deepest secrets

Marinette scribbled Chat Noir’s underarms, causing him to pull his arms down to protect his sensitive spots

“H-Hey! You cant just- nahaha” He then dropped the book and Marinette put it back in her super safe box for it.

“Now its payback time!”

“What- why? nO-“

Marinette then tackled the flustered cat “Why not? Dont tell me youre ticklish Chat

Noir!” Of course she already knew the answer, but seeing him turn all red and shy about it was just too cute to miss out on.

“God I hate that word. I hate even saying it out loud.”

“aweee but its such a presious word! tickle tickle tickle kittyyyy”

Marinette began to teasingly poke Chat Noir’s sides, and watched as he started to panic

“no mari wait- nohohoho you cahahant just nahaha” he tried to push her hands off his torso, but he was already weak with laughter

“poor ticklish chat, having your weakness used against you and Ladybug isnt even here to help.” She cooed, spidering his tummy

“noHohO I- plehehease I cahahahant! hahaha” Now he was the one pinned with his legs kicking beneath marinette being straddled on top of him

“dont let any akumatized villans find out about your little secret, itd be over for you within 30 seconds! Escpecially around your your hips~”

“hohohow did you- AHAHAHAHA MARI IM GONNA DIIIIHIHIE AHAHAHAHA!”

Chat thrusted and bucked in attempt to get the strong girl off of him, but it was practically useless as he was rendered imobile given his situation.

“MARI HAHAHHAHA I CAHAHAHANT!”

“Ill tell you what kitty, if you say the word tickle, I’ll let you go.”

“BUHUHUT I CAHAHAHANT NAHAHAHA!”

“its such an easy word to say, if you refuse to say it, im just gonna assume that you must like being tickled”

“NOHOHOHOHO I DOHOHOHONT”

“then say it.” Mari grinned down at him

“TIHIHIHIHI NAHAHAHAHA” Chat Noir’s laughter went silent

“okay fine you were close enough” she sat on the floor next to him and played with his hair as he still giggled out the phantom tickles

“youre sure protective of that book arehehent you?”

“eh, it was mostly just an excuse for me to get you back.”

“thats so mean.”

ty for reading! If you have any story requests pls send lols

[theravencawsatmidnight]

blue bird anon: Can I request a fantasy au with Dragon Kirishima, Bakugou and child!reader? Kirishima finds an abandon egg and takes it in. Reader hatches from the egg. (It's up to you if she's a dragon, harpy, or naga or any monster hybrid) thank you~~

THIS IS THE CUTEST GOD DAMN THING IVE EVER SEEN WHAT THE HECK.

Frostbitten

Kirishima was out on his morning flight on an early saturday morning like he always was. He enjoyed this time by himself , as much as he loved his King, he still wanted time alone to survey the kingdom and make sure everything was all okay. It was a rather chilly morning which was odd since it was in the middle of spring. The chill should be gone by now and the flowers should be blooming. Kirishima flew a little lower shaking his head at the chill he was greeted with, he landed changing back into his human form stretching with a smile on his face.

Kirishima was in an open area , a field it looked like. Lots of nests were scattered around in the sun too. Kirishima crouched down to inspect one of the nests touching it, feeling some kind of heat coming from it. The eggs were already broken so whatever was here has already left. The wind kicked up and Kirishima whined, hugging himself looking around each and every nest to find the source. Every nest had some kind of element to it; water,earth,wind,fire and… frost? In this part of the world..?

He kneeled down by the nest running his fingers around the frost on the ground up to the straw nest feeling the chill right in his heart giving him goosebumps. “Odd….what are you doing here?” he asked the unbroken egg sitting in the nest surrounded by hatched blue white eggs. It had frost coming off it and a small long crack on its side.

*

Bakugo was awake strolling around his castle checking up on his servants and maids. Making sure everything was good for the day and no problems came up overnight.

He was a … interesting King. He did not like change and wanted things done fast with no argument. If he had to use force he would, if the villagers in his kingdom ever gave him trouble then Kirishima was ordered to eat them. If any other kingdoms tried to overthrow him he and Kirishima burnt them to the ground.

So when Kirishima came back with a egg in his arms and purple face with goosebumps all over his body he was… annoyed.

“What is this?” Bakugo asked, gesturing to the egg in Kirishimas arms.

“E-e-egg fou-nd it!” he said, teeth clattering as he set the egg on a nearby table to hug himself and run in circles.

Bakugo leaned down to inspect the egg noticing it had two cracks in it , one looked freshly broken too. It was a white blue egg with a foggy look too it. The top of it had white frost on it and everytime Bakugo touched it his fingertips turned purple.

“Kirishima”

The man stopped running and stood next to his King. “yes?”

“Frost Scales are only found in the North, whats this doing all the way down here.”

“It was in a nest full of hatched eggs of the same kind. The whole field was full of Elements Eggs”

“So what do you plan to do with it?” he asked, standing back up with his hands on his hips. “If it hatches “

“Well uh.. Take care of it?”

“Do you really have time to pretend to be a dad ? Kirihsima?”

“Well i -”

“If it hatches, I'm training it to be a killer just like i trained you.”

“Y-yes my King..”

*

The days went on, and Kirishima made a nest for the egg with fur blankets in it in the main room on the table. It shook every now and then and every time Bakugo poked it he heard a soft noise come from inside it. He was excited, two dragons at his fingertips. Fire and ice at his disposal. He could conquer even more kingdoms, strike fear in the villagers, travel farther than ever before…

Kirishima on the other hand was worried for his King and the egg. Sure Kirishima always had a smile on his face but when his King needed him… it was like he was a different person/dragon. It was like a different mindset, as soon as Bakugo snapped his fingers something in Kirishimas mind switched and all he saw was red.

A week had gone by and Kirishima was out buying supplies for the kingdom while Bakugo had pulled up a chair by the table to watch the egg. It had multiple cracks in it now and everytime Bakugo talked to it it shook a few times.

“Cmon. ya little killer”

Shake

“Im going to train you to freeze everything in your path”

Shake, crack

“Almost there. Come to papa”

The top of the egg fell off and Bakugo jumped out of his chair with a huge grin on his face. A dragon, a deadly dragon. A deadly… his grin flatlined when he saw what was inside. Kirishima was a dragon when Bakugo found him, so why… He tilted his head and the rest of the egg broke revealing you to the King. you were small, very small. Your foggy white blue wings extended outward, they looked bigger than your body and the horns on your head were long and curled in on themselves at the tips. You had short white hair that covered your eyes and white blue scales all over your arms, legs, stomach,hips and chest. You lifted up your hair to see who was staring at you. You had pure white eyes that froze Bakugo right to his heart.

Kirishima came back soon after with a sack over his shoulder. He pushed the castle door open to see his King staring at the small child on the table. “It hatched!!” Kirishima ran over and you turned to him holding yourself shaking.

“You must be cold here here” he opened the sack, taking out a shawl made out of bear fur and putting it over your head . “there, that must be -”

Bakugo grabbed his dragon and yanked him to the side looking very angry. “What… is that…Kirishima…”

“Uhm.. My King. she looks like a Drakaina, a female with dragon features”

“Can she turn into a dragon..”

“No, just males .. my King..”

“Then shes useless to me, get rid of her”

“Wha? My.. my KING!”

“I have no use for her!”

“She just HATCHED!”

The two argued getting louder and louder, Bakugo was getting very pressed and Kirishima had set a couple things near him on fire.

You slipped off the table and sneezed out snow while you tried to get your legs to work. You held onto the table to steady yourself to watch them. The .. one yelling the loudest sounded the most familiar to you, what did he call himself again? You took a step and Kirishima was through the roof right now.

“She cant fend for herself!”

“I dont care! What am I going to do with a child? I have Kingdoms to rule, villages to set fire too!!”

Kirishima took a step back when he saw Bakugo raise his hand.

“Dont..”

“All i have to do Kirishima, is snap my fingers.. And she will not be a problem anymore. Its our pact, you cant fight it.”

“My King ill take care of her , you wont even see her.”he was panicking now. He did not want this.

“And when i need you?”

“Ill lock her away in the castle she wont be a problem… “ he didn't want that.. He wanted to care for you and show you what being a dragon was about…

Bakugo lowered his hand to grab Kirishimas neck, yanking him over. “You better be right, if your not i will do it -” his leg was very… very cold…. , slowly his skin was turning purple and he was getting goosebumps.

The two looked down to see you hugging Bakugos legs, nuzzling your chin on it. You were also pulling Kirishimas leg to you but when you looked up you were looking at the King.

“.....pa….pa..?”

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Home Sweet Home: Catch ‘Em

Summary- 3.9k Andy Barber x You. You and Andy almost have it all, married and with a jointed family consisting of Andy’s teenage son Jacob, as well as your two younger children John and Cassidy. Looking to add another member, your family is in need of a bigger house, a forever home. You find just the place, 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville Long Island.    Home Sweet Home

Written for @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho​ Spooky Scary Stories challenge. Divider by @firefly-graphics​

Warnings- Child Endangerment, Hints of Smut (nothing graphic) Swears.

A/N- I chose Amityville Horror for the challenge because its one of my favorite Spook Stories growing up. When reading you will find a lot of similarities to the 2005 Movie, some of the scenarios and dialogue are specifically from that film. Other parts of it are from the book itself. The family name was changed for my own personal reasons. Happy Haunting!  🎃

A/N 2- We’re halfway through! 

Chapter 2 / Masterlist

The family settled and a few weeks later, morning started out normal for the rest of the household , but didn't start that way for Andy. His coughing never seemed to break and he was covered in a light sheen of sweat. You were already up to make breakfast for everyone, and Andy came down the stairs, rubbing at his chest. 

“Coffee Andy?” You ask while holding the coffee pot over his mug but he shook his head. 

“No, I actually came down hoping to find some cough syrup? Or pain medicine? Anything really. We don't have any upstairs.” 

“Oh I tossed out the old stuff. But I will pick some up when I go out today. I told Jacob that I would drop him off at the high school today after I got John on the bus.” 

Just as you were saying this, a stampede of footsteps came down the stairs making Andy wince a bit and all three kids came around the corner into the kitchen. Andy barked out a bit sharply, which even surprised you. “Y’all don’t need to be running on the stairs.” He coughed again and shivered. “Fuck its cold… I'm going down to check on the heater. If you could get that stuff, that would be great.” 

He snapped the door open and disappeared from sight while you were staring after him in surprise. Even all three of the kids seem to be in shock. Jacob just shrugged at his father's weird behavior and went to sit on a stool at the kitchen bar, the other two following him while you set plates with some scrambled eggs on them in front of them. Jacob just took toast nibbling on the edge of it a bit. 

“My phone cant keep any kind of charge whatsoever! I just got this thing to.” Jacob flipped it around to show you, and you saw it was already at 50 percent. You frowned at that, because of course he had one of the better styles of phones. Much better than anything you've ever had. 

“Your charging cord is working and everything?” You question and he nods, slipping it in his pocket. 

“Works just fine. It charges it to one hundred percent, twenty minutes later it is back down to fifty.” 

You shrug at Jacob at a loss and happen to glance at a small clock on the kitchen windowsill. “Shit.” you hiss out and down the last of your coffee. “Come on, time for the bus before we're late. Jake, meet you in the car.” You grab your car keys and open the door to call down to Andy. “I'm taking the kids to school.” 

You heard nothing more than a resounding deep cough and frowned reminding yourself to pick up that cough medicine for Andy on your way home. “Got your backpack John? Alright, lets go.” The whole pack of kids ushered out the door, leaving Andy all alone. 

Andy is pacing downstairs, waiting for the heater to kick on, cursing it out. 

“Spent all this money and the damn thing wont work.” he mutters while pulling the chair from his desk to it to sit in front of it, messing with the buttons on the front till a groaning protest came from the heater, and it clicked on to blast a bit of cool air, and quickly switched to warm. Rolling his chair back to his desk, he pulled out files from the bottom drawer to contact his clients and inform them that he was back in business at his new location. 

He was so tired though, having felt like he was up half the night feeling ill, and within a few moments he simply closed his eyes to rest them, he would use as an excuse to himself. Within moments he nodded off, and the creeping shadow came out of hiding, solidifying in front of his desk. Sharp clicking steps echoed against the cement floor and claws seared when they touched the wood of Andy's desk. It leaned forward to loom over the desk, over Andy whose chin rested against his chest. Forked tongue slithered along Andy's face, making him twitch in his sleep, whispering “Catch ‘em, Kill ‘em” Red eyes watched his victim for a moment, seemingly at peace in this state. It flexed its hands, claws scratching into the wood before giving a hard shake, sending  papers and pens flying, Andy’s laptop skidding across the surface and a picture that you had set on there yesterday crashing loudly to the floor. Cracking the glass into shattering pieces across the floor to glint wickedly. Andy’s eyes sprang open and he tipped forward to grab his shaking desk in surprise to see glowing red eyes and the scream of “Catch ‘em!” 

Then it all stopped, and he shoved back from his desk, pressing his heels to his eyes thinking he was seeing things. “What the fuck, what the fuck.” when he lifted his head, his breathing shaky to look at his desk, it was all normal. His papers were still exactly where he had set them before, his laptop in sleep mode ready to be used, pens all neatly lined up how he liked, and his family looking at him with wide happy smiles and laughs at the beach, the glass shining slightly in the light. 

“Jesus Christ Andy, get it together.” he shivered, cold once more and started coughing again. The door at the top of the stairs opened and your soft footsteps brought you down, Andy glanced up to see you carrying a steaming mug with the string of a tea bag wrapped around the handle and a paper bag that he assumed must have been the med’s he asked for. You reached the bottom and started approaching him, seeing his flushed face, the way he was heavy breathing with the rise of his chest, and you frowned while sitting the mug in front of him. 

“Baby, you don't look so good.” Your hand brushed against the side of his face, and it felt ice cold to him. Jerking out of your touch a bit, he wrapped his hands around the mug and sipped from it, scowling at the taste. 

“Don't talk to me like one of the kids Y/N.” he bit out of nowhere and he could see your face flash in a bit of hurt. “Sorry- sorry… I don't know what's wrong. Just a head cold is all. Are those the med’s?” 

“I got you a bit of everything.” your voice was colder towards him now, turned off from his offhand comment, and you set those down to, Andy knew he had to make it up to you, that was twice in the same morning he had been short, completely out of character for him. His hand wrapped around your waist and pulled you into his lap, pressing a kiss to your shoulder. 

“I’m sorry I have been an ass this morning.” He said, hoping you would ease up a bit. Which you did, he felt you relax on his thigh and your hand lifted to brush through his hair, tilting your head. 

“I know you're not feeling good. Come up soon and lay back down though? I am worried about you.” you confess, and he nods. “I gotta go back up and check on Cassidy.” 

You leave him at his work, and going up the stairs, you leave the door open to let the kitchen's sunshine at least shine down the dark stairs. Maybe it will remind Andy to come back up you think to yourself as you leave the kitchen. 

As soon as you do, the door eases shut, closing him back down in the dark belly of the house. Up the stairs, you walk the long hallway towards Cassidy’s room, gazing along the walls, imagining the photos you wanted to hang along the way when you heard Cassidy’s soft voice seemingly talking to someone. 

“No Jody, I cant. Mommy wouldn't like that, and neither would Andy.” You tilt your head curiously hearing this now, recalling her mentioning someone by that name a few times now since moving in. 

“Well, okay Jody, that doesn't sound too bad. And it is really cool. He took me out on it a few times. Even let me drive it once.” 

You eased her door open to see her standing in the middle of her room, and she jumped when she saw you. 

“Oh mommy! You scared me.” She giggled, and you poked your head around the door to see what she was talking to. Nothing, there was nothing there. 

“Who are you talking to, Babygirl?” You ask, and Cassidy looks once more where she had been talking before answering. 

