#the guy playing achilles in this really did eat DOWN

[wonderjanga]

Sweet Dreams

Billy likes sleeping. Just as any normal human child would. Unfortunately though, he’s not a normal human child. He juggles two jobs, Whiz Kid and the JL. Technically three if he counts patrol and actually being a hero in Fawcett as separate from the JL. Point is, he does a lot of stuff and sleeping is a wonderful to refresh himself. So, one day, he tried to get sleep as Marvel to make up for that lost time.

Then, the dream started.

Marvel: “Zeus? What are you wearing?”

Zeus: “Huh?” * looks down at his clothes* “The heck… Billy this is your dream. Why did you make me appear like this?”

Marvel: “Maybe because I didn’t expect to see you?”

Zeus: “Why wouldn’t you- Oh wait. You’ve never slept in your Champion form have you?”

Marvel: “No?”

Zeus: “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Come.” *gestures for him to follow and starts to walk off*

Marvel: *follows*

Zeus: “See, Batson, whenever Champions fall asleep, that can allow their patron gods to invade their dreams. That’s actually with me and the others are doing right now!”

Marvel: “Oh uh… cool?”

They played some cards, and yelled at each other about how people were cheating. Solomon won nearly every game. Except Uno which Mercury somehow won. There was a lot more suspicion of cheating when that happened. They then just sat in a circle like preteens at a slumber party and started gossiping about the other gods and goddesses from both Greek and other mythology. All in all, it was basically a sleepover, and if Billy was being honest, he didn’t hate it. Though, what he did hate was the fact that when he woke up he felt even more tired then before he went to sleep.

He noticed this was a pattern after a couple more times of him trying to make up for lost sleep as Marvel. As a result, Billy started kicking himself out of the dreams so he could actually sleep. The gods didn’t like this because Billy was apparently a chill little guy to hang out with. He of course, still said no, but you see, the Gods can be really, really… annoying when you say no to them.

Marvel: *sitting on a roof in Fawcett*

Zeus: “JOIN US!”

Marvel: “No.”

Achilles: “Please, Batson?”

Marvel: “No.”

Solomon: “Billy, please don’t leave me alone with them.”

Marvel: “Sorry, Solly. Still no.”

Solomon: “Again with that nickname…” *honestly doesn’t know whether he likes or hates it*

Zeus: “Wait, why is Solomon the only one who gets an apology?”

Marvel: “He’s the only one I feel bad for.”

Zeus: “WHA-”

This made Zeus mad so he pettily took away Billy’s ability to use lightning as Marvel. The Batson boy went a week before he caved and hung out with them in his dreams again.

Zeus: “You’re here!”

Marvel: *frowniest frown on his face*

He was then sequestered away by Zeus to watch Achilles and Hercules have a hot dog eating contest.

Mercury: “Who do you think is gonna win, Bill? We can have a bet!”

Marvel: “I don’t have any money to bet.”

Atlas: “Yes, Hermes. You forget he’s a… how do humans nowadays say it? Ah right. A brokie.”

Marvel: “Atlas, you just fell so hard down my favorites list your below Zeus now.”

Atlas: *extremely offended* “BELOW ZEUS?!”

Zeus: “HA!” *literally points and laughs*

The Next Day…

Wondy: “Brother, is something wrong? I’ve never seen you drink coffee before.”

Marvel: “I spent my night watching Achilles and Hercules shove hotdogs down their throats to see who could out-eat the other. Meanwhile, Atlas and Zeus were fist-fighting in one corner while Mercury kept trying to coerce me into making a bet with him, even though I had literally no money to make said bet.”

Wondy: “Oh.”

Marvel: “Yeah. Oh.” *sips his coffee* “Anyways, how was your night?”

[alwaysanundertone]

Day 23: praise kink | poly! marauders + Lily

smut

TW: oral (fem receiving), nipple play, praise

It took your partners an embarrassing short amount of time to realize you had a praise kink, and they did before you.  

Two weeks after officialising your relationship, you just got your results after taking your finals; you aced them as usual. This time, though, there was someone to share the news with. Lily peaked over your shoulders, beaming at your results. “You’re so smart, good job honey”

It took you a bit to compose yourself, a strange feeling coiling in your stomach. You didn’t know if it was Lily’s sweet voice, or if it was her intense gaze, but something shifted inside of you. “Th-thank you, Lils”

She raised an eyebrow as you focused back on checking your test, her gaze not shifting from you for a while.

After that, she started testing the waters, throwing a “good girl” or a “good job, baby” every now and then, always receiving the same stunned expression, the same flushed cheeks and, most importantly, always noticing how your pupils dilated while you shifted your thighs.

She obviously had to share this with your other boyfriends, of course. After that, they all started praising you like crazy, so much so that it became almost unbearable, your thighs shifting at their every comment.

Now you were on James’s bed, the boys were chatting while Lily was tutoring you on your Achille’s heel: maths.

“Wait, so x is equal to the logarithm of two?”

She smiled at you, patting your head. “Exactly, honey, good girl” You grumbled; Lily looked at you feigning shock. “What, darling, don’t you like when I tell you how much of a good girl you are?” The guys quieted down, now you had four set of eyes locked on you, making you slightly uncomfortable.

“It’s not that, I just- I don’t know I get this feeling when you praise me”

She exchanged a look with your boyfriends. “Well, maybe the thing is that you like it too much?” You felt James’s calloused hand climbing up your thigh, you parted your legs. His hand went up, up, until it reached the fabric of your panties.

He exhaled sharply. “Jesus, you’re so wet darling” You whimpered, Sirius smirked down on you.

“Do you really get this wet from just us praising you, mh?”

You tried to cover your face with your hands to no avail, Remus caught your wrists just in time. “Huh-huh, love, no hiding. It’s not a bad thing, you know? We discovered a new kink of yours, it’s a good thing really. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, we’re gonna have so much fun now”

“It’s embarrassing” You mumbled.

“It’s not! It’s really fucking sexy if you ask me” Sirius voice dropped down, locking eyes with you. Lily suddenly was on you, her face inches away from yours, your faces covered by the curtain that was her copper hair.

“You’re always cute, but when you’re blushing like this? You make my heart melt baby”

“Lils stop it”

She grinned, dipping down to kiss you. You immediately softened at the soft press of her lips, her hands slowly making their way to yours, fingers intertwined. She bit down on your lower lip, making you gasp, her tongue swiping inside your mouth.

You felt a strong pair of hands prying your legs open, your knickers slowly making their way down to your ankles. You didn’t pay it much thought, though, all your thoughts hyper focused on the sexy ginger that was currently staking her claim on your mouth, her tits pressing against you softly.

You jolted as you felt your clit being sucked, moaning inside of Lily’s mouth. You could feel Sirius’s long hair against your thighs, his calloused fingers toying with your entrance, making you a whimpering mess.

“Look at her Remus, she’s soaked, our little angel” One of his fingers entered you easily, pumping at an easy pace.

Lily felt you whimpering, struggling to keep up with her kisses, but wouldn’t stop kissing you, wouldn’t let you catch your breath as you felt yourself getting sloppier.

“Good girl, baby, you’re doing so good. Do you like it when Sirius eats you out, hm? Yeah, I bet you do” Remus was massaging your thighs. “Hey, Lily, can we kiss her too or is she just yours?”

She grumbled, climbing off your lap, leaving you panting and moaning as Sirius didn’t let up, still eating you out like you were his last meal. James was quick to rip open your blouse, exposing your chest and then starting his assault, his mouth sucking and nipping at your nipples, as Remus started sucking on your neck. You could already feel the hickey that was slowly starting to form on your neck.

Suddenly you felt overwhelmed, all of their attention adding to your wetness, you felt like you were ready to orgasm. “Fuck, it’s too much, I think- oh, oh my God”

“Yeah, that’s it baby, let go for us, just like that” Remus was talking directly into your ear, your whole body erupting in goosebumps. You came, drenching Sirius face who was looking at you like a rare piece of art.

“Just like that, love, you’re safe” Remus was trailing circles on your belly with his fingertips, making you melt under his touch.

“You’re so beautiful, baby” James grinned at you from between your breasts, his chin to your sternum. You blushed under their complete focus on you.

“Well, guess we’ve learned something useful today, and I’m not talking about logarithms”

You hit Sirius head, groaning.

tags: @sxmnc @peterparkerspersonalplaything @riaaavm @iamawkwardandshy @eeviee4 @mysterialee @famouscrusadeluminary @el1smells @rishofkf @mooonyxoxo @happymaeday @yourfiendlyneighbourspiderman @whyshouldihaveanam3 @amazing-bobinsky @barnesandmetal @just-here-for-ff @remussbitch @sammyreid

[annoyinglandmagazine]

So I did Classical Studies in secondary school which was a fairly obscure subject, there were only nine of us in the class and we were all super into it.

Just for context here I’m talking about the class I was in from first to third year, between the ages of 13 and 16 for people with different education systems. We read the Iliad as part of course and it was really dense and when I tell you none of us could hear the word simile today without flashbacks to notating pages after pages of Homer comparing the way people walked to lions……

Anyway, it was a nightmare to read but we loved it.

We came out of those three years having forgotten most of the history of the Roman Empire but we all knew that Paris was a little bitch good for nothing but his looks, Achilles and Patroclus were definitely gay, Achilles was also a little bitch but we love him for it, Hector and Andromache deserved better and, most importantly, Agamemnon was a complete and utter douchebag who deserved everything he got and Clytemnestra was absolutely right to stab him to death in a bathtub, seriously fuck that guy.

We were so invested in this subject that we finished the curriculum early two years in a row and each year our teacher decided that we could put on a play related to the subject to fill out the last two months or so.

Naturally we settled on Troy Story 1 and Troy Story 2 detailing the Birth of Paris through to Achilles returning Hector’s body to Priam in two 40 minute instalments.

Absolutely no one of the forty people who wandered in by accident to witness our work of art understood a single second of what was going on or why we were all restrained laughter at what was basically eighty minutes of obscure classics in jokes. It was glorious. I recently found the script and I wanted to share the chaos.

Highlights included:

Jesse’s Girl playing over Helen and Paris’ introduction while she’s married to Menelaus.

So much unnecessary use of the word bro. Just so much.

Zeus and Hera narrating while passive aggressively bickering for every second of it. The gods constantly saying ‘do you want to get involved in some human drama’ to rope each other in

The extreme dramatic build up to the use of the word dog

Agamemnon speaks like a frat boy the whole time, like the biggest douche ever.

Achilles lifting Hectors body and dragging it around in slo mo while we are the champions plays

Achilles watching the war from his blanket burrito while eating popcorn out of his helmet

The shepherd who found Paris on a mountainside holding him up while the Lion King music played over it

Achilles’ trashy blonde wig. I cannot stress enough how trashy and blonde this wig was. Also Achilles was deliberately cast as the shortest girl in the class (5’ 3).

Odysseus and Diomedes night mission had mission impossible music playing over it as we parkoured across the stage and peaked out behind curtains. They also have dialogue in which they constantly want to stab something

Paris never appears in the sequel but is dissed constantly

We couldn’t do any actual Patrochilles cause Catholic school but we settled for prolonged eye contact to My Heart Will Go On and long pauses after dramatic references to My Closest Companion

Achilles: I need my best bro friend! My life soulmate! My favourite cook!

Achilles in the tent with headphones on listening to All By Myself with mascara streaming down his face after Patroclus died

The facts that Agamemnon killed his daughter and Zeus and Hera are siblings is constantly just kind of dropped in with no context

Everyone’s costumes were mostly just lab coats tied over our shoulders with shared armour from the one girl that apparently had a closet full of Ancient Greek style plastic swords, helmets and breastplates.

We spent an entire class making a giant pink tv frame out of cardboard, paper and way too much sellotape for one joke that wasn’t even that funny. We named it Daniel.

Briseis was an American Girl doll.

The gods yelling at each other to try and pick teams and resulting in a slap fight with an announcement that it lasted 3 hours.

Thetis yelling encouragement from the side lines and calling Achilles her little crib lizard for some reason also she’s reading Song of Achilles in one of her scenes

[talxe]

Reading the Iliad, Book 9 thoughts

This is my first time ever reading it and I know next to nothing abt greek mythology so if I interpret anything wrong by all means pls correct me

Im reading the Robert Fagles translation

Here's the thing with Achilles. It is not enough for him to know he's the best, everyone else has to know it too, BUT even that's not enough. They cannot ever forget it AND they have to worship him for it. AND that's his fucking problem Achilles is SICK okay????😭

Like wtf

LITERALLY, no one is still upset abt what happened between Achilles and Agamemnon except Achilles.

Anyway Agamemnon summons all the important ppl on the Greek side, (Nestor, Odysseus, ppl like that)

Once they all get there Agamemnon starts bawling his little Greek eyes out bc shit is looking bleak

So Agamemnon says "fuck it, let's go home NOW."

Diomedes is like "Look man you've been kinda pissy at me buuuut ur a good leader or whatever so I think there's still a chance for the odds to be in our favor, but go home ig bc me and my men are staying until Troy falls."

Diomedes how does it feel to be Homer's fav??

Nestor decides they just need to make it through the night bc the Trojans are so close to their camp that they're neighbors atp

Nestor sits Agamemnon down and goes "What you did to Achilles was actually not cool and we really need him rn so you need to make things right."

AND AGAMEMNON actually agrees????? I still don't like him but this was super mature of him. It seems like despite his temper even he knows when he's in the wrong, unlike some other people.

Agamemnon lists off A BUNCH of shit that he's going to give Achilles. I started smiling bc the list just kept going.

He offers his own daughter for marriage, 7 women from lesbos, 20 Trojan women, and all the treasure his ships could carry. (there's more but this is the more important.)

Plus Berseis

Agamemnon says he'll swear an oath that he never slept with Berseis too.

Achilles gets all of this if he stops being angry and fights

So Ody, Ajax(Greater), Phoenix, and two heralds go to speak with Achilles

Achilles and Patroclus are just chilling as Achilles plays his stupid ass lyre

Patroclus mentioned♥️♥️♥️

When they see the group approaching, Achilles stands up and says "Omg I really missed up guys lol."

Like bro....

PEOPLE ARE DYING???

Achilles and Patroclus play host for the group and they all eat.

Achille is really happy to see his friends

So Odysseus starts trying to convince Achilles to re-join the fight

Achilles starts ranting abt how he's done everything but Agamemnon keeps the lions share of what they bring back

Then he goes on to talk abt how he loves Berseis only for her to be snatched away

Basically, he says no and then Achilles says "I will leave at first light."

KNOWING DAMN WELL HE'S NOT GONNA LEAVE. STOP LYING

Achilles is so weird to me. You're not going to accept the gifts, you're not going to leave, but you're going to fight either??? WHAT DO YOU WANT THEN???? He's sulking like a child

Then Achilles says "I don't want his shitty gifts and even if his daughters rivaled Aphrodite in looks I still wouldn't want them, and he can keep Berseis."

...........hello???

Phoenix starts trauma dumping but he tells Achilles that he's being disrespectful.

I think Phoenix tells the story (you know the one) of Meleager and Cleopatra. and Achilles is like "okay be quiet."

The group goes to leave, and Ody says that it's silly Achilles is doing this all over one woman.

But at this point it's not abt Berseis anymore and I don't think it ever was.

Achilles tells them that he won't fight until Hector gets so close that he's up their asses

I love finding out why Achilles is an asshole

[thefandom-casserole]

Episode 47 Notes-

- I’m so scared

- Like. Almost more scared than for last episode

- Ahhhhhh

- Hermie my beloved I haven’t stopped thinking about you <333

- (Seriously I’ve been basically exclusively rping you. Channel seven has been wild man)

- Anyways

- Ahhhhhh

- THE INTRO

- OMG

- THEYRE TALKING AHOUT SCAM AND NORMAL AOSNDHAJSBHSKAJSJDJDHDUIEJE

- Im vibrating this is insane

- I love their intros so much

- I LOVE THE PODCAST DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS SO MUCHHHHHH

- Hehe I remember that from last season

- Taylor’s Teen Fact: Taylor’s first fight was in fourth grade because he was getting bullied (by Steve) over his collectible card game so he kicked the guy in the nards. That’s how he got into karate

- Lincoln’s Teen Fact: The first fight and lie between Linc and his parents was when he did a “hunger strike” until they let him go to school (but he actually was eating)

- Will messing up Normal’s intro was way too funny to me

- Normal’s Teen Fact: Normal does a tarot card reading everyday before getting started

- He’s like Mercedes!!!!!!!!!

- I cannot believe that he pulled the reversed Lovers holy shit

- Scary Teen Fact: Scary plays the piano. Because if the letters are rearranged it spells pain-o

- Anthony Fact: They haven’t thrown to their sponsors very often and so that might happen this episode

- Nevermind now he’s not gonna do it 😭

- IF THEY DONT TELL NORMAL ILL LOSE MY KIND

- The way Scary’s telling Linc to not touch Hermie <3333333333

- No hate to Linc lots of love to Scary though

- TWO DEATH FAILS FROM PUNCHING HIM INT HE JUTS IM CRYING

- OH THANK GOD FOR SCARY

- “Where’s Hermie” I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t

- SCARY BEING SUPER THERE ABOUT HERMIE BECAUSE PF TERRY

- The way I started tearing up when they started to pick up Hemrie 💀

- God this is not boding well for the rest of the episode

- LINC NO WE KNOW YOU DIDNT LIKE EHRMKE THIS ISNT COOL AHHH

- Again no hate to Linc he’s a kid

- “We’ll fix them”

- SLAY NORMAL

- WHOO

- “LEAVE”

- Once mischief twins always mischief twins (let’s Hotwire a car together BROTHERRR)

- ANOTHER NAT ONE

- I’m pretty sure I missed the entire thing with Taylor and the gun 😭 I don’t care enough to rewind

- “Lincoln stares at yet more blood he has created and slowly sinks back down” LINCOLN BABY

- ANOTHER NAT ONE

- Ahhhhhhhhhhh this spellll

- NO THE SOELL DIDNT WORK

- ANKRHER NAT ONE HOLY SJIR

- Henry yayyyyyyyy

- THE SPONSOR

- THAT WAS PERFECT

- THAT WAS SO FUCKING PERFECT

- Sooo code purple happened as they were kids okay okay

- IS THAT FUCKING BARRY

- OR SCAM LIKELY????!!!

