#the goddamn gossip is ruining him

[fairymint]

Okay Felix, we all need to know: what do you look for in a partner? What are qualities of a partner that you're drawn to? What qualities do you consider a turn off? What are some qualities that aren't deal-breakers but are things that you note in case it's relevant in the future?

"oh, dating advice!~" Well, he always seemed to have some good knowledge about, so....yeah....why not this, too? It was just Another Thing someone could ask about. Yeah, like a teacher... He was a trusted adult. That's what this is. "Well, I can't say there's anything for sure....just that they treat me right? See, someone could be their own personality...like peppy, quiet, or have their own hobbies, so seeing what works....you'd be surprised!" ..... and more questions came.

"I mean um...I'm looking for someone to h-hold, and I don't mind athletic types...I get a little stiff out there, so helping me stretch and recover instead of complaining..." He can't bring up that some people just smell nice. Feel nice...that kind of clue happens on accident when you get close... "But um, I'm not into women, and if you're mean to kids, that's out.....so whack. Gotta be nice, ehehe.....and smoking's gross..."

"But, well! None of it matters if they don't like you for you, So I'd be patient! That's the most important, seeing if you vibe....if you'll fit together." Oh, to be wanted. Consent is sexy. (Of course, as far as he's actually concerned, a guy or nonbinary pal could take him in the hallway, or just ask him out-)

[jamiesfootball]

currently obsessed with in-universe roy/jamie rpf. have you any thoughts on this topic?

So.

I am assuming that this in partially in reference to that fic that's been making the rounds and I did read the fic and I do have one opinion on the fic that has haunted my waking hours which is:

Why would Roy's sister be into X-Files fanfic?

I'm not saying it isn't possible, and this may be a stupid hill to die on, but given her assumed age bracket this was not the fandom I would have given her.

The interest in medicine. The familial brand of sarcasm and sharp wit. The easy assumption that since her brother also has a bit of a dark sense of humor ('avenge me, keeley', ropes) she likely does as well.

You fools. She'd be into House MD.

(no disrespect at all to the author your fic was lovely I am just very much from the age bracket in question and this one detail threw me for a loop the way different experiences sometimes do)

[anisangeldust]

Blind faith 𝜗𝜚⋆

Summary: it’s not an obsession. It’s a need.

Pairing: young President!coriolanus x maid fem!reader

Part: i →

Warnings: misogyny, stalking, Coriolanus’ fucked up mind, mentions of violence, forced sexualization, masturbation (m), non-con, somiphillia, p in v, normal bipolar behavior from Coriolanus, borderline domestic abuse.

A/N: False God series pt 1! Enjoy!

The aroma of coffee and mildew ridden books danced around the confines of Coriolanus’ office; the large, dark oak desk piled high with important paperwork and other such tedious documents that ate at his soul. Many bad decisions had led him to the thoughts he was having at the moment, ones that made him want to peel his skin off and lay in a pool of his own blood.

He should be happy—he should be, but he wasn’t, and it was his own goddamn fault. Any woman in Panem, his pick of the best, and he chose the one that, in his opinion, was so immeasurably insufferable that she was better off in a grave somewhere. But alas, Livia Cardew was an important person, so she ended up with the rock on her finger. She’d be the one in a months time to wear white and be proclaimed his beloved. At least she wasn’t putrid to gaze upon.

Layered on top was the stress of finding a new maid. The old one died right before Ravenstill stepped down from the position, and Coriolanus was just now getting around to replacing her. In his option, the least Livia could do was her duties as a woman and clean, but he’d never dare to let his tongue slip and ruin this important engagement, not after he’d worked so hard to get back up to the top.

Sometimes he was bewildered at how someone who graduated the same year as him at the academy could be so dim witted, did he truly not see how little she brought to society until she moved in? The thought of someone like her as First Lady of such a great nation made the hairs on the back of Coriolanus’ neck stand up. But he dug his grave, and now he was mere weeks from laying in it.

——

Dinner with Livia was as dull as usual. Coriolanus felt it would take a miracle for her to hold a genuinely intellectual conversation, she’d always tilt her head and giggle like a toddler, or drawl on about some useless capitol gossip; things Coriolanus had no patience for. The sound of his voice was nails on a chalk board, and his patience for her was wearing thin already.

“I’m hiring a new maid, I think it’s best.” He says coldly to whatever useless but of information his fiancée was babbling about. He was hoping perhaps she’d give insight, or best case scenario she’d offer to clean instead, but he should’ve known better.

“Sounds great, I’ve noticed that it’s been a bit dusty around here” Livia giggled, her laughter making it impossible for Coriolanus to want to do anything but hit her over the head with a candlestick.

That night, the feeling of arms shaking around him was what greeted him in bed. “Coriolanus..” a familiar scratching voice cooed into his ear. He knew what she wanted before she said it, and it was the only thing he’d been pushing back hard on. Sex.

“Really Livia? I’m tired” he grumbled and pulled her off of him, her touch lingering like a disease.

“Please? I’ll just blow you then, I just want something Coriolanus! We’re getting married soon and we haven’t done anything!” She was right, he didn’t what to was the thing, but the way a woman was begging to get him off appealed to the human desire in his DNA. He was a man after all, and it was his right to receive pleasure.

“Fine, I’ll let you blow me. But that’s it.” He grunted and sat up, pulling the covered off of his body and grabbing her, roughly forcing her to her knees on the side of the bed. Coriolanus grumbled something incoherent and yanked down his boxers, his dick was barely hard, so he jerked it a few times before grabbing his otherwise useless fiancées jaw and forcing her mouth onto his cock.

“Is that what you wanted yeah? Slut.” He hissed and took a right hold of her hair. He figured he could get used to this, at least she was mediocre at something, and maybe over time he’d start to enjoy it more. He fucked all the frustration he felt with her into her throat, not caring at all about the hot tears streaming down her cheeks, or the gagging sounds she was eliciting as his fat tip bullied the back of her abused throat.

Cumming down Livias throat, he groaned and pulled his cock out of her mouth. Slapping her reddened face with his softening dick. “Swallow it bitch” he commanded and stood up, pulling up his pajama pants and climbing right back into bed, not caring at all what Livias doing as long as she’s quiet, not a single positive thought about her crosses his mind before he’s pulled into the clutches of sleep.

——

Coriolanus had barely skimmed the applications for maid, picking the one he felt was most suitable, young, semi-important family, and good enough looking, that’s all that Coriolanus needed to be honest. Perhaps she could be someone else to take his anger out on, it’s just a woman after all, they’re replaceable.

The young president was looking out of his big windows when a poised knock and slight creek of the door caught his attention, it was his assistant, Basil. “Sir? The maid that you hired is here to meet you per your request.” He politely reminded.

“Thank you Basil. Send her here please.” Coriolanus replied and sat down at his large desk, leaning back and waiting to simply hire whatever young woman he had employed and get in with his day.

The rhythmic clack clack clack of heals down the hall was both intriguing and confusing for Coriolanus, Livia didn’t walk like that, perhaps this maid wasn’t a lost cause, and oh was he correct. You opened the door gently and walked in, the aura you carried was that of a divine presence, you looked so young, so corruptible, and Coriolanus couldn’t help but salivate at the thought of destroying that youthful innocence.

He could tell you had made yourself considerably more presentable for this meeting.. your lips were rosy and your hair was long and shiny. The simple but elegant dress you wore was simply too much, Coriolanus found himself wanting to bend this new aphrodisiac of a stranger over his desk, but he refrained for the sake of professionalism.

“You must be Y/N, nice to meet you. Since I’m employing you, you may call me Coriolanus. I also have a-“ he almost chucked in the word “-Fiancée, her name is Livia. Any questions? I’m a very busy man.” He said as he propped his legs up on his desk to hide his growing boner.

“Not at all, thank you Mr. President” your voice was intoxicating, the sweetest drug, and Coriolanus decided right there that he would stop at nothing to indulge in it. He almost corrected the you as you called him by his title and not his name, but the way you said ‘Mr President’ almost made him cum in his pants. A crude and disgusting idea flashed through his mind.

“Perfect. Well, it’s customary for the maids to wear clothes of a traditional French maid, I expect your measurements by tomorrow so I can have your work uniform made as soon as possible.” He was lying through his teeth, but he needed an excuse to know more about you, and a uniform he could make slutty was the perfect way he could be exposed to the newfound object of his desires more easily.

“I understand President Snow, I’ll have them in by tomorrow” you were shaking visibly, Coriolanus surmised it was due to the kind of job working for the president had to offer, or perhaps he himself is an intimidating presence.

“Wonderful. You’ll start work next Monday. I’ll get you aquatinted with the rest of the staff, and of course with Livia as well” He leaned back and almost scoffed at the name. Who was she to you? She’d never hold a candle to your beauty, to your obedience.

“Wonderful, thank you for your time Mr. President.” You stood up and didn’t even take a step before a deep command left the politicians throat.

“Call me Coriolanus.” It wasn’t a question, a mere suggestion. It was a command, one he expected you to follow.

“Yes of course, sorry sir-Coriolanus!” You were visibly flustered as you left his office, and he didn’t even try to hide that his eyes were glued to your round ass as you walked away.

——

A maid for the president, that was your job now, only to keep the house clean. It was easy right? That reassurance swirled around your head like milk in a bowl, the president was surprisingly kind, and surprisingly hot. But right now your job was to the clean the mansion, and after a brief introduction with his other staff, you went to one of the wings and looked out for where he said your uniform would be.

On a table in a small lounge was a small bouquet of flowers, a bag that looked of a luxury clothing store, and a card addressed to you. Upon opening the box inside the bag, you were greeted with a typical maids outfit yes; but it seemed much sexier than you would’ve thought would be appropriate. But who are you to say ‘no’ to the president?

The card was short, telling you what parts to clean and parts to avoid, where all the cleaning stuff resided, and how to reach Coriolanus if need be. Along with the information was a key to the mansion, and a keycard for anything that may be restricted (and not so subtle warnings annoy what would happen if either privileges were to be abused) With all said and done, you went and changed to start on your work day.

——

“Who are you?” An entitled voice said from behind you, her tone like someone who just witnessed a person puke. You stopped dusting for a moment and turned around, this lady looked at you like something on the bottom of her boot.

“Hello ma’am, I’m Y/N. Coriolanus hired me as a maid, you must be his fiancée Livia, I’m honored to meet you.” Your reply was kind, despite the obvious lack of kindness from this stranger whose house you were cleaning.

“Oh, my bad, I didn’t realize you’d be so.. provocative” she snarled and rolled his eyes at you. Reaching one of her hands out and knocking over a small vase of flowers, the glass cracking and water spilling. “Oops!” She taunted smirked. “Well? Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning?” She jeered and giggled, walking away as you sighed in both defeat at her actions, and relief that she was going already.

——

To say Coriolanus was fuming would be a severe understatement. What was supposed to be a perfect opportunity to spy on his new eye-candy of a maid in her perfectly pornographic outfit was soiled by his entitled brat of a fiancée. Looking at her made him ill, how could she? How dare she? Her actions were only solidifying her spot on his shit list, as to which she was a repeat offender.

The aftermath made it slightly better, the image of you on your hands and knees, sweeping up broken glass, made Coriolanus harder than he had ever been. And he may or not have snapped a few pictures of you bend over various surfaces.

The young president say in his bed much past after he usually would go to sleep, Livia passed out next him. He slowly palmed his boxers to the thought of you and your outfit, imagining that he was pushing you against the table and fucking your tight cunt.

“f—oh fuck..” he sucked in air as he began to tease his tip with his thumb, thinking about how he’d wrap his veiny hand around your throat and use you like a fleshlight, fucking you hard fast with his fat cock. He imagined how it would feel if you were riding him, fat ass in his grip and tits on perfect display he stroked up and down his dick as the image become more real, the want for your little pussy became unbearable. Coriolanus almost came when he imagined not even stepping you of your maid outfit, simply cumming inside and forcing you to clean while his seed pooled in your cunt.

Close to orgasm and pathetically desperate to cum in a warm pussy, Coriolanus ripped the blankets off of his sleeping fiancée. She wouldn’t care, at least he didn’t care if she did, and a clean tear of her panties granted him access to her, surprisingly wet, pussy.

It was easier to imagine it was you, the darkness and ability to shiver her face in a pillow really helped. He eased his fat tip inside her sleeping pussy, and began to sloppily thrust; not caring about anything but finishing.

“Coriolanus..?” A sleepy voice murmured, only to be taken breathless by a slap.

“Shut the fuck up you slutty bitch, let me use your pussy, fuck! And- then you can sleep-!” He grunted through sloppy thrusts and lewd squelches. His large hand went up to her mouth, allowing her no room to talk or complain.

Coriolanus came quickly to the thought of being buried in your pussy. The image of his milky cum dropping girl your puffy lips, coating your clit with his cream. He quickly pulled out of the pliant body of his fiancée and took his hand of her mouth. He rolled over and the strongest wave of clarity hit his system.

How the fuck was he going to survive being around you?

Taglist!

@daenerysqueenofhearts @caramelandvenus @yoursrosie @wearemadeofstardust0 @kay-lla @mrsriddlenott @sleekervae @ianales @qoopeeya

[lesinquietes]

After four farmer’s markets, Levi makes the mistake of telling Hange about you. He knows the moment your name leaves his mouth that he’s dug his grave. They freak out. They ask him if you’re pretty, if you sell good honey, and if he wants to marry you. Light pink settles like dust across his sun-kissed cheeks as he diverts his sour gaze and mutters that the answers to their questions are irrelevant. They know that means he likes you. Mentally, they make it their mission to set the two of you up.

Hange attends the next market with Levi. They use the excuse that they miss these sorts of things, but he knows better. They just want to catch a glimpse of you. When you arrive to set up your table, they wait eagerly until you’re done to connect. They introduce themselves and gush about your honey stand. Your eye twitches uncomfortably when they shake your hand. Levi smirks. You make eye contact with him. He’s propped up against his stall, arms crossed, thoroughly amused by your reaction to his friend. Hange doesn’t stop until you ask them to give you a little space. Promptly, they apologize and scurry back to the blackette. Giddy as a kid who ate too much candy, they insist that you’re perfect for him.

At the end of the day, Levi tells Hange to leave while he packs up their goods. They oblige, exhausted from chattering with customers all afternoon. Besides, why not give the two of you some alone time while they take a cat nap in the truck? They bid you a good evening and wish you well. You mimic their regard. Levi doesn’t miss the way you roll your eyes when they turn their back, however. He chuckles softly beneath his breath. Maybe you are meant for him.

He approaches you when you’re packed. You look as though you’re expecting him. He asks what you thought of the bespeckled eccentric. Hesitantly, you posit that they seem to mean well. He admits that they’re insanity incarnate. That’s enough to make you break your pleasantries and laugh. He smiles warmly. It’s nice to hear you act natural with him. He feels safe around you, too.

He doesn’t normally bond with others. He’s experienced such vast, heartbreaking loss in his life, that he likes to keep his circle tight. So, it surprised him when he felt an attraction to you. He believes something powerful exists between the two of you.

Before he can stop himself, he asks if you want to have tea with him. It’s a huge risk. You blink and ask him if he means right now. He freezes for a second. He doesn’t have to think hard; the answer comes naturally to him. Yes, now.

By the time seven o’clock hits, you’re on the porch of Erwin’s farm, a cup of lemonade in your hands, reclining on a cozy chair next to Levi. The blonde comes down to greet you. Then, he excuses himself. He wants to give Levi space to do as he pleases with you. Thus, he posits that he’s going to visit Hange. Levi scoffs. He knows they’re going to gossip about him. So what if it’s obvious he’s attracted to you? He thinks half the world would be, if they truly saw you. They don’t see what he does.

Levi fantasizes about scooping you into his strong arms and carrying you into the house. Your legs would wrap around his in a frenzy as he planted kisses along your neckline. Pressing your body close to his, you would grind your core against his desire, vying for him to ruin you. And he would — he fucking would. He would ruin you so that no other can satisfy you like he can; so that he’s the only one you can think of when you reach your peak. You would mewl and moan for him to go harder, to fuck you deeper, to claim you. Why, he laments, are you so goddamn tempting?

But, as he sits across from you, gently nudging his foot into yours, smiling gingerly as you tell him about your family, he knows this isn’t the time for him to act. A sweet thing like you is liable to be frightened of the dominant spirit he harbours if you catch a glimpse of it too soon. He’s not in a rush; he’s content to sit back and learn about you for a while. The time will undoubtedly come wherein he subjects you go every single fantasy he’s manifested in his head.

He listens to you intently, all the while imagining peeling every layer of clothing from your beautiful body.

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𝔉𝔞𝔯𝔪𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔲

[bumpkinspice0]

Know One Knows the Trouble, Honey, That We've Been Through 2/3

Logan Howlett/ Wolverine x Mutant!FemReader

Chapter Rating: Mature

Word Count: 5.6k

Summary: Your emotions start to settle and you get to know Logan a little more Warnings: Hangover? Negative self-talk, SEXUAL TENSION, pg-13 dirty talk, talk of past trauma/abuse

Series Masterlist

Part 1 Part 3

AO3 if you prefer to read there

_______

You always found it wasn’t the hangover that was the worst part after a night of drinking— it was the shame. A heavy groan rolls out of your lips, your achy shoulders leaning over the third cup of coffee that was forced on you. You’re still surprised you had the courage to leave your room at all. This isn’t the first time the X-men nursed you back to the land of living after a night of less-than-savory decisions, but you do hope it’s the last.

Thankfully, you hadn’t seen Logan all morning.

He drove you both home. He carried you to bed. You called him a fucking calendar boy. God, you had to be here for at least another week. How on earth are you going to get through this? Could you possibly avoid him for days? With enough dedication… Maybe. 

“You and Logan seem to have made up then?” Storm muses, taking a seat next to you at the kitchen counter. 

“We… went to Stevie’s,” You grumble into your coffee. 

“Of course you did,” She tries and fails to hide her smile. You’d drug Storm there plenty of times back in the day.

“I thought I’d be nice. Be The bigger person, ya know. Make peace. It was supposed to be one drink, Ororo,” You slump down to the counter, burying your face in your arms, “He carried me to my goddamn bed.”

“Did he now?” You hear the intrigue in her voice. 

“I called him a lumberjack. Or a firefighter or something. Scream-sang half the way home too I think.”

