#the key is - the time we spent working on your request meant that we couldn't be working on someone else's

[stargazerdaisy]

Within the first 15 minutes of work (keep in mind, I logged in 15 minutes early), I've been hit by three different disputes where customers think they don't have to pay for work performed. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[natailiatulls07]

could i request some leclerc!reader and so comfort with charles please

It's okay

Arthur Leclerc Charles Leclerc Lorenzo Leclerc Pascale Leclerc & Leclerc!reader

Summary - In order to find her way in life, Y/n Leclerc runs away in the dead of night only leaving a note

Warning - neglection, running away

-

Growing up with three older brothers and two of such competing in karting competions, life was hard for Y/n Leclerc. Pascale and Hervé invested lots of their money and energy into Arthur and Charles.

When she was seven, Y/n's interest in ballet started. The young girl had her heart set on being a professional ballerina. So thats what she did. Y/n convince Pascale to enrol her in ballet class.

From then on, she became more and more talented. Quickly becoming the top of class. Yet when recitals came round and she was the lead, the only person who came to watch was Lorenzo.

The rest of the family were out at karting competitions cheering on Charles and Arthur. Yes they would apolgise to Y/n for their absence but to her it never really felt quite right.

-

Y/n was 14 years old, life got harder. Karting turned to formula 2 and E. Lorenzo now building his own life, he moved out of the house.

And the worst of all, Hervé Leclerc passed away. This meant attention was limited, Pascale was busy. She had her salon to run, she was running around supporting the two boys racing and she was mourning the lose of her partner.

As much as he wanted to support Y/n during her recitals, Lorenzos life became busier and he could no longer come along each recital. She felt as though no one her family could see her or her talent.

So what did she do? Y/n collected enough money to enrol herself into a ballet academy. In the dead of night she packed just enough and left without a sound. Of course she couldn't leave without leaving a note, she loved her family.

Dear Maman, Charlie and Arthur, I love you all dearly, please don't worry about me. I will be gone for a while, Lo Lo knows where I will be but please do not pester him. Thank you for everything and more Love from your dearest daughter, Y/n xx

-

Y/n Leclerc was a sensation, one of the best of her age. She was a household name, even if you weren't that well educated on ballet you knew who this elegant women was.

However, it was rare for the ballerina to speak publicily, Espercially as many would ask of her surname and family relations. And it wasn't hard to understand why.

"So Y/n please tell me, any relation to formula one driver Charles Leclerc?"

"No comment, thank you"

Charles, Arthur, Pascale and Lorenzo watched on, following her social media through burner accounts not wanting to make this harder for Y/n.

They could see how she spent most of her time dancing, spending time to herself or getting cocktails with friends she made along the way.

~

yourusername

Week in my life...

Spending time alone, you must prioritize self care

Fruit cocktails with friends, the key to my heart

Looking after the minis, they're the cutest little things

Lounging on my sofa after a long day of rehearsals, it is tiring!

Liked by cl_2648749 and 146,283 others

comments are limited

username Gorg gorg girlie

cl_2648749 <3

username I so wanna be her friend omfggg

~

But she wasn't stupid, Y/n knew who those burner accounts were. Every single post, the burner accounts were there front and center. She felt their eyes on her, it was silly really but she constantly felt like they were watching her.

However, Y/n felt warm with that in mind. Like they were finally noticing her for the first time. No longer was she fighting for the attension with her two older brothers. But was it just online? If she were to go back, would it go back to how it was before.

Plus she had built up a life on ballet. Y/n made a family with her friends. Everyone knew her, fuck she is a household name hiding her Leclerc identity from the world, even herself.

-

"I think it's a good idea! It's been long overdue in my opinion"

"No. We need to work to her choices, not make her uncomfortable."

"Okay when?!" Charles throws his arms in the air with frustration. He was pacing in front of the television; Arthur, Pascale and Lorenzo all sat on the sofa watching him.

The topic of Y/n came up in passing by Arthur and it became much more. Charles was fighting, he was desperate to get his dear little sister back home. However Lorenzo, knowing how Y/n felt about everything, was fighting back and trying to prioritize her feelings.

The constant pacing stopped abruptly, and Charles turned to look at Lorenzo with a harsh glare. "Why do you want to so desperately work to her choices? Are you in contact with her?" You could hear a penny drop.

Eyes snapped over to the oldest boy, all confused and harsh. Lorenzo sunk into himself. "I um..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Yeah um so I kept contact with her yes"

"Is she okay?" The first question Pascale asked. Years of guilt plagued her mind, she neglected her own daughter and she was now paying the price for that.

Lorenzo nodded. "Yes, she's okay...Y/n she um built up a family through her friends and as you know she is doing well for herself..." A small proud smile morphed onto his face, he was proud of her for doing this for herself.

"Does she hate us for what we did?"

He breathed in and out. "No, she doesn't hate any of us...she understands completely..." That did ease some guilt for the other three, it would of killed them to know that she hated them, her own family.

There was silence for a couple of minutes whilst they all fell into their own thoughts. And then Pascale spoke up again. "Can you at least text her or call her whatever...talk to her, please tell her that we love her and that we want to see her again...we're so so proud and sorry"

Arthur and Charles both nodded in agreement. "I'll see what I can do..." Lorenzo promised.

-

It seemed that the next time they would see Y/n would come round much soon than expected. It wasn't planned, totally sporadic.

Charles was in the kitchen, in Lorenzos apartment. He was scrolling through his phone when there was a ring coming from Lorenzos phone. "Lorenzo! Your phone, it's ring!" Looking over the driver read the name.

Y/n

He knew it was wrong to answer the call, but it felt right like this would do something so he did. Charles picked up the phone and answer.

Before he could speak the voice he missed so dear filled his ear, yet it was panicked and he could hear uneven breathing.

"Lo I'm sorry please, I came back to Monte C but uh um the paps they um oh my god I can't breathe they keep following me! Please please I don't- I don't know where to go!" He missed her voice, granted it for much more mature and wiser now, he still missed it.

Though he was entranced by the situation, now very concerned. "It's okay, it's okay" His mind was on speed mode, much like it was in the car. "Send me the location, I'll come and collect you"

Y/n's voice came out calmer and confused now. "Cha...is that you?"

Charles nodded his head before realising she couldn't see him. "Yeah um it is Cha, I'm on my way" He rushed down to his ferrari.

-

Pulling up to her location, his heart clenched. Y/n had grown so much since he had last seen her, she had grown into herself and looked alot like Pascale now.

Charles climbed out of his car, walking over to her and collided her into a bone crushing hug. "Oh chérie, je suis vraiment désolé..." Oh darling, I'm so sorry

Tears soaked his shoulder, the whole chaos of the day and reuniting with her older brother weighing down on Y/n had finally toppled off completely.

She couldn't speak, just hung onto him. That long time spent away from her family catching up to her. "It's okay...it's okay..." Charles whispered in her ear.

-

[sourbinnie]

☆ wish i could forget.mp3 ☆ [hit me where it hurts pt.2]

/ the sad ending /

♡ genre ¿? ♡ -> double the angst ♡ pair ¿? ♡ -> ot8!skz x gn!reader ♡ plot ¿? ♡ -> words that left scars on you are not easy to forget. ♡ warnings ¿? ♡ -> cursing ; arguments ; no happy endings ♡ request ¿? ♡ -> yes!

first part -> hyung line | maknae line

a/n: so before you read, there’s gonna be a make up version of this reaction. i decided to get the sad one out first because it’s the one i could write rn :] but seriously i am overwhelmed by the support and the love that i have received. i gained so many followers and likes/reblogs that it’s insane to me. thank you all for everything and enjoy the heartbreak! unless you wanna wait for the happier version.

chan ✉

as chan took every step to your shared apartment, everything felt like it was crumbling apart. he couldn't sleep, he felt like he was suffocating in the dorms so he spent most of the night at the studio. exactly the opposite of what you would've wanted and that led him to think the worst of the worst. he knew he had messed up big time, he knew you were only trying to help him and this is how he repays you?

putting the key in the lock, he felt dread in his heart as he walked in. everything looked too perfect, like you weren't even there but as soon as his eyes stopped looking around, he saw you. you were standing there, bloodshot eyes as you finished... packing.

"please don't tell me this is what i think it is." he said and you just looked at him. a sad look in your eyes, as he tried to process everything that was happening and what he was gonna say but nothing was coming out. oh god, he was panicking, he did not want you to leave. "please (y/n) i'll do anything." 

"i made my decision. i would rather not be here if i'm not wanted and if i am gonna be treated like this. i'm sorry but there's nothing you can do that's gonna make me stay." you said and if he didn't feel broken and obsolete before, he was feeling pure numbness now. 

"we can work this out. this was a one time thing!" he said and this time oh did the tears fall from his eyes.

"it's not the first time chris and i think it's not gonna be the last time either." you said picking up your suitcase and heading towards the front door as chan looked in horror at the scene unfolding. "i'm sorry it had to end this way."

"i should be saying sorry, i fucked everything up." he said clearly and you just got close to him again, pressing a kiss to his wet cheek and wiping away the tears. 

"you'll be okay." no, no he definitely wouldn't be as he watched you leave from the apartment you two shared so many memories with and now they're gone. taken from him just like the power in him to stand up, as his legs gave out and the knot in his throat got tighter.

minho ✉

another award and you weren't there. this time for a good reason though and he still couldn't process his words, the ones he spoke with such cruelty and the instant regret that hit him when he would try to call you and would lead to voicemail. when he got off stage and the first thing he did was check his phone to see no messages, he felt like crying right then and there. he was not one to cry at all but since the fight, he felt like he could feel the tears coming in at any minute.

he knew the boys were all still confused about what happened and wondering why you didn't show up anymore. he didn't know how to explain that he was the one who messed up. he felt such disappointment in himself and carried it everywhere with him, he just couldn't function without you. 

he checked his phone again, texting one more time but this time they wouldn't send. no, that could not mean what he thought it meant right? that's not what he's thinking. he decided to leave without explanation and not care about his image or the professionalism of it all, he just wanted to see you and talk. as soon as he found himself in front of your door, he knocked and waited for you to come out. as soon as he saw you in front of him, no words were coming out of his mouth.

"minho? what do you want? i already left your things at the dorms." he didn't even have time to check that and it felt like everything was suddenly drifting away from him. "i know i didn't say anything but i think the things you said were enough for this to happen right?".

"i can't leave you (y/n), i know i fucked up immensely and that you don't want anything to do with me but please i'm asking for another chance." he said and felt his world crumbling when he saw you shake your head. 

"i wish i could forget what you said but i don't think i ever will. maybe it's stupid of me to do this and i will regret it later but right now? it feels like the right choice, goodbye minho." you said as you closed the door and left his figure standing there. 

changbin ✉

chan and jisung decided to go with him to the dorms as they were still trying to figure out what happened. they knew changbin didn't have the biggest temper but they never saw him get mad at you. he eventually said what happened exactly and he could sense the disappointment in his bandmates as he explained it but they were still there to support him through it all. even with that, he felt completely lost and heartbroken, he couldn't seem to forget the look in your eyes.

he decided to try and call you, maybe you had calmed down by that point. maybe you were ready to yell at him for what happened. maybe you wouldn't pick up at all and this would be the way you two drifted apart.

luckily you picked up but not so luckily he would have to hear some heartbreaking words.

"hey bin. i know what you're gonna say and i'm gonna say it before you. i don't think i can forgive you for what you said and i think it's better if we go our separate ways. like you said i get in your way too much and maybe someone else would be better for you." before he could answer, you were hanging up and leaving him absolutely speechless. he didn't even sense the tears coming out of his eyes as he tried to dial your number again and call you but it looked like you turned off your phone.

the fact that he made you feel like this, was gonna haunt him. he wanted to go to your apartment so bad but he found himself like he couldn’t move as he wiped the tears but they did not seem to stop. the part where you said he should be with someone else when all he could think, dream and feel was you. all he wanted was you and yet a part of him knew that after what happened you deserved better.

he sat down eventually and waited for someone to push him out of that state he was in. thankfully felix was there with him as he had no words but at least he held him as he still repeated your words in his mind.

"there's no one better than them lix. there's literally no one." he said as his friend tried to console him but there was no cure for a broken heart.

hyunjin ✉

as much as he insisted he was fine, he was far from it. he didn't know what he was doing most of the time as he expected for you to walk in. he wanted to see you so badly yet he was scared and as the days passed he was sure that this was the end unfortunately. he was tired of waiting so he headed to your work one day, being done with going back and forth and in circles around this fight. he didn't know what he was gonna say as he waited outside but he surely did know that he had to do something before it all fell apart.

"hyunjin? what are you doing here?" you asked and he could already sense by the tone of your voice, you did not want to see him.

"i wanted to talk to you, about what happened and about us." he said and you crossed your arms 'cause the last thing you wanted to do was to fight again with him outside of your work. "listen, i know i should've called you or showed up earlier but-."

"but you didn't and now it's too late. i really don't wanna hear it." you said as you headed towards the opposite direction but he grabbed your wrist before you could walk away. "let go, seriously what the hell hyunjin? you hurt me and then leave me all alone, expecting for me to hear you out?"

"i don't know why i didn't contact you okay? i was a fucking idiot. but please i'm here now and i want to fix things, it's been hell without you." he says honestly and raising his voice. he wasn't mad, he was just frustrated and tired of the fighting but this time he knew he deserved to go through this 'cause what you went through was worse. 

"well i don't want to. i'm done with you and i don't want to see you ever again." he let go then and felt a lonely tear fall from his eye. you went away, far from him and the pain he brought. you didn't want anything to do with him anymore and he knew this would be the last time he saw you so he stood there as he watched you. walk away from him and his life forever.

jisung ✉

you in fact did not come back to jisung. it's been so long without you, he started to forget what being with you was like. every love song turned into a sad heartbreak song in the lyrics he wrote, every step he took was in direction towards your apartment but he couldn't go back there. he felt so alone and broken, how could he be so careless? how could he say that stuff to you? those words kept repeating in his head over and over.

you were never too much and you definitely didn't make his life difficult. you made everything so much better, right now it just felt like it was all crumbling.

"jisung? i'm sorry, i was just packing my stuff." he didn't even know how he got here, he must've confused himself again and thought he was going to the dorms. but here you were standing in front of him with boxes upon boxes of stuff that you had packed. you didn't take the photos or the presents that he gave you and that left a sour taste in his mouth.

"it's okay, it's not like i come here anyways." he said and that left you confused but then you realized that yeah it was hard to walk in here. too many memories that blinded you and saddened the atmosphere. "can we talk?" he asked and you didn't know what there was to talk about.

"i think it's better if we don't. before we say things we regret again." you said and that was a dagger to jisung's heart. of course you were still mad, what was he thinking? that you were gonna give him a second chance? that everything was gonna be alright?

"i will always be sorry (y/n), please know that." he said and you nodded, not believing a word he said. he sighed as he left the apartment, hoping to never come back. he wouldn't see you in it again so what was the point right? no more future that held you two, it was just him on his own again. and that was worse than anything he had ever felt.

felix ✉

he was already calling you as soon as chan got home from dropping you off. he didn't know what came over him when he pronounced those words but he was surely gonna make things up even if it took him everything. he knew you needed distance right now but he needed to know how you were (and guess who's clingy now?). 

"baby, listen i know you don't want to talk to me right now but please i hope you know that i didn't mean a thing i said. i was just in a bad mood but it's not an excuse for what i said and-." he knew he was gonna get cut off, he was just rambling but everything that you said cut through him.

"so that's what you came up with? listen i don't know what gives you the right to use an insecurity of mine against me but i'm not gonna tolerate it. it was a low point for me that you did that and i don't think i'm gonna be able to move on past it especially after i told you that those kinds of comments still hurt." you said clearly, there was no sadness or anger in your voice. it was just plain and simple what you said yet felix felt like falling apart right then and there.

"i know love and i'm deeply sorry. i won't insist on it but please if you reconsider, call me? i know i shouldn't have messed with that. i truly do love you forever and ever." he said but you did not want to hear it so you hanged up and left him right there, with no more words coming out of his mouth. chan who witnessed the whole scene and expected you two to make up but it looked like it was from reality.

"lix, i'm so sorry." he said as to which the other nodded and sighed. he didn't want to cry in front of his hyung but it was inevitable when the tears were just rolling freely through his cheeks. he was wrapped in chan's arms as he let go of what he feared the most and started to think how he was going to handle his life without you in it. 

seungmin ✉

ever since he said those things, everything changed. you two were still together but it was never the same, it felt like he was trying to compensate for the hurt of his words with material things, sweet words and dates. it was enough for him to realize that he was never gonna be able to completely make it up to you because he didn't know how to solve what his words did.

so when he saw you packing even if it hurt so fucking much, he had to let you go. he had to actually live with the reality that you were not be with him anymore, no more fake smiles or pretending to be fine. you weren't okay with him and it showed. 

"i'm sorry it had to be like this. i wish i never said those things to you and we both could be okay again." he said sadly and with a cloudy vision. it felt like all the air was taken from his lungs and like he was trapped in a room with no way out. 

"i wish i could forget them." you said calmly and gave him a little smile as you hugged him one last time. he held you tightly not wanting to let go because this moment would be one that he never forgot. it just pained him that he hurt you so deeply that it made you want to leave. it scarred him that he made so much damage that nothing could repair it even if it wasn't the best solution, he was still trying right?

"i love you (y/n)." there was no response, just your broken smile as you looked at him again and left. it finally broke him that there was no more, no more love, no more relationship and no more holding on. he didn't know what he was gonna do without you and picking up the pieces of what you had been was not the solution. he had to grow up and be better next time in his next relationship. yet he didn't see that happening, he just wanted you and will always want you.

jeongin ✉

did you talk later? no, he wasn't ready to have the conversation. you also weren't ready to confront him about his words. it felt like the perfect picture was ruined immediately when you heard him mutter his cold and harsh words. he felt like he did everything wrong, it was hard to get him out of his room because all he wanted was to close the door and never come out of it. he wanted to see you but everything was stopping him, he truly thought you deserved better this time.

when he finally saw you because you were the one who decided it was enough and you two needed to talk. he felt like falling right then and there in your arms where he belonged but he couldn't do that, at least not again.

"i'm sorry (y/n)." he said and looked at you for a response. he knew he should say more but he couldn't find the right phrasing of things to go with it so he just said the words that came out of his heart. "i should have never said that and i'm deeply sorry that i hurt you."

"i'm sorry for not being what you wanted innie. it's okay, i guess it was gonna happen. i hope you'll be okay after this and that you grow from it." ouch, you didn't know how much these words would be kept in his head like a mantra. he wanted to grow from it now, he wanted to be better right now for you and for you guys to be okay but this was more like a goodbye than a hello.

"please don't go." he said and you just kissed him to shut him up one last time. his hands met your cheeks as he deepened the kiss not wanting this to be your final one but knowing all too well that it was. you would stay there, standing in the living room looking at each other for a while to then let go and leave him stranded like you two just didn't share the most precious and hurtful kiss. it wasn't okay, none of it will be okay without you in his life and as much as he would want to move on, everything would bring him back here again.

[mattserenity]

“mom i’ve had no time! ive literally been working all fucking day i’ve had no time to relax, you think i’ve had the time to tidy my room?” i yelled, emotion surged within me as tears filled my eyes, me and my mom never argued, since the beginning me and my mom have been inseparable, i’ve always told her absolutely everything about my life, my struggles, my relationships and she did the same.

today it seemed we were both having a bad day, i had spent the entire day at my local cafe, working my ass off as a waitress to save up for my dream concert tickets at then end of the month. i only just got home and she was already nagging me about the mess in my room, so i just snapped.

i didn’t mean to, i never would ever disrespect my mom on purpose, i’ve never sworn at her or even shouted at her. she’s done everything for me my whole life and i had no reason to make her feel down. it’s her first time living too.

i stormed out of the kitchen, snatching my car keys from the side table and slipping on my uggs. ignoring the pouring rain, i dashed outside and climbed into my car, driving to the one place that felt like a second home.

the car ride felt endless, though it was only ten minutes. i pulled into the familiar driveway, unlocked the car door, and stepped carefully onto the wet ground. after a soft knock on the oak front door, a friendly face appeared moments later.

“hey, hey, hey, have you been crying sweet girl?’ matt's face fell as he took in my expression and the tear stains on my cheeks.

i couldn't find the words to respond to his simple question; instead, i broke down in tears and clung to matts welcoming figure, burying my face in his chest as he led me inside, closely the door softly behind me. he gently stroked my hair while i sniffled against him. he allowed me the time to gather myself before calmly asking what was wrong.