- Henry looks surprisingly young thanks to a vegan lifestyle and butthole sunning!!!!

- Henry how I’ve missed you!!!!!!!!!

- BARRY YOU SHOULD BE DESD FUCK YOU

- Mercedes is dead 😞

- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

- HES GOOF MATTER NOOOO

- Very Achilles-Patroclus esc oh god

- This is going to either be Willy or Scam oh boy oh no

- Remember when we thought Normal hiding in his mascot outfit was bad??

- Oh good it’s Scam

- He left Scary oh noooo

- The fucking Goofs Realm nauseates me Jesus

- “I’m here when it’s sad I’m here when it’s fun did someone do something to my son” that was pretty good ngl

- I’m going to sob holy shit

- Scam is actually sad omg

- Bits never die is basically what he said omg

- Holy shit holy shit holy shit scam ong omg omg ong

- GO FUCKING NORMAL PUNCH HIM

- Scam is being all depresso like the other adults holy shit 😭

- “You don’t fucking come near him”

- FUCK YEAH MULTI PRONOUNS DOOOD

- “You feel like home” AHHHH OAKSSSSSSSS

- I’m going to sob

- [will sobbing] “OUR SPONSOR AURA FRAMES!!!”

- Yayyyyy this our episode 61. Hm or maybe when Terry Jr. died

- Half of it is burnt like two face!! Like Hermie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- “I’m really proud of you kiddo” sobbing sobbing sobbing

- The Shade Witch I love this 😭

- I was sobbing and now I’m laughing

- This is so funny

- This whole scene is hilarious

- The sun is a metaphor for something

- “Just this once… just this once… Chaperal on three”

- I’m sobbing I’m sobbing omg ong omg

- The Shade Witch is my favorite character move aside Paeden (I’m joking I’m joking)

- SCARY IM SOBBING

- Is the rogue card still in action???

- FUCK YOU BARRRRRRY

- The same man twice!!!!!!!

- DO WE GET THE VOICES PLEASE GUVE US GHE VOICES

- Nevermindddddd

- OMG THEYRE LEARNIBG TO SHOOT

- That’s insane

- Did Normal cause Code Purple…?

- What did Normal do!?

- Another fucking cliffhanger 😭

- I genuinely think I’m going to be sick ✌️

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

Why did you elbow me? 203

Achilles Castle part 105

Lemonade and lies Part 48

Nicholas (Nick) Stephen McSwarek undercover part 12

Amanda Rollins: pov Elliot asked me why Cassidy is in Liv's office with her. Because Elliot, he was watching Noah for her. That whole DV case popped up suddenly and she needed someone to pick Noah up from school.

Joe velasco: pov a bunch of officers I really don't know well are telling stories about Munch, Fin says conspiracy theories were his bread and butter. Liv says remember the Hector Rodriguez case, Fin says don't remind me you and him were right about that one. Elliot says I don't remember that case, but you talked about it a lot in the early years.

Olivia Benson: pov because you were on vacation with your family during that case it was 1999 me and Munch were partnered together on it, Fin hadn't joined the squad yet. You know we solved it after about 13 years, in 2012 the squad got a case with a similar motive. Fin finishes the story for me mentioning about the blonde hair dye, how we tracked down the current missing kid. How cement was ordered for a building a block away from a fire claiming water damage and when we pulled up the cement in that basement there was Hector and his checkered backpack. He was in that basement the whole time under that slab of cement.

Fin tutuola: pov remember the time he got shot in the ass. He was also so happy to see you as a mother, Liv. He also wanted to win the bet, Elliot says what bet. How do you not know about the bet Elliot the one on you and Liv. You know one of the hardest calls I had to make was to tell Munch that Olivia was kidnapped, but you know what i got to call and tell him you were safe.

Olivia Benson: pov I remember bits and pieces from the hospital Munch would just sit with me to give Cassidy a break and he would talk about conspiracy theories non stop. Now that I think about it he was taking my mind off of what happened to me.

Cassidy: pov I remember Cragen trying to get ahold of Elliot with no luck, Munch and Cragen eventually helped her deal with the fact that Elliot wasn't coming to save her. Fin says that was definitely a rough time for her with Elliot not being there and her not feeling safe. Everyone continues to tell stories about Munch as we eat our pizza.

Castle: pov besides worrying about Kate I have been getting a lot of writing done. Food sounds good right about now. Alexis and Dave are eating at the dining hall at college tonight with some friends. Mother is out with a male friend of hers. I hope she doesn't bring him home with her but then again it's her choice if she wants to bring him home. Chinese food sounds good right about now. I make my way on my crutches for support, to the drawer with the take-out menus. Once I find the Chinese food menu I place my order for the egg roll, stir fry with white rice and the dumplings. Everything looks so amazing, it should only take a few minutes for my food to arrive then i can sit down and eat. I make my way to the living room to wait for the food to arrive, I decide to play a game on my phone until then. A few minutes later I hear the doorbell. My food must be here. I grab my crutches and head to the door, the delivery guy is nice enough to put the food on the table in the living room. I pay him before he leaves now I just have to find something to watch.

Esposito: pov me and Ryan are having dinner with Jenny and Lanie at the precinct. Jenny is picking up the food on the way. It's from a new Chilli place near our house. We have been waiting to try it but with Kate's health we did not want to eat it in front of her because she can't have it. That would be mean, to eat it in front of her. The sides are white rice, corn chips, sour cream and some fruity drinks. Let's hope Jenny doesn't get indigestion from this food. Then again it's not my problem if she does it's Ryan's. Once the food is placed in the break room the four of us start eating, the food looks amazing and it has the perfect amount of spices. Me and Ryan are both worried about Kate, Lanie mentions that she texts Kate and Nick regularly. So she is doing okay.

Lanie: pov besides the whole flat tire thing then yes. Esposito asks what I mean about the flat tire thing. Nick texted me asking for advice. His tire blew while they were driving and it scared/startled her. She was having a little bit of a PTSD episode. He had to give Kate her meds. He texted me a few minutes ago letting me know she was doing better and they were waiting at the repair shop for the tire to be fixed.

Officer Nicholas (Nick) Stephen McSwarek/Greig: pov the car is finally done, Kate texts Noelle to let her know we are on our way home from the repair shop. The ride home is short, I'm so thankful Noelle made us dinner. It's been an eventful day especially for Kate, I know she just wants to speak to her husband Castle. The roasted vegetables, salad and chicken look amazing. After filling our plates the 3 of us sit down to eat, Noelle is going to stay with family starting tomorrow, her sister is coming in the morning to pick her up. I pull Kate aside in the bedroom to talk privately to her. Kate says i don't know if she has any baby supplies yet and she is getting closer to her due date. Kate if you're feeling okay, why don't we head to the baby store and get a few things for Noelle. I don't know if she works or is on maternity leave but I doubt that will pay her bills. To be continued. ……….

[heartthrobohara]

Hii!!!! I was wondering if you would consider writing an o’knutzy proposal fic? Definitely in need of something fluffy lol

Hope your having a great day ❤️

Hello anon! I’m an absolute sucker for o’knutzy fluff and you ask, you shall receive! <3

Characters belong to the amazing @lumosinlove

cw for mentions of food

Logan was probably the most nervous he’s been in his whole life. 

More nervous than when he played his first NHL game, more nervous than when he was accepted to Harvard, more nervous than the final game before winning the Cup.  It was just two stupid rings that he had to give to the two loves of his life.  The apartment looked perfect. The table was set up with the fanciest set of china they had, topped with flowers and the warm glow of a candle as the only light source in the room.  Finn and Leo would be back soon. 5:00, that’s what they had said. Logan checked his watch. 4:53. 

He did a mental check, smacking his pockets to feel the indent of the ring box that lay there. He took a deep breath, inhaling through his nose and breathing out slowly. He could do this.  Logan pulled out his phone, checking his messages: 

fish <33 sent to you and nutty <33 - be there in five :) 

Logan slammed his phone down, hands shaky and palms sweaty as he turned it on silent, mentally preparing himself. He adjusted his suit, straightening his tie out. No turning back now.  The door handle turned and Logan’s stomach plummeted like a broken elevator. “Lolo we’re hoooooome!” Finn sang loudly, accidentally elbowing Leo in the ribs, making him double down in pain.  “The fuck was that for Har-” Leo’s sentence cut off abruptly as he looked up, spotting a very flushed looking Logan and the fancy scene in front of them.

“What?” Finn said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. A gasp flew from his lungs as he surveyed the room. “Lo… what?” 

Logan mustered up a grin and croaked out, “I made dinner.” 

The two of them grinned, making their way over to the table. “And it’s not burned, wow Tremz!”, Finn teased with an easy smile, earning him the finger from Logan. 

“I don’t feel so fancy though,” Leo said, gesturing to his sweatpants and baggy t-shirt. Logan waved him off with his hand. “Doesn’t matter.” 

Throughout the whole dinner, Logan felt like somebody stuffed cotton in his ears as the boy’s playful banter felt muffled. He couldn’t even eat, he felt like he was going to throw up. All he could was play with his food, even when he took a bite it tasted bitter.  As the end of the dinner came, Logan’s leg had begun to bounce up and down with anxiety. Leo placed a gentle hand on his thigh. “Alright, Tremz?” Logan nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Now or never.  “I wanted to talk to you guys about something.” 

Leo nodded. “What, you’re breaking up with us?”, Finn said, tone light but looking clearly worried. “What’s up?” 

“I really hope you two know how much I love you. Really. You guys are the best boyfriends I could ask for. You guys are like the moon to my stars, the Patroclus to my Achilles, the Romeo to my Juliet. You make every day better, even if it’s the worst day. I would die one thousand deaths just for the two of you, and would move the whole universe just to make you two smile.”  They both grinned. “Same to you Lo, but what’s this for?” Finn asked, brows arched in confusion.  Logan pulled out the box, dropped to one knee and they both gasped.  “I want to spend the rest of my life with the two of you. Forever and always. Mes amours, lights of my life, will you make the happiest man ever and marry me?” 

Finn brought a hand to his mouth, eyes shining and too stunned to speak. Leo gasped, letting out a wet laugh as the first tears began to fall. “Yes Logan, of course, mon dieu, of course.”  That seemed to break Finn out of his trance as he let out a sob. “Yes yes yes yes yes yes.” Logan laughed a little wetly too, relief crashing over him like the crest of a wave. 

The three of them tackled each other in a hug, planting kisses all over each other and crying. “Jet’aime,” Logan murmured, burying his face between the two of his boyfriends, no, fiancées. 

He opened up the ring box. They were beautiful, with an ingraining of the word “jet’aime.” “It’s beautiful,” Leo whispered, as Logan gently placed the rings on his and Finn’s finger, then sliding his own on. “You’re beautiful,” Logan whispered, leaning up to place a kiss to both of their lips.  Yep, he would definitely love these boys forever and always. 

[beyondthetower]

Poppies in the Graveyard (Byleth x Felix)

Summary: In an attempt to make sense of what has happened in the past five years, Byleth finds herself at her parents grave.

Characters/Pairing: Byleth x Felix

Word Count: 1.7K

Warnings: Lil bit o’ angst

A/N: I’m marrying Felix in my VW play-through and I didn’t think I would have that many feelings for him but man did I fall hard for this brooding boy.

It rained all weekend. Rainy days had a way of squirming their way into Byleth’s heart and hardening it. It reminded her of her father’s death. Reminding her that soon as he had passed, had smiled at her one last time, the heavens opened up. Symbolic: that’s what people called it. People that didn’t know the truth of who she was. It was like the Goddess wept with you, Mercedes had said a few days after it happened. Byleth wanted to correct her, to tell her that the Goddess wept whenever she wept because they were one in the same. But it didn’t matter much to her who understood and who didn’t.

That had been so many years ago that Byleth wondered if people even remembered her father’s death or if it had become just another nameless sacrifice in the sake of somebody’s “greater good”. It broke her heart to think that it was a possibility.

Now, on rainy days, Byleth would move without thinking. She would wake up, eat, grab some flowers from the greenhouse, and make her way to the cemetery.

Before her father told her the story of her mother, she would often find him standing by her gravestone. One day she had been walking back from training with Dimitri and noticed him hovering over the site with flowers. She had brushed it off at first. Surely he had known plenty of knights that were buried there. But the flowers made her wonder. And the frequency of his visits did too. She probably should have realized before he told her.

“Hi father. Hi mother.”

Byleth placed the flowers by the weathered stone. She sat down in the wet grass, ignoring the cold. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she smiled at the site of her father’s name resting beside her mothers. While she had never known much about her mother, Byleth could still feel the love he had for her. The few times he would mention her, the love on his face was rivaled only by the look he’d give her after she’d done particularly well in battle: a heart-swelling pride. It made her feel a connection she never realized she needed. She often told them that. On these visits, since the rain kept most people inside, Byleth often found herself talking to both of them.

“Whenever I was in a bad mood, father would always bring me whatever flowers he could find where we had set up camp that day.” Byleth smiled at the memory. “I always thought it was so out of character, as much as I loved them. But I see now that isn’t the case.”

She shuffled her feet into the dirt and watched the rain pool into the divots her heels made.

“The poppies were my favorites. I don’t know if I ever told you that, but they were. You must have known because you’d bring them often. Although, don’t think I didn’t notice you would bring them here, father. Does that mean they were my mother's favorite too?”

There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance. She hadn’t realized a storm was coming. It was still far off, and she hoped it wouldn’t blow away her flowers. It made her wonder about what Mercedes had said. Did the heavens open for her? Did storms manifest when she felt them start to stir within herself? Did she subconsciously make the rain when she needed an excuse to see them the most?

“Professor?”

Byleth was surprised to see Felix standing over her, his figure a silhouette in the dim light of the flickering oil lamps. His thick, fur coat hung loosely on his shoulders, like he was only wearing it because someone told him he had to. “Felix,” she said quickly, with a wrinkle in her brow.

He scoffed. “Don’t sound so surprised,” he said. “I might have hated the guy but he was still my father.” He nodded toward the freshly planted stone beside her.

Byleth had forgotten that Rodrigue was buried there. He had only been gone a few weeks, and Ingrid had tried so desperately to figure out a way to get him back home for a proper burial that Byleth assumed that she had had happened. But on the grave beside her parents, Duke Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius was etched in large letters. She felt guilty for not bringing him anything.

“Is that Captain Jeralt’s grave?” Felix asked, squatting down beside her.

She nodded.

“Is there another name there?” Felix squinted at the fading text.

“My mother.” Byleth felt a warmth in her chest at the mention of her. She liked the sound of it. She wasn’t much for sentimentality, and she had never known her to begin with, but the past few months had made her softer. She wanted to know more about her past, and to pass that on to others.

She had a mother.

“I didn’t realize your mother was buried here,” he admitted. “In fact. I’ve never really thought about your mother at all. I just kind of assumed it was always just you and the Captain.”

“It was,” she agreed. “I never knew her. I was told she died from illness when I was small, and I just assumed she was buried in some far off village somewhere.”

“Told?”

Felix was a lot more perceptive than people gave him credit for. It made sense with how good he was in battle. He picked up on small things to use them to his advantage. But he never seemed to turn it off. He could pinpoint things about people that they thought they could hide away. Or, in Byleth’s case, pick up on words that only heightened the mystery that was her past.

“I didn’t find out the truth until later. Until after my father died,” she admitted.

“And she’s buried here,” Felix pointed out. “But I thought you had never been to the Garreg Mach before you started the job here.”

“I was born here,” she told him, and glanced back down at her parents stone. “Apparently. But my mother didn’t make it. The reasons behind it were...complicated. My father had been skeptical about it, and once I was born the church had this weird fascination with me that made him nervous.” She hadn’t meant to tell him this but she was glad to. It felt nice to talk about her family, as foreign as it was. And a reassuring calm had washed over her, urging her on.

“There was a fire that year apparently,” she went on. “One that claimed a lot of the living quarters, ours included. Father had used the opportunity to steal me away. After the death of my mother he didn’t feel much of an attachment to the place, and he was worried about the church’s growing obsession with me. So he hid me in a bundle in the stables and went to deliver the news to Lady Rhea that the baby had perished in the fire.”

“Risky move,” Felix said. “Hiding a baby in the stables. What if you had cried? He would have been killed.”

“I never cried,” she told him.

Felix looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “All babies cry.”

“That’s why it was so weird that I didn’t,” she added. “When my father died, I found his journals. That’s how I found all of this out. In it, he said that I was a very stoic baby. I never laughed, never cried, never made a sound. I only spoke when I was older when I absolutely needed to.” She smiled to herself again. “As weird as it was, Father kind of loved it. He always said I was the perfect person to live with, not being one for idle conversation.”

There was a huff beside her that Byleth thought might have been a laugh.

“When the Captain died,” Felix said finally. “Everyone was so sad at the passing of a great knight that I feel like…” He paused, either to choose his words carefully or to recall himself. “Did anyone check on you?”

Byleth was quiet for a moment. She felt the sting of tears rising in her eyes and she wondered why such a simple question would incite such a reaction. The truth was, it wasn’t a straight forward answer. She didn’t have time to be checked on. She was thrust into the work of teaching, preparing her students for battle, and devising new tactics to fit the new enemies they were facing. She wasn’t quite sure she had time to be checked on.

Felix shifted uncomfortably beside her. “One of us should have...I mean...someone should have…”

“It was complicated,” Byleth tried.

“It always is. That isn’t an excuse.”

“You didn’t know,” she added.

“I did though.”

He looked down at his Rodrigue’s grave then. Byleth had almost forgotten that there had been a reason he was there in the first place. She felt a pang of guilt at having blubbered on about her own parents when Felix’s wound was still fresh. The grass hadn’t even begun to sprout on his father’s plot yet.

“How are you doing?” Byleth asked to break the tension. “After your father, I mean.”