“Mmm,” she hums into her mug before taking a generous sip of coffee, “And did… anything else happen last night?”

You immediately shoot up, cheeks heating in an instant. Storm always loved the juicier gossip. 

“Nope!” you blurt just a little too loudly, “Just shamefully being tucked in, unfortunately.” 

“Shame. I think he likes you.”

“Yeah… right,” You wheeze, “The professor made him my chaperone to the greenhouse yesterday, I got drunk on his dime, and on top of that I think I scratched up his bike when I knocked it over… with him on it.”

“Details, darling. Details.” She gets up to round the kitchen island, pulling out a cereal box and two bowls. “More importantly, what do you think of him?”

“Well, he wrecked the flowers you got me.” you bluntly point out. 

“A fact that I’m sure Jean is scolding him for this very moment,” she pours two bowls of Honeycombs, one heftier than the other, “He’s a difficult person, yes, but he’s trying to get better too. It took a lot of convincing from all of us when he first came here.”

Sounds like someone else that used to come here. You want to say it but the double meaning in her tone is clear.

You recall trying to run away at least twice when you first came to the X Mansion. It was scary, and you’d been in fight or flight mode for so long that you didn’t know how to react. Everything was always a matter of time at that point in your life. It seemed like everyone became an enemy, eventually. Every home was abandoned, eventually.  You would have run out of time eventually— if it wasn’t for Charles. 

“He’s not so bad on the eyes either though, is he?” Storm slides a near overflowing bowl to you, milk splashing over the sides. 

“Ro,” you pinch the bridge of your nose, trying to hide your smile more than anything. She was always so forward, “I think I said he could be in a calendar last night. Like the sexy calendars.”

“Ah, so the drunken confessions have gotten the ball rolling,” Storm slides back in next to you, “Other than his leg buckling good looks, what else do you think of him?” 

It’s still too early in this relationship to form a concrete opinion about him. He ruined your flowers and you got drunk with him. It’s not the best start to a friendship— but you’ve had worse. 

You think back to the hastily taken-off shoes next to your bed. An untouched glass of water on your nightstand you immediately downed. The crinkles around his eyes that deepened when he laughed at whatever you were rambling about back at the bar. An abandoned red flannel left around your shoulders when you woke up this morning…

He didn’t talk much, but he listened. He cared in his own tough guy way.

“I think… he’s nice.”

______________

You choose to work on the tunnels today, not ready to face the blinding sunlight outside. The max dose of ibuprofen and a steady supply of Gatorade were working overtime as you blast further into the rock. There was still at least half a mile to clear out and Hank wanted to get started on the wiring for the lights and ventilation as soon as possible. 

Ideally, you wouldn't be doing anything today. Drinking always took it out of you, but you couldn’t just loaf around the mansion nursing a hangover when you were hired to do a job. You didn’t even get in the tunnel until noon and after an hour of punching through bedrock, you’re already exhausted. 

You emerge from the tunnel back into the basement for a small break, soot already covering you despite your less-than-enthusiastic work effort. For once you didn’t want to bury yourself in your work— metaphorically at least. For the first time since you got here, you give yourself a chance to breathe. 

The sleek lower halls of the X-men haven’t changed. It looks the same, but it feels completely different— just like fucking everything lately. Nothing changed here, but you have. A place you were once so proud to be. Now… now you don’t know. 

But maybe you’re starting to come to terms with it— feeling comfortable, even. It’s okay that things change, literally everything does. That’s what moving forward is all about. 

Is that what you were doing? Moving forward?

You come to the display cases, everyone’s suits standing proudly on faceless mannequins. Suits of the current X-Men and the past. They still had yours, of course. A plaque that read ‘(Bull)Dozer’ rested at its feet. You wonder if it would still fit you. 

“Always wondered who wore that one.” A now familiar gruff voice pulls you out of your reminiscing. You turn and there he is, leaning against the adjacent wall, that blasted smirk on his face. 

He’s suited up, a fresh sheen of sweat marking his forehead and a faint smell of smoke lingering around him. He must have just come from the danger room.

You give your own smirk and give him a quick once-over, taking in the garish yellow that covered him from head to toe, “I didn’t expect yours to be so… Bright.”

“Goes with my eyes,” He teases, coming to stand next to you. You’re suddenly hyper-aware of how filthy you surely must be. You resist the urge to dust yourself off. There was no use, you were covered in dirt. “How you feeling today, darlin’?” 

The pet name shoots butterflies straight to your stomach. Either from embarrassment or… something else.

“Just fine.” You say as confidently as you can. 

“Didn’t expect you to be so… productive today.” He cocks an eyebrow. 

“Oh, I’ve been around the block a few times. I’m tough.”

“I’m sure you are.”

The air is suddenly suffocating and you’re not sure how much of it is in your head. You don’t dare bring up whatever you could have possibly said last night. You couldn’t just ignore it either. 

“I wanted to say… thanks… for last night,” you break the silence, “But also I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“Sorry you had to play babysitter.”

“Ya know you’ve got a nasty habit of apologizing for things you shouldn’t be apologizing for.”

“Logan–”

“I had a good time last night,”  He cuts you off, going from a teasing tone to a more serious one. He means it. He wants you to know he means it, “Wasn’t the first time I had to carry someone to bed and it won’t be the last. I didn’t mind. You were pretty fun before that too. Play a mean game of pool.”

You’re not sure but you swear you see him wink.

You feel the rush to your cheeks again. Since when did you get so shy around shit like this? Maybe it was just him. Something about him had this effect on you. 

You goddamn teenager. 

“Doing the Danger Room solo, huh?” you quickly change the subject. 

“Not a very good team player,” he shrugs, “Not that anyone here would be much of a challenge if they wanted to join.”

“Cocky prick,” you scoff, “I bet I could take you.”

Something in his demeanor changes. His eyes darken and a playful grin pulls at his lips. All the pet names, sneaking up on you, making you blush. He’s been flirting…  might as well flirt back. 

“That so, princess?”

You want to backstep. You should backstep— but damn, playing with fire never seemed so fun. 

“Yeah, I do think so.” You cross your arms, a playful challenge. 

“And what makes you say that?” He steps closer, you don’t back down. 

“I’ve met a lot of men that think they’re hot shit. Men that need to be knocked down a peg. I don’t mind being the one to do it. They always walk away with their tail between their legs.”

Something in his eyes darkens as he crowds you against the wall. You can feel the heat radiating off of him. He leans down.

“Sounds like a lot of boys to me.” he nearly growls. “You’ve put a lot of boys in their place, princess?”

“Only when they deserve it.” 

A deep hum of approval rumbles in his throat. The feralness of his tone awakens something inside of you. It stirs in your belly and shoots between your legs. 

You’re playing a very dangerous game but can’t seem to help yourself— not with Logan.

Suddenly, he pulls away, all of the air you were holding in your lungs going with him. 

“Hank.” He grumbles under his breath as he steps away.

Sure enough, the big blue man himself rounds the corner, several scattered papers and blueprints in hand. 

“My dear, there you are!” Beast walks directly between you and Logan, completely unaware of the tension he’s breaking. “I wanted to discuss some foundational plans with you for the new win,” he places a hand on your back and gently starts guiding you down the hallway. “If you’ll excuse us, Logan.”

“Sure, bub,” you catch a glimpse of Logan scowling over your shoulder, “Do whatcha gotta do.”

________________ 

Days. It’s been days since you’ve seen him. It’s been days since you’ve seen much of anyone, really. 

Scott had everyone on high alert since the evening of your hangover. More activity was detected around the Trask extremist's now not-so-hidden hideout. Charles has been on the phone with any government official he can and the rest of the gang has been on around-the-clock reconnaissance. Thank god the only thing the US government hates more than mutants is domestic terrorism. If they can solve this amicably and quietly, they will.  

And you just keep digging your holes in the ground. 

You finished the tunnels yesterday, both far longer than the previous ones were. One exiting over half a mile to the West and another to the East. All that was left were the gardens now. 

It was the work that would take the longest anyway. They had to be sculpted meticulously, level, and somewhat aesthetic looking. Much harder than just boring a hole into the ground. Things that looked beautiful required more focus and time, that’s true with anything. You had a little less than a week to finish the job. Then… you’re not sure. Just go back to your regular life, you suppose. 

Do you really want to go back?

The question continuously repeats in your head as you try your best to focus on leveling the dirt beneath your palms. This job back at your school did not go as planned— at all. You thought you could do this quickly without drawing in the guilt. Quick in and out then back to your mediocre career and lackluster social life. In hindsight, you feel like a fool for thinking you could do this without old feelings stirring up. Feelings that weren’t nearly as bitter as you thought they were. Charles mentioned in passing how he’d like to start a new environmental science course, they’re just having trouble finding someone who has time. A trap, surely. Jean did say your thoughts are very loud lately, the professor’s no doubt overheard your inner conflict.

This thing with Logan wasn’t helping either. 

Nothing more than lust, you think. Carnal desires stirring for someone mysterious. A bad boy. A rogue. If you were younger you would have already found him late one night and jumped his bones. For some reason that felt… trashy. That and Scott’s had the man on call constantly. Even though he’s made it clear the feeling is mutual, you don’t want to necessarily piss where you lay. But that would only matter if you stayed.

You want him. You want him bad and you're being skittish about it because you don’t want to fuck up the dynamics of the team… because you want to stay. 

You want to stay. 

The roar of the Blackbird coming into land sends your ears ringing. They’re back from their latest reconnaissance mission. The sun was going to set within the hour. Your work would be done for the day and everyone would be home—everyone including him. 

You have no idea what you’ll do but… something. Tell Charles and Scott you want to stay? Finally pounce on Logan? Or just hide away in your room— that seems most likely. 

Unfortunately, the choice is made for you. 

“Still no flowers planted yet?” the sweet rumble of Logan’s voice pricks the hairs on the back of your neck. 

“Tomorrow maybe. Almost done with the beds,” you say as casually as possible. He comes to stand at the top tier of the garden several feet above you. He’s changed out of his uniform and you’re still in your 2 day old work clothes. Why does he keep finding you when you’re completely covered in dirt?

“Nice shirt,” he nods towards you. 

You look down at your grime-covered torso. You’d put on his flannel this morning. Why in God's name did you do that?

“Yeah some fella from the bar left it in my room,” you joke as you make your way up to him. “Sorry, musta just grabbed it without thinking.”

“I don’t mind. Suits you,” he reaches out, helping you up the final step. He pauses, just for a moment. “Hi.”

“Hi.” 

And there’s that awkward little silence brewing again you're both so good at. He’s desperately the person you want to see and the last person you want to talk to at the same time. Still, he sought you out first— and that meant something. 

You both decide to break the silence at once. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been—”

“Would you wanna get you another—”

Were you always this bad at this or is it just him? 

He chuckles, scratching the back of his head, “Got a little break in the action. Was wondering if I… could get you another drink?”

Your entire body screams no but your stupid heart is pounding yes. Maybe if you take it easy this time you’ll be fine. You actually remembered to eat today so that’s working in your favor. 

“I’m not sure I can show my face at Stevie’s again.” You joke. 

“Nah, not that dump. " He turns and starts walking back to the mansion, “somewhere much more local this time.”

_______________

The sun is just starting to kiss the treeline when you settle into your seat. You promised to start a fire in the pit and Logan promised to bring the beer. It at least gave you a little time to get rid of all the dirt that was caking you head to toe. Sharing a drink while watching the sunset on the back porch with a bonfire. You don’t think he intended for it to be as romantic as it was, but you can’t say you really mind. 

Logan comes through the sliding door, six-pack in hand. You don’t even get a word out before he’s already offering an opened bottle.

“Maybe take it easy this time,” he smirks.

“Mm, maybe you should have got me a juice box instead if you’re so worried.” 

“Oh, and here I thought you were a tough girl.”

Jesus fucking christ. 

You accept the beer and dare not make eye contact.

“Cheeky ass,” you attempt to shoot back, taking a heavy swig from the bottle. 

He takes a seat next to you on the bench with a heavy groan. “I’ve been called worse.”

You don’t doubt it. You were calling him worse barely a week ago. Now you’re sharing a drink at sunset with him? Well, another drink. 

“How was the mission?” 

He just grunts in response, leaning over his knees to peer into the fire, “Fucking annoying.”

“The bad guys or Scott?”

“Both,” He huffed a laugh, taking a swig from his bottle. “Just gettin’ impatient is all. Summers has us all waitin’ for the right moment. Can’t let them know we’re watching. Probably the right call with guys like these. Don’t tell him I said that though.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, tough guy.”

Your heart isn’t racing as much now. The air between you is getting lighter by the second. This wasn’t so bad. He wasn’t so bad. Not entirely the gruff and tough guy you made him out to be. 

He could have marched right up to you and asked you to come up to his room, and you would have said yes. You could have come banging on his door one night for a quick fuck, but you didn’t. There was that desire here, but there was something else building too. You wanted to know him. He seemed to want to know you too. 

You want to stay. 

“You miss it?”

“What?” the question catches you off guard. 

“The X-Men. Being an X-man.” Logan clarifies, “Do you miss it?”

It's a loaded question, one you might have answered differently a few weeks ago. 

“Yes.”

He’s just as surprised by your bluntness as you are. 

“Why leave then?” he prods a little further. 

You want to know him, he wants to know you.

“I wanted to see if I could do it. Just… be a person. Free to just exist in the world, ya know?” you instinctively curl your legs into your chest. “And I guess I did it, in a way. I’m not struggling, a business owner with steady work, but that doesn’t change the way they look at me. They want what I can do. I’m a one-man construction crew. Cheaper and faster, but still just a mutant, someone you pay under the table. I guess I forgot I couldn’t really change anyone's mind either.”

He lets your little confession linger for a moment before speaking again. 

“Fuck ‘em.” 

You raise a brow.

“Fuck ‘em. Never thought it was much worth being part of anyway.”

Guess you’re not the only blunt one here.

You unfurl your legs, stretching your feet out to the edge of the fire. You wish you’d kicked off your work boots earlier. 

“What about you, Wolverine? Do you like being an X-man?”

“Tch, now ain’t that a big question.” He raises the bottle to his lips.

“So you don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.” the bottle lowers. 

“You don’t seem to say much about yourself.” You’re baiting him, just a little.

“Fair enough,” he concedes with a sigh, “I do. I like bein’ here, bein’ part of something, but it's got its own challenges. I’ve got my own challenges. Demons like everyone else. Guess that’s how we all ended up here, isn’t it? Fucked up as that is.”

He’s a man of few words, but each of them is spot on. You’re only here because you were running, just like everyone else. 

“So is that a yes—” you tease. 

His knee knocks against yours with a chuckle, “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

His thigh doesn’t move away, resting lazily against yours. You swear you can feel his body heat radiating up your whole leg. 

“Would you come back?” He turns the conversation back to you again.

“I… I don’t know yet,” you admit. 

“Yet?”

“I don’t know if they’d take me. If Charles would—I’ve been—”

“They would.” his blunt candor cuts through your insecurity like a knife. Logan is a man who only seems to say what he means, and that’s comforting, strangely enough. “I don’t know much about it, but family is family. All you gotta do is ask with this crowd.”

A reassuring heat creeps into your cheeks at his words. You know he’s right. The only one you need to convince is yourself now.

“Yeah,” you thumb at the neck of your beer, long forgotten and surely completely warmed through by now. You set it on the ground, “I might…I might just ask.”

You feel him shift, leaning in closer to you. You finally turn your eyes from the dancing fire and face him. His normally hardened face is so… soft. 

“I wouldn’t mind keepin’ you around if you did.”

The kiss is gentle at first, to your surprise. Both of you lean into it almost nervously, as if asking permission. When neither of you pulls away he’s the first to go deeper, cradling your head in his freehand. You melt into him. His mouth opens against yours, tongue seeking your own. You let him in gladly. The sensation of his stubble against your cheeks makes your hair stand on end. A deep moan growls up from his throat and sends shockwaves through your whole body. Your thighs clench together almost on instinct.

He’s the first to pull away, but still hovering close enough for your noses to brush. 

“Come to my room tonight.” You find yourself asking through heated breath. 

“Why not right now?” his hand roams down from your neck to your hip. You want this, god you really want this. But…

“Please grant me the decency of a shower, Logan,” You worry for a split second your stupid mouth has ruined the moment, but he huffs out a small laugh with that unmistakable smirk.

“Me or you?” he leans to the side, nose grazing your neck. 

“B-both.” 

“Smell pretty good to me, darlin’.” You feel his breath dancing on your skin, a few small pecks left along your shoulder. 

“Logan…”

“I like that,” He comes back up to face you, eyes blown wide with desire, “I like the way you say my name.”

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” You can’t help but rake your free hand through his hair. It’s softer than you expected. 

“Can’t have that. Not when you just decided to come back,” He gives your hip a final squeeze and steals another quick kiss before leaning back. “You wanna wait, we’ll wait.” 

Suddenly you regret your shower request.

You sigh, dropping your head to his shoulder “It’s been a long day… few days.”

“I can relate,” his hand rakes over your back. “Probably gonna be called out again in 10 minutes anyway.”

“Any progress?”

“We’re close, whatever that means,” you can hear the irritation in his voice. You can’t blame him, the whole team was constantly coming and going the last week.

 They’d have a lead and it’d fizzle out. Even Ceribro was having trouble tracking them. You overheard Jean and Charles discussing the possibility of them possessing physic-blocking technology. Enemies had gotten their hands on weirder things. 

“What was it like… when you were on the team?” he asks. Well, if you weren’t going to jump into each other’s pants right away, might as well keep up with the fireside pleasantries— not that you minded.

“Smaller. Much smaller.” You snort, “We didn’t have a direct line to the president, that’s for sure. Mostly breaking up small-time mutant-related gang violence. Saving kids. Erik would show up every once in a while with some new lackeys. Nothing like what he tried on Liberty Island.”

“You heard about Liberty Island?” 

“Jean told me,” It was all over the news too, some important details left out, of course. “She told me it was your first mission with the team too.”

“Hell of a first mission.” he takes a heavy swig of his mostly untouched beer. “What was yours?”

“Child rescue,” You don’t even have to think about it, the night is still imprinted on your mind, “A dozen mutant kids were being held in some dirty warehouse in Long Island. They were gonna be sold off to some private warlords or some shit, I don’t like to think about what could have happened. We got them out, that’s what matters.”

