#the shadow of his dad (the alpha) is trying to make him like him

[vivwritescrappythings]

set me on fire, i'll keep you warm

alpha!joel miller x omega!f!reader

part 2

You get stuck in a cabin during a snowstorm for longer than you anticipated.

an: this is my first a/b/o fic so it is probably weird and awkward, but i'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and write different styles of relationships!

tw: a/b/o/ dynamics, afab reader, fem reader, alpha joel, omega reader, marijuana use, joel is mean, angst, comfort, SMUT, this is an a/b/o fic so everything associated with that is included (knotting, mating cycles, heat, claiming bites, scenting), p in v sex, vaginal fingering, creampies, unprotected sex, masturbation, dubcon

word count: 12.5k

masterlist

MDNI!

--

The night outside the cabin was quiet, the snow drifting down in the dim light of the backlit clouds. It was too late to be sitting outside like this, letting the cool air wash over you in an attempt to rid yourself of your bad dreams. Dark circles were stamped under your eyes as you self medicated, the deep skunky scent of weed wafting from your lips and into the evening. 

Nightmares were a fairly common side effect of the apocalypse, so you didn’t bother with waking up Joel as you snuck past the couch he slept on. You’d be waking Joel up every night if you did that.

“What are you doing?” The groggy voice behind you made you jump. Apparently tonight you had.

Joel’s voice startled you, nearly making you drop the joint as you turned to look at him over your shoulder. Your face already felt warm from your embarrassment at getting caught, the incriminating joint still between your fingers. The smoke curled around the two of you, drifting into the open door of the cabin. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” you mumbled, looking up at the alpha as he stood in the doorway. You had the collar of his thick, canvas hunting jacket turned up high to cover your scent glands, his smell strong enough to cover yours. It wouldn’t be smart to broadcast to anyone nearby that you were an unbonded omega. 

Joel’s eyes darkened at the sight of you, illuminated by the crisp night. You knew the jacket swamped over you, the sleeves pushed up to expose your hands and the excess tucked beneath you as you sat. He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, studying your exhausted expression with a touch of concern.

“Mhm, I can see that,” he drawled, his eyes flicking down to the joint in your hand. “You smokin' again?”

Your gaze subconsciously darted down to where his biceps bulged under his flannel. You swallowed thickly, looking back up at his shadowed eyes. “Just so I can fall asleep,” you mumbled, feeling like a teenager who’d just been caught by their dad. You took another greedy puff off the joint before he could say anything else, putting it out against the porch railing before tucking it into a rusty Altoids tin from which it came and into your pocket. 

You exhaled a thick cloud of smoke as you stood, crossing the porch in just your socks and ducking past Joel inside the house. “Made sure your jacket covered my scent and everything, didn’t want any passers by to smell me,” you murmured as you squeezed by him. You smelled like weed and like Joel, the sweet scent that lingered on your skin only detectable if you got close.

The sound of Joel inhaling as you walked past him was audible, as if he was testing your method and making sure he couldn’t pick up your scent. You glanced up at him to see his nostrils flare before he schooled his face into a neutral expression.

He followed you inside, closing and locking the door behind you. "You know that stuff ain't good for you," he said gruffly, his eyes following your every movement.

You were shrugging his jacket off, hanging it back up on the hook next to yours. Your sweater was threadbare, on its last leg before you’d have to look for a new one in an abandoned house or store. “I know, Joel,” you murmured softly, brushing a hand over your face. You crossed your arms over your chest, tucking your freezing hands into your armpits.

Your eyes were bloodshot and glassy, the buzz of being stoned making your movements more languid. “Only do it sometimes, just when I can’t sleep,” you said, trying to assure the alpha across from you.

Joel's expression softened at your words, but still, a hint of concern etched his features. The set of his jaw told you he knew what these sleepless nights did to you; the bags under your eyes and the fatigue in your movements didn't escape his notice. 

"Sometimes is too much," he rumbled, closing the distance between you. He reached out, his calloused fingers gently brushing an errant snowflake off your face, his touch tender despite the roughness of his hands. You closed your eyes at the contact, his skin rough against yours before he pulled away. 

"If you can't sleep, you should come to me. You know that, right?"

“Joel, s’okay, it doesn’t happen very often,” you murmured, stubborn as always. 

You knew Joel could help you sleep in an instant, all it would take is you crawling on the couch with him and pressing your nose against his scent gland. It was one of the easiest parts of being an omega with an alpha around. But, you were stubborn to a fault.

The corners of his mouth tightened, and he let out a low growl. "I don't care if it's once in a blue moon or every goddamn night," he snapped. "You need to start relying on me more. I don’t know why you gotta deny your nature and act like you’re so goddamn tough. Stop being so damn independent all the damn time."

You huffed, not letting Joel sway you. His frustration was obvious, you could smell it mixing with the musk of his scent. “You wouldn’t say that to me if I was an alpha or a beta,” you bite back, brow furrowing. It was rare that Joel got mad at you like this–especially over something as stupid as being hard-headed. You’d been that way the whole time he knew you: an omega fighting her designation.

The day you presented as an omega you cried yourself sick. It was like your life had ended, every opportunity seemingly disappearing in an already difficult world after the outbreak. You were hellbent on proving yourself to be worth more.

Joel's jaw tightened as his eyes flashed darkly at your words. He stepped closer, closing the distance between you until he was towering over you. "You don't get it, do you?" he asked softly, the sneer apparent in his voice. "It's different for you. You're an omega."

Your throat tightened, frustration cutting through the relaxed haze of your high. “If you don’t trust me to take care of myself, Joel, why did you take me on as your patrol partner?” you hissed, staring up into his gaze defiantly. You were starting to get emotional, tears stinging at the backs of your eyes as you tried to suppress them. Joel stood over a head taller than you, glaring down his aquiline nose at you as you argued.

His scent was strong in the small hallway, his chest puffing up as he cornered you near the wall. His arm shot out, palm pressing to the dilapidated wood paneling near your head.

"I brought you because I trust you to shoot straight," he retorted, his voice rough. "Not because I think you can handle yourself on your own!"

His words made you flinch, the hurt clear on your face. Your mind was reeling, struggling to process what he said as you balked at him. It dawned on you how stupid it was to think an alpha would trust you. To them, you’d never be more than just an omega even if you pushed yourself to the brink. 

You didn’t give him an answer, slipping under his arm and heading to the small bedroom you occupied at the back of the house. Everything in you was screaming to hide, to make yourself small. Distress scent was already pouring off of you in waves, leaving the air bitter as you tried to hold the tears threatening to spill until you got behind the bedroom door.

“Goodnight, Joel,” you hissed, slamming the door shut behind you and locking it.

—

You didn’t know what time it was when you woke up, just that there was light streaming in through the aged blinds covering the window. The fire in your room must have gone out when you slept, the air was frigid as you sat up in bed. Peeking out the frosted glass revealed there was more snow on the ground than when you fell asleep—meaning another day of holing up in the cabin until it passed.

You had half the mind to hide in your room all day, not wanting to face Joel after last night. You cried yourself to sleep, betrayal weighing heavy on your heart. You still felt the sting of it, part of you wondering if he even respected you as a teammate or just thought you were a pathetic, bumbling omega he got stuck with. 

If it wasn’t for your stomach growling, you probably would have stayed in hiding.

The door to the room creaked when you opened it, deciding to venture out to get water and something to settle your upset stomach. The light was dim out in the rest of the cabin, the dying embers of the fire casting an orange glow across everything. Joel was a lump on the couch, but you couldn’t tell if he was awake.

Joel hardly slept, guilt and worry gnawing at his gut. He had tossed and turned on the couch all night, listening to the sound of your sobs through the door until you finally fell asleep. If he could go back and take it all back, he would in a heartbeat.

It wasn't the creaking of the floorboards that woke Joel, but the faint scent of a distressed omega. He stirred, his eyes fluttering open to see you quietly entering the kitchen. He watched you in silence, guilt-stricken features as he studied your careful movements. As he slowly rose from the couch, moving towards the kitchen in a silent prowl, his eyes never left you.

“You're not gonna eat just jerky all day, are you?" he asked gruffly, leaning against the kitchen door frame. You were gnawing on a piece of it, staring out the bay window over the sink in the long-abandoned kitchen.

In your haze, Joel managed to surprise you. You yelped at the sound of his deep voice, spinning around and falling back against the kitchen counter. “Jesus Christ, Joel,” you said, finding your footing again. Your heart was pounding in your chest as you turned to look out the front window at the snowy landscape surrounding the cabin. “Just about gave me a heart attack.”

A hint of a smirk tugged at the corner of Joel's lips as he watched you jump, a low, raspy chuckle rumbling in his chest. "Sorry 'bout that," he drawled, running a hand through his disheveled hair. His eyes followed your gaze out to the window, the snow falling silently outside.

You didn’t know what to say to him, your chapped lips pursed as the two of you stared at one another. He looked worse for wear, his dark hair was sticking up in every direction, his under eyes so dark they almost looked bruised.

He cleared his throat, the silence between you two deafening. "Can we talk?" he asked. He cringed at his own question, knowing that of course he wanted to talk, he knew he had to talk. He just didn't know how to start. He reached out towards you, but stopped himself halfway, his hand dropping limply to his side 

You sniffled, running a hand over your face as you took a deep breath. “What if I said no?” you whispered, crossing your arms over your chest. The smell of your distress was all too clear, the acrid scent of it covering your normal honeyed-earth smell. 

"Please."

The word was out of his mouth before he could stop it. The pleading tone in his voice surprised him, and he knew it surprised you too. He was an alpha, a strong and powerful one at that, he didn't beg.

But as he looked at you, at your exhausted frame and red-rimmed eyes, he didn't care. He'd beg for your forgiveness a thousand times if he had to. Crawl to you on his knees. It pained him to see you like this. Especially when it was his fault.

The sound of Joel’s deep, twangy, Texas-accented voice begging made one of your eyebrows arch. He never begged, he never had to before. Not alphas like him. You sighed, hazel eyes darting to look out the window over the kitchen sink at the snow. “I’m listening,” you mumbled.

Joel let out a breath through his nose, his heart rate returning to normal. At least you were giving him the chance to explain.

The only sound in the room while Joel put his words together was the floor creaking beneath you as you turned to face him again, watching his coffee-colored eyes nervously flit up to yours. It was times like this that made it hard to believe Joel was the alpha and you were the omega, when he’d snap and then come running back to you with his tail between his legs like a kicked puppy.

You used your arms to boost yourself onto the counter, feet dangling off as you settled on the cool tile. You were nearly Joel’s height this way, leveling the playing field a bit by making him look straight at you. You pulled a knee up to your chest, the other leg still hanging down as you mashed your cheek against your kneecap.

He took a step closer, standing in front of your bent leg now as he looked at you. His rugged features softened as he spoke, his voice gruff. "Look...what I said last night," he began, "It was really shitty, and I didn’t mean it, and I'm sorry."

He reached out, calloused fingers gently wrapping around your ankle, giving it a squeeze. "I just... I worry about you, that's all." His thumb pressed the wonky stick and poke tattoo of the omega symbol on the inside of your ankle. You’d given it to yourself when you were seventeen, some rebellious act of reclaiming your identity. Now it was just a faded memory of growing up in a quarantine zone.

Joel always had a hard time with words, expressing himself more through actions than any alpha you’d ever seen. You rarely shied away from his touches, coming to expect them over the past year the two of you had been assigned together as patrol partners. 

You sighed, blowing air out through your nose as your head tilted. Joel stood close to you, your hanging calf pressed along his thigh as you met his gaze. “I know you worry, Joel,” you said softly, looking up at him through your lashes. “But you gotta treat me like a teammate, not like you’re my babysitter.”

He looked embarrassed, his eyes darting to the ground and then back up to you. "I never meant to make you feel like you were just some object, or incompetent. I just…” he sighs, struggling to find the right words. “You make me so damn frustrated sometimes."

You huffed, shaking your head. “You don’t get to try to justify it, Joel,” you said, an exasperated tone in your voice. Of course he’d qualify it, find it wasn’t entirely his fault. “You reduced me to an incompetent partner, useless. Just an object for breeding,” you whispered, your glare hard. “Felt like you had no respect for me unless I was bending over for you and letting you fuck me.”

Joel bristled at the words, the sting of them hurting almost as much as the pain on your face. He clenched his hands into fists, his whole body tensing with the effort to keep the need to comfort you under control.

He took a step forward, his eyes fixed on you. "I do respect you, dammit," he growled. "You don't think I don't admire how strong and independent you are? If I didn't respect you and trust you to have my back, I would have found a new partner a long time ago."