Felix huffed again, a dark smile spreading across his face. “It’s complicated,” he parroted.

“I’ve been told that’s not an excuse.”

“Too true.” Felix pushed himself back up onto his feet and tore his gaze away from his father’s stone. “Maybe some other time. That storm is coming this way pretty quickly.”

Byleth looked over the cemetery walls toward the forest beyond. The clouds were darker now. Blades of lightning struck silently in the distance, hinting at the impending chaos. She wondered if they would affect her at all.

He nodded over toward the low glimmer of the dormitory windows. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you back.”

She agreed, and pushed herself up onto her feet. “And you’ll tell me how you’re doing on the walk back?” she tried. “Complications and all?”

Felix huffed another amused breath and gestured toward the stairs. “Another time, perhaps,” he told her. “I don’t think the walk is quite long enough.”

[goodlucktai]

it’s a better place since you came along

the adventure zone taako & angus mcdonald 7k words

read on ao3

“So, you must be here about the job,” the old man goes on. “To tell you the truth, I’d just about given up on finding a decent nanny. When can you start?”

Taako stares at him. There’s an alarm klaxon blaring in the back of his brain, along with a shrill inner voice advising him to “abort, motherfucker, abort!”

***

In which Taako answers a general “help wanted” ad that actually changes his entire stupid life.

x

There’s a baby crying somewhere.

Taako, left waiting in the foyer by a harried maid, has nothing else to do but tap a foot, twist one of the rings on one of his fingers, and count the long seconds that the plaintive wail continues to echo through the cavernous house.

Listen, he may not be a very good dude, just in general, and for a healthy plethora of reasons—but there’s a prickling sense of unease growing in the pit of his stomach, as one minute passes into two, and the sounds of distress go unheeded.

What in the fresh fuck, he thinks, when another member of the house staff drifts through the room without any sense of urgency. If he knew shit about magic beyond a few travel-handy tricks and the occasional intuitive transmutation, he’d assume this was some sort of elaborate illusion. Maybe a sort of test played on unsuspecting hopefuls who came to answer the help-wanted ad.

Unfortunately for Taako, he remembers all-too well what it feels like to be an unwanted child, outcast and always alone. As it turns out, he has a very particular Achilles’ heel and he’s not overly thrilled to discover it.

“Well, I didn’t need the job that bad,” he tells himself, as he gets up to single-mindedly fail this stupid test. And nevermind that he kind of really did.

‘Confidence is key’ and ‘fake it till you make it’ are two mantras that Taako could live and die by, so it’s with long, unchecked strides that he crosses the grand foyer and chases the miserable cries up some stairs, down a long corridor, and finally into an out-of-the-way bedchamber at what must have been the back of the house.

The cries stutter when the door clicks open, and Taako gets a glimpse of a tiny round face peering at him through the bars of an ancient-looking crib. The sudden appearance of this strange elf in his nursery seems to have surprised the little human, but not for long. After about two seconds, he screws his face up and screams with renewed vindication.

Taako winces, his sensitive ears twitching back at the onslaught. This is way above his paygrade, but he used to babysit younger kids in the caravans while their parents were busy or drunk, in exchange for a hot meal or a few coins. He’s not totally out of his depth here.

“Hey, little man,” he says by way of hello. “Trying to bring the roof down, huh? No, I dig that. I wasn’t gonna say anything, but this house of yours is ugly as hell.”

Taako doesn’t raise his voice, because what the hell would be the point? There’s no way he’s winning that contest of wills, and nobody wants some lunatic shouting at them when they’re this fucking distraught, anyway. He just crosses his arms on the side of the crib and leans down to get a good look at the kid.

The baby’s face is tacky and snotty, dusky skin flushed darker with exertion, curly hair a tangled mop. But he’s a cute little guy despite himself, probably a year old or thereabouts, not that Taako is in any way a decent judge of that sort of thing. As Taako talks to him in a conversational tone, his awful, heaving sobs peter out.

The tearful gulps are better. The way he lifts pudgy arms up to be held, not so much.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Taako says, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder. “I’m not even supposed to be in here. You have no idea how culturally insensitive people are when it comes to elves and babies. Your mama walks in and sees me holding you, and then she’s calling the guard, and I’m getting hauled off for attempting to spirit her little heir away, and we both perpetuate an archaic myth that all elves are equally capable of and greedy for voluntary childcare. Let me just say—from personal experience—that is not the fuckin' case.”

But he reaches a hand into the crib and lets the little human clutch at it. Tiny, clumsy fingers wrap around Taako’s much bigger ones and hold tight. The baby’s eyes are wide and curious now, soaking up Taako’s every word without a damn clue what any of them mean.

Taako almost forgot he knew how to do this. It’s been months since Glamour Springs, since Sazed ditched him on the road. Taako’s been living a half-life, made up of odd jobs and never staying for too long in any one place, and for all that it’s absurdly one-sided, this is the longest conversation he’s had since then, too.

“One of us is pretty fucking pathetic,” he confides. “And it’s not the screamy baby.”

“Ah, this is where you’ve gone,” a voice from the doorway says.

Taako jumps in alarm, and looks around in time to watch a man step into the nursery. He bears a striking resemblance to the baby in the crib, though he’s graying at the temples and his face is lined with too much age for him to be an immediate parent. Grandparent, probably. Distinguished, dressed in a suit that probably cost more than the entire cumulative worth of everything Taako currently owns, leaning heavily on a walking cane.

He doesn’t look as though he’s about to ring the alarm, but Taako is still a little keyed up. Given the way he’s been living, the feeling of getting caught, even for a moment, activates his fight or flight response.

“Sorry,” Taako says lamely. “I heard him crying.”

“I don’t doubt it. His parents, my daughter and her husband, died recently. An accident on the road,” the man says. There’s some sorrow there, but it’s pushed back and away. Compartmentalized. “He came to live with me, but the transition hasn’t been an easy one. It seems as though all he’s done is cry.”

Taako doesn’t melt even slightly for the poor kid, because he’s made of sterner stuff than that. But he does let him hold onto his hand for a little while longer. It’s not hurting anything.

“So, you must be here about the job,” the old man goes on. “To tell you the truth, I’d just about given up on finding a decent nanny. When can you start?”

Taako stares at him. There’s an alarm klaxon blaring in the back of his brain, along with a shrill inner voice advising him to “abort, motherfucker, abort!”

It wasn’t a nanny ad. It was just a ‘general help wanted in exchange for room and board’ type of deal. He wouldn’t have shown up to take the job in the first place if it had specified providing 1) cooking, 2) companionship, or 3) childcare, and that’s for damn sure. He believes in playing to his strengths, and while vapid charm is certainly one of them, being personable and likable for any extended period of time is not.

And Taako absolutely doesn’t know what to think of this old rich guy who seems to be operating under the illusion that thirty seconds is plenty of time to get enough of a read on some rando to then trust your child to them. For real, and from the bottom of Taako's heart, what the fuck?

He’s only been acquainted with this particular child for about five minutes, but his ears go back and his hackles go up at the idea of someone just walking in off the street to take charge of him.

Maybe there’s some crucial insanity element to parenthood that Taako just isn’t fucking picking up. Maybe total and complete willingness to just ditch your kid at a moment’s notice is part of the package. Sure would explain a few things about Taako’s childhood.

But… this old manor house is clearly in the middle of nowhere. Two hours from the nearest settlement, where the job posting was hiding beneath other flyers on the board in the square. Taako wandered the woods all afternoon and almost gave up finding the place before the chimney smoke tipped him off.

It’s remote. Safe. And, at a glance, more comfortable than any of the inns and caravans Taako has lived out of since his auntie died.

He’s not qualified for this position, but since when has that ever stopped him? It’s not like he went to culinary school, either, and for awhile he was one of the most famous chefs on the continent. A baby can't be that much work.

Fake it till you make it, he thinks, and then faces the old man with a smile.

“Hell, I’m already here. Might as well start now.”

#

Aside from Taako, there are three other members of staff on the books, and none of them are full-time. The maids come in every other day to do the cleaning and the laundry and bring in groceries, that sort of thing. The groundskeeper only works the weekends.

They like Mr McDonald well enough, the girls confide in Taako over tea on his first night there, and the pay isn’t bad, but he’s forgetful. Doesn’t think to eat until he feels hunger pains, that sort of thing. Don’t be surprised if you get paid twice some weeks, or not at all others.

“He’s just not interested in running a household, I think,” the older of the two imparts, ancient at seventeen for all the weariness in her eyes. “I’m glad he finally found someone to take care of the baby. I felt bad about him crying all the time.”

Baby Angus had seemed to surprise both teens by being agreeable and downright adorable, perfectly content to be tucked into the crook of Taako’s arm and soothed to sleep by the rumble of his voice.

Did any of you try, like, holding him? Taako wants to ask acidly. Seems a little fucked up that Taako, of all people, is more on top of this than anyone else. But the maids are little more than kids themselves, and it seems as though grandpa isn’t completely with it.

About a month after Taako first wandered in, grandpa proves it.

“It was before Angus was born,” Mr McDonald says, digging through the many drawers in his study, looking for some expensive rich person thing he’d acquired at auction four years ago. There’s an empty crystal tumbler sitting on the liquor cabinet, next to a half-empty decanter of whiskey. “We went to Goldcliff for a charity fundraiser. Marquis proposed to my daughter that night. You remember, Taako?”

Taako, halfheartedly poking through stuff on the desk while Angus chews on the end of his braid, replies, “Sure do, homie. Hell of a party.”

He finds a photo in a stack of letters and pauses. Two humans are pictured with their arms around each other, handsome smiles on their faces for the camera, a baby cradled tenderly between them.

At the bottom, in looping handwriting, someone wrote ‘Marquis, Angela, and Angus.’ There’s a little heart drawn under the names with such care that it, in itself, is something of a revelation.

Angus’ parents wouldn’t have let him cry himself sick in a faraway room. They wouldn’t have let some stranger be holding him now. They abandoned him, but not on purpose. Not the same way Taako’s family did.

This kid was loved. He’s due love. And all he has is an absent grandpa and a shitty elf looking after him.

“Check it out, Ango,” Taako says quietly, holding the photo up so the baby can see, carefully out of reach of those sticky fingers. “Your genes are killer. You’re gonna outshine the whole damn world.”

He pockets the photo with a sleight of hand he perfected at ten years old, and then guts some ugly painting in the service hallway in the name of repurposing the frame, and then he and Angus stage a tactical retreat.

The nursery was too depressing, just in general, so one of Taako’s first acts as nanny was to move all the baby stuff in with his. He had his pick of any of the second floor bedchambers, and he chose one overlooking the overgrown gardens, with a pretty bay window that it only took like two hours and a handful of stubborn Prestidigitations to scrub clean.

He enlarges the photo, slides it into the frame, transmutes it to look like a more professional job, and then sets it in place of pride on one of the empty shelves.

“Gang’s all here,” he says. He bounces Angus a few times, eliciting a toothy smile from the kid.

Lordy, Taako thinks, she’d be laughing her ass off if she could see me right now.

The thought comes out of absolutely nowhere and disappears just as quickly, sliding right out of his mind like water through a sieve. Then Angus makes a sudden dive to grab one of the charms hanging off the brim of Taako’s hat, and he has more immediate things to worry about.  

#

Living in a house is weird. Having the run of the place is even weirder.

Taako is certainly not the type to sign up for extra responsibility, and he’d be the first to say as much to literally anyone who asked. Keeping himself alive has always been trouble enough, and now he has a whole ass extra person he’s in charge of, too.

But as time drags on, he realizes he’s been pretty solidly assimilated.

When McDonald forgets to give Catherine the grocery allowance before he fucks off on one of his bi-monthly business trips to Neverwinter, Taako forks over his own gold without feeling the sting of it too badly. He practically writes his own checks around here, anyway. He can make up the difference whenever.

When crotchety old Boniface came in from the gardens looking for an answer about the freshly broken fountain, he bypasses McDonald’s closed office door entirely to demand guidance out of Taako instead. Taako is in the library, laying on his stomach to supervise Angus’ painstaking and artistic destruction of a probably priceless but unfortunately racist oral history Taako found on one of the shelves, and gives Boniface the go-ahead to gut the old eyesore.

“If it dies, it dies,” Taako says plainly, passing Angus a new red crayon. Boniface, pleased that he’s allowed to demolish something, makes it a point to ask Taako about these things first from then on.

When Ezra shows up in Taako’s suite one morning with tearful eyes and an ugly burn from the temperamental furnace in the basement, neither of them stop to question why she ran all the way up here. They’re both reasonably intelligent people, after all, and Taako is quick to cast a nonverbal Helping Hand. He doesn’t need to overthink it. The burned skin on Ezra’s arm is shiny and red, but repaired.

The girl surges forward to hug him, visibly rethinks it, and then changes course and scoops Angus up for a hug and a noisy kiss on the cheek instead. Angus shrieks in bald delight, and Taako finds himself smiling.

So, yeah. It’s weird, the whole thing is weird, but he wouldn’t say it’s bad.

McDonald is a kind but largely absent presence in their lives. When he’s home, he’s shut up in his study. Angus hardly seems to recognize the man anymore, only watching him with solemn brown eyes from the comforting circle of Taako’s arms. It doesn’t really sit well with Taako—he didn’t take this job to upstage any relatives or be a replacement parent—but he’s already nanny to a precocious two-year-old, he can’t also be nanny to a seventy-something-year-old retired scholar. If McDonald wants to be a part of Angus’ life, that’s on him. It can’t possibly fall on Taako’s shoulders.

“And even if it did, I have a bad back,” Taako informs Angus. “You’ll have to do the heavy-lifting for me, sweetpea. How’s that sound?”

“Okay, Taako,” Angus says gravely. If there’s a tiny part of Taako that’s fucking delighted every time this tiny miracle says his name, he squashes it down good and hard and no one is the wiser.

It feels a little bit like nothing exists outside this spacious manor house. The extensive grounds might as well be a magic barrier between Taako and the rest of the world. It won’t last—nothing good ever does—but for now he allows himself to pretend that it will.

#

Taako and his little shadow swing into the kitchen around noon one day to find Catherine in tears.

This is so far from the norm that Taako actually draws up short in the doorway. Angus toddles right into the back of his leg, loses his balance, and plops down hard on his padded bottom.

“What’s this all about, darling?” Taako asks warily.

Catherine is sharp in all the places Ezra is soft, and while it makes her much easier to understand—a girl after Taako’s own black, shriveled heart—it also makes her approximately one million times more difficult to comfort, as likely to bite at a helping hand as accept one.

At the first sign of her vicious temper, he’s gonna grab his kid and bail. There’s fruit and bread in the larder that’ll see them through to dinner, and if not, he's not above bribing Ezra to run interference.

But Catherine just lifts her head out of her hands and says, “I burnt the stupid soup!”

Taako blinks. He stands still so Angus can use one of his legs as leverage to pull himself back upright, and cups the back of the boy's head in silent praise when he manages it on his own.

“Okay,” Taako says slowly. He can piece this shit together. “The soup is burnt. And you’re cheesed about it because…you feel really strongly about soup.”

“Don’t be stupid,” she snaps, but it’s without any real heat. “I just. I can’t get anything right today.”

Ah. Okay. So it’s one of those.

He hesitates for a moment, and then leans down to scoop Angus up and balances him on a hip. Angus knows not to toddle into the kitchen unsupervised, and rarely gets to toddle in at all when there’s cookery going on.

Taako himself rarely goes in. It feels too much like tempting fate. But his feet carry him forward, and he leans over the pot of thick and creamy chicken and dumplings, and right away he can smell the problem. It caught on the bottom of the pot and scorched.

He’s never worked in this kitchen—and he never will—but he remembers the steps. It’s mise en place. He reaches into the spice cabinet and withdraws a small tin shaker.

“Cinnamon,” he says at length, offering the tin to Catherine.

She stares at him, losing some of her steel for a moment. “Really?”

“Really,” Taako says, and firmly steps back. The six-second exchange has left him feeling tense and sick, his appetite fully and completely fucking out of the picture.

Angus is a perceptive little monster, and settles more heavily into Taako’s arms. He heaves a very pointed sigh, something he started doing to communicate that he’s feeling particularly safe and content. It makes Taako’s chest hurt in a much different way than impending panic attacks tend to, and he presses a kiss to the kid’s curly head.

“Thanks, angel,” he says.

“You’re welcome.”

“Holy shit, Taako,” Catherine says, looking up from the soup with awe in her eyes. As he watches, she tries another spoonful, and then she actually laughs out loud. “It worked!”

He finds himself searching her face for—sickness. Shortness of breath. Something.

It’s stupid. The people he killed in Glamour Springs didn’t show signs of death for days.

“I didn’t know you cooked,” Catherine goes on. “Could you teach me?”

“I don’t,” Taako blurts. It comes out sharper than he meant for it to, sudden and a little bit too loud. Catherine’s smile tapers. Angus lifts his head off Taako’s shoulder. Breathe, idiot, Taako tells himself. Be a fucking person for two seconds. “Cook, I mean. I don’t cook. Or, uh, teach. I’m kind of useless. Pretty, though.”

He flips his hair. It makes Angus giggle, but Catherine isn’t an easily-amused toddler, and she’s not buying it.

Her eyes are sharp, and seem to peel through layers of Taako’s bullshit like a knife. And then she scoffs, and mimics his hair flip with her wrist even though her hair is only about two inches long, and the tension drains out of the room like someone pulled a plug in the floor.

“You’ve been teaching Mango to read,” she says dryly. “And Elvish. And magic. But okay, Mr I Don’t Teach.”

“He’s my fucking protege. That shit’s different!”

“Shit!” Angus agrees cheerfully.

“Whatever. Now that I know you’re secretly a fountain of knowledge, I’m dragging you in here the next time I fuck up a recipe.” She studies him for a moment, and adds, “You don’t have to cook, Teach. If it bothers you. I just…I need help sometimes.

Taako feels himself relenting. This house is turning him into a fucking pushover.

“I know, Cat,” he sighs. “Try to find one person who doesn’t.”

#

“Alright, little man,” Taako says, tugging Angus’ collar straight. “What are the rules?”