You pull away from him, your previously warm mood now soured by no fault of your own. Thankfully, Logan doesn’t seem offended. 

“Why do I feel like that’s not the whole story?” He takes a cautious sip, raising his brow.

He’s right. 

“Do you actually wanna hear it?” You peek at him from the corner of your eye. He nods.

“I told you I was an angry kid. I was an angry X-Man too,” you remember the close calls that night, “Seeing those kids like that… it reminded me of… it was too much. If I get too mad, buildings fall down. Foundations crack. We got the kids out while the roof was coming down.”

You thought you were so ready for the field. What a mistake that was. Charles and the team never shamed you but there was always this look in their eyes. Like they were waiting for you to go off again. You kept a tighter hold on it after that night. You let yourself lose control before, you don’t want to do it again. Keeping it in keeps people safe.

“You don’t seem so angry to me, sweetheart.”

“Years of practice.” you give a faux smile, a pit of regret forming in your stomach for oversharing— again. 

“You’ll have to give me lessons sometime,” he nudges at your shoulder. Despite it all, he’s still smiling at you. 

“You’re a good listener, Logan.” you smile back. 

“Gotta be when you don’t have much of your own story to tell.” he shrugs off the small compliment. 

“What happens in your story, bub?” you joke, praying he might share just a little.

He leans forward over his knees. His deep brown eyes stare blankly into the fire like he’s searching for something. He said there’s missing parts. He said he doesn’t remember much.

“I don’t know it all yet.” is his disappointing answer, “It was… taken from me. Charles is helping me find the missing pieces. I want to tell you, I do, but I want all the pieces back first.”

You desperately want to ask him to elaborate. Memories taken from him? Missing time the Professor was helping him get back. That had to be part of the reason he stayed here. To get back who he was. 

Still, you won’t push.

“All good stories are worth waiting for, I hear,” you give him an assuring smile. He thankfully smiles back, placing a warm hand on your thigh. Something about him, something about Logan just made this all so… easy. 

“You could tell me yours while we wait?” He asks, orange lights dancing over his soft expression. “How did Dozer become an X-Man?”

“It’s… not a happy story.” You bite your lip.

“Neither is mine.”

You look back at the fire, his warm eyes suddenly too much to bear looking at. Were you really going to do this? You barely know him.

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

But you do want to, and that’s the surprising part. You don’t know why, but you want to tell him about the darkest part of your life. It’s been so long since you’ve said any of it out loud, maybe you need to get it out. Maybe he’d understand. Maybe you’ll scare him away. Maybe you just want him to know what the fuck he’s getting into.

You take a deep breath.

“My powers manifested when I was ten. Was playing in the backyard with my brothers and suddenly we had a new sinkhole. Broke one of their ankles. I don’t think they ever stopped being afraid of me after that. My father was afraid at first too. Tried to cover it up, told me not to make any new friends, to keep to myself in school. It went on like that for a few months until… until everything changed.”

You’ve tried so hard to forget these few years of your life. At the same time, they seem to be all you can think of late at night. It’s what you’ve been running away from your whole life. 

You’ve told so few people this story, and now you’re telling Logan. He sits there quietly, a supportive heavy hand on your thigh and kindness in his stern eyes. 

He wanted to know you. 

“Like I said before, my father was a career army man. I think he loved it more than us. I know he loved it more than me. I don’t know how he heard about it but the military wanted mutants. Secret programs within secret programs. A once in a lifetime opportunity for him. I was his ticket in.”

You feel Logan’s grip tighten. 

“He didn’t give me to them completely at first. Made me do tryouts I guess. Took me to some base and made me show a bunch of old men in nice suits what I could do. Did that a few times. It was slow at first. Taken out of school. Brothers stopped talking to me. Told to practice more. At first, it was once a week, then it was more, then he just left me there.

“I was scared the first night. I was only twelve but I was smart enough to know where this would all lead. I knew my father didn’t love me anymore. I knew they’d do horrible things to me. I broke out. They caught me within 24 hours and scrambled to find a prison I couldn’t break out of again. Where do you keep a child that can move bricks and concrete like toys? One day, I just woke up in a room of metal. They hid me away in some deployed battleship. Never learned where or what the name was. There were others there too I think, but I can’t be sure. They couldn’t trust me, but maybe they thought they could train me. Make me a soldier. Break me.”

Funny how these words come out so easily. You recite them in an almost sterile way. Maybe you needed to say them again. Needed someone else to know. You feel Logan’s eyes boring into you, but you don’t dare meet his gaze. Not while there’s more to say.

“I think I was on that ship for almost a year. When they started talking about taking me to another facility ‘with the others’ I knew I had to get out somehow. I played along, became docile, whatever they wanted so long as they would let their guard down. I’d be shipped out to the mountains in Canada, they said. When we docked I could finally feel earth again for the first time in months. Even from inside my little cell, I was close enough to summon something… anything. 

“I put a hole in the ship with a few bricks from the pier. One hole became dozens. I didn’t stop until the hull was more air than metal. The boat sank at port and I was able to escape in the commotion. We were in New Jersey. In 6 months I got to Chicago and that’s where Charles found me.”

The sun has completely set but for a few stray ribbons of orange in the sky. The crackling of the dying fire was deafening between you two. You finally look back to Logan. You can’t read his face. It’s not blank or shocked like most people were after your sad story. 

His next words shock you. 

“The Weapon X program,” it comes out so quietly, “You were�� oh my God, you were in the Weapon X program.”

It’d been so long since you’d heard that goddamn name. 

You draw away from him immediately, betrayal muting over all of your other feelings. He knew. 

“Charles told you, didn’t he? You let me drone on while—.”

“No! No, he—” Logan bites out, hands closing into fists. The knuckles whiten instantly. “Chuck never told me.”

“Then how do you know that name? How do you know what Weapon X is?” You spit the words with venom, your defenses are immediately put back into place. He knew something. He knew something about you this whole damn time. 

Yet, he looks so small. Shoulders slouched down, defenseless. Eyes wide with what almost felt like compassion.

“Logan… were you… were you in Weapon X?”

He looks down at his hands resting on his lap, squeezing his fists one last time before releasing them. As his fingers unfurl his claws slowly unsheath, lazily crossing over each other on his lap. It could almost be perceived as a threat, but that’s not what he’s doing. It’s like he’s showing you something. 

“Darlin’... I am Weapon X.”  

__________

[xxsp3llb0undxx]

The Pack Imprint

Fem!Reader x Uley Pack {2.9k}

Requested - Unknown

DO NOT POST MY WORK TO OTHER SITES OR CLAIM AS YOUR OWN. I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF TWILIGHT.

Summary: Reader is Bella Swan's neighbour, having lived beside the Swan's her whole life. The once close pair, now hate each other all because of the group of shifters that reside in the rainy state of Forks, Washington.

WARNINGS: BELLA SLANDER // SWEARING // NOT PROOF READ

Forks, Washington - February 19th 2005

It had been a month since Bella came back to town, she was the centre of the school gossip, everyone trying to either be her friend or get a date with her. All but one person - Y/n L/n. Bella and Y/n grew up together, they were childhood friends along side Jacob Black. But after her parents divorced and she went to live with her mom, Bella had grown distant with the young girl she once saw as a sister. Two letters a week turned into one a month, which then turned into nothing. Y/n was heartbroken, her best friend had up and left. Jacob tried to be around more often but with school on the res and his dad nagging at him to help around the house, he couldn't fit Y/n into his schedule. Which in turn, made the pair grown apart from each other as well. That was until she came back.

The last month in Forks had been hell. Everywhere Y/n went, whispers about the Swan girl being back was all she heard. Every time she would enter through the school door the chatter about her once best friend would swarm through the halls, Y/n had enough. She was sick and tired of always hearing about her, Bella this and Bella that - it was giving her a headache. Jessica and Angela had gave Y/n's seat at the lunch table away to Bella, that was until she started sitting with the Cullens. It was infuriating, she's been back a month and she's already pining after the only Cullen available, it was pathetic. Bella was like a plague coming to ruin Y/n's life all over again, but she wouldn't allow it to affect her.

When lunch came around, Y/n found an empty table near the back of the cafeteria. Jessica and Angela tried to invite her back to their table but all they were met with was Y/n's middle finger held up in front of their faces, the two girls turned and walked away but not without Jessica muttering a not so quiet 'bitch' under her breath. Y/n had enough of Jessica's shit; the sly things she'd say about everyone, how she would point out peoples insecurities and worst of all - how she victimised herself all the goddamn time. Y/n had got up out of her seat, the screech from the metal legs dragging against the floor grabbed the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. "Hey Jess?" Before the girl could respond, Y/n had grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her back - the scream she let out was loud, almost deafening the Cullens; who were on the other side of the cafeteria. "Don't you ever call me a bitch again, do you hear me? I'm sick and tired of your bullshit. You just never learn to fucking shut up." With that said, Y/n had let go of her and walked out the double doors leading into the parking lot of the school.

The Cullens had watched the whole thing unfold, Bella clinging onto Edward's arm saying she was scared. Emmett had the biggest grin on his face, he was enjoying himself too much, quiet little Y/n had turned out to be a badass and Emmett loved it. Rose had to stop her mate from joining in, a firm grip on his bicep - enough to hurt anyone that wasn't a vampire. Alice, knowing what would happen, had excused herself before the fight broke out. She wanted to see if Y/n was alright, so the pixie like vampire had decided to wait beside Y/n's car, hoping she would show up soon. But she didn't, at least not for awhile. Alice had gotten tired of waiting, she turned to leave when she heard the car door behind her shut with a soft click. Before she could do anything, the car had reversed and turned out the parking lot - heading as far away from the gates of Forks Highschool.

March 5th 2005

It had been at least a week since the whole incident between Y/n and Jessica. No one had seen or heard off Y/n, people had started to spread rumours around saying she was expelled or she had ran away after what she had done but none of it was true, only no one would really know the truth at least not yet. Bella had rang Jacob after it had turned into two weeks of not seeing Y/n, at first the young wolf sounded unfazed, like he didn't care but in truth, it was all an act. He knew about what had happened, he heard it straight from the horses mouth the day it all occurred. Y/n had drove all the way to Jacob's house, he was in the garage when he head the screech of tires pulling up in front of his house. He had poked his head out the garage door to see who it was, not really in the mood for anyone to come rushing into his house when he was busy. The sight of a distraught Y/n had panicked the poor boy, he rushed over to her scanning her body for any signs of injury but he turned up with nothing. Y/n was on the verge of tears, he could hear her heart hammering in her chest. Jacob brought her in to his arms, the warmth radiating off of him helped calm the girl down a little though she was still shaking.

Y/n had brought Jacob up to date with what had happened, he was proud of her for finally standing up to Jessica but he was also upset that it had to get to this point for Y/n to finally step up and confront her about it. Y/n had stayed with Jacob and his dad for the last couple weeks, begging them to not send her back there. A couple weeks had then turned into a month, Jacob had started to ignore everyone and started to hang out with Sam Uley and his little pack of mutts. Y/n wasn't having it, she was sick and tired of waiting for Jacob to come home but he never did, no matter how many times Y/n had asked Billy where Jacob had disappeared to he never told her. She waited for as long as she could until it was too much, she had trekked all the way over to Sam's place; her hands clenched and face red hot with anger. She was going to get her answers one way or another.

When Y/n had made it to Sam's house, Bella just so happened to be there too. Her fiery orange truck parked in the drive. There was a indescribable feeling in the pit of Y/n's stomach, a mixture between anxiety and full blown hatred. She stomped her way over to the group, Sam was telling Bella to leave but she wasn't having any of it, like always. Paul was the first to notice Y/n, her h/l h/c whipping around with the wind. Before he could tell Sam she was here, Bella had shouted at him. "What did you do to him? He didn't want this. He just up and left without telling me anything because he's scared of you." Paul had laughed at Bella, Jacob wasn't scared of anyone and yet she still thought that. Paul was calm until Bella had gone and slapped him across the face, she clutched her hand to her chest, it was surely broken after that hit. Paul had started to shake violently, Sam had pushed Bella back telling her to back away whilst simultaneously trying to get Paul to calm down. Y/n had the dumbest idea ever, we all must admit she's not the smartest. She had slowly started to step towards Paul right as he had shifted.

Bella's screaming could be heard but that didn't bother Y/n, what did though was the huge dark silver furred wolf right in front of her. It's teeth bared, snarling at her. Though, she felt no fear. Her hand slowly reached up and gently lay upon it's muzzle. The wolf huffed, he wasn't entirely trusting the girl in front of him but he also felt no fear towards her. He looked into her e/c and everything stilled. The noise around him had calmed, all he could focus on was her. Paul felt like the centre of the earth had shifted, like he was finally where he was meant to be. Before he knew it, he had shifted back. Y/n's body flush against his own, protecting him from the eyes around them. Soon enough, a blanket had been given to him to cover up until he was able to make it back to the house and put a new set of clothes on. Paul was confused, how was he able to imprint on Y/n when he had already imprinted on Rachel, Jacob's sister?

After the events of earlier today, Bella had told Jacob to never speak to her again and she left, just like that. Jacob was sat on the steps of Sam's porch, he just wanted to be alone but he knew that was impossible. Jacob felt a shift of weight beside him, he turned his head and saw Y/n wrapped up in one of Emily's blankets, she must've given Y/n the blanket to stay warm. Jacob threw his arm over the smaller girl, the warm his body provided her, soothed the chill that made a home in her bones. "You know, Bella doesn't deserve you Jake. You're too good for her." They both sat there in silence for awhile, the soft chime of the trees rustling in the wind settling in to the comfortable silence around them. The door to Sam's house opened, revealing the older male. "Come inside, we're having a pack meeting." The pair looked at each other before Jacob got up and walked inside, leaving Y/n to sit on her own to watch the trees dance around in the soft breeze.

Inside Sam's house, the pack was all sat around in his living room. Embry, Paul, Jared and Quil were sat on the sofa, Leah and Seth took up the two arm chairs while Sam and Jacob were stood; everyone waiting for Sam to start the meeting. "We all witnessed what happened between Paul and Y/n earlier, Paul imprinted for the second time. What we need to figure out is why that happened." All eyes were on Paul, he felt smug about having two imprintee's but it felt wrong, as if he were betraying Rachel. The meeting had gone on for the last hour, the pack had decided to try and see if they would all imprint or if it was only Paul to be lucky enough to have two imprintee's. The pack had left the house, Y/n completely unaware of what was about to happen. Jacob held his hand out to Y/n, pulling her up on her feet and leading her over to the small field where Paul had initially shifted. "I need you to be as calm as possible, okay? We need to see if what happened to Paul earlier will happen to all of us, I promise I will explain it all later." Y/n only nodded her head, giving Jacob the all clear.

The pack had lined up beside each other, Paul was the first to shift. He felt all the feelings from earlier flood back, his heart pounded as he stepped closer to Y/n. She reached out to run her fingers through this fur, earning a soft grunt from the silver wolf. Next was Embry, he was scared to look up at Y/n, he felt sick to his stomach; what if he didn't imprint? Y/n took careful steps to Embry, his fur was gray with black spots; he was slightly smaller than Paul. Y/n crouched down to be eye level with the gray wolf, his eye's locked with hers and it was like his whole body was set alight. Slight tingles coursed through his bones, he felt complete. Embry nuzzled into Y/n, small giggles erupted from the girl, the sound was like wind chimes clashing together. Embry left with Paul to shift back and change back into their clothes. Quil and Jared were next, Quil's wolf had chocolate brown fur while Jared had light brown fur with black markings around his eyes. The pair had imprinted instantly, their tails wagging behind them as they accepted the affection off their imprintee. Seth had imprinted fairly easy, though he was still scared. The sandy brown furred wolf cowered at the attention of his imprint, too overwhelmed by the feelings bubbling inside him. The young wolf left as quickly as possible, wanting to shift back and put this behind him for now.

Leah imprinted soon after Seth, she finally knew what it was like to have someone meant for her. The tingling coursing through her body was welcomed, Leah stayed beside Y/n refusing to leave the girls side. She would not leave her imprint, not now - not ever. Jacob and Sam were the only ones left, they had decided to shift at the same time, afraid of being rejected. Sam was a black furred wolf, he was like a shadow while Jacob was a rusty brown colour, almost like Seth. Sam was the first to look up at Y/n, her e/c stared straight back at him. His heart was pounding in his ears, he didn't feel anything at first. He knew what it was like to imprint and yet, he felt nothing. Sam was about to give up and just walk away, until Y/n sat in front of him and ran her fingers through his fur, an electric shot went straight though him. Images flashed behind his eyes, growing old with her, having a family of their own, loving her till his very last breath. Sam now had two imprintee's, what was he going to tell Emily? The black furred wolf walked off towards the house, his ears pinned against his head.

Jacob still had his head pointed down, his eyes trained on the dirt under his paws. "Jake? Look at me, please." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Jacob listed his head, his pupils blew as images of them laughing together, cooking dinner together, messing around with the pack flashed before his eyes. It was like his ears were flooded with water, he knew he would do anything, be anything for her. His whole world was centred around Y/n and what their life would be like together. A blanket of warmth wrapped itself around his heart, he felt content knowing his best friend would be his forever.

Once everyone had shifted back and back in their clothes, they had all settled in to the living room. Y/n sat on the sofa, squished between Jacob and Leah, while Seth sat in front of her on the floor; his back pressed against her legs. Paul and Jared were fighting over what to watch, while Quil and Embry made popcorn for everyone. Sam was the only one missing, he was sat in his shared bedroom with Emily. They were arguing, everyone could hear it. "Is it my fault? Them fighting, I mean." Y/n felt guilty, she didn't want to tear apart Sam's relationship, she would gladly show herself out if it wasn't for Jacob and Leah physically holding her in place. Paul was the first to say anything, he had crouched in front of the sofa, his hand linked with hers. "Hey.. it's not your fault doll face, no one could've seen this happening. You are our imprint, you are what matters the most to us, it could never be your fault, okay?" Paul kissed Y/n's knuckles, his lips ever so lightly grazing her skin. She sniffled slightly as she nodded her head. Y/n couldn't have been more happy to have the pack, she finally felt loved and included for once. The rest of the night consisted of watching random movies and eating too much junk, Y/n had passed out on Leah's shoulder after the second movie had started. She was soon followed by the rest of the pack, all spread out in the living room. Seth cuddling into Y/n's leg, Jacob flung half on Y/n while Leah was now hanging off the sofa, Paul laying beside Seth on the floor; his head on Seth's arm. Jared and Embry passed out on the arm chairs, their bodies thrown across them like they were dolls tossed to the side. Quil was the only normal one out the bunch, he was cuddled into a blanket away from everyone else, a pillow under his head as he snored.