“You said all I was good for was shooting straight, Joel,” you said, your voice cracking as you spoke. You worried your lower lip with your teeth, fingers tapping nervously against your bent leg. It felt like you were going against your DNA, standing up to Joel like this.

Joel ran a hand over his face, the weight of his actions sinking in. He knew you were right. He knew he had crossed a line.

"You're right, it was unfair," he said, his eyes darting to the floor. "I was just frustrated, I was worried about you. This job, it's dangerous, and you've got such a damn stubborn, independent streak. You never ask for help, and I always worry I'm gonna wake up one day and find you not there, and it’ll be my fault for not being fast enough."

You huff, your expression softening slightly at Joel’s confession. You knew he was dealing with his own demons, his own reasons to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He was still standing between your legs, fingers looped around your ankle. “Joel,” you murmured, “I’m not running away or anything, I just was smoking a joint to help myself sleep.”

Joel looked up at you when you spoke, his gaze lifting from the faded tattoo. He hated how defeated he felt, and he hated how hurt you looked.

"Damnit, you don't need to do that. Why can't you just come to me when you can't sleep, and I can help you sleep the right way?" he sighed, moving in closer.

His frustration made you even more angry. “Fuck, Joel. Does the sleeping thing really bother you that much?” you huffed, moving further back from him on the counter and turning to look out the window. You felt queasy, chewing over the idea of telling him a bit of the truth. You decided to go for it. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve never scented an alpha before.”

The wind against the side of the cabin was the only thing filling the silence. Most omegas got scenting partners out of the way when they were teenagers, exploring their desires and learning what they liked in a mate. But you were in your late twenties and never tried any of it because you were too busy fighting your designation. You didn’t want any part of being an omega, even if that meant not experiencing things.

You didn’t even know what you were doing—didn’t even know where to start.

Joel's eyes widened when you confessed that you had never scented an alpha before. The revelation took him aback, making his breath hitch in his chest. His mind went through a whirlwind of thought, the realization that he would be your first alpha to scent you hitting him like a truck. He can hardly consider the fact that it was contingent on if you let him. 

His omega had never scented an alpha before. The possessive instincts within him roared to life, clawing at the edges of his mind. No, you’re not his. He needed to stop thinking that.

"You never-" he began, his voice rough and strained. "You never scented anyone?"

Your cheeks erupted with warmth, embarrassment rocking through you. You ended up covering your face with your palms, not wanting Joel to look at you. “I’ve scented other omegas… betas.” It felt too submissive, too docile. You didn’t want to be like other omegas you saw in the quarantine zone and Jackson—stuck bending to their alphas’ every whim, you wanted to be free.

“So don’t get so offended that I haven’t scented you, it’s not personal.”

Joel's jaw dropped at your confession, his mind spinning. He had known you were stubborn and independent, but this? He had never heard of an omega not scenting anyone by the time they were out of their teenage years.

The way you covered your face, the smell of your embarrassment and shyness filling the air, made something primal stir in his chest. The thought of no other alpha ever having the opportunity to even scent you was both thrilling and infuriating.

“I just wanted someone to treat me like their equal,” you whispered, crossing your arms over your chest. It was hard for you to let the silence exist between you, always filling it. You had to move from the weight of Joel’s surprised gaze, making you turn to the window and stare out of it. The snow was so heavy outside the cabin that you could hardly see the trees. “I would do it, I just don’t want to become someone’s property. Which I know scenting is really different and far from mating and being claimed but it feels like the first step.”

Joel's heart ached as you spoke. He knew you wanted equality and respect, something he always thought you deserved. But to know that you had never allowed yourself to feel comforts like being scented because of fear of being treated like property was something he hadn't realized.

He leaned towards you, trying to see your eyes. "You know I wouldn't treat you like that, right? I would never make you feel less than an equal just because you're an omega," he said, his voice low and gentle.

“You tried to last night,” you mumbled, still facing away from Joel. You leaned your forehead against the window, the glass cool against your skin. That was what made it so difficult, you couldn’t forget the tone Joel spoke to you with—it was the same tone that alphas used to force omegas to submit. It rattled you.

Joel clenched his jaw at your words, guilt bubbling up in his chest again. He knew you were right, that he had tried to reduce you to just your designation, that he had spoken to you in the way that made most omegas crumble.

He moved closer, close enough that he could smell the sour scent of your distress again. Everything at him was screaming to make it better, to fix it.

"You’re right,” he admitted. “I was a dick, and I hurt you. I won’t do it again. I swear on Ellie’s life."

You felt warmth radiating off him and onto your back. “You really scared me, Joel,” you whispered, your voice wavering as you spoke. That was the truth of it, he scared you last night. “I know you can overpower me in a second if you wanted to—I really have to trust you not to. My life is in your hands.”

As you spoke, Joel’s heart ached. He knew you were right. You were strong and fierce, but he was an alpha, and he could overpower you in a heartbeat if he wanted to. He gently squeezed your ankle, tugging on it. He could feel the heat radiating off you, and it took every ounce of restraint he had not to press himself against you.

“I know, I know I did. I’m sorry, baby,” he murmured, the nickname coming out before he could stop himself.

You sniffled, wiping tears from the corners of your eyes. You didn’t know what to do, anxiety binding your chest in knots. Joel stood close to you, nearly touching your back as his hand flattened against the porcelain countertop. “Alphas don’t have to think about that kind of stuff, ya know? You don’t have to constantly worry about it. You could be alone for your whole life and it wouldn’t be a problem, it’s not the same for omegas.” 

Your forehead was still pressed against the window pane, your body curling up to make you small. “Don’t gotta worry about an alpha forcing a claim on you, or killing you if you refuse. I’ve got to think about it all the time, even in Jackson. And then you wonder why I hate being an omega.”

Pain and sadness wrenched in Joel's chest as you spoke, his heart breaking at the vulnerability in your voice. He knew you were right—alphas didn't have the same worries and fears that you did.

He closed the distance between you, his chest pressing against your back as he leaned over the counter. He could feel the tremors in your body, and he desperately wanted to fix it, to make it better, to take your pain away.

"I know, baby," he murmured again, hooking his chin on your shoulder. The wiry strands of his beard curled against the collar of your sweater. "I know."

There was something in his solemn tone that made you break, a pathetic whimper rocking out of you before you could stifle it. He sounded so small, you never heard him sound like that before. It cracked a hole in your defenses just enough for the whole structure to come crumbling down.

You let out a sob, turning against Joel until you could bury your face in his chest. You cried into his flannel, fingers twisting in the well-worn material. He was still your person, your best friend in the whole world. You always turned to him.

Joel's heart ached as you buried your face into his chest. He could feel your tears soaking into his shirt, and his arms wrapped around you, pulling you as close as physically possible.

He held you tightly, one hand coming up to cup the back of your head, his fingers tangling in your hair. He gently guided your head to rest against his chest, his chin resting on top of your head.

"Shhh, baby, it's okay," he whispered, his voice rough and thick with emotion. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Wanted to take it all back the second I said it, I was such an asshole."

You didn’t know how long you cried for, clinging to Joel like a life preserver in a storm. He held you close, his calloused fingers tangling in your hair and his chin resting on the crown of your head. You inhaled his scent from him, the deep, musky smell of an alpha, mixed with a spicy scent that was entirely Joel’s. 

Joel held you through your tears, his fingers running through your hair in a soothing motion. He inhaled deeply, his nose buried in your hair, the scent of your distress beginning to fade and be replaced by a more familiar honeyed earth scent.

It took you a while to calm down, making you hiccup as your tears eventually ran dry. His shirt was soaked with them, but he didn't care. He just wanted you to feel better, he wanted to fix whatever he had broken.

"You all cried out, darlin'?” he murmured, his voice soft and gentle.

You nodded against Joel, sniffling still. “I know you’re sorry, Joel,” you mumbled, your voice soft and thick from crying. You still held onto him, face pressed into his sternum.

Joel's heart clenched at your mumbled words, his hold on you tightening slightly. "I'll say it as many times as you want to hear it, baby," he said, his own voice rough with emotion. He rubbed slow, soothing circles on your back. Your body was pressed against him, warm and soft.

Joel’s voice sounded thick, his Texan drawl heavier. You just held on, trying to catch your breath. The wind sounded louder outside, buffeting against the roof and filling the silence between you two.

Your distress scent faded, only leaving your cloyingly sweet smell behind. Joel took another breath, inhaling. It was intoxicating, the way you smelled. Almost honeyed earth after a heavy rain, it was addictive. He always had a hard time focusing when he was close to you like this.

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing on you and you only. He continued to hold you, his fingers still running through your hair. "Feeling better, darlin'?"

You nodded, pulling away slightly. You wiped your face off, your skin damp from your crying. “Yeah, I’m better,” you whispered. You looked up at Joel for a moment, your eyes bloodshot and watery. 

Joel's eyes roamed over your face, taking in your puffy eyes and running nose and swollen lips. You looked beautiful even when you had been crying, and it took all of his self-restraint not to pull you back against him again.

He nodded, his thumb coming up to lightly trace your wet cheeks, wiping away a few remaining tears. "I’m glad, darlin'," he murmured, his eyes not leaving yours.

Your lips were pursed thoughtfully, considering. “So you’ll start trusting me to handle myself?” you asked, trying to negotiate. “And I’ll rely on my instincts more,” you offered, still whispering. “Alright?”

Joel's heart was pounding in his chest as he held your ankle, his thumb rubbing over the faded tattoo there. He knew you were right, that he often let his protectiveness get the best of him when it came to you. He wanted to keep you safe at all costs, but sometimes in his efforts, he ended up stifling you.

He exhaled deeply, feeling the guilt and the weight of his actions settle heavily on his shoulders. He knew he would agree to anything you asked. "I will, but you have no idea how hard it is," he murmured, his gaze never leaving your face.

You nodded, tears still burning in your eyes. You needed him to agree, or this wouldn’t work. “Joel, should we change patrol partners?” you asked, tilting your head. You didn’t want to, but it also wasn’t safe for him to constantly put himself in harm’s way for you. “Someone easier for you to be around might be better. And I need someone who trusts me.”

Joel's stomach lurched at your question, the thought of being paired with someone other than you making his blood run cold. "No," he growled, his hand tightening around your ankle reflexively. "No. We're not changing partners."

He stepped even closer to you, his eyes filled with determination. "I don't want anyone else. I don't want you paired with anyone else. It's you and me," he insisted, his voice firm.

Joel crowded in close, pulling you toward the edge of the counter. Your knee pressed against his waist, his belt warm through the hole in the knee of your sweatpants. You clicked your tongue softly, your small hand smoothing along the back of his larger one. “S’okay, I’m not going anywhere,” you whispered, making sure he looked you in the eye. “You and me. Just gotta start trusting me.”

Joel's shoulders sagged with relief, the tension draining from his body as he heard your reassurance. The feel of your hand against his, the way your knee rested against his hip, it grounded him, reminded him of what was important.

“I trust ya.” He leaned in even closer, resting his forehead against yours. "You and me," he repeated, his voice a low rumble. "Always."

He took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet, honeyed scent of you. It filled his senses, calming his nerves.

You basked in the closeness for a moment, letting your eyes slip shut as you inhaled his deep, heady musk of him. It felt resolved for now. “Alright big guy, let’s make some food,” you said, lightly patting Joel’s stomach with a hand before you twisted around him off the counter in the kitchen.

Being outside of Jackson made you miss electricity. Thankfully you knew there was a chance that there would be a storm during the scouting run, packing the truck with extra food and firewood that had now come in handy. 

But, neither of you realized the storm would last for so long. It was three days that you two were stuck in the cabin, watching as the snow piled higher and higher. You weren’t waiting for it to melt, just to stop coming down so Joel could see your way out without crashing into a tree or a boulder.

You cracked two cans of Chef Boyardee that Joel found in one of the houses you picked through, setting them in the fireplace to warm as you sat cross-legged on the rug in front of it.

Joel was moving around behind you, the springs of the couch squealing as he sat on them. His gaze made the hair on the back of your neck prickle. But, he stayed silent—typical behavior for him. 

You looked at the grandfather clock on the wall, surprised to see that it was already nearing three in the afternoon. You must have slept in later than you expected, most of the day already having gone by. Honestly, it was better that way, you and Joel were starting to get a bit of cabin fever.

Silence permeated the room, brightly patterned oven mitts you found in a drawer covering your hands as you scarfed down the food. “So you used to buy this stuff at like, the store?” you asked, finally breaking the quiet as you turned to look at Joel.

You were little when the outbreak started, you didn’t remember much of what life was like before. It was normal for you to ask him things. Joel felt like a bridge to a different time.