“Jody, but they are gone now.” she hummed and turned towards her box of toys to dig through it. You come into the room and go to sit on the edge of her bed, watching as she pulled out a few of her dolls and brought out her tea set. 

You wiggle your nose a bit, knowing imaginary friends were not uncommon. You pull up to a stand as she is setting up her dolls around a small table. “Do you want me to have tea with you?” 

“No Mommy, I wanna just play by myself.” She said happily and you lean down to kiss the top of her head. Walking out, Cassidy followed behind you, peeking out to see you heading off to go back down the stairs. 

“Okay Jody, she's gone. You still wanna go down to see the boat?” Cassidy looked over her shoulder to see the closet door easing open on its own. Cassidy giggled, and raced out of her bedroom, one goal in mind. Going to the boathouse. 

You're in the kitchen, unpacking the last few boxes when you hear Cassidy’s feet thumping down the stairs. Luckily Andy is still down in the basement and hopefully can't hear the thumps that seemed to bother him. You were surprised in finding the door, but figured he must have had to shut it if he was talking to a client. Opening it back up to hear Andy was still downstairs, typing away on his laptop now with the clicking noise that worked its way up the stairs. Humming you lift another box on the table and start to unpack the contents. Turning your back from the fridge, you hop up to sit on the edge of the counter so you could fit the dishes together and put them on the upper shelf you couldn't reach. Unnoticed by you, the alphabet letters on the fridge start shifting around, letters coming together to fit together in a couple words. 

When you finish, you hop off the counter and turn back to catch sight of the refrigerator door, your eyes widening at the horrible words spelled on the door. 

Katch ‘em Kill ‘em 

You gasp in shock at them, wondering who would have possibly written that. Thumps on the stairs distracted you half a second and Andy appeared with his mug for a refill. “Andy, did you write that on the fridge?” you say in a slightly accusing voice, and he frowns while glancing at you as he heads to put the kettle on the stove. 

“What are you talking about Y/N?” 

“The magnets on the fridge.” You answer and you both turn to the fridge door to see the letters scattered all over the place, not spelling anything. You scowl in frustration, because you know what you saw and Andy gives you a strange look. 

“What words?” he asks while he's at the sink, filling up the kettle with water and you just shake your head. 

“Nothing, I thought I saw something, but I didn't.” you brush it off, now unsure of what you saw. While you're unwrapping more dishes, you suddenly hear Andy utter. “Oh shit, Cassidy!” and the tin sound of the kettle crashing in the sink while Andy is sprinting to the back door and outside. You drop what you're doing and follow him out, right on his heels as he's running down the wooden deck steps and headed straight for the boat house. “ANDY?” You shout from behind him as he's running full out across the deck. “What's wrong?!” your panicked, unsure what is going on while Andy is trying to wrench the door open. 

“Cassidy, I saw her go in here.” He rushed out as he wrenched on the handle, trying to get it to unclasp. You start pounding on the door now in a frantic way, Cassidy couldn't swim, and the boat house was stretched over the lake, should she slip in, there was a good chance she would drown. Your fear builds as Andy continues trying to get the door open. “What the fuck. CASS! OPEN THE DOOR.” he yells while trying to push it open.

“Oh god Andy, get it open, get it open.” tears start to well up in your eyes as you picture your daughter slipping under the water out of sight. 

Andy growls out and pushes you aside to slam against the door, hoping to wrench it open. “I'm trying Y/N, get out of the way.” 

Your just about to jump in to swim around to the other side of the boat house when the door sprang open and you both race in, looking around the dim interior to see Cassidy standing on the nose of the motor boat just staring out over the lake, you gasp in surprise seeing her like that as Andy made his way carefully along the edge of the deck not to startle her. 

“Cass, Babygirl, look at me.” Andy says softly as he makes his way towards her. Your right behind him. 

“Cassidy, look at Andy.” you whimper out, watching as she gets closer to the edge of the boat, and her gaze was so far away out over the lake, like she never noticed you or Andy trying to get to her.

“Cass!” He says more urgently, and she jumps to look at him, slipping a bit as the boat rocks from her movements. “Take my hand baby.” He stretches his hand out and she shakes her head a bit. 

“I can’t, I gotta go.” Cass say’s with certainty, tilting her head like she was listening to someone else. “Jody want’s to take me to play.” 

“Take his hand Cass!” your panic rushing your voice and Andy stretches out further over the water, his voice turning hard and authoritative. 

“Cassidy I’m not asking again. Take my hand.” When Cassidy heard him this time, she snapped her head to look at him and her eyes grew wide with surprise. She stretched for his hand, her fingers trying to reach for his. Andy is quick to snatch her and pull her off the boat to safety, falling back against the wall from the momentum. You gather your daughter in your arms, giving a sob. 

“Cassidy what were you doing, you could have drowned.” 

Now the girl is caught up in Andy's and yours fear, giving her own sob as tears burst from her eyes while you and Andy rush out of the boat house with her strongly clutched in your arms, stopping just outside as she wails out. “Jody wanted to see the boat Mommy! Jody wanted me to go with them.” 

“Cass, there is no Jody!” your nerves shook so you shout at her in anger and fear, and Andy reaches to take Cassidy from your arms. 

“She's scared Y/N and didn't know any better, yelling isn't going to help.” He turns the little girl in his arms as she sobs into his shoulder, his hand smoothing along her back to calm her down. “Hey Kiddo, it's going to be okay.” He tried calming Cassidy who’s sobs wracked her body in Andy’s arms, and you walked away a bit to take a shuddering inhale. You know he's right, you're just upsetting her more, but your fear outweighed that right now. 

“Just lock that damn door Andy, so this doesn't happen again.” you look back at the door and he nods. 

“I will go pick up a lock at the hardware store, I promise.” He assured you and you nodded, wiping away your tears. Now your daughters crying in Andy’s shoulder upset you, made you feel guilty for yelling at her. You move to press your hand against her back and say her name. She tilts her head to look at you through teary eyes and you try giving her a shaky smile. 

“I’m sorry baby, I didn't mean to yell. You just really scared me and Andy.” 

She gave a sniffle and Andy eased her back so she could wipe her face dry and look at both of them. 

“I’m-i’m sorry. Next time I will ask.” She said, and you nodded. Andy shifted her once more to rest on his hip. 

“Cassidy, the boathouse is dangerous and you know off limits to you and John. If Jody tells you to do something you're not supposed to, what do you tell Jody?” he asked and the little girl lifted her arm to wipe her face again, hiccuping as she tried to catch her breath. 

“I tell Jody no Andy.” she said, his hand still rubbing against her back. 

“That's right, if you're not sure if you're allowed, you come ask Mommy, Me, or Jacob if it's okay.” he smiled at her to reassure her that it was all okay.

She gave a nod and he held up a pinkie finger, which she hooked her finger around and Andy kissed her forehead. “Pinky promise I swear Andy.” 

“Can't break a pinky promise. You know… I think I have some cookies up at the house.” He said, his hand coming up to brush the last tears away with his thumb on her cheeks. “You wanna get a snack before I have to go back to work?” 

Cassidy seemed to consider it. “Oreos?” 

“Of course they are oreos!” Andy winked as you all headed back up to the house. “Best cookie there is, right?” 

Cassidy gave a firm nod, and you let out a relieved breath. Crisis averted. 

Later that afternoon, Andy came back out of the basement just as you were finishing the kitchen, Cassidy coloring at the table while he grabbed his keys. 

“I will go pick up Jacob and stop at the hardware store.” He pecked a kiss on your cheek, and you looked at him. 

“You sure you're feeling up for it?” 

Andy nodded and flashed a smile. “I feel much better Love, those meds kicked in and some fresh air will do me good.” 

You happen to agree since he's been in that basement most of the day, and you wave a goodbye, deciding you should probably figure out what's gonna be for dinner later in the day. “How about tacos tonight Cass?” 

She cheers and  you double check to make sure there was enough ingredients, which there was. No need to send Andy a text to pick up anything. “Come on kiddo, lets go pick John up from the bus stop.” you snap the door shut, bluntly ignoring the letters scattered over the fridge. 

Heading down the driveway, the house groaned, all alone once again. There was a shattering through the kitchen, your finest dishes being flung from the cupboard and against the wall, fine china dust settling in the air as the scattered pieces spread across the linoleum for you to find later. The basement door wrenched open and the yawning darkness going down the stairs turned darker, more ominous. 

When you came back, you stared in shock, stopping both John and Cassidy from going in to save them from stepping on shattered broken shards. “How about you two go on up to your rooms to play while I clean this up?” 

Both children went upstairs, and you grabbed a broom to start sweeping, as you passed the basement door, you slammed it shut in frustration and anger. 

Night fell and you got the kids settled in. Settling in bed yourself to lean against the headboard, massaging your temples while Andy was in the bathroom getting ready for bed.

You were beat after having to help John with his homework and Cassidy suddenly changed her mind and just hated tacos. Andy seemed to be feeling better, helping where he could. Offering to take over the dishes when John called you back to the kitchen table, and afterwards he hugged you from behind, kissing your neck while whispering in your ear that he couldn't wait to put a baby in you before he went back down to the basement to finish up with a few things.  

Thinking back on his idea made you warm up and when Andy came back in the bedroom and stretched out next to you, you looked at him, biting your lip while looking at him.

“You really wanna tonight?” you asked hopeful, since moving your and Andy’s sexual escapades had diminished a bit and you put it all to the stress of moving a whole family to a new house.

“Make you a baby momma? Of course, come on over Pretty Girl.” He reached up to click off the lights and bathe the room in the moonlight when you gently eased into his lap, the two of you starting with gentle affectionate kisses before they turned deeper and needier. Andy's hands slid up and down your back through your tank top, and you would sigh against his lips at how good it felt. Andy chained kisses from your mouth to your jaw and you tilted your head back to let him chain those kisses of his down your neck. He pulled you in closer to feel more of you when his glance lifted to look in the mirror just behind you at the end of the bed. 

At first Andy had no idea what he was actually looking at, a grotesque face appeared above him in the mirror, like it was balancing on the headboard behind him. Crouching in place, its clawed hands dug into the wood, its muscled body flexing as it swayed slightly on the head board. Up to its face, a forked tongue slithered out and red eyes glared at him in the mirror. How could something from a nightmare be here right now? He wasn't asleep, he was just about to make love to his wife. His head jerked back in shock, banging against the headboard with a loud crack as he looked up to see nothing above him. “Fuck!” 

You yanked up in surprise, running your hands down his chest. “Handsome, what's wrong?” your head tilted and you looked where he was staring, feeling his heart starting to race under your hands. 

“You didn't see that?” He grasped your hips, making you go still as you frowned. 

“See what Andy?” his gaze fell back to ours and then back up. 

“There was something there, fuck I saw it in the mirror. I don’t even know what it was. It looked like a- ” He grasped your hips and sat up to look around, your hands grabbing onto the front of his tee shirt in surprise. Looking back to the mirror and then to Andy who was still trying to figure it out. 

“Like what Andy?” You are studying him trying to figure out what he was talking about. 

“Fuck it I know Y/N.” His hold tightened on you a moment, like whatever was going to rip you away while he still looked around the room. 

“Hey hey, Andy.” you cup his face and make him look at you, kissing his forehead and down till you leaned your forehead against his. “It's okay, there is nothing there, I promise.” Your lips brushed against his. His breathing slowly started to settle back down, and your hands rubbed against his shoulders and the back of his neck as he started to sink back against the pillows, rubbing at his face. 

“It was so real though Y/N. These past few weeks, I feel like I'm losing my mind.” 

You tilt your head and brace your hands against his chest. “Stress Andy, we’ve had a lot going on. It will get better, I promise.” 

His blue eyes shined up at yours and softened seeing you looking down at him, his hands going back to tracing your thighs clasped at his sides. “You know I love you right Pretty Girl?” 

You nodded and he twisted you two around till you were underneath him, and tilted your head up to kiss you deeply. “I think I was just about to put a baby in you.” 

You giggled against his lips, wrapping your arms around his neck and whispering. “Yes you were Andy.”

[runningwithhellhounds]

Theo, across recent timescapes. Theo x life: a series of impressions.

Theo is an invasive agent in Hayden's sensory collection. She's trying to not pay him any mind.

She also tried to erase his self-importance by pretending he didn't exist when she knew he watched with his bridge-burn eyes as she and Liam kissed. Found success in his uncharacteristic silence in a moment that was ruinable.

They are standing in dappled shadows on the forest ground, waiting for Liam, who ran ahead to make a call out of Theo's earshot. Theo is sitting by a tree with his knees up and loosely spread, with his hands in between them. His hands, chained: it's simplest hazard control. Effective, though. Hayden feels spiteful as she's walking left to right, throwing a palm-sized rock from hand to hand. Theo looks bored, irked.

''Where are you going to, little Red Riding Hood?'' Theo addresses her, smooth to self-entertain, making her stop mid-throw, causing the rock to hit her palm and fall on the ground. She picks it up and mimes throwing it at him. Success unfound, in how he doesn't flinch. Success unfound, in how he's making this into a story about a little girl and a sneaky wolf.

She considers him. If answering at all would cater to his amusement, or lesser his situational unpleasantries, which she's trying to avoid. But Theo is in the midway of doing nothing and determined to draw attention to himself, the way he has been.

''We're out of flowers, I'm afraid. Would you like some redwood wood, instead?'' Theo offers in a made-pleasant public service voice. Hayden notices that he's siding with the forest, here, scuttling into its floors where he has found purchase through extended stay.

''You know all the tree species?'' Hayden asks. Takes a bite and wills it into a treat for herself, rather than bait. Theo probably meant the tall and non-wiggly tree he's sitting against; Hayden wonders if he ever studied forestry, or if this is werewolfery knowledge.

''I know better things, too. If you come closer, I'll whisper them to you.'' He grins. Lifts his chained wrists as he adds, ''No pressure, though.''

Hayden considers him. Again and again. This is, she guesses, learnt prudency; a refined taste for justice, maybe. Guesses resurrection does that to you.

''Warning, beware of dog,'' she says.

Theo looks at her, eyes hooding and mouth neutralising. He shrugs, looks sideways. Attention, lost. Trade, declined. Secretful threat traded for blankness, if anything. Hayden, it seems, does not entertain in Theo-ways.

—

Theo Raeken, it turns out, has a finitude to his spread of catastrophe. Sheriff Stilinski watches cross-armed as running-mouth-boy exposes the culprits of murder; aggravates them like it's his best expertise until they say things they tried not to say and so saves his own slate from police-worthy additions.

Stilinski watches as Theo, for some inexplicable reason, lingers in the police department. Theo is sitting on one of the reception benches, eating a bag of mixed nuts from the vending machine. One would think it's ill-advised, that as soon as Parrish released him, Theo asked Parrish to buy him some goods from the vending machine, said he was detained unfairly. Deprived of food for this short but uneasy time. Didn't have his belongings on him. But it mustn't be nonsensical; it must be some behavioural tactic of making himself appear unconcerned. As having clear consciousness, innocence, all of those.

Stilinski resumes watching through the screen as Theo's chewing slows down when an officer with a police dog walks to the machine. He watches Theo's frowned, suffering, doubtful expression, staring into the dog's eyes like he can't take the dog seriously. The officer stops fishing change out of his wallet with a metal scoop in his cupped hand to shoot Theo a questioning look.

''Everything alright, son?'' the officer jingles the change in his hand, looking Theo over.

Theo's gaze doesn't even change when he looks up. Doesn't turn into a stranglehold of a gaze, either. ''Does your dog bite?''

The officer considers Theo, the sagged, unruffled spectre of him.

''No need to worry,'' he assures. Starts inserting the coins. He then turns to Theo in an afterthought. ''Is someone picking you up? You need anything?''