Y/n had made a family for life, she would not give this up for anything.

[sevs-corner]

U got me giggling and kicking my feet with the jock simon and goth dom reader. But that last bullet point.. oohhhh makes me wonder the outside POV of their budding relationship. Like what are the guys opinion? Who’d clock on to Simon’s down bad behavior towards reader?

IM SO HAPPI YOU CAUGHT ONTO THAT (that was going to be my bridge for a one shot after that ask but lets cover it here !!)

Also thank yew for readin and takin interest <33

you can find the prev ask here !

Tw: 18+ content beyond this point | MDNI

The guys don’t catch onto it initially, thinking that’s its another usual hook-up or a fwb situation

But the fact that its reoccurring too often and there are talks about it

Who’s to say that they wouldn’t catch wind of it?

In my OG idea, Gaz is the president and basically the information guy, he knows all the gossip and he now know its his buddy being talked about recently

The Tf 141 guys aren’t afraid to confront each other, they are the tip of the social hierarchy but its more of a… “mutually agreed” shared position

So, when Gaz hears about this, confirming with a trusted source beforehand of course, he comes storming into their designated ‘man cave’ in the school

The man, literally stand before this behemoth and looks him straight to his eyes and asks,

“What the fuck is up with you?”

Gaz is seething, jealous and so green with envy that he didn’t get to you first- that he doesn’t have you wrapped around his pinky

And Simon clocks this, outwardly smirking, posture imposing as he already knows that he has the upper hand

Price and Soap watches, but this is only when Price finally connects the dots that he stands before Ghost as well (interest piqued but not quite jealous)

Soap already knew, being the closest out of the three to Ghost

And this man was worse than Gaz

After discovering it accidentally when he drunkenly made his way to Ghost’s room one night

He got put down like a dog by him (but you were taken care first for the night with depraved kisses of promising to continue after he puts him down)

And lets just say that, Soap had a strange mark around his throat the next couple days, legs not fully functioning, and had a habit of standing more than sitting really

Besides Soap, Gaz would be Ghost’s go to but now that he found a new “fuck toy”

Oh he is ready to ruin you and everything you hold dear— especially that precious relationship with his Simon

(but eventually gets broken by you too tho we’ll cover that another time hehe)

But Price, actually tries to convince him to let him give a shot- just like a one night stand

From the way his mates reacted, ooh this big bear wants a taste

Now Ghost gets a lil’ sweaty

He’s first and foremost loyal to Price but goddamn- did he want something for himself for once

So he stalls, and eventually—

Price and Gaz gangs up and makes you miserable enough for Simon not to want you or vice-versa

So he had no choice but to share you and the experience

And man, he curses himself in the afterglow of everything

He wishes he had done it sooner

[taylormarieee]

Co-Stars turned Lovers A Callum Turner love story

Chapter 2: "Falling behind"

Pairing: Callum Turner x Fem!Bestfriend!Actress!Reader

Word count: 3.7k

Warnings: angst, reader feels down, Callum and reader's relationship is on pause, special guest: Barry Keoghan, hurt to comfort, reader feels left out, long talks with Austin + some smexy tension, PLOT TWIST, fluff, reader goes out with Austin and has fun... enjoy!

PARTIALLY EDITED<33

Summary: {In this chapter, reader finds herself in her thoughts after being out with friends. All of her friends are falling in love and she's falling behind... Her feelings for Callum slowly fading away but she will have to face the fact that she can't have it all...}

THIS CHAPTER IS BASED ON THIS SONG:

Previously on Co-Stars turned Lovers...

That night was a night you've never forgotten but what you were completely oblivious too was that that night was unforgettable to Callum too.

He thought about that night everyday he looked at you... everytime he touched you... everytime he sees lip gloss coat your full lips.

It plagued his mind like a virus corrupting a humans mind. He wanted you badly but he knew he couldn't have you. He couldn't ruin this relationship he had with you, this beautiful friendship, but goddamn were you addicting.

you and Callum were polar opposites yet destined to be together...If only you two could open your eyes and see what is right in front of you.

You and him were made for each other, you just needed to find each other. Like two lost souls searching for a purpose. Like the Earth and the Moon, they look platonic but one can't live without the other. Destined to fall in love either way.

Love, fate, and desire... Something you two need to give into in order to find yourselves.

You were out to brunch with a couple of your friends from high school. You guys were a tiny knit group, just the four of you, together all the time and never breaking up.

The one thing you hated about being in this group was... you were the only one without a man. You were 32 years old and still to this day haven't found a man.

The main problem was because nobody met (Callum's standards) your standards. They weren't like Callum. Another main reason was because you never really wanted to do that dating thing, going online then meeting up with them only to find out there a total dick.

It was sad though, it still broke your heart. Vanessa would have a funny story to tell about her husband, Sandra always had gossip about these guys at her boyfriends job, and Stacy would always have something to say about her husband and his family and how spectacular they were.

Whilst you, you never had anything to contribute to the conversation. They would ask you about work and if you've gotten a role or a casting call but never, EVER will they ask you if you have a man unless you bring it up.

Because they know. They know you haven't gone out to find one, they know your phone has zero messages or notifications from a dating app about how you and some random named dave matched.

They know that you're stuck up on one man and one man only.

"Did you hear me?" a muffled voice said. You look up and realize they are all staring at you. Vanessa was next to you with a hand on your shoulder (she was the one that spoke) and Sandra and Stacy were in front of you with worried looks on their faces.

"Huh, what did you say?" you ask with confusion. You chuckle and speak again, "Sorry, I was zoned out badly wasn't I." When you realize that that didn't exactly lift the mood your smile fades and you clear your throat.

"I said, when are you gonna tell him?" Vanessa repeats her previous statement. "Huh, tell who what?" you ask confused.

"Callum silly!" she says with a smile. Your eyes widen and she laughs. "Hi! Hello, do you remember who I am? Awkward me could never tell him I love him." you respond taking a sip of your lemonade.

"Oh please, you already tell him you love him, you need to tell him you're in love with him. There's a difference." she ends in a sing songy voice.

"yea well even if I did do that, he doesn't feel the same." you say with your head down.

"EXCUSE ME!" Stacy yells out. "Do I need to remind you of the story you told us about a thousand times? "OMG Callum kissed me last night and we were all alone!" Do you remember now?" She says with a scrunched up look on her face, her eyes narrowed at you in an accusing manner.

"That was not what I said at all Stacy... I said that we were a bit tipsy and he called me beautiful and then kissed me. He immediately apologized and we both forgot about that night like it was nothing." You say with your head in your hands.

"Babes, that was clearly not nothing." Sandra says. "There's no way being a little tipsy makes you all lovey dovey and kiss someone like that. You remember us in our college days. Being tipsy doesn't make you do bold moves like that."

You shake your head, "well then if he was still in his right mind, why didn't he confess his feelings right then and there? Why apologize and make a deal to forget it ever happened?" You counter to her argument.

"Maybe he's scared? Doesn't wanna ruin a good friendship and make it awkward if you didn't feel the same?" Stacy responds.

"Or maybe he's a pussy." Vanessa says. You all look at her shocked. Stacy is shaking her head while you and Sandra are just staring at her.

"What!? it's a fact though isn't it?" she defends. You all shake your heads. "Anyways..." Stacy says, "He's doing the same thing your doing. Testing the waters and as soon as he feels he's going too far, he overthinks and then shuts down."

"Stacy does have a point girl. Communication is always key in a relationship. That's how me and Brad got through are arguments so well. A majority of the time is was over a lack of communication." Sandra says.

"Yea but you guys were already in a relationship. You both have already gone through that stage of getting to know each other. Me and Callum have known each other for years now, and still I don't know how to approach him. I feel like if I put all that on him, he'll get scared and leave me. I've become to attached to him for him to leave me..." You say sadly with tears in your eyes.

Before anyone can say anything, you get a phone call. "It's uhm it's Barry, I gotta take this." You say wiping away the tears that escaped.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Are you busy right now?" He asks.

"Nope, I'm just out with friends. Why? What's wrong Bare?"

"Nothing, just wanted to talk to you about Callum, can you come over? If not we can stay on the phone?" He says

"Yea, I kinda can't leave right now but I can stay on the phone. What about Callum?"

"Well he's uhm-" before barry could finish you hear yelling over the phone.

"CALLUM CALM DOWN!" You know who's voice that is, it's Austin's.

"uh barry, what is going on?"You say chuckling over the phone as you pace around the outside of the cafe.

"So yea, your not the only one with separation anxiety. Callum has been crying and screaming for the past three hours because he misses you. We got off our plane about 5 hours ago and then he saw you on the billboard about 3 hours ago and now he's been crying about wanting to hold you ever since."

You laugh out loud and laugh the happiest most genuine laugh you have laughed in hours. Soon you get an incoming facetime call from Barry and you see Callum's eyes immediately.

"Hi loveee! It's you! Why aren't you here?? COME HERE NOW! I need you please!!!! Your my pookie! is that how you say that word? pookie? poooookie?! ha!" he says over the phone.

"I'm coming Callum, don't worry. Barry! I'll be there shortly ok? Just hang on folks." you respond with a smile on your face.

You hang up the phone and go back inside the cafe. The girls all look at you with worried expressions yet again.

"I have to go, Barry needs me to help him with something." You say with a small smile on your face.

"To help with something or someone?" Vanessa says with a smile on her face.

"Oh shut up! Bye girls! I'll talk to you guys tomorrow!" you yell out and wave.

You walk to your car, get in and turn on the radio hoping it will bring you good spirits.

The moment you turn it on a lovely upbeat melody begins.

"Moved out to a new city, June is dawning down on me."

you listen to the lyrics closely as you back out of the parking lot.

"And all that I can find, A sickly romance in the air. Lovers stroll without a care in sight, ooh this can't be right..."

You shake your head, "Sure is." you say while driving. You turn it up a little more.

" 'Cause the sun's engaged to the sky. And my best friend's found a new guy"

"wow. these lyrics hit deep, why does this relate to me so much." you say sadly.

"I'm only getting older I've never had a shoulder to cry on, Someone to call mine"

"Everybody's falling in love and I'm falling behind"

You turn off the radio and sink in your seat as you ease up to a red light.

You think about what the lyrics said and about how your life is going versus your friends lives.

you turn the radio back up and listen some more.

"Touched the ocean, fell right in Stepped outside and burned my skin My life won't go my way."

That part is very true. Your life just doesn't seem to go your way, especially in the love aspect of it.

"Bossa nova in my room Hope that I'll find someone too to love Because"

"The sun's engaged to the sky And my best friend's found a new guy I'm only getting older"

You are only getting older. You're 32 and still haven't found someone to call yours.

"I've never had a shoulder to cry on Someone to call mine Everybody's falling in love and I'm falling behind"

You start to cry as your thoughts overwhelm you, speeding the car up by stepping on the gas a little harder.

"Everybody's falling in love Everybody's falling in love, oh Everybody's falling in love but me"

you hear the last of the melody before you finally reach Barrys house. You just sit in the driveway head on the steering wheel as you cry your heart out.

You hated this, god how much you hated this. Seeing your friends in happy relationships while your sitting here suffering. Suffering from the fact that you are falling behind.

Suffering from the fact that every time you look at Callum, you get butterflies. Every time he touches you, your skin burns with love for the rest of the day.

You don't get that feeling with anyone else. You used to get that feeling with Austin, but then he found a girlfriend. Yea they broke up and you could always go to Austin but you don't wanna do that to him

You don't wanna ruin a good friendship where everything is pink and white. Love fucking sucks. Maybe you do need to talk to someone about this. Austin! Austin! Austin!

A little voice is telling you to talk to the person you trust and love the absolute most(apart from Callum).

You wipe the tears from your eyes and the smudged mascara on your eyes and walk towards the door.

You knock and to your lovely surprise it's Austins face. Also to your surprise, his face is sad.

"Austin?" You ask grabbing his face. "What's wrong?" you say with a sad frown on your face.

"I should be asking if your ok?" he says. Your face obviously contorts into one of confusion choosing to push all your feelings down.

"what do you mean?" you ask confused. He pulls his phone out and it shows an article that was posted 35 minutes ago. It has a photo and video link posted below. You begin to read the article...

Y/N Y/L/N SEEN CRYING OUTSIDE OF A CAFE WHILE ON THE PHONE, SHE IS HEARD SAYING CALLUM TURNERS NAME AND AUSTIN BUTLERS NAME: Many say that y/n y/l/n was crying while on the phone. She was heard and seen by many fans and people who stood on the sidelines. What could have possibly occurred to make actress and famous award-winning woman cry. Well many witness took videos and pictures that are all linked below. Could this possibly be a love triangle between her, Callum Turner and Austin Butler? Could she be crying because she doesn't know what to do? Well, stay tuned as they are being interviewed tomorrow by the one and only JIMMY FALLON: ON THE TONIGHT SHOW!

you read the end and your eyes are wide the entire time after you finish reading the article.

Austin puts his hand down and tucks his phone in his pocket. He looks at you. "I don't care about the love triangle why were you crying?" he asks.

"You may not care Austin but I do, it doesn't matter why I was crying and that so called video was weeks ago! I wore that outfit 2 weeks ago! Does that look like the outfit i'm wearing today? Fucking love triangle!? Are you fucking kidding me!?" you say throwing your hands up.

"I've already had the most shitty day ever and now this!? Why honestly can't I just be left alone? THIS IS FUCKING INSANE!"

Austin stands there looking at you. "Oh don't gimme that look Austin!" you yell out.

"what? what look y/n?" he says lowly. You stare at him and make eye contact for the longest time it felt as if time just stopped.

"I honestly d-don't know. Your giving me two looks. One looks like i'm fucking insane and the other look..." you trail off.

"what's the other look?" he asks with an eyebrow raised as he turns around to close the front door behind him leaving the both of you standing outside.

"Like i just hung up the moon and all the stars in the sky." you say breaking eye contact and looking at your feet.

"Maybe it's both." he says with a shrug. You look up at him with wide eyes and blink. 'What did he mean by that?' you thought. Before you could say anything Barry walks out with a tired and annoyed look on his face.

"You. And You. Inside. Now. Before I Pew pew him and myself." he says in his accent that you found just so adorable.

Austin chuckles and opens the door motioning for you to go in first.

"In you go M'lady." he says with a smirk on his face. You smile and walk in. You remove your shoes and walk over to where Callum is sitting on the couch.

"Hey Callum." you say with a smile, but when you say it he doesn't respond. As quickly as the smile came on your face is as quickly as it left.

You look at Austin and mouth 'did he see it?' and Austin nods yes. You sigh and look back at him. He doesn't even look at you. 'Why should he be mad, your the only one that should be pissed here.' you thought. It just wasn't making any sense.

Maybe Vanessa was right, Callum is being a pussy and you couldn't take it anymore, your finally realizing you can't have it all.

Maybe it's ok to be falling behind...

"You know what. Let's just cut to the chase." You say standing up and going to the front blocking the tv from Callum's view.

"We all saw the stupid article, ok? So Callum stop acting like a fucking baby about it. I don't know why you possibly could be upset or whatever batman broody mood your having but let's get one thing clear. Maybe 2 things."

Austin leans against the wall and Barry sits on the coffee table next to Callum.

"Number 1: That video was from 2 weeks ago. That isn't a new video. Number 2: I'm done being stereotyped because I have male friends and it's all "Oh there totally fucking" or "Yea no there definitely in love!" Like no were not! So if you and you know." You say pointing to Callum and Austin, "That we are not a thing and we are not dating, why is it affecting you so much." you say pointing to Callum again.

"Barry calls me over here for you, I finally get here and I get what the silent treatment? We all have an interview tomorrow and you wanna sit here in your fucking feelings cause of what? Me crying?" you say with a bitter laugh.

"I love all of you. Your my boys! But right now you feel like strangers to me. Especially you Callum. So if. you wanna be. on non-speaking terms and put this talk or friendship on pause by all means! Cause I can't keep doing these mixed feelings and one second your happy and wanna see me and the next you can't even look at me."

There's silence in the room for a. whole minute and you shake your head and scoff, "I fucking knew it. Well bye Barry, it was nice seeing you and hearing from you. Bye Austin, I'll text you later." You say before walking out of the door and slamming it.

You walk to your car and get inside. You don't turn it on you just sit there and breath. You feel like crying but what's the point. Your done. Done with Callum, done with those stupid feelings.

It's time to move on cause you can't have it all.

*knock knock!

You look up and turn towards the window. You see Austin's face and give him a weak smile before rolling down your window.

"Hi princess." he says. A nickname he's given you since you first started filming Masters of the air.

"Hi my prince." you say adding onto the little joke. He smiles at you and you wanna cry.

Callum used to smile at you just like that... God you have to get Callum out of your head!

"I know, you know. That your in love with him." Austin says as he fiddles with your steering wheel.

Your eyes widen at his confession and you proceed to talk. "How do you-"before you can even finish he interjects.

"It's obvious y/n. The way you look at him. The way. your eyes light up whenever he's mentioned in. a conversation or how giddy. you get whenever you talk about him." He explains.

"I's that obvious?" you say lowly.

"Your that oblivious? Everyone sees it. Why do you think the whole world believes your dating? They know what it looks like when someone is in love."

"But that leaves m-me and you... The whole love triangle thing. The fans never catch us together and only a few ship us together." You say oblivious to the truth.

"You know what I said about the way you look at Callum?" He says and you nod slowly trying to understand where he's going.

"It's the way I look at you..." He says looking away from your eyes. Your eyes widen with realization.

"Oh Austin... get in the car, we're going for a drive." you say smiling at him.

He shows confusion but your eager and motion for him to get in the passengers seat.

He runs to the other side and gets in. The both of you drive in silence for about 5 minutes before you say something.

"Austin...You know you didn't have to hide it from me right?" you say taking a glance at him.