It always caught him off guard when you asked about life before the outbreak—he couldn’t help but forget how young you were compared to him. He nodded as he chewed, glancing up to see you backlit by the fire. It made you look like you had a gold light surrounding you.

“Yeah, we used to buy everything at grocery stores,” he said, clearing his throat a bit as he talked. “There was more food than you could imagine, really, there was too much. A lot of it got thrown away.”

You listened with rapt attention, chewing the ravioli thoroughly. You really couldn’t imagine such abundance—even in Jackson everything was grown and made to satisfy the needs of a few seasons. Nothing ever went to waste, though. 

“That sounds like a dream,” you said softly, finishing your food. You stretched out on your back on the rug, the fire warming your side as you got comfortable. 

“These days it seems like one,” he mumbled, the sound of his spoon scraping the can filling the room. He couldn’t look at you directly, it felt like he was staring at the sun. It was hard not to go to you. His palms itched with the need to feel your fire-warmed skin beneath them. 

Joel got up sharply, running his fingers through his hair as he looked out the window. “M’gonna go hunting before it gets too dark out,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he walked away from you.

You hummed your acknowledgment, watching Joel pull on his gloves and his jacket and sling his rifle over his shoulder. He smelled the collar of the coat, your scent probably lingered from when you’d borrowed it last night.

“Be careful,” you murmured, watching Joel from where you lay. You wanted to get up, go adjust his jacket and the twisted strap of his rifle. But you stayed where you were.

“Always am,” he said, giving you a once-over before heading out the front door and into the snow. 

You busied yourself with melting snow to fill the big plastic bin Joel had dragged inside from the truck, cleaning the guns and mending some clothes with a needle and thread. Normally you’d go hunting with Joel, but you could tell he needed space for a bit. 

The cold woke him up, made him feel like he finally got his head out of water. Being stuck in that cabin with you—with your smell—was driving him crazy. The two of you spent a lot of time together, but it normally was outside. This was the first time you’d been smashed together in close quarters for more than a day. 

It was making him lose his mind.

He’d rather be shot than admit it, but he spent the first ten minutes of his hunting trip holding the collar of his jacket to his nose and fisting his cock. As soon as he realized he could smell you on the canvas, he’d been hard as a rock. 

Joel never met an omega whose scent got to him as much as yours.

He held the aging fabric in a fist to his face as he stroked up and down his shaft. His eyes were screwed shut, jaw clenched so hard it ached. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine that his spit-slicked hand was yours, the image of you stretched out on the rug stuck in his mind. The fire illuminated the contours of your body, highlighting the swell of your breasts and the indent of your waist.

It wasn’t the first time he fantasized about you. It started with a dream of you crawling into his sleeping bag while you were out on a scouting mission, pressing up close and nuzzling into him like you were his, whispering everything you wanted him to do to you in his ear. 

He woke up from that painfully hard, thankful that he was in the safety of his bedroom in Jackson rather than with you. But it spiraled viciously from there—even if he didn’t start off thinking of you, he would certainly get there eventually. Knotting you, biting you, fucking you. It all lived in his head. 

Joel groaned, biting down on his lower lip as his cum spilled onto the snow. The tree he was leaning against was rough on the back of his head as he slumped a bit, taking deep breaths. It took him a few moments for the ringing in his ears to stop, head finally clearing as he tucked himself back into his pants. 

With the edge taken off he readied himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead before grabbing his rifle off his shoulder. There was always some level of shame he felt after he jerked off to the thought of you, knowing he’d have to face you again and pretend nothing was amiss. 

The wind howled as he walked deeper into the forest, pushing his thoughts aside as he started to look for any semblance of tracks in the snow.

—

The rabbit Joel killed was a decent enough dinner with the dried soup you brought from Jackson, the meal rich enough to lull you both into silence as you thumbed through old paperback books you found in a closet. 

It was long dark when you told Joel you’d be going to bed, wishing him goodnight as you made your way to the bedroom. You were tired enough to fall asleep with little fuss, curling into the thick quilt and going unconscious almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.

But, of course, you didn’t stay that way. 

Screams filled the space around you. You were unseeing, choking on thick smoke. Opening your mouth to speak only resulted in a scream, the sound ragged and desperate. You could hear gunfire in the distance, but you didn’t know which way to look.

You were alone in this place, that much you could tell. The air was thick and warm—smelled like the omega shelter back in Vegas, you spent two years there. You reached out ahead of you into the darkness, hoping to find a wall or furniture or something. But it was empty, each step further into the black maw that seemed to have no ending. 

The sound of clicking made your hair stand on end. You were all-too familiar with that sound, the labored breathing of an infected following it. You didn’t know which way to move, the clicking was directionless. There were no weapons, no way to run. 

Clicking filled your ears, directly on top of you. Teeth tore into your flesh, ripping into your arm as—

You woke with a jolt, eyes wide in the darkness as you let out a choked gasp. Screaming still haunted the back of your mind as you sat up, trembling hands running over your face as you tried to enter the world of the living.

Your nightmares were relentless, memories of the fall of the Las Vegas QZ still fresh in your mind despite it happening a decade ago. The explosions that brought the walls down, the influx of raiders and infected alike. The smell of smoke and burning flesh and hair made you choke, forcing you out of bed as you fumbled for your Altoid’s tin on the nightstand.

Joel was asleep when you crept through the living room, good ear pressed into the cushion of the couch as you tiptoed past. The night was cold, Joel’s jacket back on your shoulders as you looked off the porch and pinched the joint between shivering fingers.

It stopped snowing, at least. The sky was cloudy, the moon peaking through sections of the clouds and making the snowy landscape glitter like diamonds. You and Joel would be able to leave in the morning.

A gust of wind made you shudder, the joint slipping from your fingers. It was a scramble to catch it, sending you to your knees. The wooden boards creaked as you tried to grab the remainder of your joint as it rolled. Your fingers just barely missed it, clutching the empty air as you watched it fall through a crack in the floorboards and disappear.

“Fuck!” you groaned, sitting back on your heels. You’d be awake the rest of the night, still feeling edgy and paranoid from your nightmare. You dragged your hands over your face, exasperated.

You headed inside, defeated. Joel’s jacket was returned to its hook as you looked at the way the fire lit up the room orange. The shadows flickered along the walls, sending shivers down your spine as you remembered waking up to the same glow in Las Vegas.

Then your gaze landed on Joel, still comfortably sleeping on the couch. One leg hung off, planted against the floor as his other foot was far over the edge—he was far too tall to be sleeping on the sofa.

You paused, chewing your lip as you stared at him. If you swallowed your pride, you’d be able to sleep tonight. 

It was a hard thing, letting go of your fears. You realized if there was ever an alpha you’d bend to, it would be Joel. Something about him made you trust him, even when he was harsh and rude and distant, you still knew him inside out. 

Part of you knew he was yours, even if you wouldn’t admit it. It was the talk of Jackson, Joel panting at the heels of some young omega like a lost puppy—you heard the whispers. 

You decided to give him a chance.

He didn’t stir as you approached, wondering if you should wake him up or just clamber onto him. The couch was already cramped enough with just him on it.

You tentatively reached out to shake his arm, Joel’s dark eyes opening almost as soon as you touched him. He sat up fast, looking ready to fight as his gaze took in every inch of the cabin. You yelped softly, moving back from him in surprise.

“What’s goin’ on?” he asked, voice thick and raspy from sleep as he started to get up. 

“I can’t sleep,” you admitted sheepishly, wringing your hands together in front of you. You felt silly asking him after everything that had happened between you two, but you promised him you’d follow your instincts more. His muscles tensed, you didn’t mean to cause such a commotion, your heart in your throat. “It’s stupid… I-I can figure it out.”

Joel relaxed, the tension in his shoulders leaving as he processed what you said. Your concern made him smile softly, a hand reaching out to curl around your shoulder. “Want me to help you sleep?” he asked, voice low. He treated you carefully, not wanting to scare you off. 

He was honored you were even willing to ask.

You huffed softly, brows furrowing as you nodded. His grin stretched, heart thumping with excitement as he obliged you. He was relieved you were asking, wanting to be a good alpha for you. Wanting to help you. “We can stay out here or go to the bed, up to you, baby,” he murmured, dark eyes focused on you as you considered. 

“The bed,” you mumbled, turning with little fanfare. Joel followed hot on your heels, warm at your back. You were anxious, breaths short and shallow as you tried to calm down. 

It was no big deal. It was just Joel. Your Joel.

You got in first, curling beneath the bedding as you turned to look up at Joel. He was toeing off his heavy boots and taking off his belt, shining orange and yellow in the dim firelight. He looked formidable from this angle, tall and broad like most alphas were.

“You alright?” Joel asked, noticing the trepidation in your gaze. He sat on the edge of the bed, one hand resting on the old quilt as he leaned a bit toward you. “I can go back to the couch. Don’t want you to feel pressured—I won’t do nothing you don’t want to do.”

You hummed, nodding. “It’s just sleeping, right?” you whispered softly. Your eyes were wide as you looked up at Joel, laying back on the pillow. 

He nodded. “As easy as closing your eyes,” he assured, his drawl thick. 

You couldn’t imagine the luxury of sleep coming so easy, but you nodded anyway. Joel clambered into bed with you, sliding beneath the covers with a sigh of relief. You were sure it felt better on his back than the couch, watching him stretch as he settled next to you.

“Just gotta come here,” he said, looking over at you. You looked so sweet in the dim light, eyes wide and lips parted. He wanted to reach out and pull you over himself, instead he dropped his hand, fingers tapping the top of the comforter in anticipation.

You acquiesced, scooting over to meld into his side. His arm curled around you, occupying the void between your neck and shoulder. Joel was so warm, it felt like you were cuddling with a space heater as you settled into him. His big hand pressed between your shoulder blades, rolling you toward him and tucking your face into his throat.

It was so easy to get comfortable, melting into him as you took in a deep breath. You always thought he smelled so comforting, warm and a little musky. You only ever caught his scent in passing, never concentrated like this.

Joel felt how you relaxed against him, a smile on his face as one of your arms stretched across his chest and your nose pressed into the hollow of his throat. It took you a few deep breaths to completely let go of your tension, the set of your shoulders sagging against him. “That’s it,” he murmured as he rubbed your back.

It only took a matter of minutes for you to feel your eyelids drooping, your breathing slowing as you meld into him. “M’tired,” you mumbled, sounding groggy. Your words were muffled against his neck, lips ghosting over the delicate skin of his throat. 

Joel chuckled softly, fingers lightly curling at the nape of your neck. “I know, baby,” he said. He glanced at you, dark eyes watching how your eyelids got heavier and heavier with every blink. He was surprised you were so willing to scent him, and how fast it worked.

He shifted slightly, bearded cheek pressing against the top of your head as he let his eyes shut. He felt so calm. The fitful sleep he normally experienced eluded him as you both finally drifted off.

—

Sleep became a sweltering, restless thing throughout the night. Dreams took on dark silhouettes, feverish shapes and flashes of light that seared and burned through your veins. You were weightless in the murky water surrounding you, fingers reaching for something. Someone to anchor yourself to.

Joel.

All your senses smashed into one, an explosion as life-altering as the Big Bang. You were a writhing mass of feeling that had you leaning into air heavy with tension and desire.

He was in it with you, just out of sight. You were so familiar with his presence, his smell, you always knew the weight of when he was nearby. Then, all at once he was with you in the dark place.

He was everywhere. The press and slide of heated skin where your bodies met and separated. You called for him, voice catching and dying in your throat before you had the chance.

You were burning from the inside, your spine an inferno as you reached for him in the dark. You knew he would fix it, knew he was what you needed. He would get you through the blaze and onto the other side.

He was a weighted shadow around you. Completely surrounding you, pulling you tight and grounding you to the anchor of his body. He kept you from drifting off into the fathoms of the abyss.

“Joel,” you whispered. You heard him respond to you in turn, the sound of your name like honey on his lips. The press of his mouth to your neck was like napalm and jolted you—

— and you woke with a rattling gasp, lurching where you lay in bed next to him. Sweat was beaded under your arms and around your temples, heat radiating from where Joel’s arms held you to his side.

You were panting into the cool air of the cabin, blinking until the unfamiliar shapes found themselves into focus once more. It was daylight, far past sunrise from the way sunlight was filtering through the blinds.

Your skin felt a size too small. Everything was uncomfortable and itchy as you stirred in Joel’s embrace, lifting your head out of his neck to take in deep breaths of clean air. It still carried his scent, permeating the room throughout the night. The area between your legs ached like a wound, your thighs squeezing together to relieve the throbbing. 

Something made him wake, the air shifted and thickened around him as he slowly blinked into the morning air. Part of him almost surged out of bed, ready to defend and protect. But he understood on first inhale.