''Oh,'' Theo breathes, ''for real? Would you? Just something to eat? I've been stuck here waiting.''

Stilinski watches as Theo picks up a protein bar from the machine drawer. Flavoured water, a second later. Probably, apathy comes easily to him. He must not think in any understandable way; rather, he must think unfeelingly. Kid's got— not a care in the world.

—

Liam is holding a bouquet and inspecting its flowery contents. Frowning at the petals he's scraping at, glowering at the buds he's poking.

In the aftermath of the ceremony ran on the anniversary of Liam's school in the decorated sports hall, his mother is standing by the chairs in unison with another boy watching her son.

She knows him from a photo Liam showed her, a boy new in the school, softly named: Theo. It was evident that Liam took the photo discreetly, which she commented on and which Liam denied. She notes the distance at which Theo keeping and approaches him.

''Don't worry, he's not keeping secrets from his friends,'' she says. ''He doesn't have a girlfriend, at least not that I know of. I was the one who gave him the flowers.''

''Oh?'' Theo says. ''I see.''

He puts his hands in his pockets. He's probably shy. This happens sometimes, with high-school boys, they can become clumsy with themselves. She feels motherly talking to them in moments like this; motherly and pleasant in her efforts to engage adolescents when they are dithering.

''I think he's reconciling masculinity with flowers,'' she comments.

He smiles. Smirks, more like it. They must be close.

''Good colour choice,'' he comments on the orange of the flowers.

She nudges his arm. ''Go talk to him when they're done taking photos.''

Theo shakes his head, shrugs once. ''Nah. I will be leaving soon, anyway,'' he says, and she drops her hand from his arm. He's probably a little shy.

—

Mediterranean sunrise comes with a surprise: a man awakening on the ground a few steps from the barely-formed footpath. A man, or maybe younger, his Mediterranean awakening accompanied by the smell of fig trees, and all. Kind red soil.

He's naked. He's slowly wiping a hand across his lips. You know, suddenly, that this is a complication. The circumstance makes his body looks like an involuntarily stripped body. Perspective changes: red soil is now needled soil. Acrid tones sour the sunrise.

''Hey,'' you call, stepping closer in your sandals and a coral-printed towel around your neck, feeling unsuitable for the demands of the situation. ''Hey. Are you okay? Should I call the police?''

He's pushing himself up. Not looking at you. Not mindful of the resin at his back. This is indicative, you think, of something, because you're mindful of the way road dust is making your hair dry and webby, while his attention is this narrow, or overall absent.

He looks up, then, at you. ''What?''

A surprise gifted by a foreign agency; not Italian, then. You switch to English and try to make it not clumsy.

''I'll call the police for you,'' you assure him. Scramble to find your phone in your tote bag.

''D'n't call th'police,'' he says. He isn't trying to cover where his body is exposed.

''I don't want to assume anything,'' you say, feeling odd and performative. ''But— Look. I can just call the emergency number and they can direct you to a centre for sexual assault.''

Body, bodily manuscripted into the soft soil. He looks like he's processing slowly. Gets distracted inspecting his hands. Is that blood, you wonder, realise, really, it all just getting worse and fraughter. In between his fingers.

''Don't call th'police,'' he says. ''Was jus' drunk.''

''Is that blood? On your fingers.''

''I jus'. D'n't call. Did s'me things I shouldn't have.'' He reads your face, then says, ''Not like that. T'myself.''

Heat is lowering to the grounds of the morning and your sandals are light on your feet, escape-hairs pleasant, pine trees your favourite. And the hostility-seen boy is trying to act alright.

''It's okay,'' you say, wondering if it is; something complicated about the okayness of not-okay. You squat down, to balance the eye heights. ''I can call the hotline for—''

''No, n't—. Just stupid, no police. Please.''

''Do you want some water,'' you say, taking it out of your bag, and he takes it. Uncaps and smells it, blinking with his nose above the bottle opening, before he shakes his head a little, and starts drinking. Your phone is still in your hand, but you're unsure. You give him your second non-swimly shorts and wait until he overcomes his hesitance and gingerly takes them.

''You don't have to tell me,'' you insist. ''But I'm sure that there's someone who—''

''Thanks. It's okay, you can go now.'' He starts moving to get the shorts on, then swiftly straightens his back, inhaling deeply and looking up. Must be avoiding some hidden ache.

You hesitate, phone in your hand, legs starting to feel stiff from the position.

''I could drive you someplace. My car is ten min—''

''Thanks, but I'm okay now. You can't help,'' he interrupts. There are cases like this one, right, people using caustic means for secret-maintaining ends.

''Are you sure?'' you press. ''I could go away while you're talking to—''

''You're not helping,'' he says, monotone now, now operative and controlled to be alkaline. He's looking at your eyes fixedly, and you stop hesitating. ''You should go.''

Ground gives. You shake your head and start walking away, leaving him with your shorts and thinking then good fucking luck, honey.

You turn back one more time. He's looking at you leaving with unfocused glossy eyes, and you wonder, surely not for the last time, how deeply and stickily swamp-lodged he must be.

—

A hot guy is walking in the chest-high sea and doing little dives. Grazing the water surface with his fingertips in between and wiping salt from his eyes, before diving again and re-salting his eyes, like some deliberately mindless-seeming cyclical mechanism. Salt for maintenance, salt a nuisance.

Now he bends his knees and only submerges up to his chin, and you imagine he's sensing freshness at his nape.

''You just have to relax,'' you say loudly from where you come to stand in the water to your ankles, ''and you can probably hold your breath for longer than that.''

He stands up and turns until he spots you. You walk closer until the water is at your waist and he's looking at you like someone unexpectedly interrupted. Unexpectedly perceived, unfortunately. A popular kid being addressed by an unpopular one.

''You wanna teach me how to swim?'' he asks and smirks a little, and you shrug.

''If you feel like you can't stay underwater for more than five seconds, it's probably because you're panicking. You can hold your breath comfortably for at least fifteen seconds, I dare say.''

He looks at the glistening in the water, looking weary.

''Can I,'' he says, more of a response made to be unrevealing than a question.

''One thing I'll say,'' you say, untying your hair to avoid breaking it when it will be wet and to be casual, maybe; mitigate the upfrontness and possible insinuation, ''is that your body looks mad functional. Don't take this in any funky way.''

''I won't,'' he says.

—

Theo is in no space. Some telephone line space.

Should I be taking this personally, Liam texts him. He knows that Theo has been straightforwardly ignoring his messages. He hopes, actually; hopes Theo hasn't run into any of his long-known non-friends who see his face as a face, fanged, and not eyes, often confused, tongue, often tied, responses, often belated. Hopes that Theo isn't not answering because of some surviving anachronism from his past, but rather because of something new. That would be more manageable.

He also hopes that Theo isn't not answering because he is succumbing to his self-damaging instincts, even though that would mean simmering resentment towards Liam; even though that would likely be the best possible option in the precarious array of options in Theo's life.

Liam texts, did you know that if space was infinitely big and infinitely old, it would be white? I don't really get why, do you?

—

You have a boy couched in your living room. His name is Theo. Picked him up on a staff-only fire escape. It would be a leisurely sight, now, a tracksuit-hoodie-boy sitting right next to a drying rack, which he said he didn't mind. If it wasn't for your rapid heart. Heart: heated, speaking in unit-free measures. Heat: a smooth, unfibrous thing.

''May I,'' he murmurs, and you lean in.

It's a classic student situation: a breathless undertaking to the backtune of wine in tea mugs. He selected a Sierra Nevada mug with a setting sun. Came with the flat.

''Add me on Facebook,'' you say. The two of you haven't even done much, but you feel so hooked, by the fire-escape boy who moves in a way so self-assured and touches indoor objects warily. ''Or Instagram. Wherever you want.''

''I don't use social media,'' he says. He uses his hold on your hand and your finger to push his hair out of his eye. You like the way it parts and hits his temples.

''Phone number?'' You suggest, more joking than not. Exchanging phone numbers feel more joke-like than not.

''No phone number,'' he says. Must see your expression, shrugs and says, ''Guess I'm too old for technology.'' He smirks at the dry look you shoot at him, knowing your age of twenty-three to his twenty-two. He's saying too old and you don't buy it. He carries no weariness in his jaguar body. He takes his lower lip in his mouth. ''What if,'' he then says, ''I'm a vampire.'' He touches the tip of his tongue to his upper teeth.

''My favourite paranormal activity,'' you say.

''Too bad,'' he says, grinning. You look at his ajar lips and think: too bad.

''Your canines are sharp, though,'' you say. ''At least.''

He grins wide. Pointedly and slowly leans towards your neck with an open mouth, until teeth make contact. You feel your smile dropping when his phone beeps. He hesitates for a beat and then leans his forehead on your chin, just breathing there, and you know you are both thinking about him saying no phone number.

''But none for me,'' you say. Because of all the places your bodies have been touching, a beat of silence means: five heartbeats of him staring at his phone, engulfed in the jacket he discarded on the floor by the couch, and you staring at him. And then he leans over, easily shifting your weight, until he can kick the jacket, some, not really achieving anything.

''Another vampire,'' he says, then, on the side of unapologetic. Luckily, you are known to be unresentful. Good at not taking things personally. ''From another brood.'' He places his hands back on your hips.

''Hm,'' you say.  It's fine. The monomania of the green-eye boy is temporary. He's hot, but your desire never lasts, anyway.

—

There's a guy on your bus ride, on the opposite side of the passage, one seat forward. Your age. You noticed the generic niceness of his face.

He's drawing a sinusoidal curve on the fogged window. Moves his hand further right, where the window is still fogged. Starts drawing vertical lines, carefully, some methodology to it, the lines parallel to each other. He pauses after he draws four. Huffs, twists his smile into one that is hiding and downturned. He crosses the four lines with one that is horizontal, then adds another vertical line to the side.

You feel yourself smile. He drops his hand, shakes his head a little. Looks through the window at the frost-covered barren brown fields, away from his prisoner day-count. It's funny. He's funny. You look away.

—

It's a short, crude thing. Like this:

A fictitious boy stumbles out of a bare-walled building. Languid, unrestful body. Unleisurely, water-logged body. A tired backstreet play-doh thing. Young.

''Hey,'' you call. ''You. You good?''

The night is warm, humid. A post-rain road construction night. A night for cicadas, if you drive further out.

He inhales in the way of catching breath. Squints at his watch, eyes go glassy. Looks at the moon overhead, then squints at you. And you— you feel awake now.

You look him over, the sugarburn boy with a backwards baseball cap. The trouble of a tooth cavity, which means: okay, if you have some money. Some reckless uncare, too. He's watching you. You inhale slowly, but it turns out all tell-tale anyway. He must see the appeal you feel, in how he licks his lips and tilts his head.

''Interested?'' he asks.

You hesitate. Feel for your jacket pocket with your wallet in it. Lift it without taking it out, clear enough.

He nods. Clears his throat.

''Can you play nice?'' he asks. Teasing, but also not.

You can.

He nods. Looks at his watch. You follow him.

—

You pick up your pretend-sugar fake-care service by a closed ice-cream stand, its inviting light sign shining red on his face. It's raining lightly when you pull up and he doesn't have his hood up like he knows the wet hair strands sticking to his forehead make him look good. In the car, he has no song requests when you ask.

''How can I service you?'' he asks.

—

''What should I call you,'' you ask.

''No need to call me,'' he says.

''What if I want to,'' you admit. Not subtle and elusive. If I may be so bold as to in the back of your mouth.

He pauses, thinks. His gaze is saccading empty spot to empty spot and you know the only type of name you'll get is a fake. You'll take it, as a consolation purchase.

''Theo,'' he says.

—

Alec answers the knock with a toothbrush in his hand.

''Theo. Jesus,'' he breathes.

''Hello,'' Theo responds, overly carefully-crafted for the simplicity of a greeting, but Theo has never carried himself as though he was simple. ''I brought you those,'' he hands Alec paper sheets folded in half. ''I got my hands on some werewolves. Could you give those to Scott?''

It's more automatic than not, when Alec takes and unfolds them. They are black-and-white prints of photographs of ID's.

''You did?'' Alec says, still dumbfounded, still in the act of being interrupted. Habit-mindedness sliced in half. ''How?''

Theo shrugs. His face furrows for a beat, then he fiddles with the door handle, pushing it down twice.

Alec looks at the goods in his hands: a toothbrush, werewolfy profiles. ''Do you want me to tell him that they're from you?''

Theo looks conflicted. That's fair; it's a conflicting state of circumstances, or what is it that Liam told Alec. Maybe Theo turned to Alec because of the implied similarity: both well-accustomed to doing what it takes. Maybe Theo is finding some comfort in that; like Alec would recognise that Theo is a runaway object, or a throwaway one, only having made himself a weapon because he had been made into one first. Like Alec would recognise that Theo is trying to pay his dues. Or maybe Alec is misjudging and Theo isn't seeking comfort at all, which is what Malia thinks. Guess Alec is a little soft for softer scenarios.

''Jesus,'' Alec says again. ''You were gone so long. You didn't say anything. Have you—'' He hesitates, frowns a little. ''Does—Ah, well, you know. Does Liam know?'' He was going for tentative with this one before he swerved. Tending to the habits of skittish wolves.

Theo is looking past Alec's shoulder, distanced and glassy. Alec thinks of dolls, their eyes amiss in that they are unseeing and custom-built. It's a thought too cruel, unless it's sympathetic.

Theo shakes his head, slowly, and exhales, touches his temples with his index fingers, then drops them lower and presses them over his jaw muscles.

''TMJ pain?'' Alec asks.

Theo drops his hands. ''What?''

''Oh. The jaw joint,'' Alec points to his own.

Theo shrugs. ''It's just tender. This muscle,'' he taps.

''Have you been stressed? TMJ problems are common for young people. Can happen because of stress. Stress can cause teeth grinding.'' A clumsy explanation, but Alec can't re-order its parts now, just hopes Theo takes it. Hopes Theo makes his skin onion peel and shows something less dry underneath. And Theo:

Theo looks at him expressionlessly, for a beat, and then exaggeratedly sad-faces. Pouts, closes his eyes, nods slowly. ''I've been stressed,'' he says.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32225941

[terrm9]

Shattered

Words count: 5 200

!!! WARNINGS: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH; DEATH; FUNERAL; TRAUMA; ALCOHOL CONSUMING; SUICIDAL THOUGHTS; MENTIONS OF ILLNESS

seriously guys this is very very very dark and angsty, there is no glimpse of anything else.

Author’s note: okay, the angsty fic is here. PLEASE, read the warnings and consider if you want to read it. I would hate to cause some triggering feelings in anyone, so please if you are not sure, DO NOT READ. The story will not be relevant for any other of my fics, it is really just angsty one-shot that I needed to write and will not be mentioned ever again. You won’t miss anything important because my other fics will be pure fluff again - there is a fluffy fic about Ramsey family coming where they are all happy and healthy and very much alive. (for more notes, see the end of the story)

„You are overreacting, babe,“ Chiara chuckled and wrapped herself tighter into the sheets.

„You literally just called me ‚babe‘,“ Ethan rolled his eyes. „I have every reason to be overreacting.“

Chiara laughed – or she tried to laugh, the sound soon turning into painful groans.

„It’s just the flu, Ethan. Really, I am doctor and a capable one, so stop questioning my judgement on my own flu. It’s flu season after all. It sucks but I’ll be fine in no time.“

Ethan was not as sure, not at all. Her strained voice and burning forehead kept his mind on the edge.

„I promise I’ll let you take me to the hospital if I don’t feel better in the morning,“ Chiara added as she noticed the wrinkle of concern between his brows.

„Okay,“ Ethan nodded relucantly and kissed her cheek softly. „Now, let’s try to get some sleep. And wake me up if you need pills or water or anything.“

Nodding, Chiara shut her eyes and allowed herself to hope that the throbbing headache would disappear by the morning.