"i don’t even know what happened. one minute, i was sitting on the couch reading, and the next, i was screaming at my own mother! i feel awful, and i don't know what to do, matt," i said between choked sobs.

“shh, angel, it’s okay. everything’s going to be alright. i’m here. your mom is probably feeling just as you do right now, so don’t beat yourself up about it. neither of you meant what was said, and you’ll both forgive and forget by tomorrow. do you want to sleep here tonight, baby?” matt reassured me gently. i nodded into his chest and smiled up at him, my eyes bloodshot and my face flushed.

"i love you so much, never forget that. you can always come to me whenever something goes wrong, and i’ll be waiting with open arms, okay, pretty girl?" he tucked my hair behind my ears and pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

© mattserenity. please don’t repost, copy or steal my work without asking for permission or credits.

based off this request

[panandinpain0]

Could you write another Jasper Hale x ftm reader

Something angsty but it ends with fluff. For example: a bad dysphoria day?

YOU ARE DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB WITH YOUR STORIES!!!

Ruined

Honestly thank you so much for this <3

I've been really insecure about the quality of my writing lately so this makes me feel a lot better

Also, my current/longtime hyperfixation is showing (Star Wars)

@@@

Requested by: Anon

Jasper Hale x Trans!Male!Reader

---

God no, not today. Any day but today- (Y/N) could not be feeling like this on his one year anniversary with Jasper.

He knew Jasper wouldn't mind, he'd take good care of him until he was feeling better, or keep him company while he was feeling down. (Y/N) did the same for him if he was having a bad day or was feeling particularly insecure or guilty due to his past.

But Jasper had planned the most adorable picnic and (Y/N) knew he'd been spending a lot of time on his gift, but he wouldn't give away what it was. (Y/N) had made Jasper a quilt out of random materials, some bought from the fabric store and others being T-Shirts of their shared favorite band, or other things that meant a lot to them.

Everything had to be perfect, but as he brushed his teeth (Y/N) caught his reflection and knew it wasn't going to be.

Splashing his face with water, (Y/N) tried not to get visibly upset. Jasper could always tell how he was feeling, due to his powers, but also just from the way he looked. He tried to not be invasive with his powers, so he'd gotten good at being visually observant.

Taking in deep breaths, face dripping from the water, (Y/N) caught his reflection again.

And then he was crying.

Jasper was meant to be here any minute, and the second he got out of his car he would be able to hear the muffled sobs coming from the second floor bathroom- hell, maybe even sooner than that.

Not even a full minute had (Y/N) been crying before he heard gentle knocks on the bathroom door.

"(Y/N)? I let myself in, are you okay?" Jasper asked worriedly through the door. (Y/N) had given him a key to his house a couple of months ago- not that he needed one to get in, but as a symbol of his trust.

Sniffling and wiping under his eye, (Y/N) nodded, even if Jasper couldn't see him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." But his voice came out warbled, still thick with tears.

"Not to tell you how you feel, but you don't sound fine. Can I come in, so we can talk?"

(Y/N)'s breathing picked up again and he let out a quiet "yes"- so quiet that it wouldn't have been audible if not for Jasper's enhanced hearing.

Jasper crouched down in front of (Y/N)'s shaking form, hands coming to hold his upper arms gently.

"Hey, what's goin' on darlin'?" his accent came out thicker then it usually was, comforting (Y/N), who loved his accent.

"I fucked it up," (Y/N) cried to him, leaning forward to get closer to him. Jasper shifted to the wall next to (Y/N) and hugged him, running a soothing yet cold hand up and down his back.

"What did ya' fuck up?" he asked gently, rocking slowly to sooth the man next to him.

"Our anniversary. It was supposed to be perfect, but I-" he hiccupped- "I'm not feeling good about myself, and I-"

Jasper hummed comfortingly, still gently rocking from side to side.

"Honey, our anniversary isn't ruined, and definitely not by your doin'."

"But you planned all this stuff and our gifts-" (Y/N) stumbled out again, looking into Jasper's eyes with tears in his own.

"And all of that's grand, but any day with you is a perfect day, sweetheart. If our anniversary is spent right here on your bathroom floor while we work through how you're feeling, that's a perfect day in my eyes.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like seein' you upset." He wiped the tears from under (Y/N)'s eyes, that had slowly stopped flowing. "But if I get to hear you talk for hours I would never get tired of it." He cupped (Y/N)'s face.

(Y/N) let out a watery chuckle, his hands coming up to hold Jasper's wrists. "Are you sure? I was so excited for the picnic, but now I don't feel like leaving the house..."

"We have a lifetime to have a picnic, no use in forcing you to be uncomfortable when we could snuggle up in your bed and watch Star Wars?

As for the gifts, we don't have to be on a picnic to give them."

Jasper gently pulled (Y/N) up to stand, holding his hand as he led (Y/N) to his bed. A wrapped box sat on the blanket, seemingly tossed there in the panic to reassure his boyfriend.

"Open it." Jasper nodded to the package with his head.

Wiping some stray tears, (Y/N) sniffled and sat on the edge of the bed, unwrapping the box. Inside was a scrapbook.

(Y/N)'s eyes widened as he looked up at Jasper, who took a seat next to him on the bed.

"Is this what I think it is?" (Y/N) whispered with teary eyes, pulling out the book and opening it to the first page.

"If you think it's a scrapbook then yes," Jasper teased, putting his chin on (Y/N)'s shoulder as they went through it together.

Each page was covered in pictures of the two. Kissing, holding hands, their first date. They laughed at the memories and goofy pictures of them with their friends and family.

It was perfect.

When they reached the end there was a small handwritten note from Jasper.

"One year down, and hopefully many more to go,

Love you my sweet boy,

Jas."

(Y/N) laughed bashfully and turned his head to meet Jasper's lips with a kiss. Jasper's hand came to hold the back of (Y/N)'s head while (Y/N)'s hand cupped his jaw.

As they parted, they smiled at each other.

"This is amazing, Jas. Thank you so much," (Y/N) thanked his boyfriend genuinely.

"Anything for you, darlin'."

"Oh, I've got my gift too!" (Y/N) jumped up, placing his new favorite book in its spot on his bookshelf. Turning to his desk he reached under it and pulled out the folded quilt, a bow wrapped around it.

"You didn't," Jasper mumbled in amazement as he stood up and reached for the blanket. Taking off the bow and unfolding it, he laid it out on the bed and looked at each little detail.

"Do you like it?" (Y/N) asked hesitantly, second guessing everything.

"Do I like it?" Jasper repeated incredulously. "I love it!" He turned and swept (Y/N) into a hug, arms around his shoulders. (Y/N) laughed with relief and wrapped his arms around his waist.

They spent the rest of the day wrapped in Jasper's new quilt, having a Star Wars marathon.

And no, the day wasn't perfect.

But it was beautiful.

---

Yeehaw

-Author Max <3

[afdinonug]

What if Sarah Never Died?

What If Things Were Different - Chapter 1 - Airfried_DinoNug - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

What If Things Were Different - Request(open) - Wattpad

"The Last Of Us" one shot (Mix between video game and tv show)

August 2019

"Hey old man." Sarahs voice rang through the tiny living room. Sitting on the old grey recliner was her father, Joel. He had spots of grey seeping through his hair. His face, wrinkled from age and stress. Sarah was walking into the living room when she kicked the chair Joel was sitting on.

"I am not that old" Joel responded with a playful annoyance on his lips. Getting up he sat an old, wrinkled magazine that he had reread countless times, on the table. "I heard from Tess that a resistance group is making moves against FEDRA. You uh wouldn't know anything about that would you?" His eyes trained on Sarah, watching her every move.

"Now, why would I, an innocent 19-year-old girl, have anything to do with a resistance group?" She smirked while cutting an apple. Her involvement was no secret in their house. What Joel didn't know, was how involved Sarah actually was.

After a sigh Joel smirked, hidden behind his unkept beard. "I know your involved. I don't think I want to know how involved, but Sarah, I need you to be safe. You know just as well as I, what FEDRA does to resisters." Without communicating what Joel actually meant, Sarah understood. They hung people. To make a statement. Sarah broke the gaze they held. She looked at the warn wood floor. 

"I am being safe dad. Instead of worrying about me, how about you worry about Uncle Tommy and yourself. You two are out running "Errands" when everyone knows you guys are just mercenaries." Sarah runs her fingers through her curly black hair. "I have spent the past 5 years worrying about the both of you. Now I am doing something so you both can stop killing, stealing and doing deals." Sarah raised her voice. She didn't do it often so when Joel straightened his back and took a step back, it wasn't a surprise. Sarah looked at Joel. Her expression was of sullen disappointment. She left her apple slices on the table, turned on her heels and left their apartment. Joel leaned against the living room window and ran his fingers through his speckled hair. He thought to himself on how that conversation took such a major turn. He was ashamed of what Tommy, and he had to do, but they had to do those things to survive. To keep Sarah alive. He knew she wasn't the same 14-year-old girl, but she was still his daughter.

August 2033

Sarah wasn't at home as much, but neither was Joel. Joel and Sarah didn't talk much when they were both at their apartment. Sarah was off working on tasks for the resistance group known as The Fireflies. Joel, he was still running deals, not with Tommy but with Tess.  

Sarah, her black curly hair pulled back into a ponytail, walked into their apartment. It sits empty. Joel must be with Tess, Sarah thought to herself. She audibly scoffs.

"I am doing something to make an actual change, why can't he just see that." She doesn't understand why her father doesn't accept that she is a firefly. She has the key that they need to make a difference. She sits in the old, now torn grey recliner. She needs a runner and the only person she trusts is her father. She knows Joel won't do any business with the fireflies but maybe if she gave him the puppy dog eyes, she used as a child he just might do it. That or she will do the run herself. Its nearing nightfall, instead of waiting for her father to come home, she graps a water and heads to bed.

The front door barges open. Joel walks in, dirty, and sweating head to toe. His hair is now more grey than brown. "Why the hell can't Kirk just do that damn run on his own. We only get 30 rations from it. It's the same fucking run every month." Joel throws his backpack and sweat stained coat on the kitchen table.

"I don't know, maybe it's because he knows you couldn't care less about going outside FEDRA walls, or you know, getting hanged." Tess follows suit. She closes the front door checking to make sure they weren't followed by FEDRA guards. She steps behind Joel and wraps her arms around him. Joel lets his head hang down.

"I do care. I do all of this for you and Sarah." They never talked about what they were to each other, but Joel and Tess were something.

"She isn't 19 anymore Joel. Shes 33. She can handle herself more than you think." Tess had known Sarah since Joel and Sarah had arrived at the Boston quarantine zone 17 years ago. She knew about Sarahs involvement with the fireflies and how much of a fighter Sarah was. Sarah was just as hardheaded as her father. She loved that about them. So arrogant, so stubborn.

"She's right. I'm not a little girl anymore. I can hold my own." Sarah walked into the kitchen. She loved that her dad had Tess to look over him, even if he thought he was looking over Tess. 

Tess took a step back as Joel straightened up. "You're home?" Joel asked with a shakey voice. Seeing Sarah always brought Joel happiness. He remembered that night when the outbreak happened. The soldier pointing his gun at Sarah and him. Ready to shoot to kill. Joel pleading out for the soldier not to kill them, Sarah crying in his arms. Tommy had made it just in the nick of time to save them both. 

Sarah was worried about this conversation might go but it needed to happen. "Yes, but it's for business." Sarah watched as the little bit of happiness on Joels face melted away. "I need you both to help me with something, firefly related. I only trust you two."

"No." Joel was stern. 

"Maybe we should hear her out Joel." Tess was trying and Sarah appreciated that.

"I don't do business with fireflies. I'm sorry but no Sarah." Sarah knew this might happen. She had run this scenario in her head countless times.

"If you don't help me, I'll have to do the run with some idiots who might get me killed. Dad, this could change the course of history please. If it wasn't important i wouldn't have asked for your help." Sarah was worried if her father had still stuck with the same answer. She was hoping that pulling the life card had helped persuade him a little. 

"Don't. You don't get to pull that card Sarah." Joel had pushed back his tears. Sarah knows that was a cheap shot. But it was a cheap shot that worked. After a few moments of unbroken silence. Joel nodded his head. He looked up at Sarah, her light brown skin gleaming in the morning sun. "I need to know what it is we are running, and you, you're not coming along. Me and Tess do this alone."

"I can't tell you. At least not here, I have to show you. And that last part? Its nonnegotiable. I have to run this with you. I'm the only know that knows where to go." Sarah could see on her father's face that he understood. She motioned for Tess and Joel to follow her. 

They left their apartment and walked to the edge of the QC walls. They walked inside an old, abandoned hotel. Down a set of corridors and into a hallway. Outside a set of doors sat three men. they all looked to be Joels age. They unlocked the door and let Sarah, Tess and Joel inside. Inside sat a girl, who didn't look any other than 15, on a ratty, torn bed.

"So what? Are we running this girl? What is she? Some FEDRA leader's daughter?" Joel scoffed at the notion of smuggling a girl.

"Yes. Shes the "package", We need to get her west. Out to St. Louis." Sarah walked towards the girl sitting on the bed. "Are you okay Ellie?" Sarah handed her water and protein bar from her backpack. 

"Who the fuck is this dude? And you know what fuck you old man." Ellie stood up and flipped off Joel. Sarah and Tess had both snickered causing Joel to look at them.

"This is Ellie. She is important dad." She pleaded to Joel with her eyes. "Ellie, this is my father Joel and Tess." Sarah looked over at Ellie and winked. Ellie sat back down with her eyes still stuck on Joel. She quietly opened the protein bar and started eating. Sarah, Joel and Tess walked about out of the room and into the hallway.

"What is the deal, Sarah? Why are we smuggling a girl all the way to St. Louis?" Joel needed answers, he knew Sarah had them.

"Shes immune. She got bit 8 weeks ago, she was fucking around and left the QC. I got some Fireflies out there who think they can make a cure." Sarah knew from the moment it left her mouth that her father wouldn't believe her.

"Bullshit Sarah. No one survives getting infected." Joel barged back into the room where Ellie sits drinking her water. "Let me see it." Joel grabs Ellies water and throws it down. Ellie pulled up the sleeve on her right arm to show a fully healed bite mark. It is scarred. Joel takes a step back and looks at Sarah and Tess. "You're not lying. When do we need to leave?" Joel believes Sarah but is still skeptical. 

"Tonight, Less guards and less patrol." Sarah is relieved that her father and Tess are willing to help her.

The four of them leave the QC in the middle of the night to avoid any FEDRA guards. Ellie won't stop asking Joel questions about what Sarah was like before the outbreak. He sees so much of Sarah in Ellie.

"How did she become immune?" Tess asks Sarah hoping there may be others who are immune as well.

"We're not sure. We think she was just born immune." Sarah always wondered how Ellie become immune and hope the people at the lab in St. Louis can tell them. Sarah zones out while listening to Ellie talk to Joel. She hears Ellie asking Joel why people slept outside willing when they had homes. Sarah laughed, she never thought about how weird the world must be to someone born after the outbreak. While Ellie was making Tess, Joel and Sarah laugh, Ellie had unknowingly stepped on a fungus root. 

"Joel." Tess stops and looks at where Ellies foot had just landed. Joel and Sarah both turned around, their faces drop into despair.

"Run." Sarah yelled at the group. Sarah grabbed Ellie's arm in a hurry. As they are running, they hear a trembling coming from in front of them. They stop dead in their tracks. A small group of infected came up behind them. Ellie screamed. Sarah, Tess and Joel whipped around to stare face to face with the infected. Sarah lets go of Ellies hand to help her father and Tess fight off the small group of infected. Ellie had run inside the small cafe next to them. Sarah followed pursuit. She pushed Ellie towards the back looking for a rear entrance. Tess and Joel had both caught up with them.

"We need to go Sarah." Joel said out of breath. 

"I need you to take Ellie and run." Sarah lifted up her pant leg to show a scratch. Joel and Ellie started to tear up.

"I'm not leaving you!" Joel screamed angrily. He wasn't mad at Sarah, but mad he agreed to let Sarah come along. While he was trying to open the door in the back of the store, Tess put her hand on his shoulder.

"Joel, you have to go, now." Tess said with her soft voice. Joel already knew what that meant. He didn't want to turn around, but he needed to see it for himself. Tess pulled the shirt off her shoulder to reveal a bite taken out of it. Joel let the tears fall onto his cheeks. He couldn't lose anyone. 

"Take Ellie. If she's the last chance we have, you need to keep her safe." Sarah was crying now. The trembling had grown louder, they had 30 seconds at best. She pulled out the grenade she had, and Tess did the same. Sarah pushed Ellie and Joel out the door. "I love you, old man." Sarah said before shutting the door. Joel was stuck in place. Ellie had to throw herself at Joel to get him moving. They ran for what felt like forever. Ellie tripped on a log that had become rotten, causing Joel to stop and pull her up. 

Joel heard the screams from the horde of infected. He turned just in time to see the grenade blasts. It threw Joel and Ellie backwards. Joel hit his head on a rock and passed out.

May 2035

"Joel, wake up. Joel!" Ellie yelled at Joel. Joels eyes fluttered open. "You were mumbling her name in your sleep again." 

It was just a dream. How can you live an entire life in 8 hours, just for it to be a damn dream? Joel hates those dreams. The ones where Sarah never died, ones where the outbreak never happened. If only there was a way to go back in time and redo it all.

The End

[romanoffsbish]

Labor Pains

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Wanda Maximoff x Sibling!Reader

TW: Blood, Pregnancy/Labor complications, Slight angst but relatively fluffy.

Requested by @kloy344 ,thank you for your request, I truly hope it was what you’d wanted.

Ever since you'd become pregnant, your powers had been all over the place as your hormones clearly had their influence upon them. Something as simple as the impending rain had the potential to make you burst into tears, as if you were meant to be empathetic to the precipitation.

———

When you were to bid your sister and wife goodbye this morning, you'd actually begged them not to go. Your gut was telling you today would come at a high cost. They'd simply waved you off, as they knew your powers had been playing games on you as of late. They told you that it was a simple information extraction, they promised to have each others sixes, and kissed your cheeks as they'd left.

The only thing that information really did was to leave you worried for what might be coming your way. You weren't due for another three weeks, so they really were eager to go, as this was going to be their last mission for awhile. You'd been slightly envious at first honestly, as being pregnant left you benched, but you were more than excited for motherhood so it became easier over time.

As your morning progressed, and the afternoon approached, the feeling hadn't subsided, then a blinding pain hit in your abdomen, briefly crashing over you all at once. Realization washed over you, and you just knew something was wrong internally.

You wobbled to the medbay in search of literally anyone, and to your relief Cho had been in. As soon as she saw you, she'd smiled your way, and then it dropped when she saw your face. You'd touched your belly and a terrifying image had flashed through your mind. All you could see was blood, a deep crimson hue completely flooded your mind, you heeded the warning and cried out in fear.

"Help me..."

She was at your side in the blink of an eye, before settling you in a wheelchair, and loading you into a car to take you to the hospital. Fortunately for you they knew her there, so there was no questions of your sanity, or brushing you off as if you were just a panicked mom who spent too much time on WebMD.

—

As Natasha and Wanda navigated the hallways, it had been going rather smoothly. Until Natasha accidentally stubbed her toe, and nearly toppled over, and Wanda couldn't help but to laugh.

"I've seen you get shot and barely flinch, but a toe to the wall nearly takes you out? Y/N clearly did have a reason to be worried." Wanda muses, as she walks a few paces ahead, laughing maniacally.

"No, she should be worried that your laughter will get us caught, pipe down." Natasha growls, as she speeds by her and into the control room.

Comfortable silence falls over the best friends, as Natasha gets to work, while Wanda stands guard against the empty halls. Several minutes had gone by, as Natasha had began crumpling paper, and shooting it into various bins across the room, tapping random keys whenever necessary. Wanda had watched in amusement, wondering how her level headed sister had ended up marrying such a child.

Suddenly though, her stomach flipped and her stance became rather stiffened. Initially she thought someone had been approaching, but the building was still apparently cleared, as she sensed only Natasha, herself, and the team waiting for them.

"Something's wrong Nat." Wanda suddenly states, as her stomach starts to intensely flutter, almost painfully so, and her mind was then jumbled with thoughts of you.

