#that idea folded me ToT

[milky-shea]

💜~If I could, I'd be your little spoon

And kiss your fingers forevermore

But, big spoon, you have so much to do

And I have nothing ahead of me~❤️

[kingkaisen]

♡ — SUMMARY; your ex-husband, Nanami, asks you to meet him at a local diner.

♡ — CONTENT; heavy angst, toxic relationship, mentions of death, illness, loss of child, slight gojo x reader.

“I didn’t think you would show up.”

KENTO NANAMI took a tentative sip of his black coffee. Though he did not show it, his heart was pounding rapidly from the very moment he glanced out of the window and saw your car enter the parking lot of the old-fashioned diner.

“I didn’t think I’d show up either, to be honest.” You mumbled unhappily. You sat down in the booth across from your ex-husband. “Why am I here?”

Your face was as blank as an untouched canvas. Sitting his white mug of coffee down, Kento folded his hands, resting them on the table.

“You know what today is, don’t you?” He asked. As soon as his question fell from between his lips, he hated himself for the way he approached such a sensitive topic.

“Of course I do, and I’d rather spend it alone,” you snapped, speaking in a harsh tone slightly above a whisper. “I don’t wanna talk about this with you.”

“Well,” Kento took a deep breath. “To the rest of the world, today’s a regular day. But to us, it’s . . . his birthday. We’re the only two people grieving him today, so I thought-”

“Thought we’d grieve together? I’ve been grieving alone for four years now. Today’s no different. I needed your help then and you didn’t give it, but I don’t need you now.” Suddenly, you started to scoot out of the booth. “You know what? This was a bad idea, I’m just gonna leave-”

“No, no, wait. Don’t leave yet,” Kento’s words halted your movements, but you glared at him as he continued to speak. “It’s me who needs help. I know you don’t need me anymore, but I still need you.”

“Still?” You settled back down into your seat. “The word still implies that you needed me before now.”

“I’ve always needed you,” Kento said softly.

“You sure didn’t act like it.”

“That doesn’t make it any less true.” Taking yet another deep breath, Kento ran his large hand through a few strands of his blonde hair. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything. I was an awful husband. Distant father. I’d do anything to make things right.”

His words were met with silence. Your eyes were scanning him — perhaps for some sign of dishonesty — drifting from his serious expression, white collared shirt, and even down to the laminated menu resting on the table in front of him.

“You’re a couple years too late,” your voice was soft. Filled with regret. “I’m remarried, and our boy is gone.”

Those were two facts Kento knew well. Even so, hearing them sliced through his heart, creating a horrific ache painful enough for him to wonder if he would truly die from heartbreak, here and now.

“Is Satoru treating you well?” He asked with as much composure as he could muster.

“We, um,” you hesitated. “I’m pregnant now, actually.”

Kento looked into your eyes. His eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, but his eyes were glassy.

“Oh. I’m happy for-”

“Save your breath. Don’t lie to me,” you interrupted.

“But I am happy for you.”

This time, it was your turn to raise your eyebrows in surprise, but your eyes flickered away from him and down at the salt and pepper shakers. “Really? You’re not upset?”

“I am. I’m heartbroken. Two things can be true at once,” Kento said. “You’ve moved on, and I understand that, believe me. I only wish I was the one to heal what I broke. But, as you said, I’m too late. I’m out of time now.”

A young brunette approached with a kind smile and a notepad in hand. She jotted down your orders. Though it was a little ways past eight p.m., you ordered buttermilk pancakes, while Kento opted to respect the time of day and ordered a sandwich with tater tots for his evening meal — not his favorite, but he wanted to order the first thing that came to mind in hopes of sending the waitress away as quickly as possible.

Her departure sparked a bit of small talk between you and Kento, and it lasted until she returned a while later with steaming plates of food. Your pleasant chatter was rather mundane, but even so, you said, “Seems like you’ve changed. I hope it’s genuine.”

Oh, how he wanted to hear those words more than anything. The left corner of his mouth twitched with the urge to smile, though not noticeably.

“It is. I quit my job,” Kento said.

“Wow, that’s . . .” For a brief second, you smiled, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “That’s great to hear, but at the same time, I wanna slap you right now. Why did our lives have to fall apart for you to finally wake up? Why weren’t the hundreds of arguments we had enough?”

Happy and pissed. Two things can be true at once.

“Our lives would have fallen apart anyway,” Kento said calmly. “Whether I had quit my job sooner rather than later would not have changed what happened to Kenji.”

“No, but when he suddenly took a turn for the worse, I would have had my husband there to hold my hand, and he would’ve been able to see his father one last time.” Pain flashed across your face. There was a slight tremble to your voice. You were trying your hardest to control your anger among the quiet diner chatter from nearby groups and family. “He was scared. He was asking for you. And where the hell were you? Handling stocks while our son was dying.”

“They told us we had time-”

“It was fucking cancer, Kento! Any day could have been his last, and you knew that, and you didn’t care.”

A few heads turned in your direction, but with tears threatening to stream down your cheeks, with the memories of your dying boy replaying in your mind endlessly, drawing attention was the last thing you were concerned with.

“Of course I knew and cared, that was why I worked so hard. Someone had to pay for all of the stays in the most advanced hospitals, the finest treatments known to man, the rarest medication administered by the best team of doctors, surgery performed by some of the best surgeons we could find . . . Kenji had all the help money could buy and only because I worked every second of my life.” A tear fell from Kento’s eyes. He wiped it away quickly.

“And in the end, it was pointless, wasn’t it?” You said quietly. “Wasn’t it? Because he died anyway, and you weren’t there to say goodbye.”

“I know what you’re doing.” Kento’s voice had an unfamiliar, dark tone. “You feel guilty as well. About what exactly, I don’t know, but you’re taking the anger you feel towards yourself and letting it out on me.”

“You’re wrong, you jackass. Do you seriously think you’re blameless in all of this or something?” You glared at him with pure hatred. “I was wrong. You haven’t changed one bit.”

The way you looked at him now, as if he was worthless, as if he was a bug that deserved to be squashed; it snapped his heart into pieces, if it was capable of being broken further at this point.

However, it didn’t stop him from continuing on with his own form of cruelty.

“You can’t bring yourself to say his name. You haven’t said it. Not once.” Kento was as calm as ever. Or, at least, he was pretending to be. “You try to avoid talking about him. You try to pretend he didn’t exist by marrying a man I know you don’t care for, all so you can have another child to replace him-”

“Go to hell.”

“I, on the other hand,” Kento continued to speak despite your bitter interruption as if you hadn’t said anything at all. “I spend my time keeping his memory alive. All of my money goes towards research. Towards organizations dedicated to finding a cure so no parent has to go through what we went through. I wasn’t there for Kenji when he died and I will never forgive myself for it, but you aren’t here for him now, in the present.”

“Here for what? A pile of bones in a graveyard?” You glared.

“A graveyard you never visit, so I’ve heard.”

That was it. Those were the words that finally made your brewing tears fall. They splattered against your half-eaten plate of pancakes.

A long enough period of silence passed, long enough for nosy fellow diners to return to their own conversations.

Kento’s eyes softened at the sight of your crying face. “I’m sorry. Sweetheart, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t call me that. You’ve lost that right a long time ago.” You sniffled. “I can’t believe you’d accuse me of trying to erase the memory of our son from my life.”

Kento's brows were pinched as he frowned. “And I can’t believe you’d accuse me of not caring about him. It hurts, doesn’t it? The accusations we keep throwing at each other?”

Your face was unreadable. He knew you well, better than you knew yourself as fate would have it, but even so, he couldn’t tell what you were thinking right now.

Outside, it started to rain. For a moment, you eyed the raindrops coating the street. Neither you nor Kento said anything for quite some time, your food becoming cold, and together, you watched the rainfall.

“I’m sorry.” You said after a while. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said. I’m just still so pissed off about it. I know you’ve suffered enough, and I know you only worked so hard to save him, but . . . you didn’t see him use the last of strength trying to call for you. It haunts me every day. I can’t live with that amount of pain, Kento, so I’m just trying to move on and keep on living, not erase his memory.”

“I know, I know. I wish I never said that.” Kento wanted to reach out and touch your hand, but the sight of the wedding ring sitting on your finger stopped him. “I wish I never did a lot of things in general.”

“You need to do what I just said.” You faced him, wiping away a few stray tears. “Try to move on and keep on living. Forgive yourself.”

“Can you ever forgive me?” Kento asked softly.

“I can.” You gave a sad smile. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“I already do.”

He matched your sad smile with one of his own.

“God, we’re a fucking mess. I can’t believe I caused a scene.” You buried your face in your hands for only a moment, then looked up at the sound of Kento’s voice.

“I would lie and tell you they won’t ever see either one of us again, but I’ve been coming to this diner for years, and I don’t plan on stopping,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah I know. We went on our first date here, remember? We were dumb teenagers back then.” It was a bittersweet memory, one you regretted bringing up immediately.

Never before had your smile been so bright. If only you could go back to that simpler time.

If only.

“But we were in love with each other back then, weren’t we?” Kento asked. His own question nearly pushed him to his limit.

“Yeah, we were.” You smiled, brighter this time, and continued, “You’ll always have a special place in my heart — you know that, right?”

“I do.” Kento paused. “And, I’m sorry, but you’ll always be my sweetheart.”

“Good,” you mumbled, though your words were guilt-ridden. Avoiding Kento’s gaze, you started to fiddle with your wedding ring. “It’s getting late. I should . . . I should probably go.”

He didn’t want you to leave, but you weren’t his anymore. How he felt didn’t matter.

“Thank you for coming. It meant more to me than you know,” he said.

“Well, I was lying when I said I wanted to spend his birthday alone.”

“I know.”

You rolled your eyes. Of course he did.

“Bye, Kento,” you got out of the booth, pulling your jacket tighter around your frame. “I . . . nevermind.”

Kento watched you walk through the chiming exit doors of the diner, your last sentence left incomplete. Raindrops were splattering against your head and clothes, but you were in no rush, not minding the drizzle.

Suddenly, your footsteps halted on the concrete sidewalk. You turned around, peering through the big windows, locking eyes with your ex-husband. At first, you gave him a soft smile — one that meant goodbye, and nothing further.

But then, he saw the corners of your lips fall into a little frown, and your eyes glistened with uncertainty. Hesitation. Regret.

You sighed, turning away from the sight of the man in the booth, the man who you knew for a fact held more than a “special place” in your heart, but still owned it entirely.

Though every step away from him was painful, you dragged yourself to your car, and drove away from the ex-husband you still loved, and home to the current-husband you somewhat liked.

Kento thought about rushing out of the door, wrapping his arms around your waist, and kissing you in the rain — passionately and deeply, as you once loved. After all, he knew what your final look towards him meant. He knew your past marriage, though destructive, still held more passion than your current loveless one.

But he stayed put in his seat, taking a sip of his cold black coffee.

Perhaps, he would regret not chasing after you for the rest of his life, but being that he discovered not too long ago that his son’s cancer was genetic, originating from Kento’s side, and would soon claim his life as well — even after he survived all these years — he knew he wouldn’t have to live with his regret much longer.

This was the last time he would ever eat at the diner he once took you to, back when you were both young fools excitedly in love, fools who would die for each other in a heartbeat.

And those couple of seconds in which you locked eyes with him through the diner window? That was the last time he ever saw you.

🏷️: @sad-darksoul @priv-rose @yihona-san06 @keriaonmarz @luvvmae @underworldsheiress @notgoodforlife @thewondrousdreamer @levisfavoriteteashop @preciousamethyst @iwanttohitmyself @shoyosdoll @lil-apple-pie @prettypixigrl @sonarspace @averysmolbear @starstoru @starlightanyaaa @dolphin1135 @ioveartfilm @filhadaanarquia @blackdxggr @jaegergirl @gunslxtz @he11okitty-mari @koikohib

[rosemariiaa]

~Casual~

pairing: Paige x Oc

a/n: i need to fix my posting schedule lol.. this is my first collab fic with the lovely karly @makethemhoesmad , part 2 will be on her page!! happy reading lovelies 💌

themes: angst, sexual content, language

Enjoy!!!

I was in the locker room, mind all over the place. Honestly, I hadn’t been this unfocused in ages. And it wasn’t just me who noticed—KK and Azzi were side-eyeing me from across the room, probably wondering why I’d been so out of it. Then I heard Ice laugh under her breath and mutter, “Paige, you’re so pussy whipped.”

It was brutal, but she wasn’t wrong.

The buzz in my pocket had me scrambling. A message from Vanessa.

We’d been “hooking up” for the past few months—nothing serious, just something casual, atleast that’s what she tends to remind me about all the time. That’s how it started, anyway. But for me, it felt like it was turning into something more, whether I wanted it to or not.

V: u busy? come over?

I didn’t even hesitate, typing back a quick, On my way.

———

I was out of there in record time, showered and changed, and at Vanessa’s place within twenty minutes flat. My heart was already racing when she opened the door, leaning against the frame in my shirt and black panties. Damn.

She didn’t waste a second, pulling me inside by the collar and crashing her mouth against mine. All the frustration, the waiting—it was all there. In moments like this, it was easy to forget that she kept me at arm’s length, that I wanted more than just a physical connection. But when she had me like this, I didn’t even care.

“Missed you, V,” I murmured against her lips, hands trailing down her waist, then down further gripping her ass.

She smirked, threading her fingers through my hair as she leaned back, her breath hitching. “Shut up and show me.”

Her lips found mine again, urgent. I let her hands slide down my back, pulling me closer as I trailed kisses along her neck, whispering, “You have no idea how much you’ve been messing with me.”

Vanessa let out a quiet laugh, breathless, leaning into my touch. “Paige, you think too much,” she murmured, tipping her head back sighing. “Can’t help it,” I whispered, grazing my teeth against her collarbone before meeting her gaze, something hungry in her eyes. I tightened my grip, keeping her close, practically pinning her to the wall. “You make it impossible to focus baby.”

Her only response was to pull me back into a kiss, sliding her warm tongue to meddle with mine. I moan softly into the kiss, lifting her up and carrying her to the couch. She sank down, tugging me with her, eyes dark and inviting. I know that look. That look she gives me when she wants me to shut up and take her.

I lean down, pulling her shirt up realizing she’s not wearing a bra. Fuck. I take a moment to admire her perky tots and her pink hardened nipples, she shakes them a little signaling me to move closer. I move closer wrapping my lips around her nipple while sliding my hand up from her stomach to her other breast. I swirl my tongue around it making her shudder and sigh as she moves her hand into my hair. “Mmm..more.” she pleads.

I move my mouth from her breasts, looking up at her as i trail open mouthed kisses down the valley of her tits, down to her stomach, until i reach her very dampen panties. She bucks her hips up, the look in her eyes telling me to dive straight in and eat her like my last meal. I run my two middle fingers up and down her clothed pussy. “Paige..stop teasing.” she says, knuckles turning white as she grips the couch.

I oblige, sliding her panties off and taking in her glistening core. I press my palm against her clit. “God, Paige,” she breathes, trying to grind against it. I run my middle finger up and down her wet folds as she bites her lip hard enough to draw blood. “Mmm fuck ma, who got you this wet? I smirk, clearly enjoying the effect I have on her, and I lean in closer, “Y-you baby please..inside.” She pleads.

I slip one finger in. “This good?” I ask, knowing damn well it’s not. Vanessa shakes her head and I smirk, sliding in another, slow and steady, listening to how wet she is and how beautiful she moans. I could listen to that shit on repeat.

“Still not enough ma?” I murmur, cocky as hell, adding a third without waiting for her answer. A gasp slipping out before she can stop it. “Fuck!” she yells. I keep my eyes trained on her, curling my fingers just right , just the way I know she likes.

I lean in , my breath warm against her ear. "Yeah, thought so," I whisper.

My grip on her waist tightens as she arches her back up moaning, watching her struggle to keep up with the pace as I fuck her faster. "Daddy..." a soft moan in my ear.

My eyes flash, and I raise an eyebrow, "say it again," she brings her hand down to her clit rubbing it in tight slow circles, moaning at the sound of my fingers going in and out her dripping pussy. I’m so wet right now. "Fuck daddy..mmph feels so good please faster." My fingers push deeper, stretching out her tight hole with each thrust, slow at first, but quickly picking up speed as I watch her fall apart.

"Yeah, just like that baby." My voice dark, commanding, and I can see her barely keeping her balance, her body moving faster, desperate for every bit I’m giving her. My hand slides up to her neck, making her look at me as I push my fingers in deeper. Vanessa grips my shoulders, moaning, loud.

"Paige, please..." she manages, barely recognizing her own voice. My smirk just grows, fingers are moving faster now, curling to her spot, stretching her out so much.

"That's it, baby. Just let go, cum for me. You can do it," I babbled. Her breaths came faster, mingling with the squelching of my fingers thrusting in and out. "Paige, I... I can't," she breathed, but it sounded like a lie.

"C'mon V. I want to feel you, want to taste you. Just for me mama."

With each thrust, I could feel her teetering closer to the edge. "I'm trying," she gasped, her voice shaking as I moved her fingers deeper and faster . "I promise it'll feel so good. All over my fingers, just like that." I cooed and I can hear the desperation in my voice.

It was like a dam breaking.Her pussy clenching violently around my fingers. Her hips started to stutter as I curled my longest finger deeper massaging that gummy spot. Waves of pleasure washed over her, body trembling as shs fell apart under me, juices dripping on the couch h and my palm.

"Fuck, that's it," I murmured, fingers still moving in her as I guided her through it. "So good for me. You did it, baby."

Vanessa could barely respond. All I could think was how fucking good it felt to make her cum. For me.

———-

When it’s finally over, we’re both breathing heavily, tangled together in a haze. For a second, I think she might let me stay, that this time could be different. But then she’s reaching for her shirt, slipping it back on, a familiar guarded look settling on her face. And just like that, the walls are back up.

I wandered into the kitchen to wash my hands. The water ran cold, the silence between us loud. Once I was done, I turned around and spoke, "What're you doing later?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Hanging with my sister."

I shot her a side-eye. That was bullshit, and we both knew it. She was too quick with the excuse, not even trying to make it sound real. I smirked. "Sounds like bullshit to me."

She crossed her arms and shrugged, her face going a little tight. "Don't you have someone else to see? ! mean, I saw you after your game with that girl. What was her name again? Leah?"

My stomach twisted. She was bringing that up, huh?

It was funny how she could act like she didn't care about me, but then get all territorial when I wasn't looking.

"Seriously? You're bringing that up now?" I chuckled to mask the weird tension that was bubbling up in me.

"Yeah, I am," she snapped. "I don't like sharing Paige.”

The words hit me in a weird way. I hated and liked how possessive she could be, yet she wouldn't commit to anything. It didn't make sense. I could feel the pull between us, and the way she kept holding back while also keeping me at arm's length, all at once. It was frustrating as hell.

I looked at her, my voice dropping a little. "I don't share either. But I can't exactly do anything about that, can I?"

She was quiet for a second, her eyes shifting around the room before she shrugged again, like she didn't want to deal with the weight of what was just said.

"Tread lightly, okay?"

She was trying to put me in my place, make sure I knew who was "in charge". But it was fucking confusing, because she couldn't make up her mind about us. She wanted me, but she didn't want to admit it. And it drove me nuts.

Her face flickered for a second, and I could see she was holding back-just like always. "Fine. Enjoy your 'sister time' then."

We both knew what was really going on.

———-

A few nights later, I walked into Ted's with Azzi and KK, the noise of the bar flooding my senses. It was a usual after-game stop-loud, crowded, and full of people-but my mind wasn't on the win against Creighton. It was on something else entirely.

Someone else.

I didn't even have to look around to know where she was. My eyes found Vanessa almost instantly, like they always did. She was perched at the bar in a black leather romper, the zipper pulled just low enough to show off her tits, just enough to make my stomach twist. I couldn't help it. I wanted to walk up to her, grab her by the waist, and kiss her right there.

I wanted to feel her lips on mine again, to lose myself in the way she tasted, the way she felt.

But then, as I got closer, my heart slammed in my chest. I saw it.

Her arm was wrapped around Leah.

Leah. Fucking Leah.

I tried to keep my cool, to ignore the tight knot forming in my stomach, but the sight of them standing there, so close, it hurt. Leah had her hand on Vanessa's waist, while Vanessa? She was barely paying attention. She wasn't even looking at Leah.

Her eyes were darting around the room, scanning for... something. Or someone. Then, as if she sensed me from a mile away, her gaze finally landed on me.

"Paige!" Vanessa called out, her voice louder than it needed to be. Her smile wasn't a real one-it was forced, like she was trying to make everything seem normal. "What's up? What you doing here?"

I could feel the frustration bubbling up inside me, threatening to spill over. I didn't want to show her how much it hurt, but it fucking did. She was standing there with Leah, looking so unaffected, like she didn't give a damn about the mess she always left me in. I forced myself to respond, but it came out tighter than I expected.