He looks at you while your driving and pulling in to a McDonalds drive thru. "Yea I know, but you like someone else, sorry no, you love someone else. How can I get in the way of that especially when it's two of my best friends?" he says as you pull up to the board to order.

"Hold that thought ok? Hiii can I get Quarter Pounder with cheese please, and A large fry with a cola and a vanilla cone please?" You ask. The lady repeats the order and asks, "Is that all for you today?"

you look at Austin and ask, "Do you want your usual Austin?" He stares at you and smiles. "I'll take that as a yes!" you say with a chuckle.

"No, can I also get a double cheeseburger with a large fry and a lemonade with a chocolate chip cookie please? That's all!" you say with a smile.

She tells you order total and tells you to pull up to the window. You roll up your window again and turn to Austin as you sit in the line.

You guys pull up to the window and you give the lady your card and grab your food before you pull into the parking lot and turn off the car.

"Well I mean your my celebrity crush you know that? You've been my crush since Elvis, not even! Since like Sharpay's fabulous adventure." you admit.

His eyes widen as he takes a bite of his fry. "There's no way, your insane!" He says with a laugh which causes you to laugh with him.

"Yep!" you say stuffing your face with fries. "I've like been obsessed with you ever since then. Was always so excited to meet you and one day, I got to see you, and that was when like 14 year old me's dream came true. I got to act on screen with you for the first time." You say with a smile on your face.

"I never knew that. You just make me love you more every day you know that?" Austin admits to you as he looks out the window. He eventually turns to you as he takes a sip of his lemonade to wash down his food.

"Austin..." you say before he cuts you off. "I know I know, can't admit my feelings for you, I know." He says lowly and slowly.

"Austin..." you try to say but again he cuts you off. "How am I supposed to do that though? I mean your just like so gorgeous and like one of the best things that's ever happened to me. What can I do to change your mind y/n? Hmm? I just need to know how you fee-" he's cut off with you grabbing his face and kissing him.

His eyes are wide until they flutter closed and relish in the feeling of your mouth on his.

From what feels like hours is only minutes and you guys pull away and his eyes are still closed.You open your eyes and giggle at his reaction.

"Does that answer your question Austin?" you say with a smile on your face. His eyes open and he smiles back at you.

"Yea, but what about Callum?" He asks. You smile even wider now. "Austin, baby, I wanna forget about being in love with him all together! I want you know, why chase after a man who doesn't want me clearly and can't get his priorities straight when I have a man who loves me for me and sees me and is someone I've had a crush on since 2011." You say laughing and smiling with him.

He grabs your face and kissed you again. "Hey y/n?" He whispers out.

"Yea Austin?" you whisper back with a content smile on your face. "Wake up." he says.

You pull away and when you look at him with confusion, real you shoots up out of bed and wakes up realizing it was all a dream...

Taglist: @willyoubemycherryy. @dustbunniess/ @evbunnie @emmaafinchh @dumbbxtch23 @sexualparkour @b1mb0slvt + anyone else who cares to join<33

[defibrillism]

Favor (Lisa Cuddy/Stacy Warner)

2435 words

or, my gift for @layerberitamoderna for the gift exchange by @housemdanniversary!!! i'll be so honest, these two weren't even on my original list of pairings i'd write, but then i was struck by the idea of them talking post-s7 and i couldn't just leave that unwritten. anyways hope you enjoy!!!

She should've seen this coming.

Standing outside the wreckage now, sirens blaring from every conceivable direction, it was so obvious. That he'd do this to her. There was no other way this… situation (the word relationship seemed fairly redundant at this point) could've ended. It was House, for goodness' sake. As long as she'd known him, she'd also known that he was incapable of leaving well enough alone.

Self-destruction just wasn't enough for him anymore, it seemed. He just had to ruin things for her too.

Well, if that was what he wanted, then Lisa couldn't very well say he'd failed. Maybe, if he hadn't crashed his car into her house, she could go on another day, another month, another year telling herself and anyone who decided to stick their nose in her business that she could totally handle being his boss and his ex. Now, she never wanted to see him again as long as either of them lived.

But, oh, the hospital would be full of reminders of him when she got back to work. His full name still on the door of the diagnostics office until she found a better use for the space. The same fellows who worked under him for years, walking the halls as if nothing had ever happened; at least, until they found new jobs elsewhere. Nurses and doctors gossiping wherever she looked. Wilson, whose unwanted input would most likely only serve to make her blood boil long after she'd decided to move on.

Without looking at him, she knew he was standing a few meters away, getting his wrist patched up. She could practically hear his voice in his head already, echoing that unbearable "people don't change" sentiment that House had unapologetically shoved in her face for years.

"What did you expect would happen? It's House." She'd had the same thought a million times over, but coming from someone else- specifically Wilson, beacon of righteousness that he was- it was just maddening.

He'd never admit it, but he could be just as cynical and just as heartless as that bastard he called his best friend. And when it mattered, he always had to have House's back, even at her expense. Even if it meant blaming her for what happened, however subtly- it was her fault she decided to get involved with House, knowing what a messed up, damaged soul he was. Her fault things went south. Her fault he destroyed her home on a goddamn whim.

Even if House and Wilson weren't talking now, they would be in a month. Or two months. Either way, they'd go back to revolving around each other eventually.

Well, fuck him. She wasn't going to talk to him either.

Hospital aside, she'd been meaning to call her family- but now that she held the phone in her hand and the number at the ready, she realized she didn't want to think about what they would have to say either. If she told Mom and Julia the whole story, it'd be all they'd talk about for weeks. And knowing them, word would get out to aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins she hadn't talked to in years but who she knew needed gossip, possibly even more than they needed food and water. Soon enough she'd be nothing more than a crazy story to them. She didn't want to be known for this.

As for Rachel, she'd already noticed his absence when they'd split up, and it had broken Lisa's heart when she'd asked, with all the innocence in the world, why she hadn't had a playdate with House in awhile. What was she supposed to tell her now?

She looked down at her daughter, her little eyes clamped shut as she curled up in her mother's arms, and sighed. The investigation was just about over. Which was good, because that meant no more police officers taking turns grilling her, and soon enough no more sirens to disturb Rachel's sleep. The downside, of course, was that she had no idea where to go from here.

All she wanted was to stumble into her bedroom and cry herself to sleep. Not that that was an option now, of course, more of a distant dream. The thought of staying at Mom's place- or, even worse, at Julia's place, with her and her loving husband- was completely out of the question. She wasn't in the mood for any more stupid queries, or God forbid, anyone's pity.

Well, alright, maybe she did want to cry into someone's arms while they rubbed her back and promised that it wasn't her fault. But who did she know who she could trust? To see her like that, and not let it define her in their eyes? She couldn't think of anyone.

(God, what a depressing fucking thought.)

Gently, she strapped Rachel into her car seat, before sitting down at the wheel and taking a deep breath.

What the hell was she going to do?

-

She knew now.

The thought had struck her while driving, when she was thinking about what she'd say to her lawyer once she finally called him up, once she could finally speak about the incident without her voice breaking and her eyes watering. And then it had hit her, so suddenly she nearly ran a red light:

Her lawyer. A phrase that brought her back to just a few years ago, when the hospital's lawyer was one Stacy Warner.

It'd all come back to her then. The year 2000; the turn of the century, and the year of House's infarction. The year that things had changed. The year that his relationship with Stacy had buckled under the weight of what she'd done to him in order to save his life, and ultimately fallen through in the end, their views of each other so thoroughly twisted that there wasn't much that could be done to fix their severed bond.

Admittedly, Lisa hadn't delved very much into House's feelings on the matter then; she knew he felt betrayed, saw the hurt in his eyes whenever Stacy entered the room, but ultimately she'd left the thankless task of tending to House's (copious, ever-bleeding) wounds for Wilson to handle, as always. 

Instead, she had stood by Stacy's side through all of it.

She remembered the night right after, when Stacy had crashed at her place and slept the night. It had changed things, seeing her curled up on the couch, hair tangled and clothes crumpled, her usually serene voice that was perfectly suited for an attorney now trembling with the sheer scale of her emotion, with loss. Up until then, over all those years, she'd always seemed so very put together. But this side of her was one that Lisa understood deeply, almost painfully.

She hoped Stacy was up for returning the favor. 

It was a good thing she'd remembered her address- well, hopefully it was still Stacy's address. Lisa didn't know what she'd do if she'd moved, and a stranger answered the door tonight. Or if nobody answered. Either way, she'd be alone.

Standing on the doorstep now, that possibility suddenly seemed much more plausible, much more daunting than it did 10 miles ago.

Daunting or not, it was late at night and she had her daughter in tow (God, she doesn't even know about Rachel yet…). If Stacy wasn't here, she would have to look for another option as soon as possible. She rang the doorbell, and waited.

Soon enough, the door swung open to reveal a familiar face. 

"Lisa?"

"Oh, thank God," Lisa breathed. Suddenly she felt herself becoming increasingly aware of how much of a mess she must look. Her eyes still stung from all the crying, and her hair…

Didn't matter. She wasn't here to put up a front; she didn't have the energy to put up a front as it was.

"It's certainly been a long time." 

“It has. I’m so sorry to show up here without warning, but-”

“Well, seeing how long it's been since we last spoke, I can only imagine you're here for a good reason,” Stacy said with a wry smile. “Come on in.”

Lisa turned around to look at Rachel, who was still asleep in the backseat of her car at the front of the driveway. She racked her brain trying to think of how to introduce Stacy to the very concept of Rachel. She was sure that the idea of having a kid had come up in one of their late-night conversations all those years ago, but Stacy hadn't been around for the attempts at in vitro, the foster child whose mother had had a change of heart at the last minute. The heartbreak she’d been through before she finally named Rachel as her own. 

Before she could come up with something, she heard Stacy inhale sharply behind her. Evidently, she'd followed Lisa’s gaze back to the car.

“Damnit,” she grimaced, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I was- I wasn't sure how to tell you about her. I'm so sorry if I overstepped, or-”

“What's her name?” 

“I- Rachel.”

“I can't believe you really did it,” Stacy muttered.

The conversation had taken a turn in a way Lisa hadn't quite expected, but welcomed nevertheless. She lowered her voice to match Stacy’s tone. “I know. I still can't believe it sometimes.”

“You should bring her inside. I have plenty of spare blankets, and I'd hate to make you leave her out in the dark like that.”

-

After she'd given Rachel a quick, incomplete explanation and tucked her in on the couch, Lisa rushed back outside, where she found Stacy tucking her lighter into her pocket as she took a long drag from a cigarette. 

The familiar scent of smoke enveloped Lisa, and she smiled despite herself. As a doctor, she couldn't possibly approve of this; but even as she absentmindedly ran through the adverse effects of smoking just as she’d memorized back in med school, she couldn't bring herself to feel more than affectionate disapproval.

Her train of thought was derailed by the sound of Stacy’s voice, clear but heavy with smoke. “Alright, well, the fact that you brought your daughter along with you means there's something really wrong.”

Lisa just sighed. She didn't want to say it herself; wondered how long it would take Stacy to get to the point.

She probably already had figured it out in her head; Lisa could practically hear the cogs whirring in there. This was just her trying to see how long it'd take for Lisa to bring it up herself.

“Well, you're certainly not here because you have babysitter issues. Knowing you, you probably have 3 on speed dial. And- your mom and your sister live pretty close by, don't they?”

Once met with a wordless nod from Lisa, she continued, “Well, you could've dropped her off with one of them if you still couldn't find a babysitter. That tells me that the problem was something you didn't want them to know about, but that you trusted you could come to me with.” 

Stacy turned to Lisa with understanding in her eyes. The full moon’s gentle light did quite a bit to illuminate her features, from her aquiline nose and the deep creases under her eyes and by her lips down to the stray gray streaks she'd acquired over the past few years. She looked… tired. 

Even still, Lisa couldn't help but to admit (to herself. What she thought of Stacy's looks was nobody else's business), she pulled off the salt-and-pepper look well.

“You know who you sound like right now?” she grumbled, breaking eye contact.

“Lisa, what did he do?”

There it was.

It wasn't a rhetorical question, or some kind of defense; Stacy knew better than to speak out for House without knowing what it was he'd even done. (Before the breakup, Lisa had always assumed that Stacy, more than anyone, knew just how bad he could get. 11 years ago, would she ever have seen this coming?) 

It was a genuine question. She could hear the concern, the strain in Stacy’s voice as she spoke. She really was worried about her.

Lisa didn't really want to talk about it. Either way, no point trying to deflect questions from a lawyer, much less one who’d known her for years, one who could read her like a damn book.

“He… drove his car into my house earlier today.” She stared up at the moon, desperately trying not to let the tears fall. It still felt so raw. She thought of her home laying in pieces all those miles away, and she fought the urge to hurl.

“He's worse than how you might remember him. I thought he was getting better, but clearly I was mistaken,” she just barely managed to say without her voice breaking, as Stacy swallowed hard and took in another breathful of smoke.

“...How long until it gets fixed?” 

“As far as I know, it'll probably take a couple months, but-” 

Looking at Stacy now, at that sincere look in her eyes, she could hear those cogs turning again- and suddenly Lisa realized why exactly she’d asked. 

“Stacy, you can't be serious! We can't just live here for months, you have your own issues to deal with. Don't you have to take care of Mark?”

Come to think of it, it was odd he hadn't come up until now. Not even a “keep it down, Mark’s asleep”- nothing at all. 

Stacy’s forlorn sigh was a non-answer, but it told Lisa all she needed to know. He wasn't here, he probably hadn't been for awhile, and probably wouldn't be for quite some time, if ever again.

It occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, Stacy was offering this partly because she needed it too, after whatever happened between her and Mark. 

What looked like sincerity now looked more like loneliness, and desperation, the same kind which Lisa had seen that night all those years ago, and so many subsequent nights which they’d always known better than to talk about, but that Lisa couldn't possibly help but think about now. Damnit. She'd been doing so well.

And oh, Stacy was leaning in now as she spoke, so close Lisa could just barely feel her warm breath against her own lips, calling back to those old, bad habits-

“Lisa, please,” she murmured. “Just accept this. Let yourself have this.” Let yourself have me. I need you here.

Looking down, she noticed Stacy's free hand hovering over one of her own. 

Without overthinking it this time, Lisa grabbed her hand and squeezed.

[circethesinner]

Hello. Can I request an ask ? Xavier x vampire female reader. She can read minds and she is the new student at Nevermore Academy.

Thank you so much !❤️🥺

suave

pairing: xavier thorpe x reader oneshot (second person pov - she/her pronouns used for reader - occasional use of Y/N)

warning(s) : mild language, small injury and bl**d mentioned

word count: 2.5k

⭑•⊱✩masterlist✩⊰•⭑

A/N - eee first ever request thank you!!! I hope its okay! full disclosure before we begin - one of my special interests is what we do in the shadows so I've decided that vampires are just chaos gremlins

I support womens rights, but more importantly, womens wrongs 😌����

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Being a newborn vampire sucked.

Everything was too bright, smells were too strong, and your beloved garlic bread sent you to the hospital on four occasions, but goddamn it, you were going to build up a tolerance if it was the last thing you did. Which, at your rate, it probably would be.

How were you supposed to live, laugh, love in those conditions? Instead, you had to settle for manipulate, mansplain, m̶a̶n̶s̶l̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r̶  mind reading.

Hearing other people’s thoughts when you spoke to them was nothing short of exhausting. It wasn’t that it was difficult or strenuous on your body; it was just boring. People were so boring.

Day in, day out, you heard people’s shopping lists, people wondering if the person they liked would ask them out, people trying to multiply things in their heads; the list was endless and dull and endlessly dull. When the most exciting part of your day was hearing someone have an internal meltdown because they were sure someone had just seen them pick their nose and now thought poorly of them, you knew it was time for a change of pace.

That’s when you ended up at Nevermore.

Well, that and your normie parents were panicking because they didn’t know what to do for their newly turned vampire daughter. Nevermore had teachers who could teach you how to vampire properly and stop antagonising the neighbourhood by flying through people’s houses as a bat and stealing jewellery because no cop would believe them when they said a small, winged rodent-like creature flew through the window and stole their grandma’s necklace.

Your new roommate, Yoko, had taken pity on you and taken you under her wing. She had shown you the ropes of the school, ropes which you had promptly cut just to see what would fall.

It wasn’t that you were lying about being able to read minds; you just conveniently ‘forgot’ to tell anyone about it. So, a few weeks into your time at Nevermore, a Twitter account popped up on everyone’s feeds. It was just your run-of-the-mill anonymous gossip, but what caught people’s eyes was that thoughts and opinions that had never even touched their lips were being shared.

Nothing inherently harmful, of course. You weren’t out to ruin lives; just shake them up a little.

Crushes were spilt, cheating was exposed, friendships were made, and friendships were broken. It was all just playful fun in your eyes.

To divert attention from yourself, you would add some of your ‘thoughts’ to the account. Things that would only be mildly embarrassing that you could easily brush off.

“Looks like you’re the hot topic today,” Yoko smiled, her eyes peeking out from atop her sunglasses as they had slipped down her face. She showed her phone screen to you, and you pretended to act surprised as you read the words ‘Y/N thinks Kent is cute’ as though you hadn’t been the one to write them.

“I won’t deny it; he’s easy on the eyes,” You shrugged, looking over at Kent, catching him looking at you. His face flushed red, and he looked away. “In, like, a puppy way.”

“Are you going to ask him out?” Yoko asked, her eyes looking over at him as well. “He’d say yes, but I think he’s just scared of you.”

“He’s scared of his own shadow,” You laughed, passing her phone back. “Again, he’s cute in a puppy way, not in an ‘I want to date him’ way- sorry, bud!” You called out the last words to Kent, who you knew had been listening in from the other table. Confusion and relief flooded his face, and you knew you’d picked the right person. Anyone else would have been more vocal about it. You would have risked being publicly rejected or, worse, asked out. You hedged your bets on Kent doing nothing about it, and it worked.

You scanned around the quad, hopping into people’s minds to see if you could pull anything out that would be useful to you later. It was like you were channel hopping, hearing bits and clips of people’s thoughts until something grabbed your interest.

“Wonder if Thing would like this new nail polish-” You heard from Enid.

“Who sets homework for-” You skipped Ajax almost immediately as you didn’t want to listen to him internally complain about homework for the seventh time in three days.

“Glad she doesn’t actually like him because I-” From Xavier.