Switching the lights off, Ethan took Chiara’s sweaty hand into his a put another gentle kiss on her knuckles.

„I love you,“ he whispered into the dark room, not sure if Chiara heard him.

„I love you more,“ she whispered back, a small smile on her lips.

Ethan chuckled, the fact that Chiara couldn’t resist to play the little competition with him even now giving his mind the peace it so much needed to sleep.

Impossible, he thought before letting the sleep overtake him.

˜

The sharp, bright rays of a sun that has risen long time ago made Ethan stir in the bed. He didn’t even check the clock, his hand already reaching for Chiara – she was the first thing on his mind every morning and this one was no exception.

With his eyes still half closed, he put his palm on her forehead and a relief washed over him at the feeling of cold skin under it.

The fever was gone.

The relief lasted mere seconds, however. Mere seconds until the words ‚cold skin‘ echoed in Ethan’s mind again.

Her skin was cold. Not feverish, not warm and not the way it normally was.

It was cold.

Cold.

Ethan sat up in an instant, the last traces of sleep long gone. He turned his head to see Chiara clearly and the terrifying, dreadful knot formed in his stomach.

Chiara looked as if she was sleeping very deeply.

But Ethan knew better. Ethan knew that Chiara has never been a deep sleeper.

„No,“ he whispered as he kneeled next to her and pulled the sheets of her.

She was pale. Her lips had the unnatural shade of purple. She was not in a deep sleep – her chest wasn’t moving up and down with her every breath. It wasn’t moving at all.

There were no breaths.

Ethan slapped her; slapped her really hard.

Chiara didn't move. The skin on her cheek didn't get flushed by the harsh contact with Ethan's palm.

"What the fuck are you doing, Chiara?" Ethan screamed at her while laying her down on the floor, as gently as ever.

But there was a part of his brain that was starting to fathom the truth, the part that knew exactly what Chiara was doing.

And that there was no need to be gentle with her anymore.

His head was spinning. Years of medicine worth nothing with the hands shaking so hard he couldn’t perform a proper CRP.

Ethan grabbed a phone and realized it was Chiara’s the moment his own face looked back at him from her locked screen.

He wanted to throw it across the room, to break it. But then, does it really matter whose phone do you use when you need to call 911?

He dialed the number, put the phone on a speaker and got back to pumping Chiara’s chest, praying to God he stopped believing in long time ago that any force that made Chiara’s heart stop could make it beat again under his hands.

The morning became a bizzare blur of action, fear and emptiness with Ethan dictating his adress to the phone one moment and sprinting to open the door for the paramedics the second, not giving them a chance to ask questions before he was kneeling next to Chiara’s motionless – lifeless – body.

The shock on all of the paramedics‘ and Dr. Stock’s face at the sigh of Dr. Ramsey in his pajama bottoms and trembling hands and Dr. Ray on the ground was evident – after all, they knew both doctors. They worked with them for years.

The young paramedic man – Ethan felt like his name was Eric, but maybe that was a pure lie his mind made up – pushed Ethan gently aside and started to perform a CRP himself, while Dr. Stock – a man Ethan’s age – asked him many questions.

When did you find her? What happened before? Was it a long time before you called us?

But Ethan couldn’t answer. Ethan didn’t know. Was it an hour or a day? What happened? He had no idea what happened. He wished he knew what happened and he also wished he would never have to find out.

Dr. Stock knelt down next to the young paramedic and with a solemn nod gestured him to stop with the CRP.

He checked Chiara’s pulse, he foricbly opened her eyes and observed them, he gave her feet a light tap.

And then he shook his head softly.

The three paramedics – two younger men and one older woman – shared a look and all of them checked their watches at once.

„8:08 AM,“ one of them spoke quietly and raised his eyebrow, a question for the doctor.

„Write that down for now,“ Dr. Stock nodded and stood up. „The autopsy should tell us more.“

The autopsy. 8.08 AM. They way they stopped with the resurrecting. Stopped with trying.

As if there was no point in trying anymore.

Ethan didn’t quite register everything going on around him. He wanted to throw up. He felt like fainting. Screaming. Knocking and throwing fists.

He hadn’t done any of those.

He kept standing on the spot, frozen and unable to move. He didn’t want their words and their actions to make sense.

"Sir - Dr. Ramsey - we are sorry."

The paramedic put a sympathetic hand on Ethan's shoulder, her eyes concerned. Perhaps it was supposed to bring some steadiness into his breaths, however the result was the opposite.

"I don't need your sorry," he shook her hand down and took two steps back.

The two other paramedics along with Dr. Stock wheeled the stretcher with Chiara’s body on it out of the bedroom, throwing one last glance at Ethan's trembling figure.

"Stop looking like that," he was screaming now. "Stop with the sorry and those looks, there's no need for them, there's no need for them."

His voice was cracking and the little part of his brain that wasn't completely coated in denial whispered 'Please tell me there's no need for them'.

"You are taking her to hospital, right? That's good, that's great," he muttered but noticing the exchange of their worried glances, his rage came back.

"Just STOP! Take her to the hospital, make her feel better! Make this okay!"

The tree men left the room, however the woman remained standing next to him.

„Why are you still here?“ Ethan asked.

„We already informed Chief Banerji, Dr. Ramsey. He asked one of us to stay with you until he arrives here.“

Ethan shrugged and turned away before replying.

„There is no need for that. You can go. Or at least leave the room, I am going to get changed.“

The paramedic didn’t look happy about his command but left the room anyway and Ethan opened his closet to choose a shirt for the day.

What a busy morning, he thought. At least Chiara is in the hospital now. I will be better at taking care for her there.

He almost laughed at the situation. They were supposed to go to the opera tonight and instead, she ended up in a hospital with the flu.

Maybe he could stop at the Derry Roasters and buy her some good coffee. But then, she probably doesn’t have the appetite and it would be just a waste of time.

No, he will go straight to the hospital. She will surely be confused when she wakes up in a hospital bed.

Ethan just finished tying the knot on his tie when the door to the bedroom opened and Naveen stepped in.

His face was grave and his eyes red, as if he was crying recently.

„Ethan,“ he said softly, not entirely sure what kind of reaction was he expecting.

„Naveen,“ Ethan nodded in a greeting. „I am sorry but I won’t even invite you for a coffee. I can’t be late for work.“

„I don’t think you should go to work today, Ethan.“

„I can’t see why not. I want to be there when Chiara wakes up.“

Every single cell in Ethan’s body, every single atom in it denied the truth. The new reality.

Ethan couldn’t admit what was happening and he wasn’t going to.

„Chiara is not going to wake up, Ethan,“ Naveen whispered, his voice broken.

„Oh, she is,“ Ethan laughed shortly, waving his hand in the air. „She has a nasty flu, but now that she is in the hospital, it’s going to be okay. They took her to Edenbrook, right?“

„They took her to Edenbrook’s morgue. Chiara is dead, Ethan.“

The air stopped moving around them.

The clock on the wall stopped ticking.

Neither of the men – the friends – moved for a long moment.

The truth has finally found its way into Ethan’s brain. His cells were not able to deny it any longer.

Dr. Banerji was ready to catch Ethan if he falls. If he faints.

But there was no need to catch him.

Ethan cleared his throat and nodded once again.

„Yes, right. Right. I need to call her mother and let her know. The funeral will probably take place in San Francisco, so we need to take care of the transport of her body.“

Naveen recognized what was happening. He has seen the scenario many times in his career as a doctor. The husbands that lost their wives, the sisters that lost their brothers – the first reaction was not always a breakdown.

Sometimes, the defensive mechanism was a forced rationality.

„I will inform Mrs. Ray. In the name of the hospital.“

„I should do it,“ Ethan replied stubbornly.

He wanted to fight with Naveen. He wanted to tell Diana Ray that her daughter died on his watch.

He wanted to take care of a funeral.

He needed to.

„Let me handle it,“ Naveen insisted.

After a long moment, Ethan agreed.

As he muttered silent ‚alright‘, little did he know that those would be the last word he would say in days.

Naveen left the room and Ethan’s glance fell on the bed.

Their bed. Her bed. The bed she died in.

The bed she died in.

She died.

She died and there was no way to reverse the fact.

It hit him like a wave, a wave one would never believe could be formed in such calm waters.

Dead. Gone.

Ethan fell on his knees and the room was filled with a desperate scream.

His scream, he realized.

It was as if the world as he has known it stopped existing in the moment Ethan’s knees met the floor.

His hands formed into tight fists and he punched the wood once, twice, he kept punching until his knuckled were all bruised and bloody.

He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Naveen heart broke at the sight in front of him as he opened the bedroom door.

The man he considered son curled up on the floor, screaming and crying and clearly not registering the room around him.

The back of Ethan’s throat was burning from all the screaming and his temples were throbbing from all the crying.

There was a gentle hand on his shoulder and Ethan believed it to be Naveen’s, but how could he be sure?

How could he ever be sure of anything anymore?

How could he be anymore?

The time stopped existing for Ethan after his first breakdown. Whether it was a day or a night, he didn’t know and he didn’t care.

The days became one and they were all coated in a thick fog, precluding Ethan to remember them.

It is as if there was a window in his mind that swallowed the memories of the first days after Chiara’s death, leaving only occasional snippets to torture his mind.

Ethan remembers the moment Chiara’s mother Diana, her sister Alicia and her aunt Livia stepped into his apartment. He remembers not being able to say a word to them and he remembers their gazes – broken and vain.

He remembers how Diana’s gaze is something more even – so, so distant.

She is sedated, Alicia explained to Naveen, who hasn’t left Ethan’s apartment. She kept fainting and her doctor presribed her the strongest pills.

Alicia cries the whole time and Chiara’s aunt Livia bites her lower lip so hard it never stops bleeding.

He remembers how he wanted to say that he was sorry, wanted to explain, but no sound left his mouth.

Ethan doesn’t sleep and doesn’t eat.

He hasn’t even cried since his breakdown. He just stands by the window, hand deep in his pockets and stares out of it – never saying a word to anyone.

Lost in the fog.

He remember the moment Chiara’s autopsy results come with the meningitis as the cause of her death.

The quickest, deadliest form, Naveen tries to explain. There was nothing that could have been done.

Ethan knows that that is a lie.

The hate he feels towards himself grows impossibly bigger at Naveen’s words – of course there was something that could have been done.

He is the best diagnostician in the country and he let his fianceé die while sleeping next to her.

He failed. Himself. Chiara. Chiara’s mother. Everyone and everything.

Chiara mentioned a stiff neck – that was it. That was a clear sign of the illness so how could he overlook it?

Why did he let her persuade him that it was just a fucking flu?

He still doesn’t cry. He grits his teeth and his hands formed in fists – always in fists – cause his nails to break the skin on the palms.

He should get ready for a funeral. They all should leave to San Francisco.

But nobody moves. Nobody is strong enough to make a first move.

That’s when Bryce Lahela walks into Ethan’s apartment, his eyes haunted and sobs leaving his body as he hugs Diana and Alicia.

Ethan remembers what happens next very well.

Most clearly of everything, it seems.

Chiara left this with me some weeks ago, Lahela speaks quietly while pulling an envelope out of his pocket. In case something happens to her.

It’s a letter. A letter Ethan doesn’t want to read but know he needs to.

           My dearest,

now is the right time to use the Hollywood cliché and I am going to do it.

If you are reading this letter it means I am dead.

And I am sorry. I am so very, very sorry because I know I have hurt you all terribly. And that’s something I never wanted to do.

Mom and Alicia – I failed. I remember how we promised each other that nothing would ever happen to us after dad and Liam died and now I broke my promise. Again, I am sorry. You still have each other – please remember that. And you still have me. Just as you still have dad and Liam. We are with you wherever you go, I promise. You know how much I believe in an afterlife – and with that, I cannot only be sorry for dying, because it also means I finally get to be reunited with them and that makes me happy. Let it make you happy too. Alicia, I am the proudest older sister and I beg you to continue with your life, to find your happiness and to follow your wild heart, just as you always have.

I would also like to ask for a favor – I know that I always wanted to be buried next to my brother. I know you want me to be buried in San Francisco. But Boston is my home now. And Boston is where Ethan is. Me and Ethan, we are forever. In any form. And if I am dead, I want to be resting forever next to him – find me a place in Boston, please. Ask him where he wants me to be buried and bury me there.

I love you both. I love you more than life.

Bryce – thank you. I wish you never had to deliver this letter, but I am eternaly thankful that I have had you to do it. Thank you for being part of my life. You were the brother I lost and you were my constant. No matter how stormy my life got, I knew that somwhere out there, there is my sun, my light Bryce, my safe port I could always run to when things became too much. You deserve all the happiness this world has to provide, Bryce Lahela and never settle for anything less than that. Please, let eveyrone else know how much I loved them – and how sorry I am. Sienna, Jackie, Aurora, Elijah and Rafael – my bestest of friends.

Forgive me for screwing this, Bryce. I know we had plans and I know you were looking forward to the wedding – me too. I love you, surfer boy. Always stay so irresistably amazing.

Oh and I think you really should ask Kyra for that date.

Ethan – my dearest Ethan. My greatest love. My forever. We have both believed in a different future for us, but we were destined for this. I am sorry I left without saying a proper goodbye. I am sorry I left you, period. You know how much I love you, Ethan. And I know how much you love me too – trust me, I do. Don’t torture yourself with regrets of not telling me more. I have always known. I have always felt loved with you and I have always felt happy. Until my last moment, I felt happy because I knew you loved me. I know that no matter what caused my death, you blame yourself for it and I need you to stop with that. Unless you killed me, you are not responsible for my dying.

Ethan Jonah Ramsey, you deserve a lifetime of happiness. I am sorry I ruined that for you, for I know that there is no happiness in your life now. But you still have a lifetime. Lifetime of chances, lifetime of love and friendships and miracles (stop muttering that you don’t believe in those, I know you are doing it now!!!). There are people who love you deeply and unconditionaly and those people will help you. Don’t push them away.

We deserved better. You deserved better, Ethan. We had plans, we had a wedding date, we had a vision of a beautiful future and that has been taken away from you, from us. But I have been part of your life and I am not truly gone as long as you remember me.

Please, never forget that there were five years in your life when you have been loved so deeply and so strongly it didn’t even make sense to the person that loved you sometimes. I will never stop loving you, no matter where I am and where I am not.

You are my greatest love and greatest adventure and I am proud of the man I had the honor of calling mine.

Find your happiness again, Ramsey. Find it and keep it. Love again. Laugh again. Live again.

I am somwhere there, watching you.

I loved you, I love you and I will love you always, Ethan.

 So, that’s it. If someone cares about my last wish, do you think you could arrange for Benedict Cumberbatch to crash my funeral and shout: „She was clever. Clever, yes! She’s cleverer than you lot and she’s dead!“ ? (it’s the scene from S01E01 in Sherlock, you know).

Haha this was a joke but I suppose nobody really laughs at it at the moment. I hope one day you will.

I love you all with my whole heart.

Don’t you fear for me, I am where I am supposed to be.

                                                                              -forever yours, Chiara.

 Ethan reads the letter over and over until he can’t anymore, until his hands are shaking so much he fears he would tear the paper, until his vision is blurry and he cannot read the words anymore.

And then he runs. He runs into to bathroom and throws up, even though he hasn’t eaten in days and there is nothing he could throw up.

He still does.

He coughs and acid that leaves his mouth burns his throat. He throws up and his whole body strains so much it brings tears into his eyes.

First tears after days and they are caused by the vomiting.

Once they are there, however, the first one is followed by another and that by another until Ethan Ramsey is hunched over his toilet seat, vomit and tears falling down.

He doesn’t remember anything after that.

He might’ve fainted and maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. He doesn’t know.

The last thing he remembers until the day of the funeral comes is Harper Emery and her stern gaze as she sits down next to him.