The smell of you was everywhere. It was all-encompassing and alluring, filling his senses all at once. Saliva was rushing to his mouth, your scent was an intoxicating thing that had his nerves alight. Desire took hold of him, real and rooted in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.

You knew when he woke, you didn’t even have to look at his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” you gasped, turning away from him as your hand snaked between your legs to feel the mess of your sex. The predicament you put the two of you into was less than ideal. “I thought we had more time—I didn’t mean to.”

He was relieved. You were still in there, in your own mind enough to talk. His mind was slow to the uptake, blood rushing elsewhere as his thoughts turned over themselves. He was trying to remember from before, trying to figure out what it meant.

A soft heat. A distant memory from a junior high health class sprung into his mind. Not a hard heat brought on by a cycle. A soft one could be brought on by stress or exposure to an alpha, but they are shorter than a hard heat. Temporary. Sometimes a single knotting is enough to pull an omega from a soft heat unlike hard heats that last a week.

Joel cursed. It was too loud in the quiet of the room. His head was swimming from the force of the blood rushing to his cock, painful and aching as you moved away from his side.

“Gotta tell me right now, do you want me to go?” Joel asked, already rolling toward you. He followed the way your arm disappeared beneath the waistband of your sweatpants, your face twisted with both pain and pleasure.

It was a sight he only thought he would see in his wildest fantasies.

You were rigid and panting, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment as you tried to order your thoughts. You would be lying if you said you hadn’t thought of Joel helping you through a heat before. His rough and attentive hands guiding you through it.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, voice cutting into a whine. “You don’t have to—I just, I can do it on my own if I have to.”

The air between you was aflame before Joel kicked the quilt off and turned toward you. The need to give someone, you, what you needed was burning in him. It was a reminder that even after all this time he was still an alpha, he could still do this for you. 

A wet stamp of his lips on your throat made you keen, tilting your head back against the pillow to give him more space. His hand curled around your jaw and pulled you to him, lips smashing together in a fervent kiss. It all felt like it was building for far longer than the last evening, the urgency as you opened your mouth against his was the culmination of nearly a year of pining.    

The kiss deepened, his body tipping into yours and setting his skin on fire. Joel grabbed you with a wide hand, shifting you fully beneath him as his mouth dropped to your throat. He bit down hard enough to make you jolt, hands grabbing onto his biceps.

You were still mumbling into the air, shaking from holding back. Joel took your jaw in his hand and pressed his forehead to yours, his dark salt-and-pepper curls already damp from sweat. “Stop, baby,” he murmured softly, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips. “I know what you need, I’ve got ya.”

It was easy to give in then, nodding as you both moved together quickly. Joel stripped you of your clothes, tossing them into the room as your fingers fumbled with the buttons on his flannel. You wanted to feel his skin under your hands, trace the contours of his muscles and the shapes of his scars. He was deliciously broad, all realistic working-man muscles–he had never been the flamboyant type.

He couldn’t help but press his cock into the crease of your hip as his nose traced to the curve of your throat, taking in the sweet scent there. His knot ached with the friction, a groan pulled from his throat as he devoured your mouth.

A big hand gripped at your belly and then your hip, positioning you so he could settle between your bent knees. He blindly found his rightful place between them, wide quads pressing against your own. The breath rushed out of him as he reached down and felt your soaked cunt against his fingertips.

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” Joel breathed against your jaw. You were in a haze, hardly processing what Joel was saying as you whined, lifting your hips to the press of his hand. 

The air was punched out of your lungs as he dipped his fingers lower to collect the slick pouring from you, smoothing the rough pads of his fingers over your clit in swirling motions. His other hand flattened over your belly, holding you down to the mattress as he strummed his fingers over you as carefully as he would a guitar.

“Ohh,” you gasped, letting your eyes fall shut at the feeling as your hips stuttered in his hand. “Joel.” 

It was all you could manage to say, all you could manage to think. His expression made your heart trip, your hands reaching for him without hesitation. Your fingers were still slick from when you’d touched yourself upon waking, petting them over his beard as your hips rolled against his hand.

Joel caught the smell of you on your fingers, his dark eyes flashing. His lips dropped open as he sought your hand, pulling your index and middle finger into the hot, wet confines of his mouth. You whined, brows drawing together as warmth covered your face and neck. Needy, wet licks of his tongue took the flavor right off your fingers. 

He couldn’t help but jolt his hips forward, pressing the hard line of his cock against the back of your thigh. A deep sound rumbled from his chest as he let your fingers drop from his mouth, rocking you with his hips again.

The hand between your legs dipped lower, two thick fingers pressing into you. An urge he couldn’t articulate spurred him on, a sympathetic moan escaping him as he watched your back break on a whine. His eyes nearly rolled back in his skull as he felt the tight press of you around every curve and bend of his fingers.

You were painfully sensitive, already feeling yourself tightening around his digits as your thighs clamped around his forearm. It felt wonderful, transcendental, but it wasn’t enough, not right now. “Joel,” you gasped, hips tilting fervently against his hand, “I need–”

He nodded before you could even finish your sentence. He knew, of course he knew.

There was an ache of emptiness as he pulled his fingers from you, taking his cock in his hand and smearing your arousal over it. His weight pressed down above you as he hitched your thighs over his, nudging his hips against yours. You keened at the blunt press of the head of his cock through the seam of your sex, the wet sound of your lips parting for him loud in your ears. 

He teased you for a few moments, pressing the tip of his cock against your clit to make you whine sweetly. The grin on his face was diabolical, he knew it was mean to keep you on edge like this right now–but he couldn’t resist.

“Joel, fuck,” you groaned, digging your nails into his arms. He got the message, rocking forward to find purchase against you and filling you with a hard slot of his hips. You were wet enough to take him in one go.

You both stilled against one another, panting and holding on as you adjusted to the new sensation. Joel never thought in a million years that he would be so lucky. To have you pressed into the mattress beneath him was a dream come true, making him let out a strangled noise as he dropped his weight to his forearms to press his nose back against your neck.

Your cunt pulsing wetly around him brought the dying man back to life, pulling him in as your pants grew more desperate. He let instinct take over, pupils expanding like ink dropped in water as he set his teeth against the soft skin of your shoulder.

It wasn’t gentle. You didn’t want it to be. Joel grabbed you hard and fucked you senseless, driving you deeper and deeper into the mattress. The repetition of him filling you over and over was merciless, reducing you to mush beneath him as you forgot everything aside from his name. He nipped at your collarbones and anywhere else he could reach, each sharp feeling of his teeth drawing a ragged sound from you as your head pressed back into the mattress.

Joel was completely running on instinct, focused on filling you. To pin you down and knot you deep where you were begging for it. 

The walls of your weeping cunt were starting to flutter around him, spine arching like a bow pulled too tight. He grabbed your hip with a wide hand, forcing you to take him deeper. You were whining, mumbling pleas Joel couldn’t quite understand as your hands spasmed on his arms. He pressed his lips against your neck, stamping wet kisses up and down your throat, licking at your heated skin.

He rutted his hips hard against yours, making shivers run up your spine as you tried to catch your breath. You felt frantic, euphoria clouding the edges of your vision as he worked you higher and higher. Everything in you became painfully tight, a strangled whine coming from your throat as your legs shook and squeezed around his hips.

The pleasure was overwhelming, white-hot and practically making you pass out as Joel hitched your leg up, pressing into you as he grunted like an animal. Your whole body spasmed, cunt clamping down around him like a vise as you desperately tried to stay conscious. 

Joel’s hips bunched against yours, his teeth setting into the junction of your neck. The tease of a claiming bite, just enough to make you whimper. He jerked back away from your neck at the last moment, lifting his weight off of you as his dark eyes squeezed shut. Pleasure was licking at the base of his spine, muscles of his abdomen knitting together.

He groaned, spilling inside you and grinding your hips together. Too caught up in his instincts, his head whipped to the side to bite the calf that rested on his shoulder, teeth digging into the meat of it. You keened, pleasure and pain mixing as he pressed in close as his knot began to swell inside you.

The soft sheets embraced his body as Joel collapsed, his weight pressing you into the mattress as you shared each other’s breaths. Your pussy was still pulsing around him, making him tremble as he panted into your throat. The ache of his knot inside you was satiating, drinking a cool glass of water after a long summer’s day.

You brought his mouth to yours, the two of you shifting so Joel was on his back and you sprawled over his chest. He was greedy, thick fingers snaking between your bodies to feel where you two were joined. A broken sound came from his mouth as he felt how you were stretched around his knot.

You traded breaths and open-mouthed kisses, breeching whatever semblance of a chance at a professional relationship after this. Joel’s big hand pressed against your spine, pulling your belly to his as he nuzzled at your cheek, the curve of the bridge of his nose mashing into your heated skin. His beard tickled your face, making you scrunch your nose on occasion as you stamped your lips to his.

He softened enough to slip out of you, making you whine as he dragged his fingers through the mess between your legs and pressed it back inside your cunt. 

It was his intention to pull away, to go to the living room and give you some space now that you no longer needed him. But you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pressing your face into his chest. Your knees hooked around his thighs, moulding your bodies together as the sun casted stripes across you.

You fell asleep that way, hopelessly tangled as your heart rates slowed and breaths grew heavy.

–

You needed him twice more, waking him up at sunset and in the middle of the night as the moon rose high in the sky. Each time was feverish, you woke him desperately by teething at his throat and pressing your bare pussy against the hard muscle of his quad. It was too easy to press his knot inside you both times, the two of you whispering nonsense to one another as you bedded down, Joel sucking lazily at your breasts before you licked and nuzzled the scoop of his throat.

He felt something terrifying as the moonlight illuminated you after taking his knot for a third time, spend and slick leaking from your puffy, abused cunt as you drifted off. The need to keep you wrapped around his heart like a cage, delirium making him want to hide you away in this cabin with him and never go back to Jackson. 

He blearily reminded himself as sleep closed in that you just were in a difficult situation, he was the only alpha you could have turned to. It was nothing personal.

–

Waking up was a luxurious thing, rest seeped into the marrow of his bones as he stretched in the body-warmed sheets. He was lucky you were feverish enough to keep them both warm through the night, the fire in the hearth long burned out. Sun painted his eyelids orange, a hand scrubbing his salt and pepper beard as he finally opened them.

You were curled at his side, eyes open as you looked out the window. Upon his waking you turned to him, pensive and thoughtful as you took in his expression. You were returned to yourself again, calm without the storm threatening to swallow you whole.

“Thank you,” you murmured, voice thick with sleep as you used his arm as a pillow. The smell of sex and sweat was starting to fade, the evidence only in the marks Joel had sucked onto your throat… and your chest… and your stomach… and your inner thighs. He blushed at how carried away he’d gotten, over a year of hidden-away need manifesting as him greedily taking all you were willing to give yesterday.

“You didn’t have to take care of me,” you whispered, the silence from Joel making you panic. He was just looking at you, his curls sticking up every which way as the back of his skull remained pressed into the pillow. 

“‘Course I did, baby,” he murmured, his Texas drawl even thicker first thing in the morning. He reached out to you, gently squeezing your shoulder beneath the grasp of his fingers. “Wasn’t gonna let you suffer.”

You both stared at one another, neither of you daring to move first as though the dream would fall apart. Joel studied you just as you did him, taking in every twitch of your features as his brown eyes turned molten in the morning sun.

It was impossible to say who moved first. Your hand was on Joel’s jaw as his fingers pressed into your waist, lips smashing together in a fervent clash of teeth and tongues. 

You straddled him this time, giving his aching back a break as you leaned over him and kissed his jaw. For some reason you felt more desperate now than in your soft heat, cupping his cheeks with your hands as you curled your fingers into his beard.

There were no excuses this time, truth revealed in the morning light. No biological need driving either of you together aside from your lust.

Joel’s big palm smacked the curve of your ass, making you squeak against his throat before a giggle poured from you. He grinned, squeezing the plush flesh in his hands as he pressed his lips anywhere they could reach.

“Can I?” you whispered, eyes wide as you pulled back to meet his gaze. You looked vulnerable, as though you thought he would reject your advances despite the fact that his cock was already swelling with arousal. He couldn’t even imagine a world where he could reject you.

“Anything you want, baby,” he breathed, ready to burn the world for you if you asked.

You smiled, relief flooding through you. You didn’t think Joel would push you away, but you weren’t sure. Thank god you guessed right.

You spat in the palm of your hand, lifting yourself up just enough to reach between the two of you and take Joel into your hand. Without the haze of your heat blinding you, you were shocked by the size of him. It was hard to believe you were able to take his knot at all given the swell of him beneath your fingers.