"I'm here with Azzi and KK for a bit," I said, trying to sound nonchalant, but I knew the irritation was obvious. My voice was clipped, my jaw clenched. I couldn't hide it. The way she was acting-being so close with Leah, acting like nothing ever happened between us, like she wasn't the one who kept pulling me in and pushing me away-it was eating me alive.

Vanessa gave a little nod. "Yeah, well, me and Leah are heading to the bathroom. Catch you later."

She turned without another word, leaving me standing there, alone, feeling like the biggest fucking idiot.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, the ache in my chest spreading. Every time I thought I was getting a handle on this, every time I convinced myself I could just let it go, she did something like this. Every time, I found myself right back where I started-confused, angry, hurt.

I stood there for a long moment, my head spinning.

My eyes followed them as they walked away, Vanessa's back turned to me like she didn't even care. But I knew better. I knew how she worked. I could read her, even when she tried to hide it.

What the hell was I doing? What the fuck were we doing?

And right then, I wanted to scream. I wanted to ask her what the hell she wanted from me, why she kept doing this to me. But I didn't. I couldn't.

I hated how much I still wanted her. How every time she pulled away, I let her, and it fucking killed me.

And I hated how much llet her see the hurt in my eyes, even when I didn't say a word.

But she didn't look back. And that made everything even worse.

———-

a/n: posted at 4 but atleast i posted ayeeee!

taglist ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

@thaatdigitaldiary @patscorner @sierrale8ne @ohbueckers @absolutelydreadful @authentic-girl03 @mrsarnold

[kelcemenow]

Camp Kelce.

Pairing Travis Kelce x Reader

Words 6490

Warnings Alcohol, language, fluff and a whole heap of smut.

I really wanted to write some College Travis. I love reading it and then this idea just came to me at work so I took it and ran...I literally could not stop typing! It's a long one so grab your popcorn, grab your tea and buckle up. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

You looked out at the beautiful landscape surrounding you. Closing your car door and resting on the hood, you pulled your phone out of your pocket. You swiped away the text message from Hayley detailing the directions to the camping spot you had just pulled up to, and being the first one to arrive, you decided to begin setting up your tent so you ensured you got the best pitch.

You dragged your three bags out of the trunk, letting them fall onto the ground with a thud. You scoped the grassy area, folding out your ground sheet before the sound of a nearby vehicle engine distracted you. You whipped your head around to see a shiny black truck pull up alongside your Mom's white convertible. You groaned when you saw that behind the wheel was Travis Kelce. He was Tommy's best friend and although you knew he was coming on the camping trip, you weren't thrilled at the idea of being around him without Hayley and Tommy.

"Sup, Tator Tot?"

You rolled your eyes and returned to your tent, gitting your teeth and ignoring the stupid nickname that he had given you in freshman year. It was so long ago, you had both forgotten the reason for the nickname, but you also didn't care.

Travis closed his truck door and strutted over the clearing, staring out at the calm lake ahead with his hands behind his head, "So, are we skinny dipping tonight or what?"

"You can if you want, Kelce. But I'll warn you, the water is a little cold." You smirked as you laid out your tent, organising the tent poles meticulously.

Travis Kelce was the star tight end for the Bearcats and was famous around campus for being loud, confident and in your opinion, annoying. He was suspended from football for a year for failing a drug test and although he seemed to have returned with a much more mature mindset when it came to football, you still thought he was irritating and somewhat cocky. However, he was Tommy's best friend and as Hayley's best friend, you often had the displeasure of spending time with him.

You felt his presence behind you and turned your head from your crouching position to look at him, "Can I help you?"

"What are you doing?" He looked at you with furrowed eyebrows.

You paused for a second, "I'm putting my tent up, what does it look like?"

Travis hummed and strolled to his truck, retrieving a singular bag from the back and grabbing a beer from the top.

You stood up, pointing to him, "That's all you've packed?"

Travis cracked the beer open, sipping the foam from the top, "Yup." He wiped his mouth, "Got the essentials."

"Where's your tent? Your sleeping bag?"

Travis shrugged, "I'll just sleep in Tommy's tent? I got a hoodie, I'll be fine."

You dropped a tent pole down and walked closer to him, "And just where do you think Hayley is going to sleep?"

Travis twisted his mouth, "Will you relax? She'll have to bunk in with you."

You shook your head and finished erecting your tent, stepping back to admire your handy work. You turned around, jumping back slightly when you were surprised by Travis stood directly behind you, holding out a second beer to you.

"Want one?"

You smiled, "No, I'm quite alright Travis. Thank you though." You brushed past him, placing your tent bag back into the car.

"Oh, come on Tator Tot! Are you gonna be pissed at me all weekend?"

You grabbed another bag containing your camping gear and walked past Travis again to your tent, "I don't know, how much of an asshole are you gonna be?"

Travis laughed and held his chest, "Ooh, critical hit. I'm hurt, really."

"The big guy around campus is hurt by a tiny comment like that? Maybe you ain't as hard as they say you are."

Travis pushed his pelvis forward, "I don't know man, I can get pretty-"

"Stop!" You held a hand out before focusing again on unpacking, "I don't need to know about...that."

He laughed, taking a big gulp of his beer.

Your phone beeped in your pocket, forcing you to stop your task to read a message from Hayley. Your heart dropped when you read the words on your screen.

"No. No, please no."

Travis turned around to face you, "What's up?"

"They're not coming."

There was a silence before you spoke again.

"Something is wrong with Tommy's car and they can't get here until tomorrow morning at the earliest."

Travis raised his eyebrows and sat down on a tree stump, resting his elbows on his knees. He knew you were about to start freaking out and instead of trying to calm you down, he thought he would simply observe.

"Well, this is just great." You dropped your bag on the floor with a little bit of force, running your hands through your hair, "I can't catch a break. I was actually looking forward to this weekend, you know, some time to loosen up, chill out before finals. But no, now I'm stuck here when I could have been at home studying."

Travis stared at you, "They'll be here in the morning, it isn't that big of a deal."

You booted a log out of your path as you paced, "Oh what do you know? You didn't even bring your own tent."

Travis cleared his throat, kicking his heels awkwardly, "Speaking of, any chance there's room for two in that tent of yours?"

You laughed, "Oh no. No, no, I don't think so. We're already fighting 4 feet away from each other, I think we'd kill each other in that thing."

Travis reached for the beer he had offered to you earlier, "You sure you don't want one?"

You glanced at it and then back at him.

"Come on Tator Tot, you need to relax."

You glared at him, "I'd relax more if you called me by my actual name."

He licked his bottom lip, "You need to relax...Y/N."

Your stomach fluttered slightly hearing him say your name. You couldn't think of a time in the four years you had known him where he hadn't referred to you as some dumb name he had thought up that week.

You exhaled and took the beer from his hand, noticing his chocolate hued hair blowing in the gentle wind. You both took a drink and looked out to the water.

Travis looked at you with his head slightly tilted to the side, "So, what now?"

You swallowed the beer down, "I think I'm just gonna go home."

Travis rose to his feet and took a few rushed steps towards you, "Hey, why not just stay here? Tommy and Hayley will be here in the morning. You said you wanted to chill out and we can still do that. You know, a campfire, a few beers, swimming in the lake." He lifted one eyebrow, "What do you say? I promise I'll try not to be a huge asshole."

Your lips pulled into a small smile. Travis breathed a laugh and turned to look at the clearing, relieved that you had somewhat smoothed things over, for now at least.

He clapped his hands together, "Alright, alright. Time to get a fire started."

Your eyes gazed over his toned physique, subconsciously staring as his muscles seemed to spill out from his shirt. It was early spring and Travis must have been attending outside practices as his skin had a sun kissed glow to it. You silently scolded yourself for noticing and shook your head slightly, turning away from him and crawling into your tent to set up your sleeping bag.

Travis turned his head towards you and watched as you ducked into the tent. He smirked at the sight of your ass in a pair of tiny jean shorts wiggling through the fabric opening. His chest tingled when he looked at you, a feeling he wasn't familiar with but he pushed it aside, continuing with his current task.

Inside the tent, you grabbed your pillows and blankets. You rolled out the sleeping bag, laying a blanket on top and spreading out your two huge, fluffy pillows. You glanced at your cosy sleeping area, your mind imagining what it would be like to cuddle up to Travis, his large arms wrapped around you and your face buried in his chest.

"Stop it, Y/N. Get it together. You can't be thinking these things. I mean, it's-"

"Who are you talking to?"

You shrieked and your head whipped around to see Travis crouched in the entrance of the tent.

"Oh my God, you scared me!" You laid a hand on your heart.

Travis smiled, "Sorry! I just heard a voice in here and I-" His voice trailed off as he looked around, "Oh shit, this is cosy." He raised his eyebrows.

You sat down on your sleeping bag, "Don't be getting any ideas Kelce, you're sleeping outside."

"Wait, but what if it rains?"

"Not my problem." You shrugged.

Travis smiled, "Okay, stand down, ice queen. I was just coming to tell you that I got the fire going if you wanna make some smores with me?"

You glanced past his broad shoulders to see roaring flames dancing from the centre of the clearing. You pressed your lips together and uncrossed your legs, "Sure."

You both made your way back out to the clearing, breathing in the fresh air. Travis began pulling a large fallen tree trunk along the ground, closer to you so that you had a seat by the fire. You smiled and your eyes fell upon his large muscular arms again. You watched as his tanned muscles rippled and bulged with his motions. Biting your bottom lip subconsciously, your mind wandered to thoughts of how those arms would feel to touch, to caress, to have holding you.

"What?" Travis questioned.

You suddenly looked up to meet his eyes, "Sorry...n-nothing. Just zoned out...a bit there." You stuttered.

Travis' mouth moved into a half smile, gesturing down at the log, "Your throne, madam."

You chuckled and perched yourself close to the flames, "Thank you, sir."

Travis grinned and grabbed his bag, producing a packet of graham crackers, a large bar of chocolate and some marshmallows. As he made his way over to the log, the bag of marshmallows slipped from his grip and fell to the ground. You bent down to pick them up as Travis did the same and your hands touched. Travis lingered there for a second, looking up at you instantly, feeling a rush of sparks to his chest in the same way that you did.

Your lips parted slightly and a small, quiet breath escaped them before you cleared your throat and pulled your hand away, "Uh...um sorry. Shall we-"

"Uhh yeah. I'll make a start."

Returning to the log, you picked up your beer to take a sip, avoiding eye contact with Travis.

Travis began constructing the smores as you sat awkwardly, your fingers scratching at the label on the beer bottle. He wanted to look up at you, to see your reaction, to gauge how you were feeling but he felt somewhat uncomfortable. He knew that you had felt the spark between you both, the tension was undeniable and his mind reeled with thoughts of possibly addressing it. Instead, he kept his eyes forward, making sure the smores had the perfect ratio of marshmallow to chocolate.

You cleared your throat and broke the silence, "So, college is nearly over. You have any plans?"

Travis' eyes quickly flashed to meet yours before dropping back down, "Umm yeah, get drafted into the NFL. It's ambitious but you gotta hope, right?"

You smiled, "I think you stand a good chance, I've seen you play."

"When have you ever seen me play?" His eyebrows knitted together.

"Are you kidding? I've been to few Bearcat's games with Tommy and Hayley."

"I never saw you?"

You leaned forward slightly, "Of course you didn't, your head was way too in the game." You laughed.

"Yeah, I get like that." He pressed the graham crackers together and placed it carefully on an empty plastic bag he had brought, "Does Steve take you to any games?"

You paused, "Uhhh, no. He's not a big football guy, and between me and you, he's a bit threatened by you."

Travis' eyebrows shot up, "Threatened by me? What? He's like some genius guy with his shit together!"

"Well yeah. But he didn't really like that we spent so much time together. You know, if I was hanging out with Hayley, chances are Tommy was there and by default you would be there too. He said it was almost like we were all on a double date." You laughed and shook your head, taking a quick swig of your beer. "I tried to suggest that he came with me but he never took me up on the idea. I guess he was quite jealous because you're absolutely gorgeous."

You froze at your words. You hadn't meant to be so honest and your cheeks instantly flushed red. You quickly looked at Travis whose face matched yours but a big goofy grin was plastered on it. He breathed a laugh and finished the last smore, stealing glances with you as you awkwardly shifted on the log.

"I mean-"

"Thank you, Y/N."

You forced a smile and stood up, pacing the grass, "Anyway, none of that really matters. I broke up with him last week."

Travis felt a jolt of elation rush through him and he looked up at you, "Oh, really? Well...good, because that guy was an asshole."

You laughed loudly, "But you just said that he was a genius with his shit together!"

Travis waved his hand, "Nah, I was just trying to be nice. But that was before you said you broke up. Now...I don't care. To be completely honest, he didn't deserve you. You were far too good for him, too kind, too smart...too beautiful. You are way out of his league."

You skin tingled as you listened to Travis. This was the first time you were seeing this side of him. Not the Travis who strutted around campus with a smug and overconfident bravado. Not the Travis who danced in the endzone when he made a touchdown. Not the Travis who did multiple keg stands at parties to show off. This Travis seemed different, and you wondered if this was the real him all along.

The corners of your lips pulled into a smile, "Well, thank you."

Travis handed you a smore and a skewer complete with two marshmallows on the end and threw you a wink. Your legs became slightly weakened so you sat back down on the log to keep your stability. Travis sat a short distance away from you, holding his skewer out above the fire. You reciprocated, waiting until the marshmallows had reached the perfect consistency. Watching the white sticky substance melt slightly, you pulled it away from the fire, wedging it between the two graham crackers and chocolate. You held it close to your lips, blowing gently before taking a gentle bite. The soft marshmallow spilled out from the sides and landed on your fingers, a blob settling on your chin.

"Oop!" You giggled as you struggled to clean it up with your already sticky hands.

"Here, I got it." Travis said as he shifted along the log and leaned close to you. His eyes were fixated on yours as he took a thumb and slowly ran along your jawline and chin, removing the offending marshmallow.

The burning in your chest returned, "Thanks."

Travis looked around for what to do with the marshmallow on his thumb, searching for a napkin.

You giggled, "I'm not wasting it! Bring it here!"

Travis looked surprised as he held his hand out in front of your face and you slowly licked his thumb, before wrapping your lips around it and sucking the remainder of the marshmallow off.

He cleared his throat, "W-wow...okay. Uhmmm...y-you...erm you look like you're pretty good at that."

You laughed loudly, throwing your head back, "I've had no complaints."

The sound of laughter filled the space and echoed through the trees. Travis was pleased to see a warmer, softer side of you. He had always sensed your dissatisfaction of him but he had often wondered whether there was a hint of flirtation behind it. Wondered and hoped.

"So, what are your plans after college?" Travis said with his hand over his mouth in-between bites.

You swallowed down your food, "Medical school for sure. I was wondering whether to take a year to go travelling or something like that?"

"Wow, medical school?" Travis' eyes widened.

"Yeah, I wanna be a Neurosurgeon. It's going to mean a few more years of school but I'm okay with that. It's what I've wanted to be since I was a kid."

Travis stared at you for second before his mouth moved into a small smile.

"What?" You questioned, biting at the last of your smore.

Travis rubbed at his shoulder, "Nothing. I just realised that I know absolutely nothing about you."

"Mmmm, it's amazing how much time you've wasted teasing me, ignoring me, slobbering on me when you're drunk...I could go on?"

His hand moves to scratch at his beard, "Nah. Nah, man. I'm sorry. I'm such a jerk sometimes."

"You're not a jerk Travis, you just behave like one." You shifted even closer to him.

He smiled again, his head hanging down, "I guess...I'm intimidated by you."

You sat in shock, unsure of what to say.

Travis continued, "You're so smart, and funny, and popular. I mean, why does a girl like you want to hang out and be friends with a guy like me."

Your whole body began to go numb and you swore the noises of the forest stopped dead. All you could hear was Travis' words.

"You know, I suppose I thought you had to be friends with me because of Hayley and Tommy. So, the teasing and everything was like a defence mechanism. So I didn't lose anything if I asked you out."

You jaw dropped open a little and your skin shivered, "You wanted to ask me out?"

Travis looked up at you with a smile, "Yeah, maybe. I thought about it, but then you were dating Steve, and with school ending soon and all of that." His voice trailed off, "But hey, we're friends now, right?"

Your eyes creased into a grin, "Yeah, sure." You wiped your mouth and dusted the graham cracker crusts from your hands, placing them down on your knees, "Okay, now what?"

Travis leaned down towards the floor to pick up the discarded skewers and as he did so, his outer thigh brushed against yours. His warm skin sent flutters to your stomach and your heart ached with desire.

"Maybe we could go for a swim in the lake? If you want to?"

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that once you opened them, this new feeling would cease. Unfortunately, when you did, he had bent forward to stoke the fire, his shorts stretching over his perfect ass. You exhaled slowly as you admired your view, your tongue subconsciously migrating to the corner of your mouth.

Travis turned his head towards you, still waiting for a response.

You shot up from your seat immediately, choking through your words and pointing towards your tent, "Uhhh, yeah. Yeah, sounds good to me. I'll just go and put my bathing suit on."

As soon as you dipped into the tent, you held your head in your hands. You could not be getting distracted this close to finals, and certainly not with Travis Kelce. Even if this Travis Kelce was different. Even if this Travis Kelce was sweet, funny and had eyes that made you melt. You took a deep breath and shook your hands, fanning your face with air.

"You ready?"

A deep voice from outside of your tent startled you.

"Uhh, yeah! Two minutes." You shouted out.

Your heart winced when you remembered the swimwear that you had selected for the trip. At the time, a low-cut, skimpy triangle bikini didn't seem to be a problem when you were planning on swimming in the lake with your best friend. But now, it was a different scenario. You picked the bikini out of the bag and quickly changed into it, adjusting the fabric where you could. Taking a few deep breaths, you looked down at yourself. You smiled and threw on a t-shirt over the top.

Stepping out of the tent, you noticed that Travis was already by the water, a pair of red swimming trunks covering his perfectly tanned and toned body. The sound of the zip on your tent had caused him to turn around, his eyes immediately lighting up when he saw you. A brief flush of red stained your cheeks and you cautiously walked towards him barefoot, avoiding any sharp stones or twigs in your path.

“Hey.” His voice was deep and gruff.

“Hey!” You said, brightly.

You noticed his eyes quickly gaze down to your legs as you meandered closer to him. Even though you were more exposed to him than you ever had been, you felt safe and content. He grinned and lowered his head, rubbing the back of his neck as he stepped onto the wooden dock. You followed him, feeling the cool wooden surface against the bare soles of your feet.

As you reached the end, your toes curled over the edge as your eyes settled on the calm water ahead of you.

"So, you wanna go nice and slow or wild and fast?" Travis glanced down at you with one eyebrow raised.

You smiled, "Wild and fast, for sure."

He lifted his other eyebrow as you peeled the t-shirt from your body, his heart rate quickening. He took a few steps back and you copied, waiting for a moment before Travis reached out and let his fingers brush against yours. His touch left goose bumps upon your skin and you looked down as you allowed your fingers to intertwine with his. He squeezed your hand before sprinting down the dock, pulling you alongside him. You approached the edge, holding your nose quickly before you both leapt into the air, hand in hand.

The cool water enveloped you and you sank a little, still feeling Travis' grasp. You pushed the water with your free hand, gasping as you hit the surface, a smile plastered on your face. Travis' soaked face met you, only inches away from your own. You felt a strong arm wrap around your waist under the water and his legs grazed against your own. You felt a rush of weakness for him immediately as he stared into your eyes. Travis let go of your hand but held you closely in his other arm whilst he moved some hair away out of your eyes.

"Cold?"

You shivered slightly, "A little."

He immediately tightened his grip, pulling you firmly into his chest, "Your eyes are stunning, by the way."

A smile crept onto your face, "Thank you, yours aren't so bad."

"Was that so hard to pay me a compliment?"

You were both floating pretty well, only occasionally needing to tread water to hold yourselves above the surface.

You breathed a laugh, "Oh come on, you get that all of the time, right? I know the sorority girls love you! " Lifting your free hand to rest on his shoulder for more support.

He smirked slightly, shaking his head, "Yeah, I suppose. I'm not interested though."

"What? Are you kidding? You could snap your fingers and those girls would come running!"

He sighed, "Honestly, I'm not interested in any of them." His eyes gleamed, "I only ever wanted you."

You caught your breath, feeling like your heart was going to burst out of your chest, "Wha-?" You breathed.

"Y/N, I'm sorry I was such an ass to you. Like I said earlier, it was my pathetic and childish defence mechanism for when you eventually shot me down. It's stupid, I know. I was stupid, I should have just been honest. But I don't know, maybe it's because school is almost over and I've got nothing to lose anymore...but...I think you're amazing."

As he spoke, your chest rose and fell faster and faster. A numbness fell upon your face and your mouth dropped open.