“I just wish I-” You heard the start of Divina’s thoughts but panicked and switched back to Xavier. By the time you had, you had realised you were too late. Whatever he had been thinking had been derailed by Ajax talking to him about homework, and now his thoughts were focused on that.

Could he have been thinking about you? The timing would make sense. He was at the table over with Kent, and he would have been able to hear your conversation just as well. Your mind flooded with possibilities on how his thought could have ended. Against your will, it had fixated on the idea that maybe, just maybe, Xavier was glad you didn’t like Kent because he liked you.

What was also against your will was your mind, for some unknown reason, liked that idea.

You decided that you needed to keep tabs on his mind just to gather proof that you were wrong. There was no way that thought was about you, and even if it was, there was no way that was the reason behind it.

“Earth to Y/N!” Yoko snapped her fingers in front of your face, bringing you back into the moment. “Have you listened to a word I’ve been saying?”

“Yoko, my love, I am sorry, but I have not,” You used the pet name, hoping it would quell her bubbling annoyance at you. It was seemingly successful as she smiled.

“It’s okay! I can repeat myself… again!” She teased. You could only hope that a certain someone would also repeat themselves soon.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

You had been listening in to Xavier’s thoughts almost obsessively for a week, hoping to catch him thinking about you. You were barely paying attention in class as you were so wrapped up in this idea that maybe, just maybe, Xavier liked you. It was driving you crazy not to get the answers you wanted.

Then one day, at dinner, you got an answer.

Well, sort of.

Bianca was upset, and as her friend, you wanted to cheer her up. You didn’t pry far into her mind. You just knew that it was something to do with her mom. It wasn’t your business, and you didn’t make it your business. You were throwing M&Ms up into the air, trying to catch them in your mouth again. It had resulted in stray M&Ms on the floor, which you swore you would pick up when you were done.

After fourteen failed attempts, the fifteenth landed in your mouth, and you very openly cheered. The whole ordeal had put a smile on Bianca’s face, despite her eye-rolls about how mature you were being. 

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you heard his thoughts.

“That was cute,” It wasn’t exactly the love confession you had been hoping for, but it was something, and something was better than the whole heaps of nothing you’d been getting up until then. It had left you almost frozen in time for a split second, only snapping out of it when the one who had invaded your thoughts as you invaded his reached over to pluck out a stray M&M that had somehow gotten caught in your hair.

Effortlessly, he threw it up in the air and caught it in his mouth on the first try.

“Show-off,” You teased, trying not to get caught up on how cute and suave that move had been. That idea was thrown when he winked at you as he stood up to return to his dorm.

You realised that in your endeavours to see if he had a crush on you, you’d developed one on him. 

But you decided that two could play at the cute and suave game, and you set in motion a plan.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

“What the fuck?” Xavier shouted as you, in your bat form, flew through the window and crashed against the wall. You transformed back to your human form and held your now-pounding head.

“That…” You stumbled slightly, trying to stay upright as you turned around to face him. “That went so much better in my head.” “Why the hell did you even do it?” He was definitely confused, but his voice was also laced with concern. “Shit, your head is bleeding a bit.” He grabbed an old black hoodie he didn’t care too much for anymore and walked up to you. He gently pulled your hands away from where you had been clutching your head and held the hoodie up to it to try and stop the bleeding.

“Vampires in movies are so cool and suave,” You groaned, the reality of your situation hitting you almost as hard as you had hit the wall. “I wanted to be like them.” You avoided adding the ‘and you’ that followed it in your mind. You thanked whatever Gods there were that he couldn’t read your mind in return.

“That really doesn’t explain why you did it in the first place,” Xavier laughed. He had carefully pulled you over to sit down on his bed, which your shaking legs greatly appreciated. You weren’t sure if you were shaking from the shock or the nerves of what was about to come out of your mouth or if it was a horrid mixture of the two that had turned your entire body to jello.

“Okay, so…” You sighed, figuring it would just be easier to say it than dodge around it. As you had just awfully demonstrated, subtlety was not one of your strong suits. “I wanted to be all cute and mysterious so you would be more likely to say yes when I asked you if you wanted to go out on a date.” You felt his muscles stiffen next to you, but his hold on the hoodie hadn’t stopped.

You felt the nerves bubble up in your throat, hoping that rejection would be quick and painless and that you could just laugh it all off.

Then, he started laughing.

Somehow, that made it worse. He was probably laughing at you. You tried to dive into his mind to confirm your suspicions, but you were met with pain and mental static. You almost laughed at the idea that the hoodie was blocking your signal.

“There are so many easier ways to do that,” His laughter had settled down a little after a few seconds. “You could have spoken to me in person, called me, texted me; even a written letter slipped into my bag would have done the trick.”

“My handwriting sucks,” You laughed a little with him. It was easier to laugh off than to let the embarrassment consume you, and his own laughter had helped, even if it was aimed at you rather than with you. “And texts aren’t cool or mysterious.”

“The bleeding has mostly stopped, but you might want to get it checked out at the infirmary in case you have a concussion,” Xavier carefully pulled the hoodie away and tossed it to the side. “So, are you going to do it?”

“Yeah, I’ll go to the infirmary on my way back to my room,” You nodded, wincing at the pain that it caused.

“That’s good, but it's not what I meant,” He held out his arm to prevent you from standing up.

“What do you mean?” You asked, doing your best to avoid eye contact and find some sort of escape plan so you could crawl into a hole and regret the life choices you had made thus far.

“Are you going to ask me out on a date?” Your eyes widened as the words registered in your brain, and you looked up at him, still doing your best to avoid eye contact in case you lost your nerve.

“Depends if you’re going to say yes,” You tried not to look too hopeful, trying to cling onto any sliver of keeping cool after the disaster that the whole interaction had been so far.

“You’ll have to ask me to find out,” He fired back, a sly smile on his face. You took a deep breath.

“Do you… want to go out on a date?” You asked.

“With who?” He teased. Annoyance flashed past your face at how difficult he was making things, but he spoke again. “I’m kidding! It would be an honour to go out on a date with you.”

Relief washed through you. It had worked. Despite the absolute chaos and everything going wrong, it had worked.

“Do you know how many times I had to think about how much I liked you around you until you heard it?” Xavier laughed. You looked at him with confusion.

“Wait, do you know-” You started to ask, but he cut you off. “Do I know that you can read minds?” He finished for you. “Do you remember your second day at Nevermore? I left my hoodie on my chair in botany. I realised it halfway out the door, but before I could turn and grab it, you were behind me, holding it out to me. Then, you said that the torn seam was easily fixable and that I could borrow the sewing kit you’d brought with you.”

“Which you did!” You recalled the memory from the months before. “How did that clue you in, though? I thought I’d been careful and said it as though I’d seen the tear.”

“I’d mistaken the hoodie I had with me for another one,” He explained. “The hoodie I had was fine. The one with the tear was in the wash. I thought it was weird, so I tested things a few times. I’d think about certain things, and you would casually bring them up or direct the conversation so I could be the one to bring them up.”

“And during that time, I guess I fell for you,” Your face flushed as you heard that thought, loud and clear.

“I know you heard that one,” Xavier laughed nervously. “I hope that didn’t overstep any boundaries.”

“Xavier, I just flew in through your window after regularly reading your thoughts. If anyone overstepped boundaries, it was for sure me!” You snorted with laughter as you spoke. Hearing Xavier think it was ‘cute’ made your face feel hot but in a pleasant way. You managed to calm down a little as you made eye contact with him for what was the first time since you’d flung yourself into his room.

“I want to kiss you,” You heard his thoughts again, loud and clear.

“Then do it,” You told him. It was a challenge he was more than to accept as he gently took your chin in his hand, tilting your head up and pressing a soft kiss against your lips which you gladly returned.

A/N - have I beta read this at all? hell no - any mistakes y'all find please lemme know 💀

feel free to send in any requests for xavier or other wednesday characters and I will get to what I can!!

[sarahowritesostucky]

📖"Alpha, Beta (& Omega)"

Rated: Explicit

Chapter Rating: Teen

Word Count:

Pairing: Steve x Bucky

Tags: a/b/o, arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, nobility/royalty au, alternate history, dom/sub elements, beta bucky, hurt/comfort, age gap, domestic discipline, spanking, head of household, wedding night, Edwardian time period, m/f/m poly marriage

Summary: To save House Barnes from scandalous ruin, James must agree to a contracted marriage, accepting Lord Senator Steven Rogers as his Alpha, Husband, and Headship.

To read previous parts of this series first, got to the masterlist

6. A Honeymoon

This Chapter: Steve looks at him pointedly. “I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to matters of protocol - if it concerns just the two of us or our Third. But in company I’ll expect you to mind yourself. Understood?”

Except for being trampled by a carriage and almost losing his arm, taking a boat over the Atlantic winds up being the worst experience of Bucky’s life.

It’s neat, at first. Bucky’s only ever travelled by boat once before, and Steve has booked them tickets for a first-class suite on a luxury liner. A week after their wedding, they drive to the harbor, Steve and Bucky in one car and two of their servants and all the luggage in another.

At the docks are a number of newspaper reporters, all standing around and yelling out for a comment. It’s to be expected for a newly-married Senatorial couple such as them, but annoying all the same. Bucky heads straight for the gangplank, ready to walk-on-by and ignore the shouts completely. It’s been drummed into him since childhood: never give the press an unauthorized interview.

So he’s taken aback when Steve grabs his hand and pulls him over to address the reporters. Bucky looks at Steve with wide eyes, but his husband is already speaking to the nearest photographer, who’s asked them if they’re off for their honeymoon. “Yes,” Steve says, an easy smile gracing his face. Surprised, Bucky stands there like a dolt while Steve takes questions and engages politely with the reporters.

How liberal of him, Bucky thinks. It’s certainly unexpected from someone like Steve, who’s a goddamn member of the Senate. These are nothing but a bunch of gossip rag sidewalk paparazzi. Even they seem shocked that they're being given the time of day. Normally men of Steve's stature stick their noses up at anything but the most coordinated of interviews, arranged and conducted by seasoned journalists from only the most respected publications.

Bucky bites his lip as he watches Steve, looking at his smile, his bright eyes. He’s so handsome, he can’t help but think. Why the hell would someone like that ever consider marrying someone like him? Bucky averts his eyes when Steve turns his head and catches him staring.

“Captain Rogers: Is it Europe then, where you and the Lord Rogers will be travelling?”

“Yes. England, and then we’ll be touring the continent,” Steve says. The other reporters bark out more questions, asking for private details about their wedding and their plans for the future, but Steve shuts them up with a raised hand. “I’m sorry gentlemen, ladies, but that’s all. We need to board now.” He directs Bucky back towards the ramp, and it’s with the sounds of still-squawking reporters at their backs that they board the ship.

Their staterooms are finely furnished but small.

Bucky figures that since they have a sitting room separate from the bedroom, and a private promenade, these accommodations must be quite spacious—for a ship. The servants put the luggage away, then excuse themselves to settle into their own cabins down in second class.

That leaves Bucky to wander about and look things over. He pokes his head into the bedroom. There’s a dressing table and a door that leads to the bath. The room has a bed with posts and a canopy, tucked right up against the wall. It's clearly meant for two people, but it is much, much smaller than the bed he and Steve shared on their wedding night.

That had been nearly a week ago. Steve had travelled to D.C. to set his Senatorial affairs in order before their trip abroad, and Bucky had stayed in his own family's home. Aside from Becca's teasing and Prudence asking naughty questions about 'marital activities', Bucky's almost been able to forget that he's married at all.

But now they're on the ship, in luxurious but cramped quarters—and with a bed sized to match. Bucky swallows and eyes the small frame, thinking about how he’ll be sleeping there with Steve for the next eleven days …

“Bucky?"

He inhales sharply, shaking himself from his thoughts "Coming!" He goes back out to the sitting room, where Steve is standing and looking about the room with a proud smile. "Well, what do you think? I made sure to book one of the finest staterooms. It's nice, right?"

It's fucking gorgeous, but Bucky isn't going to say so just so Steve can preen over himself. He shrugs. "Sure. I guess so."

The light in Steve's eyes dims a little, but he recovers. “There's a promenade," he offers brightly. "Want to see outside?”

Bucky huffs as if put-upon, even though he does want to see, and follows Steve onto the promenade. It’s nice—light and airy, with wicker furniture and large windows that can be opened to let the sea breeze in. Steve flops down onto one of the chairs and Bucky walks over to the windows, sliding one open and looking out. Their stateroom is on the side of the ship that faces the docks, and he observes all of the pedestrians and dock workers moving around on the street below. Some are passing by, others have stopped to look up at the ship as all of its passengers and luggage are brought on board. Below, the muddy harbor water sloshes gently against the bottom of the ship, and Bucky leans out over the edge of the window, trying to see if there are any barnacles clinging to the—

“Bucky!” Steve’s hands are suddenly on him, yanking him by his coat.

"Wha—oof!"

Steve pulls him back into the room, maintaining a harsh grip on his upper arm as he shuts the window. He turns and glares at him. “You could have fallen!”

Bucky jerks away from his hold. “No I couldn’tve,” he snaps. “Jesus, I was just looking. I’m fine. What’s your problem?”

"You could've been hurt," Steve insists. "Or killed! You have to be more careful."

"More careful than what?" Bucky scowls. He stalks away, not noticing the other man's pained expression as he watched him go.

Steve gives him his space after that, telling Bucky that he’s going down to arrange their dinner reservations, and that he’ll be back in a bit. Bucky waits, intending to bide his time in the cabin, but there’s really nothing to do, and it gets boring after only a few minutes.

So he decides he’ll explore the ship. He heads out, not unaware that he should probably be waiting for Steve, or at least leaving him a note telling him where he’s going. It is a big ship, after all. But he ignores the consideration. Steve can figure it out for himself. Bucky’s an adult, and even though Steve's his Headship, he hadn’t told Bucky to stay put. Bucky smirks as he leaves their stateroom and takes the lift down, thinking about Steve returning to the room to find it empty.

The ship, Bucky concludes, is ridiculous.

He stops a steward and asks about what he might see, and the man directs him to several attractions. There’s the day lounge, the smoking lounge, the bar, the library, the gym, the squash courts and the swimming pool. There’s a goddamn Turkish bath, of all things! Bucky can’t imagine what person thought that they needed one of those. God forbid they cross an ocean without the essentials.

It takes a long time to tour most of the ship. At least an hour goes by before Bucky makes his way up to the public promenade and sits on a deck chair, tired and ready to people-watch. He’s relaxing, enjoying the busy sounds of the ship and the dockside, when all of a sudden someone down the way is exclaiming,

“There you are!”

He startles, head turning to see Steve approaching looking quite harried. Oh. Bucky tucks his lips in, trying hard not to smile. “Oh, hey Steve.”

Steve comes over and stands there with his hands on his hips, staring down at him. “I’ve been looking for you for over an hour!”

Bucky shrugs. “I went for a walk.”

“A walk?!” Steve huffs. “What on earth was so important that you couldn’t have waited for me to get back?” He glares at him. “I had half a mind that you’d gotten off the ship!”

Bucky laughs out loud at that. Even he wouldn’t literally jump ship to escape his new husband. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that,” he drawls. “It’s an idea though.”

Steve’s face darkens, and he is not amused. Growling, he grabs Bucky by the scruff of his shirt and yanks him up. “Come on,” he says, verging on using his Voice. “We’re going back to the room.”

“Sit,” he says, the moment he’s got the door to their suite shut. He points at the couch. “There. Now.”

Bucky gulps. He’s never been on the receiving end of an alpha’s Voice before. Truth be told, he’d always expected that it wouldn’t have much of an effect on him. He’s beta: omegas are the ones who are supposed to be compelled. But Bucky definitely feels something. Steve’s Voice puts a slight urge in his brain, an itch to obey. Coupled with the fact that he's wary of his husband's anger, it motivates him to plant his butt exactly where Steve just pointed.

He doesn’t have to do this, he reminds himself stubbornly. He doesn’t have to obey Steve’s command. … It just feels better if he does. Bucky grits his teeth and tells him, “You don’t have to Voice, alright? I’m here. I won’t run off again.”

Steve’s features lift a bit, whether in surprise or relief is unclear. “Okay,” he says, and yeah, it’s relief. He comes to join Bucky on the couch. “I was really worried, Bucky.”

Bucky hates the honest look that’s on Steve’s face right now, hates the hurt pinch in his brow. It tells him that Steve is a good man, is just concerned for his safety. Bucky feels his cheeks heat with embarrassment at having to be scolded like a child. “Sorry,” he mutters, hoping that it'll be enough to satisfy whatever his husband needs to hear from him.

“Promise me you won’t go running off again,” Steve says. He’s not using his Voice anymore, but his tone is imploring. “On this ship or elsewhere. We’ve got stops planned all over Europe. I won’t be able to relax if I constantly have to worry about you disappearing.”

Bucky frowns. Sure, he’d disappeared for an hour or two, and maybe he’d enjoyed the fact that he knew it would annoy Steve, but that wasn't why he'd done it. Bucky had honestly wanted to see the ship. He tells Steve so, saying, “I just wanted to explore. I won’t run away.”

Steve nods, seemingly satisfied. “Okay. Thank you, Buck.”

Bucky doesn’t know what to say to that. He feels suddenly awkward, sitting on the couch next to Steve; his husband, his Headship, the alpha who just a week ago had held Bucky tight to his body, jerked him off, and fucked his spend all over his thighs. Bucky swallows heavily at the memory. “I ...” he starts, needing to put some space between them. “Steve, I … need to use the bathroom.”

Steve frowns lightly. “Well go ahead. Jeez Buck, you don’t have to ask permission.”

Bucky shoots up from the couch, eager to get away because he's not sure he can keep himself from flinging out a nasty rebuttal, if he stays sitting there much longer.

They dress in tails for dinner in the ship’s finest and most exclusive dining room. Steve leads Bucky in by the arm, all eyes turning to watch them as they enter. Thankfully, everyone else in this part of the ship is just as, or nearly as, wealthy and important as Steve and Bucky are, so it isn’t long before most of the eyes trail away and their owners return to their previous conversations, two members of minor American royalty of no special note to them. Steve guides Bucky in the direction of their table, at which point they are accosted by two people.

“Captain Rogers!”

One of them Bucky recognizes. He’s Henry Mills, youngest son of Senator Mills of New Jersey, the man who used to be Bucky’s father’s counterpart—No longer, he thinks bitterly.