“Hold your hand, don’t talk to strangers, aim for the eyes if I can reach them, knees if I can’t,” his boy recites gravely.

Next to him, Ezra stifles a snort of laughter. Boniface, waiting by the loaded carriage, looks reluctantly amused. Catherine says, “Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to give you a kid?”

“Uh, your boss,” Taako says without looking at her. He stands up from his crouch as the front door closes, and they all turn as McDonald comes down the steps to join them in the crumbly courtyard.

“Are we ready, boys?” he asks with a smile. “Neverwinter is waiting.”

Honestly, Taako has been sick with dread over this trip for the past two weeks, but he wouldn’t know how to go about explaining that. And he sure as hell isn’t sending Angus off alone with his absent-minded grandfather. The kid probably wouldn’t make it home.

It’s not as though Taako has been sequestered in the manor house for the last five years. He’s ambled into the settlement with the girls now and then, has gone farther up the road to buy from caravans for Candlenights gifts, has let himself be bullied, cajoled, blackmailed and bribed into helping Boniface lug imported plants home from the train station.

But this is fucking Neverwinter. The Jewel of the North.

“Taako? You okay?” Angus says from somewhere near his elbow.

“Just dreading three hours on the road playing I, Spy with you, boychik,” he lies smoothly. “Go pet the horses so we can get that out of the way.”

Angus looks mulish for a moment, but he does insist on petting the carthorses before they take the carriage literally anywhere, so he lifts his head and crosses the courtyard with great dignity. Taako watches sharply until Boniface rolls his eyes so hard Taako can practically hear it and hefts Agnus up in one huge arm to better reach the giant creatures without running the risk of getting fucking trampled.

“I’m making the salmon at home tonight,” Catherine says abruptly, a non-sequitur that takes Taako by surprise. “If I don’t fuck it up, I’m gonna cook it here, too. So don’t be late, Teach.”

“I’ll a hundred percent eat your share if you’re late,” Ezra adds. Her smile looks a little strained.

Taako has not been subtle. He’s been freaking out right out loud where anybody could see it. Get it together, asshole, he coaches himself helpfully.

“Cat,” he says earnestly, “your salmon is literally the only thing I have to live for.”

She groans and pushes him away from her. Angus has finished with the horses and returns to Taako at a run, even though they’re all going to be walking back across the courtyard to the carriage in like one minute anyway. 

McDonald is handing out a few last minute instructions. They’re mostly things that have already been taken care of, errands that have already been run, the ushe. The girls nod along politely, but there’s a level of uncertainty lingering above them like a cloud. They look as nervous about Taako leaving as Taako feels.

Now, Taako is many things—an elf, a failed chef, a murderer, a dime-store wizard, and one lucky nanny—but he is not some mercurial fairy tale creature. He’s not going to vanish from their lives the second they lose sight of him. He could if he wanted to, and he will if he has to, but he doesn’t want to. For now, he doesn’t have to.

So he lifts a hand and says, “Back soon.”

But for some reason, it fucking hurts.

#

The trip is about everything he expected it would be: long and boring. Angus gets bored with I, Spy within about ten minutes, the interior of the carriage is a little too tight to practice his cantrips, and Boniface seems to be aiming for the roughest parts of the road on purpose. Taako tries reading aloud from one of the Caleb Cleveland books, but McDonald keeps interrupting every time they get to the good, mysterious parts, so Angus and Taako trade a loaded glance and wordlessly agree to save it for later.

Still, it’s not awful. Angus at six years old is bright-eyed and relentlessly clever. He wants to be a detective like Caleb, and has taken to solving little mysteries around the manor house, like who left the jam out on the counter (Taako, and what are you going to do about it, pumpkin?) and who tracked the mud inside the undercroft (Boniface, obviously, that’s where all the booze is, and he literally works in mud all day. You didn’t have to put on your detective cap for that one).

Needless to say, Taako would burn the whole world down for this kid.  

With no choice but to spend time in his grandson’s company, Taako can see Angus’ innate charm going to work on McDonald. There’s something wistful in the old man’s eyes, affectionate and more than a little bittersweet. He stops interrupting as Angus starts to describe his latest case in great detail—the mystery of the missing tarts!

The tarts are wrapped up and waiting in Taako’s bag for when they inevitably get snacky during the trip, but he's not going to tell. He kinda wants to see how far the kid takes this one.

By the time they board the train, Angus is tuckered out. The excitement of a trip so far from home is wearing off after hours in a carriage, and Taako ends up carrying him into their sleeper car and putting him to bed in one of the bunks.

McDonald takes a seat at the small table and watches without commentary as Taako extracts the boy’s hat and glasses and wand without waking him, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders. And then, out of habit more than anything else, he murmurs the only Elven blessing he remembers, quite literally ‘sweet dreams.’ He remembers Auntie saying it to him, and…someone else, maybe? He remembers that it always made him feel loved to hear it.

“Hiring you was the best thing I could have done for him,” McDonald says suddenly.

Taako turns with a trademark smile on his face, only as charming as it needs to be. “Hiring me was the best thing you ever did, period.”

His boss smiles back, but there’s an edge to it that Taako can’t translate. This is the most present and aware he’s looked in the last five years. Taako isn’t sure he’s ever had this much of McDonald’s attention.

“There’s another reason I wanted to take the two of you with me this week,” he says. 

It’s ominous as fuck, and as the train lurches into motion, pulling away from the station, Taako realizes that he’s effectively trapped here, in a way he never was at the manor house. Some of his thoughts must show on his face, because McDonald’s smile warms a bit, and he gestures at the other chair. 

“It’s a good thing, son. No need to be nervous.”

Taako sits in an irreverent collapsing of limbs to prove that he isn’t nervous, actually. McDonald pulls a bunch of papers out of his briefcase and sets them on the table. They look official as fuck. McDonald’s signature at the bottom draws Taako’s eye—huh, so that’s his first name. After this long, it would have felt a little awkward to ask. Beneath that is the signature and seal of a notary.

“What am I looking at here, Charlie?”

McDonald’s lips twitch. He probably cottoned onto the name thing. 

“Well, this isn’t an easy conversation to have, and I probably could have picked a better time for it, but.” He glances over Taako’s shoulder at where Angus is sleeping. “It’s probably better if the boy doesn’t overhear until it’s sorted.”

“I hear ya. That little bugbear is all up in everyone’s business all the time,” Taako says proudly. “Just the worst.”

“He’s amazing,” McDonald says. That sorrow swims into his eyes now, an ancient, ruinous thing. “He reminds me of my daughter every time I look at him.” Oh. “It’s been…hard to look at him sometimes.” Oh.

Taako carefully reevaluates his opinion of Angus’ absent grandfather. Not too much, because the dude still should have been around, but, you know. Some.

Taako tries to imagine losing somebody, how much it must hurt. He tries to imagine looking like somebody, a family resemblance, a belonging at face-value. He’s never experienced either, but there’s still a bitter pit in his throat, a feeling like if he swallows too hard he’ll start to cry. So he sits very still instead.

“But still, he’s my only grandson, and I want him to be taken care of when I’m gone,” the man goes on. “I’m getting on in years, and I probably don’t have much longer left—oh, Taako. It’s alright.”

Taako is certain he didn’t move. He’s still doing the sitting-very-still thing. Then he realizes his ears betrayed him, pressed back flat against his head. Goddamn things.

“No, it’s uh. Taako’s good, don’t. Just.”

It’s the human age thing. He doesn’t want to think about it. He waves McDonald on, a tight rolling gesture. They really need to power through the rest of this conversation while Taako still has enough self-control left to not do something really embarrassing in front of his boss, like have a whole emotion.

McDonald takes pity. Thank fuck.

“It’s normal to want to get your ducks in a row,” he says. “I’m not planning on kicking the bucket any time soon.”

“Alright, let’s organize these ducks,” Taako says with unwarranted enthusiasm. He’s trying to trick himself into it. “Fucking ducks, am I right?”

“Angus is my heir. When he’s of age, he’ll get the estate and everything that goes with it, as well as his parents’ properties,” McDonald says, once again reminding Taako that he’s a rich old fuck. Istus. “But that’s still more than a decade away. If something should happen to me, I don’t want him to end up a ward of the state.”

Taako blinks. In the back of his mind, he realizes that he has become one of those elves that would one-thousand-percent kidnap a human baby if it came down to it. Leave Agnes in an orphanage? His Agnes? It would literally have never occurred to him.

“Custody cases can be so long-winded. The easiest way to circumvent the whole mess would be to adopt you into the family,” McDonald says, super nonchalant about flipping the world upside down. “That way Angus has an immediate next of kin that no one would question.”

He looks up when Taako doesn’t say anything and frowns at whatever Taako’s face must look like.

“You don’t have to use the surname if you don’t want to. It’s mostly just for the sake of paperwork.”

“I can’t,” Taako blurts.

“Of course. I wouldn’t insist that you change your family name if it’s important to you—”

“Not—not that, who gives a fuck about my family name,” Taako says too loudly. Angus shifts around for a second, like he might wake up, and Taako snaps his mouth closed so hard it hurts his teeth. In a whisper, because it’s all he can manage without giving into the urge to scream, Taako forces out, “I—I’m—I can’t.”

In the nightmare scenarios that still sometimes plague him in the middle of the night, when everyone else is asleep and he’s alone with the voice in his brain that fucking hates him, the choices always boiled down to either leaving Angus behind or taking him on the run. Both choices were fucking awful for a myriad of different reasons, and left Taako pacing his room tirelessly trying to think his way out of an unsolvable problem.

The idea that he could become a legal part of Angus’ family as simply as signing a piece of paper is so far-fetched and ridiculous that he can’t wrap his mind around it.

But bringing all his shit into Angus’ life? Signing up for this only to get snatched away the second the paperwork goes through and the militia finally finds him? Leaving his dirty laundry all over the front yard like the worst fucking house guest imaginable, and then peacing out to spend the rest of his long-ass fucking elf life in jail, while Angus was left to just…deal with that?

He couldn’t. He can’t. Every single option is bad. He shouldn’t have stayed. He should have known he would fall in love with that baby on day one. It’s really fucking stupid that he stayed.

“—aako. Taako.”

Taako jerks his head up. His ears are twitching and his hands are shaking and McDonald has probably been saying his name for awhile.

The man’s eyes are bright and steely. They look exactly like Angus’ do sometimes, when he wakes Taako up from a miserable meditation, when it’s just the two of them in a huge house surrounded by a crumbling garden.

“Tell me,” the man says sternly.

At a fucking complete loss, Taako just…does.

When he’s finished, McDonald looks at him really hard for what feels like a long time. Then he pulls a pair of reading glasses out of an inner pocket of his coat, poises the business end of a fountain pen against a fresh sheet of paper, and starts asking questions.

It’s a business-like, no-nonsense exchange. Taako is wiped out, emotionally he is the equivalent of a damp rag wrung out to dry, and he has no wherewithal left to lie or deny or deflect.

When they’re done, McDonald has filled three notebook pages of blocky handwriting, and Taako is swaying in his seat. He watches somewhat vacantly as McDonald nods to himself and rummages in his briefcase for a stone of farspeech.

“We won’t reach Neverwinter until morning. Get some sleep,” he says, and his voice is kindly again, the way it was before. Taako stares at him. “And don’t tell me elves don’t need it, please. I wasn’t born yesterday, and you nap twice as much as my grandson ever did.”

Well, it would be nice to get one last unnecessary snooze in as a free man, Taako supposes, and he doesn’t hesitate to climb into Angus’ bunk. It’s a familiar ritual. The kid squirms to accommodate him without fully waking. Taako tucks an arm around him and buries his nose in that riot of curly hair.

He hears McDonald say, “You’re not much more than a kid yourself, are you?” but that might have just been part of a dream.

He hears someone else say, “That can’t be broken or lost or taken away, it’s always going to be so important,” but Taako thinks that, whoever that was, they were very clearly wrong.

#

Taako wakes up to a six-year-old’s warm brown eyes. They’re crinkled at the corners in an urchin sort of way, and it’s the only tell Taako needs. His kid has been up to some mischief.  

“Grandpa said you were tired and I should let you sleep,” Angus reports cheerfully. “He also said that there was a nice lady selling flowers a few cars down, and I ought to go buy a few!”

Ah. Taako glances down at the ruin of his hair. It looks like about a hundred snowberry blossoms were worked into the thick flaxen braid. It’s going to be an absolute pain to brush out later. He’ll probably find bits of plant in his hair for days. He loves it.

He risks a glance in McDonald’s direction.

The man looks amused by their whole general existence, which is fair. He also doesn't look like he's about to summon the guard to have Taako hauled into the brig, which is a fucking relief and a half.

“The world changed while you were asleep,” he says significantly. “Would you like to sign the papers now or with your pardon?”

Angus says, all in one breath, “You should sign the papers first! Grandpa says then you’ll be my family! I mean, you already are, so I’m not sure what the point is, but it must be important. Look at how official they are!”

Taako feels about four cups of coffee behind this conversation. He scoots off the bed, spilling into one of the chairs at the table, and folds his hands.

“Charlie. Buddy.”

“I stepped out for two minutes,” McDonald says defensively, “and I thought he was asleep!”

“That’s the oldest trick in the book,” Taako mutters. His heart is doing something really complicated and largely unnecessary, fucking backflipping in his chest, at Angus’ thoughtless ‘you already are.’ Like it was a given. What the fuck. “Can you go back to, uh—the world changing? A pardon? What’s up with that?”  

“An old friend of mine is a cleric,” he says pushing a steaming cup in Taako’s direction. “Level nine, or thereabouts. She owed me a favor from when we were in school together, when I—well, that’s not important. What is important is that she was happy to cast Discern Location to find your old stage manager.”

Taako fumbles the cup, almost drops it. He sets it down hard.

“What the fuck? No, hold that thought. Angus, I love you. Get lost.”

He’s really banking on the kid being more stir-crazy than curious, and sure enough, Angus hops right off the bunk and sprints for the door.

“Okay, I’ll be in the dining car! You’re not s’posed to take food back with you, but I’m gonna see how many pastries I can fit in my pockets so you won’t be hungry when you sign the papers that make you my family! Love you, bye!”

“A three-hour carriage ride followed by six hours on a train was the worst fucking idea,” Taako says severely. “He’s gonna be on eleven when we roll up to Neverwinter. They might not let us in.”

“He’s just excited,” the old man says, with the tranquility of someone who isn’t going to have to child-wrangle all day long. “I told him I had good news for you.”

Taako is fidgeting, turning the cup of coffee around and around in his hands. It’s leaving a ring of condensation on the table.

“You found Sazed?” he asks, and hates how small his voice sounds.

“We did.”

“He probably hates me,” Taako mutters. “I ruined his life.”

McDonald takes the cup from him and sets it down on the other side of the table with a firm clunk. 

“Pardon my language, but you didn’t ruin crud.” Taako mouths ‘crud’ in bewilderment, but McDonald isn’t finished. “I was suspicious of your story when you described the way those people died. Those aren’t the typical symptoms of deadly nightshade, and I’d never heard of a transmutation spell failing in that way before. So I looked into it. Or, I should say, I had a few friends look into it.”

“Are you in a cult?” Taako asks. He can’t help it. He’s one part genuinely curious and two parts hardwired to deflect any time someone tricks him into having a serious conversation. “We frown on cults in this family. Mysterious shadow organizations are never a good thing, no matter what greater-good shit they’re peddling.”

“I’m very rich and belong to very elite social circles,” McDonald says dryly. He’s unmoved by Taako’s general everything. “This whole thing took about three calls. I wish you would have told me about this five years ago, but I do understand why you didn’t.”

Taako doesn’t have a cup to fuck around with anymore. He stopped wearing jewelry when Angus was a baby and literally everything smaller than an apple was a choking hazard, and he never really got into the habit of it again, so he doesn’t have rings to twist around his fingers, either. He wrings his hands instead.

“If it wasn’t the elderberries,” he chokes out, and doesn’t make it any farther.

“It was arsenic,” McDonald says. His voice is kind again, but not so much so that it’s painful to hear. “Sazed was questioned within a Zone of Truth. He admitted to—okay,” he cuts himself off, putting a hand on Taako’s shoulder. “We’re done talking about it for now. Just take it easy.”

Taako doesn’t uncurl from his chair until the door rattles open and Angus’ voice fills the room. He’s found a dozen things to talk about in the ten minutes he’s been gone, and is very proud of himself for all the contraband pastries he managed to make off with. There’s a cheese danish wrapped very carefully in a napkin, only slightly squished, that he presents to Taako with a showy flourish that he really only could have picked up from too much time around one particular idiot.

Taako accepts the danish, and then hauls Angus up onto his lap, and then says, “Charlie, baby. Pass me that fancy pen.”

#

For the first time in almost eight years, Taako is cooking for an audience again. His hands are shaking, but as long as everyone else is politely pretending like they don’t notice, he can do himself the same favor.

I fed those people their death, but it wasn’t on me, he recites inwardly for the seven millionth time, a nervous mantra. My magic was good. My cooking was good. I was good. It wasn’t on me.

He looks up from the counter where all his tools are laid out and his ingredients are arranged. Ezra is bouncing in her seat, Boniface is lingering in the doorway like he doesn’t care but he also isn’t leaving, and Catherine’s eyes are wide and moonlike and younger than Taako has ever seen them. Angus has place of pride, a seat on the counter by the sink with the best view in the house.

“Okay,” he says. “What are the rules, pumpkin?”

“No swiping ingredients, no magic in the kitchen, and no taste-testing until you say it’s okay,” Angus rattles off promptly. “Autographs at the end of the show are three gold apiece, photos are ten, and the overall experience is absolutely priceless.”

Over the sweet sound of the rest of his audience groaning at him, Taako goes on blithely, “And what are we cooking today?”

“Macarons!”

“And who’s your dude?” Taako asks, pointing a whisk at him. Angus giggles, and Taako’s hands aren’t shaking anymore.

In a month, Angus is going off to a summer camp out past Rockport. It’s Caleb Cleveland-themed, and the whole thing sounds extremely nerdy and book-cluby, and Angus is desperately excited. He’s also desperately nervous about being away from his family for three whole weeks but he’s trying to keep that on the down-low. He’s very grown up at nearly ten years old.