"In a way, I'm glad Tommy and Hayley aren't here now, because I absolutely wouldn't have had the balls to say this if they were here." He looked away from you.

You moved your head to catch his gaze, "Travis...before today, I thought you were a total jerk. A typical jock with nothing more than football, beer and girls in his head."

Travis frowned and wiped some drips of water from his brow.

"But now, I've seen a much nicer and sweeter side of you. I really wish I'd seen it sooner."

He smiled and placed his hand on the side of your face, "Sorry I took my time then."

You felt his hand pull your face close, his eyes flickered down to your lips and before you had chance to realise what was happening, his mouth was on yours. You inhaled deeply into the kiss, allowing his tongue to slip along yours. His lips were soft and moved with ease, his fingers moving behind your head and his legs tangling with yours. Your hips rolled slightly, feeling a bulge forming in his trunks, causing your pussy to throb. The hand that was holding your waist lowered, a gentle squeeze of your ass whilst the tips of his fingers slipped underneath your bikini.

You parted from the kiss to study his face, his eyes still closed and his mouth still parted. With a small smile, you placed your hand around the back of his head, running your fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth back onto yours, causing you both to sink a little further in the water. You moaned against him and felt his bulge grow even further as a response to your sounds. You moved both arms so they were resting on his shoulders, allowing you to pull yourself up and wrap your legs around his waist. Travis helped you by placing his other hand on the underneath of your left thigh, his fingers edging closer to your pussy, a gentle pressure of the tips enough to drive you wild.

Travis pulled away and bit down on his bottom lip, "Still happy with me sleeping outside?"

You rolled your hips again, seeing his eyes flicker with darkness, "I'm sure we can work something out."

He quickly moved you in the water, splashing as he tried to get to the dock. You squealed as the cool droplets landed on you, grabbing onto his thick, solid shoulders. Travis held tightly onto you as he grabbed onto the wooden posts, pulling you both onto dry land. His eyes were fixated on your body as you stood in front of him, the beads of water rolling down your smooth skin. He rubbed down his short beard, his toned arms flexing in the soft light of dusk. His physique looked perfect under the beautiful orange and purple sky and you couldn't help but to stare.

Travis pulled you in for a short kiss before pressing his forehead to yours, his eyes glancing towards the tent, "Shall we?"

You pouted your lips, "I'm all wet."

He widened his eyes, "That's my plan."

You laughed and grabbed his hand, hastily running towards the tent with him.

Travis wasted no time, unzipping the entrance and laying you down on your sleeping bag. He laid himself on top of you, his hands running across your body, touching every inch of skin he could access. He lifted himself up slightly onto his knees, using one of them to push your legs open further. He looked down at you with hungry eyes, admiring your face.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this." He said with a low, husky growl.

"To be honest, I had no idea how long I've wanted this, either."

He smiled wide before he lowered down to kiss you, heavier than before and much more passionate. His hands roamed your chest and squeezed at your breasts, your wet bikini releasing some of the water that it was holding in the fabric. As it ran down the sides of your torso, you let out a gasp.

Travis looked down, "Ah shit. Maybe we should take this off?"

You winked before he helped you to sit up, pulling at the strings carefully, revealing your breasts as the fabric fell down.

"Oh fuck." He growled.

You slid the rest of your swim suit off and threw it into the corner of your tent, leaving yourself completely exposed to him. You reached out for the waistband of his trunks but he beat you to it, pulling them off quickly. You gasped at his thick erection, a small amount of saliva forming in your mouth.

Travis grabbed at his dick, wrapping his hand around the base and you watched as a bead of precum seeped out. You used your finger to wipe it away before placing your finger in your mouth and sucking it clean.

Travis' eyes rolled back as he groaned, "Fuck, baby. You are incredible." He lunged down to you, his fingers heading straight for your clit. He looked at you with surprise, "You're so wet already."

You blushed slightly and smirked, "Take it as a massive compliment."

Travis smiled and began moving his fingers slowly, his eyes on you as your eyelids flickered and your lips parted, allowing small moans to escape them. He pushed his two fingers deep inside of you and twisted his hand slightly so he could use the pad of his thumb to rub gentle circles on your clit. You leaned your head back and let out a quiet moan, shifting your hips to adjust to his action. Travis buried his face into your neck, his hot breath sending shivers down your spine. His lips brushed against your skin, pressing small kisses that slowly became harder and deeper. You hissed a breath when he sucked at your flesh, knowing it would leave a mark. Squeezing your eyes shut, you felt a strong tightening in your core. Your pussy ached around his fingers, pulsating and throbbing with intense pleasure. As you groaned deeply, Travis picked up his pace and his free hand roved at your breasts, his thumb rolling over your nipple. You could feel yourself close to an orgasm and as you lifted your knees slightly, deepening the sensation, you felt Travis' body move lower. His fingers left your body and you instantly felt empty, your orgasm unfulfilled. You opened your eyes to see his head dipping out of sight and as you sat up slightly, he dragged his tongue up your slick folds, flicking your clit. A jolt of electricity shot through your body and you collapsed back onto your sleeping bag, your hands flying to your face and running through your hair. Travis was working your pussy with his mouth in ways you didn't think were possible. Your vision was beginning to blur and the sounds of your moans became distorted with the intensity of your climax.

You clenched your legs and curled your toes, desperately hanging onto the sensation when Travis looked up at you, his beard glistening, "Are you about to cum?"

You lifted your head, pushing your hair away from your face, "Yeah, of course I am if you keep doing that." You said, breahtlessly.

Travis crawled up your body, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "Oh no no, I want to feel you cum around my dick."

Your chest heaved with his words and you let out an involuntary whine. Travis grinned and wiped his mouth again before rolling onto his back and lifting your thigh over so that you were straddling him.

"I've dreamed about this so many times." He said, shaking his head.

You placed your hands on his solid, toned chest, looking down at someone who only that morning you had considered as an irritating friend of a friend. But now, here his was in-between your legs and you wanted him badly.

You leaned down, laying a passionate kiss on his lips, feeling the vibrations of a groan coming from him. You angled your hips and arched your back so that your pussy was hovering over his thick erection, the tip trailing over your entrance. As you pulled away from the kiss, you kept your face close to his, watching his mouth stay open, craving more. You sank down onto his cock, allowing him to fill you entirely. His eyes widened and his mouth opened even further as he felt your warm, wet pussy surround him. Once he was completely inside of you, Travis met your gaze and wrapped his arms around you, allowing you to adjust to his huge size. You weren't a virgin, but you rarely had time for dating or a sex life. You gasped as he bucked his hips forwards, pushing himself deeper.

He giggled slightly, "I'm sorry babygirl, I just can't help it."

Your pussy clenched at his new nickname for you. You moved closer to his ear, whispering, "So, you wanna go nice and slow or wild and fast?"

Travis smiled, repeating your words from earlier, "Wild and fast, for sure."

He grinned and tightened his grip on you, instantly beginning to thrust his hips upwards. You squealed as you gripped onto his arms, allowing yourself to completely relax and feel every inch of him driving into you. The tent was filled with the sounds of groans and slaps, sharps breaths interrupting every now and again. He released his grip on your waist to move one hand down to your ass and one hand into your hair, pulling slightly. You squeezed your eyes shut as you felt yourself come undone on top of him, your pussy releasing wetness with force.

You lifted your body upwards, shifting your hips so that Travis was hitting your g-spot. You began to bounce on his dick, your eyes rolling backwards with the pleasure. Travis gripped onto your hips and watched your second orgasm grow, your breasts jumping wildly.

Travis was in ecstasy with his view of you. He had deeply desired to have you in this state, riding his dick, crying out in euphoria. But now it was actually happening, it was better than he had ever expected. He dug his fingers into your hips as he became nearer to his orgasm and you sensed that he was close. You leaned forward and pressed your damp chest onto his, allowing you to speed up your bounces. Travis stuttered his breaths, responding to your fast movements and you occasionally ground down onto his dick, sending waves of exhilaration through your whole body. Travis released his grasp of your hips and held your face, kissing you until you felt his torso clench and his kisses become lazy and idle. You studied his face as his breathing became laboured and his face twisted with creased eyes. Your walls gripped around him and you whimpered as you rode another orgasm. Travis' body jerked as he spurted his cum into your aching and swollen pussy, a small amount seeping out of the sides and dripping down his sleek shaft. You laid on top of him for moment, feeling his dick pumping inside of you, the sensation making you sigh with satisfaction.

Travis inhaled sharply when you eventually moved your hips, "Oh man, my dick is so sensitive right now."

You smiled, pressing a gentle kiss onto his lips, "I'm sorry! But I can't stay here all night!" You gestured downwards, his length still inside of you.

Travis reciprocated a kiss, this time on your forehead and snaked his arms around you, embracing you with his large frame. He rolled you over onto your back and you reached for some napkins that you had packed. Travis took the napkins from your hand and smiled warmly down at you, carefully sliding his dick out of your pussy and cleaning his ejaculation from your skin. He watched as some of it oozed out of you and he could swear he felt a twitch in his cock. He wiped up the remainder and balled the napkin up, leaving it next to him to clear away later.

He slumped down on the sleeping bag next to you, positioning himself on his side. His fingers traced your skin, ending with them tucking a stray section of your hair behind your ear. You smiled, staring into his pale olive green eyes and shuffling closer to him.

You cleared your throat, "Well, I didn't think that was going to happen tonight."

The night was getting darker, judging by the gradual lack of light inside of the tent. Travis' face seemed to glow however, his eyes sparkling in the dusk evening.

"Me either." He smiled, "Just a suggestion, would you wanna do that...often?"

You lowered your eyebrows, "Like a friends with benefits kind of situation?"

"I don't know, I was thinking we could date?" He bit his bottom lip, "Would you want that...dating me?" He looked hopeful.

Your mouth pulled into a huge grin, "Are you kidding? Of course I would! I'd be dating the cutest guy in school." You wiggled your eyebrows and elevated your voice in jest.

Travis laughed and pulled you closer, "Alright, alright, cut it out. You're ruining the moment!"

You laid a string of kisses that went from his neck, across his jaw and onto his lips, "I would be honoured to date you Travis Kelce."

You both laid embracing each other in total contentment for a short moment before you felt your eyelids start to droop. A numb, tingling feeling washed over your body and you burrowed yourself further towards his chest. The last thing you felt before you drifted to sleep was Travis tightening his hold around you, just how you had imagined it earlier.

______________________________________________________________

The sound of a car engine stirred you in your sleep. Your eyelids flickered open and you turned your head next to you to see Travis, face down onto the pillow with his arm draped across you. You smiled lightly and closed your eyes again, listening as the car engine stopped and you heard the doors open and close.

"Are they both in the tent? Hayley's voice whispered.

Tom laughed quietly, "How am I supposed to know?"

You kept your eyes closed as the tent opened. There was a few seconds of silence before Tom spoke again.

"It worked! And also...you owe me 20 bucks."

______________________________________________________________

Well, I had fun there. There's something about college Travis that just gets me feeling something. I will finishing some more requests over the next couple of weeks so keep a look out for those and if you want to be added to my taglist for future writing, just let me know!

Taglist @rd14 @dandelionwrites8 @keiva1000 @fantasywritersstuff @caelipartem @anacarangel @she-lives-in-her-dreams @kkrenae @kristencochefski1125 @countrygirl120983 @killatravtramp @charmed2000 @nouis-bum @cixrosie @delicateearthquakellama @wordsaresimple-imnot @amylouwho9 @queenisa17 @talicat713 @luvvtrent @purecinnamonextract @savaneafricaine @caelipartem @beyxgrande @caitdaniels

[witch-oftheflowers]

Adoration- You're all I need✨

Ximena Riley x Simon 'Ghost' Riley

AN:🔞 This is the solo chapter for the baby series! So enjoy!! Plus I've never wrote smut so bare with me 🫠🥺

🔞MDNI 18+ under the cut too!✨

Masterlist

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"Have I tol' you how beautiful you are?" Simons voice was soft, filled with love in his tone. His large hands gaze over his wife's belly.

His brown eyes trailed over her changing body. Even the new stretch marks and those adorable dips in her hips.

He hover above her, his large hands rested side by side her head.

Laying under him, her lips a bit swollen from the heated make out session they had. Her brown eyes were hazed over.

Her lush brown locks were scattered underneath her. Her dainty hands resting on her covered large chest. A content hum escaped her.

Simons softly chuckled as he leaned down and gave her forehead a kiss.

"All because you looked so cute during our outin' little dove..? I need to take you out more than..." He teased her lightly as he remembered why they ended up in their hotel like this.

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

They got a weekend from the tots.

Johnny was now 5 months old. Anna was just a spitfire like always.

Ans they needed a break together.

So the pair for a hotel for the weekend.

They went on a date earlier that evening. Ximena was dressed in a cute comfortable outfit. Wearing one of his leather jackets that had puff around the collar. Her little white Vans to go with her neutral outfit. A simple maxi brown skirt, and a loose white tee. Her curls were pinned back so her bangs framed her round face perfectly.

Simon kept to his usual all black. A nice black compression shirt, his high rised black jeans. And his black combat boots. Along with his leather jacket.

He adored how she shined throughout the night. She glowed as they got street food. They shopped around a bit getting whatever she pleased. He spoiled her the whole night.

He did notice some younger woman checking him out. His brown eyes narrowed as he linked his arm around his short wife. Pulling her in as he was here for them.

And then he noticed the men.

Kinda ticked something in him. Jealousy? Noooo-

Why was that guy eyeing his wife?

Ximena noticed her husband hand getting tight around her. Her eyes looking around as she noticed the new pair of eyes on her. And she simply gave her husband a sweet kiss.

"Come on Si. We got more things to do-"

"No I got a better idea."

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

And here they were.

Ximena was fully bare now. Her neck was slowly but surely being litter with love bites. Soft grabs on her round stomach as Simon kept nipping her flesh around her collar bone.

"You're my wife..."

Her head rolled back. Her plush thighs pressed around his waist as she let him do as he pleased. Her softer submissive side peaking out.

How she adored him jealous

"No one.. and I mean no one.." Simon said as he locked at the new bite he left. Being tender to the now purple mark he left above her heart

"No one will get in me way..." He stated, his brown eyes linger to her face. His heart skipped a bit seeing her face met his

Her eyes were hooded, glazed over with love and lust. She was softly panting as she tried to stay patient.

"Amor... I need ya..." She whined the words out. Her dainty hands pulling him in as they shared a sweet soft kiss.

He never was rough, unless she asked. It was always tender, soft, just filled with love for the woman.

As their tongues danced together, his large hands roamed from her hips to her breast. Softly kneading them as he pulled those soft moans from her lips.

"There we go... Keep those sweet noises Xi..." He whispered as she let out breathless whines.

"Simon...~"

He shifted a bit as he rubbed his harden shaft against her folds. Feeling her drip with excitement

"I haven't done much mama..." He teased her lightly. Tapping his head against her swollen bud

"Negh... Oh shush..." She gave his waist a squeeze as she returned the playful act.

His eyes crinkled a bit as he was on his knees. He hiked her legs up and over his shoulders, and bent her knees into her stomach as he position himself. Letting her ankles tap his strong broad back.

Ximena felt her cheeks heat up as she felt very exposed..but damn her husband was too.

Seeing his large build. Her hands ran over his soft stomach. Feeling his strong muscle underneath. Her eyes were softer as she admired his own stretch marks. And up as she cleared little circles on his scars

Simon whimpers a bit as he felt her soft touch

"Xi... Don't tease..."

"Give me a second mi sol..." She stated, a bit demanding as she continued.

They were so close and she wanted to savor it.

Her hands grazed over his chest. It was like his body was a work of art to her. Even those soft freckles he got on his skin during the summer. He did tan like bronze...

Her hands wrapped around his large neck. Pulling him in soft a heated kiss. Her tongue fighting his for dominance, as she won. She heard soft whimpers escape his lips as he softly rut his hips against hers

"Please dove.. let me.." he beg as she smiled in their kiss.

"please?" She taunted as she kept him arches over her slightly. She felt the slight stretch in the position but she was willing to take that bit of pain

"Please..."

She rubbed her hips against his as a 'ok'

And he slowly slid in. Feeling her tight walls around his length. Her back arches off the mattress as she adjusted

"...so ..big ..." She whimpers. But he didn't stop, he knew his wife could handle it. Until he bottomed out, he let a breathy sigh out.

"So tight... So so good around me... Take me so good? I know I'm still to big after all these years huh?"

Ximena softly nods her head. She was tiny. His length was large, way above average. But his girth, whoo. She felt herself stretched around him every single time. And she loved it~

"Fuck me..."

Simon hesitated as he shut his eyes. Letting his forehead pressed against hers

"Are you sure?"

"I need you.. I need you..." She beg as she hadn't been touched in months. And the rush of her sexual frustrations were pulled forward.

"I'm not gonna be careful.."

"Don't be."

He ponder her words as he leaned back fully. Holding her hips firm as he slid out.

"You asked for it.."

He ram back in as she whined. Choking a moan back. He snickered at her response as he began a rough pace. He held her hips in place. Using his size to keep her legs up and apart. He felt the way her sweet cunt wrapped around him. Like it was missing his cock inside her

"Oh come on now... You asked for this?" He teased her as she was trying to stay quiet. He kept going as their skin made contact. The sound of them connecting filled the room.

The soft pants from him blended in. But her moans were coming out as she was taunting him

"Come on mama... make those sweet noises."

Using his thumb he rubbed her swollen bud. He started soft, but rubbed it like a joy con. And bingo

"Simmmon~" she whined his name out as her head was rolled back. Her eyes flutter shut.

"there we go... Was that hard?"

The hotel bed under them made squeaks and creaks. The headboard began to slam into the wall behind it.

Simon started to use his whole weight as he kept her legs apart. And ramming himself as deep he could. He adored the way her sweet cunt was making those lewd noises.

And her. He was lost in hearing her cry his name out. Her pornographic moans as he kept pounding into her.

"Aye fuck me! Fuck meee!"

"Yeah just like that? Come one mama take it like the sweet girl you are~"

He adjusted her legs one last time. He felt her walls clamping around him tight. His eyes sharpen as he noticed her hips meeting his thrust.

"Simmmonn I'ma cummm~" she spilled the words out as he smirked at her cry.

He shifted his angle a bit. Going deeper as he moaned dout in bliss.

"Come on... Come on.... Right on Mt cock..." He praised her softly as she whimpers. Feeling her body twitching and her intense climax as she whined out his name.

"Simon~"

He groaned at her cry. As he kept going. Feeling his own climax as he kept going. Picking up the speed as he was moaning out.

"Good girl... gonna take my cum? Gonna let me finish in you?"

She softly nods her head as she whines. Feeling overstimulated as he kept going.

"in me...in me!"

He continued to run her clit as he kept going. Feeling her squeeze him as he emptied his massive load. He panted and whimper out as he tried to keep himself above her.

He felt his hips rut into her still. Feeling the strong sensation as he emptied all he had. He fell into her soft chest and body as he sighs a bit.

His large arms wrapped around her plush waist as he stayey buried inside her

They took a second as they caught their breaths. Ximena let a shaky sigh out as she wrapped her arms around his head. Placing sweet and tender kisses to his head.

Simon shut his eyes a bit as he savored his wife's warmth.

"I missed you..."she whispered softly. Simon hums as he smiled

"Fiveonths without your sweet cunt dove... I missed this too and you..." He whispered as he smiled. Softly burying his face in between her massive breast. She let her thighs wrap around his waist as they savored the cuddle session.

And honestly they didn't leave their hotel room after..

They had five months of sex to make up anyways ~

[averyxvaughn]

Kept Promises // self para

They should have known better than thinking Max wasn't ten steps ahead of the game. Griffin explicitly told her to lay low, play the hidden ace up the twins' sleeves, but how was she to do that when she couldn't even protect Andre? Avery thought this the perfect opportunity proving herself worthy as a werewolf, capable of handling her own in a fight against another supernatural, and yet somehow, allowed one newborn vampire get the jump on her. She could just imagine the disappointed look in her father's eyes, her mother's dismayed head shake, knowing what a failure she was in her adolescent years, too young to handle the responsibility of one singular mission. A child's active imagination merely running rampant when she knew the reality of her parents. Of course, all of that would have come after giving her cousins a risen hell tongue lashing for involving her.

The sensation of a white-hot burning along her wrists sent Avery's head lulling forward, suddenly shaking the girl awake and pushing a slight gasp from her lips. The lapse of confusion disorientated her for a split second while mind caught up with the rest of her senses. One second, two seconds, breathe and focus, find an anchor. Her gaze landed upon her hands as she yanked as hard as she could, the source of the stinging coming from the silver chains binding her to the chair as if someone knew what they were doing. The work of a hunter if she hadn't known a fang banger wasn't behind it. Still, this place...didn't look like the diner. The room was replaced by floor to ceiling tiles, the kind of sterile stark white aligning more with the confines of a hospital, but instead of reclining beds and medical equipment, showerheads decorated the walls in a uniform straight line. Locker room showers, and from her best guess, the high school boys' to be more specific. She could taste the disgusting flavor of testosterone on her tongue from where she sat in the middle. "Am I in hell?"