Your eyes widened as you bent your head to look down at your hand. “Jesus Christ, Joel,” you murmured, the awe in your voice making his chest puff with pride. You glanced back up at his face, lips parted as you experimentally stroked him along the entirety of his length.

Joel’s nostrils flared as his eyes closed, pride warming your belly as you repeated the motion. The skin of his cock was overheated and velvet-soft, a quiet moan falling from your lips as you watched his expression twist. Precome leaked down to mix with your spit, the head of his cock flushed–part of you was tempted to ignore the aching between your legs to get your mouth on him.

You weren’t that generous, though.

It took a bit of contortion to line Joel up with you before you were pressing down on him, the two of you gasping in unison at the stretch. There was a twinge of pain, but you were too impatient to let him open you up on his fingers. His hands were iron around your hips, the force of his hold almost bruising.

He could see all of you in the morning light, his eyes tracing up as though he was seeing God for the first time. Joel was mesmerized, watching the bounce of your breasts as you rode him, the slight jiggle of the soft flesh of your thighs and lower belly. Your eyes rolled back in a way that made his heart twist, the roll of your hips making him root deep. 

Your hands pressed against his chest, feeling the long-healed scars by knives as you moaned. Joel’s hands smoothed into the creases of your hips, gripping you tight as he brought you down on his cock, hips fucking up into you.

It took all your focus to stay on top of him, thighs trembling as you dug your knees into the soft mattress. Your breath hitched every time he hit the deepest parts of you, eyes rolling back and mouth lolling open. The pleasure was so overwhelming it was almost painful, making you want to sob above him.

Despite your desperate coupling over the past day, this felt entirely different. This was something new and unknown, your bodies moving together as hot flashes of euphoria drip through your veins. 

Joel was in awe, the feeling of your soaked cunt gripping at him was almost too much to handle as the bed creaked beneath his back. He didn’t even realize how loud the springs were last night, too delirious to care. Each rock of his hips made your body pitch up before he shoved you back down in a dizzying loop that had you both groaning. 

Everything in you tightened as he railed into you, nails digging into his chest as the feeling hooked into you and dragged you toward the undertow. You were at the edge of a cliff, balanced dangerously at the edge of it as you whimpered.

“God, can feel you squeezin’ around me,” he breathed, his voice strangled. He railed into you in a frantic rhythm, brows drawn together as he held you so tight you knew you would be sore.

It only took another one, two, three snaps of Joel’s hips against yours before you fell. You barely were able to catch yourself in time, your orgasm spreading through you like a lighting strike as your muscles convulsed and your cunt spasmed around his cock. He cursed, an arm curling around your back and making your spine arch as he held you against him.

Joel couldn’t get enough of you, the wet squeeze of your cunt felt like a heaven he shouldn’t have been allowed in. He was vaguely aware of his mouth running, your name spilling from his lips as he fucked into you, treating you like a toy for his pleasure as he manipulated your hips.

You took everything he gave you, leaning over him to press your mouth against his. You were moaning against one another, begging in whispers. It didn’t take him long to bring you down onto him and keep you there, teeth gritting and breath stuttering as he pumped you full of him. Joel let out a groan through clenched teeth, sounding like a wounded animal as he forced you into stillness for a few moments before letting go.

The rest was easy, you collapsed onto him as Joel kissed and nosed at your hairline. He scented you where he could, feeling possessive in the aftermath. 

You didn’t talk for some time, communicating through touch as you let bliss keep your bodies bound to bed for a little while longer. But the sun was shining in the sky, the truck bed full of supplies for Jackson occupied the back of your mind as you looked down at Joel, soft and sweet.

“Let’s get going?” you asked, sounding more like a demand than a question. You didn’t know what else to do, lifting your chest from his as the air began to cool your sweat. Your legs were shaking like a colt’s against the floorboards, spend dripping down your legs before you wiped it away with your sweatpants. You would change into jeans for the drive home anyways.

Joel watched you with curious eyes, seeing the way you distanced yourself as you dug through your pack for fresh clothes. He stood, groaning a bit with the effort after spending so long in bed. It was only a few strides to get to you, pressing his body along your back.

“I want to do this your way,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around you and pressing his lips against the crown of your head. “I’ll do whatever you want, just wanna be yours.”

You felt giddy, a smirk quirked the edges of your lips that you tamped down, hands still clutching the sweatshirt and jeans like life preservers. “You mean that?” you asked, leaning back against him. “What if I never let you bite me?”

“Then I won’t bite you,” he said, no hesitation in his voice. He squeezed you once, letting you go and allowing the cold air rush against you once more. “Just think about it, you don’t gotta know now.” 

Joel stamped a kiss along your hairline before leaving the bedroom.

Packing up went quickly, the two of you working in tandem to make sure everything was still bound down and tarped in the back of the truck before clambering in. You watched the cabin disappear in the rearview mirror, already feeling nostalgic as it vanished behind snow-covered pines.

It wasn’t a long drive, maybe five hours if Joel went slow. He was going to go slow, milking every moment he got you all to himself before returning to Jackson. It only took you ten minutes into the drive to slide across the bench seat, lifting his arm to curl beneath it.

“So my way, huh?” you asked, pressing your nose against the canvas jacket he wore. 

Joel chuckled, a victorious grin stretching on his face. “Yeah, your way, baby. You’re in charge.” It felt odd to say, a bit unnatural to give himself to you like that. An alpha bowing to an omega.

You grinned, an arm wrapping around his thick torso and pressing close as he followed the snow-covered road. The landscape sparkled like diamonds, the two of you silent as you didn’t want to break whatever that moment was. 

Unsure of what lay ahead, but excited to find out–knowing it just may be something special.

[zepskies]

Against the Wind - Part 3

Pairing: Alpha!Dean Winchester x F. Omega!Reader 

Summary: You wake up in a strange alpha’s cabin in the middle of a snowstorm, all with a busted ankle. He holds shadows in his eyes, even though his hands are gentle. There are iron shutters around his heart, even though he saved you. You might just save him in return.

AN: Merry Christmas! I'm dropping this chapter a day early for you guys. Now, here's the full story, and what Dean is going to do about it��

Jacklesverse Bingo24 Prompt: True Mates @jacklesversebingo

Song Inspo: “Against the Wind” by Bob Seger

Word Count: 3.8K

Tags/Warnings: 18+ only. Angst, mentions of blood, hint of spice.~

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Part 3: Nothing Left to Burn

“We should start heading back,” you say, looking up at the mid-afternoon sky. It was starting to dip toward the top of the trees in the distance. “It’s going to take a couple of hours to get back before nightfall.”

“Yep, it’s about that time.” Your dad groans as he starts to haul himself back to his feet, where you two had been taking a rest against a tree. “Jesus, I need a new pair of knees. Help your old man, would ya?”

You smirk as you help the middle-aged alpha to his feet. His joints pop and his back cracks as he stretches his arms high.

“Damn, Dad. You’re creakier than the trees,” you quip.

He tosses you a wry look. “Just you wait. In a few years, after wrangling a couple of pups, you’re gonna feel my pain.”

“A few years?” you laugh. “Did I miss the part where I actually met a decent guy, let alone one worth mating?”

“Oh, you’ll find him,” your dad nods, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder. “Or he’ll find you, like your mother did with me.”

You follow his lead with your own rifle, falling into step with him through the forest clearing. It’s a beautiful day in late November. Already you can see the edge of frost on the shrubs and half-barren trees. The ground is littered with dead leaves painted in browns, oranges, and dappled with reds.

“You met her in college. It’s not like you guys defied fate,” you say.

“Yeah, but if she hadn’t walked into my psychology class by mistake, and stolen my latte at the campus café, maybe you wouldn’t be here,” he teases. 

You huff and roll your eyes. Yes, your parents are a walking cliché. And by far, your dad’s the bigger sap.

“I’m telling you. Sometimes, the universe does us a solid,” he says, reinforcing his point with a literal pointed finger your way. You push it away from your face in exasperation.

“You might wanna watch where you’re going,” you say, “before you roll your ankle on another pebble.”

“You kidding me?” he exclaims. “That thing was the size of my fist! You’re lucky I didn’t break an ankle. Make you carry me all the way back to the car.”

You snort. “Right. Think I’ll just leave you for the bears…”

You trail off when a sound reaches you and your father. The sound of leaves crunching in the underbrush, quick and light. Your father’s shoulders straighten with alertness, the alpha’s head cocking toward the sound.

“Maybe I spoke too soon about the bears,” you whisper. He shakes his head.

“Nah, too light. It’s probably an elk.” He tosses you a smile. “We’ll have one hell of a haul to bring home, plus a good story to tell your mom.”

Your mother, the vegan veterinarian?

“Yeah, because she loves elk meat.”

“Would you quit being a smartass for two minutes? You go a little west. I’ll see where it’s at,” he says.

He quietly wracks his rifle and steps away from the clearing, farther into the woods. You do what he says, veering west. You don’t see the elk, and soon enough, you don’t see your dad either. You do hear a whistling on the wind, and the cold of it cuts right through your coat.

Unease prickles down your spine, though you don’t know why.

“Dad?” you whisper-yell, trying not to spook whatever animal might be out there.

A gunshot rings out, along with your dad’s voice in a shout. Your eyes widen in alarm, and you call his name, taking off in a run to find him.

You end up rising over a hill you hadn’t crossed before, but you see your dad below; you recognize his bright blue puffer jacket that Mom got him for his birthday. You call his name, and he looks up at you with fear in his eyes.

Not for himself, but for you.

“Go, get out of here!” he shouts and waves you off.

“What? What is it?!” you yell.

He shakes his head, like he’s unable to answer your question. “Run! Run and don’t stop!”

He moves further into the denser trees until you can no longer make him out. With a frustrated huff, you sprint down the hill and try to follow his tracks with your gun at the ready. On the wind, in the distance, you still hear his voice.

Until it cuts off abruptly, along with the terrible cracking of bone.

You gasp and halt in your steps. What the fuck was that?

Tears fill your eyes and blur your vision. Despite what you heard, you realize just how very alone you are in the clearing. Fear and adrenaline make your breath tremulous and shallow, but you can’t just give up. You search for a while longer, making yourself hoarse calling out to your father.

No matter what direction you take, you never find him.

“I ran back to town to get the rangers,” you say, brushing a couple of stray tears from your cheeks. You sniff, licking your lips and swallowing a hard lump of emotion in your throat.

Dean continues to listen intently with his brows furrowed.

“It was too late,” you sigh. “He disappeared. They explained it away, thought a grizzly bear got him, but I know it wasn’t a damn bear.” 

You shake your head as the tears come harder and faster, all over again. Dean’s jaw clenches in sympathy.

“No one believed me about what I heard, not even my mom,” you confess. Your mother had been too distraught to entertain “anything else.” No matter how strongly you’d felt about your suspicions, you understood that she just wanted to put your father’s death behind her after his funeral. Part of you had stopped believing yourself. 

A stronger part of you hadn’t been able to let it go, however. So you had to come back here and try to find any trace of your father. 

When you finally run out of words, you see the proverbial gears turning in Dean’s eyes. 

“What’re you thinking?” you hazard to ask. You can’t help but reach out and grab at his wrist. “Do you…do you believe me?”

Dean’s gaze softens a fraction. He lays his larger hand over yours.

“Yeah, I do,” he says. “I’m willing to bet on what took him too.”

He squeezes your hand before he lets you go and gets up from his seat. He soon returns with his father’s journal in hand. He reclaims his spot across from you, sitting close to your thigh on the end of the chaise. His gaze falls away from your face to the journal in hand, and he flips it open to a page he knows from memory. You suck in a subtle breath to steel yourself when he turns it toward you—to the very page that had given you nightmares the first night you read it. 

Wendigo. 

“Nasty son of a bitch,” he says. “It hibernates for decades at a time, but when it surfaces, it knows how to get through long winters like this. It takes a handful of people at a time, feeding on its victims slow.”

You feel sick at that, but still, his words elicit a sliver of hope.

“So there’s a chance he could still be alive,” you say, in a brighter voice. Dean gives you a measured look, dragging a hand over his mouth.

“Look, I’m gonna be straight with you,” he says. “It’s been months, right?”

You nod, though you realize what he’s saying. Don’t get your hopes up.

“But there’s a chance,” you insist, with tears in your eyes. Dean holds your gaze for a moment, and he nods. He squeezes your knee this time, then shuts the journal with one hand as he moves to stand.

You follow him on your crutches over to the kitchen. He pulls out a drawer and retrieves a folded-up map. Tossing the journal on the kitchen counter, he opens up the map and lays it out flat next to the sink. It’s a map of the mountain, and the entire forest surrounding the mountain of Big Sky. Dean’s eyes flick up to yours.