"Take the pills, Ethan. You need to sleep.“

"I need Chiara."

His voice is raspy and speaking for the first time in three days feels unnatural. It makes his thorat sore and takes another remnant of his energy away.

"I understand."

Ethan almost snickers at the absurdity of her statement. Nobody could understand. Because if anybody could comprehend his desire to just wrap his arms around Chiara for one last time, they wouldn't survive the pain that came with it. He doesn't snicker, however. Instead, he whispers.

"No you don't."

"I do," Harper replies firmly and takes a deep breath, deciding to tell Ethan about the man she has never mentioned before, not once in their relationship.

„Michael and I were together for three years. We met while I was in a med school and the flame between us burned almsot immediately. We fell in love and for the first – and the last – time in my life, I felt like I found my true love. But we weren’t meant to last. The relationship was too passionate, too stubborn, too exciting, too much. It became toxic and we had a very rough breakup. I moved on and I knew that we were better off, but there was this part of me that always knew that Michael was the only man I could see my forever with.“

„It was my fifth year at Edenbrook when there was an emergency surgery needed for a motorbike rider and I was the one to perform it. I didn’t need to look twice to recognize Michael – with his face all bloody and bruised and awful, I knew it was him. And I didn’t tell anyone because they wouldn’t let me perform the surgery and I needed to do that. I needed to save him.“

Ethan doesn’t move. He doesn’t even look at Harper – he just keeps staring out of the window. He is surprised but he doesn’t show any emotion.

„I didn’t save him. He died on that table, he died under my hands. For so long I felt like I killed him. I blamed myself, I thought that if someone else did the surgery, they would keep him alive.“

She trailes off and doesn’t give Ethan the answer he needs.

He doesn’t find out is she ever stopped blaming herself.

He doesn’t know if there is a chance that he could ever stop blaming himself.

˜

Ethan doesn’t cry at the funeral.

He is sitting on the front bench in the cathedral, next to Diana, Alicia and Livia.

He doesn’t want to sit there. He doesn’t deserve to sit them.

Can’t they see that it was his fault? That there would be no funeral if he only did his job right?

Alicia cries softly, her lips trembling. Diana, just like Ethan, doesn’t cry – no, she even smiles a little. It is the effect of her sedatives and Ethan knows that she probably won’t even remember the funeral.

Seeing Chiara’s smiling mother hurts more than seeing her crying sister.

The whole ceremony is filled with tears and love. Because everyone loved Chiara and Chiara loved everyone.

And Ethan just sits in his spot, staring at the casket, his gaze never leaving the wood it is made of.

And he doesn’t cry.

He wishes he would. He wishes the tears could get him through the day.

But he doesn’t and there is nothing to get him through the day.

People shake his hand and say their condolences and he keeps nodding and murmuring fake „thank you’s“.

He wishes he could go home, only to realize that there is not a single promise of some kind of peace with returning home.

There is no home for him anymore. There is an apartment. A place to live.

His home is gone. His home is lying in a wooden casket. His home is having ground scatterd all over her.

His home is buried six feet under him.

He is destined to be homeless forever.

˜

Days go by and Ethan doesn’t come back to work – not that anyone expects him to.

His days consist of staring out of the window and sitting next to the toilet in case he needs to vomit again.

People insist on staying with him. Alan and Naveen mostly.

But he doesn’t want their company. He doesn’t want their compassion even.

He wants to be alone and to let his guilt and regrets kill him slowly.

He wants his medical licence removed. He should be charged for killing someone out of negligence.

He doesn’t want to be Ethan Ramsey anymore.

And he always expects Chiara to come back to him. He checks his phone for a message from her. He walks into the living room and it surprises him that there is no stupid movie playing on the TV – the one only Chiara would watch.

He opens the fridge and is shocked when he sees that the Toblerone chocolate is still there – how did Chiara not eat it already?

It is one evening, weeks after the funeral, when Ethan opens a drawer in the bedroom and jolts into Chiara’s  perfume that meets the floor with surprising force and the bottle breaks into dosens of pieces.

The smell – Chiara’s smell – hits him with a force of a train and Ethan stumbles involuntarily at the feeling.

He broke her perfume bottle and it doesn’t matter anymore.

Because Chiara will never use the perfume anymore.

She is not coming back.

She is not coming back.

She is not coming back.

Ethan chokes on his sobs and leaves the room, his decision suddenly thoroughly clear.

There is no world in which he could live if the world is one where Chiara doesn’t live.

He can’t do it.

He can’t stay alive if she is dead.

Grabbing a bottle of scotch, he fills the glass and drinks the liquor in one swing.

Then the second.

Then the third.

There are the sleeping pills Harper has brought him on the counter and Ethan knows.

For the first time in weeks, he has a plan.

The plan that is supposed to be his last one also.

Chiara asked him in the letter to go on with his life. She promised him that there are better days waiting for him.

How could she? She was dead. Dead and gone and indifferent to everything she left behind.

Everyone she left behind.

Ethan Ramsey has always been a rational man. His rules and princlipes leading him through the life, the life that was predictable and safe.

That was until Chiara burst into his life without ever asking and burned his principles to the ground.

That was until Chiara left his life without ever asking.

All he wanted was to die. Ethan never believed in an afterlife and he didn’t believe that killing himself would reunite him with Chiara. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t need to be with Chiara – he just couldn’t handle being without her.

And so he drinks some more.

Suddenly, he sees it. The picture forever burned into his brain.

Diana Ray.

The eyes of a woman who lost her husband, her son and her daughter.

There is a glimpse of rationality after all. And with that part of his brain, Ethan realizes that no matter how much he hurts, Diana Ray hurts more.

He feels like he can’t breathe and he knows that that is how Chiara’s mother feels for every second every day.

He thinks of a mother that lost two of her children and with that, he thinks of his father.

Alan would lose his only child.

And Ethan sees it. Feels it. Knows it.

With his desperate desire to escape the misery surrounding his whole being, he would not only kill himself.

He would kill Alan Ramsey’s child.

The pain he feels would become the pain he caused.

It is the same exact moment the terrible, sobering realization hits him when the heavy crystal glass falls from his hand and shatters on a wooden floor. Ethan follows its trajectory almost identically and with a inhuman sob leaving his throat, his knees hit the floor - and the broken glass.

He can see blood.

The glass is quickly stained by the maroon red and with combination of an artifical light in the kitchen, the most omnious of shadows project on the wood.

There's a lot of blood and even in his state, Ethan knows that it is his own blood. He can see it, he can perceive that his skin has been cut by the sherds. But he doesn't feel it.

There is no physical pain to be felt.

It is as if the pain coming from his core - the pain that doesn't have any visible source - was at such unbearable rate that his body protected him by refusing to let him feel any more.

He could be shot right now and he wouldn't feel anything.

Ethan just wishes he could be shot right now.

He wishes he could vanish, he wishes he could erase the existence of Ethan Ramsey from the universe.

If only it was that easy.

And so with bloody hand, he reaches for his phone and dials his first emergency contact.

„Ethan?“ Alan’s concerned voice responds immediately.

„Dad,“ Ethan gets out of himself, though he is sure Alan hardly understands him thorugh the violent sobs leaving his mouth constantly. „Could you please come here?“

 *** *** ***

so... one thing. The whole meningitis thing being so deadly is not something I made up. It is the very same thing that killed my best friend 7 years ago - he fell asleep with light flu (so everyone thought) and never woke up again.

If Ethan seems out of character here, I am sorry. However I believe that  when one is grieving, there is nothing as out of character. People do really unexpected and weird things while grieving.

This was actually self-indulgent (even though I guess it’s weird to use it like this) - the stages of grief Ethan is going through (denial - weird rationality - breakdown - shutting himself off - not sleeping, eating, talking - unability to express his sorrow at the funeral - more breakdowns - the terrible, terrible moment he realizes she is really never coming back - wishing to die - finding the strength to stay alive...) are my exact stages of my own grief back then. And it was very difficult to write about those and also very healing.

[inkandpen22]

Beautiful Angel of Darkness (7/?)

Pairing: Spike x Female!Reader 

Warnings: Mild swearing 

Word Count: 1.8k

Part Summary: Y/N is starting to improve and live by Angel’s lifestyle. Then, someone pays her a visit. 

Masterlist

Six months later... 

Who would've thought working at the law firm as one of Angel's team members would be so fulfilling? Granted, it took a moment to get settled... more like a month. There was a withdrawal period, not pretty. Angel sort of locked me away in his basement for a few weeks. After that, I bounced right back and started fresh! Now, I'm Angel's assistant, much better than Harmony. I gave her the boot as soon as I got released from the basement cell. 

I step off the elevator to Wolfman & Hart with Angel's usual blood bag in a cup and my iced coffee. I drink my blood bag on the way here. 

I set everything down at my desk in front of the firm's sign. The normalcy of having a daily routine again is nice. When I was with Spike, I thought normalcy would bore me to death. I guess Angel was right, there is some humanity left in me. 

I knock on Angel's office door, blood cup in hand. When he announces for me to enter, I greet him warmly and immediately get into the day's agenda. 

"Morning Boss, we have a busy day ahead of us!" 

As per usual, he wears a crossed expression as he stands behind his desk shuffling through some papers. 

He sighs in frustration, "Y/N, have you seen the-" 

I place his mock coffee cup in his hand so I can grab the case file from under my arm. He glances between me and the file in amazement. 

"You left it on my desk when you were leaving last night," I explain with a light chuckle. 

"You're a lifesaver," he thanks as he eases down in his chair. 

"It's what I'm here for," I shrug and lean against his desk beside him. 

"Sorry for keeping you here late this week. I'm sure you much rather be home," he apologizes as he reviews the contents of the case. "I just... I don't know how to go about this." 

"Maybe a fresh pair of eyes?" I suggest, reaching for the file. 

Angel hesitates to hand it over. He doesn't like me working directly on cases. He believes I'm not ready for the gruesomeness of them and that the blood may trigger me to regress.

"Angel, I'll be fine!" I assure him confidently. 

Reluctantly, he hands over the papers and I begin to skim the crime scene photographs.  The police are involved, believing it to be a violent murder. However, Angel and the others are pinning it with a series of animal attacks the last few days. They suspect a werewolf. Angel wasn't wrong, these images are rather unsettling, but nothing I can't handle. 

"Based on the slashes on the neck, I would agree with you and say it's not cut wounds. There are no signs of forced entry either," I analyze. 

"But all of the damage..." He debates. 

"It's from the attack. If you were being attacked by a werewolf, you'd toss a lamp and vase at it, wouldn't you?" I reason. "The front door is in perfect condition, except for the blood, of course. I suspect the victim knew their attacker," I determine and hand the file back to Angel. 

He leans back in his chair, deep in thought. Humming, he considers my predictions. "That would certainly narrow down the suspect list." 

"Was she single?" I question. 

He frowns in confusion, "I think so, why?" 

"Check her calendar, see who her latest date was with," I suggest as I rise from my leaning position against his desk. 

"You got all of that from looking at one photo?" Angel remarks in astonishment. 

I glance over my shoulder as I head toward the door. "Told you shouldn't let me help sooner," I wink. 

_____________________________________

At noon sharp, Angel likes his second cup of O Neg. It sounds tedious, knowing exactly when my boss likes his blood. If someone told me months ago that I would be fetching Angel everything he needs, I would've killed them. Ironically, I've never felt never more human than when I'm at Wolfman & Hart. I feel like I have a life of my own, my existence. Before...Before Spike, I belonged to my family. Then, I belonged to Spike. Now, I belong to myself. Granted, Angel watches me like a hawk, but he's easing up. 

Angel and the others hold a team meeting at the same time I'm supposed to deliver his refreshment. More and more lately, Angel lets me sit in on the meeting.  It's usually so that I can act as a scribe while they talk, but I still appreciate the invite. 

Carrying my files, notepad, and Angel's drink, I back into his office door as I'm handless at the moment. Right when the door gives, I immediately announce his dinner plans with a major banker to discuss his Greed Demon issue. "Don't forget tonight, the meeting with Stuart Lawrence! You have to be at his residence in Brentwood at seven o'clock sharp and-" 

I stop dead in my tracks as my eyes flicker toward Angel's desk. Instead of just seeing Angel stressing over some papers, as usual, I see a bleach blonde vampire reading over his shoulder. 

The paper coffee cup falls from my hand and spills on the floor by my feet. The substance coats my left heel, staining it crimson. 

"Y/N..." Spike utters my name with his smooth accent. 

"Oh my God..." I whisper breathlessly in awe. 

Angel flies up from his chair and points to the door. "Y/N, get out of here!" 

"Never took you for the lawyer type," Spike smirks mischievously as he slithers toward me. "Gotta admit though, loving the working woman style." He gestures at my body up and down like I'm a mannequin in a store. 

Behind me, the other members of Angel's team enter for their meeting. 

"Lorne, take Y/N home!" Angel instructs. 

"Right away, Boss," Lorne complies.

"Take one step closer to her green goblin and I'll bite your head off!" Spike threatens sharply. 

"Spike, stop it!" Angel barks. 

"Oh come on, Angel," Spike dismisses as he closes in on me. His fingers comb through the ends of my hair. "It isn't like you to ruin a perfectly good reunion!" 

My body tenses under his touch, much to Spike's dismay. It wasn't long ago that his embrace was the only thing that kept me tied down to Earth. Now, it makes me shutter. 

"You shouldn't be here!" Angel growls as he rushes over to us and yanks Spike away from me. "She's been doing great without you!" 

"Have you forgotten? She was mine before she was yours," Spike chuckles wickedly. 

The English vampire turns to me again and caresses my cheek. His eyes continue to linger in my memories late at night staring at me intensely. 

"Did you really think I was going to let you go?" He mumbles to me and the words make my heartache. 

"Get away from her!" Angel hisses warningly, on the verge of throwing Spike through the top floor window.

Spike ignores Angel and continues to admire me. "Did you miss me, My Love?" 

Yes. 

I shake my head while I slip my hand over his to remove it from my cheek. "You hurt me. I can never forgive you for what you did." 

Spike's face falters immensely. "Y/N... Let me explain! I-" 

"No!" I stand my ground, something I never used to do when we were together. "You deceived me, used me, broke me!" I switch my gaze between Spike and Angel frantically until I find myself overwhelmed. "I... I can't do this... I'm sorry Angel, excuse me." 

Thus, I hurry out the door past my coworkers before anyone can stop me. Both Angel and Spike call for me, but I ignore each of them as I gather my things and disappear onto the elevator. 

________________________

After today's cluster of events, a long shower was much needed. I have no doubt Angel will be visiting me once the workday is over, just to check-in. I can't believe Spike is here in Los Angeles. It all felt like a dream or perhaps a nightmare. How dare he come here after half a year and expect me to act as though nothing happened. 

Immediately after my shower, I go to my kitchen to fix myself a cup of tea. I stick the kettle on the stovetop before I get dressed. At first, living alone startled me, but since then I've grown to prefer it. I like the peace. After long days at the office, time alone and space alone is what I need. 

"Y/N," a voice makes itself known. 

My hand flies up to my chest as I pant. "Spike! Jesus and Mary! What the actual fuck?!" 

"A vampire scared of the dark... how ironic," he teases with a smirk. 

"Get out!" I shout, pointing toward the door. "I'm not even dressed you feen!" I start to march back to my bedroom which makes Spike follow. What part of 'get out' doesn't he understand? 

"Oh come on, Love. It's not like I haven't seen anything before," he insinuates. 

"Get out!" I repeat. 

"No, not until you hear what I have to say!" He insists. 

"You love Buffy! Congrats! Now, go be with her!" I urge him away. 

Abruptly, Spike grabs my forearm and yanks me to a halt. His free hand flies up to my chin and forces me to meet him in the eye. I fight him off, prying at his arms, but nothing works. 