"No," Max Lieberman stated, appearing through the entrance and leaning a hand against the frame as a smug expression slathered his features. He totted a gray school backpack, lazily hanging from one shoulder as if he had been on his merry way to class and chose to take a detour instead. Avery would have laughed at the sad notion that she could've been an afterthought had she not known it was well beyond regular school hours. "but you're about to be." She watched him walk further into the room, at least playing bright enough by stopping at a safe distance before he set down the bag. "Do you have any idea why you're here, Little Wolf?" Max folded his arms across his chest and sent Av's eyes rolling at the way he both attempted and failed at bulking out his biceps. As if he didn't scream arrogant vanity already, god, she hated this fucker.

Avery mockingly cocked her head to the side in contemplation, avoiding moving her arms and pulling on the binds, "Let's see, and correct me if I'm wrong," She added as a sidenote. "I'm here because my cousin had the foresight to know what a piece of shit you really are." Calliope turned him down on multiple occasions, Av knew she tried her best being polite about it, but manners should have flown through the window when Max refused to take her rejections with nobility. However, he persisted and broke the law in the process. Pursuing Calli is one situation, roping in a vampire to turn him was a new low. "If you didn't get the hint the whole stalker vibe is a major turn off for her, then you're real fucking stupid."

"You're here," Max ignored the blonde's last insult, bending down to unzip the backpack and taking a moment rifling through in search of what he was looking for. Two textbooks accidentally slid from the bag, causing Avery to experience the irony that any amount of torture he might inflict would have been tainted by something as innocent as Max's science or calculus book. It became a reminder that vampire or no, he was still a high schooler. Besides, the fact he was even smart enough to take the higher level classes shown he likely compelled his way to the top in order to make himself look better. "Because all Calliope had to do was say yes. And all the fire fucker had to do was back the hell off." Max removed what appeared to be a collar with a rectangular black box attached to the front and a remote from the bookbag, "What did they do instead?" Av's gaze followed him as he moved around the chair and stood behind her, wasting no time fastening the collar around her neck before she realized exactly what it was. The remote should have been a dead giveaway. "You conspire to throw my head at the council's feet. Did they really think I wouldn't know about you, Avery?" Max made his way back around the chair and raised the remote control in his palm, "Whatever, bad dogs get punished."

"Did you really think poking and prodding Griffin at the school dance would've sent him on a rampage? Unlike your impulsive psychopathic ass, he has some self-control." Avery thought for a split second this was a bluff, a scare tactic, as the vampire fiddled with the buttons. He wouldn't seriously torture a little girl, right? Going after the niece of a coven leader, the daughter of a well-trained human and a respected pack advisor, racked up an automatic list of enemies who would tear Max at the seams where he stood for even touching her. And there was Griffin, showing an extreme protectiveness over family and waiting until the asshat bothering his sister received his just desserts from the council. No one hurt Avery and lived. Any shred of doubt disappeared the second Max pressed the button, sending an electric current jolting through Av's body and forcing her back to arch, pushing a groan of pain from her lips. The shock lasted a few seconds, unlikely on the higher setting, but to her, it felt like an hour. "Seriously?" She breathed, obviously winded, but too stubborn to show it. "Yep, Calli will definitely want to screw you now."

"Open your eyes, mutt, you're not understanding the position you're in. This isn't about getting Calliope to fuck me anymore." Max tapped the menu icon button, growing distracted by adjusting the settings. The previous voltage wasn't enough to ignite a lightbulb barely, if he wanted results, it was the only way proving his point by increasing the shocks. "It's about revenge. I wasted years of my life, years, clamoring after that girl. I offered her gifts, favors, slapped on the charm and tried being a goddamn gentleman, and where did that get me? Constant dismissal at every turn. I've twisted my whole world upside down, hell, I've fucking changed my species for her and she's still a cock tease." A scoff escaped from his mouth, head shaking, "And don't get me started on Griffin. Is it really that hard to blow a gasket and almost torch a gymnasium with witnesses? Obviously, that plan failed, but I had a new one."

Max provided no time giving her a chance to offer any sarcastic response that would've cascaded from the girl before his thumb slammed on the button gleefully, sending a maximum electric charge pumping every inch of her muscles from head to toe. It was unlike any sensation she experienced before and she couldn't conceal the pain this time. Mixed signals began misfiring in Avery's brain, shooting spasms in all directions, and sending her whole body into agonizing convulsions. Head tossing back, sharp points jabbed at her bottom lip as her fangs unsheathed before her eyes cracked open, revealing the glowing golden irises. The screams tumbling out of Av's mouth reverberated along the tiled shower walls and, for a second, she was close to blacking out completely. In that moment, despite refusals giving this fuckface satisfaction, all she wanted to do was beg for him to stop. All she needed were her parents, comforting her, telling her everything was going to be okay. Just as the wolf's vision started growing spotty, Max released his hold on the button. Avery slumped in her seat with exhaustion, barely grappling on the strength keeping consciousness.

The vampire casually strolled over and stood in front of Av, tangling his fingers within the girl's hair and yanking her head up so they were staring eye-to-eye. "He wasn't going out with some dignity, pooch, and that's a sure fire way to piss me off, let me tell you. Didn't bank on your cousin keeping his cool, so I had to do a little improvising." His fingernails scraped Avery's scalp as the grip further tightened. Max didn't mind playing the role of villain, monologuing and laying out the plan when he held the upper advantage anyway. The twins would soon know what became of the little pup they held dear. "Andre was a big help, by the way. I had him pretty much compelled from the jump to keep me updated whenever your cousins popped into the diner." He hummed, "And just when I thought I lost a bit of hope, who should he whisper in my ear about but you, Avvie Av. If there was anyone who'd be the perfect weak spot for Cal and Griff, it's you. Sure, you're young, dumb, reckless, but you're family." Max inspected her face with a smirk, absorbing the way the wolf's half-lidded eyes fluttered and how the vein in her neck pulsed as an enticing call. "I'm going to make them watch as they lose everything, starting with you."

Avery could barely concentrate on the jock's lengthy spiel, feeling the absence of altogether straight up laughing in his face for the ridiculousness he portrayed. Yet, she also felt the shame creeping along her spine that neither she nor her cousins could have made any prediction of how far ahead in the game Max was. The scheming, the lying and manipulation, her role as a secret weapon failed spectacularly. He isn't the clueless quarterback Griffin and Calli initially thought had been put on display in order to fool the town, her predicament shone as a glowing example for this as truth. Make a psychopath a vampire and he possesses the power to bring the humans to their knees.

"Good to know you're one of the idiots that think anger's his only personality trait." She mumbled, the low volume forcing Max to lean in that much closer even though his hearing was near impeccable. "When Griffin finds out what you did, I'll die happy knowing he made good on his promise hunting you for sport, Maxie Poo." Avery's lips stretched in a wide, crazed grin that was equal parts Collins as it was an expression she witnessed on her cousin a small handful of occasions. "They're not the ones losing, you pussy assed bitch...you are." She stole the advantage of their proximity and reared her head back, sending it flying forward and connecting their skulls together as hard as she could, the force sending Max stumbling backwards. Avery's vision grew blotched with dark spots again, but it was worth the price as the vampire roared in agitated pain.

"You little brat!" Max pressed a palm to his temple and ignored the irritating pounding spreading through his head as he turned on a heel after regaining his balance, returning to the backpack with hostile intention. "Mark my fucking words," The vampire hissed vehemently as he removed a labeless plastic water bottle from one of the pockets before giving it a hearty shake. Avery's muscles suddenly tensed the moment she saw the purple tint swirling, knowing immediately what it was. Wolfsbane, toxic to her species, a weakening agent. Honestly, she would rather take the shock collar. "I'm not stopping at the twins. I'll destroy any last shred of surviving Killgrove their parents have left and give the council every reason to hunt their asses down." Av began shaking her head frantically as Max unscrewed the cap before stalking over to the wolf, the vampire clearly relishing the panic crossing her expression. "And then when their bodies haven't even grown cold," Max shot out a hand and gripped Avery's chin between his fingers tightly, forcing her mouth open, "You'll be scraping what's left of your parents from the fucking pavement."

Before Avery could jump the defensive, break his wrist in half, anything, a blistering heat instantaneously unfurled within the confines of her mouth as Max unceremoniously poured a substantial helping of the toxin in and snapped her jaw closed so she could experience the full effects without feeling tempted to spit it out. She struggled, sending the liquid from the bottle spilling in every direction nonetheless before what felt like the flesh of her tongue began singeing away. Avery couldn't tell what was the wolfsbane and what was the irony tinge mixing with what remained of the first layer coating her mouth. The path continued down her throat, however, causing the wolf to choke on a combination of what she was force fed and her own blood. It was only when Max released his hold and took a step back did her body do the one thing it could when needing to rid itself of poison, producing a coughing fit that involuntarily expelled the plant from the girl's lips. She spent the long minute retching and dry heaving before croaking out, "You psychopath." No amount of hatred could fully encapsulate how much she needed to watch him die slowly, painfully, until he begged for mercy.

"Yeah, so what, fuck nugget?" Max replaced the lid on the bottle and threw it back in the backpack, unzipping the side pocket and removing a syringe filled to the brim with the same venom she was given a taste of. From his researching and general asking around, wolfsbane stung like a bitch when ingested, but it could knock out two full grown werewolves when injected. He would need her sedated for the next segment of his plan, as weakened as Avery was already, Max preferred dragging her back to her cousins not kicking and screaming. "I'm so looking forward to rubbing the state of you in their faces." For the second time that night, the corners of Av's lips stretched across her face, smearing the blood still present in the wolf's mouth over the whites of her teeth. The action was unsettling, enough that it caught Max Lieberman off-guard. "What?" He boomed.

Avery turned her head, spitting to the side briefly and then focusing her gaze on a man who would no longer survive the week as far as she knew. "You don't have any idea the war you just started, Maxi Pad, but I promise...Griffin will finish it. I can't wait to watch a vampire get roasted alive like a fucking marshmallow." If it wasn't Griffin or even the council, her parents would guarantee an execution worthy of a monstrous bloodsucker who dared lay a finger on their daughter. Avery had proposed ripping Max limb from limb, well, it looks as if she'll receive her granted wish. No one would pray for this asshole after he was gone, no one mourning his loss. Anyone who raises a son with murderous tendencies maybe deserved the same fate. "They'll be scraping what's left of you from the fucking pavement." Avery slammed Max's previous words back in his face with the level of sass and arrogance her mother might applaud.

Max used his thumb to flick off the cap of the needle with an impatient growl, "It's time to shut the fuck up now, you stupid brat. Jesus, you're more talkative than my mother four beers in." He stepped around and stood behind Avery, learning his lesson the first time by avoiding any possibility of physical contact from the front. Av knew what was coming before he jabbed her in the side of the neck, his finger pushing down on the plunger and littering her veins with the wolfsbane-tinted sedative. Her head slowly dropped, fighting hard against the sleep as she always had when she was younger. "Nighty night, Little Wolf." Max's voice sounded from a great distance, the words drifting through in a desolate echo, and pulling Avery further and further from consciousness. She felt herself beginning to float weightlessly, just enough that it almost seemed peaceful.

It was a world where the pain went away. No Maxwell Lieberman plaguing her nightmares, no shock collars or torture sessions, no councils dictating her home. Bliss, a heavenly paradise. But even in this world Avery knew she would crash and fall with flames when reality set back in. Her life was hanging by a thread at Max's mercy, who pulled the strings and played with literal fire for his amusement. She could either face the destruction or run.

Avery had an execution to attend when she awoke, there is nothing on earth that would ever stop her from being the first in line to see Max fucking Lieberman's head roll. That is an unbroken promise.

[passivenovember]

As soon as work calms down y’all will have to chase me away with a broom.

Until then, here’s a snippet of the next chapter of If Snow Loves the Trees and Fields.

—

The guy who opens the door is taller than anyone that skinny should be, and Billy has to jack his head back to see that, like, way up into the stratosphere and past the cartoon birds and the cotton candy marjuana clouds, the guy is scowling.

Billy steels his jaw. Dips his voice in honey and sugar cubes before asking, “Is Steve home?”

And.

The guy’s scowl only deepens. His red-rimmed eyes scan the full length of Billy’s body, clocking the dorky starched press of the shirt Steve picked out for him, and the polished dress shoes his mom sent from the JCPenny back home, and, finally–the casserole dish that’s gone foggy with sweat.

“Is that a casserole?” The guy asks.

Billy looks at the milky saran-wrap topper.

“Did you make it yourself?”

“Uh–”

“Is it a family recipe?”

“Yeah,” Billy says, a little defensive. “It’s my mom’s.”

The guy narrows his eyes. They’re so red, like white-hot lightbulbs left out in the sun, and Billy wonders how they don’t burn. Itch. The guy clicks his tongue, eyebrows pulled together like he’s gotta ramp up to make sense of it all. A lawnmower refusing to start.

“Thought your mom lived in California, or something,” He says.

Billy shifts in his ugly dress shoes. Tries to swallow the heavy, whole realization that this scarecrow knows who Billy is. Realizes to whom he’s delivering the third degree.

“Yeah, she. She keeps all of ‘em folded in this little wooden box back home,” Billy hears himself say. “Whenever I need one–”

“What, does she mail it to you?”

“No, there’s. The internet, you know? Facetime. Email, if I need specifics.”

Somewhere, past the lanky guy and the warm, amber glow of the foyer, Steve laughs.

And Billy doesn’t want to get dramatic about the whole thing, but the summerwarmed church bell timber of that man. That laugh. Sends relief plummeting down his spine. Rolling like waves of spring showers into the gutter.

Billy strains, trying to see around the asshole who won’t let him into the house, but the guy gets in front of him, a little. Unintentionally. Leans against the door jam, arms folded casually across his bird-cage chest. “What kinda casserole is it?”

Billy frowns. “Tater-tot.”

“Tater-tot?” The Scarecrow repeats, his nose scrunching with annoyance.

Billy freezes in place. Steels his jaw again, ready for a fight.

“Is that cool with you, or–” He demands, not really caring either way, but of course, the guy grunts, like it’s obvious what the answer is. Billy taps his foot, “Steve didn’t mention any dietary restrictions. Can you eat it?”

“Yeah, I could. Don’t really want to, though,” The guy says.

Billy falters, suddenly noting the splinters in his self-esteem. He stares at the casserole dish, face warm. “I like tater-tot casserole. It’s a universally known fact, I thought. Midwestern folk like tater-tot casserole, y’know?”

“Yeah?” Scarecrow says, pushing off the jam. “Well not this Midwestern folk.”

The casserole dish groans in Billy’s vice grip, and it feels like he’s swallowed an iron. This evening, so far, has been a fucking shit show. Billy hates this. Hates the Scarecrow. Hates himself.

It was so stupid to believe, even for a second, that he could make a good impression. That he could meld with Steve’s friends.

This was a terrible idea, this was so dumb—

“California?”

Billy jerks toward the sound of Robin’s voice, nearly collapsing in relief when she floats into view wearing a party hat and heart-shaped sunglasses, looking every bit like a lighthouse in the storm.

Robin falters. Must see something on his face because she sighs and turns on Scarecrow, says, “Beat it, Michael.” With all the venom of someone who’s performing an exorcism. A holy force that’s had to do it before and knew it would need done again.

The Scarecrow, Michael, jabs a thumb over his shoulder at Billy. All, “Can you believe this guy?”

Billy wants to go home.

Robin takes her sunglasses off, clearly annoyed, “No, I didn’t at first. But he grows on you,” Robin leans around Michael, looking Billy up and down. “He’s kind of a miracle, don’t you think?”

“I–”

“Don’t worry, Mike, by the end of the evening you’ll be a believer.” Robin puts her sunglasses on. “Now hit the road, squirt. They’re loading another bowl in there.”

Mike turns to Billy. “Nice meeting you,” He says, like. “Duty calls.”

And then he’s gone.

[amanda-teaches]

Our Christmas Mission ~ 5/9

Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight

Summary: With Sam stationed overseas, he asks his brother, Dean, to help plan a surprise Christmas proposal for his girlfriend, and your best friend, Eileen. With very limited Christmas experience, Dean enlists your help to create some holiday magic for the lovebirds. Will the two of you find a little love of your own along the way?

Pairing: AU Dean x Reader

Square filled: The Santa Clause for @spnchristmasbingo​

Word Count: 945

Warnings: Mentions of angst and parent death.

A/N: Anyone else reading the titles getting “The Christmas Song” stuck in their heads? Just me? ... This one really gets me in my childhood feels with one of my FAVORITE MOVIES.

Our Christmas Mission Masterlist

Once the apartment was all decked out in festive splendor, and the cookies were half eaten back in the kitchen, the three of you collapsed onto the sofa, aiming to wrap the night up with a lighthearted Christmas movie. 

Eileen left the choice of movie up to you, so you picked your favorite from when you were growing up- The Santa Clause. You all watched in comfortable silence until about 40 minutes in, when Eileen’s phone started vibrating next to you. She paused the movie when she felt the vibration, reaching down to answer it. As soon as she did, Sam’s face popped up on the screen, and you smiled in response.

“Sam!” she cried, her voice raising a few octaves in pure excitement. “You weren’t supposed to call until tomorrow!”

Sam beamed at her, the flash of his uniform from the bottom of the screen a signal that he’d just gotten off duty. “We got back early, and you were the first face I wanted to see after this crazy week.”

“Wow, Sammy, I’m hurt,” Dean pouted, poking his head into frame. You could tell by his tone of voice he was doing it lightheartedly, and it seemed like Sam could tell too, because he just playfully rolled his eyes.

Eileen looked over at you, holding up the phone. “I’ll be right back?”

“Take your time,” you reassured her as she moved towards her bedroom, her animated conversation fading with each step she took away from you.

Her departure left you and Dean alone, and a sudden pit in your stomach. Even though you were on opposite sides of the couch, you suddenly felt entirely too awkward and nervous without Eileen as a buffer, no idea of what you should say or do around him now.

“So I don’t get it.”

“Wait, what?” you asked, looking over at Dean, befuddlement quickly replacing your anxiety. You hadn’t expected him to say that. “You don’t get what?”

He shifted towards you, folding one leg up onto the couch so he could face you. “Dude kills Santa, right? Oh, sorry, ‘accidentally’ killed him. “Yeah right,” he scoffed, making you grin. “But THEN dude takes Santa’s literal sleigh and sees this whole amazing magical place with sassy reindeer and a personal hot chocolate elf, and he just…denies it all happened? What’s up with that?”

You’d assumed he was joking when he first started talking, but the incredibly determined look on his face said something different, so you gave him a serious answer. “Okay, well, he’s fighting the truth because it seems so unbelievable. He never thought the North Pole was real.”

“But Charlie saw it too! They couldn’t have the exact same dream. Plus, plus!” he yelled, growing spirited. “He had the freakin’ pajamas!”

Your lips quirked further upward watching him, and you had to suppress a laugh at how adorable he was being. “You’ve really never even heard of this movie?”

Dean shrugged, scooting onto Eileen’s cushion so he was closer to you. “I told you, we didn’t really do Christmas growing up. My mom died when I was four and my dad moved us around a lot. He was a Marine.” His face darkened slightly at the memory. “We weren’t really ever in a place long enough to put down roots, especially for Christmas.” His voice trailed off until he looked into your eyes, refocusing his full attention on you. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

He smiled at you, his face looking so soft and inviting in the low light. It almost took your breath away, but you were startled back into the conversation when he posed his question again. “What were your Christmases like as a kid?”

He was an enigma to you. He seemed to hold himself at arm’s length, but then he opened up to you so easily sometimes. It showed a surprisingly vulnerable side of him that you knew must’ve been hard for him to share. You had to give that vulnerability back. “They were pretty picture perfect when I was younger. My parents did all the traditional things, letters to Santa, stockings by the tree. We even left carrots out for the reindeer.”

Dean smiled every time you laughed, putting his arm up on the back of the couch and leaning into you as you shared. You shifted towards him too, crossing your legs under you. “I remember lying awake on Christmas Eve so excited I could barely sleep. You know, eyes all aglow for Santa and all that. The whole experience felt like magic, especially with my dad. He would ring bells like the reindeer were landing and everything, and I used to spy to see if I could catch them, even though I never could.” Your voice stalled, the memories shifting from happiness to sadness. “They died in a car crash when I was 13.”

Dean grimaced, surprise and sympathy chasing away his smile. “Damn, Y/N, I’m so sorry.”