"Wanda, the missions going just fine." Natasha laughs out, as she continues to hack into the Hydra systems.

"No, Nat.. Something is wrong with Y/N, I can feel it, we need to get back to her, like now..." Wanda groans, as she feels a sudden, sharp pain, and grips at her stomach, the sensation nearly brings her to her knees.

Natasha's body was sent into a frenzy, as she typed that much faster, and yanked the drive from the machine as soon as the beep registered in her ears. She remembers all too well how Wanda knew Pietro was down before it was ever said aloud. Her painful sobs were heard across the entirety of Sokovia, so she has no doubt that Wanda's feelings are justified.

—

They had hooked you to every machine possible, before giving you an ultrasound, and you'd watched as their faces contorted into something unreadable. Then they began to run around you without speaking, but you could tell they were prepping you for something.

"What's going on?" You ask in a panicked tone, and a nurse stops to place her hands on your shoulders.

"Stay calm, but we're rushing to prep you for an emergency caesarean, there's a tear, and it's breeching dangerous for both you and the fetus."

As soon as she'd finished speaking, your abdomen tightened, and a blood curdling scream tumbled passed your lips. Your mind had gone fuzzy as they rushed to wheel you down the hall, and you'd shortly passed out from the immense pain.

You slowly came to again in an operating room, to the sound of weakened crying, and a weak smile painted your face at the sound of your baby's subtle wails.

"She's hemorrhaging!" You vaguely heard the doctor shout from above you, along with the intense beeping of your attached vitals monitors.

"We'll have to perform an emergency hysterectomy if we wish to also keep the mother alive."

Panic flooded your mind, as all you wanted was to be a mother, and allow Nat the same luxury. Now, your body nearly killed your daughter, and has taken away any future of more children—you'd seemingly failed everyone you loved.

"It's a good thing she made it when she did, or she would've lost the baby too." You heard, as a  bitter tear ran down your cheek, before you'd faded out once more.

—

The rest of the team anxiously sat in the quinjet, waiting for the redheads to re-emerge, before being able to break the startling news they'd just received from Dr. Cho. As soon as they saw them making their way to the jet, Steve jolted up to meet them at the door, causing Natasha's anxiety to increase.

"What's going on?" Natasha coldly asks, as she sees Steve's poker face fall into a terrified expression.

"Y/N felt like something was off, so she went to find help, and then everything went south. Luckily, Helen was there and rushed her to the hospital. Now we're just waiting for news..."

"You knew and didn't tell us?!" She seethed, as she stepped towards the super soldier with her widow bites at the ready.

"The mission had to come first." Steve firmly states, and Natasha punches him squarely in the face, then Wanda throws him across the jet with her powers.

"Fuck you, and your missions! We're taking about my sister! She was left all alone, and probably afraid." Wanda screams, as she crumples to the ground in immense pain, unaware of where yours ends, and hers begins.

She's about to be an auntie, the prospect of losing anything in that process was not something she'd ever prepared herself for.

"What are you guys waiting for?! Fly us to her!" Natasha shouts, as she moves to Wanda's side, and tries her best to soothe her through the pain, even though her hearts just as shattered.

Being a mom is a dream that she never thought would come to fruition after the Red Room, but between falling in love with you, and the advancements in science the outlandish dream became rather obtainable. Now, she wishes she'd never dreamed at all, because losing you would be nothing short of a nightmare...

Clint had the jet in the air within an instant, and flew it with maximum efficiency to get the distraught women to you as fast as possible.

The closer they got, the less pain Wanda felt, which had actually terrified her beyond belief.

"Nat, I-I can't feel her..."She whimpers, as she leans further into her for comfort.

"Shh... Don't think like that, Y/N's too stubborn to die, she wouldn't leave us, they probably just have her sedated..." Natasha deflects the potential of anything else, as she does her best to keep her composure.

Clint landed the jet in a field nearby, dropping the door open, which Natasha and Wanda sprinted out of immediately and ran straight towards the hospital.

"Natasha! Over here." Yelena shouts, as she'd come straight to the hospital at her sisters request.

"Listen, Yelena Jr is in the NICU, and Y/N's still in surgery."

"Surgery?? What happened?!"

"I don't really know..."

Helen Cho had just finished talking to the doctors, and made her way back to the group of frazzled women.

"Ladies, let's sit down."

"No.. Just say it." Natasha says through gritted teeth, as Yelena wraps an arm around her waist to keep her up.

"Well, Y/N suffered what is called a Uterine Rupture, and fortunately for her, she'd gotten here just in the knick of time. I'm going to assume that was her powers doing... Your daughter is in the NICU, being observed, and everything seems fine with her, but she'll likely be there for the rest of the week. As for Y/N, she's not doing as well. As soon as they'd removed the fetus, Y/N's uterus hemorrhaged and they had to make a rather controversial decision for her." Helen informed the women, eventually pausing to give the women a moment, as well as to take a drink of water. 

"What?! What did they do?!" Natasha asks in a panic.

"Well, in the choice of life or death, they'd had to perform an emergency hysterectomy..."

"What does that mean?" Natasha asks, slowly losing her patience for this entire conversation.

"It means that Y/N's uterus posed too much of a threat, so it had to be removed..."

"Oh..." Natasha dejectedly mumbles, slowly moving her body to a chair in a corner, where she pulls her knees to her chest in a protective position.

Yelena and Wanda just stood there in shock, until the witch whispered out a universal concern.

"Did she make it?"

"It was touch and go for a bit, but she stabilized, and they were finishing her up when you all arrived. I'd say they'll allow you to see her in an hour, and one of you at a time is allowed to visit the baby..."

Natasha jumped to her feet, wiping away at the tears that had been freely flowing, and Cho got the hint and guided her to where she needed to be. The nurses then got her in proper PPE, then took her to meet her tiny darling.

“So far so good, she’s strong, just like her mother’s… She’s stable enough to be held, would you like to hold her?”

Natasha nodded, holding off on using her words, too afraid of the sobs likely to fall out. The nurse gently smiled at her, before removing the baby from her pod, and Natasha

“Your wife was rather fortunate in her arrival time, because your daughter here seems to not have suffered any obvious deficits. Her neurological check up went well, her reflexes work properly, and she’s rather observant for only being an hour old.” The nurse sweetly relays, in an obvious attempt to calm the frazzled redhead, but it’s of no use.

The nurse quickly picks up on that as she glides out of her personal space. She’ll only be truly calm, when she sees your perfectly alive face smiling up at her.

“Privet, Mila Alya Maximoff-Romanoff. I’m your mama….” She coos, as happy tears fall down her cheeks.

“Your mommy is currently in a bit of a bind, but she’s quite stubborn, so it’s nothing she won’t come out of.” She bitterly chuckles out, as your daughter’s wide eyes look up to her.

“You’re so beautiful, ideal'nyy angel mamy.” She coos, as she observes your daughter’s perfect features.

(Mama’s perfect angel)

It’s far too early to really determine who she’ll take after, but as of right now it seems that she’s got her mama’s nose, and fiery red hair, but Natasha’s internally groaning at the initial shade of her eyes. She knows she is screwed if your daughter ends up with your eyes, because telling her no will never become easy...

—

Wanda and Yelena were just informed that you’ve been situated in your room, and they all but sprinted off towards you. They shot off a text to Nat, then sat beside your bed, waiting for your eyes to open.

“Moya dorogoy, please open those beautiful eyes of yours…” Wanda whispers against your temple as she places a gentle kiss to your irritated skin.

After about an hour of waiting with no movement from you, Yelena had left to collect snacks, as she was rather ‘starving.’ Wanda paced around the room, floating her tendrils between her hands as a way to work through her anxieties.

“Sestra, slow down.” You croaked out, she squealed at your voice, and the tendrils bounced off the walls, until they threw a pillow across the room.

“Y/N… Thank God…” She sighed out, as she ran over to you, and rested her forehead to yours.

“I’m sorry…” You whimpered out, and her head pulled back so fast, as she glared down at you.

“Don’t you dare apologize… You told us something was wrong, and we waved you off. I’m proud of you for listening to your body, because I wouldn’t have survived losing you, or my gorgeous niece…” She sternly, yet softly relayed to you, as she firmly held onto your shoulders.

“I-I… I’m damaged goods, what if Natty resents me now that I can’t have anymore of her kids?”

“She would never… She’s not with you because of your incubation status Y/N/N. I’ve never in all my time been worried about her love for you, that women is irrevocably in this. I can’t tell you how much I had to hear about you over the years whenever you were gone. I’d have to remind her that we were sisters, because she could get rather specific at times.” Wanda immediately relays, shutting your fears down, and wincing as she remembers.

You giggled at her clear display of disgust, but then a sharp pain shut you up immediately.

“I promise you that the only thing on her mind right now is the happiness, and health of her girls.” Wanda concludes, with a kiss to your head, before she leaves to meet her niece, and make room for your wife to have the room.

—

Natasha rocked Mila to sleep, humming a calming tune, before placing her back in her pod. She watched her sleeping form, focused on the calming rise and fall of her chest, then she ran off towards your room as soon as Wands informed her you were up.

She took a few deep breaths before entering your room. Her heart instantly sank at the distant look in your eyes, it didn’t take her long to pinpoint the exact reason, as your hand was placed over your gown covered abdomen.

“Moya lyubov’…” She shakily whispered from the doorway, and you turned to face her, sending her your best smile in the hopes of reassuring her, but she saw right through it.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t take your worries seriously, detka…

“Nat, it’s okay… It wouldn’t have changed anything, you just would’ve had to bare witness to the horror show.

“I should’ve been here to do that! There’s no excuse, you were scared and we left you alone. If Cho hadn’t of been there in preparation for us going on our mission we might’ve not been so lucky… I promise I’m not leaving your side, no more missions, I’ll do desk work.”

“Natty, that’s not what you want, and I want you to be happy. Missions make you happy.” You gasp out, immediately interrupting her.

“No, they don’t, you and Mila do... Missions don’t keep me warm at night. They don’t kiss me so lovingly, that it feels like the very first time all over again. They don’t squeeze my finger in their tiny hands and look at me with innocent, hopeful eyes. Missions were at one point a necessary part of my life, I mean, they brought me to you. They no longer serve me, and that’s more than fine. I’ve done all I’m willing to do, I’d like to think I’ve earned this time to step back, and to just be in the moment with my girls.”

“You certainly have… I love you so much Natasha Alianovna Maximoff-Romanoff.” You whimper out, dramatically sighing out after the long winded name.

“And I you Y/N Y/M/N Maximoff-Romanoff.” She returns the sentiment with a slight chuckle, then leans down to place a sweet, firm kiss to your lips.

“She’s absolutely beautiful by the way.” She beams, as she ghosts her lips above yours, and pecks them once more for good measure.

Tears immediately fall from your eyes, as she gently moves her hands to cup at your cheeks, and stroke away each tear that attempts to fall.

“Oh, sweetheart…”

“I didn’t even get to see her, it was all so blinding… I just remember everyone running around me, then I was screaming in pain. Eventually I came to at the sound of her cry, but then I began to fade out again as my body reacted horribly to the procedure… She’s our tiny miracle Natty, I can’t give you anymore babies… I’m damaged… Is she going to be okay?”

“You’re not damaged my darling girl… You’ve given me everything! You somehow managed to make every single dream of mine come true, even the ones I’d sworn off, or the ones I discovered through you. I will love you just the same, I married you, not your womb. Mila is more than enough for us, and she’s strong just like her mama, the nurse even said so. If down the line we want more, there’s always adoption, or surrogacy. We still have all those frozen embryo’s in Tony’s freezer, he never lets me forget it.”

Her heart soared at the sight of your beaming smile, and she released a breath she hadn’t even been aware she’d been holding in.

“Give me an hour, and I guarantee you she’ll be in this room with us…” Natasha stated, with a wide smile, and a glint of determination in her eyes.

As soon as she left, Yelena entered with a wide array of snacks in her hands.

“Let’s play a game…”

Your quirked brow, and frown was enough to press her to go on.

“The game is, you watch me eat all your favorite snacks, and I’ll only stop when you agree to change her name to Yelena.”

“Belova…”

“Mmm… This oreo is delicious…”

“Why would you even want her to share a name with you? I’d expect you to be protective of your name, wanting it all to yourself. Her name is Mila Alya, which it will remain. We picked it because it means to be loved, and beautiful.” You groan out, rubbing your hands down your face in pure frustration.

“Mm… A pickle…”

“Belova, I swear to God, our sisters will destroy you if you don’t knock it off.”

“What? You hate pickles, that was me conceding…” She quips, whipping her head to the left as you throw your cup of ice at her head.

“Ha!” She laughs out, then moves off the corner of your bed, and to the couch.

Your eyes had closed shortly after Yelena’s taunting had come to a stop, and a wave of exhaustion consumed you.

—

“Detka, wake up… You have a visitor…” Nat’s gentle voice permeates your ears, as she gently caresses your cheek, and your eyes flutter open rather slowly.

“There she is…” She coos, as she stares down to you with loving eyes and a gentle smile.

Once your eyes had fully adjusted, you take notice of the bundle in your sisters arms, and your heart nearly stops.

“Sestra, meet your daughter…”

Once you see your daughters perfect, soft features, and notice her curious eyes staring back at you, every concern you had been harboring had left your body.

Everything was going to be okay…

—————————————————————

Taglist:

@beenicejoy @d14n4ol

3,404 Words

[ambermation]

hi, could i please rq a one-shot w curt connors? possibly some domestic fluff? feel free to play around w this request as much as you'd like tho :) thank you!

Hi anon! I'm assuming this is meant for Human Curt so that's who I wrote for :D If you want Lizard!Curt then just let me know! Also I hope this is domestic enough, I wasn't too sure if I was getting that right.

(I couldn't think of a title, so I went with something I thought sounded loving)

All I Need is You (Curt Connors x GN!Reader)

Summary: Curt doesn't have work, and neither do you. It's just a relaxing day off :)

Today was a lovely day. The sun was shining brightly, and the air was pleasantly warm. There wasn't a cloud in the sky for miles. The day promised that nothing bad could happen, and you and your husband were certainly enjoying it. Curt has spent the past few weeks consumed by his work, and while you weren't working nearly as much as he was, you were still busy with your job too. The two of you only really saw each other in the evening and early morning, little moments you cherished. Now, however, you two had the day off. For the first time in a while you could completely relax with Curt.

And Curt, despite being quite the workaholic, seems to be finally be tied of working so much, seeing as he hasn't even tried to do anything on the computer like he usually does on the weekend. Instead he was laying on the couch, trying his best to understand what was happening in the movie you two were watching. His left arm was wrapped around you.

"That is... not scientifically accurate whatsoever. How could they even think that to be remotely true?" Curt questions, eyebrows furrowed, head slightly forward to perhaps gain a better understanding somehow by being a centimeter closer to the TV. You just giggled. Shifting slightly, you peck a kiss onto his cheek.

"They probably thought it sounded cool, love."

More inaccuracy happens on screen. "I understand that, most movies do this, I know, but how could they be so far off from the truth?"

"Because they didn't care to do their research."

"Clearly," he said, rolling his eyes at the terrible explanation being given on screen. You could feel his annoyance bubbling up inside. You couldn't blame him. It wouldn't kill Hollywood to be scientifically accurate once and a while in their movies. Frankly even you were getting annoyed by this movie.

You planted another kiss on Curt before slipping out of his embrace. "Why don't we go out and get lunch? It'd be much better than finishing this movie," you suggest, already grabbing your wallet. Almost immediately after you said that the TV was turned off, Curt right beside you. You laughed. "Where do you wanna go, honey?" He asks, a relieved smile on his lips. "Anywhere is fine, really." You grab your car keys. Curt, being the gentleman he is, has the front door already open for you.

"After you, your Majesty," he winks as you walk by him. You laugh again. "Why thank you, my Lord." You stop and turn around to give Curt a sweet kiss on the lips.

You ended up picking where you'd eat for lunch, not that you really minded. It was some Italian place named Leo's. The inside hardly let in any natural light save for the windows near the entrance, the majority of the inside being warmly lit by light bulbs hanging high above you.

As you waited for your order Curt was ranting about the movie from earlier. Turns out he was truly angered by how incompetent the movie's scientists were, how inaccurate the science was, and how much misinformation was in the movie.

While Curt talked you found yourself admiring the way his hair moved, how his eyes lit up with such passion. His eyes were a beautiful sky blue, yet almost like an approaching storm. They were always pulling you in, trapping you in an awed trance whenever you found yourself staring into them. It's like being in a dream you never want to wake up from. A wide, goofy love-struck smile spreads across your face. God, this man was truly remarkable.

"Y/N? Are you listening?"

Suddenly you realized those gorgeous eyes you were staring at were filled with concern. You blush, not really remembering where you had stopped listening to him. "No," you mumble, sipping on your drink. Curt chuckles. His hand reaches across and gently rests on top of your free one. "I don't blame you. Frankly I wish I could forget all about that movie."

"I was just admiring you, Curt. I love it when you're passionate about, well, anything. You're quite handsome when you are." You lovingly squeeze his hand. He smirks at you. "Am I just as handsome when I'm not?" He teases, leaning closer. You lean in as well. "Of course," your voice is soft, almost a murmur, as you speak. "Always, my love."

Your lips meet in sweet, delicate kiss.

[resident-mercie]

Fluff 12 with Carlos, please

(or can we choose more? Then Leon, too, please. Thank you!)

#loveyourwork

wahhhh thank you so much!! of course you can request more than one character!! i hope i do these guys justice <33 ps! i'll make sure i get your second request done for tomorrow!! :D <33

Carlos Oliveira and Leon S. Kennedy Fluff One-Shots - A Happy Reunion.

Carlos Oliveira.

It had been a long few months without Carlos by your side. While you had been home alone, Carlos' job meant he was usually away from home, travelling the world and putting his life in danger to help prevent the spread of the seemingly more prevalent biohazard attacks. It wasn't his fault he was gone – he never really got a say in what missions he'd take, but the pit of anxiety in your stomach was particularly overwhelming whenever he left.

You'd spent most of the past few months working away at your part-time job, throwing yourself into your work to try and distract from the feeling of anxiety when he wasn't around. Other than that, you'd mostly binged watched some shows, and kept yourself occupied through the weekends by baking treats for the neighbors.

It was another slow Thursday, as you sat on the sofa, curled up in blankets. You held the TV remote in your hand, absent mindedly flicking through the TV channels. You wondered how long it would be until Carlos came home. It was a miracle to ever hear from him or his colleagues whilst they were out on the field, which mostly left you worrying about where he was.

Suddenly pulling you out of your gloomy thoughts, a harsh knock against the door permeated the atmosphere. Who on Earth was that at this time? Maybe a deliveryman? A neighbor who needed help?

"Who is it?" You called out, as you headed to the front door.

"Who do you think!" A familiar voice laughed from the other side of the door. "It's me, dummy! I forgot to take my key with me before I left!"

You couldn't help but laugh at Carlos' voice as you hastily turned the key to unlock the door, Carlos coming into view as you pulled the door handle down.

Carlos wore a large grin, tossing all his bags aside, wrapping his muscular arms around you. Even though he'd been gone for so long, Carlos was still the same old goofball, and you loved him for it.

"Man, feels good to hold you again." Carlos cooed, wrapping you in his embrace even tighter.

Leon S. Kennedy.

Your cell phone rang out with a buzz, interrupting your train of thought.

"Oh, hey Hunnigan." You accepted the call, holding the phone to your ear. Leon was due to return from a trip to the White House soon, and you were eagerly expecting some info about his return.

"I have good news for you." Hunnigan seemed to have a particularly happy tone in her voice. "Leon will be departing from the White House soon. However, he's asked for me to inform you of a, um, particular request."

"Oh, yeah?" You pulled a confused face to yourself, readjusting your grip on the cell phone. "What is it, Hunnigan? He's alright, yeah? Safe and everything?"

"Oh yes, he's all in one piece, not to worry. He's actually asked you to meet you at a small 'bed-and-breakfast' place near Washington. I'll forward you the details. Thank you for your time."

"Thanks, Hunnigan." You thanked her before ending the call, opening her subsequent message with details of Leon's location. Trust him to make a big gesture when he hadn't been gone for particularly long.

You packed a small bag with clothes, toiletries and other essentials, before lifting it into the trunk of your car. Setting up your navigator to direct you to Leon's safe haven of choice, all that was left was to hit the gas and find your way there.