"I never loved her!" He barks at me. "Well... maybe a little once... but that was before I met you! That night I didn't cheat on you! I swear it! I went over to her house to kill her and when I got there she was crying! Her mother has been ill! That's why I couldn't come sooner... plus I... I..." 

"You what?" I growl in disdain. 

"I got a soul for you," he remarks calmly, nearly solemnly. 

I frown, how is that possible? 

"You what?" I question. 

"I went to the desert, got my soul back so I could be like Angel..." He explains. "To be like someone you'd want to be with," he adds. 

He softens his grip on my face. To my surprise, I don't pull away. I stare into his blue eyes with astonishment. How could he get back his soul? Is that why it took him so long to come and find me? For months I wondered if he would ever come... but he never did. When I finally started to get settled and moved on he shows up. Spike's hand falls from my face with a sigh.  

"Forget this. Never mind," he starts to back away. "Have a good life, Y/N." 

I stand frozen, speechless, and unsure what to do as Spike struts away toward the door. Thus again, he has disappeared from my life. 

________________

Masterlist 

Tags:  @currently-obsesed-with-spike @mx-pibbles @shy-ginger-in-the-graveyard

[simpsiren]

sticky notes: the story

mark lee x reader

introduction 

main masterlist

description. you use sticky notes to get into contact with your soulmate.

genre. soulmate au, high school au, strangers to lovers au

warnings. nonee

a/n. so some people requested for a full story of this so here it is! i really liked making this because the concept is just so cute cudndn oh and i did include the same idea as what i did in my previous post but i had to change it a little so that it would fit the plot. this is a really really long ff since its a slow burn typa thing so please try to stick with me on this one HAHA anyways enjoyy! :D

“you actually believe that?”

you lift your head up from your notes to look at soyoung. she nods her head and hum eagerly. you rub your temples from seeing her respond. “i do believe soulmates exist. but sticky notes to talk to them? what’s social media for then? and how is it even scientifically possible?” you question soyoung, bringing your eyes down as you continue to do your homework.

“that’s the beauty of soulmates, ray!” soyoung whines. you shake your head. “you’re dumb to believe it without confirming the information with other relevant sources.” you mutter out bluntly. you hear soyoung letting out a ‘tsk’. “here you go again being a history student. i swear im glad i never took it.” you scoff and slam your pen on the table gently.

“excuse me, woman! at least i dont have to memorise the whole textbook and only having 5 pages of content coming out in the exam.” you stick your tongue out playfully to tease soyoung. “i cant get over the fact that valcanos didn’t come out eventhough i memorised so much for it.”

the both of you laugh, knowing that the two of you can never stop debating on whether history or geography is the better subject.

“ray complete your homework at home. we cant stay in the classroom for long you know?” soyoung stands up to get to her seat, which is 2 rows down yours since you were sitting right at the back. you liked sitting at the back. it allowed you to always be able to use your phone in case you get bored in class. you still cant believe that your teachers think you’re a good and obedient student. you figured they only assumed that due to your high grades.

you sigh “that’s true.” you turn around to grab your back that was hanging in your chair and start packing your materials. once you were done, you grab the class key and walk over to soyoung’s seat, waiting for her to finish packing. you notice soyoung has finish packing and went to switch off the lights. you allow soyoung to step out first before you close the door behind you and lock the classroom door.

you and soyoung walked down the hallway silently, you were looking out the window to watch the sunset while soyoung had her eyes on her feet. only your footsteps could be heard as almost everyone has left the school grounds except for some teachers who were working late. the school normally closes at 7pm and you’re walking out at 6:50. to break the silence, soyoung opens her mouth to start a conversation.

“okay if you dont believe me why dont you try it yourself? like write a simple introduction to your soulmate.” you raise an eyebrow as you shove your hands into the front pockets of your mom jeans. “why dont you do it?” you fought back as you huff. soyoung bites the inside of her cheek as a moment of silence passes for her to think of an answer.

“because i believe it. and you do not. so you should try it.” you smacked soyoung’s arm, making her flinch back and shouting a loud ‘ouch’. you roll your eyes, knowing you didn’t hit her hard and she was just overreacting. “brilliant excuse,so. but if its going to make you stop talking about it, i might as well.” soyoung face lit up as she jumps happily and starts skipping ahead of you. you laugh and pull the handle at back of her bag to keep her explosion of excitement to the minimum.

“you owe me brown sugar milk tea. large.” you taunted. soyoung waves her hand lazily. “i’ll buy you one after school tomorrow. but you better update me during math.”

you wanted to say how you could just text soyoung to update her, but you remembered the fact that soyoung’s mother took away her phone since she didn’t do well for this year’s midterms. although to you, soyoung’s grades were decent. unfortunately for her, soyoung has to live up to her asian mom’s high expectations. the thought of this made you want to frown, but you showed a bright smile regardless as the two of you finally made it to the school gate, waving to each other and bidding farewell before walking down opposite paths.

once you arrived at home, you took out your phone from your back pocket. you saw a notification from your mother saying that your parents would be home late. you shrug your shoulders as you walk to your room. “as always.” you breathed out.

you did your normal routine of showering and eating leftover dinner that you needed to heat up at the couch while you completed one episode of the anime series you were so hooked on. you continue watching but with the amount of homework you have, you might finish them all by midnight if you dont slack.

you turned off the tv and washed your plate before heading into your room. as you close the door behind you, your eyes immediately went to your desk, which was pretty messed up since you had a test to study for yesterday that you completely weren’t prepared for and had to squeeze in as much information as you can. hence, the scattering of notes and textbooks.

you stroll over to your desk and sat down. you take out your homework from your back which was beside the desk. looking at the stack of homework, you groan in despair as shove it to the back of the desk till it hit the wall. “ah fuck it! im just going to ask kun for help.” you admitted your defeat depsite thinking you would be able to gain some energy from your dinner. you also thought about how you’ve done your homework in the morning plenty of time so i shouldnt be a problem unless kun doesn’t offer his help.

you jump to your bed and lay down, bringing your phone out and immediately start scrolling through instagram. as you swiped your finger up to look at the posts of the people you follow, you stop at one. a picture of a couple who met through the sticky note theory. or so they claim. your thumbs hover over the screen as your eyes look up to the ceiling, starting to remember what soyoung asked to do to get your bubble tea.

yoy tap your index finger on the side of your phone as you constantly started to think whether you should do it or not. you’ve heard the rumours. but are they even true? the more you thought about it, the more intriguing the idea got. but at the same time, you also thought of how stupid it sounded and was probably made to fool people.

after contemplating and having in a debate in your head that felt like forever, you finally place your phone down beside you and take a deep breath. “ill do it.” you groan to yourself, letting curiosity take over your other feelings.

you gather up your strength to stand up from your bed and walk over to your desk. you push all the papers and textbooks aside, grabbing a yellow sticky notepad from your stationery organiser. you had other colours too like pink and purple, but you figured that you should go with the classic.

pulling out a random pen that was laying in between the pages of one of your textbooks, you tilt your head to the side as you start thinking of what to write, unconsciously biting the end of your pen in the process.

you bite the side of your cheek and shrug, deciding to go with the plan of writing whatever that comes to your mind.

um hi? i dont even know if you’re going to see this. its funny, really. i heard a rumour that you can communicate with your soulmate through sticky notes. it’s probably just fake news and im writing to a nobody. that would honestly be embarrassing but it’ll be like love letters.. to myself(?) or my soulmate. write back? haha

you read over what you wrote an endless amount of times, thinking if you should make changes. you groan and immediately stick the sticky note onto your wall, giving up on giving second thoughts about what you call this ridiculousness.

you went about your night, forgetting you have left the sticky note on the wall. as you were on you bed scrolling through tumblr at 2 in the morning, you hear something. it sounded like a piece of paper had fallen from your desk.

unable to see in complete darkness, you turn on the flashlight from your phone and walk around your room, trying to find whatever it is that fell. it didn’t take you long to find a small yellow sticky note that you accidentally stepped on.

you pick it up, remembering that you wrote on the sticky note and thought that it was yours. however, once you were able to get a closer look, you noticed that the words on the sticky note have changed. so has the handwriting.

holy shit. i dont know what is this. but apparently a sticky note appeared on my wall saying i have a soulmate. my friends told me i should write back because of some rumour. so here i am trying. hi im mark. i dont know your name, but hope you’ll tell me once you recieve this. you’re in luck because apparently the rumour is true. im just as crepped out as you are.

you froze in your spot. your fingers shaking as you read the note again. you scratch your head. being too tired and unable to think straight at 2 in the morning, you place the sticky note on your desk and went back to bed to play with your phone. you soon forget about the fact that your soulmate has replied to your message that you have written on your sticky note.

as you got ready for the next period which was math, soyoung immediately runs over to you, dragging the chair from the desk beside you and taking a seat. you flinch a little when you suddenly see her close to you. 

“so did you try it?!” soyoung asks, her voice filled with enthusiasm . you brushed a few pieces of hair behind your ear, nodding your head as you take out your textbook from under the desk. “did you get a reply then?” 

your mind started to take you back to the mysterious encounter that you had last night. “mhm.” you reply simply. “though the only thing i remember because it seems to be the only relevant information is that the person’s name is mark.” soyoung gasped loudly, making you crease your forehead as you watch her overreacting again. 

“your soulmate’s name is mark then.” soyoung concludes, folding her arms confidently as if she made a great discovery. you laugh, rolling your eyes sarcastically. “isnt it obvious?” soyoung frowns fakely. 

your mouth gapes open as you hit soyoung’s arm lightly. “buy me my milk tea!” you demanded with a wide smile. soyoung places her notebook on your table and nods constantly. “i will you addict.” she groans. you happily say thank you as your teacher comes into the classroom and class began. 

“what are you going to do about it now though?” as you recieved the question from soyoung, you kept silent for a moment, giving time to think of an answer.

 “ill write something back? i dont know.. ill have to read the letter again when i get back home.” you whispe to soyoung. she nods in reply as the two of you payed your attention to the front again. it surprised you that soyoung was paying attention but you only assumed that she wanted to do better in class and shrug your shouders, writing down the notes youve missed while talking to soyoung.

as for you, your concentration in class dipped slightly because now, the thing that is occupying your head the most is the thought that the sticky notes theory might actually be real and you cant say its not possible anymore, making you even more shocked than you did last night.

lucky for you, today is the only day of the week where your class ends the earliest, along with two other lower ranked classes. you and soyoung quickly pack up to go to the mall to get your reward. after soyoung buys you your drink, you and soyoung went your separate ways.

after about 30 minutes of taking the bus and walking, you finally arrived at home. you place your drink on the living room table and proceed to place your bag in the room and head for the showers.

once you were done showering, you walk out of the bathroom to head to your room while drying your hair with a small towel. opening the door, you enter and went straight to your clothing rack. just when you were about to grab a shirt from the hanger, you heard the same noise last night. another piece of paper has fallen on the floor.

you turn your head and look down. this time, you found another sticky note right in front of your feet. the colour of the sticky note changed from yellow to a light blue. you tilt your head as you pick up the stick note from the floor, finding it odd as you wonder how the colour of the sticky note changed.

you take a deep breath before reading it, noticing that the handwriting was similar to the one you read last night. a little messier, but still readable.

hi again.. im not sure if you’ll recieve this since its the afternoon and i know people are busy with work or school. i skipped school today so haha. um i just wanted to write to you, despite me not knowing a single thing about you. its odd really. its like i feel the need to write something to an unknown identity that people assume to be my soulmate. i still dont know your name, so i hope youll reply soon. take your time and take care :)

- mark

“skip school? what is he, a bad boy?” you scoff to yourself. you try to take in whatever’s on the note, but another thought comes to mind. you walk over to your desk and saw that the yellow sticky note with mark’s reply was still there. you find everything about this weird and just odd in general. a lot of questions sprouted, but you didn’t want to think of it since you were afraid you would complicate your thoughts and just throw yourself into a stress hole.

you continue to dry your hair with one hand while the other held onto the light blue sticky note. you bit your lip and gulp. after letting out a long sigh, you place the sticky note next to the other one and changed into your clothes, as well as bringing your drink from the living room table to your room, placing it on the desk as you sat down.

you take out your pencilcase from your bag and brought out your fresh new black pen that you just bought at the school’s stationery store. the previous pen you had was full of ink till soyoung was dumb enough to drop it, spoiling the pen and was unable to be used again.

peeling off another yellow stick note from the stack at the edge of your desk, you were about to put your pen on paper when you realise you dont even know what to write. what do you say to this person you barely know about? you continuously tap the edge of the pen against your desk as you take a sip of your drink. you look over to the two sticky notes with the messages that the person has left. its funny how you have to think so hard just to write a short message.

hey again. i actually ended school early today. my name’s raven. but my friends call me ray. i honestly don’t know what to say to you. im still dumbfounded over the fact that you’re my soulmate and we’re here communicating over sticky notes. the world really does work in a strange way. if you dont mind, i guess i want to know how old you are and you’re education status?

you held out the sticky note in front of you and sigh in satisfaction. why? it’s because of your neat handwriting. it was always a trait of yours that you deeply appreciate. you place the sticky note on the wall and advert your attention to the other sticky notes, placing them on the wall beside the new one you have just written.

“will this drive me insane? i might end up with a whole wall of this.” you say to yourself, rubbing your face with your palm before going to your bed and laying down, wanting to have your evening nap.

“this is awesome!”

“no its scary.”

mark and his group of friends stared at the sticky note that has a message written with beautiful handwriting. mark flinched when he felt an arm on his shoulder, turning around to notice it was chenle’s. “when did you write your previous sticky note?” renjun suddenly asked. mark tilts his head as he tried to find an answer.

“less than an hour before you guys came i guess?” mark shrugs, standing up from his desk and taking a seat at the edge of the bed beside jaemin and haechan. “this raven girl is your soulmate then.” chenle walks towards mark and stands in front of him. mark nods slowly. the room grew silent again with everyone having the similar thoughts.

“you know what would be funny?” haechan smacks mark’s thigh, the sound making everyone turn their attention to mark and haechan. “what?” mark asked with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“why dont we prank her and say you’re a sugar daddy and live in a mansion?!” everyone gave yuta weird looks, making haechan laugh hysterically. “are you crazy? do you think i want to chase my soulmate away?” mark scolded haechan, smacking him hard on the chest, resulting in haechan’s back falling onto the bed.

“you’re always asking for a beating i swear.” renjun comments, walking towards haechan and balling his hand into a fist and acting as if he was about to attack. jaemin laughs to try and calm them down. “kids let’s not fight.” jaemin announced, looking over to jeno only to find him standing there watching quietly.

“go ahead, mark. you should write something. we cant keep her waiting.” jeno finally spoke up, grabbing the sticky notepad and a random pen from mark’s table and passing it over to him.

mark stared at the blank paper while the others were talking about what to have for dinner. it didn’t take him long to decide what to write. when mark starts writing and began to be in full concentration, everyone crowds around him to see what he’s writing.

sup raven! i wont call you ray since we aren’t friends yet. im still shocked. like the possibility of things like this being possible is just another possibility that can possibly happen. but anyways, to answer you question, im a high schooler from dream high. im in my third year. its kind of awkward for me while im writing this since my friends are reading every word im taking down. i guess i should ask you the same question back then. hope to hear from you soon.