You shook your head. “It’s okay. My grandma tried to keep the magic alive after, but it was never really the same. And then when she died a few years ago...I guess I just try to do Christmas big in memory of them.” An idea popped into your mind then, and you paused. “Wait, memories…”

Dean stared at you, his eyes holding yours in question. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” you breathed out, straightening up and grabbing his arm. “Memories! That’s it, Dean. My best memories of my parents are the simple things they did for me, not the big extravagant gestures. That’s exactly what we need! That’s the key to this whole proposal. We need to go simple.”

[tricksters-captain]

Benedict Bridgerton / Anthony Bridgerton Imagines - Best Man Wins Part 3

AN: Here’s part 3! A little bit of a filler chapter but I promise things will start to pick up quickly!

(🎶🎶🎶) = Link to song

Overall Summary:  Entering a society you thought you had left behind, you find yourself in a tricky triangle with two gentleman you never thought you’d fall for.

This Chapter: A sibling rivalry like no other. 

(PART 1) // (PART 2)

Pairing(s): Anthony Bridgerton x fem!Reader, Benedict Bridgerton x fem!Reader

Word Count: 3,169

Warnings: None

Anthony reentered the Bridgerton house to see Benedict sat on the settee with Eloise and Francesca munching on some chocolates that Francesca had received as a gift that morning. 

“Benedict, may I have a word?” Anthony asked, pulling off his gloves as he entered the drawing room. 

“Go ahead, Brother.” Benedict said through a mouthful of chocolate. 

“Privately.” Anthony shot a look at his sisters to which neither moved. 

Benedict sighed as everyone in the family knew of the girls stubbornness and so he left the room with Anthony.

They entered Anthony’s study where Benedict sat down in the corner on a comfy chair and Anthony leant against his desk.

“What is it, Brother?” Benedict asked, popping a chocolate he had brought with him in his mouth. 

“What are your intentions with (Y/n) (Y/l/n)?” Anthony asked with complete seriousness. 

Benedict chuckled lightly as he leant forward. 

“What ever do you mean, Brother?” Benedict pondered. 

“I know you paid her a call today. And you danced with her last night.” Anthony informed his younger brother. 

“So?” Benedict couldn’t understand why his brother was being so serious. 

“Do you wish to marry this girl?” Anthony asked the same question as his mother had to him. 

“Anthony. She’s a beautiful woman. The most beautiful I’ve seen in a very long time. If I wish to spend time with her, it doesn’t mean I wish to marry her. Why are you so curious about this one? I’ve danced with many other girls before.” Benedict had an idea. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that Anthony had paid (Y/n) a visit too that day. 

“You haven’t sent flowers to a girl before.” Anthony stated. Which was the truth, none of them had. 

“Neither have you, Brother.” Benedict retorted. 

“Seems we have a situation here.” Anthony folded his arms across his chest. 

“Seems we do.” Benedict rose to his feet and mimicked his older brother. 

“I say...” Anthony sighs. “...We both can spend time with Miss (Y/l/n) if we wish and if anything comes of it then we shall see just which brother she prefers.” 

Benedict could see the mischievous glint in his brother’s eye. 

“But we do not let this get in the way of the family. If this spirals out of our control and comes between us then we both agree to leave the girl alone?” Anthony added. 

“Agreed.” Benedict held out his hand and the brothers shook on it. 

Surely this was just harmless courting... there wasn’t any wedding bells ringing just yet...

After a long day of suitors, you decided to flop on the settee with your book and curl up comfortably, munching on some of the treats that were brought to you today. 

“Oh sit up, (Y/n).” Your mother chided you as she went to leave the room. “It’s  unladylike.”

“There are currently no men in this house. I may sit how I please.” You argued as you popped another macaroon into your mouth just to irritate her. 

“Stop eating all those sweets too! We have another event to attend tomorrow night and you don’t want me instructing the tightening of your corset if you are bloated because of it.” Your mother called back before disappearing into the house. 

You groaned and pushed the pack away, taking only one extra. 

You felt the sun through the window find it’s way to your face, warming you. It truly was a lovely day outside and you had been stuck indoors the entire time. 

“Lottie!” You called out as you pushed yourself to your feet. 

“Yes Miss.” She appeared quickly as she flattened her skirt. 

“I shall like to take a stroll.” You announced, putting down the book that you had failed to read all day 

“I shall fetch your coat and cap, miss.” Lottie rushed out into the hall to which you followed. 

You tied your cap to your head and Lottie helped you with your coat before you left the house. 

You walked in silence, raising your head slightly to feel the sun as Lottie followed a short distance behind you. 

“Miss (Y/l/n)!” A girls voice cried out. 

You looked across the street towards the park where you spotted two young girls heading towards you. 

You recognised the both of them from the night before. One had the familiar chestnut hair of the Bridgerton family and the other a rather bright red head of hair. 

“I don’t know if you remember me, Miss (Y/l/n) but I’m Penelope Featherington.” Penelope lowered her head as she greeted you with a bright smile. 

“Of course I remember you, Miss Featherington.” You had some recollection of an orange haired tot. 

“Please call me Penelope.” Penelope insisted. 

“And you must call me Eloise. I remember how kind you used to be offering for me to play with you and Daphne when all I wanted to do was play with Colin and the boys.” Eloise greeted you with the same enthusiasm. 

“It’s pleasure to see you again, Eloise. And I must extend the same invitation, you both must call me (Y/n).” You were thankful for their warm welcome. Before this social season you were terrified no one would wish to speak to you after your fathers scandal. 

“You simply must promenade with us!” Eloise took hold of your arm as she guided you towards the park.

“How is your brother Colin? I remember how he used to pull Daphne’s hair and make her scream for your mother.” You couldn’t help but giggle at your childhood memories. 

“He is off seeing the world. He left after the last season and only seems to come back for a handful of weeks at a time.” Eloise explained. He had always been the naughtiest of the Bridgeton siblings yet the one who seemingly could always get away with murder. 

“And your sisters, Penelope?” You queried. 

“Still unmarried despite Mother’s attempts to sell them to then men of the ton.” Penelope mumbled to your enjoyment. 

The three of you laughed together as you walked through the park. 

“Mother has not stopped talking about you since she saw you last night. I believe she’s already written Daphne three letters insisting they come down to London earlier than they had planned.” Eloise told you as she squeezed your arm. 

“Oh goodness. I hope Daphne doesn’t trouble herself and rush down just to see me. We haven’t seen each other in lord knows how long.” You shook your head at Violet’s attempt to rekindle old relationships.

“11 years to be exact.” Eloise spoke up. You furrowed your eyebrows at her in curiosity and amusement. 

“Lady Whistledown.” Penelope explained for her. 

“That woman really does know everything, doesn’t she?” You chuckled. 

“Incredible woman, I think. I’ve searched for her but my efforts have resulted in nothing so far.” Eloise pouted at the idea she hasn’t been the genius to unmask the anonymous writer. 

You felt yourself shiver slightly as the wind blew past the three of you. The clouds had made the sky overcast and the wind had picked up sending through a chill. 

“You must come back with me and Penelope and have some tea to warm up. You can’t walk all the way back to your house in this cold. You can borrow one of our carriages.” Eloise took notice of your shudder and you couldn’t refuse in a polite way as she was right and so you found yourself at the Bridgerton house front door. 

“Mama! I have a guest!” Eloise announced loudly in the house which made you laugh again. Eloise hadn’t become any more ladylike than she had been as a toddler. 

“Eloise, you mustn't shout.” Violet had begun to scold Eloise as she exited the drawing room but her face lit up at the sight of you. 

“Miss (Y/l/n)!” Violet’s face shone as she announced your name. 

“Please, Lady Bridgeton, call me (Y/n).” You squeezed her hands as she took hold of your own. 

“(Y/n), I believe I told you to call me Violet.” She gave you a jesting warning stare and you nodded with a smile. 

“Violet.” You started. “I’m sorry to arrive unannounced, I bumped into Eloise and Penelope in the park and Eloise insisted I come back to warm up.” 

“No worries, my dear! No worries at all! I’ll have a fresh pot of tea brought up with some cakes and biscuits.” Violet guided you all into the drawing room to which you spotted Francesca playing the pianoforte. 

“(Y/n)!” Francesca paused her playing to greet you. 

“Oh my goodness. I thought Eloise had grown so much. Now look at you!” You gushed over the beautiful girl. “Both of you have blossomed into such beautiful women.”

“Thank you.” Francesca smiled warmly at you. “But I am not the seasons incomparable, that is you.” 

“As Whistledown writes.” You mutter. 

“As the reaction from the ton’s men last night proclaimed.” Eloise laughed along with her sister. 

“Still, I gather you’ve been busy today with callers.” You gestured to the flower displays around the room.

“Not as busy as your residence. I hear every man in the ton went to call on you today.” Francesca brushed off her own accomplishments. 

“I bet it’s exhausting. Constantly, ‘hello, oh yes thank you for the flowers that will die in a couple of weeks if not days, goodbye, hello, oh yes thank you, goodbye, oh hello, another man coming with the intention to enslave me as his wife’...” Eloise mocked the gentleman which made you burst out in laughter that you could not contain. 

“I’m glad to know you find my sister as amusing as she finds herself.” Anthony’s voice seemed to come from nowhere. 

You spun around to see him stood in the doorway. Just as handsome as he was earlier that day. 

“Lord Bridgerton.” You bowed your head in greeting to which he replied with the same.

“I was just coming to find my mother.” Anthony told you. “But I am glad to have found you instead.”

“Are you saying you’d rather see someone more than your dear mother?” Violet came up behind Anthony with a maid holding a tray of tea beside her. 

“There are very few people I’d rather see than you, Mother.” Anthony tried to charm his mother but she only responded with a ‘hmmmm’. 

You couldn’t help but smile at the exchange. 

The maid placed the tray down and Violet began to pour cups of tea.

“Tea, Anthony?” She asked her eldest who had been watching you as you sat down on the settee beside Eloise and Penelope.

“Just a small cup, please, Mother. I had intended to go to the club shortly.” Anthony sat himself down on the opposite settee, his attentions never leaving you.

You glanced towards the man and felt your cheeks flush slightly at his bold stare. 

 “Where has Benedict got too?” Eloise questioned her older brother. 

“I believe he is in the back garden getting some air.” Anthony responded, finally letting his attention move from you over to his sister. 

“It was lovely all day until just now, the clouds covering the sun suddenly made the temperature drop.” You spoke up as you took your tea from Violet. 

“It has been one of our colder starts to the season.” Violet sighed. 

“I don’t mind it being colder than usual. Saves me from sweating through my ridiculous dresses.” Eloise stated which earned a disapproving look from her mother.

“Eloise!” Violet scolded her quietly. 

“It’s quite alright. I must agree that conditions can become quite unpleasant in the summer when we are expected to look our best.” You were on Eloise’s side. It had been terrible working hot summer days in the thick second hand dresses you often wore as a lady’s companion. 

“I bet summer by the sea was enjoyable these past few years however?” Anthony asked as if he had read your mind. 

“Indeed. We were very fortunate.” You didn’t want to expand on the matter as your mother had warned you about speaking of your previous life before society. 

“What did you do all these years out in the country?” Eloise pressed but fortunately Violet cut in. 

“Eloise enough! (Y/n) has not been here five minutes, she does not need your interrogation.” Violet quietened Eloise to which you were grateful. 

You sent her a subtle smile which Anthony didn’t miss. 

He had too wondered what your life had been like after your father’s scandal but he knew it wasn’t his place to ask... yet. 

“I hear from Eloise that you sent Daphne news of my arrival?” You were the one to initiate change of topic. 

“Oh yes! Daphne has written back and has expressed just how terribly excited she is to see you again, Dear.” Violet smiled widely as she thought on the letter. 

“I can’t imagine just how beautiful she must be now after seeing Eloise and Francesca so grown.” You were excited to see your old playmate but you also felt nervous. Daphne had always been the pretty one, the clever one out of the two of you. After seeing the other Bridgerton daughters, you couldn’t even begin to picture what Daphne looked like now. 

“She was named her season’s incomparable, however, I fear that may not have been true if you had returned earlier.” Anthony placed his cup down and smirked mischievously at you. 

“It is a good thing that (Y/n) returned this year instead then.” Violet sent Anthony a sideways glance.

“Mother, may I steal our guest away for a tour of the house since she has not visited in such a long while?” Anthony had a playful look in his eyes which his mother never failed to notice. 

“If (Y/n) agrees to it.” Violet looked towards you. 

“That would be lovely. I was only just gushing over the wisteria from the house in Benedict’s bouquet earlier today.” You suddenly regretted your choice of words as you said them. It was awkward enough for you to have received flowers from both brothers only for you to mention it in front of everyone. 

“I assured Benedict you’d like them.” Violet only smiled warmly as Fran and Eloise shared a look. 

Anthony rose to his feet and offered you his arm. 

He lead you from the drawing you and began his tour.

“I must admit I didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon.” Anthony smirked as you walked alongside him. 

“I simply ran into Eloise and Penelope in the park and Eloise insisted I visit and use one of your carriages to travel home.” You explained again even though you had mentioned it earlier. “If that’s still alright, of course.”

“I insist. The walk to your residence may not be very long but in the wind it can be disagreeable.” Anthony looked straight ahead as he spoke which allowed you a closer view at his side profile. He had a strong jaw and the curve of his lips was enhanced by the light from the window ahead which made you nibble down on your own. It was almost enough to make you forget it was rude to stare.

“I feel I must apologise for my intrusion. You had told your mother you were meant to be heading for the gentleman’s club. I fear I am keeping you.” You tried to keep from a silence falling between you two. 

“Believe me, Miss (Y/l/n), there is nothing I would rather be doing than this right at this moment.” Anthony glanced down at you with honest eyes. It caused your chest to tighten. 

“I must admit I find that hard to believe.” You tried to hide your smile as you tested the man. 

“Is that so?” Anthony cocked his eyebrow at you. “And what do you suppose I would find more interesting than spending this time with you?” 

“Oh boyish things I suppose. Watching boxing, gambling, visiting the theatre after hours.” You smiled as you listed off the events on your fingers. 

“Are you insinuating I visit the theatre’s after hours? I thought we had already discussed these matters earlier, Miss (Y/l/n)?” Anthony feigned hurt as he spoke. 

“Discussed? No. I’d say we approached the topic of your rakish reputation before my mother interrupted and you fled the house.” You were having too much fun with this. 

“Fled? Now that is where I have to disagree. I would never flee anywhere.” Anthony continued walking you through the house as you conversed. 

You spotted from a distance, the backdoor of the house was ajar and through the window you could see Benedict sat in the garden with a book and a pencil. 

Was Benedict an artist?

As you grew closer to the backdoor you suddenly felt a nervosa rise in your stomach. You didn’t think you were quite ready to speak to both Anthony and Benedict alone. 

“Do you suppose we should return to the drawing room before Eloise starts conspiring where we have gotten too?” You stopped in your step to try and turn both you and Anthony around. 

“You’re right. I don’t doubt she has already been gossiping with miss Featherington about our whereabouts.” Anthony turned on his heels and you both started back to the drawing room. 

“Will I be expecting to see you at the Helliwell’s ball the day after the next?” Anthony asked as you drew closer to company once again. 

“Yes. My Mama has already accepted the invitation so we will be attending.” You informed him. 

“Well, until then, Miss (Y/l/n).” Anthony stopped just before you reached the door to the drawing room and faced you. He pressed a light kiss to your knuckles and hovered your hand before his lips. “I must be off to the club now but I will send a carriage for you before I go.”  

“Thank you, Lord Bridgerton.” You nodded your head politely. 

“Please, it’s Anthony.” Anthony smirked at you, refraining from sending you a wink as he backed away. 

“Is that Anthony off, dearest?” Violet asked as you reentered the drawing room. 

“Yes.” You nodded. “Which does remind me that I must be off home before my mother worries I've been gone too long.” 

“Well, it’s been lovely seeing you, Dear.” Violet rose from her seat and embraced you warmly. 

“Thank you for having me.” You hugged her back with a grateful smile. “I will be back soon no doubt.” 

“I’ll be holding you to that.” Violet held her finger to you with a gay squint. 

You heard the horses out front and you knew this was your cue to leave. 

You bid farewell to Penelope, Francesca and Eloise before entering the carriage.

As you looked back at the house, you felt something arise in you. It was a worrying feeling. A worry that the attention from both the Bridgerton men was going to get you into trouble or worse...

(Next part soon!)

If you’d like to be added to the taglist then either private message me, leave an ask in my inbox or comment on here! 

[dandywonderous]

Tears of Themis Secret Santa!

It’s Christmas Eve! And due to family obligations tonight and tomorrow I won’t have much time, so I’m going ahead and posting this.

This is a Secret Santa gift for @ladydehaspran who asked for Vyn/Marius under the prompt “Christmas and Fluff.” I’m new to writing for ToT and especially Vyn but hopefully this hits on what the giftee wanted!

Some context for this fic:  the McMansion Hell Gingerbread Contest is a thing that exists and it is glorious.

I will be putting this on AO3 later but for now here it is on tumblr. Content is SFW.

...

“Someone baking gingerbread cookies in here?”

Marius unceremoniously draped his winter coat over the back of a chair, taking a long, exaggerated sniff of the air. The scent of baking gingerbread filled the house, and combined with a crackling fire it gave Vyn’s house a warm and cozy atmosphere.

The man himself appeared in the kitchen doorway, his sleeves rolled up, flecks of flour still on his hands. “I was testing a recipe to see how it looked.”

“How it looks? Isn’t the most important thing how it tastes?”

Marius followed Vyn back into the kitchen, reaching for an unadorned gingerbread man, only to get his wrist swatted.

“I haven’t iced those yet.”

“Can’t I have just one?” Marius pouted, but as usual, Vyn was not swayed.

“You can have one after I ice it.”

Vyn grabbed his piping bag - despite his speed, each gingerbread man came out perfectly decorated. Marius watched and tried not to look impressed.

“As I was saying, I’m seeing how it looks. I’m entering a gingerbread house contest.”

“Ohhh, a contest, huh?” Marius bit the head off one of the hapless cookie men, humming his appreciation for the taste. “Fine, fine, no need to beg me. I’ll design the house for you.”

“I only need you to hand me things,” said Vyn dismissively, setting the gingerbread men aside with a satisfied nod before returning to the dough.

“Awww, come on!” Marius stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Vyn’s waist. “I’ve studied architecture, you know.”

“As have I.” Vyn continued mixing the dough, ignoring the hand on his hips.

“You’re so cold, Vyn.” Marius stepped back, pouting. “And I already had a really good idea, too… Fine, I guess I’ll just go back to my apartment, and sit, alone…”

“If you’re going to be that dramatic about it, then fine. You can design the house.” Vyn gestured behind him. “I have some paper and pencil over there.”

“Alright!” Marius instantly perked up, like a dog promised a treat. He trotted over to the paper, grabbing the pencil. “Is there a theme, or should I just do whatever?”

“There is a theme.” Vyn went back to kneading the dough. “Have you ever heard of McMansion Hell?”

Marius froze. “That blog where they show off tacky houses? Wait…” He turned slowly to Vyn, folding his arms. “This is for that gingerbread contest?”

“Yes.” Vyn smiled over his shoulder at him. “We have to make the biggest, most obnoxious gingerbread house we possibly can.”

“You want me to design something bad on purpose?”

“Precisely.”

“Never mind. I don’t want to do this after all.” 

“Hmm? After you agreed to?” Vyn turned from his baking, dusting off his hands to come closer to Marius. “You’d really be leaving me in the lurch, you know.”

“You’ve studied architecture.”

“Not as much as you.” Vyn put his own hands on Marius’s hips, smiling at the light blush that dusted the younger man’s cheeks. “This may be one of the few things you’re better at than me.”

“Nngh… No fair. I love flattery.”

“I know.”

“To think you would trick me like this…”

“I only used reverse psychology.”

“Sounds like a trick to me.”

“Only a harmless one.” Vyn smiled, then used his grip on Marius’s hips to swivel him around in one motion; Marius put up little resistance. “Now get to work. I need to know how much gingerbread to bake.” 

“Fine, fine. One spectacularly ugly house, coming right up.”

“Thank you.” Vyn pressed his lips to Marius’s neck. “Let me know what you come up with.”

…

“So.” Marius spread his diagram across Vyn’s kitchen island, gesturing at him to look it over. “I was thinking we could use those candy cane sticks for the pillars on the entry, and the M&Ms for the rock wall on the turret. I’ve also included…” A pause while he counted. “...Six different types of windows, but we can just outline those with icing.”

“We could use the Fruit Roll-ups and make it look like stained glass windows.”

“You’re an evil genius. I love it.”

Despite his initial protests, he was having fun with it now - coming up with increasingly elaborate ways to create a candy monstrosity was surprisingly relaxing. He’d pulled up a tablet to look at pictures on the McMansion Hell blog for inspiration, all the different candies Vyn had bought spread around him so he could take stock.

“I think we need a six car garage. We can use white icing for the doors and outline them with the black licorice. And crush up these Oreo cookies to make the driveway. What do you think?”