Taako can respect that. He also bought the kid a stone of farspeech, because actually fuck that.

And while Angus is off having his first away-from-home adventure—since the girls think that Taako’s just going to be useless and mopey the whole time, and Boniface already threatened to bury him in a flowerbed the first time he whines about literally anything—Taako is going to go do something cool, too. There’s always some interesting jobs posted on Craig's List up in Neverwinter. He’ll be able to find something to occupy his time.  

But for now, he’s gonna make some goddamn desserts.

“Come on, Ango,” Taako wheedles, “who’s your dude?”

“You, papa.”

I’m good, Taako reminds himself. He looks at his kid, who only deserves the best this piece of shit world has to offer, and thinks, I can be good.

[bobasheebaby]

91 Lucifer prompts

Some of my favorite quotes from my favorite devil. (Cut at 15 cause it’s long.)

Lucifer Morningstar

1 “People don’t arrive broken. They start with passion and yearning until something comes along that disabuses them of those notions.”

2 “People don’t have power over us. We give it to them.” 

3 “The best thing to do is always to follow your greatest desire.”

4 “Sometimes we are what we are, and we should embrace that.”

5 “Desire shouldn’t be contained, it’s unnatural.” 

6 “Why do humans think they can rectify one evil with another?”

7 “Life’s too short to hold grudges.”

8 “Believe me, there is no winning when you play by a twisted tyrant’s rules.” 

9 “You shouldn’t have to change for anyone. And neither should I.” 

10 “I refuse to be a scapegoat for which something I bear no responsibility. It’s a theme in my life.”

11 “Trust me, I’ve been doing this a long time. I know evil.”

12 “If you desire something, just take it.”

13 “Trust me, if there’s one thing I know, it’s desire.”

14 “What I hate more than anything is a liar, a charlatan, someone who doesn’t believe in what they say.”

15 “Hell truly hath no fury like a man/woman scorned.”

16 “No one gives us the right… we take it.”

17 “Mmm, dangerous. NAME likes.”

18 “There was immediate danger. He/she was about to leave this man/woman completely unsatisfied.”

19 “When in doubt, go with the classics. That’s what I always say.”

20 “Guilt is such a useless emotion”

21 “Take a swing and I’ll shove that so far up your ass, you’ll have splinters in your stool.”

22 “What makes us vulnerable is often right under our noses.”

23 “Now tell me, what is it that you truly desire?”

24 “Well, maybe it’s like butt stuff. Easier the second time around.”

25 “It’s always the ones you least suspect, the ones you trust the most, that hurt you. They wait until your guard is down and then wham! In my case, it was tequila.”

Chloe Decker

26 “It’s better to move forward than stay stuck in the past.” 

27 “We can’t control what happens to us only how it affects us and the choices we make.”

28 “You have to stop taking responsibility for things that you can’t control.” 

29 “Sometimes we get along best with the people we’re most different from.”

30 “Pull yourself together. You look like a homeless magician!”

31 “It’s really not a good day for… your… NAMEness”

32 “You don’t save a marriage by sleeping with other people.”

33 “If you go looking for loopholes, you’ll always find them.”

34 “NAME’s not another guy/gal. He’s/She’s a weirdo.”

35 “As any parent knows, the best time to get things done is when everyone else is asleep.”

36 “I wasn't afraid of you.”

37 “I don't want you to see me like this. I know it scares you.” “No, that's... that's what I was trying to tell you. I'm not... I'm not afraid of you anymore.” “You're not?” “You see, this is what I'm talking about. It's so sweet. I'm going to puke.”

38 “I miss him/her. I mean, he/she pisses me off all the time. And there are so many things about him/her that ... that I find hard to accept, but I just have to believe I can find a way. Because ... I'd rather have him/her in my life than not.” “Well, then... I think you know what you need to do.”

39 “You're different than me. You're stronger. You could have run, but you didn't. Why didn't you?”

40 “It's not like you haven't always told me the truth. You know? So ... I think, deep down, I just ... I always knew.”

41 “Let's pretend for one second that you're someone else. Someone nice, someone mature.” “Ooh, I love role-play.”

42 “What, you're just gonna leave me here? In this part of town?” “You said you wanted danger.”

43 “Please tell me I'm hallucinating.” “Well, I am dreamy, but try to contain yourself.”

44 “You step out of line one time …” “You can give me a right-good spanking, I promise.”

45 “This cannot be true. Can it? I mean ... if you knew this, why wouldn't you say something? I mean, I almost married him/her. I mean, I almost married him/her.” “I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen.”

46 “Oh, my God. Did the world just turn upside down? Did you just admit to being wrong?”

47 “You know, it can be scary sometimes, but ... being who you really are is never a bad idea.”

48 “I need you to stay here and watch your dad/mom.” “That's true. Without the two of us, he’s/she's defenseless.” “I don't know if I like what you're whispering about.”

49 “How long have I been out?” “Three years.” “What?!” [NAME starts laughing] “You’re such an ass.”

50 “I couldn't sleep last night, so I stayed up all night working, and, you know, I drank a lot of caffeine. Like, a lot.”

Mazikeen Smith

51 “If you go by someone else’s pace, it shows how much you really care.”

52 “Sometimes you have to accept when someone doesn’t feel the same way about you.” 

53 “Self-worth comes from within, bitches.” 

54 “I would never ask you to change. I like who you are.” 

55 “Hey! No one calls my skank a skank.” 

56 “Good. It's settled. Now, where do I put my knives.”

57 “Okay. One, I like to fight when I'm happy or ... horny. And, two, I really don't want to accidentally kill my best friend.”

58 “Maybe next time, I won't be around to save your ass.” “Mm! Well, that is a shame. 'Cause you and my backside used to get on very well. My front side, as well, actually.”

59 “And your name?” “NAME.” “How do you spell that?” “Surprise me.” [Later gets coffee with "WRONG NAME" on it]

60 “Everything that happened showed me exactly why I need to go back.” “I don't understand.”

Linda Martin

61 “Emotions are hard, but that’s why they make you strong.” 

62 “Goodness isn’t a toy.”

63 “Sometimes we need to lose something to understand its value.”

64 “Sometimes it’s easier to make intimate issues about something bigger than yourself.” 

65 “I find people who are rude usually feel powerless in their own lives. Terrified of not being in control.”

66 “Look... I know I'm not dad/mom, or partner or whatever. But I ...” “No. No, you're not. Come here. You are Uncle/Auntie NAME. And you will always ... be a member of this family.”

67 “Let's talk about what you're dealing with emotionally.” “Yeah, I really don't want to.”

68 “Why is he:she able to refuse my charms? I mean, is this thing on?” [points at him/herself] “Yes, yes. Definitely on.”

69 “How's that saying go? We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars.”

70 “Should've seen that one coming.”

Amenadiel

71 “We need the most love when we’re being most unlovable.” 

72 “No matter how bad things get, the true test is how we choose to respond to the pain. We suffer, or inflict.”

73 “Cosmos are yummy.”

74 “If you really want to know if you’re a worthy romantic partner, ask yourself.”

75 “NAME. What are you doing here? Did you hurt NAME?” “Only when he/she asked me nicely.”

Ella Lopez

76 “Whenever I’m procrastinating on something, I make an appointment for myself to do it. That way, can’t back out.”

77 “You see what I'm dealing with?”

78 “Hey. No one insults my family, except for me.”

79 [high on "candy"] “I know I should be freaking out right now, but your hair is so shiny.”

80 I'm usually not into reality shows either. I prefer more, you know, scripted-content, documentaries, but... I've got a little extra time these days, so... sort of kind of watched, uh, 27 seasons in two weeks.

Dan Espinoza 

81 “We all need someone to have our backs every now and then.”

82 “Ooh, lemon bars. My favorite. Mmm. Oh, man, these are amazing. Who made 'em?” “Uh, NAME did. Would you believe that hunk bakes?” [spits out the bars] “On second thought, who needs the empty calories?”

83 “Say you fall in love with a man/woman who has a cat. What are you gonna do? You accept the cat.” 

84 “Are you sleeping with this idiot?” “He/She hasn't had the pleasure, unfortunately, no.”

85 “Dude, I cannot deal with your weirdness right now.”

Trixie Espinoza

86 “We’re wearing the same shirt!” [both] “Sushi shirt!” [from around the corner] “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I hate it!”

87 “I ate it.” “Mm-hmm.” “But NAME said it was okay.” “Oh, really?” “He/She said, if you really want to do something, you should. And I really wanted to eat some chocolate cake.”

88 “Are you looking at a no-no site?” “No. Why would you think that?” “Because you put it away so fast, and you look really, really guilty.”

89 “NAME, sever their Achilles first. If they can't walk ...” “They can't betray you.”

90 “You need to get a thicker skin. Stand up for yourself, because the truth is, nobody’s gonna do it for you.” — Charlotte Richards

91 “Anybody worth dating should understand everything that makes you … you.” — Ev

[abcreid]

Wrong  Choice Ruins Everything (2)

Spencer Reid x Reader

Hey guys this is me posting a new story since June last year. I’m sorry for whoever wait for me to update something and sorry for the bad english. i might forgot some vocabs and ending up using the common word over and over. but i hope you enjoy! Inspires from Season 15 Episode 06 - Date Night.

Contains of Spoiler if you haven’t watch the episode.

Part 1

Masterlist

-

“Hey what’s up?” That was the first question he askes when he picked up his call. Emily perhaps. “All right i’ll be right in.” “Uh-huh. All right. Understood.”

He hung up the call, turn back facing you eating the pancake you made in the tiny kitchen in your and Spencer��s apartment. Judging by his face, something wrong happened at BAU. “What happen? New case?”

“Yup.” He took his coat and kissed my forehead. “I gotta go.” Then he kissed your big tummy. Well actually he tried to kissed you and his soon to be daughter. You’re 8 months pregnant and you took your sabbatical because you weren’t in shape to be a field agent anf lately you felt more tired than you ever be. And now you just sitting silently at home waiting for your husband to come home.

“Call me when you get there. Say hi for everyone okay?” Spencer smiled and closed the door behind him. You sighed. You really missed being at BAU but your body couldn’t take any fatigue or you fainted.

Meanwhile at BAU, Spencer walked in hurry to brief room and met Rossi and Emily. “Catch me up.”

“Early this morning, Garcia got an email from an anonymous server.” She pointing remote to the monitor and the picture of a woman between an old man and a young girl. “She’s not obscuring her face, telling us she’s got nothing to hide.”

“Any ideas on the victims or unsub?” Spencer asked.

“No, Only the unsub's demand. That we release Catherine Adams in 24 hours.” Emily handed him files of Cat Adams. “I'm having her transferred here for questioning, but we have no illusions. This is just a game to her. We know that. “ She hesitated. “The question is, do we want to play it or not?”

Right now, Spencer was speechless. He thought his life would be happy without anyone’s shadow.

The rest of the team gathered in front of the glass door to see Cat Adams being escourted to the interrogation room.

“She's a contract killer?” Simmons asked. Garcia nodded. “Yeah. But she’s much, much more than that, too.” ”She's a black widow. She preys on men she can seduce. She thrives on psychological seduction.” JJ added.

Tara explained more to Simmons. “She's one of the most dangerous criminals we've ever arrested, and she is obsessed with Reid. He's the only man to ever outsmart her.”

“Oh, and don’t forget the part that she’s YN cousin.” The way Garcia said it made Simmons gaped in disbelief. “Long short story Cat went missing for 10 years accorded to YN then Spencer tried to outsmart Cat and she got arrested, she met YN outside the restaurant. Bla bla bla she hated YN so bad and vice versa. OH and you remembered when Reid got arrested in Mexico when you were still in IRT? It was all Cat’s game to destroy YN and Spencer. I feel bad to YN. She’s very strong.”

“Did she knew about this?” Luke asked. Everyone just shrugged. “I can’t imagine being pregnant and this thing came up from nowhere. I hope she already knew it.”

at the same time, Spencer lean against the wall in the interrogating room facing the only Cat Adams, who tried to ruin his life multiple times.

Cat started to smirked. “Classic negotiating technique. First one who speaks loses, right?”

“You arranged the kidnapping of two people and you did it the same way you did it before, through a partner on the outside. But her demand, "release Cat Adams," that will never happen. So, tell me what you want right now, before I send you back to prison.” Spencer started to outraged.

“Calm down, Spencie. I would like to go on a date with you. I want to look pretty and i want to have fun.”

“The only date that I'll be there for is the one where they stick a needle in your vein.”

Then Cat laughed. “I hear a wedding bells right know. Did you hear it too?” Her eyes spotted a gold ring in his finger. “Is that a ring from 4 years ago? When you said you wanted me to kill your pregnant wife, do you still mean it until today?”

“How did you... don’t you ever dare to touch YN.” He yelled and slammed the door. He ran to the conference room and the theam already there to discuss about the case. “It has something to do with YN. I don’t want to burden her with all of this.”

-

An hour later YN was picked up by JJ and Simmons. They didn’t tell her the reason because they didn’t want to frightened her.

“YN,” Spencer greeted her at the elevator when it reached level 6. “I’m sorry to involved you but this is important.” He lead you to the conference room and you could see a familiar picture at the monitor. “Do you recognice those people on that picture?”

You frowned. Not because you angry or something, but you confused. “Yeah, that’s... uh... George on the left and i think she’s her daughter Millie. And i had no idea who’s the girl between them.” You can read Spencer’s face that he need more explication. “They’re Catherine’s relatives from his dad. Wait, is this something to do with her? What happened? Did she tried to hurt them?

You started to panicked and Spencer hugged you. “Don’t worry honey, everything is controlled.”

“Do you know her?” Garcia came from nowhere and gave you a flyer.

“That was Susan, her mom. What the hell?” You pulled out from his hug and smelled something suspicious. “Tell me what is going on or i will walked by myself to where Catherine is.”

Spencer explained everything he could while Garcia held youd shoulders. You breathed heavily and tried to processed everthing Spencer said. JJ offered you mineral water and you drank it.

“I let you twice near that hit woman, Spencer. That Mexico event was really hit me hard.” Your tears start to fall from your eyes. “I want to see her now.”

“YN, YN please listen to me,” Garcia interupped you. “You are 8 months pregnant and it much bigger than watermelon sweety. You have to rest and you can’t be stressfull and i don’t want something happen to my beautiful god daughter.”

Emily finally let you to see Cat.

You opened the door and saw her smirked.

“That belly is very big, YN.” Her glare really want to make you puke. “So you are the pregnant wife Spencie told me 4 years ago at Harry & Glenn’s Grill and Bar.”

“What are you up to? You really sacrificed your family for your own sake. Sound really desperate at the end of your life.” You pull the chair and sit. “You were manipulative, right at 14 years ago, you convinced me to steal money from your dad and i did it. You were vengeful to your ex’s new girlfriend and you almost killed her. Just like what you did to Spencer in Mexico. We were months away of getting married and somehow you at the prison knew shit and tried to tear us apart by made Spencer went to jail, then made someone kidnapped my mother in law. And now, you really want to take away my husband, don’t you? Why you didn’t try harder... like kidnapped me, tortured me, or even killed me?”

She silenced for a while. “I would never do that to you. I didn’t want to hurt Spencer either.” “You should tell Garcia to check her email.”

You went out and watched the video that sent to Garcia’s mail. 

“We have fewer than 12 hours left. I don't think she'll fire blanks again.” Emily worried. “If we give Cat what she wants, we can profile what she says on the date.” She looked at you begging. “She always trips up. She always reveals her Achilles heel. And she always does it with Spencer. Please YN, this is the only way.”

-

She held your husband’s arm and walked confidently to the lift. But before they reach the elevator, they stopped right in front of you who stood alone while holding your belly. Cat signed him and he took of the ring off his finger and handed it to you.

“Don’t wait up.” Then they entered the elevator leaving you crying.

tags:  @chocok22 , @cynbx, @literallyprentissstwin, @literallyreid, @princessjellyfishbitch, @eideticreid, @saltedfire, @everyday-imfangirling, @stories-you-wont-hear, @dontshootmespence, @pandedios-carli @spencerreiddaily @spencerreidreads @spence-imagines @reid-effect @lil-loki @bloodylollipopkid @starsshines-blog @photogrxphinggg @queenofthehobos @twosaylorghosts @yukitsubute @thatwrestlingfan91 @qu3n-elizab3th @romee125 @scatchia@nomajdetective @arttasticgreatnessoftheawesome77 @xocriminal-minds-imaginesxo @supernatural-dolan

[moistmailman]

House Wife AU part 6

*Before a date*

Pyrrha, crouching down: And I want you guys to be on your best behavior for your Uncle Roman, okay?

Achilles/Troy: Yes Mommy.

Pyrrha, smiling: That's great to hear. Now give me some smooches.

*Pyrrha pulls her kids into a group hug before kissing them on the cheeks a bunch*

Achilles/Troy: *giggles*

Cinder: Okay, And should be food in the fridge for dinner. When they get hungry just make them a meal. I do hope you actually know how to cook meals meant for children.

Roman, boastfully: Cindie, I am an A class chef. The best in this entire town. I'm offended that you would even suggest otherwise.

Cinder: You once called me up in the middle of the night to ask how long you put spicy wings on in the oven.

Roman: I was drunk. Give me a break.

Cinder, bewildered: Who the hell eat spicy wings while drunk?!

Roman, offended: Okay, did you ask me to come here to watch your kids, or play twenty questions?!

Cinder, sighing: Just don't burn my kids' food.

Roman: I won't. Geez! Give me some credit.

Cinder, turning: Okay, are you ready, honey?

Pyrrha, smiling: I am. Let's go.

Cinder: Great. Oh wait. Hold on. *Turns to Roman* Before I go. Need to tell you something.

Roman, rolling his eyes: Great, this talk again.

Cinder: Have the kids' teeth brushed and put them to bed by 8. There should be bed time stories in Troy's dresser. And they prefer when you make funny voices while reading.

Roman, raising an eyebrow:.....uh...that's it?