You’re the Lord of nothing! 

He can still hear his mother's hissing rebuke from that day. He blushes, embarrassed to have to stand in the company of his old schoolmate like this. Before, as both a Senatorial heir and as a beta, Bucky would've been considered above Henry in status. But now all that's changed. He’s sure Henry must be thinking about House Barnes’ scandal, as word has undoubtedly gotten 'round to the more important families of society by now. Soon enough it’ll be in the papers and everyone will know. Bucky cringes at the thought.

Steve starts up a stilted conversation of pleasantries with the alpha who introduces himself as Henry’s husband—Lord Jamison, Senator of Ohio. Henry is omega and a younger son, two very simple reasons why he was never going to inherit his father’s Seat. Bucky thinks dejectedly about how now the two of them have ended up in very much the same place; married to alpha Senators to maintain their positions in Society. The only difference between them is their designation, and it’s glaring. Henry’s stomach is noticeable beneath his waistcoat and dinner jacket. He’s pregnant.

“Yes,” Jamison is saying. “We’re very excited to be starting a family.” He wraps his arm possessively around Henry’s waist, drawing him closer against his side. “And we’re thinking we may have found our third. A beta from Maine. She’s just a daughter of one of the elected, but even still, she’s a very nice girl. Don’t you think, Sweetheart?”

Henry nods, one hand migrating to his stomach as he gazes up at his husband in adoration. “Yes,” he says. “It’s been a wonderful first year. We’re very fortunate.” He returns his attention to Bucky and Steve, saying, “You must be looking forward to setting up your Household, when you get back.”

It’s framed as a question, and since it’s clearly been aimed at Bucky, he feels compelled to answer, “Um, yes?” It’s a terribly awkward answer, and the uncomfortable silence that follows it makes him want to shrink away. Henry’s so obviously in love with his Headship, and meanwhile Bucky is just … not. He feels guilty for making it so obvious. 

Hadn’t they come there to eat dinner? He doubts he’ll have much of an appetite after this. He's been feeling a tad bit queasy since the ship departed that afternoon, and he desperately hopes that he won’t be prone to seasickness. “We’re moving into Steve’s brownstone,” he says, trying to offer something useful to the conversation. “It’s in Brooklyn.”

Jamison laughs. “Oh, how terribly chic of you. Such an eclectic place.” ‘Eclectic’, Bucky knows, is a euphemism for ‘common’. “You’ll have a lot to see there,” the alpha says. “I’ve heard they’ve made great progress in gentrifying some of the neighborhoods.”

Bucky looks to Steve, who is smiling a fake smile with tight eyes. “Yes, it’s nice. My favorite of all our residences.”

All our residences? Bucky thinks. All our residences? He tries to reign in his reaction. He hadn’t known that Steve owned more than one property, though it does make sense, given his wealth. He makes a mental note to ask Steve later about where the other houses are.

“Well, we really must take our seats,” Steve excuses. “I think I’ve seen our waiter divert himself twice, now.” He chuckles, and even that is fake, though Bucky isn’t sure the Jamisons can tell. “Gentlemen,” Steve says, and the couple bids them a polite goodbye. Steve waits until they’ve stepped away before he guides Bucky to sit at their table. “They seem nice,” he says, unfolding his napkin and placing it in his lap. Bucky follows suit.

“Yeah,” he says. “I guess.”

The waiter arrives and asks Steve what they’ll have. He doesn’t address Bucky, as it’s traditional for Headships to order for their spouses. Bucky is annoyed but not surprised. He speaks up right after Steve’s asked for lobster and before he can order for Bucky. “I’ll have the duck à l’orange,” he says.

The waiter seems tense for a moment, eyes flicking to Steve to assess his reaction. Steve gives a slight nod, and the waiter relaxes. “Very good Sir. I’ll tell the chef.” He turns and walks on to the next table.

“You don’t mind, do you Steve?” Bucky asks sweetly, waiting for his husband to scold him for the embarrassment. But it doesn’t come.

“No, I don’t,” Steve says, smiling slightly when Bucky looks at him with surprise. “I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to matters of protocol.”

“Oh?”

He nods. “When it concerns just the two of us or our Third, yes.” He looks at Bucky pointedly. “But in company I’ll expect you to mind yourself. Understood?”

Bucky wants so badly to say that no, it’s not understood, but that would be embarrassingly childish, even for him, so he reins himself in. “Sure,” he says.

“Good.”

They sit in silence, uncomfortable, until Bucky blurts, “Where are your residences?”

Steve's mouth quirks. “Well for one, they’re our houses now, seeing as we’re married. And they’re in Brooklyn, the Hamptons, Washington D.C., Manhattan, London and Paris. The latter three are only apartments, but they’re sizeable. I especially enjoy the Paris residence. We’ll be staying there for part of the trip. I'll look forward to hearing your opinions on each, you know." His expression turns fond. "Especially about our house in Cobble Hill. That's to be our family home."

Bucky fights to keep his face neutral, but internally he’s impressed. House Barnes has only ever kept residences in Paramus and Washington D.C. Ruefully, he thinks of how his mother and sisters will likely be forced to move to a different house now that their Senatorial status is about to be revoked, the only thing keeping them in Society being Bucky’s marriage to Steve. For that, he is grateful. He nods and fiddles with his silverware. “That’s nice,” he says.

Steve smiles. “Have you ever been to France?”

Bucky shakes his head. “No. I um, I went with my father to a state dinner in London once, back when I was introduced to Society, but it was brief. We didn’t go to the continent.”

“I see. Well I think you’ll enjoy yourself on our trip. I’m looking forward to showing you the sights.”

Bucky nods, not disagreeing but silent on the matter. Secretly, he’s been kind of excited to go on this honeymoon with Steve. He’s never traveled much, and touring Europe with a gorgeous Alpha is hardly a hardship. The only catch being that Bucky has to be married to him.

Their meal arrives before too long, and he's able to distract himself with the food. He drinks the wine that the sommelier suggests—a floral red that compliments the duck—and is pleased when Steve doesn’t protest his request of a second glass. Dessert is a rich chocolate cake, and Bucky nearly moans by the time he’s enjoying the last bite. When he finishes and glances up, Steve is looking at him with a mixture of amusement and desire. Bucky blushes. “Um, do you want to go to the smoking lounge, maybe? Have a brandy?”

Steve shakes his head. “I’ve had enough, and it's been a long day. Shall we head back to the room?”

Bucky swallows, nodding meekly and standing to take Steve’s offered arm. He thinks about what they’re going to do when they get back to their quarters. Will Steve undress him? Expect to have sex? Bucky’s thoughts drift back to their first night together; how Steve had handled him gently, made him come …

Steve guides him from the dining room. On the way out, they pass by Senator Jamison's table, and Bucky catches Henry Mills shooting him a friendly look—almost one of understanding, as though the two of them are Societal equals.

With a strange twinge in his gut, Bucky realizes that now they are.

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[absolutely-normal-about-x]

The Guardians’s Personalities

In Legends Reborn, the Guardians realize that they are no longer generals or bound by Neo Arcadia anymore. Since I talked about X, now it’s their turn. Besides how they feel and their personalities in this era of peace, they were able to get loose at last.

Harpuia is, not surprisingly, the one who had the hardest time adjusting to his new life as a newly formed body. Especially having to stop calling his father “Master X” because boy was that awkward as fuck considering that he’s his child rather than a soldier. So it’s decided that he’s going to call him Father for now. He misses his hands, but he has adjusted to his wings and how shockingly prehensile and flexible they are.

He tends to be strict, a bit of an organized neat freak, still acts like a leader, having to herd his chaotic younger siblings around, still retains his sense of Justice but has mellowed out, and has picked up hobbies that stimulate his mind Like puzzles, reading books (his favorites are extremely trashy, smutty romance books; it’s his guilty pleasure if you bring this up, he WILL DESTROY YOU), and playing strategy games that require more thought (He, Barrell, X, and surprisingly, Teiso?? play chest). Since learning how to fly with his new arms, he has developed some bird-like habits. He mostly enjoys flying around to see everything, but it makes him feel liberated and not trapped in the grand Gilded cage of Neo Arcadia.

He tends to do more jobs out in the field as a digger or an organizer. But also, due to his sense of justice, he tends to apprehend dangerous criminals. (The Bonnes are surprisingly good at providing him with some valuable information; he and Teiso tend to have a Rivalry/frenemy relationship.)

Leviathan has adjusted very well to her new life, at least. Aside from getting used to being a carbonate most of the time,. Levi absolutely revels in her newly discovered freedom, being more carefree than she used to be. She is loving the new body. It may be soft, but it still has fishy traits, but dammit, she kills it. Aside from the fact that she can't survive desserts for shit, she’ll complain through the entire goddamn trip if they do not prepare a cooling spot for her. She doesn't really miss her previous life as a general, but she holds a level of shame about it. She happily calls X her dad.

She's very sassy, playful, and somewhat of a diva with a mischievous streak. Still holding her passion for all sea life (yes, even the more fucked-up ones), she often happily states facts about them if asked. She hates getting dirty (she gets dramatic as fuck about) and has a preference for the water and the sea, which gives her more power since the world is flooded. She's a bit of a fashion fan, often going clothes shopping or, at times (with Phantom’s help), making clothes to match her taste. She's the gossip gal, spilling the latest tea on someone with her gal pals or her dad. She still holds her sadistic side but only uses it when it's necessary (like protecting her sweet little brother and her loved ones). Despite how she acts most of the time, she’s genuine with her words and is a big sister figure to folks who need help.

As a deep sea digger, she's known to stay in underwater ruins for long periods of time to seek and recover treasure and supplies, which is really damn good. Because of her looks (it's fucking obvious who she got it from) and love of fashion, she has a modeling gig going. Frankly, she's a bit popular, but not supermodel-level, but well known. Also, due to her flirtatious attitude, she tends to charm men and women to get what she wants (to Harpuia’s dismay).

Fefnir: It was weird to adjust to this new life for himself. At first, he complained about how limited this body was in contrast to his stronger one. But over time, it has seen its advantages and then quickly eased up. The carefree life of Terra was really weird to get used to, but he has developed new ways to excite himself. His once hot-blooded temper has significantly lowered now that he can fight for fun! Bro is loving his draconic traits because they make him already cooler. His affinity for fire has allowed him to be resistant to heat (especially on the hottest days or deserts, when he gets even more excited), but he will die in the freezing cold. Straight up calls and pops.

He’s a bold, loud, passionate, and surprisingly laid-back individual. Who still enjoys fighting despite the peaceful era of Terra? His imposing stature tends to scare people away, but the truth is, he’s laid back and holds a surprising amount of emotional intelligence. Surprisingly solid advice. His bluntness may come off as rude, but he really does mean well for others. Always saying what comes out of his mind. He has a lot of knowledge of agriculture thanks to his time as a general. To the point that he has developed a green thumb for plants. He often hears Levi's gossip for the shits and giggles. He’s really content with his current life on Terra.

Out of everyone in the family aside from Volnutt, he’s very much a full-time digger. Most of his job is just him doing high-level digs to fight off dangerous reaverbots or fighting off air pirates. He doesn’t mind doing hard work for people.

Phantom, there’s not much to say about how much he feels about the adjustment period, but the truth is, he’s content with the circumstances surrounding his resurrection. But there was at one point where he had light sensitivity with his new eyes for a time that caused him to wear sunglasses. He’s quiet about the changes compared to his siblings (they probably have to be more direct with him). Shockingly, he’s finally able to express his repressed emotions after so long, but in very subtle ways that only his family can notice. Especially his sillier, softer side, because it turns out that despite his quiet, mature personality, Phantom is young. Especially when it comes to pranks and games, he’s quite the trickster. He’s older than Volnutt but actually younger than his brothers and sister. Like Harpuia, he prefers to call X "Father.”.

In terms of his personality, his quiet, cautious, yet loyal nature is still present . But he’s really social and shy, awkward, and loathes being surrounded by massive crowds. This is why he prefers to stay in the shadows compared to anyone else. But still, he’s fiercely loyal to his family and friends. One aspect of him is that he’s capable of being goofy and mischievous. He enjoys scaring people by suddenly appearing without warning and pulling small little pranks. Also saying the most wild shit that ever came out of his mouth. Often than not, he enjoys being the cause of chaos, just for the hell of it. He’s known to be a fantastic listener, hearing things out and providing some insight. He’s also kind of a famous cryptid; his ninja abilities allow him to disappear into the shadows. Seeing folks make conspiracy theories about him is the funniest sh*t ever.

Currently, it's unknown what he’s up to these days, aside from helping his father around the house or doing patrols. However, he loves working part-time at a local cat cafe. I absolutely loved a cat from that cafe named Butterscotch. But it's hard to be the weirdest cryptid of all terra.

[starboybutler]

Poor Boy ( CH. 1 )

summary: Jess Wade finds an injured boy on his property one day.

word count: 3060

warnings: violence, kidnapping, anxiety

notes: decided to start posting my multichapter clint/jess fic to tumblr and not just on a03! i hardly post over here so this should be a treat for my three followers here (also bc i wanna use these cute cowboy dividers i found). i'm already three chapters deep into this story, and currently working on the fourth- so i'll upload the rest of the chapters sometime this week to space em out a lil. in the meantime, please enjoy chapter one!

chapter 1 (you are here)

chapter 2

chapter 3 (coming soon)

jess wade was fifteen years old when he first saw his name on a wanted poster.

his mom was devastated beyond belief. she nocouldn't even begin to think that her little boy was running around with a group of troublemakers, looting and vandalizing and stealing- but that wanted poster stuck out in their small town like a sore thumb.

the people were outraged that a delinquent was in their town, ruining their reputation and committing petty crimes like it was a fun after school hobby. they never liked jess much, even before they knew he was stealing, honestly. he always heard the town gossiping to his momma about how she should take him to a doctor because 'something wasn't right’ with him.

jess never paid them any mind, all he needed was his momma.

but when that wanted poster showed up, he lost her too. she yelled at him, which she had never done before- and jess felt his heart shatter into pieces.

that's the last time he remembers crying.

the town shooed him out, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a horse to get around. at least they were nice enough for that.

but he wasn't completely alone, even then. he still had vince, who he'd committed the petty crimes with. vince didn't have his mom or dad either. he ran away a long while ago, and began his side gig of stealing from small towns wherever he could find them. when he found jess’s town, he saw jess sitting on the porch and scrubbing away at his only good pair of shoes, trying to get the dirt out of them.

vince approached him and said he needed help getting something back. said a kid in this town stole his money and he wouldn't give it up, so he had to go take it by force.

he chose jess because he was mean looking- tough. he was an outsider, even in his small hometown, and that was just fine with him.

jess knew he was stealing, but he went along with it anyway. to this day, he doesn't know what possessed him to join that lanky ginger kid.

eventually he cut vince off, but that damn vince hackett still knows how to get under jess’s skin like a goddamn bug.

after the messiness of getting out of the bond he had with vince, jess decided that he was better off alone. he didn't need anyone. all he needed was his horse- and even then he could replace that. he just needed to stay on the outskirts of any town, far away from anyone and anything.

jess hummed to himself quietly as he poured grain into his horse’s feeder, gently petting his nose as he leaned down to eat. his horse truly was the only thing he cared about anymore.

jess set down the grain and wiped at his forehead, exhaling as he turned on his heel towards the exit of the barn. just as he stepped into the sun, the familiar sound of a gunshot echoed loudly in his ears.

he'd heard gunshots more times than he could count. he would hear them at any time of day, but for them to be this close to his cabin was unusual. had vince found him again?

jess reached for the gun on his hip, placing his hand on it as he stalked out of the stables and into the hot sun, observing his surroundings carefully. nothing looked out of place. no suspicious figures on the horizon, no horses, no nothing. just the land, like it always is.

jess moved his hand away from his gun and hummed lowly, rolling his shoulders back. wherever it came from, it wasn't his problem. nothing ever was anymore.

he began to walk towards his cabin, but something in his gut told him to turn around. he glanced behind his shoulder, and saw an unusual lump on the ground a little ways in the distance.

a person.

jess spun around and quickly made his way over to the body, standing over it and staring at it, dumbfounded.

it was a boy.

he looked to be a teen, maybe eighteen or nineteen maybe. his hair was blonde, but dirty and matted with dried blood and dirt, and his skin was pale. save for the fading flush on his cheeks from the blistering heat. his clothes were ripped and stained, and jess could faintly see scratch marks and ripping on his clothes from a struggle. jess knelt down and gently pressed his fingers on the boy’s neck, feeling for a pulse.

it was there, but it was awfully faint. jess furrowed his brow in thought, looking over the boy once more.

he was in bad shape. there was a chance that even if jess took him to get help, he’d die before he could even begin to recover. on the other hand, it never hurt to try, just a little. it never hurt to have a little hope.

without a second thought, jess gently took the blonde boy into his arms bridal style, trying not to jostle his head too much as he headed towards his secluded cabin. he had some supplies laying around in his room for emergencies, maybe he could patch him up well enough for a few days or so.

jess kicked his door open and sat the unconscious boy on his shoddily made couch, jogging to get his supplies from under his bed. he set everything down on his coffee table and exhaled through his

nose, grabbing some gauze and pressing it to the wound on his head gently, sopping up any blood that was still dribbling out.

the boy twitched weakly, and jess cursed to himself as he swabbed up any blood. this wasn't going to be perfect, but jess wasn't a doctor- it didn't need to be perfect. this boy just needed to survive.

jess grabbed the bandages and wrapped the wound tightly, cutting it short with his teeth and tucking it under the others so it stayed in place. he began dabbing the other wounds and wrapping them in the same fashion, holding his breath as he prayed that this boy didn't die on his couch.

as jess wrapped up the last wound on his arm, he looked over the boy once more.

he was barely breathing, but he looked a little less pale. he was sweating bullets, shaking and twitching from the shock of whatever happened to him. his eyes were screwed shut, tears running down his cheek every once in a while.

jess sighed softly, reaching to the side of him and pulling a blanket over the boy as he twitched and trembled in his sleep. jess decided that trying to wake him up now wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. he’d probably scare the boy out of his mind and send him into shock again. the kid just needed to rest, they could talk when he woke up.

as for jess, he needed to freshen up after handling this boy’s beaten up body. his clothes were stained and dirtied now.

jess lifted his chin, gently dragging the razor across his neck carefully. he let his facial hair get a little out of hand lately.

the seasons were changing, so he didn't have to go into town as often as he used to. the heat was dying down ever so slightly- so his crops weren't dying as often. he could survive for a few months without having to go visit the sheriff for some goods. the sweets his wife made were good for storing up when he needed it, but the ride was draining.

he set the razor down and washed the remaining shaving cream off of his face, dabbing his face dry with an old towel as he sighed deeply. the boy had yet to move on the couch, but his breathing had evened out, and he had stopped shaking. he seemed to just be in a deep sleep now.

hopefully he woke up soon. jess had a lot of questions about his whole ordeal.

jess turned and placed his hat back on his head, freezing in his steps as he saw the boy sitting up on the couch. he looked dazed, his eyes fixed on his dirty hands and tattered clothes. the poor thing seemed like he was still in shock.

jess carefully took a step forward, and the blonde’s head snapped up towards him. his eyes were big and blue, glassy with unshed tears. jess held up a hand in front of him, setting his jaw.