Vyn surveyed his handiwork, resting his hand on the small of Marius’s back. It made him shiver. “I think, with a blueprint like this, I should be tutoring you more in architecture.”

“Hey, you have to know the rules to break them, right?” Marius tapped the paper with a finger. “And I have broken a lot of rules.”

“As is your specialty.” Vyn picked up the diagram and moved it to a safer spot, away from the mounting chaos of candy and gingerbread, where they could still reference it. “I like it. Let’s get started.”

“Alright!” Marius rolled up his sleeves. “Where do you need me?”

“Let’s start with baking all the gingerbread we need. Here…” Vyn took Marius by the hand, pulling him closer, then lowered his fingers to the dough. “Work the dough out like this. Then we’ll roll it flat.”

“Hmm… like this?”

“Yes, exactly. You pick things up quickly.”

Marius grinned at him. “Was that a compliment?”

“You have to be able to learn things quickly in order to keep up with me.”

Marius chuckled, turning back to the dough. “You know, this is good practice… maybe later I can give you a massage.”

Next to him, Vyn just smiled.

“Focus on the gingerbread.”

…

“Look! We’ve made a hideous baby!” Marius mimed wiping a tear away. “I’m so proud of us.”

“Don’t get comfortable. We still have to decorate it.”

The sprawling gingerbread house now covered half a table, with a massive entry held up by candy cane pillars and a garage that was almost the same size as the main structure. Vyn was bent over it with his pipette, carefully outlining the roof. Marius followed behind, popping one gumdrop in his mouth for every one he stuck to the icing.

“I was thinking we could stick Chex Mix to the roof to look like shingles. What do you think?”

“You don’t think that’s overdoing it?”

“I think overdoing it is the point.” 

Vyn’s lips curled up in a smile. “That’s true. And you are the architect here.”

“That’s right! Don’t forget it!”

They split up to work on the windows, carefully cutting Fruit Roll-ups into the right shape and then outlining them with icing. Then Vyn began the careful work of lining the walls with M&Ms while Marius worked on the Chex Mix roof.

By the time they were crushing up Oreos for the drive, it was fully dark outside, the lights from nearby houses twinkling through the windows. A gentle snow was falling, the flakes drifting lazily outside the window. Vyn paused long enough to turn on his own lights, the Christmas tree providing a cheery backdrop to their work on the house.

“The front feels a little empty… You know, if you mix up some blue icing, we can use the extra gingerbread to make a fountain.”

“Hmm… I think we could do even better.” Vyn grabbed a small piece of leftover gingerbread and held it out to Marius. “Here - carve this into an angel.”

“I’m not a cookie artist, you know.”

“You can’t do it?”

“Of course I can - give it here.”

Marius bent over the piece of gingerbread with a toothpick, poking out a design that he felt satisfied with. Then he carefully broke his gingerangel out of the rest of the bread, holding it up for Vyn’s inspection. 

“How’s that?”

“The wings aren’t quite the same size, but it will do.”

“It’s perfect and you know it,” Marius argued, but he shaved a bit more of the left wing off before handing it over.

Vyn had mixed up the blue icing, and now he made an octagonal ring of gingerbread pieces to form the fountain. Another pedestal of gingerbread held Marius’s angel. “What do you think?” he asked when he was done.

“I think we just raised our property values another half million.”

“Well, money can’t buy good taste.” Vyn started to spread the Oreo driveway.

“We’re going to have a lot of leftover icing,” Marius observed, drawing Vyn’s attention back to him. “What are we going to do with it?”

“I’m sure we can find a use for it.”

Marius grinned, scooping some up with his finger and then slowly licking it clean, eyes on Vyn the whole time.

“I’m sure we can.”

Vyn watched him appreciatively, before returning to the driveway. “Finish the house first. And stop eating the candy, we still need it.”

“Sure, sure.”

…

The snow had picked up outside, a full inch now carpeting the lawn. Vyn had turned on the radio, instrumental Christmas music filling the air. Marius slid his arm around Vyn’s waist as the two of them surveyed their finished gingerbread mansion.

“So, what do you think?”

“I think we’ve made something truly ostentatious.” Vyn took a sip of his hot tea. “We may have a shot at winning.”

“We better win, or what were the last five hours for?” 

“Hmm… I wonder.”

“Don’t say quality time. We could do lots of things that don’t involve creating gingerbread monstrosities.”

“Even if the mansion is not quality, I think the time we spent building it was.” Vyn turned in Marius’s arms, resting his forehead into the crook of Marius’s neck. It was warm there.

“Mmm…” Marius pulled him closer still, and for a moment they stood quietly, the notes of a piano rendition of Oh Holy Night swirling around them.

“Wanna cuddle on the couch and watch Christmas movies?”

“I thought you wanted to find something to do with the leftover frosting?”

“We’re both pretty good at multitasking…”

“No, we’re not getting any icing on my antique couch.” Vyn pulled away from Marius, taking him by the hand. “Let’s stick with Christmas movies for now.”

“Fine… never let me have any fun.”

“And tomorrow, we’re going over your architecture lessons again.”

Marius gave an overwrought sigh, flopping down on the couch and pulling Vyn down with him. “Fine, Teach, if you insist.”

“For every correct answer, you’ll get a reward.” Vyn grinned, turning in to Marius to give him a long, slow kiss. “Something to do with the icing.”

[willowcrowned]

Hello I'm baaaack!! I've been slowly making my way through your writing and aus (so beautiful, still loving it) and you mentioned in your 'luke goes to the past and says fuck' au that he wants a pink lightsaber... AND THEN i saw an article talking about how Luke's saber was actually pink to begin with??? I feel as tho i have been lied to somehow... but anyway! What about luke trying to get a fun lightsaber color (pink or otherwise) while stuck in the past? I just keep imagining different jedi trying to get answers out of him and he just keeps redirecting to how exactly /he/ is supposed to get one of the shiny pretties, it's no fair that his is all boring! Maybe he could borrow yours, master windu sir please? He'll tots give it back, promise!! Although that might make it a little difficult to continue pretending he's not a jedi and has no idea what they're talking about actually... hm...

I’m so glad you’re enjoying the AUs! <33

I honestly had no idea that his lightsaber was originally supposed to be pink. While I wrote it, I was just thinking “Huh, what does a guy who uses strawberry space conditioner and keeps extra cherry lipgloss in his back pocket want?” and the answer was, of course, a hot pink lightsaber.

Anyways! Have some Luke asking about ‘sabers!

:

“So,” Luke says, tossing a pen up in the air and catching it without looking, “the Master Windu guy.”

“Yeah?” Anakin, who is sat on the floor, leaning against the other side of the cell ray shield.

“His lightsaber,” Luke says, “It was purple.”

“Yeah?” Anakin says looking up.

“I thought they only came in green, blue, or red.”

Anakin blinks. “Have you not seen any of the war holos? I know some of the masters that were in them had different colors. Master Khouria was in them, and they have an orange one.”

Luke shrugs. “I’m a little out of touch.”

“Huh.” Anakin snorts. “Your saber— how did you make it?”

“I found it,” Luke says.

Anakin rolls his eyes. “Seriously? You can’t even tell me that much?”

“Nice try,” Luke grins easily “But nope, I picked it up. Anyways, theoretically, how would one make, say, a hot pink blade?”

“Hot pink?” Anakin’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “You don’t want something more... intimidating?”

“Why should I?” Luke replies. “It’s not like I’m a jedi.”

“Sure,” Anakin says sarcastically. “I guess i don’t have to tell you then.”

Luke narrows his eyes. “That’s low.”

“I have to sit on the floor until you tell us what you’re doing. It’s only fair.”

“You don’t have to sit on the floor.” Luke huffs. “I know you don’t have to be here. You’re just hanging out with me because I make for good company.”

“And because you know one end of a speeder from another,” Anakin mutters. “No one else will help me with mods for the Twilight.”

Luke snorts. “I have a lot of experience working on pieces of junk.”

“She’s not a piece of junk! She’s... a work in progress!”

“Didn’t you say her third thermal hypercarborater consistently leaks?”

“So?”

Luke leans back, folding his arms. “I’ll tell you how to fix it if you tell me how to get a hot pink saber.”

Anakin narrows his eyes. “You have to find a piece of crystal with high Force resonance and the right structure to conduct plasma. Kyber is best. It’s blue or green initially, but becomes red when bled, and white when healed. You can turn a blue one purple by partially bleeding it, which is what Master Windu did, but that’s because he uses vaapad.”

“So, you’re saying that if I was, theoretically, to find a hot pink crystal and I was, theoretically, able to make a lightsaber, I could have a hot pink blade?”

Anakin nods. “What’s the fix for the hypercarborator?”

“Grab a HG-470 cable and use it to modulate the energy reflux from the second hypercarborator. You’ll have to replace the cable every few standard months, but she’ll run a lot smoother at sublight.”

Anakin blinks. “That’s... not a bad idea.”

“Told ya I had experience working with pieces of junk.”

“Yeah, I could see that from your lightsaber.”

“I didn’t build her,” Luke says. “But out of intellectual curiosity, what’s wrong with her?”

“She—” Anakin starts. “What do I get out of this?

“The satisfaction of helping a poor, down-on-his-luck, drifter who’s been imprisoned by jedi?”

“Not gonna cut it.”

Luke frowns. “I guess I’ll have to ask the next Jedi I see.”

“You do that.” Anakin snorts. “Start with Windu, though, it should annoy him.”

“Well,” Luke says, biting back a smile. “I guess I could do that. As a favor for a friend.”

“Ask to see his hilt,” Anakin advises. “Electrum plating.”

“Yikes.”

“I know. You should tell him that,”

“This is going to get me in trouble, won’t it.”

“I never said anything.”

“Sure you didn’t,” Luke says, smiling. “Sure you didn’t.”

[3pirouette]

Nexus Peggy, Her Hands Are Still Shaking, and What Happened In The Past

Ohhhhh Good ones!

For the WIP Ask Game HERE

Nexus Peggy- This is actually The Prices We're Willing to Pay, but I didn't have a title when I first wrote it, so I jotted down the two best descriptors I could before I saved it.

The exciting part about this is that I've figured out a HUGE plot point tonight (OK, make that TWO important plots points) for this story. I'm really excited about it, and I really hope other people like it, too, because it's so different though I haven't gotten any feedback on chapter 2 yet which makes me think it may be too unique and I may be the only niche reader for it, but oh well- I write it because I want to read it so you'll all have to suffer.

I want to give you a snippet from what I wrote tonight, but both pieces are HUGE plot points, so... i'm going to keep that a little closer to me. Unfortunately, this one has to be written and posted in movie order, so that means until i can re-watch Avengers and figure out how Peggy fits in there, nothing new will get posted. (despite me filling in a few later scenes tonight)

What Happened in the Past- Literally 2 paragraphs trying to force out a Prequel/Sequel for @doctorhelena who commented on my fic “Cherish the Present”:  I would happily read an entire fic about the time Peggy made Steve walk back 5 miles in the snow and then later made out with him behind the munitions tent! 

Here are the 2 paragraphs that never got a plot or an idea beyond "Yeah, that would be cool..."

The jeep skidded again as the snow blew around them. Barnes poked his head through the canvas to pop up between Steve and Peggy in the front seat. “Carter, think you can take it easy? We just survived Hydra, I’d like my tombstone to say anything other than ‘died in a car accident.’”

Peggy let her foot of the pedal, but only slightly. “I can assure you I’m well aware of everyone’s safety,” she bit out, “As the only use I seem to be of today is being the driver.”

Her Hands Are Still Shaking- This is a bit of a mess, tense wise and action wise. it was my page and a half attempt at what the "Steve reunites with Peggy" scene would look like. Below the cut because it's long... (errors, typos, and all)

Her hands were still shaking. “Time Travel.”

His smile was nervous. “Yes.”

“Like Jules Verne?” She looked down, watched as her pinky shook in her folded hands Adrenaline? Probably. Her hands were never shaky in the field. Never. She laughed nervously, trying to stop the panic rushing up in her chest. “But can you stay?”

“I…” His eyes were deep, so full of stories she’d never been there for, stories she wanted to hear, and she watched them change from frustrated to sad to steeled determination in a flash. “I’m staying.” He reached across the table and took her hands in his, his palms clammy. His palms never sweat in the field. Never.

This wasn’t a mission.

There were much higher personal stakes.

“I don’t know how we do this, but I want to, if you do. I know that it’s been…different… for me. I don’t expect that you pined- I’m…dead… right now.”

She gripped him tighter. “I want to, Steve.” She smiled, a small, shy smile that felt foreign on her face. “There will be plenty of time for us tot talk about all the things since we last-“ the word talked caught in her throat. She cleared her throat, pushing down the welling of emotion. The smile was bigger now, more familiar. “We have time now.”

She didn’t want to think about the failed relationship with Daniel, or how she heard one day in the office that he’d ended up marrying Violet after all. She didn’t want to think about the blind dates that she’d been on that reminded her that she had secrets to keep and that a banker or a lawyer or a teacher would never understand how she felt about her job or the quiet, lonely apartment just off the base that made her feel safe and lonely all at the same time. She didn’t want to think about why she really kept that photo on her desk.

Why every once in a while she’d snuck off and put on a blonde wig and went to the support meeting for war widows two towns over.

Steve smiled back but stood, letting her hands fall as he walked over to the window in her small office. “I don’t know how, Peg.” He tooka deep breath and turned, and she felt memories course through her, his expression so very reminiscent of rainy nights planning missions. His eyes locked on hers. “I know things, Peg. I know our future. But I don’t understand the rules. I don’t know if I should be trying to fix things, should be trying to hide. I don’t…” He stepped forward again, taking both her hands tight in his. “I don’t know if I should say any of them to you, even to tell you, to share. It might change… I just.”

She nodded, twining her fingers with his. “It could change things.”

“It might not, though. If… putting the stones back is supposed to protect everything that will happen but…”

“But now you’re here.”

“Now I’m here, and that’s a difference.”

Her hands weren’t shaking anymore. She stood, straightening her skirt. “Well, soldier, I believe that the mess is closed, and I’m famished.”

Steve shook his head and smiled. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She let her fingers fix a bit of hair across his forhead that had shifted, then took another second to let her fingers graze over his head and down the nape of his neck. She pretends to not feel him shudder as she reminds herself this is not a dream. “I don’t imagine this will be easy.” She rested her hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly as he covers hers with his. “

[wiypt-writes]

What The Stark Spangled F**k?

A Stark Spangled Forever One Shot: Of Small Boys And Big Men

Summary: Steve isn’t the only Rogers male who’s protective over Katie…

Warnings: Some language…not much!

Words: 1.2k

A/N: So this one just came to me after a pretty shitty week, and it’s dedicated to my gals @sweater-daddiesdumbdork and @icanfeelastormbrewing . Hope it put a smile on your faces.

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

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

With four young kids badgering her for what felt like every waking hour, a bath in peace with a large pinot was the best blessing Katie could wish for. But now, as she’d been hiding for almost an hour, she knew it was time to face the music. With a contented sigh, she climbed out, wrapped herself in a towel and emerged into the bedroom, giving a little start as she saw Harry sat on hers and Steve’s bed, propped up on the mountain of cushions, his eyes fixed on the TV.

“You okay, baby?” She asked and he turned to look at her, flashing her a smile.

“Daddy said I could watch TV here.” He grinned. “Jamie is playing is ‘pooter in the den and Ror-wi,” he glowered, folding his arms, “she’s watching girl stuff.”

Katie chuckled. “What’s Daddy doing?”

“He’s in the kitchen with Uncle Sammy and Uncle Buck.” Harry answered as Katie sat on the edge of the bed. “They came before to drink beer.”

“What else is new?” Katie chuckled as he crawled over the soft duvet towards her and clambered into her lap. “You not drinking beer, too?”

“Daddy said I can’t have none until I’m... ermmm,” he looked at his hands before he held them up, all fingers extended, “this many.”

Katie chuckled and dropped a kiss to his head. “Well, how about I get my pajamas on and we’ll get hot chocolate and come back up here and snuggle whilst we watch a film?”

“Toy Story?” Harry’s eyes lit up and Katie nodded.

“Sure thing.”

“Okay.” He nodded, one of his hands reaching up to tangle in the necklace around her neck before he paused, and his fingers moved to her shoulder tracing over the now faded but still ever present scar from that fateful day on the bridge in DC. “What’s this?”

“Oh errr...” Katie hesitated for a while, trying to think how to answer. She’d always tried to be as honest with her kids as possible but how to explain to a three year old that it was a result of his momma being shot by one of his favourite people on Earth?

“Did someone hurt you?” He asked, his eyes wide and she took a deep breath.

“Yeah, a long time ago. I got shot.” She smiled. “But I’m okay now.”

“Was it the bad person who made Uncle Nee go away?”

“No, it…” Katie shook her head, “it’s a long story, honey. You’re too little to understand.”

At that Harry frowned. “Jamie says that all the time but I’m not a baby, now momma. I’m nearly four!”

Katie inwardly groaned, she knew he hated it when anyone insinuated he was a baby, especially now he technically wasn’t their baby anymore; not now, Flossie was the youngest. As his frown deepened, making him look ridiculously like his elder brother and father, his eyes cast downwards and he sighed.

The pout and the downcast eyes, coupled with the fact that Harry openly expressed his discontent at being called a baby, or close to, especially by his mother, guilted Katie in. She thought a moment on how she could explain it properly to him without hurting his feelings and making Bucky not look like a horrible person.

"Well, a long time ago, there was a man, who..." she paused in thought, "was under a bit of confusion, like in Toy Story 3, when Buzz becomes Senior Buzz, and he's confused and talks funny, and doesn't know who any of his friends are. That was the man who shot me."

"Yous shot by Senior Buzz, Mama?" Harry tired piecing it together.

"Not exactly. The man was confused like Buzz, he didn't remember who he was or that he hurt people."

"What did he wook wike?"

"He had long dark hair, he wore armor, and had a metal arm," Katie waited briefly to see if Harry would piece together her description and when the tot sat there looking for more information, she continued. "I was with your Daddy, and Uncle Sammy, and when we saw him, Daddy knew who he was and it broke his heart and mine."

"Who?"

"It was Uncle Bucky, but some very bad men had made him very confused for a very long time and he didn't know who he was, and he didn't remember Daddy and..."

"Uncle Bucky hurt you?"

Katie registered the look on her youngest son's face and she sighed. It wasn't easy explaining this, especially given how Harry was as inquisitive as he was, a trait obviously from herself. That Rogers frown appeared again on Harry's face as he puckered his lips up, and without another word he climbed down from his mother's lap and sulked off out of the room.

In haste and hoping to talk to him a bit better, Katie quickly dressed into her pajama pants and a sweatshirt of Steve's before following Harry, calling his name.

****

Steve watched as Bucky leaned against the kitchen counter, beer poised to his lips as he shook his head, snorting.

“No that’s not how it happened, at all.” He shot Sam a look. “The chute didn’t open.”

“It didn’t open because you didn’t wear it!” Sam scoffed, pointing his bottle at Bucky as he lounged in one of the chairs round the table as he took a pull from his drink. He swallowed and shot an accusatory look at Steve. “Dude, he’s worse than you. And that’s saying something!”

Before Steve could reply there was a sudden flurry of light brown hair as Harry whizzed into the room, bee lining straight for Bucky.

“Hey pal, how....” but before Bucky could finish his greeting, Harry had nailed him with a fist, straight into gut before following up with one that smacked him right in the crotch.

There were yells and movement from all three men, Sam’s contained an unmistakable undercurrent of amusement as he rose from the table to help, whilst Bucky’s was laced with pain as he bent forward, his hand covering the front of his jeans where Harry had landed a pretty strong thump. But the loudest shout of all was a stern, angry one from Steve.

“Henry Steven Rogers!” He blazed, gripping the boy gently round his upper arm, spinning him to face him. “What on earth?!”

“He hurt Momma! ” Harry’s furious eyes met Steve’s and Steve looked at his son, blinking bemusedly as he frowned.

“He hurt Momma? What-“

“Harry!” Katie appeared in the doorway, her hair piled on her head, as she rushed towards her little boy and crouched down in front of him. “It was a long time ago, and I’m okay now. I told you, Uncle Bucky didn’t mean it.”

“He shot you!” Harry looked at his mom before he turned and glared once more at Bucky, who was now straightened back up, waving Sam away as he took deep breaths, his face pale.

Katie sighed and hung her head before she looked at Steve then to Bucky. “He saw the scar on my shoulder.” She said gently, and at that Bucky hung his head, shaking it a little. “I’m sorry, Buck, I didn’t think...”

“Don’t.” Bucky grimaced, waving her apology away.

“Why did you shoot my mommy?” Harry demanded and Bucky hesitated before Steve gently spoke.

“Pal, look, it was a long time ago and your Uncle Bucky, well, he was confused and...”

“Yeah like Buzz.” Harry nodded, “but he shouldn’t have done it. No one hurts Momma, you said that.”