When you did eventually arrive at the establishment, you were filled with joy. Leon had picked out a small cottage to stay in for a while, so the two of you could finally have some time in solitude before Leon was inevitably recruited into another mission. Knocking on the cottage door, you found Leon stood ready and waiting for your arrival, yet was taken aback by the fact you flung your arms around him in an embrace, placing a gentle kiss on your lips.

"Leon! It feels so good to hold you again!"

[technowoah]

Forever Was a Long Time Ago

Where you and Clay find yourselves caught up in someone elses lies.

- ANON REQUESTED!

- FEM READER!

Prompts!

4) "I never fucking wanted this/that!"

16) "Stop bringing it up"

⚠︎ toxic relationship, swearing, mentions of sex (?), and horrible writing. I didn't proofread either

It was hard to not talk to him, but that was your decision at the moment. You didnt even tell him what was the matter, and you refused to until you found out your real feelings about where you lie. Right now you were mad, fuming, of course you were refusing to talk to him because he dosen't talk to you.

The reason why the distance between you and Clay grew further and further apart was that a stupid tweet from this girl. He knew what he wae doing too, it was like him to do this behind the scenes. It was a tweet that showed him at a dinner table with another person other than you across the table from him. At least they had the decency to exclude his face from the frame, but the hands, and clothes were something you were all used to. The tweet continued on and on, and you believed every word.

He knew what he was doing. He did this often, because jealousy was a big thing in your relationship. You can admit it isnt all just him too, it was a possesive relationship. It wasn't healthy at all and you knew it. Your friends and family knew too, but you two always found yourself in his arms.

Clay liked to toy with you, but this was taking it too far. You ended up messaging the creator of the tweet and they said that everything was true and they went into extreme detail too. They even brought up screenshots of messages that you would deem fake. If it wasn't for your rage right, you would've debunked that right away.

Wallowing in your anger was a common thing for both of you in the relationship. The first time this happend was at a small party Clay invited you to. He ended up flirting and paying all of his attention to another person just to get you jealous. It started off innocent to make something more out of nothing, but became worse with time. You started to do the same to him and vice versa, it became a habit more than a thing to make eachother horny for a night.

The jealousy thing became more of a guilty pleasure, and the guilty pleasure became cheating. For you two it was okay because you two were going back to eachother, it was okay until now. Now a person was rubbing it in your face, usually it was a quick night without eachother, ignoring one another for a week and then getting back together until the cycle completes again.

It was emotionally tiring but you couldn't break out of it, maybe this was a sign to stop.

Today marks a week and a half with no contact with Clay. You had locked yourself up in your home today, you couldn't bother to do anything productive today. It was just one of those days, and it was a day where you wondered if Clay would text or call you. You shamelessly watched his livestreams, you missed his voice, his touch, his whole being. You wondered if his friends were saying the same stuff about you your friends were saying about him.

You were a puppet. You fell everytime his hands weren't pulling the strings and right now you wouldn't be under his control. You refused this time.

Speaking of the devil, your phone chimed signaling that you have received a message. You had opened it and it was one of many extremely vauge texts from Clay.

( Clay )

Im coming over now

[read]

Not bothering to text back, you continued to pay attention to something else. You were ready to confrony him and put an end to this.

It was a few minuted before you heard the lock on your door being unlocked and a voice calling for you.

"You home?!"

"In the living room!"

He reached the living room and sat in a smaller chair to your right. You two sat in silence until you worked up to courage to speak.

"Why are you here?" You asked him breaking the silence.

"Why did you let me in here?" Clay retorted.

"I mean, it's not like you just invited yourself in. You had to have something to say."

"Not necessarily, can I just visit my girl?" Clay leaned back into his seat.

"Yeah you can, but I wouldn't consider myself your girlfriend." You sat up and croseed your arms. Your phone was to your side waiting to show him the evidence.

"Really? What is this, the 5th time you've said that?" Clay rolled his eyes in response.

"You've done the same thing more time than I could count. You have no right to talk."

"I have absolutely every right." Clay smirked. He knew he was getting under your skin.

"So, Why did you go out with that girl?" You asked bluntly.

"Why wouldn't I? I mean it isnt a big deal we're here now."

"To me it is a big deal!"

"It never fucking was before when you were seeing another guy!" Clay yelled sitting up.

"I never fucking wanted this?! I never wanted to see you with a different guy, but here we are!"

"I didn't fucking start this whole cheating rabbit hole thing!" You flared your arms.

"What I saw was that you were talking with that girl for a while! It was months."

"What?!"

You had brought out your phone and pulled up the messages and extended your arm to give him your phone to read. He had taken the phone out of your hand with a confused face on his face. You waited while he scrolled through text messages while an emotion you couldn't read was on his face.

"Would you be mad if I said it was all true?" Clay had this look of caution on his face.

"YES! I fucking would!" You exclaimed in disbelief.

"I still dont know why?"

You stood up wanting to let off some steam. "This is what we do! Dont you see?! We keep going in circles. I go out with a man, and you get mad. You go out with a girl and I get mad, we come back together, but a whole month?!"

"Does it matter?!" Clay stood up too.

"Yes!"

"Remember when-"

"No! We're talking about YOU right now and how this little fling started a month ago. If you loved her that much stay!"

"Remember when you spent two nights over that boys house and-"

"Stop bringing it up!" You interrupted him.

"Then you stop trying to act like you're a saint!"

Pausing for a moment you wanted to get out of this situation. Clearly this argument wasn't getting anywhere or heading to the right place, your body temperature was hot, you needed to clear your head.

You tried walking away, but Clay held you there. "I dont "love" her I never-!"

"You stayed consistent with her more than me!"

"Stop acting like you're such a angel! Acting like you haven't dont the same too!"

"Not for that long! Get that through your head!" You tried walking away again, but he had a grip on you wrist.

You glared at him, staring right into his eyes, his grip getting slightly tighter wanting to make you stay.

"Let me go."

He froze at that and stood still. After sll this time of you two being together, you have never said those words. They had multiple meanings at this moments. One being "let me go physically" and the other being "let me go so I can move on." You had meant both.

"You mean it?"

"What do you think I mean?" You asked, his grip on your wrist stayed there as you awaited his answer.

He paused for a moment and then he started to speak. "You want to leave this relationship. That's what I believe."

"Well. You are right. Clay I'm tired. You know that!"

His grip on your wrist loosened. He was giving you an opening to leave and you took it. You took that opening and when your hand left his you two were done with eachother. The confrontation was quick, it usually was like this, today you just wanted it to be over. You grabbed your keys and a coat from the coat rack needing some fresh air

"You need to leave my house by the time I get back. Okay?" You turned around to see Clay in the same spot you left him in. He nodded and you slipped on your shoes and left the house for the night.

The windows of your car were rolled down as you rode through the streets not having a destination in mind. It was clear to you, a weight lifted from your shoulders and a new opening was near, but you couldn't see it yet.

You could breathe now, nothing else mattered. You had stopped at a red light and you phone continued to light up. There was not that many drivers on the road at this hour, so you opened the phone to a string of messages.

( Clay )

She lied

I was trying to tell you, but you lashed out, but I understand

I'll focus on you I promise. I wont break promises anymore.

Come back

[read]

You sighed looking at the messages and a wave of guilt washed over you. You had found a place to turn your car around and drive back to your house where he was waiting for you against your wishes.

The circle was completed once more.

[let-them-read-fics]

Blackpink HC / One Shots: Enemies to Lovers, College AU (2/2)

Requested: Yes

Warnings / Misc. -- Bickering, Rivalry, Fluff

A/N: Hey everyone! This is the second half of the request, featuring Rosé and Lisa. If you want to see the first part, with Jisoo and Jennie, click the link below. I hope you enjoy!

Click for Jisoo and Jennie

♡ Happy Reading ♡

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Rosé

Park Chaeyoung: The girl who hung with the wrong crowd.

Your problem lied more so with the people she associated with than her herself. You couldn't wrap your head around why such a kind person like her would spend time with the class clowns and bullies, and to make matters worse, she would stick up for them as well.

She spent most of her days in either the art or music room, creating the masterpieces that her brain came up with.

But as soon as school was over, she'd be hanging out with them again and getting into trouble. For instance, because of her talents, they would invite her to go with them and graffiti various hot spots around town. She never vandalized any monuments or landmarks of importance -- she typically stuck to bridges or abandoned buildings -- but after getting caught with them multiple times, it was inevitable for her to be held accountable.

She was given a week's detention to make up for her actions

You, coincidentally, had a teacher that absolutely loathed you for no reason at all. No matter how good of a student you were for him, he didn't care; he had a vendetta against you for some reason, and he patiently waited for the opportunity to ruin your day.

You came in literally 10 seconds after the bell rang, putting the breakfast sandwich you stopped to get on the way into your mouth so you could open the door. He was standing at the front with a smug grin on his face, and you already knew what was coming.

You were also given an ungodly sentence of a week's detention.

Turning Point

"If I see you on your phones, I'm taking them." The monitor informs before sitting at the desk, reclining in the chair and putting his feet up soon after. You sigh and lean back in your seat, attempting to find a way to pass the next two hours without getting in trouble. Your eyes scan across the room, eventually landing on Rosé, where she sits a couple rows away from you. Sunlight is streaming in through the window next to her, its golden rays peeking through the breaks in the clouds above to shine on her. She looks gorgeous as she doodles away in her notebook, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear when it falls in front of her face.

After waiting on the monitor to fall asleep and sending one last glance to double check, you quietly stand from your seat and go sit next to her.

You barely know each other, but she's your only hope of remaining sane and occupied.

"Hi," you greet, looking into her eyes.

"Hi," she copies, a tiny smile forming on her lips when she notices your impressed expression upon gazing down at her paper. You have to hand it to her -- she's really talented.

"You're really good," you compliment, still admiring the artistry. Seeing as how you're looking down, you fail to notice the blush that works its way to her cheeks. Coming from you, the simple remark meant a lot to her.

You spend the rest of the day making small talk and getting used to one another, leaving detention later with the hopes of sitting together again.

----

The Next Day

"Hi again," you whisper, glancing over your shoulder to ensure that the coast is clear. The monitor is out like a light, with his mouth hanging open and an obnoxiously loud snore coming out.

"Hi," she giggles, watching as you dive into the floor for cover when the man shifts in his sleep. You thought he was waking up, and if he finds out you moved seats, he'll definitely have something to say about it.

"The coast is clear, cadet," she nods like a soldier, assuring you that it's okay to move back after a minute.

"That was close," you breathe out in relief, glad to live to see another day.

You share a laugh, though it has to be hidden behind your hands and kept a minimum. It's cute though -- like a little secret between the two of you, only for you to know.

"What're you drawing today?" You ask later, laying your chin in your palm as you gaze down at her work. Her reply comes out stuttered at first when she feels your leg innocently brush against hers under the table.

"D-dalgom. My friend's dog." She manages out, mentally smacking herself for looking like a fool.

You smile, thinking she's adorable. "I bet it'll be great," you encourage. She grins back as her eyes scan over your face, committing the memory of you to heart. She's always had a thing for you, ever since the time you were paired up in Biology last semester, so she's been enjoying detention more than she thought she would. Seeing you makes the time go by faster, though ironically, she wishes it would slow down a bit.

You make her feel appreciated for more than just what she's capable of producing, and the divide between you and her friend group is blaringly obvious. They like her because of the rush she can help them achieve; you like her because of her.

That thought persists in her mind for the rest of detention, and before she knows it, the monitor is releasing you again. She bends down to put her notebook in her bag when a thought pops into her mind: she wants to ask if you want to go to the park with her. When she's done zipping her bag up, she looks back up at you, only to find you on your phone, talking to someone.

"Yeah, mom. I'll stop by on the way home. So milk, cereal, ramen, and paper towels, right?"

She watches as you wait for a reply, tucking the phone into the crook of your neck as you move to write the list down on a spare piece of paper.

"Alright, love you, too. See you later." You hang up before looking back at Rosie. She looks a little down, and you have no idea why.

You pause for a moment, silently psyching yourself up for what you're about to ask. "This is gonna sound really strange, but do you want to come with me to the store?"

Her heart's pace increases at that, happy to know that you want to spend more time with her, just as she does with you.

"Actually, yeah. That sounds like fun."

You grin at her before spinning around and doing a little celebratory dance, which wins you a strange look from the monitor. You stick your tongue out at him before grabbing her hand and rushing out of the room, hearing his disapproval shouted after you.

--

"Milk?"

"Check."

"Ramen?"

"Check."

"Cereal?"

"Nope."

You nod at her words, now reminded of what you were forgetting. You push the buggy towards the aisle of cereals, gazing around in wonder at the huge selection. Rosé is just the same, eyeing all of the options like a kid in a candy store. After grabbing your mom's favorite kind, you decide on one for yourself and bring it back to the cart. Rosie scoots her leg over, making room for them beside where she sits, reclined in the cart.

You grin when you see her eyeing a box of fruit loops. Huh; fruity. Go figure.

You wordlessly grab the box and hand it to her, feeling your heart melt when she looks up at you like you hold the key to the universe.

"Thank you, Y/N."

"No problem, Rosie." You say, putting your hands on the bar as you begin pushing the buggy again. "Now, I say we see how long it takes to get to the paper towel aisle. My last record was 30 seconds."

She looks at you, clearly impressed, with her eyebrows raised. Without question, she pulls her phone out and gets the stop watch feature ready to go.

"3...2...1... GO!" She shouts, commanding your legs to start pumping as you race down the long strip of store before you. A couple kids dart out of the way just before getting smacked into, quickly turning around and cheering you on as you charge forward.

Her giggles fill the air as you drift around a corner, shouting apologies to the lady you almost bumped into.

"Sorry ma'am!"

A few seconds later, chest heaving and legs sore, you come to a stop in the aisle, dramatically collapsing in a heap next to the buggy. Rosé checks her phone as she reaches down to poke you.

"22.18 seconds, champ," she declares victoriously, smiling when you magically regain enough energy to stand up and celebrate.

"Woohoo! Team Y/S/N (Your Ship Name) for the win!"

She laughs along at that, joining in on your celebration, but she's blushing like crazy on the inside.

-----

The Last Day Of Detention

Ever since your trip to the store, you and Rosé have grown closer and closer. You traded numbers and text occasionally, though nothing beats having her all to yourself for 2 hours straight with no distractions. She feels the same; when she's in class, she can't wait for the bell to ring and signal your reunion. Part of her wants to get in trouble again, just to see you more often.

So, as you'd expect, it's really no surprise that you're sat right in front of her again, telling jokes and asking about her day. You've grown a bit more bold with every step closer you've taken towards her heart, and now you reach down to intertwine your fingers with hers.

She happily accepts, even bringing your hand up to her lips to press a kiss to the back of it. She smiles against your skin after it, making butterflies take flight in your stomach. She's got you wrapped around her finger, and you don't even try to fight it anymore.

The sound of the classroom door opening alerts you, making her lower your hand. She doesn't let go of you, though, and that fact warms your heart for some reason. The squeaky hinges groan out again as the door opens wider, revealing about 4 or 5 people from the friend group that she hangs out with. They motion for her to sneak out with them, but she just shakes her head.

"Come on, Rosé!" They whisper-scream, offering her a way to freedom. Little do they know that she'd take this imprisonment over freedom any day, so long as you're by her side.

"No! Get out before he wakes up!" She whisper-shouts back, eventually convincing them to leave.

"Why didn't you go?" You ask once they're gone, toying with her fingers as your hands rest on the desk.

"Because I like spending time with you." She admits, letting her defenses down.

"I was hoping you'd say that," you smile, letting her know that you feel the same.

The Fallout

After detention, the two of you walked out of the school, hand in hand

"Would you maybe, I don't know... wanna go to the park with me?" She asks nervously, glancing up at you.

"You read my mind, Rosie." You smile at each other and head towards the parking lot.

You started hanging out more, and she distanced herself from her old crowd

You encouraged her to enroll in your school's art program and show her work that way

"You're really talented; it deserves to be seen."

Your support meant the world to her, and she never failed to let you know

"Thank you, Y/N. Having you behind me means the world to me."

At one of her art shows, where she was tasked with unveiling a new piece that she'd been working on for months, you got the biggest surprise of your life.

She created a mural of you, all decked out with every color of the rainbow, utterly gorgeous

She lit up when she saw your reaction

"This piece is titled 'Mine', which I hope the girl in it will soon be." She says into the microphone, looking at you with hope shining in her eyes.

You nod your head with a smile and walk up to her, pressing your lips to hers in a kiss that was long-overdue. She wraps her arms around your waist, pulling you in closer with her sweater-padded hands and kissing you again and again.

The crowd claps for you, happy to see such an ending.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Lisa

I couldn't choose between these two gifs so enjoy both for the price of one ^^^

Lisa Manoban: Cocky, smug, and self-assured. The dancer knew she was hot shit, and she wasn't afraid to show off.

You're all for people being confident and happy with themselves, especially when they're talented, but something about Lisa always seemed to rub you the wrong way.

Whether it be her lack of a filter or the arrogant swagger that she naturally exuded, you weren't sure. People wanted to either be her or be with her, but you fell into neither of those categories.

She always left you frustrated in one way or another, whether it be from her teasing or her witty comebacks

The teachers loved her, as did the students. She was the class clown, so her position was pretty sacred in the grand scheme of things

You, on the other hand, irritated her for other reasons. You were the only person she couldn't get to crack; you never gave into her charms, and it infuriated her to no end. She wasn't used to not getting what she wanted (as childish as that may seem) and having you, one of the most attractive girls at school, turn her down? Well that was a massive blow to her ego.

You weren't afraid to say your piece, and that both pleasantly surprised and upset her.

She constantly tried to flirt with you in class, but you knew it was all for the attention. She just wanted to make her friends laugh, which they always did.

"Y/N, come here babe. There's an empty seat next to me," she coos, batting her eyelashes as you walk in the door. It's a free day, so everyone is sitting with their friends, wherever they like.

"I'm good," you decline, deciding to sit against the wall beneath the large window of the classroom.

"Oooo, denied," Lisa's friends laugh at her this time, chuckling harder when she sticks her middle finger up at them.

"Yah, shut up," she says, nursing her bruised ego as she turns around and opens her phone.

You smile as you continue working on the homework you cracked open, scribbling an answer down onto the notebook paper in front of you. Your fingers glide over your textbook in search of the definition of the term you're on, and Lisa secretly watches from afar. Without realizing it, she grins when you light up upon spotting the answer.

Sometimes her flirting does work, though, and you turn into a blushing mess

*whistle* "Damn, Y/N. You're looking fine today," she exclaims, fanning herself. You worry that she doesn't really mean it, but when her eyes remain on you a second too long to just be friendly, you blush. She's taking in all of you, looking impressed all the while.

"Right back at you, Manoban." You wink, sitting down in your seat across the room. She lightly blushes back, though she does a good job of concealing it.

Considering you share a couple classes and the class sizes are relatively small, it was pretty likely that you'd end up paired together eventually

You weren't happy about it, especially not after the way she had acted that week. Her cockiness had been at an all time high as of late, leaving you frustrated and upset. She was so full of herself; all you wanted to do was wipe that stupid smirk off her face.

"Y/N, you'll be paired with Lisa," your photography teacher informs, pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose.

"But Mrs. Ta--"

"Pairings are final," she cocks her head at you, persuading you to give in. With a sigh, you respond, "Yes ma'am," and attempt to ignore the sound of Lisa's friends high fiving each other in celebration.

The Turning Point

"My parents are gone for the rest of the week..." she says, holding the door open for you as you carry in your equipment. A hint of suggestiveness lies in it; she's alluding to exactly what you think she is, and you push her shoulder upon realizing it.

"Knock it off, Manoban."

"Okay, okay," she chuckles, listening to you for once. The surprise is clear on your face.

She leads you towards the backyard, where you set up one of your highest power cameras and turn it on. You have to create a gallery of different photos, all under the same theme. You both agreed to do a time-lapse of the sunset, and take pictures of the stars after.

Once she makes sure that the timer is set correctly and that the auto shut-off feature is enabled, she motions for you to follow her back into the house. You do, and she leads you into the kitchen.

"Do you want a snack?"

"Sure, do you have any ramen?"

She nods, quickly busying herself by bending down and searching through the cabinets. After she finds it, exclaiming a pleased, "Aha!", she tells you to go get comfortable in the living room.