“will you guys stop being nosy?” mark groans, standing up and pasting the sticky note on his wall, along with the other sticky notes he received from you. “you didn’t have to say that we’re here.” haechan retorts. mark rolls his eyes. “jesus..” mark mutters under his breathe. “anyways, yall are paying for dinner since you guys bribed me to write back.” mark sticks his tongue out playfully and runs out to the living room. everyone follows suit.. except for jeno.

jeno slowly walks towards the wall and leans forward to get a closer look of the sticky notes, specifically the two others beside the new one that mark just wrote. “raven? why does that sound so familiar? the handwriting...” jeno brings his finger up and lightly hovers them over the uniquely written words. it looked like calligraphy, and retro looking. jeno felt as though he had seen it before somewhere, or knew someone who wrote like that.

jeno snapped out of his deep thoughts when jaemin called out to him, making him walk towards the door and glancing at the sticky notes once more before joining the others in the living room.

you were currently video calling your friends when you heard the crackling of a piece of paper. of course you knew what that meant. you peered down the the floor from your bed and reached your hand out to pick up the sticky note. “ray?” doyoung called out to you when he noticed your face wasnt on screen. you lay back down on the floor and brought your phone up to show your face.

“what was that sound earlier?” lucas asked, currently sounding hyper. “the mysterious mark sent me another sticky note.” you reply sarcastically, waving the sticky note to the camera to let everyone look at it. everyone nodded their heads at the some time, some letting out a long ‘ah’ as well. “read it out loud!” yuta shouted.

“the fuck no!” you shouted back. you stared at the sticky note, but didn’t bother to read it. you thought of doing that once you’re done video calling them.

“how was today for you guys?” you asked, wanting to know how they’re doing.

“its tiring! we had dance practice, then we have to do recordings for our new albums. we barely get any sleep.” ten whines, his tone filled with stress. you laugh loudly. it made everyone frown and pout. you sigh. “pursuing your NCT world domination is never easy.” you commented, highlighting the word ‘world domination’ with a change of tone.

everyone lets out a long sigh and started to complain one by one, making the whole video call chaotic for almost 10 minutes. you could only smile and shake your head.

after about an hour or so of talking about basically everything and catching up with each other, everyone decided that they should end the call here since it was beginning to get dark and they needed to start practice soon. you bid your goodbye to them once more and ended the call.

you now adverted your attention to the sticky note. reading the letter, you raise both eyebrows. “dream high? that’s not far from here..” you mumbled to yourself. you started to think about everything you know about dream high. you know it’s was about an hour’s journey from where you live. it wasnt really well known either. the overall vibe of the school was mediocre.

however, you felt like you were missing something. something about that school is somehow related to you. you just couldn’t think of an answer despite squeezing all thoughts that you have in your brain. you groan and stood up from your bed and to your desk, proceeding to wanting to write a reply to mark.

hey. sorry if you get this quite late. i was busy video calling my friends. to answer your question, im a third year as well from jookin high. i would ask for your number so we dont have to do this all the time but my friend would scold me saying “but you’re removing the fun out of it.” but anyways, mark aka my soulmate, tell me about yourself, to start off.

you stick the note onto the wall, looking at the row of messages you’ve had recieved so far. you found it weird how the first time you’ve sent the note and got a reply back, it was on the same sticky note, just different handwriting. but you had to write on a new sticky note to send a new message only to get the same sticky note with a different message in return.

you only see his answers lined up on your wall. you started to wonder how this mark guy looked like. is he good looking? what are his hobbies? his attitude towards school? you really wished you could just text him through instagram and not have to go through all this trouble. but that option would earn you a large smack on the back by soyoung and your really didn’t want that.

“do we really need to be here now? like now?!”soyoung whined, while pushing the cart and following behind you while you tossed some packets of frozen bacon. you stopped walking and turn around, nodding your head intensely. soyoung groans and took out her phone, proceeding to use it while still pushing the cart.

you walk around the supermarket, trying to find the ingredients listed on your notes in your phone. it was the weekends and you’re parents were going to be away for a business trip for a week so you thought of inviting soyoung over and making home cooked meals as a bonding session for you two.

after about 30 minutes of gathering the ingredients and having soyoung constantly screaming and fangirling over tiktok edits of jaehyun from NCT. one note: she has yet to know that you know them and that they’re your friends. you figured that it would be best to not let anyone know so as to avoid any situation that would put your friends in a tight spot, since well they’re idols, you were looking for one last item that you had trouble finding.

“soyoung help me! stop watching tiktoks!” you groan, snatching soyoung’s phone away and shoving it in her back pocket. soyoung rolls her eyes lazily and the two of you proceeded to scan the different isles and shelves, looking over every item.

while you were too concentrated looking at the bottom shelves, you felt that you have bumped into someone. you squat down, letting out a soft ‘ouch’ before standing up and looking to see who you bumped into.

“wait. jaemin?” you furrow your eyebrows as you tilt your head, pointing your finger at the guy in front of you. “raven!” you noticed that it was jaemin after all, and both your faces lit up and the same time, grinning widely at each other.

“uhhh..” soyoung says out loud, you and jaemin turn your heads to face soyoung who was behind you. “oh! this is jaemin. we used to be neighbourhood friends before he moved out 4 years ago.” you introduced jaemin to soyoung. jaemin nodded and gave her a bright smile. soyoung only shrugged her shoulders and took out her phone. you turn your attention back to jaemin.

“why are you even here? dont you live quite far?” you ask, your fingers interlocked behind your back. jaemin nods, running a hand through his hair.

“well yes. but we came here to find something that only this supermarket sells.” jaemin replied back, his warm smile never leaving his lips. you smile, reached your hand out to ruffle his hair, laughing softly afterwards. “we? who’re you with?” you stared at jaemin with eyes of suspicion. jaemin started pinching your cheeks, making you whine and begging him to let go.

“with my friend, ray chill. im still single.” jaemin pulled away and folded his arms, pouting. “im sure you’ll find one soon.” you reached out to ruffle his hair and give off a wide smile.

while you and jaemin were catching up and being in your own world, soyoung got too bored of watching the two of you and decided to walk around the supermarket, leaving the cart behind you.

just as she was looking at the drinks isle to get her favourite sweet drink, she sees someone picking up a bunch of bottles one by one and placing them back on the shelve. out of kindness, she decided to help, picking up a bottle and placing it on fhe shelve before looking up to face the guy, who had a straight face while looking at her.

“i was just trying to help. im soyoung.” soyoung smiled, reaching her hand out and waiting for thr guy to greet back. he looked at her but doesn’t respond, proceeding to pick up the last bottle that was seen on the floor. “im jeno.” jeno stands up and nods his head to greet soyoung. soyoung nods back, walking down the isle to grab her drink from the shelve. “have a nice day.” soyoung says before leaving the isle and disappearing out of jeno’s sight. he only shrugged in response and went to do his own thing.

“you met who?!” haechan asks as he takes a sip of his ice cold water. everyone had their heads turned to jaemin, who raised an eyebrow at everyone’s weird expression. “i met my old friend raven. what’s so shocking?” jaemin asks back casually, picking up a few pieces of fries and dipping it into the sauce before shoving it in his mouth.

“dude that’s the name of mark’s soulmate!” haechan screams, making everyone flinch due to the loud noise. “i highly doubt it. there’s plenty of girls in the world with the name raven.” jaemin protests with his mouth full and chugging down gulps of coca cola.

“i mean that’s true. jeno you were with jaemin, right? dont you suspect anything?” renjun starts to question jeno, who was silently playing with his phone. looking up at the others, he gulps.

“i didn’t know he met his friend. i was picking out drinks. i just met a girl named soyoung.” jeno shrugs, taking a bite of his burger. mark scratches the back of his head, now starting to think of the fact that jaemin might have met his soulmate. though he also thought about how that could not be totally possible.

“nah i dont think its her. like really ‘raven’ could be anyone.” mark says, siding with jaemin. haechan tilts his head in awe. “jaemin do you know what school she’s going to?” jaemin only shakes his head.

“i lost all contact with her when i left her neighbourhood. plus we were young. i barely knew her honestly.” the living room falls silent, everyone trying to think of a conclusion to this.

chenle groans, standing up from his seat and slamming his hands on the table, gathering everyone’s attention as their heads shot up. “instead of pondering as if yall are solving some crime, why dont mark just ask her through the sticky note god dammit?” chenle pinches the bridge of his nose.

everyone’s mouths gape open as the room was suddenly filled with ‘ah’s all over. chenle shakes his head. everyone was now looking intensively at mark. mark furrows his eyebrows. “okay guys hold up ill grab the stick note.” mark stands up and takes one bite of his burger before going into his room for awhile and coming out with a sticky note and a pen.

jaemin noticed jeno being silent the whole way. and althought thats normal since its jeno’s nature and personality to not be so outspoken like the others, jaemin could sense that jeno was off and seem to be in deep thoughts.

and jaemin was right. jeno couldnt stop thinking about jaemin’s encounter with ‘raven’. the name sounded so familiar. he tried to recall every girl he has came into contact with during his life. why did he feel like the name was tied to the handwriting he saw on the sticky notes?

“jeno.” jaemin nudged him in the shoulder. jeno mumbled a soft ‘oh’ before turning his attention to mark just like the others. “she didn’t send me a reply after my last one though.” mark says, looking up.

“its fine. she probably didn’t see it. just write already.” chenle says in anticipation. mark shakes his head. “calm the heck down its not like we can get an answer immediately.” mark rolls his eyes and began to write.

hey raven. um i know this may sound weird. but have you gone to a supermarket and met a guy names jaemin? im not a stalker i swear. its just that he’s my friend and apparently you know him. though i dont think that such a coincidence and come by just like that. hope you hear from you soon.

jeno stared at the sticky note that mark proceeded to place at a random wall of the living room while everyone continued to eat and chat. his thoughts finally linked and a imaginary lightbulb appeared on above his head when he finally realises why he was so drawn to mark’s soulmate.

you were focused on wanting to solve a math question when the sticky note above your desk’s wall had fallen in front of you, revealing a new message. you place your pen down and let out a sigh, remembering that you hsve forgotten to write a reply and that mark probably sent you another one.

you tied your hair in a messy low bun before picking up the sticky note to get a closer view. you blink your eyes rapidly as your eyes furrow in awe. what the note said really shocked you and made you freeze in your spot. jaemin is friends with your soulmate? there’s no way.

you sat there for awhile as you constantly read over the words, still in shock with your moutb hanging open. you just couldn’t believe it. was it really what it seemed to be? another thought came to your mind as well. the thought of just who is this friend of jaemin’s? could it be mark? was your soulmate literally in the same place as you yet you never knew?

you grab a fresh new piece of sticky note and proceeded to write a reply after staring at it for so long and thought that it was finally time that you do something.

okay what you wrote really was weird. jaemin’s my old neighbourhood friend. its such a coincidence how you know him. i guess the connections are there. so haha yeah. damn. im very mind blown right now.

you take a look at your handwriting again, smiling to yourself. “i really do love my handwriting.” you mumble under your breath. you stuck the sticky note on the wall and resumed doing your homework, hoping that mark would reply soon.

while the boys were immersed in the horror movie they were watching on friday night, everyone turned their heads to each other when they heard the noise of a piece of paper falling onto the floor. in unison, everyone turned their head to where the noise came from and seeing the sticky note that fell.

jisung grabs the controller and pauses the movie. “we’re watching a scary movie and creepy stuff like that happens?!” jisung asks, stuttering out of complete fear.

mark decided to be the brave one after seeing everyone’s terrified face and stands up to pick up the sticky note, going back to take his seat on the couch soon after. “d-does that always happen?” mark shrugs. “well duh. that’s how i know she sent a reply. it wouldn’t be this scary if we weren’t watching a horror movie.”

everyone’s heads once again gather around mark as he read the note out loud. everyone gapes their mouth open, some covered their mouths while jeno could only stare at it in disbelief. “i guess we’ve confirmed its her.” mark breathes out, placing the sticky note on the table.

jeno reaches out to grab the sticky note to have a look. the unique handwriting that he suspected would belong to you really was yours. out of anger, he tears the sticky notes into two. everyone had their eyes widened at jeno’s sudden shocking action. mark snatches the now torn note back, looking down at them before facing jeno.

“what the heck was that for?!”

“dont talk to her anymore. she’s trouble.”

everyone lets out a sigh in unison except for mark, looking at everyone’s weird reaction. “what do you mean trouble? and why does it look like you all know something except me?” mark furrows his eyes as everyone exchanged glances continuously for a moment.

“she’s just not someone you should be with. that’s all.” jeno stands up and walks to his room, slamming the door shut and produring a piercing noise. the room was silent for awhile until mark speaks up.

“what am i missing here you guys?”

no one replies.

“we’ve been friends for a year and you guys are all keeping secrets for me?” mark scoffs in disbelief, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“we arent in the position to tell you. its jeno.” jaemin murmurs under his breath, looking down on the ground just like the others.

marks keeps silent and stands up from the couch, the palm the torn note was in is balled into a fist as he goes into his room as well.

haechan sighs. “jeno has to tell the truth. he’s been holding onto that grudge almost forever now.”

everyone nods their heads in agreement. “if not, he’s going to live in despair now that he knows she’s his best friend’s soulmate..” jisung adds on. 

everyone could only silently hope that things could go well. 

after that day you’ve sent a reply, you havent heard from mark since. you dont know why. due to your lack of information on him, it felt as if he disappeared into thin air. although only a week has past by, you felt concerned and somewhat worried for him. did something happen to him? what made him cut off his connection with you? its not like you did anything wrong. 

out of pure desperation, you decided to skip school today. youve never skipped school before, and you felt so rebellious and bad. why did you do this? so you could go to dream high and meet mark in person. youve had enough of the sticky notes. you just wanted to see how he was like in real life, not having to think about it through notes. 

with a little help from jaemin by texting him on instagram, you knew that mark’s class should be ending by 4pm, and you were there at 3:50 in the canteen where jaemin told you to wait. funny how the security guard lets a student from another school come in with a pass or anything.

you slowly start seeing groups of students going down the flight of stairs that lead to the canteen which had a path leading to the front gates. some eyes glanced at you as they notice someone who doesnt belong at their school, you couldnt care less though. your thoughts were only filled with mark. how he looked like, how he would carry himself. your anticipation was the only thing you felt.

you wore your headphones yet you could suddenly hear a lot of squealing and shouting. you look up, turning you attention to the stairs. a large group of girls crowding around another group of people, who you assumed to be guys. you scoffed, thinking about how there’s always that one group of good looking guys all girls seem to go crazy for. you watch as the group of guys push through the large crowd.

once you got a closer look, you tilt your head to the side. you slowly bring your headphone down from your ears and let them rest on your neck, getting intrigued by how the girls were getting so crazy, even more crazy than the ones from your school.

“its mark! he’s so cute!” 

you widen your eyes as you heard the word ‘mark’. you stood up from your seat, peering your head up to find which one is the girl referring to. you only see two guys walking. one smiling sheepishly while the other kept a straight and cold face. just which one is mark?

suddenly, you felt an arm grabbing yours and pulling you back. you jump out of fear and turn around noticing it was jaemin. you calmed your breathing as you look at jaemin. 

“meet mark under the block nearby. its too hectic here for you to talk to him.”

jaemin dragged you out of the school grounds and to a secluded block where only a few students where walking past and left you there. you were lost in confusion but decided to trust whatever jaemin was doing, sitting down at a random bench.

“jaemin told us to meet him here where is-” 

“raven.”

“what?”

you immediately stood in front of the two guys you saw at the canteen as you notice a familiar face. you werent able to get a clear look at them before, but now you realise that you knew one of them. “jeno..” you look at a different direction a you tried avoiding his gaze, though you knew you couldnt, forcing yourself to meet his eyes.

mark looks at the both of you, utterly confused as his attention shifts from you to jeno constantly. “this raven?” mark points at you, tilting his head. you nod slowly as your turn your head to face mark. you observed his body up and down. he was good looking, just like jeno.. yet his aura told you that he was way more outgoing and open than jeno. 