“I did, yeah.” Steve nodded.

“Hey, listen, he saved me once too.” Katie, suddenly struck with an idea spoke quickly. “He rescued me from a lot of very bad people and that’s good, yeah?”

It was lame, really lame, but it seemed to have done the trick as Harry’s face softened as he looked from Katie, to Steve then to Bucky.

“You did?”

Bucky nodded.

“Oh. Okay.”

Crisis averted, Steve let out a loud exhale before he looked at Harry. “Buddy, you can’t hit people like that.”

“But...”

“No buts, you got something to say to Uncle Bucky?”

Harry eyed Bucky, clearly contemplating whether he wanted to apologise or not, but when further goaded by a look from his father, not just any but 'the look' that meant business, Harry sighed, and wth a roll of his eyes that was so Stark like it made Steve want to laugh, he turned to Bucky.

"I’m sowwy. I don't wike it when people hurt Momma."

Bucky smiled at him, crouching down a little, wincing as he did so. “It’s okay, Pal. For what it’s worth I’m sorry too. But I don’t do that anymore, okay? You got nothing to be scared of.”

“I’m not scared.” Harry shrugged. “Daddy’s bigger than you, Jamie said he could kick your ass.”

At that Bucky snorted as behind Harry, Steve bit his lip and looked at Katie who was trying her hardest not to laugh as she shot him a wink.

“Well, maybe.” Bucky shrugged. “But I don’t wanna fight your dad, he’s my friend.”

“Come on.” Katie spoke as she stood up, holding out her hand. “Let’s go back upstairs and watch a movie. Sure if we ask nicely, Daddy will make us his special hot chocolate.”

“Hmmm I’m not sure.” Steve teased.

“Pweeeese!” Harry grinned at his dad. “Can I have cream and spwinkles?”

“Alright.” Steve smiled, running his hand over his son’s hair and stood up. He shot Bucky an apologetic look and his friend shook his head.

“Hey Harry, I gotta say buddy, that was a good hit.” Sam spoke. “Wish I’d filmed it.”

Harry, completely nonplussed, grinned at Sam before he held his arms up at Katie. She hooked her hands under his armpits and lifted him up, kissing his cheek.

“I’ll fetch it up in a minute, Doll.” Steve looked at her as she gave him a quick peck.

“No rush.” She smiled. “Goodnight guys.”

Bucky and Sam both waved as she turned and made for the door.

Steve watched them for a moment, smiling softly to himself. The way both his boys cared so much for their momma was something he was immensely proud of and the best thing they’d picked up from him, in his opinion. He’d always strived to instil into Jamie that he should look after and care for Katie and his sisters as best he could, and to his credit he did. And the fact that Harry seemed to be going the same way made Steve’s heart swell.

As Katie carried Harry through the door, the tot looked over his momma’s shoulder and raised his arm, extending his fore and middle finger before bringing them to his eyes and pointing at Bucky, the universal sign for 'I’m watching you' .

Steve just about managed to hold it together until his wife and son had rounded the corner towards the stairs before a huge laugh erupted from his mouth.

[writingsbychlo]

smoke and fire (01)

word count; 6959

summary; after making a somewhat reckless decision in the heat of the moment, newt gives you some harsh truths, and some good advice.

notes; this first part isn’t all that exciting, admittedly, but these first few parts set a grounding for the rest, so you just have to rock with it.

warnings; reference to injury, building fire, reference to dementia.

Stepping into the main room, you glanced around, catching the eye of your friend and colleague, the blond who was waving at you from the tall counter. His foot was propped up on one of the taller stools, a plate of pancakes in front of him as he held a pen between his teeth, the newspaper out before him. 

Striding across the room towards him, the fireman you’d come to know as ‘Fry’ due to desperate love for cooking when he wasn’t on a call was grinning, flipping a couple more pancakes over the stove, and he reached for another plate, placing it in front of the Empty seat. Lifting his foot down, Newt left the seat available to you, and despite the chatter in the room, you could still hear his excited ‘hello’, even if it was spoken around the pen in his mouth, which promptly dropped, and he fumbled to catch it. 

“You’re chipper this morning?”

“I got here before Brenda, which means I get the puzzles in the paper.” He waved the paper at you, before putting his pen down on it and picking up his fork, not bothering with the knife as he tore off an extra piece of the pancake, syrup dripping from it as he lifted it to his mouth, a drip falling down his chin. “She always does the crossword before I can get there, and she messes it up by putting the wrong words in and quitting halfway through. Not today, though.”

“Close your mouth, you’re so gross!”

He made an extra loud smacking sound as he ate, leaning in as he chewed with his mouth open, and you cringed, laughing as you leaned away, the hot breath with a sickly-sweet undertone washing over your face. The plate before you was piled with three pancakes of your own, a bottle of syrup being passed over to you, and you turned to Fry, flashing him a grin and a nod in thanks, before picking the bottle up. Raising your hand, you pushed Newt away from you, laughing a little. 

The main door scraped loudly, your attention directed over to it, and the lieutenant you had already managed to get on the wrong side of was already staring at you both. His brows were furrowed, jaw tense, and eyes cold, and despite it all, you tried to offer him a polite nod, one which he simply ignored as he tore his eyes away from the pair of you, and watched you leave the room. He wandered away, taking a seat at the table with the rest of the crew, and you were happy to simply ignore him, knowing that engaging with the issue was only going to make your time here more miserable. 

Turning to your food, you focused your attention back on Newt, who had turned the newspaper around to sit equally between you both, his hand under the edge of your stool to pull you closer to look over it all, and you squeaked a little as you were dragged in his direction. “I need a nine-letter word that’s a synonym for ‘fair’. Starting with ‘I’.”

“I’m no good at crosswords.” You teased, taking a chunk out of your stack and bringing it to your mouth, chewing happily as he gave you a mock glare.

“Well, what fucking good are you as a partner then, huh?” You grinned, knowing he was joking, despite how hard he was trying to keep his face serious, the glint in his eyes and the twitches at the edge of his lips making it hard for you to take him with anything severity. “Fine, what kind of puzzles do you like?”

“I’m a sudoku fan.”

You tapped a finger at the empty blank grid, only a few of the numbers already put in, and he rolled his eyes with a groan. “You’re awful, the absolute worst, actually.”

He shoved at your arm, trying to push your way from him once again, and as he did, your body jerked, the food on your fork dropping down your front and rolling over half of your shirt to come and sit on your pants. You stared at it, the sticky food covered in fibres from your shirt and your pants, your brows furrowing and lips pursing, and when you looked back up to Newt, he was biting down on the inside of his cheek to hide his grin. 

“That was an accident. I swear it.”

“Uh-huh.” You picked the sticky chunk up, groaning a little at the golden sauce that had made a stain along the crisp white paramedic’s shirt you were wearing. You let out a sigh, brushing your fingers over it to try and clear the spot, but it only got worse, your skin getting sticky. “I’m going to have to go and change now, when I get back, you better be ready to do the sudoku instead.” 

He snickered under his breath, nodding his head and watching as you got up to leave the room, his eyes lingering on you as he went. 

Another set of eyes were lingering on you, every step you took until you had left the room, and Thomas huffed a little once you were gone, his gaze snapping over to his friend, who still had a small smile on his face, and evacuating his seat to travel towards his best friend, filled with the intentions for a not-so-subtle interrogation and questioning, he crossed the room, taking a seat in the stool you’d evacuated. 

“Well, you two looked awfully cosy.”

Newt looked up at him, raising a questioning brow, a cocky grin on his face, before he took in Thomas’ expression, and his facade fell away as he realised his best friend wasn’t joking. “Not quite my type, in case you haven’t noticed. I prefer my lovers with a little more cock.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Thomas huffed, and Newt ignored him.

“She’s exactly your type, though.” Thomas’ jaw dropped, the idea of such a thing making pure fire burst through him, anger surging in his system just at the idea of you. You irritated him, you made him want to pull his own hair out, and he’d only known you for two weeks, but in those two weeks, you were steadily growing on his nerves. “Paramedic, smart, cute, scalding kind of humour, pretty eyes. Worked for you last time, are you sure all this hatred you have for her isn’t just sexual tension?”

Thomas squirmed in his seat, and Newt waited for the laugh, for any kind of reaction, before sighing again. Thomas didn’t look up, instead, he busied himself with playing at the hem of his shirt, swallowing thickly as memories of the last paramedic the house had carried came flashing through his mind. 

“Okay, look, I’m sorry for bringing up Teresa.” Thomas finally glanced up, seeing that his friend really as sorry, and so he gave in, never being able to stay angry at him for too long. “You have to give her a chance, though. She’s sweet, she’s good at her job, and you were the one that kicked things off on the wrong foot, so-”

“I was clearly in a bad mood. She was eavesdropping and then held the things I said in the moment against me. That doesn’t count.”

“Uh, yes, it absolutely does.” Newt’s voice was monotone, and he knew not to argue with him when he got like this, because not once in over two decades of friendship had he ever won a fight when Newt took on that tone. “Listen, you two have been chafing at the bit to scream at each other once again, but I’m impartial here, an-” His face lit up, turning back to the paper in his hands, and he let out a loud cheer, writing the word ‘impartial’ down into the box, the final piece to complete his crossword puzzle, and that did earn a chuckle from Thomas. “What was I saying?”

“Nothing important.”

“Hey! Everything I say is important.” Newt grouched, flicking the pen at him, and as the main doors, scraped back open, all eyes darted up to you for just a second. 

Thomas was sitting in your seat, a steely look on his face as Newt sat beside him, folding the paper over to face the side with the sudokus on, and before you had a chance to think about how to approach the pair, you were being saved by the bell. The loud blaring of your signal call was sounding out, and everyone went quiet, waiting to see who was called from the slightly crackling speakers. 

Thomas and his team moved first, squad being called tot he scene, and before even hearing for medical assistance, you knew you’d be going along too. Newt fell from his chair, following after the crowds as they went, Brenda still with a piece of toast clamped between her teeth, breakfast being abandoned as the first call for whats was clearly going to be a long day coming in, and you followed after newt, a slight jog to your movements as you made your way to the van. 

Hoping up into the passenger side, your vehicle was the first to go, the trucks following only moments later when the gear had been grabbed and regular shoes swapped out for heavy-weight boots, neat rows of shoes matching up as the garage was emptied. Instructions were already flashing up on the dashboard, loud and clear, your fingers fumbling for the siren as the busy roads of rush hour traffic, mother's on their way for the school-run and office workers desperate to get in on time blocking the streets, and the loud wiling overhead took over. 

Smoke was visible from four blocks away, a mid-rise building of apartments curling up in flames, the acrid black clouds billowing up into the air, and Newt severed a little as he came crashing up onto the pavement. Police had already arrived, a perimeter being set u by offices and volunteers as groups gathered around, the pressure once again falling on you as your team took the spotlight. The public could be fickle, it was a problem you were familiar with, having seen so many good firemen, paramedics, doctors and all workers of the good fall, one bad story and a career would be ruined, and you could only wish that would never be you. 

Climbing between the seats and into the back of the vehicle, Newt rounded it, unlocking the doors from the back as you began to search for the equipment, still a little unfamiliar with the layout he held, half a month not giving you much time to adjust to everything inside. With a pack slung over your shoulder, blue flashing and the deeper honking of the horns on the fire trucks signalled their arrival, and you watched as each team disembarked from the vehicles. 

Swinging your pack up onto your shoulder, you chucked newt his own, hopping down from the truck and shouldering your way past civilians to reach the firemen of your house, Newt following, until you could find where they were all pulling on their masks, sitting atop their heads and ready to be pulled down, helmets in their hands as they waited for their instructions. 

Thomas was staring up at the flames, lips parted a little as he licked at them to keep them wet, the orange glow casting flickered across his face, and you could practically see the cogs whirring in his mind. 

“Okay, truck on the lower floors, search and rescue operations get everybody out to Newt, we’re not working on putting anything out until every soul in the building is clear.” 

Gally nodded, helmet on the top of his head as he adjusted his gloves, ensuring every patch of skin was covered, and despite the bickering that went on in house, the jokes and petty rivalries that ever lasted, it all seemed forgotten in the field. There was no denying that Thomas was a natural-born leader, he was undeniably the right choice, and everybody else seemed to know it too, because the pecking order became apparent when lives were at stake. 

“Brenda, I need you on equipment. I want the ladder up to the fifth floor. I’ll be sending people from the higher floors down to truck team, so be ready for that. I need you quick, because I’ll be climbing as you position it.” Thomas turned, glancing up at the building for his entry point. “There, north-face window. Already broken. That’s where I’m going in, Minho, you’re with me. Once we’re in, pull the ladder back, we’ll sweep the floors and come down.”

“Where do you want me after that?”

“Hoses, high as you can get them, truck can take them inside and we can start from the bottom, and work up, make it safe to get people out. We all clear?”

A symphony of mumbled agreements rose up, the team snapping into action, and you and Newt moved back to the truck, setting yourselves up for the task ahead. The loud whirring of the crane ladder set off, Brenda at the controls as she stared up at the building, and you stood in slight awe as you watched her work. 

This was your first call in which the squad engine equipment had really been used, your last house not having been big enough to have one, and this was your first time seeing the ladder unfold with your own eyes. Thomas was standing on the top of his truck, masking down and helmet on, staring up at the building as he waited for the ladder to move, and before it had even begun extending it’s second set, he was moving. 

Crawling up at the steep angle, it was barely a climb as it still began to raise, placing unwavering faith in his teammate as he went, moving toward the end of the ladder, the second set unfolding, and as he crawled onto it, he paused, letting it drag him closer to the building as it extended, before he was getting closer once again. His body was ducked down, the closer he drew to the broken window, the thicker the smoke got, the flames roaring out into the air, and he disappeared from sight as he slipped into the burning building. 

Minho was next, already moving up the ladder in chase of his commander, and when he disappeared inside too, your eyes snapped away. The splintering of wood, Gally kicking the locks open on the front of the building as the doorframe began to give way, the doors too hot to try and push with hands, and next up was the truck team. In the truck team went, the ladder retracting from the moment Minho had vacated the rungs, and Brenda was pulling it back down to the roof of the vehicle. 

Clint and Winston were unrolling the hoses from the truck vehicle, Chuck was screwing them into the hydrants dotted along the street, and then more of your team was running into the building. More of the team. You closed your eyes, dragging your gaze away from the building and reminding yourself not to get too attached to them all, because you weren’t even sure if at this rate you were going to make it sixth months here, never mind an entire year, or your career. With every house you moved to, it made it seem more and more likely that you just weren’t going to find your home.

Newt nudged his elbow into your arm, snapping you front he wallowing thoughts you were having to be able to look up, and the first two firemen were leaving the building, guiding a group out from the first floor, people who had been stuck there and were covered in soot and dust, eyes bloodshot and trembling violently in the shock. You took a deep breath, clearing your mind of everything that didn’t matter in this moment to be able to focus on what did, and as your thoughts cleared, you received the first person. 

Sorting the group into most needing of assistance to least, you started with the older members of the group as Newt worked with the kids, a packet of Disney-themed band-aids out to be used as he started to patch up cuts and clean the grazes, fingers wiping tears from little cheeks as he kept a bright smile, and you admired him. 

You didn’t know who the person who came before you was, and you weren’t too sure what happened to Newt or what made her leave, but you weren’t sure why she’d ever want to. If she’d been accepted by the people here, if she’d become a part of this family, you had no idea why she’d ever throw that away.

In the few weeks you’d been here, you’d already noticed that they were not only a team, but they were all connected. Every bond was special, even when they bickered and fought it was out of love, every teasing jab being made with affectionate undertones and bitten-back smiles, and you envied the way they never had to worry about someone having their back, about fitting in or not being accepted, because they had a home with one another. 

Volunteers of people on the street were volunteering to help, offering phones to the people who needed to call their families. Those who lived nearby had found blankets, bottles of water and supplies that they had brought over, the neighbourhood coming together to help one another in a crisis. Friends and family who had heard what happened, receiving desperate calls or watching the news had arrived, searching for their family members, and as you found a contact for every person coming out of the building, you made them fill out forms before being taken to the hospital. 

The squeaking of the hoses made you realise that the flames were slowly dying out, the smoke getting thicker and heavier as it was dampened, but the glass was no longer smashing and there was no more snapping of the building’s foundations to be heard. The lower floors were put out, the temperature in the air surrounding you beginning to drop down as it started to cool, the blazing inferno the building had once been was now being contained, and Gally emerged, from the doorway, large frame filling the entrance as she walked, an older lady carried in his arms as she trembled, and you moved to pull out the stretcher for her, knowing that she’d be needing to go to the hospital. 

She looked to be in her late eighties, possibly even early nineties, and as she was placed down, you smoothed her hair back, trying to offer her a soothing smile as you lifted an oxygen mask over her face. 

“I’m (Y/N), I’m going to get you all sorted out, and then we’ll take you to the hospital, okay?” 

She only nodded her head weakly, and you snatched up another form to begin filling out for her, the crowds beginning to dissipate slightly at the excitement and shock of it died down, situation being handled, and as less eyes were on you, watching you work, you felt like you could breathe a little better once again.

“Can you tell me what your name is?”

She nodded, a hand coming up to lift the mask off gently, and she coughed a little, fresh air not being as helpful to her as the pure oxygen had been, gasping slightly as she caught her breath. Her jaw dropped, lips moving to form a word, but no sound came out, and her brows furrowed slightly as she did. “Where am I?”

“You’re outside the apartment building, ma’am. There was a fire, but you're fine, it’s all just a  little disorientating.”

Just as you said those words, a loud explosion took off behind you, a rush of glass, dust and smoke racing over everyone, your eyes screwing shut tightly against the blast, and the firemen on the floor rallied once again, a gas main having burst that hadn't been turned off, and Brenda pulled on her own mask and helmet, following Gally back into the building as the flames took up again. 

She was startled, the elderly woman looking around frantically in her panic, and you took her hand, trying to calm her down, worried she may actually worry herself into a panic attack. “It’s okay, the team has it all under control, okay? They’re the very best at their jobs, you’re safe, alright?”

“Where’s that young girl gone?”

“Which young girl, ma’am?” Your brows furrowed, worry seeping into you once again, and before she could answer, there was a name being called out, louder and louder as it neared you both, before a woman who couldn't be any older than thirty appeared, looking completely and utterly frazzled, taking the older woman’s hand from yours. “Are you related to the patient?”

“This is my grandmother.”

“Great, okay, can you fill out a form for me while I do a check over?” You passed her the pen and the paper as she agreed, and she got to work on filling it out, letting you do your job as you lifted the ramp on the back of the ambulance down, unhooking it and securing it to the floor. Carefully as you worked, you secured her down, helping her to lay back in the pillows as you strapped her in, before rolling the trolley up and into the back. Fastening it down tightly, you set about, lifting a pressure cuff from the shelf and placing it along her arm, the beeping on the machine starting steadily as her granddaughter sat along the cushioned seats, still scribbling on the paper. “Ma’am, you said there was someone else with you, can you tell me who?”

“The young girl with the red curls.”

“Where was she?” You questioned, moving her from a portable oxygen tank to the one equipped with the truck, a steadier source of air that she wouldn't have to hold onto. 

“In my apartment. She was right there with me, a-”

“No, nana, nobody else was there.” You turned to look at the auburn-haired woman behind you, raising a questioning brow as she looked at you. “She has dementia, she’s thinking of me. My hair was more of a fiery colour when I was young, and very curly. She’s just confused.”

“No! No, there was a young girl with red hair!”

You nodded, stepping away from the pair for just a moment before reaching the front of the ambulance, wiring it to the right frequency and lifting it from its holder. “Any member of the team, this is the ambo’, is there anyone left inside now?”

“All upper floors are clear, truck is out, we’re working down on a final sweep now.” Thomas’ voice was filled with static as it came over the airwaves, and you gave a small nod to the woman. 

“See, nana? There’s nobody left in there.”

You moved back over, watching as the report you’d found had the exact opposite effect, the woman only seeming to become more on edge and upset, trying to sit up in the stretcher as she took the mask off completely. She coughed, violently at the sudden actions, and as both you and her granddaughter moved to try and lay her back down gently, she pushed your hands away, fighting to get free. 

“She’s in there! I know she is! The girl with the red hair!”

She was on the verge of a panic attack now, and you helped her put the mask back on, her relative taking over with breathing exercises, and the gnawing in your gut just wouldn’t go away. “Which floor does she live on? Which apartment?”

“She lives on the third floor, apartment fifteen.”

You hopped out of the truck, shielding your eyes with one hand as you stared up at the flaming wreckage of the building, asking Newt take over for you, before you were rounding the vehicle to the front once again. “Team, this is the ambo’ again, are you absolutely certain? Floor three, apartment fifteen, I have an elderly woman insisting that someone is inside.”