Three minutes later, from your place on the couch, you begin to smell something burning. You scramble up and rush to the kitchen, only to find Lisa running around like a headless chicken, attempting to put out the small fire she started.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO BURN RAMEN?" You shout, though your tone isn't angry. You're just very shocked, and loud about it. You push her away from the pot, albeit gently, and get the flames to go down relatively quickly. You turn the burners off and put the pot in the sink, leaning against the counter to recover from the adrenaline rush.

"Oops?" She asks more so that says, with a growing smile evident in her voice.

You shake your head and chuckle despite yourself, turning around to face her. "You can order a pizza now to make up for that." You point a finger at her, grinning stupidly when she presses the tip of hers to it.

"Your wish is my command, princess."

Thankfully you're already walking away as she says that, so she doesn't get the satisfaction of seeing you blush.

---

"Lisa, I can't keep going." You groan out, sweat dripping down your face. The pizza you ate earlier is giving you a stomache ache, paired with the physical activity you're doing.

"Y/N, just a little longer, we're almost there," she huffs out, keeping her movements steady somehow. You're a mess by now, so you don't understand how she's still going.

A couple minutes later, the TV in front of you lights up, saying, "Awesome moves! You win!" as you collapse to the ground in a heap.

Why you agreed to play Just Dance with her after eating is beyond you.

"Good job," she compliments, grabbing your hand to high five herself with it.

"Yeah, yeah," you roll over, catching your breath.

She lays down beside you as you recover, telling jokes to hear that laugh that she loves so much. She prefers yours over anyone elses, so it's always such a reward when she gets you to crack up.

"We should probably head up now," she notes, realizing that the stars will be coming out soon. You agree, and she carefully helps you up.

"Here, I'll carry you," she turns, bending down so you can get on her back.

"Lisa, you can't carry me," you brush off, feeling insecurity bubble up again like it always does when you're offered a piggyback ride.

"Y/N, I promise that I can. Trust me," she reassures, looking into your eyes sincerely.

"Alright," you sigh, standing onto the couch to get on easier.

"See?" She asks, sliding her warm hands up your thighs to keep you secured against her. "I've got you, babe."

You tuck your head into the space between her shoulder and neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her perfume.

"I'm gonna punch you if you drop me," you whisper, feeling her laugh against you.

"Fair enough."

-----

Later, On The Rooftop

"Careful," she instructs, outstretching a hand to help you climb out the window. Her camera hangs around her neck, and she takes the cap off of the lense once you're both safely sitting on the roof.

"Wow," you sigh, gazing up at the sky in wonder. Her house is far enough away from the city that you're rewarded with a gorgeous view of the stars, unburdened by the industrial fog that hangs over the cosmopolis.

"It's beautiful out here," you say, looking back at her. You tense up a bit, not expecting her to already be looking at you.

"Sorry," she laughs at herself, looking away once she gets caught admiring you.

"It's okay," you reach down and gently squeeze her hand, making her blush lightly.

"Let's get started," you conclude, pointing at the camera. She nods, knowing that she'd never get the assignment done if you didn't step in to tell her to (considering she'd rather admire you), and she points the device to the sky.

After snapping a few pictures, she lays back in order to get a better vantage point of one of the star systems. She hands it to you after she's satisfied with her work, and you take your turn with it.

She notices that you keep brushing your hair out of the way when it falls in your face, so she decides to help you.

"Here," she says, saddling up behind you. She gathers your hair up, running her fingers through it to neatly pull it up for you. Thankfully she always keeps a spare tie on her wrist.

"Thanks," you smile, snapping another picture. The simple act warms your heart; she's being selfless for once, and helping you without even being asked. It's a refreshing change of pace.

"You're welcome." She chirps, sitting back down beside you.

-----

Later, In Her Bedroom

"Oh, I really like that one!" She says excitedly, pointing at the TV. Her phone, which is connected via Bluetooth and automatically receives pictures of her choosing from the camera, is displaying some of your best shots.

"Yeah, you did really well with that. I think we might beat everyone else if we use that as our cover piece."

Your compliment makes her momentarily shy, and she quickly realizes how much she loves your praise.

The two of you continue like that, reviewing the different pictures and choosing your favorites. She always finds ways to compliment yours, noting your technique or the filter you used, and it always makes you smile. She's different than you're used to, and it's throwing you for a loop, pleasantly surprising.

---

Lisa steps out of the room to go to the bathroom a few minutes later, leaving her phone connected to the TV. A ding sounds out across the space, pulling your attention away from the stack of notes laid out before you. Your eyes dart up to the screen, reading the text message that appeared at the top of it.

Austin ⛓: "Dude, did you get into her pants yet? We're literally betting over here 😂"

You blink a few times as their words sink in, making your chest hurt. You were really beginning to believe that you had been wrong about Lisa; clearly, though, your instincts were right.

Feeling betrayed, you shove your folders back into your bag and stand from the chair, willing yourself not to cry. The sound of the sink turning on lets you know that she's almost done, so you hurry your movements and make your way towards the door. She steps out into the hall just as you exit her room, looking at you with wide eyes.

"Woah, woah, woah, what's going on?" She asks with furrowed brows, approaching you. One of her hands lands on your arm, and you shrug it off as you brush past her without another word.

"Y/N, did I do something wrong?" She asks from the top of her staircase, watching as you walk towards her foyer.

"Why don't you ask Austin?" You bitterly call over your shoulder as you turn the knob, slipping out the front door. She hangs her head upon registering your words, realizing what must've happened. She makes a mental note to give him hell when she sees him again.

Tears sting your eyes as you exit the house, wrapping your jacket tighter around yourself. You should've known something like this would happen. The chilly night air bites at your skin, stealing more of its warmth away with every step you take. The temperature doesn't change your mind, though; you're upset, and you'd rather freeze out here than be face to face with her right now.

"Y/N, wait!" She calls after you, blasting out the front foor. Her footfalls sound off behind you, announcing her rapid approach, but you don't turn around. Realizing this, she darts in front of you, keeping you from walking any further.

"Please, don't go. He's an idiot, Y/N."

"He might he an idiot, but that doesn't take away what he said," you scowl, clenching your jaw. "Betting? Really, Lisa?" You ask quietly, hurt evident in your voice.

"It was a stupid thing they tried to convince me to do. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop them from talking once you and I were paired up. That's not what I want, though. I'm not just in it for that."

"How am I supposed to believe that? This is your M.O., Lisa."

"It's different with you, I don't know why." That's a lie; she knows exactly why you're different than anyone else she's flirted with in the past.

You stand there before her, silently weighing your options. After seeing the pleading look in her eye, her dark orbs full of sincerity, you relent. "Just take me home. We'll work on it another day," you compromise, allowing her in just enough to take you home, but not enough to stay at her place any longer. You're still weary after a text like that, and you will be for a while.

"Thank you," she breaths a sigh of relief, clasping her hands behind herself as you begin walking back to her house. She notices you shiver on the way, and she slips her jacket off without hesitation to cover you. Neither of you have to say anything; one glance from you is enough for her, and she's content knowing you're warm.

The Fallout

From there on out she was always honest with you and actually spoke out when her friends tried to do something stupid

She still remained the charming class clown that she naturally is, just getting rid of the not-so-nice parts of herself

You slowly let her regain your trust, little by little

She did nice things for you on the daily, whether it be holding the door, carrying your books, or offering to buy you some lunch

"Morning, Y/N. Wanna grab some breakfast?" She asks, moving her head to the side towards the café at the center of campus.

"Sure," you smile, laughing when she celebrates.

She invites you to her dance perfomances

When she goes to championships, you're always first on her list of invites

"I want you there." She declares, handing you the flyer.

"You've got it," you decide, knowing there's no where you'd rather be. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

At said championship, she won the highest title and claimed victory for your school

You joined the rest of the team on the stage to celebrate, congratulating the solo dancer on her achievement.

"I'm so proud of you, Lis--"

She suddenly kisses you, clearly high off her win. She pulls back when she realizes what she just did, a worried look on her face.

"Shit, I'm sorry." She looks between your eyes, attempting to gauge your reaction.

"Get your ass back here," you order, feeling butterflies take flight when she eagerly presses her lips to yours again, wrapping her arms around you to spin you.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" She mumbles against your lips.

You squint, pretending to think about it. "Maybe... or maybe not."

Her subsequent gasp is quickly muffled by your kiss, which she can't seem to get enough of.

[valyntynamaro]

Let It Be - Damiano David (Teacher!AU)

In which your science teacher Damiano David makes you stay behind after class <3 (ps, this is an old brian may imagine I wrote for my friend, I tried to replace every mention of his name but if I left some I'm sorry, ignore it, or let me know and I'll fix it, thank you)

warnings: swearing, slight smut, teacher x student key: y/l/n - your last name wordcount: 3,593

REQUESTS OPEN

"and I told them, look, I'm not a rockstar-" The dark-haired gentleman stands tall at the front of the class recalling for the millionth time about the time he started a band, saying he was a teacher he never did a lot of teaching but that was just his style, Mr David never really cared too much for the curriculum so taught whatever he pleased. The class laughed at his anecdote like they did every time he told it, people would ask him to tell it deliberately to pass the time so they wouldn't have to learn anything, this annoyed you a little as you were there to you know- get an education, however, you couldn't help but notice how happy he seemed when he recalled the same tale, he seemed at peace in remembrance of his life before this school.

Looking over the room, not taking in what he was saying, your eyes landed on a vintage-looking red and black electric guitar that sat against the large blackboard at the front of the class, you oftentimes felt bad for Damiano, knowing he spent the best years of his life out on tour playing music that he loved with people he loved and for people who loved him and now he was restricted to attempting to teach physics to a group of barely awake teenagers every day of the week.

"were you like famous sir?" one kid who sat at the back of the class asked, clearly uninterested but wanting to keep him talking about anything but what he was supposed to be teaching, which by now even you couldn't remember what the lesson was actually about.

"Not really, we felt like we were like we were owned the world but...well, I'm here aren't I" Damiano let out a sad chuckle at his statement, full of regret and resentment, causing you to frown slightly, he seemed nice and you couldn't help but think that he hated working here and wished he was still in the band but as he'd said previously he was 'past it'- whatever that meant.

"Will you play us something?" someone else asks, you place your head on the desk knowing exactly where this was going, fed up for him that people kept asking no matter how many times he declined. Sometimes when you'd be wandering down the science corridor on your way to hand a piece of work into another teacher you could hear him strumming melodically on his guitar, he'd never plug it in but you could just about hear the twang of the metal through the fire doors.

"I don't play anymore, anyway so what were we talking about? oh yeah wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff" the class groan as he gets back to what he was speaking about before he went off on one about his better years. " People assume that time is a strict progression of point a to be, cause to effect. However, from a non-linear, Non-subjective point of view, it's more of a big ball of you know.... wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff" he explains hopelessly to the dead-eyed kids in the room, you appeared to be the only one noting anything he said down, apart from the last part.

" Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff?" you raise your hand and his mesmerising brown eyes landing on you where you sat centre back row.

"at a very very incredibly basic level, yes, but I guess I mean that time isn't really what people think it is it's more than just a series of events... its energy and could, with extremely intelligent almost alien technology could most likely be manipulated...but if I tried to explain the entire basis of time travel to you I'm sure your heads would explode" the class laugh, you roll your eyes at his lack of explanation.

"Not to be rude sir, but that is your job isn't it....to teach us" the class fell silent, everyone immediately stopped laughing, you heard sharp intakes of breath around the room. Damiano was usually a rather chill teacher, he was way more relaxed than a lot of other teachers at your school but no one would dare ever contradict him, it was unheard of.

"I'm sorry miss...." he stalks closer to your desk, his knuckles turning white from gripping on his pen so hard. you felt a little embarrassed as you noticed everyone's eyes on you.

"y/l/n" you gulped in reply, scared for what he might do to you, it was commonplace for teachers to punish their students when they spoke out of turn. "Miss y/l/n, do you have a problem with the way I teach my class?" he asks, finally stopping just before your desk, you look down at your feet and shake your head frantically. "I'm sorry I didn't quite get that" he leans in closer to you, raising your head to look at him your eyes meet and your body fills with fear, he wasn't necessarily a scary man overall but you found that he could be rather intimidating and dominating when threatened.

"No sir.." your voice comes out as nothing more than a squeak, he places his index finger under your chin forcing you to look directly in his eyes once you tried to lower your head in shame again. "louder." he sneers, your hands begin to shake forcing you to drop your pen to the floor. "I, I, uh i-I s-said" tears begin to form in your eyes, he notices and a sly smile forms on his handsome face. "LOUDER!" he barks, slamming his fist on the table making you jump in your chair. "No sir, I don't have a problem with the way you teach I'm sorry for speaking out of turn" he lets go of your chin and you immediately slump in your chair, a tear rolling down your flushed cheeks. "that's what I thought you said, now pick up your pen for heaven's sake!" he turns away to return to the front of the class, but as he does he deliberately kicks your pen across the room.

"yes sir!" you quickly rise for your seat and scurry across the room to where your pen had landed, you could feel everyone's eyes burning through you as you bent over to pick it up, your ass prominent in your tight denim wide-leg jeans, your orange tank top riding up slightly as you bent over revealing the bottom of a tattoo that crawled down your spine. You returned to your desk as quickly as you'd got over to your pen and sat down immediately, pretending to write down some stuff, though you were just trying to concentrate on not crying your eyes out.

The bell that signified the end of class rang and you shot up out of your seat, shoving your books and pens into your canvas tote bag that read some Beatles lyrics on it, you pushed to try and get out of class before he noticed but it was too late. "Miss y/l/n, get your ass back here, I'm not done with you" the rest of the class shuffled out quietly, obviously not wanting to make him even madder, you sat back at your desk and rested your head on it waiting for the classroom to become empty.

"now then, sorry I don't even think I know your name" he sits on the desk opposite you, his wavy brown hair was pushed back slightly and the top few buttons of his shirt had come undone, you had to admit he did look particularly attractive though it was hard to keep your mind focussed on his dashing looks when you knew you were about to get an absolute battering off the man.

"y/n, my name is y/n" you lean back in your chair attempting to relax however you sit right back up as he gives you a stern look of disapproval. "Okay so y/n, just by the way of introductory remarks, that I'm extremely pissed with today's events, and in my quest to make you understand the level of my unhappiness, I'm likely to use a lot of what we call violent sexual imagery and I just wanted to check that you wouldn't be offended by that" he taps his foot against the floor as though he was awaiting a reply to his rhetorical question. However, in your anxiety you made the mistake of actually giving him an answer, "I- I'm sorry what do-" he cuts you off, immediately getting off the desk and turning around, to try and conceal his anger.

"enough, e-fucking-nough, you young lady, need to learn how to shut your cave, learn some manners for crying out loud! how old are you?" he asks, slamming his hand on your desk, making you jump again.

"18...I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to be rude I just-" you interrupted by his open being launched across the room hitting the wall and falling apart. " did you not just fucking hear me! I said shut your mouth!" you just sit there, afraid to say anything in case he throws something again, your eyes don't leave your lap for minutes until you hear what you believe to be sniffling was he....crying?

looking up you see him sat slumped in his desk chair, his head in his hands weeping silently. You didn't know whether you should say anything or just get up and leave, getting up you sling your bag over your shoulder you creep over to the door, your hand grabs the handle and you were about to leave when suddenly you felt as though you couldn't, your body wouldn't let you go, the goodness in you wanted to help him, to make him feel better. sighing you drop your bag and walk over to him quietly picking up the acoustic guitar that sat by his electric one.

sitting on the desk next to his you situate the guitar in your lap, thinking over what you were about to do before you started strumming at it, repeating the same few chords before you began singing softly.

"Io c'ho vent'anni

Perciò non ti stupire se dal niente faccio drammi

Ho paura di lasciare al mondo soltanto denaro

Che il mio nome scompaia tra quelli di tutti gli altri

Ma c'ho solo vent'anni" you started, his head slowly rose as the first few words left your lips, a sad smile formed on his face as he wiped away a single tear from his reddened eyes.

"E già chiedo perdono per gli sbagli che ho commesso

Ma la strada è più dura quando stai puntando al cielo

Quindi scegli le cose che son davvero importanti

Scegli amore o diamanti, demoni o santi" you carried on, he swayed gently in his chair like he was in some great debate with himself in his head, debating whether or not he should stop you or let you carry on.

Strumming away on his guitar you finish up the song, he doesn't say anything the whole time you're singing he just gently smiles remembering his life before teaching.

"E farà male il dubbio di non essere nessuno

Sarai qualcuno se resterai diverso dagli altri

Ma c'hai solo vent'anni" you finish up, gently placing the guitar back to where it was before picking your bag back up to leave, reaching for the handle you frown slightly as he doesn't say anything, he just lets you walk out and leave. "y/n, please, stay" he finally croaks, his voice hoarse from sobbing, you nod turning around and sitting back where you were.

"How do you know that song?" he asks, rubbing at his eyes again this time with a tissue he'd gotten from his desk drawer. "It takes two seconds to google your name sir, I love your music, it's amazing" smiling softly, you pick up the guitar again and aimlessly pluck at the strings.

"thank you"

"for what?"

"for playing for me, you have a beautiful voice" he gets up and sits beside you, even sat down he towered over you, taking the guitar from you he started playing it almost effortlessly, playing a tune that you knew too well, one that your dad would play you when you were a child.

" When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be " you sing as he plays, you sway slightly as you sing the rest of the song along with his strumming, at one point you moved too far right and your head ended up resting against his side momentarily though he didn't seem to mind the contact.

"I'm sorry" he was the first to speak after you finished humming the last lyric of the song, you could feel a tear prick at the corner of your eye though this time it wasn't a tear of sadness but of peace, remembering all the times your dad would play it for you when you were younger, how happy you were then, how different and easy life was.

"for what?"

"for shouting earlier, you didn't deserve it, It's just I always get a bit upset this time of the year and I don't know how to control my emotions, I shouldn't have been as hard on you as I was you were just making a very valid point, I feel awful, especially as you're still being so kind and generous to me after all that, I don't deserve your graciousness, you should hate me" he starts, you could feel him getting emotional again and in an attempt to calm him down you lean your head against his side again, wrapping one arm around him, You knew that you technically shouldn't be doing this as he's your teacher but you couldn't help it he was in dire need of a hug.

"do you miss him?" you ask simply, of course, knew the answer already but it was good for him to talk about it, to get it off his chest.

"every day" he replies, a tear falling on his guitar, you rub his back softly and nod, "he was my best friend in the world, some times I felt like my only friend, 5 years, 5 whole years without him, I don't even know who I am anymore you know?" he places his guitar down on the floor, placing his head in his hands once more before sighing.

"I'm sorry, I know there's nothing that I can do to bring him back but I do know that I could perhaps help you feel better" you slide off the desk and walk over to the CD player on his desk that he would use for the class to play audio lessons. Out of your bag, you grab a CD and place it into the player, waiting for it to begin.

Walking back over to him, you slowly reach for his hands, which he lets you take, pulling him gently up off the desk and to the centre of the room where there was a slight gap between the board and the first row of desks.

"Today is gonna be the day" the song starts and he breathes out a slight laugh, "Oasis really!?" he asks rolling his eyes.

"shush your mouth and just dance with me old man" you chuckle and pull him slightly closer to yourself, swaying with him as the slow song played, as it went on he got more and more relaxed spinning you under his arms a few times before holding your body close to his own, wrapping his arms around you as you danced on the spot, silently.

"y/n?" he lifts his chin from where it rested on the top of your head, you looked up at him craning your neck slightly as you were still against him. "sir?", your arms wrapped around his back as you couldn't quite reach his neck, he bent down slightly to place his hands on your waist guiding you in what was a poorly coordinated yet sweet slow dance.

"thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you, I don't think I've ever met anyone so forgiving, I truly don't deserve this" his face nuzzles into your hair as you shake your head at his statement, "no you don't but I don't care, we all deserve a little bit of love sometimes" he exhales a content sigh as he moves his face away from your head pulling away slightly from the embrace. Looking up at him, your eyes meet and for a second you forgot where you were, what rules you had to follow, who he was to you and just for a moment you felt like you had known this man your entire life like he was a completely different man to the one who you were terrified of only less than an hour ago.

And at that moment, that brief moment of serenity and complete bliss you reached up on your tiptoes, timidly pressing your lips against his own in a short yet incredibly loving kiss, one that clearly took him by surprise but instead of pushing you away like you thought he should, his strong and safe arms found their way around your waist again as he kissed back, deepening the kiss. It only lasted seconds but in his arms, you felt like hours had passed, you didn't want to leave his lips, you felt as though you could kiss him for the rest of the time, you wanted to- but of course, he had to break away.