Cinder: Yep. That's all. Call us if there's any problem.

Roman: But aren't you going to threaten me if anything happens to your kids like usual? Go full mama bear and put some fear in me? Caress a knife across my cheek or anything like that?

Cinder: Nope. Not tonight.

Roman:.......why?

Cinder, sighing: Because Pyrrha told me that i should be nicer to you, since you watched our kids so often for free. It's the least I could, and honestly, I somewhat agree.

Roman, confused:.......are you for real? Is this a test or something? Are there hidden cameras in this room? *Picks up lamp and inspects it* Hello?

Cinder, annoyed: There isn't a hidden camera, you damn idi— *deep breath* Look, I'm trying to be nice to you, and it would be much easier if you don't proceed to piss me off all the time.

Roman, shivering: Right. Sorry. I’ll tone down my dumbassness now. It’s just that I'm not....tsk, used to you being nice to me. Especially when it involve your kids.

Cinder: Well you watched them so many times with no hiccup at all, except for last Halloween when you lost them of course, which I must admit, kinda ticked me off.

Roman, grimacing: It sure did. The doctors were shocked by how far you got that heel up my ass.

Cinder: But besides that, you've actually been a.....decent babysitter, if I must say. So I trust you to actually take care of my kids. I have nothing to worry about.

Roman: Holy crap. Was that a compliment?

Cinder, sassily: Believe it or not but I occasionally hand them out sometimes. Just rarely to you though.

Roman:.........

Cinder, quizzically: What? Why are you staring at me like that?

Roman, smirking: So you actually think I’m a good babysitter?

Cinder: Decent, I said.

Roman, mock crying: Oh Cindie. That’s the nicest thing you have ever said about me. You actually trust me with your kids.

Cinder, groaning: Oh shut up.

Roman, sniffing: Oh Cindie.

Cinder: I said shut it!

Roman, spreading arms: Give me a hug!

Cinder: What? Ew, no! Get away from me!

Roman, hugging Cinder: You can't ignore it. You actually care about me. No matter how many times you try to deny it. You do have a heart under all the darkness.

Cinder, growling: Get off!

Roman: I'm practically a part of the family now. When am I going to move in?

Cinder, trying to squirm out: Honey, help!

Pyrrha, trying to hold back her laughter: Awwwwwww.

Cinder: Traitor!

Troy/Achilles: *giggle*

Roman: Can I be The Godfather for the little runts?

Cinder: I will kick you in the nuts if you ever suggest that again!

Roman, letting go immediately and nodding understandingly: Right right! Understood. Pushed it too far. Have fun on your date!

Pyrrha, smiling sweetly: We will. Have fun with the kids.

Roman, smiling: Will do!

Pyrrha, looping her arm into Cinder's: Shall we go?

Cinder, smiling: After you.

*Pyrrha and Cinder walk out the house*

Roman: Oh my God. She actually trusts me. *Starts dancing* She trusts me~ She trusts me~ She actually trusts me~ Woop Woop!

Troy/Achilles: *giggle*

*Outside*

Pyrrha: You know, that was very nice of you. You really made Roman's night probably from saying that. He looked so happy.

Cinder, shrugging: Hey, it's like what you said. It's the least I could do. You are really rubbing off on me, I swear.

Pyrrha: That's just a part of my charm, I guess.

Cinder, laughing: Yeah, it really i—

*Sound of glass breaking is heard from inside the house*

Cinder: What the?!

Pyrrha: Oh dear. I think one of the kids must've knocked over a glass or something. Let's chec—

*Troy opens the front door*

Pyrrha: Ope. Beat us to it.

Cinder: What happened? Is everything alright?

Troy: Yeah, Uncle Roman just knocked over grandpa's vase while dancing after you left.

Roman’s voice from living room: YOU SAID YOU WOULDNT TELL! COME ON! I JUST GOT HER TRUST! DONT RUIN THIS FOR ME!

Cinder, sighing quietly: Son of a bitch.

[stonecoldjerseyfox]

Jersey on my mind (part 19)

Mila’s feet dangle in the air as she sits on the edge of the guard post, while looking out over the surroundings. Next to her on the floor lies a bottle of vodka, in case she gets bored. She turns her eyes to the flickering flame of the oil lantern, the only source of light. Besides the lantern its pitch black. The darkness is wrapped around the surroundings like a heavy blanket. No lights are on in the houses. 

Before she put on her jacket, hid the vodka bottle in the inner pocket and went out to the guard tower Mila tucked Juri in for the night. She helped him choose a cassette tape to fall asleep to, made sure he had all of his ‘friends’ also tucked in; the brown dog named Jeff (Mila had no idea why), his soft bunny named Bruce after Bruce Springsteen and the teddy bear that goes by the name Eddie, after Eddie Vedder. But Mila hasn’t been able to figure out Jeff. Who’s Jeff? Instead of asking him about it, she kissed Juri on the forehead and left for guard duty. Daryl wasn’t at the guard tower when she arrived, so Mila made herself comfortable. 

She taps her fingers towards the floor and hums the tune to “Hungry heart”, starts to sing faintly. Springsteen makes her think of the summers in New Jersey. Driving around on hot summer days, the long days at the beach in Point Pleasant, eating tons of ice cream and drinking Pepsi Cola, riding around Atlantic City with Darya and Laura in Darya’s dad’s convertible-    

“You sing well.”

Mila looks up. Daryl has joined her, finally. In one hand he holds the crossbow and in the other two bottles of water. 

“You’re late.” 

”You’re easy prey, sitting like this.” Daryl sits down besides her, lets his legs swing over the edge next to hers and gives her one of the bottles.

”Wolves are gone. Walkers don’t jump.” Mila removes the lid and takes a sip of water. “I think I’m fine.” 

”You’re really good.” Daryl looks down at his knees. “I mean, singing. Your accent disappears when you sing.” 

”Yeah. I’ve heard that.” Mila laughs and puts the water bottle down, next to the vodka bottle. ”It would sound even better if I had a guitar and a cowboy hat.” With a smile she grabs the Vodka bottle from the floor, unscrews it and takes a bountiful sip, before offering it to Daryl. ”I’ve heard you should drink at least one liter a day.”

”Thought that applied to water?” Daryl lifts an eyebrow and brings the bottle to the mouth and drinks, lets out a cough as he lowers it. ”Gotta get you a guitar then, Jersey.”

“Yeah I wouldn’t worry too much about that.” She replies. “It sorta’ feels pretty pointless now. I haven't played in forever.” she meets Daryl’s gaze. “I was engaged to this guy, before- It’s because of him I play the guitar, and sing in ‘American’.”

Daryl stiffens up at her words. It’s barely noticeable, but Mila notices. 

“He’s dead anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” Mila takes a sip of vodka. “My father hated him for encouraging my interest in music. Said it was a waste of time. He didn’t understand the phenomenon ‘hobbies’.” Mila tries to remember what her dear papa yelled at her through the glass. It was hard to hear exactly what he yelled, since he banged at the window, but she could make out some of it. ”Eto chepukha, Milena, chepukha!” she repeats. “Nonsense.”

“Seems like a charmer.” Daryl replies. “Ain’t a waste though. I like it.”

Mila glances at the broad archer next to her. Somehow he reminds her of Jim; tall, broad shoulders and muscles. Jim had brown hair and beard, a bit more groomed than the Southern archer, but still- 

The first time Mila laid her eyes on Jim was during a gig at a bar in Brooklyn. She was there with her friend Laura. Jim played guitar in the band and halfway through he pulled his shirt off. Milas eyes were glued to his bare chest during the rest of the performance. Even a blind person would have noticed such an intense stare down; as did Jim on stage. Afterward he asked her over to their table, and she fell like a paw for the big Oklahoma native, with the pretty eyes and the kind smile. Jim was big as a bear and kind as a puppy. He was warm, had a boisterous but contagious laugh, he was friendly and charismatic. Everybody around Mila adored Jim, everybody except papa, which made sense. Papa hated everyone, except himself.

Physically, Daryl reminds her of Jim somewhat, but their personalities are like night and day. Jim was able to entertain an entire room full of people, and happily did so by telling stories or playing the guitar. Daryl would probably never even think of entering such a room. He’s encased in armor, a hard shell no one seems to be able to break. She hasn’t heard an ounce of bursting laughter from him and he barely talks. And yet she likes his company. When she saw him walk down the street into the Safe-Zone last night it felt like a ton of brick was dropped from her chest. Of course she was still angry with him for some unimportant reason she can’t really remember now, but she was happy for having him back.

“Where’s he by the way?” Daryl asks. “Your old man. Ya’ said ya’ came here together.”

“In prison.”

The statement doesn’t seem to surprise Daryl significantly.

“What for?” 

Mila hands him the vodka bottle again. Daryl looks puzzled at it. 

“If you want to hear about it, you might need it.” Mila explains and doesn’t take her eyes away from his. “There’s a legit reason why I have alcohol problems.”

“Haven’t noticed.” the archer winks at her over the bottle and drinks. “Why’s he locked up?”

“Murder. And for kidnapping me.” 

It might be so easy to say it because she feels some kind of connection to the man sitting next to her, or maybe it’s because the whole world went to hell and papa, Mila’s perdition, her Achilles heel, probably is dead by now. 

Mila was the only child. Her father, her papa, wanted to have a son. Instead he got Mila. Her mother, who loved her more than life itself, couldn’t bear more children and Mila was punished for that her entire life by her father. Papa was stern on her from the start. Sergey Yuruchenko’s offspring wouldn’t be a weakling. Her sole purpose in life would be to make him proud. Like a show dog. He hardened Mila like steel; dragged her out on the frozen river Volga during the winters for an ice bath, a procedure to ‘man her up’. If Mila hesitated or began to cry she had to stay longer in the water. Eventually she stopped crying. He taught her to fight, games that often resulted in cracked lips and black eyes. Sometimes Mila began to cry because it hurt and she felt scared, but he assured her it was a fun game, and she believed him. He coached her in sports, to make sure she would win. Second place was never enough. Mila could’ve easily become an olympic marathon athlete, if she would have had the choice. But he had already set out her entire future. 

”My mama loved me with all of her heart and papa made sure that I never forgot how he grieved the son he never had. It was my burden and my responsibility to prove that I was worthy of his affection. I was a wreck emotionally. Thrown between boundless love and emotional abuse.” Mila pauses and takes another mouthful of vodka. “I got respect from him for the first time when I was fifteen. He firmly argued that if a man couldn’t hit a soup can fifty yards away with a gun after drinking a whole bottle of vodka, he was a wimp. He didn’t count on me, a fifteen year old girl to even dream about trying.” She raises her eyebrows at Daryl. ”But I passed the test and he eased the leash.”

After that summer, Mila had a great year. She was ‘allowed’ to be an ordinary teenager in all its meaning. She went to parties with her friends, dreamed of Leonardo Dicaprio when she kissed her first boyfriend Dima for the first time and she was convinced that life would continue like that.

“Then one day he asked me to come with him on a trip abroad, for work. It was just the two of us at home that day and he was so different. Friendly even. It felt odd, but he was so convincing. He asked me to be ready in an hour with a bag. I felt so excited. Not until we walked through the gate at the airport I understood where we were going. I couldn’t believe it. We were going to America! He made the whole trip sound so exciting. It felt like we were friends for the first time. That I finally had a father.”

Mila pauses. She’d thought about that moment many times since that plane ride. How it all was just an act. How he used Mila’s cluelessness to save his own ass. In reality he didn’t feel like that at all. He didn’t care about her. 

”We were arrested as soon as we got through the passport control at Newark. We were separated, put in different rooms. I panicked the entire time, fought and cried. An interpreter and two policemen came and told me that he was arrested. I tried to convince them that it must have been a misunderstanding. But it wasn’t. I was kidnapped and papa was internationally wanted for murder in Russia by Interpol. Or serial murders, I think it’s called, in the case of more than three victims.”

“How many?” he asks. 

Their eyes meet through the darkness. The only sound that’s heard is the chirping cicadas, the wind rattling in the trees and the thudding sound of the walkers crashing into each other on the other side of the wall. Well, he hasn’t run away yet, Mila thinks.

“Including the policeman he killed at the station the day after we arrived; ten.”

Daryl doesn't even try to hide his astonishment. 

”A woman disappeared in Moscow in- gosh, I don’t even remember the year. Anyway, she was found under a bridge, two days later. Then another woman was found a few weeks later, under a viaduct. Seven women and two men around Moscow. One woman was completely beheaded. I was fourteen when they found her, and my father told me to ’be safe’ when I walked home from gymnastics practice.”

Mila remembers almost all of them by name. They were read out during the trial in New York, while images of them were displayed on a projector. Mila saw their bruised faces, the dead eyes in the pale, straight faces. No matter how awful it was, she couldn’t look away, like passing a car accident. Mila had to watch, to understand that it was her papa, who worried when she would go home alone from gymnastics, he who always urged her to beware of boys in a group (or boys in general), that had done these horrible actions. The youngest victim was eighteen and was found in a shallow part of Volga. They had to identify it through dental cards. In court, sitting on that hard bench in between Ellie and Joe Galka, Mila desperately tried to meet her father’s gaze, wanted him to turn around where he sat, with his back against her. When he finally did, Mila didn’t see a trace of regret or empathy in them.

”He kidnapped ya’ to- what, to save himself?” 

“It didn’t seem suspicious if he traveled with his daughter. I was his ticket out of it. If he did get caught, he could use me as-” Mila fiddles on a thread in her jeans. “-Yeah, I haven’t figured out that part yet. He really knew how to inflict maximum damage to his advantages. Because of his position, working for the state, which is... corrupted beyond imagination, he could change my documents without anyone asking, making himself my sole guardian. On paper, I no longer had a mother. It was- He was so split. On one hand, a well regarded worker for the state, modest and punctual. And on the other hand, emotionally disturbed, a psychopath. A monster.” She sighs. “The same day we were arrested he overpowered a police officer. He killed him, granting him life in prison here, not risking being extradited to Russia. Social services took care of me and I ended up at the Galka’s. The first six months I visited papa in prison weekly. It really fucks you up in the head, being pulled back to the root of evil, to one's perpetrator. In my case, it was the same person. Perpetrator and father. Evil impersonated and the only person I felt I had some connection to here. And yet, I never got an explanation to why he did what he did. Eventually, thanks to the Galka’s, I stopped visiting. He didn’t like that, being out of control.”

Mila had never revolted, but when she had to acclimatize to a new culture and language all on her own, that changed. She could just as well have ended up dead behind a dumpster from drugs, but instead she went on to study at Columbia University. When papa found out that she studied to become a dental nurse, instead of a ‘real dentist’, or ‘the president of all dentists in the entire world’, or anything equally grandiose, he went all mad and had to be dragged out of the visitors room by the guards. A few days later he made a phone call and yelled at Mila for three straight minutes, until the call broke. When Mila paid him a much involuntary visit a few weeks later he’d calmed down a bit; he’d been in solitary confinement since that lash out. 

”Of all professions...” Papa snarled into the handset. ”Dental nurse? A servant! Milaya, why are you causing me this pain?”

Mila pulls herself away from the memory of Southport Correctional facility’s visiting room, back to the present, to the cool, calm night, where she shares a bottle of vodka with the archer.

“As far as I’m concerned I don’t have a father.” Mila meets Daryl’s gaze through the faint, warm light from the lantern. “I moved on. I made it. I got pregnant while in uni and tried to commit suicide. That was a nightmare. Once again I had to... switch on survival mode. I felt so defective. How could someone with a father like mine, someone who’s been hurled between motherly love and fatherly abuse, possibly be a good parent.” Mila takes a sip of vodka. The bottle is almost completely empty by now. “I haven’t had much space for making my own choices in life. Until recently.” she says. “I did some stupid choices on the way here. But at least I turned out... fairly good in the end.”

They look at each other in silence. Nothing is heard but the walkers collected hissing breaths, like a choir of rotten asthmatics, gasping for air, while pushing up against the wall. Sometimes a thud, like flesh against metal, is heard when the ones in the back push the ones in the front extra hard into the wall.

”Ya’ think he’s alive? Or they?” Daryl asks, husky. ”Your parents?”

Mila shrugs her shoulders; she doesn't know. After a while in the weeks following the outbreak, the phone calls to her mother in Russia stopped working. Her father can’t be alive. It would be impossible, just as impossible as it is to escape a high security prison like Southport. 

”What about ya’ foster parents?” 

”I don’t know.” Mila bites her lower lip. ”When the two of us came back to Jersey the Galka’s were gone. So we left, me and Juri.”

”Ain’t too bad, though.” Daryl says, in what Mila thinks is an attempt to cheer her up. “He’s a great kid.”

”He is.” she smiles. ”I never thought I’d make it, being on my own with him like this. He’s my everything, the better person of the two of us; wakes me in the morning, cheers me up and is always happy. I don’t know how he does it. He’s three!”

”And a half.” Daryl smirks. 

“Touché.” Mila looks at him. “Gosh. I’m surprised you haven’t ran away.”

”Why would I? Ma’ old man was a boozer, an ass.” Daryl replies, and his eyes suddenly shift from almost warm, to dark.  “I hadn’t much of a mother. Smoked herself to death, burnt the entire fuckin’ house down at the same time. Ma’ brother went in and out of juvenile. Died, as everyone else.” Daryl hesitates, but then he continues. ”I’m a nobody. Always been. I don’t have anything to run from.”

Mila lays her hand on top of Daryl’s, that rests against the floorboards. He twitches by her sudden move, like a stray dog that has never felt a friendly touch. 

“You’re not a nobody.” Mila says, emphasising every word. “You saved my life. Heck, I think you saved more lives than my sorry ass. Do you always push those who care about you away?”

Daryl becomes silent.

”Sorry.”

”Don’t be.” Mila says. “Honestly, It’s like you don’t think you deserve anything; people being kind to you, that people care. That’s not healthy. No wonder you’re so peevish. Just let the guard down once in a while. You do so much for everybody here, who are so thankful for it and want to show that to you. Let them. You need it. Let people in. Have you never done that?” 