“I’m on the third floor now, I’m checking.” He left the mic open on his shoulder, just so ensure that you could hear everything that was going on, to reassure the panicking elderly woman you had hyperventilating in the back of the truck. His voice called out, signalling that it was the fire department and asking whether there was anyone left, telling you as he moved, asking four times, and silence coming back with each and every one. “There’s nobody here, I’ve checked, there’s no call out, and the smoke is getting thicker. It’s all clear, okay?”

“All clear, got it.” You clicked the radio off, turning to look at her, and there was a frazzled look in her eyes, shaking her head as she mumbled to herself. 

You’d seen it before, working in medicine did that to you, but it was still shocking every time you witnessed it, watching the fog suddenly clear, even if only for moments, watching the dazed kind of confusion clear on a persons face into something more determined and confident, as though a whole new spirit had taken over the body and mind. “No, it's not.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My nurse, she went to the kitchen, she was getting my medications. Our rota changed a month ago, she comes on Sunday’s instead of Saturday’s now. She’s trapped under the rubble, the roof fell through.” Her words were spoken clearly, no trace of her being lost or under the influence of her past, but instead, for just a few seconds, she was completely present in the moment. 

Hopping down out of the truck, you grabbed at your tatty rucksack, the medkit inside fresh, the good luck charm you carried everywhere, only slung over one shoulder as you made it to the door, Thomas’ figure emerging from inside as he stripped his helmet and mask from over his head. 

“There is someone still inside!”

He turned to look at you, raising a brow, a scowl on his lips. “I cleared the room, I called out, there’s nobody in there. I know how to do my damn job, alright?”

“No, she wouldn’t have replied. The woman’s mind cleared, just for a second, but her nurse is trapped under debris where the roof collapsed in.” He paused for a second, brows furrowing as he tried to process your words, before shaking his head, an incredulous laugh on his lips. 

“You’re taking the word of a woman with dementia?” You nodded, string up at him expectantly. “How do you know she isn’t still confused? Huh?”

You stared at him for a second longer, heart racing in your chest as you thought about the woman who was still trapped inside, before shaking your head at him. “Because I’m a paramedic, Thomas, and I know when her mind clears. I know how to do my job.”

You didn’t give him a chance to retort, shoulder past him and slinging an arm over your face, eyes stinging from the second that you were carried into the building, feet pounding against the floor. Only ten steps in, and the temperature was so hot sweat was lining your brows, your throat was stinging despite the arm you were breathing against, smoke seeping in to burn at your lungs, and tears were lining your eyes as you tried to see where to go. The lobby was glowing a dull orange, but the flames were burning bright, and you winced a little further.

Stairs just ahead of you, still standing string, and you headed straight for them. You almost put your hand down on the railing, flinching at the metal that was almost glowing from the heat it was under, and you snatched it back, skin singed a little just from hovering over it, and you regretted your decision only a little, fear crawling in at the back of your mind to combat the adrenaline, and you quashed it down. 

Only three floors, six sets of stairs, and you were there, fighting your way through a corridor you could barely see, squinting to find the numbers on the door. You were certain you’d found apartment fifteen, sure enough that you’d bet your life on it, and you were, because if you had the wrong one, you certainly didn’t have time to keep looking. 

The room was destroyed, flames crawling up the walls, and the tears in your eyes were now leaking down your cheeks, the air becoming too thick to breathe, and you were running on limited time. You let out a little sigh of relief as you spotted the pile of rubble, assessing it carefully, and catching sight of a hand that wouldn’t be able unless you were looking for such a sign in the right place, dropping to your knees beside it. Your fingertips burned as you touched the hot mess of stone and drywall, pulling it away, your nails ripping with each catch on jagged rocks, and you hissed a little under your breath. You could see her, leaning in close enough to press your fingers to her neck, and you let out something between a relieved laugh and a sigh as you felt a pulse under her skin, albeit incredibly weak. 

A hand landed on your shoulder, pulling you back, before a mask was being dropped down onto you, an oxygen tank beside it. You snatched it up, barley bothering to adjust it before you were pulling it on, taking deep and gasping breaths of the fresh oxygen, the pounding in your head making you squeeze your eyes shut, the rush of fresh O2 in your blood making your head spin and ache for a moment a sit rushed to your brain once again.

Her face was revealed, the fireman beside you having better luck with the debris, gloves making it a burn and pain-free experience, and when there was enough cleared, hands hooked under the woman’s arms, pulling the rest of her body free. Dropping your rucksack, you tore it open, zip running rapidly along its track and you searched for the cloths, a water bottle following it, and you soaked the rag, ringing it out quickly, before laying it over her face. Lifting her up and into his arms, the man waited only a second for you to bundle the oxygen tank and medkit into your arms, following behind him as he began to guide you back out of the building. 

The floors were creaking and giving way, shaking under your feet as you ran after him, down stairs that were beginning to grow weak, the metal bannisters now a bright orange and you flinched away from them, hissing slightly as your jacket brushed against them, zip getting hot just from the brief touch and burning across your hand. 

Hoses at the main entrance, spraying down everything they could reach without entering the collapsing residence once again, and as you stumbled out into the light once again, Newt was already waiting with the stretcher to receive her. She was placed down, dark red curls on her head that had fallen out, blood spilling from a cut along her head and she was matted with dust that almost made her unrecognisable, but she was wearing a distinctive nurses uniform, and pride welled up within you form the second her heart beat on the monitor, Newt fixing a cuff on her arm, before wheeling her to the ambulance again.  

Following after him, you noted that the elderly woman had moved to sitting beside her granddaughter, clearing the stretcher for the nurse, and before you could board the vehicle or help Newt load the stretcher, a large hand was wrapping around your upper arm, jerking you roughly and spinning you to face the one who’s grabbed you. 

Helmet dropping to the floor and mask torn off over his head, you were met with a face that he'd more rage than you’d ever seen him have for you before. His nostrils flared, jaw clenched so tight you worried his teeth would shatter, and his eyes were dark with the kind of anger that genuinely scared you. 

“Are you fucking insane?” You took your own mask off, everything under your arm dropping to the floor, the tank clanging loudly as it hit the pavement, but you didn’t even flinch, staring right back at him. “You are reckless, that was so stupid, you have no concern for the other lives you just put at risk!”

“We just saved a life!”

“And what if we hadn't, huh? What if you ran in there, and I had to follow you, and two people died, instead?” He made a valid point, but he was failing to see the fact that you’d save a person’s life, someone who must’ve fallen unconscious from smoke inhalation, trapped under rubble and thinking they were going to die, and they were saved. “You have no regard for the rest of the damn team, yo-”

“You just saved a life, Thomas.” His jaw snapped shut, confusion stitched into the anger on his face as he stared at you, head tipping to the side just a little, gaze never leaving yours as he continued to tower over you, shadowing you from the building, shoulders rising and falling quickly as his chest heaved for breath, adrenaline stile acing through him. “She thought she’d been left behind, and that she’d die. You just saved her. She gets to live because of you.”

He was breathless, everything seeming to halt for a long second, before he was taking in a shaky breath, letting it go as a long sigh, and his shoulders slumped a little as he did his best to quell his rage. Your heart was racing in your chest, and his head ducked down, for a moment, maybe two, before he was looking back up. 

“Maybe you should think about that the next time you want to act like a dick, for no reason.”

You heard a sigh behind you, knowing Newt had been waiting with bated breath for the calling of a truce between you both, but you didn’t back down easy, you didn’t cave just because a big and tall man got angry, and Thomas looked angry once again. “It was selfish. Even if you don’t care about the rest of us, you almost killed yourself.”

“I thought this was a team, if me taking a risk is such a burden to you, don’t follow me next time.”

Shoving the mask into his chest, he barely had time to grab it, before you swiping down to scoop up your bag, and turning your back on him to meet Newt. He gave you a look, shaking his head slightly, and you could read it perfectly, knowing that it had been the perfect chance to try and patch things up with Thomas, but you didn’t regret your actions because the woman who was still unconscious with a steadily rising heartbeat beside you was alive thanks to you, and so as he took a seat in the front and started up the vehicle for the hospital, you took over caring for her, and pushed it all away. 

Maybe it had been selfish, and maybe everyone else would see it the same way Thomas did, but it was clear this wasn’t going to be your permanent home anyway, and so it made it a little harder to choke back the anxiety as you realised you wouldn't have to deal with it for much longer anyway. As soon as a new transfer came up, you’d be recommended for it, you were sure.

It was silent for a long time, all the way to the hospital, the tension in the vehicle thick as you knew Newt was mad at you, the radio having been suspiciously quiet, and on the return from calls, it was normally buzzing between all trucks and vans with chatter and congratulations, but you had no doubt that due to your actions, it had gone silent. 

You checked in the elderly woman, who’s mind had slipped away from you once again, and the nurse, who was in and out of surfacing, the doctors taking over as the two of you were left alone, and Newt wandered away toward the vending machines. You made you way back to the truck, the pains and aches of the day beginning to set in, and you realised he’d taken the keys with him, leaving you to lean against it. Placing your bag on the hood, you pulled out a disinfectant wipe, using your teeth to tear it open, wiping the blood from torn nails and wincing a little at the skin, before trying to wipe your face and arms down too. 

You had acquired a lot more subtle grazes and burns than you’d realised, but each spit flared up in pain when the wipes moved over them, making sure you wouldn’t get an infection, and it was as you were applying burn cream in the reflection of the window that Newt finally approached you again. 

Turning to face him, his lips were set in a thin line, and you frowned, knowing just how much you had disappointed him, but still trying to be strong, swallowing thickly on a dry throat and putting the cream away, zipping up your pack and barging it onto your shoulder, turning to face him for the verbal beat down. 

“You scared the hell out of me, y’know.” You sighed, arms wrapping around yourself a little, because when someone was shouting at you, you could hand that, but the puppy-dog eyes he was fixing you with now and the wounded tone of his voice was a crippling attack. “Didn’t expect to see my partner running into a burning building alone.”

“There was someone in there and I know you’re mad at me, bu-”

“I think you did the right thing.” It was your turn to be speechless, caught off-guard by him agreeing with you, and he chuckled a little at the startled look on your face. “I agree with you, alright? It’s just terrifying. I know Thomas isn’t easy to get along with, you shoulda’ seen the rivalry he and Gally had for years, but forgive him for getting mad, alright? He’s got a big heart, but he’s been hurt a lot, and he locks it up pretty tight. He cares about his team.”

“I don’t think that curtesy extends as far as me.”

“Just give him a chance, he’ll come around.” Newt offered you a water bottle, and a candy bar, both from the vending machine in the hospital halls, and you unscrewed the lid, his eyes on you in a scrutinising manner as he watched you take a sip instead of replying, and you didn’t like that look, somehow feeling like he was staring right into your soul. “You’re going to transfer out again, aren’t you?”

“We both know I don’t fit in here, Newt.”

“Bullshit!” You now knew what real anger looked like on your blonde colleagues face, the look flashing over his features as fast as lightning, and you tore your gaze away, busying yourself with your drink. 

“Another transfer will come up in a few weeks, and we both know that Thomas won’t hesitate to sign the forms to get me gone.”

“One year.” You frowned, turning to look at him, your face painted with puzzlement, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “You want the harsh truth?”

“Not rea-”

“You skip between houses without ever giving them a chance. Maybe some bad shit happened, maybe you just don’t fit in, but you’re not trying hard enough. Plant some roots, because I happen to think that if you just give us a chance, you’ll be a perfect fit for us.” You huffed out, lips rolling as you contained what you wanted to say, not used to someone speaking to you with such a crass attitude. “Give it a year, stick around here for a year, and if you still don’t think you belong here, then I’ll write you a personal letter of recommendation myself, and I’ll get both Thomas and Gally to sign it.”

“I’ve been at other houses longer than that and still not found my home, Newt.”

“You’ve never found us before.” Silence took over between you both, and he licked at his lower lip, glancing away from you for a second, eyes flickering over the car park, before looking back. “I like you, I think we make good partners, I want you to stick around. I think you should give us a go, even if it is awkward for a while. Just brave it through, for once. I think you’re running away from houses and refusing to settle because you’re scared, not because you can’t.”

Your breathing hitched in your throat, and you sighed, shaking your head at him, words coming out as a whisper; “That was mean.”

“Yeah, well, it was the truth and you needed or hear it. What are friends for?”

You glanced up, fiddling a little with the snack you held, the plastic crinkling, anything to break the tense silence “You’re my friend, then?”

“Of course, I am.” He cracked a grin at this, nodding his head, and stepping in close enough to nudge you, with a roll of his eyes. “Now, get in the truck, eat your cereal bar, and think about what I said. We have the team to get back to.”

[rapidhighway]

5+8 for the ask game!

5. Least favorite thing to draw

Clothes! TOT Especially shirts. I always just draw folds wherever! And don’t even get me started on coloring that shit. Disgusting!!

8. What’s the most fun and the least fun parts about your process

Most fun - watching the timelapse when im done lmao… Really tho, I really like trying out values, shading the entire thing in black and white before putting in colors. I’m terrible at it and nothing good ever comes of it but I really like doing it! And drawing the stray hairs, ofc, that’s a reward

Lest fun - figuring out what goes where?? I swear my brain does not understand the 3d space like it’s supposed to. Everything is in the wrong place, nothing works, and then I have to fix the sketch 1 million times! Also shading if there isn’t any particularly interesting light source… Posing as well, because I have absolutely no ideas. I’m actually not very creative :/

ask game

[remmushound]

Turtle tots short: Leo the medic -

“HOOOOOOT SOUUUUP!

The four hatchlings danced to match the final move of their cinematic hero, slashing their fists through the air and kicking out their legs to match the pose so exact that Splinter couldn’t help but stare. This was only their first time watching this particular installment of the long series, and their second time seeing the move, yet they got it perfectly with very little effort. Raphael was the first to drop the pose as the ending scene turned to credits, and that was the signal for his brothers to follow suit and do the same. Then all four started to scramble around excitedly like young boys tend to do while gabbing on to their heart's content.

“Ohhh that alien fight scene was sooo cool!” Raphael squealed, spinning around until he got dizzy and fell on his rump.

“If by cool you mean biologically inaccurate, then sure.” Donatello followed up, shifting his glasses higher up on the bridge of his beak.

“Yeah! You could see the strings!” Leonardo followed up to support Donatello.

Splinter snorted and stood up from his lazy seat, his simple presence calling the attention of all his sons.

“I assure you, my sons, that there were no wires.” His tail curled behind him and he folded his hands behind his back. “Everything you saw in that movie was real.”

“How would you know?” Leonardo pointed at Splinter accusingly.

“Yeah! How would you know?” Raphael repeated loudly.

“Yeah! How woulda?!” Michelangelo copied squeakily.

Splinter closed his eyes and laughed slowly. “Oh, my sons. You insult the master on his work! And I assure you…”

Splinter jumped suddenly into a tailspin, knocking each of his sons on their shell with a powerful whip before he landed in a pose identical to the pose he had acted out in that same movie they had just finished.

“I’ve had much longer to learn the moves.” Splinter stood up in the traditional Lou Jitsu pose. “HOOOOOOOT SOUUUUP!”

The eyes of Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo glimmered like stars in astonishment of their father, but Leonardo seemed almost unimpressed.

“Please! You don’t even sound like Lou Jitsu!” Leonardo put his hand on his hip and stuck up his nose pointedly. “Lou Jitsu sounds American!”

Splinter growled. “Well maybe Lou Jitsu just adapted the accent to get more young American boys like you interested in watching him! Now shoo!”

Splinter ushered his sons out of the room as a unit and closed the door behind them. The slam silenced them for a moment before Michelangelo giggled and soon they were all giggling. Michelangelo stuck his arms out like an airplane's wings and started to make plane noises while running around the room.

“Hey! Mike’s got a good idea!” Donatello stated, then zoomed after Michelangelo while copying his motions.

“Wait for meee! Follow the leader!” Raphael ran to get in front and lead his brothers in their airplane game.

“Yeah, whatever. That looks dumb!.” Leonardo only kept up his stubborn resistance for a few more heartbeats before bolting after them to join in the game. “Wait for me too!”

And then they were all buzzing circles around the room, with Raphael in the lead as he always was, guiding his baby brothers to victory.

“RRRRRR! This is Captain Raphael speaking!” Raphael spoke in an announcer's voice, “Just thought I’d tell you, as leader, we have takeoff!” Raphael guided his brothers up and over a couch and under a table, twisting his arms to match his turning as he weaved through the furniture.

The game ended after several extended moments of fun, and Raphael ended up climbing onto the arm of the couch to make himself appear taller.

“Otay everybody! If we’re gonna be as cool and awesome as Lou Jitsu, we need to make our own ninja clan!”

Donatello raised his hand.

“Yes Donna?”

“What is our ninja clan gonna be called? I mean— we don’t really have a last name...”

“Oh yeah.” Raphael frowned and plopped down on the arm of the chair with a huff as he started thinking. “Hm.”

“Oh oh oh!” Michelangelo bounced as he raised his hands, not waiting to be called on. “What about the Splintersons?”

There was a collected mutter of approval and agreement.

“Great idea Mikey!” Raphael declared, standing back up. “Now! As the oldest and biggest and strongest, I’m obviously the leader of Clan Splinterson!”

“And I’m the technician!” Donatello bragged, holding a hand to his chest as he gave a proud smile, “Not to brag or anything!”

“And I can be the therapish!” Michelangelo said excitedly, “Like Factor Gee in the movie!”

“You’d be a great therapist, Mikey!” Raphael praised, then turned to Leo, “What are you gonna be, Leo?”

“I…!” Leonardo started out excitedly but didn't say anything past that. He looked from Raphael to Donatello to Michelangelo, and then huffed. He crossed his arms. “I think this game is stupid. I’m gonna go play barbies.”

“Wha…?” Raphael stared sadly after Leonardo as the younger mutant stomped off to the Barbie Dream House he shared with his brothers, his back turned to the other three as he immediately started to play with Barbie and her sisters.

Michelangelo and Donatello scrambled onto the couch beside Raphael and watched as Leonardo left, equal looks of confusion and sadness and disappointment evident on their faces. A minute later and they had almost seemed to forget about Leonardo, and they were back to playing their airplane game.

Leonardo tried not to make his tears too obvious. He wiped his eyes intermittently as he played with what were usually his favorite toys, but now he only felt numb to them. Especially when he could hear the laughter and giggles of his brothers as they played their Clan game behind him.

Leonardo brought the four Barbie sisters into their Dream house living room and started to place them in sitting positions on their little plastic couch. Barbie, Stacie, and Chelsea fit perfectly snug together on the small furniture but left no room for the final sister, Skipper. Leonardo looked down at the lone doll in his hand. There was no room for her, and he was just like her. His team already had a brave leader and a smart technician and a cute therapist. What else was needed…?

Leonardo flinched at the sound of a heavy thud and he looked behind him to see Michelangelo flat on his back after hitting his head on the table when he hadn’t ducked low enough. Raphael and Donatello were already there around him staring and not knowing what to do. Michelangelo didn't cry at once, but once the shock set in the youngest brother burst into tears.

“Oh no no no!” Donatello immediately clutched at his head, “We’re gonna be in so much trouble!”

“Don’t cry Mikey…” Raphael tried to comfort Michelangelo by gently petting the smaller one's head, but that only the box turtle cry more as he kicked out his legs and screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Here— I got it.”

Leonardo pushed his way past Donatello and Raphael, heaving a medical kit in both arms and flopping it down on the floor beside Michelangelo. He clicked it open and helped Michelangelo sit up straight before grabbing a Nemo bandage. He unwrapped it, placed it gently on Michelangelo’s forehead (though there was no blood, it was still a psychological help), and gave the mutant a gentle kiss.

Michelangelo giggled sheepishly at the kiss and covered his forehead with his hands. Leonardo laughed and gave his brother a gentle hug before helping him to his feet.

“Come on! Walk it off!”

The minute Michelangelo was standing again, he launched himself into Leonardo’s chest for a hug and gave a soft churr of gratitude. He wiped snot on Leonardo’s shell and then looked up to his brother beaming.

“You’re really good at this! You should be our Clan medic!”

Leonardo sucked in a shaky breath at the declaration, his eyes going wide as saucers and his body feeling almost numb. “R… really?”

“Yeah!” Donatello agreed as he and Raphael circled around their younger brothers for a group hug, though Donatello seemed resistant to it at first.

“Every Clan needs a medic!” Raphael said, “And you could be ours!”

“You… think I can do it?” Leonardo started to tear up as he looked around at the excited faces surrounding him.

“Well, there’s two questions you gotta answer first.” Donatello nodded. “First: Do you like doing it?”

“Um… yeah.” Leonardo decided after a moment of thought.

“Are you good at it?” Michelangelo asked, “I think the answer is yes!”

Leonardo laughed. “Yeah— yeah it is!”

Raphael yanked all three of his younger brothers off their feet and hugged them tightly. “Then you’ll be the first and bestest medic in all of Splinterson Clan history!”