“you look...”

everyone was silent.

you gulp in nervousness. “im busy. bye mark.” before jeno could go, mark pulled on his arm to bring him back to stand beside him, earning a glare from jeno. the one you could never forget. “stay. i know something happened. you were always quiet whenever we talked about this girl. and i also know you all kept something from me.”

you slowly turned to jeno. you could he was annoyed whenever he looked at you. you felt it through his eyes, and it was terrifying. jeno took a deep breath in, folding his arms and placing his weight on one leg. 

“if you remember clearly, chenle told you that before we became friends with you, we had a fight and didnt talk to each other for a long time. we didnt tell you this, but it was her who caused it. she brought chaos into our group. everyone forgotten about it clearly, but i cant. after what she did.. i cant forgive her.”

you opened your mouth, wanting to reply but your words were somehow stuck in your throat. you didnt exactly know what to say or do in this awkward situation.

“it.. it was a long time ago jeno, please. my feelings for you were real, even if we werent meant to be. i dont know how many times you need me to say sorry.” you pleaded, biting your lip as you waited for jeno’s reaction.

jeno sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a huff of rustration. “then why did you leave? you left me stranded, and because of you, i almost left my friends becaused i lived in agony since i missed you so much. i almost pushed everyone away.” you shivered as jeno’s voice started to raise. 

 you also glanced at mark, who still kept his confused expression on his face. through his gaze never left you as you felt his eyes scanning you body up and down. 

“you two used date?” mark asks. you nod in reply.

“we were kids. we didnt know about all this soulmate stuff. but now..” 

“you know what? be together. im not going to leave my friends just because of my pent up grudge and feelings. i cant control fate either.” 

years had now past since you met mark. it really was fate. the two of you became close in no time and now.. you were fianally married. you couldnt be more happy to be with mark. who you were destined to be really was made for you, and you only. and to think this all escalated due to a note you sent out in pure curiosity.

you still remember what happened with jeno after that day, despite the lack of interaction between you two, jeno was open enough to accept you as his friend again. you are now living a happy life with mark, and always being able to hang out with his group of friends. today was no different. 

“haechan get the chilli sauce!” you hear mark shout as you smile widely, feeling his arm snaking around your waist to pull you close. having a barbeque was a great idea to celebrate jisung’s birthday. 

you soon see haechan with the bottle of chilli sause, placing it on the table where everyone gathered around the table which had jisung’s birthday cake. “before we do anything with the cake, let me announce my wish.” jisung announces proudly. you raise an eyebrow. “you cant say you birthday wish out loud!” you scolded jisung, but everyone laughs.

“his wish is something we all know.” jeno says, winking playfully at you. you tilt your head in confusion when you suddenly feel mark’s arm leaving you waist. you look over to mark who was shoving his hand into his pocket as if to find something.

you were completely clueless when mark nods towards jisung, to show some kind of signal. “i wish for mark and raven to get married!” jisung shouts. 

you gaped your mouth open in shock when mark pulls out a small box, opening it in front of you to show a ring. you cover your mouth in disbelief. “did you guys really-”

“please marry me, raven. my sticky note soulmate.” you hear everyone clapping s a tear of happiness drips from your cheek. you quickly wipe it away as you heard the nickname that mark gave you. “we wouldnt normally do this but it was jeno that suggested this.”

you look over to jeno who had a soft smile on his face as he nod his head. looking back at mark, you grin widely as more tears started flowing out. “of course ill marry you, you dork.”

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Unwanted Advances - My Princess Pt. 8

*Zendaya x Reader

*Summary: Prince Thomas makes a move on the Reader. Zendaya and Reader aren’t happy about it.

*Warnings: Minimal threat of violence (not against main characters or Reader), let me know if I missed anything.

*A/N: Next week is finals week and then I’m officially a college senior ;-;

Tip Jar

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine || Part Ten

**********

Surprisingly, the meeting with your parents wasn’t as bad as you expected. Sure, you were being informed of more details concerning your engagement as negotiations continued, but there were small highlights of the meeting. Perhaps the brightest point was learning that your engagement was being prolonged; instead of being married before the year was over, ongoing negotiations and the upcoming ball made it appear that the wedding would probably occur sometime in the next year. The difficult part of the meeting came when your parents were discussing what would happen following your wedding. As it stood, it was likely you would be sent to Xerin to rule alongside Prince Thomas. The throne in your own kingdom would remain with your parents until they were too old to rule, then would go to your cousin (you assumed that was the relation, even though you didn’t exactly know how they were related to you).

For once, the issue wasn’t with your parents. No, the issue came in the form of one overzealous Prince Thomas. Dinner itself went by without real issue - he asked about your day, gushed about how excited he was to have his friend coming to the kingdom for the ball, talked to you about anything that came to mind - but the issue came during the walk back to your chambers after dinner. Prince Thomas insisted on escorting you back, and you agreed, not thinking anything ill of it. Then he had the audacity, right in front of your door, where your beloved sat on the other side waiting for you, to attempt to kiss you. He’d held your hands, talking about how nice it was to spend time alone with you, and then leaned in. If you hadn’t been quicker with your hand on his chest, pushing him away, he would’ve kissed you.

“Prince Thomas,” you chastised him, voice harsh to show this wasn’t a coy attempt at flirting.

“I’m sorry, you’re just so… I can’t even put it into words,” he said, eyes looking at your lips once again. You took a step back.

“It’s not proper. I’m afraid I’ll have to have a chaperone on any further outings with you. Goodnight.” With that, you let yourself into your room, closing the door before Prince Thomas even had a chance to respond. You waited for a few seconds, listening for his retreating footsteps. You hear a soft curse as he walked away, and you weren’t sure if that was at your rejection or at himself. As soon as you heard the footsteps far enough away, you finally turned to find Zendaya sitting at your desk.

“My Princess, what troubles you?” Zendaya asked, watching you with concern. “Did the meeting with your parents not go well?”

You huffed out a small laugh. Of course Zendaya would think your parents were the cause of your troubles as they normally were, but for once she was wrong. “I wish that were the case. My meeting with my parents actually went fantastic, my wedding has been pushed back due to the ball.”

“That’s great news,” Zendaya interrupted, though you knew she was still waiting for you to tell her what else happened.

“It’s the Prince,” you finally said, still trying to figure out how to tell Zendaya exactly what happened. Sure, he hadn’t actually kissed you, but the fact that he’d been that close just made you feel off.

“What did he do?” There were few times when Zendaya got as serious as she was now, you couldn’t even remember the last time she was like this. “(Y/n), I can’t do anything to help you if you don’t tell me. If the Prince was inappropriate wit-”

“He tried to kiss me.” Zendaya clenched her jaw as she took in the new information. “I stopped him, but he tried.”

“When.” It wasn’t a question, Zendaya was demanding to know. With the way her fingers now fiddled with the dagger on the table, you had a feeling you knew where this was going.

“Love, he-”

“Just tell me when he tried to disrespect you like that.”

“Just now, when he walked me back here,” you explained, looking down at your feet. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let my guard down like that. I didn’t think he’d try something like that, especially right at my door.”

“Wait, love, are you crying?” The harsh tone Zendaya had taken was now long gone, replaced by a low one, like she was worried about scaring you. You reached a hand up to your eye, feeling the tears gathering there. You didn’t know why you were crying, or even when you’d started crying.

“I guess I am…” you trailed off, not sure what else to say. 

“Love, I didn’t mean to make you cry, I’m so sorry,” Zendaya got up, going to your side and taking you in her arms before you could really process it. “I didn’t mean to push you, I realize now how uncomfortable that must’ve been for you. I can have one of the other guards give him a talk, make it seem as if one of the maids came upon the scene.”

“I told him I’ll need to have a chaperone with me on any further outings. I didn’t know how to just tell him I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to marry him. Hell, I’m not even sure I’d consider being friends with him anymore,” you lightly swore even as you choked a bit through your crying. “I wish I could just end this whole engagement and run off with you.”

“(Y/n), you did what you were trained to do. I don’t blame you for any of this. Requiring a chaperone was the safest option you had. I’ll be sure to be by your side every time you see the Prince now, and if not then I’ll have some of the other guards I’m close with on standby. We’ll make sure you’re safe and you feel safe, that’s the most important thing to me,” she told you, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“You’re not upset with me?” You asked, the little nagging voice in the back of your head still insisting that you were to blame.

“No, my Princess. I could never be upset with you. He was the one that tried it, but you stopped him and immediately put distance between the two of you. Even if he had kissed you, you aren’t to blame,” Zendaya told you. You nodded. “Come now, Princess, let’s get you ready for bed. I want you to rest, you’ve had a stressful day.”

“Can you sing to me? It will help me sleep,” you decided to try. It was rare that she’d sing for you, but you loved her voice. Zendaya gave a heavy sigh, but nodded.

“I’ll do anything to help you, my love.”

**********

For the next few days, Prince Thomas made himself scarce. You’d heard some of the chambermaids talking about how he’d received a visit from someone you knew trained under Zendaya, but you didn’t know exactly what he was told. You didn’t know if it was the (unproven) threat or if he genuinely felt bad about your reaction to the almost kiss, but you were glad for the newfound space. It allowed you time to actually breathe and process everything that was going on around you.

Rihanna provided you with a list of the potential candidates to take your place as Prince Thomas’s fiancee, with most of them vaguely knowing the Prince or having previous relations with him. You vaguely knew many of them, having encountered them in your years of hosting and visiting other kingdoms, but you couldn’t say you knew them well enough to picture Prince Thomas with any of them. You tried doing your research on the other Princesses, having some trusted aides go off to find information and report back to you. You needed to be more involved with this, this was your future you were talking about. You weren’t going to sit idly and let this just happen to you.

Since many of your lessons had been reduced due to the other nobles needing to prepare for the ball, you finally decided to use your free time for good. The library had records of alliances between the kingdoms, tensions, and the histories overall, so you spent your time pouring over these volumes, trying to find kingdoms that would make sense to pair with the young Prince of Xerin. Of course you had to worry about the Prince getting along with whatever Princess it was, but you also had to worry about their Kingdoms coming to an agreement. If the newfound engagement didn’t work out, Xerin may attempt to reign your kingdom back in with a renewed proposal.

You recording any findings and speculations you had in a leatherbound journal that Sir Chadwick had gifted to you years ago, but you always found too pretty to actually use. You were sure Sir Chadwick would approve of your use for it. You didn’t notice the guard switches as you worked, letting your mind become filled with only the politics of your neighboring kingdoms. You couldn’t help but wonder if this was what it was like for the great academics of your kingdom, occasionally called in to help advise where even the advisers did not have the historical knowledge to help.

Sometime after the sun had already set, leaving you sitting in the candlelight as the moon and stars shone through the sunroof, you heard the door to the library open. You glanced up, blood running cold as you saw the young Prince standing there, looking like he didn’t know if he should leave or not. You knew there was a guard stationed outside while the shift changed, waiting for Zendaya to come back to her post. You also knew the guard knew Prince Thomas wasn’t supposed to be allowed near you without someone else present, so why did he let the Prince in alone?

“Princess (y/n)-”

“Prince Thomas, you should go. I don’t know why my guard let you in, but-”

“I need to talk to you.”

“And that can be done with a chaperone present. I’m sure you’d rather have this talk later rather than have me call for my guards now,” you insisted, standing your ground even as you looked back down at the book in front of you. Surely he wouldn’t be dumb enough to continue even after you’d threatened to call the guards.

“I just wanted to apologize.” Apparently he was dumb enough, but if you could get this over with as soon as possible, maybe he’d just leave you alone.

“You have two minutes and you need to remain over there,” you ordered, using your firmest voice. It wasn’t one you used often, but it demanded respect. He nodded, and you sat up straight, clasping your hands in front of you.

“Right, thank you. I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you, perhaps I- no, I did grossly misinterpret the situation. I didn’t intend to disrespect you, but I know I did, so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to gain your trust. I promise I won’t try anything like that again, but I do truly enjoy spending time with you. You don’t have to forgive me now, but I just wanted to let you know I deeply regret making you uncomfortable,” he rushed out, still slow enough for you to understand. You stared blankly at him, not sure how to take this. You’d never had another royal apologize to you, especially not so… sincerely. 

“I shall think about it, but you should leave now. Lady Zendaya is the next shift and it wouldn’t do you well to run into her,” you told him.

“Thank you for hearing me out, Princess.” He gave a slight bow before turning to leave the room. You nodded, waiting for the door to close before finally allowing yourself to relax some. You tried to get back into your research, but you just couldn’t get yourself back into the right frame of mind. What was the Prince’s game here? Surely there was something he hoped to gain from apologizing to you. Was it just access to you? There was no way he could’ve genuinely fallen for you in the short time you’d known each other. You stared at the book in front of you, tapping your pen against the desk, but you started getting lost to your musings. Before you could spiral further, there was a soft knock at the library door.

“Come in,” you called out, rubbing your eyes. Maybe you just needed to reset a bit before you got back to work.

“My Princess, I brought your dinner from the kitchens. You’re lucky the cooks realized you weren’t at dinner so they made something for you. Sorry for being late,” Zendaya apologized, trying to balance the tray they’d sent your dinner on. She placed the tray on the table, finally taking a good look at you. “How’s the research going, my love? I heard you’ve been in here all day.”

“I just can’t focus anymore,” you huffed, putting down your pen. Zendaya walked to your side of the desk, petting your hair as she dragged your meal in front of you.

“Eat, darling. It’ll help you feel better and you need to take a break anyways,” she insisted. You nodded, figuring she was right. “Have you learned much?”

“The political landscapes of the kingdoms truly is insane, I don’t know how the nobles navigate it,” you admitted. Zendaya could tell you didn’t feel like talking, so she gave you a recap of her day. For the days she had night and morning watches, she was supposed to spend her afternoons sleeping, but she rarely spent the entire afternoon asleep. She talked about the archery training she was undergoing, wanting to strengthen her skills with the bow since she rarely used it. After she was done talking, you finally decided how you wanted to broach the topic. “Love, the guard before you was Sanders, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“I believe he needs to be demoted for a while. Before shift change, he allowed Prince Thomas to enter unaccompanied even though the guards were told of the new requirements,” you explained, going to grab Zendaya’s hand. You could tell she was about to get a bit heated. “Nothing happened. Prince Thomas stayed by the door, apologized, and then exited in under five minutes, but he should not have been allowed in the first place.”

“I will let my superior know, love. Well, after I get done with Sanders,” she muttered the last part as though you wouldn’t be able to hear it muffled by your hair.

“Love, don’t hurt him too bad.”

“So I can hurt him just a little.”

“Try to make it look like an accident. I wouldn’t want you to get punished over something petty like this,” you explained. “Though I’m sure I could get you out of it, I don’t want people to think I’m playing favorites.”

“Please, everyone already knows I’m your favorite. It’s not hard for people to see your heart eyes when you look at me,” she teased, as though what she said wasn’t truly accurate.

“It’s not my fault when you’re genuinely gorgeous,” you pouted, looking up at her. She laughed, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“Finish eating, then we can clean up here and I’ll tell one of the handmaidens to draw you a bath. You’ve been working for too long, love, you need to rest. I don’t want you to get burnt out.”

“Fine, but I need to figure more things out if I want this plan to work.”

“We can’t force him to fall in love with one person in particular. We just need to present him with the options and encourage whichever one he wants,” Zendaya said. “The plan won’t fall apart if you rest for the night. Please, my Princess? For me?”

She had you there and she knew it. Whenever she directly asked you for something, you could never say no to her. She smiled at your little pout, leaning down to kiss you soundly until you stopped pouting. Before you could truly give in to her methods and smile into the kiss that you only wanted more of, the sound of the door fully closing interrupted the silence in the library. Zendaya pulled back,  the both of you immediately looking at the door. “Did you close it when you came in?”

“I did. Stay here,” she ordered you, drawing her sword as she went to go investigate. You stayed in your seat, biting at your thumbnail as you watched her leave the library, pulling the door completely shut behind her.

**********

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