”Never had a chance.” he answers. ”It’s always been bloody knuckles and shards of glass.”

”But does that mean that the whole world is dark and evil? I’ve had a bumpy ride too and I’m not all stiff and irritated with everything.”

”Well ye’ ain’t me.”

”And thank god for that.” Mila smiles a little. ”No matter what your life was like before it doesn’t have to continue being like that.” she gets silent, before she meets his eyes again. ”Have you ever just sat down and thought about what you want? Not what everybody else needs, or what they tell you to do, no matter what you think. Have you?”

”Never gotten that chance either.” Daryl grunts, and continues to look at his shoes.

“Well, do that.” Mila holds up the bottle of vodka in front of her. It’s empty. “Crap...”

“Ya’ haven’t had enough of that?”

Mila puts her head to the side and smiles dazzling.

“I told you I have problems.” Mila smirks and puts the bottle down. “But I’m workin’ on fixing that. Not tonight though.”

The corners of Daryl’s mouth curves slightly upward and he chuckles faintly. They sit quietly for a moment before he once again turns to her. 

“Ya’ really a dentist?” 

“Dental nurse.” Mila corrects. “What, are you surprised?” 

“Not at all.” Daryl replies. “How’s that like?” 

“We'll take that one another time.” Mila adjusts herself on the floor. “I have to save some cock-and-bull stories about tartar and teeth extractions for later.” 

“Can’t wait.” Daryl smirks. “If ye’ want to sing something, I don’t mind.”

Mila smiles. They sit next to each other, watching the night turn into early dawn. Mila sings faintly, to avoid unnecessary attention from the walkers, dangling her legs in the air, while Daryl’s eyes rest on the horizon, wearing a pleasant smile upon his lips.

[thatoneloser-kid]

Orange Glow

This takes place in tlou universe but is slightly au, where this is their first kiss.

Dina finds an old 'Man cave' while on patrol and decides to fix it up for Ellie.

--

Ellie hadn't long gotten home from a two day patrol, her muscles aching, her body a little battered and bruised from the horde that came across. From the horde she and Jesse had to protect Jax and Felix from because they were apparently useless, freezing up at the first sign of trouble. 

 She pulled off her boots and shucked off her shirt, wiggling out of her jeans to leave her in boxers and her once white - but now grimy and bloodied- t-shirt. 

 She sat on her bed, hunched over, clutching the edge, and taking a deep breath, processing and compartmentalising the events of the past few days, like she did after every patrol. 

 She had to deal somehow. 

 There was a light knock on her door before it creaked open. Ellie had expected it to be Joel with some hot soapy water and a med kit to fix herself up with, so she didn't bother looking up. 

 "Rough patrol?" 

 Ellie lifted her head at the voice that was very much not Joel to see Dina standing on the doorway, shoulder against the frame, watching her with soft, worried eyes. 

"Useless team," Ellie grumbled, forcing a little smile on her lips. "You alright?" 

 "Yeah, I'm good, our patrol went well, back ahead of schedule." Dina stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Joel is bringing some water and a med kit, I'll patch you up."

 "You don't have to do that." Ellie assured, and Dina rolled her eyes. 

 "I know, dumbass." Dina said. "I wanted to take you somewhere, but you're exhausted and hurt."

 The peeked Ellie's curiosity, tilting her head toward Dina. "Where?" 

 "It's a surprise, I found it a few months back, I've been working on it since then." Dina explained, helping Ellie unwrap the filthy, cowboy bandage job Ellie had done while holed up in a room, runners pounded on the door, clickers screaming. "I think you'll really like it."

 "Are you going to tell me what it is?" Ellie arched an eyebrow, the one that wasn't split from falling through a crumbling floor to the floor below. 

 "Absolutely not, it's a surprise." Dina peered up at her through her eyelashes, a little grin playing on her lips, before she returned her eyes to the scraps littering Ellie's arm, a particularly deep one caused by a rusty pole protruding from the wall as she rushed to get a clicker off of Jax. 

 "I don't like surprises."

 "Too bad, loser." Dina shot back, both girls turning to the door as it opened, Joel offering them a little smile. 

 "How ya feelin', kiddo?" he asked, moving to set the stuff in front of them, kneeling there.

 "Sore, but I have my own personal nurse, so." Ellie grinned cheekily at Dina, who rolled her eyes. 

 "Well, I'm glad, your suturin' jobs are shoddy at best."

 "Fuck you, old man, I done a good job on you. Plenty of times."

 Joel gave a gruff laugh as he stood. "Sure did, El." he said before leaving. 

 "He's right," Dina patted Ellie's back, motioning for her to sit on her desk chair. "You suture how you do literally everything else. Brute force, and destructive."

 Ellie huffed, but didn't argue, because Dina was right. 

 "If I give you jerky, will you tell me?"

 Dina laughed. "Shut up, Freckles."

 "You know I hate surprises, why did you tell me?" Ellie practically whined, which only make Dina's grin grow. 

 "I just love to torture you."

 Dina poked the suturing needle into Ellie's skin then, pulling a sharp hiss from Ellie. 

 "Clearly." Ellie grumbled, glaring playfully at Dina.

 Dina patched her up, helping Ellie stand afterward.

 "Go shower, I will bandage you up afterward." Dina said, her hand settling low on Ellie's hip, smiling sweetly up at the girl. "Take your time, I will go get food while you're in there."

 Dina frowned when Ellie placed the back of her hand against her forehead,l ike Joel would when Ellie was sick that one time. 

 "What are you doing?" 

 "Just checking if you are sick." Ellie said. "You must have a fever, only delirium would make you this nice."

 "Oh, fuck. Off." Dina laughed, gently shoving Ellie. 

 Ellie half chuckled, half groaned as she took a step backward. "I would fall apart without you, Chuck."

 Dina despite pretending to be annoyed, couldn't help but smile at the childhood nickname, even though it stepped from Dina throwing up during her first time on a boat.

 "Remember that, Jerk." Dina pointed at her as she backed up. 

 "You never let me forget it." 

 Dina grinned, throwing Ellie a wink before she turned and left. 

 Ellie washed the grim off her skin, a dull ache manifesting behind her eyes as she leaned her forehead against the cool tiles on her wall, her eyes fluttering closed as she felt exhaustion take over her body. 

 She stayed under the running water until it went cold, then stayed for a short while after that before getting out. 

 Dina was waiting for her by her desk, two plates of food sitting on the surface while Dina leaned back in the chair, looking at the drawings Ellie had left out on the desk. 

 "How did you get so good?" Dina questioned, holding up with life like drawing of Scamp, Tommy's dog. 

 "Practice," Ellie shrugged. "I would spend down time drawing back with the fireflies, and would draw when Joel and I would hunker down at night on the way here."

 "Maybe one day you'll draw me?" 

 Ellie didn't tell her that there was pages upon pages of drawings of Dina in a book she kept tucked in her desk drawer. 

 Dina insisted Ellie take the chair when Ellie attempted to settle on the floor. 

 "So, what happened?" Dina asked as they tucked into their food. 

 "Jesse didn't tell you?" 

 "I saw how beat up he was, I came straight here." 

 That was something that seemed to cause tension between Ellie and Jesse when he and Dina first started seeing each other, the fact Ellie always came first. 

 When they came back injured from a patrol, and both were in the medbay, Dina would run straight past Jesse to Ellie, cupping her face as she checked her over. 

 She would always favour spending the night tucked away at Ellie's -watching a movie, or forcing Ellie to play for her, or just sitting in silence as Ellie drew- over spending time with Jesse. 

 Ellie always came first, but every time that was made clear to her Ellie was still completely thrown. 

 "It was messy," Ellie started, instead of asking Dina all the questions she wanted to ask. "A horde was in the old barbers for on twelve. It's clear whoever usually takes that route hasn't been doing their job properly. We check that sector every two weeks, but there were Clickers there, so that barbers hasn't been checked in months."

 Dina listened attentively from her spot by Ellie's feet, absentmindedly chewing on her food. 

 "I expected a few runners, they've been dotted all over the place the past few months, but the Clickers were a surprise. We were doing well, taking out the runners without using a bullet, but then Felix knocked something over, every Clicker was on us then." Ellie sighed. "They weren't ready, I told Jesse this, but he insisted they needed to learn somehow, and that this would be easy. One got ahold of Jesse, and Jax just froze, Jesse almost got his throat torn out."

 "You save him?" 

 "I was too busy saving Felix from the clicker that was trying to eat his face. Jesse had to save himself, then we had to fight off a pack of clickers, and stalkers, while trying to make sure those two stayed out of danger, it was a shit show."

 "Jeez, those two always act like tough guys as well. They always hit on me whenever we're at the barn, acting like they're gods gift." Dina rolled her eyes. 

 "I'm sure you don't love the attention." Ellie teased. 

 "There is only one person's attention I love, Freckles." Dina said, running her hand up Ellie's bare calf. 

 "Yeah, right." Ellie rolled her eyes in an attempt to hide how flustered she was getting. "You love being the centre of attention."

 "Only because I need to be to get your attention." Dina shot back, arching a challenging eyebrow at Ellie. 

 Ellie was nothing if not competitive. "Well, it's a wasted effort." She said and Dina's eyebrow twitched questioningly. "You always have my attention."

 Dina seem surprised by Ellie's brazen reply, her eyebrows arching, a little smile on her lips. "S'that right?" 

 "Mm," Ellie hummed, tucking back into her food. "Never going out patrolling with newbies again." 

 "Not everyone can be a natural badass like you, Ellie." 

 "'Specially not you." Ellie grinned, laughing when Dina gave her achilles a warning little pinch. 

 "I'll remember that when a runner is chomping at your throat." 

 "You would never let me die."

 "Mm," Dina hummed thoughtfully. "Only because that would be a waste of a pretty face."

 "Okay, Romeo, go pick a movie, I'll take the dishes in." Ellie accepted Dina's empty plate and stood. 

 "I'll be waiting, Juliet." 

 Ellie ignored the feeling that gave her. 

 They both settle on Ellie's bed, Dina in front, with Ellie lying behind her, head propped up with her pillow as they watched one of the movies Maria had loaned her. 

 "When are we going to this place?" Ellie asked, and Dina rolled onto her back to peer up at her. 

 "Whatever you're ready. Are you out tomorrow?" 

 "No," 

 "Me neither. If you feel better we can go tomorrow, if not we will figure out when we're both free again."

 "Okay," Ellie hummed.

 They fell asleep before the movie even finished. 

 --

 Ellie was feeling a little better come morning, waking up early with Dina still asleep beside her, face squished against the pillow, lips parted slightly as she snored softly. 

 Ellie let herself lay there for a short while, hands tucked under her head, just watching Dina sleep, memorising every little detail of her face, just in case she felt like drawing later. 

 She got up not long after that, figuring she was being kinda creepy. 

 Joel was already awake when she trudged into the kitchen, like he always was, sipping on a mug of steaming liquid as he read whatever book he'd found on patrol recently. 

 "Mornin'," he said without looking up. 

 "Hungry?" Ellie asked, setting about making that nettle tea Dina loved so much. 

 "I've eaten, left some in the oven to be reheated. There's extra, too, since I never saw Dina leave."

 "Thanks," Ellie murmured. 

 "She was really worried about you last night, kiddo." 

 "I know," 

 "She cares about you," 

 "I know," Ellie frowned, turning to Joel after turning on the oven and placing the pan of hot water on the stove. "What's this about?" 

 "I'm just sayin'," Joel shrugged. "She seems nice." 

 "Okay, old man, whatever you are thinking, it's not that." Ellie said, turning her attention back to the stove. 

 "Okay," Ellie could hear the smile in his voice, but she ignored him. 

 Dina was awake when Ellie fumbled through the door, lying on her side facing Ellie, a sleepy smile pulling on her lips. 

 "Hey," Dina's face was half hidden by the pillow, her voice gruff in the way Ellie loved. 

 "Hungry?" 

 "Breakfast in bed?" Dina grinned teasingly as she sat up, back against the headboard. "I might just never leave."

 Ellie was surprised how good of an idea that sounded to her. 

 "This is a one time thing," she said, handing Dina both plates, and setting both mugs down on the floor. "A bribe of sorts."

 "Freckles, I'll cuddle you for free." Dina grinned, helping Ellie clamber over her to the other side of the bed. 

 "Please, I will pay you to not cuddle me." Ellie grinned at Dina's faux shocked expression.

 "That's fucking rude, you dick." Dina laughed, handing the plate off to Ellie. "How are you feeling today?" 

 "Better," Ellie hummed. "Well enough to, like, leave the compound if that was something you wanted to do."

 "Huh, I don't think I feel like it today." Dina way lying, Ellie could tell, just trying to get a rise out of her. 

 "Fine, I'll take the food back."

 Dina slapped Ellie's hand away when she went for her food. "You fucking try it, Dipshit." 

 "Do you want to eat and head out? Is it far?" 

 "About two hours walk, a half hour horseback." Dina answered. "Think you can get Shimmer?" 

 "I don't think he's signed out today, Maria probably won't mind." Ellie hummed, gently nudging Dina and motioning to the mug beside the bed. 

 "Good, we will take him." Dina said, handing Ellie her mug. "I will go get some food to take with us while you get ready to leave, I'll meet you at the Barn when we're both ready."

 "Do I need to bring anything?" 

 "Pistol, just in case, but nothing other than that."

 They finished eating, and Dina gave her a quick hug before disappearing out the door with a little skip in her step. 

 --

 Ellie got to the Barn before Dina did, settling on the stool beside Jesse, who offered her a little smile.

 "Headin' out?" he said, nodding toward the backpack by her feet. 

 "Dina has something she wants to show me," Ellie said, and Jesse nodded, turning back to the food he was eating. 

 They sat in silence for a short while, Ellie chatting briefly with Sarah.

 "Word of advice, Ellie." Jesse said, staring down at the food in front of him. "Don't waste this. I did, but then again, I never really had Dina's full attention, did I?" 

 Ellie felt her gut churn at those words, and Jesse must have noticed the panic on her face, because he smiled slightly. 

 "Hey, that wasn't a dig. Dina and I are friends now, there's no animosity here, El." Jesse assured. "Seriously, I'm happy for you guys."

 "There isn't-- we aren't anything, Jesse. We're just friends."

 "Like I said; don't waste it." 

 "Hey, guys," Dina's voice rung through the barn, then Ellie had an arm around her shoulder, the other over Jesse's. 

 "Ellie said you guys are heading out." Jesse said, and Dina hummed, pulling Ellie toward her. "Just be careful, there have been a lot of sightings recently."

 "Yes, sir." Dina rolled her eyes, pushing the side of Jesse's head as she stepped away. "Ready, El?" 

 "Yeah, Shimmer should be ready for us heading over." Ellie stood, shouldering her bag, clapping her hand onto Jesse's shoulder, giving him a little smile when he looked at her. "Thanks, man."

 "Sure thing, Williams."

 "What was that about?" Dina asked as she and Ellie walked toward the stables. 

 "Wouldn't you like to know," Ellie side-eyed her with a little grin. 

 Dina rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder against Ellie's, Ellie's body humming with dull pain. "You suck."

 Fergus met them in the stables, handing the reins over to Ellie with a little smile before getting back to work. 

 Ellie greeted Shimmer, scratching his cheek and kissing his nose before hopping onto his back, helping Dina up. 

 "Just lead the way, Chunk."

 It took them a little over forty minutes to reach the town, because Dina was an awful navigator and Ellie was a little flustered at just how close Dina was holding her, her head pressed against Ellie's spine. 

 When they reached the town, Dina navigated her through the streets, guiding Ellie to take Shimmer into the garage of one of the derelict buildings before hopping off and tying him up. 

 "Is this the surprise?" 

 "Yes, Ellie, a dusty old house is your surprise." Dina grumbled with an eye roll. "No, it's down stairs."

 Dina lead Ellie down stairs, stopping at the door, hand on the knob. "Close your eyes, and keep them closed until I say."

 "Seriously?" Ellie huffed, slumping like a petulant child. 

 "Yes, Ellie."

 Ellie closed her eyes and Dina opened the door, ushering Ellie inside, telling her to stay put. 

 There was shuffling, the distinct sound of a generator being powered up, then a cheerful little jingle rang through the room. 

 Ellie frowned behind her hand. "What the hell is that?"

 "Okay," Dina whispered, and Ellie almost jumped at how close she was, her hand coming up to lightly grip Ellie's wrist, pulling her hand away. 

 Ellie let her, but kept her eyes closed, unsure if she was allowed to look yet. 

 "Open your eyes," 

 Ellie done as she was told, coming face to face with Dina, who was smiling up at her. Ellie peered over her shoulder at the room around her, lights strung up from the beams across the ceiling and long the walls, giving the room a soft orange glow. There was a sofa in the middle of the room, a dart board up on the wall, a pool table that looked barely playable, and in the corner there was a large machine, lit up with the words 'Street Fighter'. There was a TV on a rotting stand, a dusted gaming console wired up to it. 

 "What is this place?" 

 "Howie said he thinks it was a dudes man cave, or something." Dina shrugged. "He helped me out, in the beginning, with the arcade machine, but I fixed up the TV and console. I strung up the lights and stuff."

 "You cleaned this place up, and fixed everything in here?" Ellie's eyes dropped to Dina, who nodded slightly. 

 "For you," Dina admitted in a whisper. "I thought you could use a place like this, when Jackson gets too much."

 "Dina," Ellie breathed, looking around the room again in awe. "This is amazing, thank you."

 Dina shrugged bashfully under Ellie's adoring gaze. "Come on, let's give the machine a go."

 The game got competitive, both girls button bashing and bumping into each other. In the end Dina came out on top. 

 "You've had more time to practice." Ellie grumbled, and Dina scoffed. 

 "Yeah, right." She bumped against Ellie, motioning toward the bookshelf. "There are a whole bunch of comics over there, I've picked up as my games for that thing as I could on patrols, and I've brought some DVD's of you want to just chill."

 "Why are you talking like this is just my place?"

 "Because it is," Dina shrugged. "I done it for you. I have places to go in Jackson that help me relax, but I know you don't really, and you get antsy in Jackson, so I figured this place would be good, and it isn't too far outside the walls."