"I'm so-" you began but he cut you off by placing his lips on your own again, this time you didn't hold back you reached up wrapping your arms around his neck bringing him closer to you, he in response pushed you back up against the desk and you jumped up, wrapping your legs around him, the kiss becoming more passionate by the second, his teeth grazing your bottom lip as one of his hands snaked up the back of your vest top, resting at the top of your spine, slightly pulling at your short hair that you thankfully wore down that morning.

"don't you dare say you're sorry," he pulls away before placing kisses all over your jaw and down your neck, you let out a breathy moan, your own hands playing with his magnificent hair, hair that you would often spend lessons admiring. "because if you're sorry, I'll just have to make up for it" he smirks, placing you back on the desk, leaning over he kisses all down your neck and across your collar bone, down your shoulders before returning to your lips.

"in that case, I'm definitely sorry" you giggle playfully in between kisses, your hands move down from his hair down to his shirt, undoing his shirt further until it was just hanging on his shoulders, he shakes his head and smirks at you before pushing you back slightly on the desk, you hold yourself up by your elbows, watching him as his head dips down to your exposed midriff, he places gentle kisses up from the hem of your jeans to the bottom of your cropped vest top, pulling it up further with every kiss his eyes widening as he realises you aren't wearing a bra.

"God, I love this" he laughs, running his tongue up the valley between your breasts, squeezing them slightly, his large hands almost covering your entire boob. "you're gorgeous" he smiles up at you, making you blush, your hands on the back of his head pulling at his hair as his mouth works at your left nipple, you let out another soft moan as his tongue flicks gently against the metal barbell that decorated your chest. "and I absolutely love these" his tongue again running over the length of the metal bar through your nipple, you bit your lip in reply not even being able to form any words.

"Christ! I need you so ba-" he starts but was cut off by the bell ringing again, signalling that his room would soon be full of students once again, who would catch you in the act if you weren't quick to cover it up. "Hold that thought!" he shakes his head, furiously trying to button his shirt back up whilst you jump off the desk pulling your top back down and rearranging your jeans that were now considerably damper than when you had arrived, the sensation of the wet fabric tight against you made you uncomfortable but you would just have to live with it.

"uh sir..." you shyly look over to him, your eyes fixed at the considerable ridge in his tight black work trousers. "oh shit, this is on you" he grabs his guitar covering his lap with it, "oh how I wish it was" you wink, teasing him as you grabbed your bag just as students started to walk into the room, none of them particularly paid attention to you being there, they just filed into their seats.

"until next time sir" you wave and wink seductively at him, causing him to purse his lips and roll his eyes at your teasing, "I'll be seeing you at lunch y/n this conversation is NOT over!" he put on a stern voice for the students making them all look at you, making all sorts of 'uh oh' and 'oooooh' noises, you nodded your head, "we'll see" if only they knew what had gone on only moments before.

[mysticpetals]

Farewell, sunshine

𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜: Jake × f!mc (Syianne)

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚: angst, a sprinkle of fluff

𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩: 4.9k (oof)

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: All Jake ever wanted was to find his sister and protect the person who had helped him more than anyone. Only, he slowly began to realise that bringing Syianne into this had caused more harm than good.

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: mentions of blood, physical attack, violence, hospitals, medical coma, panic attack.

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙨: Anonymous asked: 5. “Wake up! Please wake up.” MC and Jake finally get to meet for the first time, but everything is heavily dipped in angst. 😂 Also I adore your writing and keep up the good work!

Anonymous asked: Can you give us the most angsty jealous filled over protective short with Jake x MC i want all the ANGST to be seeping out of my screen

@mnrangera asked: Here's a nice angsty scenario for you: MC is in Duskwood continuing their investigation but is caught out in town after dark. They are on the phone with Jake when they are attacked by the Man Without a Face like Jessie was.

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨: I know this has been LOOOOONG overdue and I apologise for the wait. Thank you to all my followers for being patient, especially those who sent the requests in. I hope the long wait is worth it and you enjoy it. Also, please read the warnings before proceeding, I don't want any of you to be triggered by something I wrote. There may be inaccuracies in how I progressed medical conditions and general working of the hospitals so I apologise for that. Please do not repost or translate this fic anywhere else!! I'm literally begging you, please don't ruin my hard work like this. I would love if I could get some sort of feedback, whether it be reblogs or comments or just anon asks. I've tried to improve my writing and I hope it shows a little in this. This is my Christmas and New Year present all wrapped in one! I hope you all have a great 2021 <3

It was a cold, winter evening with the sky painted in a plethora of warm colors and Jake felt like finally things were going his way.

He, along with Syianne, had been working tirelessly for the past few weeks to find out what happened to Hannah. They had faced a lot of challenges along the way, with cryptic diary entries and threats directed towards them and their loved ones, but still, they'd prevailed and spent every ounce of free time, getting more information about Hannah's perpetrator.

They finally had the facts about what happened the day she was kidnapped and only the identity of the criminal was hidden. Syianne had suggested that she should go to Duskwood to try and find the last puzzle piece, to which Jake had been a little apprehensive. She argued that the rest of the group had already been through enough, with getting stalked and receiving threats and insisted that she should be the one to carry out her search in secret.

She never once asked for him to come along because she knew how dangerous it would be for him and she didn't want him to get caught. Jake was instantly warmed by the thought that someone cared so much about him, to think of his well being first.

So that night, as she called him to update him on her findings and plan after she went to Duskwood, he found himself speaking his thoughts impulsively.

"What if I came too?"

There was silence on the other end and Jake thought he might have overstepped or made it weird but she answered before he could stammer an apology.

"I'd like that. But only if you're comfortable and safe."

She told him to ruminate on it for a while and bid him goodnight. Jake thought about whether it was a logical thing to do. If Syianne planned to go undercover, he couldn't very well let her go into the lion's den alone. So he made up his mind and texted Syianne to let her know.

Jake [10:46 pm]

I'll come to Duskwood too.

Is it okay if we don't meet straight away?

I...I don't think I'm ready yet.

Syianne [10:47 pm]

I was lowkey hoping you'd say that ahaha

And of course! Take as much time as you need :)

That night, he slept with a smile on his face, excitement churning in his stomach.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Syianne was looking forward to her trip to Duskwood.

She knew it was a potentially dangerous situation and she was only going there to investigate but knowing that Jake might be there too, sent a spark of thrill through her body. They had been speaking non-stop for the past few weeks and she really liked talking to him. His answers to questions about him or his life were adorably confusing and Syianne realized that she really wanted to get to know him, be his friend or possibly something more, if their flirty banter was anything to go by.

Her bag contained all the essentials she could need, along with a sketchbook and pencils to use in case of boredom. She couldn't leave Matrix with any of her friends as they were either busy or allergic to cats so her only option was to take her along.

She had never booked a flight so fast. Knowing she would have to take a car from the airport to the rest of the way to Duskwood did nothing to damper her excitement. She couldn't wait to meet everyone once they found Hannah, some more so than the others.

The trip was nothing eventful, just a lot of travelling and it made Syianne a little tired but the idea of meeting her friends and finally putting a stop to all this madness, made her keep going. She wouldn't admit it if you asked her but she was looking forward to possibly seeing Jake as well. She knew he might not be comfortable enough to meet her yet and she completely respected that, but the thought still lingered.

She checked in to the only hotel Duskwood had, not meeting the receptionist's - Lilly's - eyes and was eternally grateful that she had only leaked her number and not her photo in that video. It would have been much more difficult to move about Duskwood, if that were the case.

The room they had was pretty basic, but not too bad for a few nights. Matrix prowled around the room, getting herself comfortable in the new environment while Syianne slowly unpacked the few clothes and necessities she brought.

In the corner of her mind, there was the thought that Jake might be staying at this hotel too and that sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. But she was a woman of her word and would wait until Jake was ready and would not try to look for him.

She had a mission here and she wanted to be damn sure that that's what she would be focusing on and save Hannah.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jake was supposed to be in Duskwood about two nights ago.

He had encountered some issues with removing his tracks from the internet, as well as trying to find a safe way to drive to Duskwood without exposing himself. Working as a hacker did have some benefits and finally he managed to find a guy who made him three fake number plates that he would interchange every once in a while, so his whereabouts couldn't be traced.

He had let Syianne know of the unexpected delay but to his surprise, she was enjoying herself in Duskwood. She had told him that Jessy gave her a virtual tour of the town once and she was excited to explore all those places in person. She talked to him at night, describing the beauty of the small town and Jake felt himself growing wistful, wondering what they could do together if he had been there. But then again, hadn't he said that he wouldn't show himself right now? He was cautious - just as he had been all his life - but something about Syianne just made him want to let his guard down, to just be selfish for once.

He had no time to think further on it because finally, all the preparations and precautionary measures were done and he could drive to Duskwood. He couldn't leave Glitch at home because he had attachment issues and couldn't go without Jake for a long period of time. So he ushered him into his carrier and told him he could claw all the wood he wanted when they reached their destination and Glitch meowed in agreement. He had always been a smart cat, after all.

Changing the number plates every hour was exhausting, especially when he didn't do much manual work but he endured it, if it meant he was one step closer to finding his sister.

When he finally reached Duskwood, he was in awe of how normal it looked, how silent; how someone who didn't know that a girl had been kidnapped would think of this place as the perfect getaway. But he knew better, didn't he? This town held dark secrets, secrets that people weren't willing to acknowledge and he was going to expose them for what they were, no matter what it took.

Signing into the Duskwood hotel was as awkward as he imagined it to be, his half sister having no idea who he was and looking at his dark, baggy clothes suspiciously. He wasn't blaming her, he would have probably done the same if a strange man came out of nowhere to stay in Duskwood of all places. Lilly gave him a tight smile as he picked up his bag and key and made way to his room.

Syianne had texted him earlier that day that she would be checking out the lake in the evening, where Jessy was attacked. Jake was against it from the start but he should have known how stubborn she could be and eventually, he had to agree but only on the condition that she stays on video call with him the whole time. Syianne was evidently bewildered by his request, judging by the way she kept writing and erasing her reply but after a while, she managed to ask if he would be comfortable with that. Jake's heart warmed at her considerate words, never really having anyone who would care about his emotions, he was always surprised when Syianne said something like that. He replied that he would just turn off his camera or point it at the lamp or something but he had to be sure about her safety.

And that's why, he was sitting with his phone in front of him in the evening, camera turned off as he watched her fondly, pointing out the strange birds she saw.

"Ah, I wish you were here! The lake is so pretty this time and the light from sunset is reflecting off the water and it makes an amazing view," she said, voice breathy with the exertion of walking for a while and a tone of awe towards the scene in front of her.

"That's sufficient sightseeing, don't you think?" Her voice suddenly took a serious note and Jake straightened up in his chair. He was afraid but couldn't say anything. He had already agreed to let her go with a condition and he feared if he asked her to not investigate, she would probably end the call and keep looking for clues by herself. At least on the phone, he could look at her surroundings and made sure no one sneaked up on her.

"If you say so," he said half-heartedly, glancing at the surroundings behind her as she narrowed her eyes at his dismissive tone.

The next twenty minutes were spent with Syianne looking around the lake and Jake looking over her shoulder virtually. She had scouted the edge and went a little deeper into the forest, looking for a car, a boat, a mask - anything, really - but the search had proved to be futile so far. Everything was as peaceful as ever, no signs of any disturbance and it made Jake a little antsy. Nothing was ever this perfect.

"Well, since we can't find anything here, I think you should come back. It's getting late," Jake said, looking at the already darkened sky. It was an ominous red color and Jake was getting more and more worried as people left the lakeside.

Syianne frowned but didn't argue and that made him sigh in relief.

"Yeah, you're right. No use trying to find something that isn't there," she said and started walking again.

"Wait, you walked here? Didn't you bring your car?" Jake asked and she shook her head.

"Nope, I wanted to enjoy Duskwood and being in a car wouldn't have helped," she smiled at the camera and Jake let out an almost inaudible sigh. Why couldn't she care about her safety a little more? She was going to give him grey hair before he reached his thirties, that was for sure.

As he began to reply to her, he caught movement from the left side of the screen and instantly grabbed his phone, expanding the background.

There was a silhouette of a hand.

"Syianne, run!" He shouted, as the figure's arm came into view and she looked back in surprise before starting to sprint, the camera shaking from her movements.

Jake scrambled to get his car keys, not bothering with what he was wearing and ran towards the hotel parking, getting into his car and connecting the GPS to his phone, all the while listening to Syianne's panting breaths as she ran away from the man without a face.

Getting her location was no problem for him and he just hoped he would arrive there on time.

"Jake, I'm scared. I'm hiding behind a big building and I think he went on ahead," she whispered, voice shaky and trembling and Jake's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as he glanced over at his phone to watch her looking around herself in a panic.

Five more minutes and he would reach her location. Jake had never been more thankful that Duskwood was a small town and the hotel wasn't so far away from the lake.

"I'm coming, Syianne. Just a little while more and we'll go back together."

"Okay, I think I'm safe for now," she said. There was a sound of slow careful footsteps as Syianne came out from behind the building.

The abrupt sound of a gasp almost made him lose control of the steering wheel and he increased his speed as he heard what sounded like a scuffle. Syianne had probably dropped her phone because it only showed the dark sky and sounds of her struggling against her attacker.

"No! Let–"

Jake let out a harsh breath, jaw tightening as he heard Syianne's scream. He drove straight for a bit and turned the next corner and saw the man trying once again to restrain her. His eyes saw red and he honked and honked like it was nobody's business, speeding towards them.

The man without a face seemed to have realised that someone was coming to help as he pushed Syianne roughly into the wall and ran away towards the forest. As much as Jake wanted to go after him, Syianne was his first priority and he quickly got out of the car, dashing towards her crumpled form, lying on the ground.

He fumbled with his phone, calling the local police and asking for an ambulance, his body shaking all the while, as he knelt down next to Syianne.

He felt tears welling in her eyes as he looked at her battered form and realised that she was bleeding.

"Syianne?" He spoke in a scared voice.

"Syianne!" He said more forcefully, repeatedly patting her face in hope she'll look at him but her eyes were still glassy and unfocused as if she couldn't comprehend anything.

"I'm...so sorry. I…" her voice trailed off as she struggled to breathe and Jake cried, seeing her in so much pain, when he couldn't do anything except wait for the ambulance to arrive.

After a moment, Syianne's eyes fluttered closed and Jake's panic rose to new heights.

"No, no, no! Wake up! Please wake up!" He shouted and begged but she didn't respond to his calls.

His hand was soaked in her blood from where he was applying pressure on the wound at her side. The blood hadn't stopped flowing and Jake was worried that she was losing too much, too soon.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He muttered to himself, adrenaline coursing through his veins, with only one thought in his head – to save her.

He heard sirens in the distance and was relieved to know that help was coming. He pushed up the fallen hood of his jacket up on his head and looked at Syianne for any signs of consciousness. Her breaths were shallow and eyes still closed.

Soon enough, paramedics rushed to the scene and immediately started tending to Syianne's wounds. Jake felt as if he was just a spectator, not being able to do anything but watch. Someone came up to him and started asking him questions, about how he found her, who he was to her and if he knew anything about the attack. He answered all the questions as carefully as he could, giving a fake name, because he still wasn't sure if the police department was in league with the kidnapper or not.

As soon as he was done with the questioning, a paramedic approached him, letting him know that they were taking Syianne to the hospital and he would have to come there for a bit of paperwork. Jake hesitated and said he'd drive there in his own car and the paramedic nodded in response and left.

He got in his car and put his head in his hands, shaking at the unfortunate turn of events. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Syianne was just going to check out the lake and then surprise her friends the next day by telling them she'd be here for a few days and enjoy Duskwood together.

Jake was even thinking of meeting her in person and telling her that she had changed his life for the better. But his cowardice, his meticulous nature to not let anyone know who he was or where he was might have cost Syianne her life tonight. Even thinking about it had tears pooling in his eyes and he took a deep breath to bite back the sobs that were threatening to break once again.

He felt guilty, so so guilty and couldn't bring himself to start the car. He was pretty sure that if – no when – Syianne woke up, she would want nothing to do with the man who put her life in danger. With that thought rooted in his mind, he opened his phone and with trembling hands, sent Jessy a text about Syianne's accident. He received a reply almost immediately.

Jessy [8:46 pm]

What?

How did she come here?

You know what? If she's not okay, I'm going to hunt you down and make you pay.

Jake had no trouble believing she was telling the truth. All he wanted to do was help and now everything was falling apart. Taking a deep but shaky breath, he started the car but instead of going to the hospital, he turned towards the hotel.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jessy had no trouble believing that the hacker was telling the truth. His texts were frantic and he practically begged her to go to the hospital to see Syianne. She had no idea how she got here, but hearing that she got attacked, just like she was, was enough to make her worry and drive to the hospital, after letting Cleo know. She figured that the rest of them deserved to know too.

She rushed to the front desk, breathless and worried, and one of the nurses told Jessy that the doctors were with Syianne and she'd have to wait until they were done to know how she was.

After some time of relentless pacing, Cleo arrived and Jessy filled her in on everything that the hacker told her, which wasn't much, but it gave them a good idea of what had happened. Cleo said that she hadn't told anyone else yet and that they should do so as soon as the doctors had an update on Syianne's condition.

About an hour later, a nurse came upto Jessy and Cleo, asking if they knew Syianne and upon their confirmation, led them to the room she was kept in. They weren't allowed to enter yet as the doctors were still in the room, but Jessy gasped when she saw Syianne's scratched up face, with bandages covering her head.

"Oh my gosh." Cleo breathed and Jessy felt a rush of sorrow as she averted her eyes.

The doctors after completing their examination, told them that Syianne was stabbed in the side but luckily it didn't puncture anything important and they closed up the wound to allow it to heal. What was more concerning, was the fact that she was hit on the back of her head.

"She most likely suffered from a concussion, in which case, it is of the utmost importance that the patient doesn't fall asleep," the doctor said and Jessy and Cleo looked at each other uneasily.

"But Syianne fell asleep…" Jessy began and the doctor gave her an apologetic smile.

"That's right. She was unconscious when she was brought here. The superficial wounds are taken care of, we just don't know when she'll wake up."

Both of them were too stunned to say anything and a call for the doctor from one of the nurses broke them out of their stupor.

"So, she's in a coma?" Cleo asked.

The doctor hesitated before answering.

"Essentially, yes. But we can't know for sure without further observation. If the injury isn't severe she'll wake up soon, we just have to monitor her constantly and look for any changes." He then walked off when his pager went off, most likely to see another patient.

"Don't worry, Jessy. She'll wake up soon," Cleo said, placing a hand on her shoulder, as they looked into Syianne's room, seeing her sleeping peacefully, as if nothing was wrong and she was just taking a nap.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

As soon as she got home from the hospital, Jessy sent out a row of furious texts to the hacker, clouded by her anger and hopelessness. In her head, it was all his fault that Syianne was twittering between life and death. He was the one who asked her to come to Duskwood without letting any of them know, which caused her to be in such a terrible condition.

Everything was crumbling.

They were a tight knit group, always there for each other but when did it turn into a nightmare, Jessy didn't know. Emotion overtook her and she suddenly collapsed against the wall, keeping a hand on her mouth to muffle her sobs, and cried.

She cried for Hannah, who she had no idea whether she was alive or not. She cried for Syianne, who had become such a great friend to her. Most importantly, she cried for her relationship with everyone, that was slowly but surely, withering away.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jake had been pacing in his hotel room ever since getting back, waiting on a word from Jessy. Glitch watched him with big eyes, as he stubbed his on the bedside and cursed. Sighing in defeat, Jake realised that it won't do any good to worry himself to death, but that didn't mean that his mind didn't drift off to the earlier scene.

Syianne lying on the ground. Blood pooled around her.

He shook his head in frustration, trying to get that image out of his head but to no success. Glitch, sensing that something was wrong, strolled towards him, rubbing and purring against his legs. Jake softened at seeing his efforts to calm him and he picked Glitch up, moving to lay down on the bed. He petted him, smiling at the way the cat burrowed himself further against Jake, curling his tail around his wrist.

After a few peaceful moments of cuddling, Jake's phone lit up with a text, which had him scrambling to grab it from the bedside. Glitch meowed in protest but Jake was too wound up to notice.

Jessy [10:25 pm]

She's in a coma

They don't know when she'll wake up

Jake felt all breath leave him as he read Jessy's text. He didn't know what to think, what to do, what he could do. Jessy didn't give him a chance to respond.