“i know you're confused,” he starts slowly, his voice firm. “but i ain't the one that hurt ya.”

the blonde blinked, looking away from him and staring at his filthy hands once more. he seemed so out of it- almost like he wasn't even sure he was real or not. it was creepy.

“i shot him,” the boy spoke hoarsely, before breaking into a harsh coughing fit. the poor thing probably hasn't had a drink for god knows how long. jess rushed to the sink and filled a glass with water, pressing the cool glass into the blonde's trembling hands.

“drink something,” jess muttered, guiding the drink to his lips.

the boy obeyed almost mindlessly. when he got that first taste of water, he was gulping it down quickly like it was the last time he’d ever get to drink anything.

the boy exhaled loudly as he finished the water, reaching to messily wipe at his mouth, smearing dirt on his face. jess would have reached and wiped it off, but he didn't want to startle him even more. the boy’s hands were bandaged. were those bandages there when he found him?

“better?” jess asked, setting the glass to the side and raising an eyebrow.

the boy nodded ever so slightly. he sat and stared at the ground, before large tears welled up in his eyes and spilled down his dirty cheeks, wetting his shirt. his body shook as he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes, palming at them desperately to stop the tears.

jess had never been good at dealing with emotions. his own, or others. he found them to be too complicated, and he rid himself of any feelings long ago, when he was young. the people in his town called him heartless when he shed no tears at funerals, or when he didn't smile at the get-togethers. that's just who he was. life was easier that way- and no one understood but him.

“i dunno what i did wrong,” the boy started, his body trembling as he sat up, trying to compose himself. “i-i was jus’ doin’ chores for ma, in the fields, and then,”

his eyes darken, and he clutches at his head like he's in agony.

“th-they snatched me up- t-took me away an’...they tried to….and i shot ‘em.” the blonde hiccuped frantically, tugging at the matted hair on his head.

jess quickly grabbed his wrist, pulling it away from his head as gently as he could manage. the boy’s hands twitched in his grasp, and he weakly tried to pull away before he gave in, his body much too weak to put up any fight.

“don't be yankin’ and pullin’ at your head like that,” jess scolds softly, letting his wrist go. “you're gonna hurt yourself more. it's a miracle you're even alive.” he said bluntly.

the boy looked away, his eyes still dark as his hand balled into his pants, tears threatening to spill from his eyes again.

“why'd you save me?”

jess set his jaw. hell, he didn't even know why he saved this boy. a near-dead body was a common sight where he lived, in the middle of nowhere. it was common for people to dump and leave bodies for dead around here, and jess would ride and walk past them like they were nothing but another rock in the sand.

but when he saw this blonde boy on the verge of death, something gripped at his heart and he couldn't walk away from him. he didn't know what that feeling was when he saw him. maybe jess did it because he genuinely felt bad.

“i don't know.” jess admitted, adjusting his hat. “but i just knew i couldn't leave you to die out here. especially not on my property,”

the boy swallowed and just nodded, just looking absolutely defeated. it wasn't fair, someone so young having to go through something like this. jess knew that feeling.

he crouched next to the boy, finding his eyes under the bangs of his messy locks. “let's get you some clean clothes.”

“okay,”

jess wandered to his room and opened his drawer. he didn't have many clothes, as it was just him, and he didn't really go anywhere. he did still have some old clothes that didn't really fit him anymore, back when he was in his early twenties…but the boy obviously didn't want to get dressed in a whole get up right now.

he eventually settled on an oversized sleep dress he had laying around. it was a little faded, but other than that it didn't have any tears or holes in it.

he walked back into the living area and tossed the sleep dress onto the couch. the boy picked it up and observed it, before muttering out a small ‘thanks’.

“need help getting dressed?”

“no,” the boy said quickly, clutching the fabric to his chest. “get out.”

“alrighty,” jess hummed, confused by the sudden hostility. maybe he was just self conscious. jess could sympathize somewhat, he didn't like people seeing him shirtless much either. he was almost always wearing about three layers of clothes.

he shut his bedroom door behind him to let the boy get dressed, but not even a second later he heard a loud cry from the living area.

he opened the door and saw the boy clutching his side, his face screwed up in pain as he laid on his side, the sleep dress sprawled on the floor. jess slowly approached him, his hand held out.

“you sure you don't-”

“i’m fine, damn it.” the boy hissed, obviously embarrassed, sitting up slowly. “i just…ugh-”

“i’m not gonna do nothin’ to hurt you.” jess states firmly, looking the boy in the eyes. “i’ll help you get dressed, and then i’ll leave you alone if you want.”

the blonde stared at him, as if searching for an ounce of proof that he was lying, before muttering in agreement. “fine,”

jess gently grabbed the boy and sat him up with ease, slowly beginning to unbutton his tattered shirt. he slid it off of his arms and put it to the side, moving to undo the button of his pants.

the boy squirmed, and jess looked up at him. his face was pink, and he was looking off to the side as jess slid his pants off slowly, as to not hurt him. he suddenly reached down, swatting jess’s hands away and fumbling with his pants.

“i can do this part,” he mutters, kicking his pants off.

jess shrugs and grabs the sleep dress, rolling it up as he stands. “arms up, if you can.”

the blonde lifts his arms as much as he can, groaning as he feels the wound on his side shift. jess presses a hand to his shoulder to stop him, moving to slip the garment over his head and arms the best he can.

it was a bit of a struggle, but he eventually maneuvered it to get over his head.

while the boy wiggles into the sleep gown, jess’s eyes rake over his body curiously. he's covered in bruises, which wouldn't be concerning, considering the state he found him in, if they weren't old bruises. some of them were small, purple blotches, others were deep purple or even greenish-, mostly along his legs. his chest was untouched, pale and smooth. they were obviously caused by someone hitting him- but the question was who-. maybe they were caused by the struggle earlier, with whoever he supposedly shot. the gown dropped suddenly and jess looked up at the boy, who was droopy eyed.

“i…thanks.” he mutters, curling himself into a ball, pulling his knees to his chest, looking away. “i, uh…’m real sorry for everything. i’m just not right in the head right now,”

“i know,” jess says. “you've been through some stuff.” he mutters. “i won't make you talk about it until you're ready.”

“i appreciate that,” he mutters, his cheeks flushing slightly.

the kid was well mannered when he wasn't freaking out. jess appreciated that.

jess’s lip curled up slightly, and he tilted his head. “what's your name, kid?”

the boy set his jaw, fidgeting nervously as he answered quietly. “clinton. clinton reno.” he answers softly, his eyes darting up to jess. “you can call me clint,”

“clint,” jess says, standing and gestures to the kitchen. “hungry? i can whip something up.”

the boy- clint- shakes his head, grabbing the blanket tightly and laying back on his side with heavy eyes. “no, i’m…i'm really tired.”

“alright,” jess hums, adjusting his hat. “you get some rest. i’ll be here in the morning.”

clint nods and shuts his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately afterward. jess blows out the candle and heads towards his room, shutting the door quietly.

he sat on his bed, sighing heavily. this might be a lot more than he bargained for. if this reno boy had really shot someone, there wasn't no way the constable wasn't gonna come looking for him. he suspected he'd get a visit from sheriff ramsey soon, but he could lie to him easily enough. he hated to do it, but if he had to, he would.

he laid back and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes falling shut as his mind began to run. what was he going to to with this boy once he was healed up? that wouldn't be for a while. it was already come fall time, and he would probably be a wanted man in a few days, so it's not like he could send him off on his lonesome- but jess only had living space for one person.

jess fell asleep with an image of clint crying fresh on his mind.

[queenofyumcha]

The Witcher Netflix's Emhyr Shrine

(RANT INCOMING, NSFW)

Recently finished watching season 3 of the TWN and I took about twenty psychic damage upon seeing what looked like a statue of Emhyr. (S3E8)

one. He looks like a random philosopher. (kinda feels like the statue is mid-shrug saying 'yeah i just invaded the northern realms. what are you going to do about it?')

two. If his men/Impera Brigade have a fan club/gossip sessions, this is the club hangout

three. Uh. my brain immediately went 'hey what if his men fucked him kneeling in front of his own statue? wouldn't that be fun?'

the thought of Emhyr being fucked (desecrated because it’s a SHRINE??) at the base of his own statue is… 🤭 a desperate mess at the foot of the idealised version of him…

And so, like any fanfic writer, I fired up the episode to scour for, ah, details and -

WHAT ARE THESE TABLES, NETFLIX? ARE WE AT A CAR BOOT SALE? THIS IS WHERE THE BUDGET RAN OUT?

(it really irks me that this room looks so low budget because if you were going to imply that the white flame thing is a cult, which fine, I can get behind that for smut reasons, why would they treat their shrine this poorly? surely, it would be richly decorated? this is giving community hall with trestle tables hastily set up for a bake sale!)

no wonder this was the only shot of the whole room!!! it looks so bad!!! it really ruins the immersion!!!

they can't fuck their emperor on that, one thrust and the entire thing collapses!!! think of the health and safety regulations!

(yes, the amount of candles is also an issue but reduce the number of candles and they can have some fun with wax play. what? you're telling me the white flame is afraid of a little hot wax? surely not?

And now I can’t stop thinking about Emhyr having ritual sex in front of his shrine. His men fucking him before they depart to battle like a good luck ritual, Emhyr over sensitised, fucked nearly senseless at the base of his statue, his men kneeling to worship him 🥰🫶

maybe they’re only allowed to fuck their emperor when they win.

maybe Emhyr’s not allowed to get himself off outside of marital sex to create an heir or being fucked senseless on his own altar. (insert flimsy religious reasoning here- orgasms allowed for duty only?)

OH and the flags here look like an afterthought, nilfs, get your shit together and iron those flags!!! during pride month of all things??? why are they propped up on the walls like that? hang em properly! at least emhyr can use them to help clean up i guess, they're not getting more rumpled.

also, the half-arsed stained glass here pisses me off. you can't even see it because there's a little bit at the top of the window and that's it! but that's just me loving the aesthetics of stained glass.

(also, since stained glass in private residences was a way of showing wealth, it would have been really cool to see a depiction of the sun/emhyr/the var emreis lineage/ the empire in stained glass or as a mural!)

and yes, I was trying to get a clear shot of the guards standing behind Emhyr's throne because I'm fully accepting them as Impera Brigade guards.

I do love that Netflix gave the guards stationed near Emhyr unique fancier armour than the other guards in the palace though!

(BUT WHY DID EMHYR NOT GET OTHER OUTFIT CHANGES? HE'S ROYALTY, WHY IS HE LIVING IN PLATE ARMOUR? ALSO, why is he wearing NORMAL TROUSERS with PLATE ARMOUR?)

I did like the roman columns and architecture here though, that was a nice touch but i felt like it didn't quite fit with the rest of the nilfgaardian theme... It just feels like it doesn't belong in this city:

I just... was not a fan. reminded me of brutalist architecture (i can see why they might have been going for that but just didn't like it for nilfgaard) and of mayan temples?? giving house Harkonnen from dune

OH AND THIS THING. This goddamn carriage...

I RECOGNISE THAT THIS IS SUCH A SILLY GRIPE OKAY, such a silly gripe, but I absolutely HATED the carriage Francesca and Fringilla were in. It looked like it was decorated by an amateur drama production. The metal beads, the shoddy paintwork, it looks so CHEAP.

WHY ARE THERE NO WINDOWS? IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD GLASS, JUST MAKE IT SO THERE ARE NO WINDOWS, which would make sense safety-wise for a carriage transporting the queen of the elves and sorceress???

Mimi looked amazing as ever though. Francesca/Fringilla toxic yuri :))) I loved seeing her pop up through the season and I can't wait to see her in S4.

Anyway. All that said, I do genuinely enjoy watching TWN, I appreciate them for making Emhyr so very fuckable even though he looks nothing like what I expected, (why is he so young. and pretty. I like it but. can we take the beard off. please?) and I will be tuning in for the new season.

I'm quite excited for Liam as Geralt, rooting for him.

[kavehnanginto]

encounter

08: manipulate, mansplain, malewife

You didn't know how exactly you manage to be in this situation.

"I am not going to do that." I argued back to the stoic man behind my back.

"Yes you will."

It has been three hours in this goddamn library and both of you can't stand to reach an agreement. Not that you had any choice in thid matter, he knows that and you do to, but let's pretend you do.

"I'm not going back there." I promised at his face and he didn't even bother to answer. He's so mean and bad and ughh... kinda hot.

"And I'm going to tell everybody."

"Blackmail is a crime remember."

"Not when your reputation's already in the depths of hell." He faced you and saw how confused and persistant you are regarding this issue. In truth he didn't actually bother to say what happened between the both of you, and he didn't know why people made such a big deal regarding what happened.

But Alhaitham usually adjusts in the environment he is in. Whether it be the slipper situation regarding his thesis or your hole. He had no problem coming up on top.

"I would rather die than see his stupid blond hair. Do you know how that guy talks it's worse than you! And that's the worst insult I can ever make to him." Inching closer to his ear you whispered.

"But you were better in bed."

And for the very first time you saw him fume in anger, I mean blush in heat.

"Look if you really don't want to the deal is off."

"Do I get to fuck you again?" And now you start like the stereotypical whore people could've associated with if you listend to Scaramouche's advice. "No right. Anyways you rarely talk with your blond hottie so of course I also dont."

Alhaitham might kill you but you will never ever go back to Mondstadt again. And not in that stupid fucking laboratory where he mystically decided you would make an excellent english major.

Albedo kinda ruined your life there, but hey he was a good kisser.

"I'll let you copy off my quiz in the exam...."

Goddammit.

encounter: prev. masterlist. next.

alhaitham x reader smau

synopsis: after alhaitham accepted to tutor his token dumb classmate, the whole school started rumors and gossip to the unknown reason as to why while you were stuck dealing with him after that embarrassing encounter.

taglist: @annathea-annoona @aixaingela @mimihwgsajjs @no3hg3nshin @winterpein @crowbird @aloversoath @liminalimmortal @mochicurls21 @jjkclub @sukunasrealgf

note: very short but im also very busy so so sorry hope you enjoy still

[mermaidsirennikita]

Any stalking historical romance you would recommend?

A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. He doesn't stalk her at first, but he DOES after she poisons him with the intent to murder him (justified) and it doesn't really let up from there. Very dark, check your TWs.

Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt. Obviously. Valentine lives in his walls spying on Bridget for like. Months. Duke of Pleasure has some heroine-on-hero stalking with Alf acting as like a vigilante and watching the Duke of Kyle. Duke of Desire has some stalking as well. All of these are on the darker side, so check your TWs.

I just finished (and loved) The Gentleman Who Loved Me by Grace Callaway. The hero is 14 years older than the heroine and knew her when she was a kid--she was very much a little sister to him, she doesn't remember him because again, she was very young. Years later, when she's an adult, he comes across her again and begins keeping a look out for her, paying off people spreading gossip about her, threatening people who want to do her wrong, following her.... NORMAL BIG BRO STUFF.

Lady Charlotte's and The Seductive Spymaster by Grace Callaway. Charlie thinks her husband's long dead, but he's very much alive and has recently started following her around and fucking up her attempts to move on (after like OVER A DECADE). Very funny, and weeeeeirdly hot.

Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath. It's LIGHT here, but I do think that Mick Trewlove following Aslyn around as part of his Revenge Plot (and also staring out his window broodingly while rubbing a strand of pearls she lost in a bet at his club, which he immediately took from the winner) comes off as pretty stalkerish.

Rules for a Proper Governess by Jennifer Ashley. More heroine on hero stalking! The heroine is from the gutter and becomes obsessed with the stern lawyer hero, following him around all over town.

Melissa and The Vicar by S.M. LaViolette. Magnus hunts Melissa down like a DOG when she leaves him. And it takes him weeks and he doesn't sleep well during that time so he looks like SHIT and is completely deranged. I. Love. It.

In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint by Alexandra Vasti. Some light heroine on hero stalking from afar. The heroine draws the hero in some of her personal porn, which is, as we know, one of my favorite things.

Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas. Lmao Harry most definitely stalks Poppy everywhere and basically ruins her life to force her to marry him. Kinda king shit tbh.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. GLORIOUS STALKERY. Allegreto does some mastermind.mp3 shit to get Elena in his clutches, only to realize.... she's kind of A LOT.

The Duke Who Knew Too Much by Grace Callaway. Again, some heroine on hero stalking, I think. Emma is stalking her hero to prove that he committed a murder because she saw him doing thing against his mistress's will before she died! And he has to explain what CNC is to her. Bless.

I would also say that Pippa and The Prince of Secrets has a good deal of stalkery vibes? Cull is Keeping His Eye on Pippa because she's getting into trouble and he's now like, the leader of a bunch of CHILD THIEVES LMAO. A lot of Grace's books have stalkery elements, tbh, and fortunately I do love that.

The Lady Hellion by Joanna Shupe has a heroine who dresses as a man to go fight for justice at night, and a hero who's all "NOW WAIT ONE GODDAMN MINUTE" and starts stalking her as a result. It's all fun and games until you're following some broad around through brothels at night, boys.

Never Seduce a Duke by Vivienne Lorret has a hero who becomes obsessed with the heroine and follows her on a wild goose chase across Europe because he's convinced that she stole his special secret demented Arthurian cookbook. She.... just thinks he likes her, lmao.