“Where did it happen?”

Dean has packed up his supplies and put on his winter gear. You watch him from the living room sofa, trying to hide your unease. You know he’s doing this for you, but there’s part of you that doesn’t want to see him leave, for his own sake, and selfishly for yours.

“Try not to go outside again unless you absolutely friggin’ have to,” he warns. “And if you do, don’t go too far. Make sure you take a weapon, preferably a gun and a knife.”

“Dean, I know,” you reply. You get up and hover by the couch while he finishes lacing his snowshoes and hooks his backpack on. You’re unable to hide your concern.

“You shouldn’t be going out there alone,” you say. 

Dean tosses you a grin. It has the shade of how he was with you before the “journal” incident—self-assured, a hint teasing.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t exactly my first solo mission,” he says, though his devil-may-care attitude soon subsides into something more serious. “If I’m not back inside a week, you need to ration out the supplies here as best you can. That new meat in the fridge should last you a while.”

By new meat, you have to assume he means the bear.

“When you’re healed up, you can make your way down the mountain and back to town with that map I left for you. Kitchen counter,” he says.

Your frown worsens. You step closer to him with the pretense of closing and locking the front door for him after he leaves.

“Dean,” you say, stopping him at the door. He turns to look at you over his shoulder. You hesitate, fidgeting slightly, but you gain your courage.

“If you don’t come back, I’m going to find you,” you warn him.

Dean frowns. He turns to you fully and tilts his head as if to say, come again?

“No, you’re not, Omega. You understand me?”

His terseness doesn’t scare you anymore. You glare up at him, quite literally standing your ground.

“You didn’t leave me out there when you didn’t even know me. You think I’d do that to you?” you counter.

At that, Dean has to pause, tilting his head slightly. He almost smiles at your stubbornness, and just like that, his annoyance dissipates. It softens him, making him reach for your arm in an assuring squeeze.

“I appreciate the thought, but trust me. I’d rather you look out for you,” he says.

Right now, you don’t really give a shit about what he’d rather, but you don’t say so. It’s written across your face anyway. Dean’s mouth tugs at a smile.

“All right, I’m out,” he says. “Save me some of Yogi in there.”

You huff, but you shut the door behind him after he steps out onto the porch, down the steps, and beyond. You move to the living room window and watch him get farther and farther away from the cabin. 

Despite the crackling fireplace, you begin to feel cold inside. 

After the first three days, you’ve managed to clean the entire cabin, top to bottom. With the “new meat,” you make a large batch of soup to last you throughout the week. You freeze a couple of servings for Dean.

For when he gets back. 

You try to fill up your time in other ways, like attempting, and failing, and trying again more successfully to make bread from scratch. You haven’t binge-watched every season of The Great British Bake-Off for nothing.

Then you organize all of the alpha’s books by author. You wash all the laundry you can find and fold everything neatly on his bed, and you put away the couple of sweaters you’ve borrowed from him into your own dresser. 

On Day Four, you create a nest of pillows and blankets in the middle of the living room floor. In your anxiety, it’s a reflex you can’t help. Your initial instinct was to nest in his room, but you thought that was too invasive of his privacy, so the living room was your next best option. At least his scent is still somewhat imbued into his favorite chair, and around his records. (You do steal another shirt of his to sleep with though.)

On Day 8, your worry becomes a living thing. You pace the living room and the kitchen on your crutches, probably wearing down the wooden ends of them while you debate what to do. Despite what Dean told you to do if he didn’t get back, you know you’re not just going to leave him out there. But the reality is, you have a problem of mobility.

With a frustrated huff, you decide to try setting your problem foot down normally. Your ankle hurts, a sharp pain shooting up your calf and nearly sending you to the floor.

“Fuck!” you gasp, both in shock and aggravation.

You know this isn’t just a sprain. At best it could be a fracture, since no bone is protruding under the skin. It still means you shouldn’t go after him either. 

But you’ll have to try. 

After you manage to clamber back onto your feet using the crutches, you put together some supplies, including the extra med kit in case he’s hurt. (Or in case something happens to you while you’re out there.) This is a bad idea, you think, even as you heave on your jacket.

Then, you hear the sound of a lock turning, before the front door shoves open. 

A yelp of surprise escapes you, though you soon realize that it’s Dean, looking worn down and ragged, but alive. 

“Home, sweet home,” he says wryly, but he looks relieved to see you too.

You help him sink down onto the chaise, where he stretches out with a groan. He tips his head back on the cushion. His jacket is torn in a few places. Blood has dried on his cheek, his neck, and near his hairline, and you worry about where else he might be hurt. 

You quickly go to the kitchen and pour a bowl of warm water and grab a hand towel. You bring it all back to Dean, where you set your supplies on the floor and sit down beside him on the cushion.

“Are you okay?” You try to calm down your racing heart (and the nauseous feeling in your stomach) as you help him work open his jacket, followed by his shirt. Discreetly, your eyes take in the expanse of his tanned skin and pebbling nipples exposed to the cool air, even with the fire roaring nearby.

“Yeah, just peachy,” he says. 

You smile a little. You take the towel, dampen it, and begin to clear the blood from his cheek, his neck, and the upper part of his torso—even his scuffed hands. Then you squeegee out the blood in the bowl and continue your task. Dean subtly watches you, his gaze a bit softer than usual.

He eventually looks you over with a frown as he takes in the way you’re dressed, and then the backpack by the door. 

“What, about to go for a little afternoon stroll?” His sarcasm turns to annoyance. “Didn’t I tell you to stay put until you can actually walk?”

Your mouth flattens into a line, but any anger you might’ve felt is waylaid by your relief. It brings tears to your eyes. 

“I thought something happened to you,” you say.

Dean hesitates. Your hand has stilled on his chest. He softens a little more, grasping your hand in his larger one. 

“I’m fine,” he says. “The job’s done.”

Your eyes widen. “You found the…thing? The wendigo?”

His mouth pulls at a cocky grin, tempered only by his tiredness, and the way he’s looking at you. “Sure did. Tried to take a chunk outta my ass, but a little aerosol deodorant and a lighter’s all you need to barbecue that ugly son of a bitch.”

You smile in amusement, but all too soon, it fades.

“Did you find my dad?” you ask.

Dean’s expression sobers as well.

“Yeah, I think so.” His face gentles. “Was he wearing a blue puffer jacket?”

Your lips tremble. As that horrible realization dawns, you break down into tears. You already know from his tone that your father was dead when he found him. 

Dean guides you down to him by your shoulder and wraps his arms around you. You bury your face into his neck, and your body shakes with quiet sobs.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmurs into your hair. “Believe me, I am.”

He holds you close, warm and secure. He allows you to stay there as long as you need, where you feel safe, even if this world has become a colder, darker place. 

After a few minutes longer, your intense sobs begin to subside. You don’t mean to, but you turn your nose into Dean’s neck, scenting him on reflex. It calms you down, but it has the unintended effect of arousing him. The alpha rumbles in pleasure. 

You blink in surprise and lean back enough to see his face. Dean’s lips press together as he looks down on you; he seems embarrassed, but you also see the heat reflected in his gaze, so intense in those forest greens. Your face begins to warm in a blush.

He brushes your cheek with his thumb, collecting your tears there. You glance down at his plush lips again, your own parting with a breath. His hand moves to cup your cheek, framing the side of your face. Please…

He finally drags you to him in a kiss. 

It’s heady and passionate, and also comforting. Your fingers wind into his hair, your nails scraping along his scalp. He growls as his arm tightens around your waist. You shiver in delight.

You press a hand to the center of his chest, giving you leverage to rise up and slide your thigh over his legs. There you sink into his lap. Your breasts pillow against his chest when you lay on top of him, your elbows digging into the cushion on either side of his head. His hands move down your body, feeling down your sides, squeezing your hips, and then your ass. You hum into his mouth and roll your hips into his. Already you feel him hardening through his jeans.  

But somehow he breaks away from your kiss, even though your hands are still in his hair. 

“Sorry…we can’t do this,” he says, with difficulty.

He sits upright and nearly makes you fall over in the process. He grabs your arm before you tip over, but he keeps himself at arm’s length from you after you’re forced to slide off his lap, sitting on the end of the chaise instead. Your eyes glisten with hurt and confusion. 

“Why?” is all you can ask.

He doesn’t want to answer. 

“Dean?” you ask, inching towards him. He raises a hand to keep you at bay.

“Just…it’s not a good idea, okay?” he says, with the clenching of his jaw.

That cuts into you even more. Your heart pulses with pain.

“Do you know what your scent is to me?” you ask, in a voice slightly trembling. You glance at the fireplace that has dimmed to embers. “It’s better than that fire at full blaze. Every time I went camping with my dad, that’s what I loved the most. Sitting by that fire, talking, laughing, and for the millionth time, telling the story of when I gave my sister micro bangs in her sleep when I was ten.”

You wipe a stray tear from your eye, but you respect the distance he’s put between you two.

“The second I met you, I knew what this was,” you say. “I think you know it too.”

Dean shakes his head. His face betrays his wariness, his desire, and his obstinance. 

“Look…even if that’s true, you don’t want this with me,” he says. His handsome face becomes marred by a frown, his brows knitting together. “I don’t even own this place. Besides my car, I ain’t got much of anything to give.”

You shake your head in dismay. “I know that’s not true.”

“I’m not bullshitting,” he says. “Listen…I’ve never had much. And what I did have, I found a way to lose. I’ve let my people down. Just about everyone I’ve ever…”

You can’t help but reach out a hand for him, your heart hurting, but he leans away, pressing himself back against the seat. It cuts even deeper into you; now though, you wonder if it’s because he feels the same gut feeling you do when he’s this close—close enough to touch, but almost afraid of the burn.

“They’ve been hurt, almost always because of me.” His voice shakes imperceptibly, with a wry, humorless turn of his lips. “So take it from me, sweetheart. You’ll wanna steer clear.”  

“Dean,” you say. You expel a breath, digesting his words, while thinking of what you want to say.

“I’ve never not felt safe with you,” you confess. “Even when I screwed up and drove you crazy, I’m sure, I knew you’d never hurt me. The same way I know…”

You reach out a tentative hand to lay in the center of his chest, over his heart. Your thumb brushes the edge of his strange tattoo, over the dark ink in his skin. 

“You’re my mate. My one, true mate in this world,” you say, meeting his eyes. “And I want to know you.”

You see inner conflict in the depths of Dean’s eyes, dark green and troubled. You take a chance and lean in, brushing your cheek against his, nuzzling, laying a soft kiss to his cheek. 

“Omega,” he warns, but the grit in his voice has little heat.

Or at least, it’s heat of a different kind, as his strong hands once again find your waist. They hold you still, but also hold you to him. Your gentle affection is making him ache, deep in the shadowy cavern of his chest. He’d never admit it, but loneliness had set in there, burrowed deep with a stronghold on his heart. Without knowing, you’ve been carving it out with those gentle hands. 

You now slide your hands up his chest and over his shoulders, warm palms on his skin. 

“Alpha, I want to know you,” you insist. Quiet, but steady, your voice is a mere brush of words near his ear, against his cheek. “Please.” 

Dean’s brows furrow as he briefly shuts his eyes tight. With your whispered plea, the brittle chain of his restraint finally snaps free. 

He cradles the back of your head and guides you back into a feverish kiss.

AN: Sorry to cut it off there lol, but the big (steamy) fourth part is coming up next week! Perhaps a little earlier than Friday. 😘

Next Time:

“Were you nesting, Omega?” he teases, between the sinful meetings of his lips with yours. You hum your affirmation before his tongue swipes across your lower lip, seeking entrance.

You open yourself to him in more ways than one; you slip your hands across his naked shoulders and explore the smooth planes of muscle, the dips and softness in between. You encourage him to lower down, to cover you with the length and broadness of his frame. His weight is a welcome one between your thighs and against the softness of your body.

“Was worried about you,” you whisper a confession against his lips. Dean briefly pauses, meeting your eyes.

“Thanks for waiting up,” he says, with a hint of a smile.

Your lips curve upwards in return.

▶️ Keep reading: PART 4

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💀JJK MASTERLIST|CRACK, ANGST & UNHINGED CHAOS💀

📌If you like corporate angst, questionable power dynamics, toxic love triangles, and men being menaces, congrats—you’re in the right place. 🖤💀 StrawPage - [Link]

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📜 JJK Controversial Opinion: The Anti-Sugar Baby Manifesto 📜 [Tumblr/Ao3] 🌌 Why yo JJK Daddy won't fuck you in his domain 🌌 [Tumblr/Ao3] 👔 Nanami Kento - Swearing Headcanon 👔 [Tumblr] 🧿 Why Nanago makes more sense than Satosugu - A psych eval 👩‍💻 Angsty Nanago Glazers Community - A support group for those of us who believe Nanago makes more sense than Satosugu. Go argue with a wall. ⚡ Kashimo's Cult: Shocking Behavior Only - Because Kashimo Hajime deserves more than 12 panels & a death sentence.