Jessy [10:26 pm]

Don't contact any of us ever again

I don't want to find Hannah this way…which leads to everyone else getting hurt

Please leave Syianne out of this

Saying her mind, Jessy went offline again. Jake took a shaky breath, trying to ground himself. Syianne might never make up.

No, he told himself.

He couldn't think like that. He knew she'd wake up, it might take a little time but she will. Because if she didn't, Jake wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He got another text from Lilly, saying she was sorry that it happened but he couldn't bring himself to write back. His mind was empty, body numb to everything around him and he was cursing himself for being so careless.

If he hadn't been so selfish, if only he didn't put all of this on her, if he had just reached on time, if, if, if.

That's all he thought of, as tears continuously trailed down his cheeks, an arm covering his eyes, the only thing on his mind being Syianne, just as it had been ever since he started talking to her.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

The next day, Jake found himself holding a large flower bouquet and walking to Duskwood hospital's reception. He was trembling, scared out of his mind but he just had to see Syianne. So, he had braved his anxiety and was now standing in front of the receptionist, who looked at the abnormally large bouquet in his hands and raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat.

"I'm here to see Syianne King, she was admitted here yesterday."

The receptionist's gaze sharpened as she looked him over and he partially hid behind the flowers.

"Only family members are allowed to visit," she spoke slowly and Jake bit his lip in frustration.

"I'm her fiance," he said and before the surprised receptionist could say anything, he continued, "I drove here as soon as I got the call but they wouldn't tell me what happened. Only that Syianne had been in an accident and I needed to get here as soon as I could and I—" he cut himself off, shuffling nervously and wiping away the tears that had managed to escape from his eyes.

The receptionist softened, seeing his genuine sorrow and care for his fiance and warmed her voice.

"Of course, I'm sorry for what happened. She's in room 309, third floor. The elevator is down the hall," she pointed and Jake thanked her profusely before walking ahead.

Him being Syianne's fiance might have been fake but everything he had felt was the truth and he felt overwhelmed now that he was here. Should he see her? Did he even deserve to see her after he put her in danger? Thoughts like this plagued his mind all the way to Syianne's room and they only stopped when he saw '309' written in bold letters on a grey coloured door.

His breath stuttered in his chest. He was second guessing his presence in the hospital, thinking whether he shouldn't have come. He stood in front of the door for about ten minutes, contemplating but when the nurses started giving him suspicious looks, he swallowed thickly and with shaky hands, opened the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for the utter despair and helplessness he felt, as he saw Syianne's motionless form on the bed, breathing as if she was just sleeping and would wake up any minute. But he knew that wasn't the truth.

She was here and it was his fault.

For the longest time, he just sat on a chair beside her bed and just looked at her. His eyes traced every injury, every bruise that was visible and he felt sick, blaming himself for letting it happen. She was still sleeping and suddenly, it just got too much.

There was too much light, too much beeping, the walls were too white, the flowers in his hands digging into his skin and he got up hastily, dropping the bouquet and backed into the furthest corner of the room.

His breath was coming in short bursts, it hurt to breath, to think, to stay upright—!

His legs gave from under him and he slid down, back against the wall, shaking hands coming up to wipe the wetness on his face.

He didn't even realise he had been crying.

His vision was a blur of dark shapes and in a distinct corner of his head that was still sane, he thought of what Syianne would have done had she been awake. He was sure she would kneel down in front of him and take his hands, running her thumbs against the back of his hands to calm him.

'Breathe slowly, Jake. Deep breaths with me, come on,' he heard her in his head and tried to slow down, breathing harshly at first but after a few minutes, his vision cleared and his breathing stabled to an acceptable rate.

His whole body shook with the sheer suddenness of the panic attack and he slowly tried to get up, holding onto the wall as a support as his gaze, once again, landed on the bed and it's occupant.

All at once, his head cleared and he knew what to do.

Snatching a sheet of paper from the notepad lying near her chart, Jake penned his thoughts, all his anguish, and his apologies on it. Not once did his hand shake as he wrote the note and not once did his mind waver from the decision he had made. At last, when he had said everything he wanted to, he put the pen down and glanced at Syianne's peaceful face.

His throat closed up but he swallowed once to make sure he didn't cry. No, Jake had no time for tears. It was his fault that this happened in the first place, so it was his responsibility that he would make it right.

He didn't know when she would wake but whenever it might be, Jake had everything he wanted to say, already written for her.

He bent down towards her and placed the softest of kisses against her forehead, knowing that it would be the only time he would ever get to do it.

She did not open her eyes and Jake stepped back with a miniscule tilt of his lips.

Yes, he would make everything right.

[athena-is-a-chaotic-lil-shit]

Of Ice and Blood

Part 8

Supposedly everything I post consecutively is one part, but I always reach the 250 block limit everytime so I am forced to cut it off! It's all good though, I just hope you don't mind that.

Anyways, enjoy reading! I'll be working on my requests after I post this and the slasher fic in my works.

Edit: Holy sh*t I thought it wouldn't fit but it did! (And I meant the word count you dirty lil thing—) This will be the longest part in the series yet (since 4.3k words fit perfectly)

Pairing: Tai'chi Kashharzol (Orc) x Pearl Blackbell (Fem!Human/Reader)

Word count: 4.3k

Warnings: None :)

Contains: f l u f f (and maybe too much blushing but I have no regrets)

—

You let the student call the police as you tied up four unconscious men using their clothing. You left when you heard the distant sound of sirens and trusted her to explain what had transpired in the alley. You bid her farewell, resuming your walk to your destination. You breathed out your exhaustion, the little energy you got from a short nap earlier got spent punching people again.

"So...that was..."

"Expected." The orc supplied when you trailed off.

"Mm...Yeah."

Expected, both disappointing and frustrating. You did your best not to snap at the kid for it and only hoped she understood and learned.

The sun had already sunk long ago, but there was still a myriad of warm colors. Very subtle, but there. Each passing second transitioning it into a darker shade until little specks of light became visible. The sky...black in a matter of minutes. Street lamps lit your path as shops both closed and opened for the night with people saying hello and goodbye.

"Thank you, by the way. For uh, earlier." You got careless. Too careless than you usually are.

You shivered at the thought of what might've been the outcome.

He only nodded, along with a grunt of affirmation beside you.

"Are you mad?" you whispered. Was he angry at you being a stupid idiot and rushing straight into danger?

"No, just, "—he sighed, rubbing his forehead with his fingers—"worried." His scent was clearly not just of worry. He was also scowling.

-

Tai'chi was very worried about you, he always had ever since you met, which wasn't long but he felt a strong need to protect you, even if you could handle yourself well on your own. Oh, but he was angry, enraged within at those men who harmed the poor student, especially at the one who almost stabbed you at the back. If they were in his stronghold they would've been fed to the wargs.

No, he would've torn them apart himself.

You didn't speak again until you arrived at your place, finally. You're not rich and even if you were you have no desire to live in those luxurious and super expensive condos. You preferred to have something homey, small, as long as it had what you needed for comfort and safety, you were content.

It also saves a lot of money for future expenses and emergencies.

"So, uhm, welcome." You said as you unlocked your door after several tries on putting the key in. Tai'chi ducked considerably under it, his large frame barely making it through.

You took off your shoes, placed them on the side, and kept your socks on. He followed suit, taking off his boots, coming out barefooted.

It wasn't smelly, which was pretty surprising.

You headed to your kitchen and prepare dinner for both of you, but a hand on your shoulder stopped you in your tracks.

"I will cook." Tai'chi spoke and you immediately replied, stuttering.

"I-I should be the one cooking for you! It's not right. I'm the host and you're the guest it shouldn't be—"

"Pearl, I will cook." He asserted, his voice deep and confident, you sighed as it made you relent. You'd make a mess if you did anyway, might chop your hand off with a knife or dunk your head in the pot.

"Fine. But next time I'll do something for you instead," you groaned.

-

The orc grunted once before he stepped past you and into your kitchen while you plodded to your room.

Tai'chi paused for a moment to take in the details of your house. It was fairly small. From where he stood, his head was a foot away from touching the ceiling. To his left was an open way to what he assumed was the living room where he could make out half of a brown couch facing away from him. He also noticed a couple of framed photos hanging on a faded orange wall. Tai'chi glanced in the direction where you disappeared, he could hear the faint sound of the shower going on.

Good.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he started preparing dinner for the two of you, making use of what was present in your humble home. You had a similarly humble kitchen with a simple stovetop and double-door cupboards.

A decent-sized (a/n: everything is small to him okay) refrigerator sat in the corner where he found some meat in its freezer, quite a huge portion for such a small person like you, but then again he witnessed firsthand how much you could eat, and eat like an orc you did. Tai'chi reached inside to grab the meat but met resistance. He subconsciously yanked the frozen thing off, his eyes widened when he realized what he did, nearly topping over the whole appliance. Tai'chi sheepishly adjusted the refrigerator back in its place, before he looked for other ingredients while he carefully moved around to avoid any more mishaps.

-

You went inside your bedroom, groggy and disgusting as you pulled off your clothes and threw them in a basket just outside your bathroom. You stepped inside and took a long, hot, well-deserved shower to get that dried sweat and blood off of your body. After you rinsed down, you sunk yourself in your little tub, sighing in content as you tried your best not to fall asleep. You shuddered and trapped yourself in a daze, enjoying the hot water around your naked form, relaxing in the aromatherapy you made for yourself as you hummed a tune, letting your thoughts wander.

The precision of that throw was simply scary. But also cool...mm. Awesome.

I wonder what happened to the Silverstones...

Courting, huh...who would've thought I'd be courted by an orc. I wonder what that entails...

Wait, I'll be courting him too, right?

"..."

You got out when the wrinkling started. Your muscles were still aching but less so than before. You used a towel to dry down before wearing a black oversized shirt, you had about 6 of them in your wardrobe 'cause hey, not one to dress up fancy and flashy. Plus blood gets splattered on your clothes a lot, it would be a waste of time and money. You also slipped inside your favorite pair of dark grey joggers, the one you always wore when you were at home. They were comfy!

You let your hair fall over your shoulders and back since it was still damp. When you got out the scent of cooked food engulfed you, wafting from your right.

Oh, how mouth-watering it was.

You tiptoed to your kitchen to peek at what Tai'chi cooked up. Unfortunate when you couldn't see anything with his broad physique was blocking your line of sight on the table.

"I could smell you, you know."

You almost, almost let out a yelp. You wiped your drool with the hem of your shirt.

"I- uh-"

He chuckled, "You must be starving. I—" Words died in his throat when he turned around to look at you.

He gawked.

You surprised him for the nth time today. There you stood before him, relaxed and freshly cleaned up, a whiff of mint reached his nose, your shampoo perhaps, mixed with your scent. You didn't have your mask on, which gave him a full look at your face, your lips were a little chapped, half-lidded eyes showing your exhaustion.

"Is there something on my face?"

"N-No." He stuttered as he tried to get something out. "Ehem, no. You just look... I'm done with dinner, you— we should eat, and then we can talk." Tai'chi said as he moved to take a chair and sat across you. You let that go, in favor of sating your hunger.

His cheeks were a bit darker in shade than his skin, but that slipped away as the dinner in front of you grabbed your full attention. It looked and smelled like pork curry. Was it pork curry? It's like something straight out of a Ghibli movie.

Bite-sized chunks of meat, diced potatoes, and carrots coated with a rich syrupy brown soup together with a modest –at least to both of you– portion of rice next to it. It was simple, but the way it tempted your senses implied that there was something more than what meets the eye, and your nose.

Or it's your gluttony speaking, probably.

You picked up your spoon and wondered if it's as good as it appears to be. You gulped, audibly.

You brought a small portion into your mouth, nearly falling off of your seat as you resisted the urge to make any sound that would outright embarrass you, but lo, as you took another spoonful, you couldn't stop yourself from letting out a moan. Your eyes widened and immediately covered your face with two hands as you felt it heat up.

You chewed and swallowed before you squeaked out, "I-I-I'm so sorry! It- It's just so yummy and tasty and I— it's amazing, and uh..." You trailed off and groaned, at a loss of words in your embarrassment. You risked to part your fingers and peek at him. He met your gaze and you hid again. His cheeks were in a darker hue than before. Was he flustered like you? Oh no, you shouldn't have done that, now he will think you're being weird!

Tai'chi cleared his throat and you removed your hands but refused to make eye contact with him, your face still hot.

-

"We... We should eat." He said, stiff and trying to seem indifferent. But that sound you made would forever be engraved into his mind, it was both cute, and, well, sensual.

Okay fine, it was somehow arousing, but he has it under control, he will keep his damn urges in check, even if it means jumping out of the window just to make sure he won't scare you away. He's an orc of honor for goodness' sake, he swore an oath, he will keep it.

You ate fast but paused to savor the food, minus any embarrassing noises, thankfully. The curry was rich and a bit spicy, the pork was soft and tender as you chewed at it easily, juicy as it is, along with the potatoes and carrots, both cooked and prepared with obvious care. You almost cried from the combination of flavors you nearly forgot it was just curry you're eating.

But damn, this is the best curry you've eaten your whole life.

It was minutes later when you finished your fourth heaping plate of food. Tai'chi had five. He made a lot which was great, considering how your plates were wiped clean as if they weren't used in the first place.

Damn, you ate like you didn't eat for a week.

With some regained energy, you stood and took the dishes before Tai'chi could even stop you, putting them in the sink and washing them, quick and thorough. Once you were done with that, you went back to your seat, ducked your head, and stared at your lap.

"..."

"I... Thank you for the food. It was really delicious and great and everything! And, uhm, you made the pork curry like a pro and I never tasted anything so fulfilling, —my mother will beat me if she heard that—and it was a simple curry but I, it's just so, so—" you huffed, "mind-blowing!" You were rambling, you knew. You looked up when he didn't say anything.

H-He's grinning...

"Thank you. I pride myself in my skill in the kitchen and I'm happy what I made for you was satisfying." Tai'chi thumped his chest, showing that he was very honoured to hear your words. He's never telling you he almost broke your fridge though.

"It was great!" You exclaimed right after him, throwing your hands up. It was truly great. He grinned even wider at this, that dark shade still present in his cheeks, though you were no better as you could feel the warmth on your own.

"Then I am beyond happy and honored to hear that from you," liga lul, he stated, only saying of the last part in his head.

You smiled at each other.

-

"Is now a good time to discuss my kind's courting rituals?" Taichi asked after a minute of sitting there in silence.

"Y-Yes, please," you replied. "So, how do orcs court someone?"

He straightened up in his seat.

"We show off to the one we're interested in, basically speaking. Ranging from skills in fighting to proving that we could provide for our...mate." He paused, watching you closely.

You nodded for him to continue. Not gonna lie, that last part made your heart skip a beat. Mate, huh.

"We," he coughed, "we also chase or fight off other suitors, be it threatening them or engaging them in battle. And if they attempt to kidnap or hurt the person courted in any way, they will suffer the wrath of an orc."

"So, they'll...die?"

"Yes, or so that's what it usually was back home. Here, in this city, it's a crime to kill someone just for that reason, but it is law among us. No one would bat an eye if someone gets beheaded just because they were foolish enough to insult the person an orc is courting."

"Oh," pretty brutal but okay. "Is there an option where they don't get murdered or..." You asked, waving your hand around. Killing because of an insult is going overboard, in your opinion, but then again, anyone would be furious if their potential partner gets slandered or taken away forcefully.

"When the courted wills it. It is always up to them to decide the fate of those who tried to harm them, and the orc must take their words into action."

"Oh, good. I really don't want you getting in trouble just because someone called me a freak and all," you said. You looked at your hands, calloused and a little rough from experience. Scars were littered over your body and you hid them well from any curious eye with your long sleeves and pants. Though right now, some of the scars on your arms were visible.

You jerked when you felt his large hand grab your arm and moved along to yours, rubbing his thumb on the back of it, his brows furrowed as he looked at you.

"They are wrong to call you that."

"And everyone's a piece of shit to call you a beast, a savage, or a murderer," you followed up in an instant.

His expression softened, and you smiled, ignoring how your heart hammered in your chest as he continued to caress your hand.

Tai'chi could feel your pulse, beating so fast he was scared for your health. But he was happy to know he could make you feel this way, his own heart was thumping loudly in his chest too.

"As I said before, we would show that we could provide for our potential partners. We would bring to them our best kills from hunts, offer gifts crafted by ourselves if we have the skill, if not, we will buy them tokens and things that remind us of them or what pleases them."

"Wait," you interrupted, "when you insisted on cooking dinner, was that a part of courting?"

He gave you a small smile as he scratched his sideburns, sheepish like a little child caught stealing candy.

"Yes." He answered, rather quiet than his usual booming voice.

"Uhm, I must say, it was really amazing. Your cooking, I mean. And thank you, again."

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied. "Building houses or fixing the courted's current one is also a part of it."

"You're not gonna build me house right away, are you?" You joked, but then he didn't reply. "Wait, you're serious? But we're still studying and—"

"I am serious about building a house for, uh, the two of us," he interrupted, "but yes, I understand our current situation won't allow that to happen...yet."

"H-How long does the courting last?" You couldn't help but ask. He's talking about building you a house someday and you don't even know how old he is! No connection to what you're fumbling about but yeah, your mind is messed up. You are curious though...his age.

"It usually lasts for six months, to give time to get to know each other but also not prolong the courting stage so they could proceed to the next, but there are times when it lasts longer than that. You will have absolute control over how fast or slow we proceed in the courtship. That means it's up to you on when to end it and decide whether you'll...take me as your mate, or turn me down."

"Sounds pressuring but okay." You want to, like, combust right now.

He chuckled.

"Pressuring? No, no, please do not be pressured. Your word is law and I will face death by my family's ax if I disobey your final decision."

"Again with the death thingy!" You were appalled at how extreme orcs were.

"Us orcs are very strict and firmly tied to our traditions, but I can say we are changing. It is slow, but change nonetheless."

"I have a question," you raised your free hand out of habit.

Tai'chi nodded.

"I hope this is won't offend but how old are you?"

There, you said it. Oh fuck, you hoped it wasn't offending. Shit it was— asking his age, seriously?

"How old do you think I am?" He questioned, teasing you, a smirk on his lips catching you off guard.

"What? Noooo that's not an answer! I can't guess, you might get angry."

"I won't," he supplied right after. Why would he be? In fact, he is pretty much enjoying himself just watching you fidget with your ears slightly tinted pinkish. By the gods, he wants to touch them.

You sighed.

You stared at him, avoiding eye-contact as you tilted your head to get a good look at his features. He had a long and narrow scar you didn't spot before, in a lighter green color on the left side of his face. It wasn't noticeable if you stare at him up-front. It went down his neck and ended just above his collar bone. You wondered what caused it.

The orc was rough, his double tusks sharp and intimidating, even horrifying to another set of eyes but to you, he was attractive and rugged, his scent alluring and you only found him more fascinating each passing second. The scars he had enticed your curiosity but you weren't gonna ask about it, yet.

You always thought the standards set by society are rather absurd. You looked back at the time when someone asked you what your type was, along with showing you different pictures of men, human men, which were deemed "hot" (with quotation marks, yes) by most people. You didn't answer because; one, you don't know them; two, you couldn't tell what their personality was because you can't scent them; and three, it only annoyed you. People found you even weirder after that. Ironically deeming you senseless for not having an eye for beauty. No taste or missing out, they said.

But one's beauty wasn't found in sight alone.

You hummed to yourself. His hair was rich black, no trace of graying, so maybe he's not so old? 30s? How fast do orcs grow up? Do they even age? What do they look like when they were children?

You were brought back to the present when he gently squeezed your hand.

"Oh— uh, 35?" You blurted out, a bit panicked. As far as you know no one is as....buff as him in your age— but wait he's an orc!

"Oh no wait that's—"

You were cut off by a loud snort followed by a boisterous laugh coming out of Tai'chi, making you more embarrassed than you already are. His guffaw shook your apartment you swear your neighbors are filing a noise complaint tomorrow with how much he was laughing and you raising your voice.

"No," he said, "no actually, I'm still in my 23rd year. Do I really look that old?" He questioned as he chortled.

"23rd?! But you're— you're," you gestured at him. He's just five years older than you (which isn't long period of time you think) but he's— he's fucking huge! What the hell did they eat up North?