 Ellie felt her heart swell that the admission, her hand finding Dina's arm, giving it a little squeeze. "Thank you, Dina." She said, putting as much sincerity into the words as she could. "How about we make it our place?" 

 "You don't have to, I know you need you time."

 "My me time is better when you are there." Ellie admitted, her stomach fluttering at the blinding smile Dina gave her. "If I do want to be alone I will tell you, but being around you is easy, comforting, regardless of how I'm feeling."

 "Yeah?" Dina had the softest smile on her lips, taking a step toward Ellie, closing what little gap there was between them. 

 "Yeah," Ellie nodded. "You are calming to me, Dina, even if you are a little shit sometimes."

 That made Dina grin, her hand running up Ellie's arm to rest on her cheek. "You love it," 

 He voice was barely a whisper, and something shifted then, the look Dina was giving her finally clicking with Ellie. 

 "Unfortunately, I do." Ellie replied, her voice equally as quiet, leaning in ever so slightly, leaving the next move up to Dina.

 "Unfortunately," Dina scoffed, before closing the small gap between their lips, her hand gripping onto the back of Ellie's neck to pull her closer. 

 It was a tentative kiss at first, a lingering press of lips together, but it was more than Ellie could have ever dreamed. A little sigh escaped her lips when Dina pulled back. 

 "I didn't do this because I wanted you to kiss me, just so you know."

 Ellie laughed softly. "I know," she said, before dipping down again to kiss Dina, a little harder this time. 

 Dina was quick to reciprocate, her lips parting slightly to kiss Ellie's bottom lip, pulling a soft little mewl from Ellie. 

 "Let's go put a movie on," Dina whispered against her lips, tugging her toward the sofa. 

 She placed the DVD's she brought with her in the rotting coffee table, before holding up a joint with a little grin. "From Howie's weed den."

 "You're going to get me into trouble, D."

 "Yeah, right. You have no problem doing that on your own." Dina scoffed, motioning to the DVD's before pulling her lighter from her pocket. "Take your pick."

 Ellie picked an old horror movie about torture games before settling against the sofa beside Dina as she sparked up the joint. 

 Dina took a long drag before handing it over to Ellie. 

 "How is Howie?" Ellie asked, accepting the joint, putting it between her lips. 

 "Little worse for wear," Dina admitted sadly. "I think he's dying, but he refuses to come back to Jackson, he's happy in that den he has."

 "Can't say I blame him," Ellie hummed. "That place can be a little overwhelming sometimes."

 Dina hummed, watching Ellie for a short while before shuffling closer, lifting Ellie's arm and cuddling closer, slinging Ellie's are over her shoulder. 

 Ellie gave her a little squeeze, handing the joint back.

 They quietly finished the joint as they watched the movie, both feeling the buzz halfway through it. 

 "Hey, El?" 

 "Mm?" Ellie hummed, looking down at the girl tucked under her arm. 

 "I like you, I hope that's what you got from that kiss."

 Ellie had figured, but it was still nice to hear. Ellie smiled sweetly down at her. "I like you, too."

 "Okay, good." Dina cuddled closer again. "Would've sucked if you didn't."

 Ellie chuckled, lightly rubbing Dina's arm. 

 They ended up spending the night there, cuddled up on the sofa, alternating between watching movies, playing street fighter and kissing, which started off relatively innocent on the sofa, but escalated to Dina having Ellie pinning against the wonky pool table. 

 Joel was a little pissed when they god back, but Ellie couldn't really bring herself to care, not after the night she had just had. 

[dontshootmespence]

Aastha

Part 3 of 4

Summary: After an unimaginable loss, you discover your powers and become even more cemented in your faith. Sam experiences a similar loss and struggles with it. When you meet, how will your lives change?

Pairing: Sam Wilson x Indian!Superhero!Reader

Words: 1,922

A/N: This is for @bucky-smiles 2K Bollywood Writing Challenge! My prompt was Jab Tak Hai Jaan. The thing that stood out most to me was both of the protagonists’ struggles and/or commitments to faith, so that’s what I drew on for this fic. Although I know that Sam is an orphan in the comics, having lost both his parents to violence, I had him be raised by his mother, so she’s still alive here.

Beta’d by: The lovely @bucky-smiles herself. I wanted to make sure I did the culture and religion justice, so thank you! Also beta’d by another Indian lovely @emilyshurley​, who also made the above aesthetic for me. Thank you both for working with me. It meant a lot for me to get the culture and religion right because representation fucking matters, so your help was invaluable to me. <3

A relationship, or gasp!, love had never really been in the plans, until that morning at the Washington monument, bonding with a man named Sam Wilson about the infuriating whirlwind that was the 30-minute, 13-mile Steve Rogers. “He’s insufferable, right?” You asked, breaths heavy yet steady at your pace.

“Unbearable,” he laughed, letting go of the competition with Steve to hang back with you. “You’re Agni, right? New Avenger?”

“Been with them for about two years now, so not new. But newer. And the name’s Y/N. And despite the “A” it’s pronounced ‘ugh-nee. It’s the Sanskrit word for fire.” He smiled; impressed.

You’d never felt the need to hide your story – how you became who you were - but what Sam said next took you aback. “Sorry about your mom.”

“Thanks,” you replied, smiling fondly at the memory of her perfectly imperfect smile and shining brown eyes. “I can’t say for sure why I made it out and she didn’t. All I know is what I believe. I plan to do right by her memory.”

“That’s really admirable,” he said genuinely. “I lost someone too, and I think it broke my faith. I admire anyone who can keep it.”

“I have to,” you replied. “My faith grounds me.”

----

It was your distinct differences in regards to loss and faith that drew you closer. Sam was consistently inspired by your ability to hold onto something so intangible as faith when you’d lost so much. After every mission, you all needed to decompress, and you decompressed in your own unique ways, but time and time again, the two of you spent your time together, watching bad movies, eating popcorn, playing pool – or more accurately kicking Sam’s ass at pool – but hey.

Though he’d lost his faith in God, you’d encouraged him not to lose faith all together, instead channeling that belief into something tangible. “What do you mean?”

“Well, faith is a shaky thing for some people. Because you can’t see it. What can you see? What can you see that you believe in?”

“This team. People. I believe in people.”

“Then that’s where your faith lies. You still have it; it’s just changed course.”

“How are you so wise?” He asked with a laugh.

“Just gifted, I suppose.” Leaning over, you kissed the underside of his chin. Somehow, through all this, you’d just found each other. There’d never been any official discussion of what you were to each other – you just knew. He was your best friend and confidant; the man you loved. Another blessing you were sure. There was no animosity between you and anyone else on the team; you got along with everyone, but you found solace in Sam, and he in you.

No one questioned it either. Not even Tony. Though he poked fun every now and then, which you would of course return, because he had Pepper. After a week without any action, you were almost starting to feel left out, until you, Sam, Nat and Steve were called on a mission.

At the rendezvous point, Fury briefed you on your mission. “Pieter Sidorov,” he said, looking straight toward Natasha. “You know him, right?”

“The Russian scientist and mass murderer? Yea, I’m familiar with his work. Rescue mission?”

“Extraction. We still don’t like the guy. He’s still a grade-A asshole. But after the fall of Hydra here, everyone left that’s loyal has gone into hiding. And Sidorov is aiding what’s left of Hydra within KGB airspace. I need the four of you to get him and bring him back. We need him alive.”

The four of you nodded simultaneously, your mission clear. With the help of a few still-trusted SHIELD pilots, you made your way into former KGB airspace. “Okay, what’s the game plan?” Sam asked, already outfitted in the new and improved EXO suit; Tony had made a few adjustments in the likely case one or both of the wings were damaged, so hopefully he would never be down for the count again. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“Pieter Sidorov is a fucking genius. When you have that kind of intelligence, you go one of two ways, good guy or the worst guy. Guess which Sidorov is?” Nat started. “Anyway, he has no superpowers himself. It’s his suit. He developed a suit that allows him to suck the powers, and essentially life, from other super-powered people.”

“What can he do?” You asked. “He’s just any regular guy without the suit, but with? What do we have to look forward to?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, rattling off the list of abilities the suit imbued him with – telekinesis and telepathy. “With, obviously, the added bonus of sucking whatever powers you and Steve have,” she said, tilting her chin toward you. “So if he’s got the suit, don’t get caught.”

“Thanks, Nat,” you laughed. “We go in teams of two, yea?”

Tony and Steve were your de facto leaders, so you all looked to Steve for your assignments. “Yea. Nat and I will infiltrate the right side, you and Sam go left. Nat will hack us into the system and shoot the map of the inside of the helicarrier to your watches. You might think we need the suit too, but we don’t. It’s programmed to work with his DNA. Without him the suit is useless. We take everyone out in our way and grab Sidorov, unharmed, and bring him back to Fury. From there –“ He hesitated. “From there, I don’t want to know what Fury’s gonna do with him.”

You trusted Fury, but he was definitely a scary man. “Me either.”

“All of us will leave the way Nat and I went in. Sam, make sure your wings are operational. The rest of us, make sure our parachutes are ready to go. As soon as the pilots make the drop off, they’re out. When we hit the ground, Nat has a way out.”

“What way?” Sam asked. “Car, bus, train?” She didn’t answer, her face showing no indication of releasing her secret. “Secret underground base?”

When she raised her eyebrow, you and Sam exclaimed at the same time. “Shut the fuck up.”

Smiling, Steve ensured that everyone had their orders. “Alright,” he said, turning toward you and Sam as the pilot pulled into the hellicarrier’s airspace. “See you two on the other side. Be careful.”

“You too, Cap,” you said quietly.

After Steve and Nat jumped onto the roof of the carrier and made their way inside, the pilots swung around the left, letting you and Sam out before speeding away under the cloak of night. “Back me up,” you said softly.

“Always.” Your back was to him but he spoke with a smile. “Ten o’clock.” Sam hid in the shadows as a man, presumably a guard, approached. Your size, and apparently boobs, always made men underestimate you, leaving you the perfect opportunity to slip them into a chokehold and wait until they passed out.

The moment the guard fell to the floor, Sam emerged from the dark hallway. “Have I told you how sexy that is?” He asked.

“Not now, Sam,” you laughed. “But yes. And please tell me more when we get the fuck out of here.”

Within a minute of knocking the guard out, Nat had uploaded the map to your watches. Unfortunately, it also alerted the entire crew on board to your presence. You figured that would happen. “Alright, stay at the ready,” Sam spoke. “How many people on this helicarrier?”

“About 500.”

“Fuckin wonderful.”

Quickly, you glanced down at the map on your watch, charting the quickest and easiest way to where they were keeping Sidorov. “Right in the middle. Great. They’re coming after us either way. Wanna stealth it or make an entrance?” You asked.

“Baby, do you even have to ask?” Sam laughed.

“Entrance it is.” As you charged forward, Sam followed your lead, handling any stragglers that happened to make it beyond your wall of fire. Those that didn’t run scared, fell victim to your wrath, dissolving into piles of ash snaking through the grates at your feet.

From the opposite end of the vessel, you heard the cacophony of screaming voices. Of course, Steve and Nat were holding their own just fine.

A nearly 300-pound, 6 foot tall Russian made his way past you. Big dude, but agile as hell. He’d assumed you were the strength out of you and Sam, disregarding him to try and take you out. But that was his mistake. As the man put you in a chokehold, Sam pulled out a knife, dropping down and slicing both of his Achilles before spin-kicking him in the face and over the railing. “Thanks, babe.”

“No problem. Let’s go. I want outta here.”

Your well-oiled machine moved swiftly through the maze-like hallways. You’d have a few cuts and bruises, but since joining the Avengers, that was pretty much Tuesday. As you approached the room where Sidorov was being kept, you made your silent prayers for the successful completion of this mission. You’d always prayed beforehand, in one way or another, but in the thick of it, you couldn’t help but offer up a few more silent prayers.

Melting the metal doors before you, Sam barreled past you and grabbed Sidorov, before running straight into Nat and Steve. Sidorov’s eyes sparked with a hint of recognition. “Natasha?”

“Aww, so sweet, you remember. You’re coming with us.”

Steve took the front lines of your escape route, using his shield to push over everyone in his way, while Nat and Sam handled the scientist and you kept an eye on your six. “You ready to jump?” You yelled, wind whipping your skin as Nat opened the door they’d entered. She pushed Sidorov out, sans parachute, and was followed quickly by Steve, leaving you and Sam to bring up the rear.

“Go!” Sam screamed.

Despite having jumped out of planes with the team before, it never got any easier. As you sailed through the air, you chanced a glance back and breathed a sigh of relief when you saw Sam jump too, only to watch a hook pierce the middle of his wings, ripping them off, and knocking him off balance. He spiraled in mid-air; you screamed into the wind, unable to do anything else but pray Tony’s upgrades kicked in.

Turning your attention toward the rapidly-increasing ground below, you waited for the right moment to deploy your parachute. When you ripped the cord, the parachute deployed, but apparently during your scuffle with the Russian guards, one of them had managed to slash it.

“Fuck!” Your heart raced as the ground approached, bracing for impact.

----

Sam panicked for a moment before his backup wings exploded out of the back of the EXO, giving him control once again. When he looked down, he saw his worst nightmare. “Not again. God, not again.” Y/N was fast approaching the earth with a slit parachute; she had a healing factor sure, but there would be nothing to heal if she pancaked into the pavement.

He retracted his wings and sped toward the ground, his hand stretched out in an attempt to grab her, the parachute, anything that might soften the fall. “Please God, don’t do this to me.”

Within a few hundred feet of the ground, he managed to grab her, only to have the chute make him lose his grip. For the second time in his life, Sam watched as someone he loved fell toward the unforgiving earth.

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

Why did you elbow me? 160

Achilles Castle part 62

Lemonade and lies PART 5

Ayanna: pov I wonder what they are screaming at/about all of a sudden it becomes very clear it's a roach and it's not alone it has a few friends with it. Ew I hate bugs, it feels like hours of watching this camera feed when in reality it has been only an hour.

Kate: pov a woman appears with a baby and walks up to the tattooed guy and slaps him across the face saying that's for not paying child support. Esposito walks in the room asking if I want him to pick up dinner. I'm starting to feel even worse. I say yes that's fine.

Liv: pov Ayanna gets up to talk to Elliot. I ask Kate if she is okay because she doesn't look like she feels good, she says it's probably a cold it will pass. I tell her she should be careful because of her heart. Kate says her cardiologist already knows she doesn't feel good. Kate is coughing. Let's. Hope her cough doesn't get any worse.

Fin: pov Esposito arrives back with the food, he got Kate a special soup. Kate and Liv take their food back to the conference room Ayanna agrees to join them Muncy is also invited. Us Boys are eating in the breakroom chatting about work and life.

Ryan: pov I help clean up the mess from dinner who new tacos Could be so messy. Lanie chose to eat with the girls. I think she wants to check in on Kate more than anything.

Lanie: pov I follow Kate into the woman's bathroom to talk privately, Kate you have to be honest with me how are you really feeling. You have a headache, did you take some tylenol, yes okay. Are you starting to cough, yet? Yes you have a cough can you take a few minutes and come downstairs to the morgue so I can check you out better.

Kate: pov I will be back in a minute Lanie needs me for a few minutes in the morgue she says it's important. Lanie has me sit down on a chair since her morgue table just had a body on it. She takes my temperature, listens to my heart and lungs and says it is a cold. She is concerned about my cough, so far no fever which is great. As soon as I noticed my cough I started taking my cough meds. Alexis dropped them off earlier, since she had the day off from school as was on the way to hang out with Dave.

Muncy: pov back upstairs Kate heads back to her office to keep watching the video feed with Liv and Ayanna. I'm working with Joe checking on people's alibis for the night of the murder. It's starting to get late. Everyone decides to go home and come back very early in the morning.

Castle: pov Kate is Finally home Lanie brought her home since she is sick. Lanie says she can spend the night, just to make sure Kate is okay. Her cough is pretty bad, but thankfully she doesn't have a fever. Lanie grabs the sore throat lollipops Kate can have and an ice pop to help. I turn the TV on so the 3 of us can watch something for a bit. Alexis is still out with Dave and mother should be back soon.

Martha: pov me and my friend had the most amazing time. How is your case going Katherine, oh that's good to hear you have extra help. You look like you don't feel well Katherine. Is everything okay Lanie. Well I hope her cold goes away soon, I'm off to bed. Oh and Alexis texted me she is heading back to Dave's instead of home.

Elliot:pov I head back to my lonely apartment and call the kids to check up on them. Eli is spending the week with Kathleen since she has the week off that way they can do a whole bunch of fun stuff.

Cassidy: pov it's late when Liv gets home, how was your day? I bet it was long. I already fed Noah and helped him with his homework and let him play a little bit of video games before he showered and went to bed. How about some ice cream before bed.

Lanie: pov I was up most of the night with Kate. Her cough is pretty bad. Breakfast is going to be a banana for her and a cup of decaf coffee. The Brand of decaf coffee she drinks has zero caffeine in it. She takes her meds then the cough medicine. I'm a little concerned about Kate so far she hasn't said her chest hurts which is a good thing.

Jenny: pov Ryan is up early getting ready for work, he has his hand resting on my belly where you can feel the baby kicking hard.

Fin: pov everyone shows up at the station early, Esposito has brought donuts and coffee and for everyone and for the people who don't drink coffee he brought hot chocolate and tea. Kate already ate at her house. Liv says Cassidy is dropping Noah off at school and picking him up for her since he has the day off.

Ayanna: pov after taking some time to plan our entry to the warehouse we head out the ride to the warehouse is short, the rest of the officers/detectives are in a van with the name Pam's cleaning on the side. Lanie won't take no for an answer so she is coming with us. She will be in the van with Jet.

Joe: pov Captain Benson and Captain Beckett had agreed to show up, the group arrives at the warehouse with additional officers. All of us are waiting in the cars or van, Muncy and Ayanna are going in with Liv and Kate as two of the girls. Once they give the signal the rest of us and ESU will bust in. Jet hacked into the camera's, lucky there is one in this room. To be continued. ……..