📖LONG FICS & SERIES📖

🥂 Third Wheeling Your Own Marriage 🥂 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Ongoing Nanami Kento x F!Non-Sorceress CEO Reader x Gojo Satoru Ryomen Sukuna x F!Non-Sorceress CEO Reader Higuruma Hiromi x CHRO F!Reader 📖 Summary: You should be overjoyed that Gojo Satoru & Nanami Kento are your husbands. But you feel your skin crawl as you become the third wheel in your own marriage. Multiple readers + multiple endings with different men.

🦝 Crack Extended Cut: Third Wheeling Your Own Marriage 🦝 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Ongoing Nanami Kento x F!Non-Sorceress CEO Reader x Gojo Satoru 📖 Summary: Collection of oneshots that didn't make it into the main plotline but are still funny. Gojo Satoru becomes a model, and Nanami Kento has beef with Vogue. Their housekeeping staff meets the office. Mostly fluff with light angst. Will add other couples too down the line. Reality + Social Media + Poly + Vogue + Unhinged murderous raccoon + Bored staff who roast Gojo.

🌘 Third Wheeling Your Own Marriage - Glass House 🌒 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Alternate Universe Oneshot Completed Nanami Kento x F!Reader x Gojo Satoru 📖 Summary: It begins with a knock at the door, and Nanami is met with an unexpected visitor: drenched & seemingly lost. As the rain pours outside, he reveals a haunting truth—he believes he has seen someone from their past, someone they both thought was gone forever. As the night unfolds, the two confront that linger in their memories, grappling with the shadows that refuse to fade. With tension building & emotions running high, Nanami must navigate the other's unraveling mind while facing the specters of their shared history.

🤖 Artificial Devotion 🤖 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Ongoing Satoru Gojo x F!Reader + Alpha!Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: In a society ruled by intimacy algorithms & scent-coded hierarchies, Alpha Nanami Kento pays to keep two rogue Omegas safe—Satoru & the girl he would die for. It’s not love. It’s a transaction. Until it isn’t. A dystopian Omegaverse with low smut, more power, longing, & the slow horror of wanting to be chosen. Omegaverse (but make it dystopian no power AU), less-smut-focus, plot-heavy, dark sci-fi, psychological, a lil bit feral.

🥩 Mouth to Meat 🥩 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Completed Cannibal Yakuza Ryomen Sukuna x [Retracted] F!Reader 📖 Summary: Dr. Y/N L/N is tasked with profiling Ryomen Sukuna, a feared yakuza boss known for his violent tendencies and taste for human flesh. Through a series of therapy sessions, she gains his trust—or so it seems. But Sukuna isn’t the only predator in the room. Behind Y/N’s professional demeanor hides a secret far darker than even Sukuna’s sins. When the masks drop, it’s clear: monsters don’t always look like him.

📚 To Love & To Ruin 📚 [Tumblr/Ao3] - Ongoing Teacher!Geto Suguru Vs Nanago (Nanami Kento x Gojo Satoru) 📖 Summary: Suguru finds himself entangled in a web of his own making, unsure whether he’s trying to fix what he broke or just ruin what Gojo has built. Meanwhile, Nanako and Mimiko’s meddling could have consequences none of them are ready for. Also, Sukuna’s getting sealed in Shibuya!

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🐯 Ooga Booga Battle Royale 🐯 [Tumblr/Ao3] F!Reader x Pre-Historic Neanderthal JJK daddies + mommies (Gojo Satoru, Nanami Kento, Geto Suguru, Zenin Toji, Ryomen Sukuna, & more) 📖 Summary: Prehistoric, period-accurate Neanderthal JJK daddies fighting over you? With grunts, rocks, & zero verbal communication? Say less.

🤰 Help! I'm a Woman & I Got My Two Male Boyfriends Pregnant 🤰 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x F!Reader x Ryomen Sukuna 📖 Summary: You got Gojo Satoru & Ryomen Sukuna pregnant. Now they’re spiraling, thinking you’re going to leave them. Send Mother Mary.

☎️ Final Fantasy Grandpa Buys a Phone ☎️ [Tumblr/Ao3] Ft. UncKuna Ryomen Sukuna, Retail Worker GN!Reader, Gen Z Android User Itadori Yuji, Millennial iPhone User Inumaki Toge (Can & will speak), Hot Crush at First Sight Fushiguro Megumi 📖 Summary: Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, discovers the horrors of modern technology while trying to buy a phone. Yuji drags his immortal uncle through the chaos of retail hell, Inumaki records everything for clout, & Megumi accidentally becomes the Internet’s newest thirst trap. Or: In which Sukuna learns about Bluetooth while he and Yuji gets a crush, & Inumaki becomes the worst kind of friend. (Feat. awkward flirting, grandpa rage, accidental simping, & enough secondhand embarrassment to power a small city.)

😏 In Ratio Veritas: Someone got Nanami Kento Pregnant & it's not Gojo Satoru 😏 [Tumblr/Ao3] F!Pregnant Reader x Gojo Satoru x Pregnant Special Grade Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: You got Nanami Kento pregnant. Now he's demanding compensation and you didn't even know you could get whole ass special grade man pregnant while also trying to hide it from both your other husband Gojo Satoru or he won't let Nanami live. God Speed.

🥤 Inumaki Toge meets Gojo's wife 🥤 [Tumblr/Ao3] 📖 Summary: What the title says and its 1200 words of misunderstandings and Gojo being Gojo while Nanami sighs and Yuta is questioning his existence.

🐈 Send Gojo? No. Send Nanami? Also No, But Less No. 🐈 [Tumblr/Ao3] Tsukumo Yuki x F!Reader x Ieiri Shoko - Pre-established but Nanami Kento & Gojo Satoru are also here. 📖 Summary: In which Nanami gets emotionally & physically taxed, Gojo should never be left unsupervised, & Shoko, Yuki, & you hold an unholy amount of power over them both. or What if you, Shoko & Yuki, are in a poly relationship & somehow all your cycles sync? How much are we torturing Nanami???

🍗 The Gojo & Geto KFC Breakup: A Sukuna & Toji Reenactment 🍗 [Tumblr/Ao3] 📖 Summary: The JJK gang reenacts the KFC breakup in their own deranged ways.

🥣 How a PowerPoint Ruined My Sex Life (And Why I’m Suing Yuki Tsukumo) 🥣 [Tumblr/Ao3] Nanami Kento x Alien Reader 📖 Summary: Nanami Kento is a man of discipline, reason, and impeccable self-control. But when his alien girlfriend learns about "consent" from Yuki Tsukumo's questionable PowerPoint, his life spirals into chaos. Now, he’s eating cereal in the corner of his apartment, questioning his choices, and plotting revenge.

🌸 Fluffy Oneshots🌸

🍒 Tsundere vs. Tsundere: A Battle of Pride (& Boob Grabs) 🍒 [Tumblr/Ao3] Tsundere!Four-Armed!Ryomen Sukuna x Even More Tsundere!Reader 📖 Summary: You want to touch his tiddies.

💋 Bubble Butt Problems 💋 [Tumblr/Ao3] Nanami Kento X GN!Reader X Gojo Satoru 📖 Summary: Nanami Kento has a problem, you & your wandering hands!

🍼 Indisputable Evidence of Baby Girl Behavior 🍼 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x F!Reader 📖 Summary: Welcome to the National Baby Girl Census, where we gather empirical evidence on how quickly Gojo Satoru folds when you say one-just one-magic word. This is a scientific study (real). Read responsibly. Or don’t. I know y’all are feral.

🦇 Smudges & Giggles 🦇 [Tumblr/Ao3] Trueform!Ryomen Sukuna x GN!VampireReader 📖 Summary: Vampire you comes home drunk to Ryomen Sukuna, who's trying his best to get the makeup off your face while you try to become a menace incarnate.

💈 Underappreciated JJK Undercut Appreciation: How to flirt with Nanami Kento's Undercut 💈 [Tumblr/Ao3] Pre-Relationship Nanami Kento x Reader 📖 Summary: Nanami Kento: the man, the myth, the legend. Also, the man who’s about to learn that no amount of discipline can withstand the sheer chaos of a reader with a mission. Today’s mission? Touch. The. Undercut. Let’s see how long he lasts. <3

💇 Underappreciated JJK Undercut Appreciation: How to flirt with Gojo's Undercut 💇 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x Reader 📖 Summary: Gojo Satoru’s undercut is a work of art, & you’re only human. When you finally give in to the urge to touch it, his reaction is… well, let’s just say it’s very Gojo.

🩸The Unsolicited Sister-In-Law/Aniyome/Bhabhi Promotion Arc🩸 [Tumblr/Ao3] Itadori Choso x Reader 📖 Summary: Modern Jujutsu Tech College AU – Choso is a young, grungy yet emotionally competent sorcerer-teacher, sharing faculty duties with Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Haibara, Sukuna (somehow not evil), Toji (we don't ask), and Shoko. You are a non-sorcerer administrative adjunct who somehow ends up in situations you don’t fully understand.

🍷 Sips of Solitude 🍷 [Tumblr/Ao3] Nanami Kento x Gojo Satoru or lovingly Nanago/Gonana 📖 Summary: Satoru Gojo, the invincible sorcerer, faces an unexpected challenge on his birthday: loneliness. But when he ropes Nanami Kento into a night of drinking, things take a hilarious turn. From awkward sips to questionable drinks, watch Gojo navigate the perils of birthday surprises and hangovers, all while discovering the true meaning of friendship in the unlikeliest of places.

🖤 Angsty Oneshots 🖤

🎉 Seven Minutes in Heaven 🎉 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x F!Reader 📖 Summary: It was supposed to be a normal frat party. Just a stupid game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. Just him, king of never taking anything seriously, getting shoved into a closet for a dumb dare. And yet. Now, he can’t sleep. Can’t think. Can’t stop thinking about you. And one by one, his friends are starting to realize—Whatever happened in that closet? It never really ended.

🔪 We had a taste & now we can't leave you 🔪 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x GN!Reader x Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: A night of reckless attraction leads to obsession as two dangerous men, Gojo Satoru & Nanami Kento, refuse to let you go. What begins as a fleeting connection spirals into a dark, inescapable reality where freedom no longer exists.

⌛ Heat & Dust: Where the Wind Calls Her Name ⌛ [Tumblr/Ao3] Nanami Kento x F!Wife Reader 📖 Summary: Nanami & his wife were happy. That was before Rajasthan. Because when the wind howls through the ruins, the whispers call a name. (A slow-burn tragedy about a love lost & a man who never stopped looking.)

🦜 The Quiet After 🦜 [Tumblr/Ao3] Lima Syndrome/Yandere Gojo Satoru x F!Reader 📖 Summary: You hated him. He loved you for it. But hate stains—and gods don’t bleed.

🦂 Until the end of me 🦂 [Tumblr/Ao3] Ieiri Shoko x F!Reader x Gojo Satoru 📖 Summary: Gojo Satoru is obsessed with Ieiri Shoko's girlfriend.

🗻Winter’s Last Breath🗻[Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x Reader, Prev. Gojo Satoru x Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: Gojo Satoru comes back to Tokyo with no memories, a new wife, & no idea what he’s lost.

☕ Residual ☕ [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x F!Reader in Nanami's body 📖 Summary: They told her he died. Or someone did. Now she walks in Nanami’s body, haunted by memories she never lived—and Gojo Satoru won’t stop looking at her. A story about cursed continuations, misplaced memory, and the kind of love that survives the grave. Not a fix-it. Not quite a romance. Just grief with teeth, liminality, and canon Gojo being canon Gojo: brilliant, broken, and almost remembering. Canon-compliant up to Chapter 236.

🚚 Truck-Kun From Bihar: A Love Square Tragedy 🌌 [Tumblr/Ao3] Non-Sorceress F!Reader x JJK Men 📖 Summary: What if a routine date in Bihar turned into a savage love‑square, existential crisis, & quantum karma all rolled into one? Nanami, Choso, Toji, Suguru, Gojo, Sukuna, & Co. descend on you like cosmic wreckage—& only one heart might survive. Crack humour meets gothic pathos as loyalties, lust, & existential dread collide in unexpected ways that’ll leave you grimacing, snorting, or both. or When a mysterious accident brings four jaded sorcerers & one reluctant civilian onto the same chaotic path, sparks ignite, alliances shift, & what started as a mess turns into a full‑blown emotional battlefield. Between crushing loyalty, unexpected affection, & the ghosts of past betrayals, they’ll learn you can’t outrun your own heart—or the sorcerer racing toward it. You absolutely DO NOT need to know Hindi or be Indian to enjoy this fic—feel free to dive in!