"Yes," he laughed again, amused by your reaction. "Believe it or not I am. Orcs begin training at age 6" he shifted the topic, "The adults would let them choose their desired weapon and craft to pursue, but also allowed them to experience all selections, from swords, battle axes, hammers, and many more, along with skills and crafts like hunting, blacksmithing, combat, construction, even basket weaving.

"I went on my first hunt when I was 12 and brought a stag back home. I tamed my first warg at 15, named him Nadul, Orcish for 'night'."

"6 year old me snuck out of the house during nap time to collect twigs in the woods while you were wielding weapons and—"

"That is correct,"

"And you had a pet warg?" You knew what wargs are, you read about them when you were in high school, along with other animals that fascinated you. They looked like large wolves with the stature of an adult grizzly bear and can carry a full-grown orc into battle.

"Have," he corrected, his fluffy buddy was still very much alive and well the last time he went back to visit his home, which was three months ago. He doubted anything could take down Nadul, not even a Frostbear, he was the one who trained him after all.

"I still can't believe you're 23. You look so..."— you were not gonna say old, no— "mature."

"At a different rate from humans, yes."

Of course they do. You got so much to learn about orcs, and him.

"And you? How old are you?"

"19."

"Oh? You look 13 with how little you are,"

You didn't expect him to be playful like this, but you went along.

"Hey! I'm only small compared to you, you giant!" True, you were a tad shorter than most girls your age but it has its perks! You'd save a lot of money from buying clothes just because you grew rather slowly. "And in fact, I'm still growing!"

"So am I." He grinned, smugness painted all over his face.

"Noooo, if you keep growing you won't fit through the doorway!" You whined, pouting at how much of a tease he was being.

He found it adorable, the way your lower lip was upturned as you looked at him. The sudden urge to pat you rose but he didn't act on it.

"Do not worry, us orcs stop growing in our 25th year," or not. "And I will make sure to feed and treat you good so you'll become taller!" he stated confidently. Tai'chi was about to laugh again, but he froze with his jaw open when you turned real red, your ears tinted and your lips quivered, unable to speak out anything.

That last part, made your face feel like fire just kissed it, twice. Panicked and having no idea what to retort, you let your head fall on the table with a thud. You gripped his hand tight and took silent breaths to calm your thumping heart down.

"Y-Yeah... I..I l-look forward to that, Tai'chi." You were able to say that at least.

He gave a soft grunt as he looked at you on the table.

You were very flustered, he scented. His comment-sort-of-declaration was clearly the reason. But oh, he had no regrets. He will make sure you're healthy and well-fed, and it's just one way of showing off with his skills.

That's only the beginning.

You were in for some Orcish surprises.

You sat in comfortable silence again for a while, just taking in each other's scents, soothing and calming your hammering heart. Tai'chi continued to caress your hand, gentle for such a big orc like him. He could snap your neck with two fingers alone, but he remained careful like he was holding a thing so delicate.

Tai'chi could feel your pulse slow down to a normal rate, your scent shifted to that of a relaxed state and something fuzzy. He can't call you his yet, you just met today but you already got him wrapped around your tiny fingers. First, he will court you and show his admiration, prove his worth. And you, yourself, turning it into love the more you spend time together, he knows it will.

And he'll surely be damned to let this chance slip. Not once did he took interest in getting a mate before, his mind too busy and filled with his responsibilities along with studies in other kind's culture, and taking care of his siblings.

But back then and there, something pulled on his heart, the way your eyes stared into his for seconds that felt longer than eternity itself. An exaggeration, but that's what he felt.

He found you.

-

You were about to doze off so you removed your head from the table and tried to blink away your sleepiness, the light hurting you a little. You should get to bed soon, your first class starts at 8 in the morning. You stared at Tai'chi, admiring that blue eyes of his, its hue similar to that of lapis lazuli, you thought.

"I should take my leave now. We need to rest, especially you." Tai'chi said when he saw how tired you appeared, you were barely keeping your eyes open. He stood up from his seat, lightly pulling you up with him. You shook your head, rubbing your eyes as you led him to your door.

"Keep safe," you bid once he was ready to go.

"You as well... I will see you tomorrow."

"Mm, g'night."

Tai'chi breathed through his nose before he placed a kiss on your forehead. It was brief, but it sent a pleasant warmth all over your body. You were too sleepy to even bother being shy now, so you only smiled at him.

"Goodnight, lak'mar lul." He gazed at you, sighing before he stepped out of your apartment.

You stood there for a moment before you checked your door and made sure it was deadlocked. You killed the lights off as you sluggishly trudged to your bed. Darkness enveloped your home, a welcome one. You crawled to the middle and tucked yourself under the dark blue cotton sheets.

You were out like a light once you settled down. Much too many things happened right after another, draining you to an exhaustingly low point. You only prayed you'd feel better in the morning.

Your last thought was about how warm the orc was, and how, for some reason, his scent, his presence, felt like a home you never had, which was saying something since you had encountered a lot of scents in your life, both good and bad. You hugged your pillow tight as you succumbed to a dreamless slumber.

—

I'm putting this off for a bit to give time for requests and other WIPs. But if a random continuation pops out I'll have to write it down and set it aside for editing later.

Thank you for reading!

[lovelivingmydreams]

Family and identity

And so we have arived at a new chapter in the Paper Flowers au. This one complete from the start. I promise. For those who missed it, previous instalment can be found here.

All the chapters can be found in the pinned post t the top of my page.

In this chapter Patton takes Roman's unintentionally given advice and it goes as well as you could expect. Enjoy!

Virgil was lying on his bed listening to music. He was feeling pretty okay. Not great, but all things considered he was having a good day. Usually that thought would make him panic and try to remember what he was doing wrong. But right now, he wasn't going to question it. He had a list, he checked it twice, today was just going to be nice.

Roman was really getting to him. Here he was once again being optimistic. And rhyming on top of that.

A sudden knock on his door had him confused. Hardly anyone knocked on his door.

Princey wouldn't knock on that one. The field had become their hang out spot. They watched movies, talked, listened to music or brainstormed together. It was nice.

So it wasn't Princey.

Janus and Remus were out too. Both tended to invite themselves inside if they wanted to bother him. One more reason to be happy with the field. He'd spent some alone time in there truly at peace knowing nothing could harm him there. If he didn't have to look after Thomas he'd probably move there permanently. And he supposed he couldn't leave Princey to deal with the specs on his own...

Speaking off those two. At least one of them was at his door.

The knocking was back. “Kiddo? You in there?”

Virgil frowned confused as he got up and walked to the door.

"Patton?" He said in surprise as he opened it. Sure he'd figured it had to be him or Logan. But between the two he would've put his money on Logan. Patton usually just announced that dinner was ready and left before Virgil could even respond. Then Virgil would go down to collect a plate and leave for his room right away. He'd been tempted to stay and listen to Roman's stories once or twice since they became friends. To gang up on him with Logan, pointing out holes in the grand tales and laugh along as Patton made a joke, making them all forget what they'd been talking about. But he figured he better not intrude on family time and risk messing up. They tolerated him when they were working. If he forced his company on them in their free time they'd probably send him back down. And as much as he cared about his fellow outcasts, he couldn't go back there….

Would his key work if he did? He should test it out, just in case…

He was getting of track. “What's wrong?” he asked. Trying to sound like he couldn't care less. He leaned against the doorframe to sell it better. Inside he was terrified.

Patton smiled at him nervously, leaning back and forth on his heels, wringing his hands. Why was he here? He clearly didn't want to be.

“Nothing wrong kiddo… just… dinner will be ready soon. Why don't you join us?”

What? “Better not,” he huffed looking at his fidgeting hands with a raised brow. He planned to turn around and close the door to freak out in peace, but then…

Patton balled his hand in fists at his side and stopped wiggling. “Sorry, but that wasn't really a request Anxiety. You live with us, so you join in for family dinners. I make Roman come out of the imagination, I drag Logan away from his work, up until now I’ve given you time to adjust and join us on your own time. But I’m done waiting. Pizza night is family dinner night. I expect you at the dinner table in 15 minutes.” And before Virgil could respond he turned and went downstairs.

Virgil went back in and shut the door. What was going on? Should he go ask Roman if Patton said something? Should he go to the others? Maybe this is a weird joke from J?

Or maybe this is a test? Or maybe Patton is looking for a good reason to send him back down? Proof that he doesn’t fit in with them? No, that doesn’t sound like Patton at all… what should he do?

“Dinner is ready!” Patton’s voice pulled him out of his panic. He’d been worrying for a full 15 minutes and now it was too late…

He took in a deep breath. He would not mess up. He just had to get trough dinner. And Roman would be there to distract Patton right? Right. He could do this.

When he arrived downstairs Roman and Logan were already seated and served.

Roman saw him enter and paused his recollection of his latest adventure to look at him.

“Evening Seymore Krelbore,” he greeted with an elaborate gesture.

“Likewise Bummertime,” he replied as he loaded his own plate and, to the surprise of both Roman and Logan went to sit at the never before used chair. Patton looked pleased at least.

He didn’t think he could handle a conversation though. Luckily he didn’t have to. Roman continued his story as if nothing had interrupted it and Virgil got away with just eating his pizza, thanking Patton for dinner when he was done, putting his plate in the dishwasher and leaving for his room.

Roman watched Virgil going up the stairs. He wasn’t surprised that shortly after he disappeared from sight he could feel a swift, but urgent pulsing from the key in his pocket.

He wanted to join Virgil at once, but then Logan said something that drew his attention.

“Patton? What’s the problem?” Roman looked at the paternal side and saw that he was looking up at the stairs with a frown.

Patton sighed and slumped in his chair, letting his head fall into his hands.

“It worked, but I don't know if I can keep doing this,” Patton explained.

“What worked Padre?” Roman wondered.

“Tough love… patience didn't get him to open up to us, but you seem to get him to at least talk to you for more than a minute nowadays. So I thought… maybe if I pushed just a little? I'm sure there is a wonderful kiddo hiding under that eyeshadow. I thought that making him join family dinner would help?” Patton explained. Roman felt a little guilty. One, he had given Patton this idea that had put both Virge and the moral side through a tense dinner for their troubles. Two he had all the answers to make Pat feel better… no. It was not his place to tell. Patton would understand.

He laid a reassuring hand on the eldest side’s shoulder. “If you wish I shall retrieve the pumpkin king in the future,” he promised.

Patton thought about it for a bit. “Are you sure Roman? Will he even come if you ask?” he wondered.

Roman chuckled and bowed. “No worries Padre I will ensure his company won't be lacking on pizza night ever again,” he vowed though he wondered if he'd have to break that promise.

He'd cross that bridge when he got there. He used his key to get to the field. The others never questioned his doors. He was the prince of imagination after all. Things like this were expected.

Once he closed his door, he looked around. Where… he spotted an empty spot in the otherwise smooth sea of origami flowers. He smiled as he walked over and sat down next to it. One leg straight in front of him, his other bent at the knee. He leaned back to look up at the clouds passing by. Supporting his weight with his hands.

“They do look lovely today,” he started casually.

“Still not doing it Princey,” Virgil replied to a question Roman had yet to start building up to.

“He meant well, he just wants…”

“Me to be part of the family, I know!” Virgil groaned as he sat up hugging his knees to his chest. “But I’m not and I’ll never be. You didn't see him when he told me to join dinner. He thinks that I’ll turn into one of you. All soft and optimistic. And he wont have to be scared of me anymore. That can't happen, for everyone's sake. I have to make you guys cautious. So we can't tell him.”

Roman could tell the subject was over. He'd tried to encourage Virgil to let the others in as well a few times. Normally he'd probably push harder, perhaps even until he crossed a line that wasn’t meant to be crossed. Ruining their friendship in the process. But the field was so relaxing, and their friendship was comfortable and safe enough that he felt he could fake his time considering his words. He'd found himself realizing that he kept parts of himself hidden from the others as well. Parts that he feared would make them loose respect for him. Virgil knew about some by now. He had very quickly picked up on how stressed the spotlight made him sometimes. He knew talking about Remus made him feel guilty and terrified though they hadn't talked about the why yet. Anyway, Roman would be a hypocrite if he made Virgil tell the others about his true self if he wasn’t willing to do so himself.

Roman sighed under the heavy atmosphere.

“Hey Virgil?” he asked, a small burst of pride exploding in his chest as he said Virgil's proper name. He was still getting used to it. And he was glad for their battle of the nicknames or he definitely would have slipped in front of the others by now.

Virgil looked up, curious what Roman wanted.. “Yeah?”

“Did you actually listen to my adventure? Cause it gave me a few ideas…”

Virgil chuckled. Roman was probably just looking for an excuse to tell it again. Knowing this Virgil nodded. “Yeah I heard you.” Roman's face fell a little, though he tried to play it off and Virgil grinned teasingly. “But best to make sure I remember all the important details right?”

Roman lit up, not even caring that Virgil just messed with him. He jumped straight into story teller mode.

“So there I was…”

 __________________________________________________________

The Prince found himself once more locked in combat with his arch nemesis.

Theirs was as rivalry written in the stars. An ancient battle between the heavenly lights of goid versus the dark depths of evil.

And he couldn't have asked for a better opponent.

“How long have we been doing this dance? Surrender! You know you cannot win!” he bellowed readying his sword.

“Never! And 5 years today! Don’t pretend you don't know that,” his opponent growled.

The prince gasped, moved. “You remembered!” he exclaimed in awe. He hadn't been sure if the lord of evil cared enough.

“Of course you nitwit,” his foe grumbled a bit flustered before regaining composure. “Now die!”

Both men raised their weapons and charged with a battle cry.

 __________________________________________________________

You are browsing tumblr.

Thomas's latest vine was hillarious. You are probably way too attached to the villain character though. He's existed about 18 seconds. You take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one. There is art and fics about him and the prince popping up everywhere.

And boy do people ship it. Suddenly you see a thread that catches your eye. You start reading.

"Considering how well liked he is, Prince's nemesis should have a name if Thomas isn't going to at least give him a title. I vote Marcus. It sounds badass and it is. It comes from Mars, God of war. All hail to our future overlord."

You chuckle. But Marcus does sound good. The thread continues with another fander stepping in.

"He should have a name. But knowing Thomas I'd think it's Kevin."

If you'd been drinking you would have choked on it. Kevin?

A reply from yet another user. "Let me guess you are one of that idiot Prince's squires? I'm with OP. The dark lord is called Marcus."

Oh this is getting spicy.

"Well you are clearly a henchman. Just look at how the guy is dressed! He looks like a 2000's emo kid. Defenitely a Kevin. XD"

There were more replies of people proclaiming themselves as either squires or henchmen. It's all in good fun. Plenty of laughing emoji's made that clear. You hit reblog and take a moment to consider who you are going to join.

Thomas has no clue what he's started.

Next chapter: By any other name

[thesquidgame]

i do give a shit

Summary: Five And Diego talk for the first time in years, (40 for one, and 17 for another)

100. “I have always loved you, and I’m never going to stop.”

word count: 1.1k

a/n: i hate this a lot, my intrusive thoughts kicked in while writing this so it's painful. i couldn't edit it. i wouldn't write it if it wasn't my first request (thanks btw! i how you like it's :)) i kinda want affirmation that it isn't gross or incesty bc my ocd is a little bitch. i know it's not but my head is bad.

warnings: suicide mention, abuse, trauma, scars, child death, death

~~~

Some people are meant to die. The lucky ones do. The unlucky ones are stuck living. But, most people in this situation, get the gift of death. The Hargreeves siblings (with an exception of one) weren’t as lucky.

The kids had always ranked their trauma, but at a certain age, they couldn’t repeat it anymore. And when their brothers died there was a piece of the pain missing. Diego and Five weren’t close. The golden boy and the piece of shit kid who cries at needles. Guess which was which. 

But, out of the three “angels” Five was Diego’s favorite. When Vanya and Diego practiced guitar at two am Five would always check up on Vanya and make sure she’s okay. You can’t trust anyone in this family, and when he was a kid Diego thought that Five was a prime example of this (but as time went on it disproved this) but at least he cared. Not good at showing it, but still caring.

So, when Five disappeared, Diego didn’t care at first. But as time went on he began to see how the veil covering their fractured lives slowly started to get pulled off. The fractures made it shatter. Every year he missed Five more. Diego missed his brother.

He stayed up with Vanya and helped her make sandwiches, he sat by Five’s statue every year on their birthday, he mailed Allison a picture of her and Five when Claire was born, he told Eudora about Five the first time they heard a missing 13-year-old report on their police scanner.

So yeah, Diego missed Five. Laugh all you want. 

So when a fucking portal opened up out of the sky, Diego was happy. Internally, of course, but happy. Still brooding and never talking to Five, but happy. 

He avoided his little (big?) brother whenever he could. Acting like a divorced couple trading off Klaus in parking lots. 

He wished he could’ve saved Five. Someway, somehow, tackled him to the ground and said “DONT YOU FUCKING ZAP AROUND TODAY”.

But that didn��t happen. And Five got more fucked up than any kid ever deserved to. Diego got fucked up, but Five shouldn’t have to go through that thing alone.

“Hey, dumbass” Diego was sitting in a bar, drawing his sorrows in beer.

He turned around to see his brother behind him, in his stupid uniform from when they were kids (even though one of them still technically was one). “Yeah, ‘bro’”.

“I spent 40 years trying to save your ass and you’re drinking cheap beer and trying to forget the only family you have.”

Diego traced the scar that left his hair missing on his head and wondered if this family was worth remembering. “What’s not to forget.”

Five unusually stayed in silence, and Diego could swear he heard a feeble me but then he snapped back and said “we’re the only thing you have left.”

Diego glared at the kid. “Okay, we’re leaving, c’mon, let’s go.” 

Five glared back with a scalding gaze in his eyes. “Fine. We’re going home.”

He would’ve complained, but arguing with a time-traveling, teleporting, young old man, was not on his agenda. 

He grumbled as he paid his tab, took a last swig of beer, and made his way out of the pub to his car. 

He unlocked and started up his car, and Diego could tell that Five was pissed that he wasn’t driving. Good. No matter how much he wanted to remember, the drive home was muscle memory from anyplace in the city that sold alcohol. Just because he preached to Klaus about not messing up his body, he figured that he was canceling himself out.

Diego pulled the keys out of the ignition and sighed, rubbing his eyes outside of his old house. Five rolled his eyes and opened the car door “come on, let’s get fucking moving. I’ll have mom make us some sandwiches and cider.

No man, however strong, ever wants to go back to the place where his father tortured him and where he had to kill his mom (only to have her resurrected again, but still devastationg. Even though that was exactly what Five was making him do. He didn’t have enough time to think about what Five was feeling, he was the one making him do this.

“Welcome home Diego!” It hurt him that only a few days ago he had to kill her to ‘save’ her. No one should have to do that to their mom. Especially not when your mom was the only thing that kept you from killing yourself when you were 11.

“Hey, mom.” Now he gave her all the hugs he could. 

“Mother, could you please make us some sandwiches?” Five so rudely interrupted.

“Of course Sweetie.” She said smiling at her ‘youngest’ son before she walked out of the room to the kitchen.

Diego grumbled and sat down on the steps, pulling out a knife and twirling it around using his fingers. Five sat down next to him and stared off into the distance.

After a few minutes of (un)comfortable silence, Five interjected. “I never forgot stopped trying to find my family, you know.”

Diego stilled his hands and responded to his brother “what?”

“Every single day for 40 years I tried to get back to my family. Through the scars and the delusions and the trauma, I worked. And now that I’m back no one gives a shit. The apocalypse is in a few days and my siblings are getting wasted and high. A thanks would be nice.” 

Five looked at Diego with anger and sadness.

“You’re my brother. It’s just jealousy and pity. You didn’t have to go through what we did, but you also went through something horrible. We’re numb. After getting broken enough times, your just bendy.”

Five was angry, he stood up and started yelling at Diego, while pacing, which the man sitting on the stairs started playing with his knife again. “I went through hell every single fucking day. And your only excuse is that you sad??? YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, NO ONE IN THIS FAMILY UNDERSTANDS!!!!” Five was out of breath “No one cares about me.”

This made Diego chuck his knife next to Five’s head “HEY. YOU ARE MY BROTHER AND I’M ALWAYS GOING TO LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT! I care about you, and just because I can’t show it well doesn’t mean that you aren’t my brother and that I missed you! You are always gonna be my brother, which means that I do give a shit.”

Five looked apprehensive at first, then he gave Diego an awkward hug, which Diego then immediately returned, with an equally awkward bear hug. 

“You’re my little bro, and if it makes you feel better, we’ll save the world I guess.”