🥶 Love, Death & Robots 🥶 [Tumblr/Ao3] JJK Men x Home Appliances Edition 📖 Summary: Ryomen Sukuna = Double-door Fridge, Gojo Satoru = Condensor, Nanami Kento = Microwave, Fushiguru Toji = Dishwasher, Kashimo Hajime = Stovetop Burner, Geto Suguru = Ice Cream Maker, Haibara Yu = Toaster, and Kenjaku = Blender.

🛐 Hollow Worship: It was never about him 🛐 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x Reader, Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: Gojo Satoru was used to being admired. Worshipped, even. That was the natural order of things. But worship isn’t always devotion. Sometimes, it’s possession. Sometimes, it’s something far worse.

🦴 Marrow 🦴[Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: It all begins with a late-night phone call that pulls Nanami from the comfort of his drink & into a chilling encounter. When he arrives, he finds a disquieting state, leading him deeper into a world of unsettling revelations. With tension mounting & secrets unraveling, the two face the darkness that has haunted them for years, leading to a haunting conclusion that challenges their understanding of identity & loyalty.

💉 Anesthesia 💉 [Tumblr/Ao3] Gojo Satoru x Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: In the aftermath of a devastating car accident, Satoru awakens in a hospital room, grappling with the reality alongside Nanami.

🌊 I lost you when I lost me 🌊 [Tumblr/Ao3] JJK Men x Reader 📖 Summary: You never wanted to say it. You never wanted him to know. But when the truth comes out—when the realization hits—there’s no escaping the devastation that follows.

🌼 His Chrysanthemums 🌼 [Tumblr/Ao3] Widowed!Fushiguro Toji x GN!Reader 📖 Summary: Grief lingers like a shadow, following even the strongest hearts. Toji’s world was shattered, and though time moved forward, he remained anchored to the memory of what he’d lost. A new presence offers a chance to heal, but unseen and unheard, someone fights to return to him, defying the laws of life & death.

👁️ In Shadows of His Heart 👁️ Watching Megumi fall in love with someone else 👁️ [Tumblr/Ao3] Fushiguro Megumi x Unrequited GN!Reader 📖 Summary: I watched him from the shadows, from across hallways and rooftops, through laughter and heartache. Over the years, Megumi Fushiguro became the centre of a world he’d never known he created within me. My words stayed locked away, my feelings buried, while he found comfort in another’s arms. And still, I remain—close enough to share his silence, yet forever worlds apart from the piece of him I can never reach.

🤫 Silent Whispers 🤫 [Tumblr/Ao3] Inumaki Toge x F!Reader 📖 Summary: Toge's speech may be limited, but his emotions are not. On his birthday, you both deepen a connection that is quiet yet unbreakable.

🚨 Through Tears & Determination 🚨 [Tumblr/Ao3] Lovely Runner meets Nanami Kento 📖 Summary: Imagine being an obsessed Lovely Runner fangirl, but instead of saving your bias, you’re in Shibuya trying to keep Nanami alive. Good luck.

🔥 Smutty Oneshots 🔥

🤓 The Symphony of Spite 🤓 [Tumblr/Ao3] Ryomen Sukuna x GN!Therapist Reader x Nanami Kento Crybaby!Gojo Satoru x ..... (he's after one of your manz) 📖 Summary: No summary. You can read at your own risk. Because I don't even know what a good summary for this would be. Also Crybaby!Gojo getting backshots from his Yandere. Toji, Hiromi, Shoko, Kusakabe, Ijichi, Ino, Suguru, & Haibara are also here for reasons. Comes with a chart to understand everything better.

⏰ The Cruelty of Time: We all will get old someday, so this is for the small wins. ⏰ [Tumblr/Ao3] Nanami Kento x F!Reader, Gojo Satoru x F!Reader, Ryomen Sukuna x F!Reader (Separate) 📖 Summary: Nanami/Gojo/Sukuna always know when something is wrong. He gives you space. He waits. But patience only lasts so long when the woman he adores refuses to speak. If words won’t do, he has other ways of making you talk. (All men get their separate parts & have different readers, but the plot is connected, so it's recommended to read all.)

💎 Velvet Sin & Clandestine Vows 💎 [Tumblr/Ao3]Nanami Kento x Billionaire F!Reader (Also, Gojo Satoru is there) 📖 Summary: Nanami at a bougie party? Weird. Nanami getting dragged into a bathroom with a mysterious woman? Even weirder. Let the scandal begin.

📬ASK BOX STATUS: OPEN📬

💌 Requests are open! I love writing angst, dark content, & crack humor fluff. Feel free to send ideas or prompts! 🚫 No incest or grooming requests, but murder & genocide? Fine. Hahahaha.

🔗WHERE TO FIND ME🔗

📖 AO3: [Link] 📷 Insta: [Link] 🖤 Tumblr: You’re already here, babe. All gifs have been from @xf4int. Please do check them out.

[fuji09]

Peter Hale isn't as... SELFISH as you think.

Part 4 of my "[character] isn't as..." series.

Peter Hale is the the one we love to hate, or for some of y'all, hate to love. And some of us just love him.

One of the biggest complaints about Peter is how selfish he is. But is he that selfish?

We start off the series with Peter being in a catatonic state due to severe burns on half his body he obtained 6 years prior in the Hale fire. Then we find out he's the alpha, he dies, and then he comes back.

Peter is a smooth talker, he could literally sell ice to a penguin. He's stylish, has a nice smile, and pretty eyes. Seriously, how could Melissa resist?

He's also very calculated and methodical. He has immense knowledge of the supernatural but incredibly unreliable so you have to be careful in what you believe.

We see Peter do things for his own self interest. He stays back in the shadows if he isn't sure he can come out of a fight, he finds every single person who helped with the fire and gave the Hale family the justice they deserved. Even though yes, we know killing is wrong, it was still provoked and covered up. But we know even when trying to get justice for his family, he was also getting the satisfaction of revenge for himself.

Peter becomes an alpha because he wants power and his mind is twisted and warped with trauma from the fire and being catatonic for 6 years, aware of everything around him but unable to move as he heals so so slowly. His heart broken with almost his entire pack killed and a long time for anger to fester.

It's no wonder he ended up the way he was, trauma rewires the brain. He isn't the same Peter he was before the fire.

He wants to be untouchable. He wants to come out on top. I think a lot of selfish things he does, isn't so much being selfish, but being scared. Y'all gotta remember, the guy was in that fire, he watched his whole family die painfully, he almost died. I truly feel like a lot of his motivation isn't so much him selfishly wanting everything, but wanting to stop being afraid.

Trauma responses differ, we know he wasn't the best person before the fire, but he also wasn't the worst. His trauma definitely exaggerated his already selfish tendencies. His fear makes him more selfish than he used to be.

He acts like he doesn't care about anyone but himself but that's not true. He cares about Derek. He cares about Cora. He cares about Malia. And he cares about Stiles.

Peter does care about his family. He puts on a front, acts like he doesn't care, but there are moments where that front slips and you see his true emotions.

When Derek is dying in Mexico, the look on Peter's face is absolutely gutted, like he knows this time Derek isn't surviving this. We have seen Peter pretend to care and that looks nothing like the absolute horror on Peter's face that Derek is going to die, no ifs ands, or buts.

Peter was the most tender with Cora. When she was being poisoned by the mistletoe, he looked broken, he was protective, and practically wouldn't leave her side. He fought in the hospital to get Cora to the ambulance. He helped in moments that are so out of character for him. You can see he loves her.

With Malia he's hesitant. He had no idea he had a daughter. He almost seems like he's trying to act cool. Like he wants her to see him as a cool dad. He's so out of his element when it comes to her. He has no idea what to do, he knows he isn't father material. He kinda tries to buy her love, which is fair, use what you got, but you can tell he really wants this, but doesn't know how.

There's longing looks like he wishes things had been different, he probably wanted to be a father before the fire. Malia is already almost an adult (by physical age, not mentally) and Peter was robbed of even knowing she existed. We don't know why Talia took his memory of Malia, but he gets those wistful looks of what could have been.

With Stiles, he actually respects him. Peter liked Stiles and even offered (not forced!) the bite, he accepted Stiles telling him no. Stiles is probably the only one who was able to get away with telling Peter Hale no. Peter liked how smart and clever Stiles was. He probably saw a little of himself in Stiles.

Stiles was also the only one who he didn't fight in Mexico when they were trying to save Scott. He fought Malia, his own daughter, but he never once harmed Stiles. Peter fought everyone in that room, except Stiles.

With Laura it's complicated. Obviously he loves her. He does say he regrets killing her, but we don't know how true that is, but I'd say there is some truth in that. He kills her right after he's able to move again and she comes back. For 6 years she and Derek are in New York and neither have come back to Beacon Hills before now.

I think Peter felt hurt and abandoned, vulnerable because he couldn't move and worried hunters would come back and finish the job, and angry because his only remaining family/pack just left him all alone for 6 years. His anger with that is valid. His actions because of that anger is not. Laura was the new Hale alpha and instead of staying close by to keep Peter safe or have Peter transferred to a facility in New York once he was stable enough to travel, she left him alone, vulnerable, and scared.

It's probably one reason why he took so long to heal, packs are stronger when together and have more members. Peter was on the other side of the country from his remaining family.

In the words of Yoda, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Peter went through all that and he did suffer. A lot he brought in himself, but Peter still didn't deserve a lot of what he went through. I think if Laura and Derek had stayed near him, he would have healed sooner and not come out of his recovery as twisted and warped, maybe not even at all.

Now Peter teaming up with Kate just to kill Scott was so fucking out of character it was ridiculous. The woman he almost killed because she took everything away from him would never be someone he would work with. Some say maybe she used some magic to make Peter work with her and that's literally the only way I could see it being the reason why he was working with her.

The man has selfish moments, but he's not that selfish. So Kate using magic like she did to deage Derek makes the most sense there.

Peter was sent away to Eichen House, and we don't see him for a long time. He escapes and then the Wild Hunt happens and he's taken. Then Stiles is taken. They are stuck in that realm together and they argue, Stiles even says cruel things to him and we see that it actually hurts him. Peter has never looked truly hurt by someone saying something mean to him.

And yet, when Peter escapes, and is burned alive for the third time, he still helps Stiles. After Stiles actually hurt his feelings, Peter still takes Stiles' keys and brings it back with him so everyone can remember Stiles. Even though Stiles helped Derek kill him in season 1 by setting him on fire using Lydia's Molotov cocktails along with Jackson, Peter still willingly burned alive for the third time and helped Stiles.

Peter can be a petty bitch at times, but because he cared about Stiles, he still helped him. I don't think Peter would have gone through the portal that burns you alive if it wasn't for Stiles. Peter has been burned alive twice already, he willingly burned a third time. He knows how painful it is. He knows he could die, and this guy stays away from things that could kill him, but he still went through the portal.

I think some of his selfishness is an act. I think he acts like nothing can hurt him and he doesn't care about anyone but himself, but he has shown that he does care about a select few. I think he's afraid to care because he lost almost everything once, it can happen again. If you don't care, you don't hurt.

Peter seems like he lets his fear rule his life. He doesn't allow himself to get too close to anyone, not even his own family. He's similar to Stiles in that regard.

Peter helped a lot throughout the series, even when it was begrudgingly, he still did actually help many times. I kinda feel like sometimes the "ugh do I have to?" attitude was for show. When shit got real, Peter didn't even hesitate, especially when it was Stiles who was asking for help. When Stiles asks for help, Peter always helps him.

I wish Peter could have gotten a redemption arc, like a really good one. Not just trying to be a dad or helping save Stiles. He liked being bad, but I also think he longed for what he could have if he was good. I personally think the scattered moments where he actually helps or does the right thing shows he isn't too far gone, he isn't all bad. He could be one day, but there's still some good in him.

Here you can find Part 1 about Stiles Stilinski, Part 2 about Derek Hale, and Part 3 about Scott McCall

[lochlogie]

The way Saxon wants Lochlan to be like him is the exact same framework of the relationship Tim has with Saxon: your only goal in life should be to become me, but you better fail.

Tim has a very condescending relationship with Saxon. We really only get two scenes highlighting this, but the first is his conversation with Saxon after his tantrum. He flat out lies to him and says he's impressed by Saxon's career thus far. Saxon knows that he doesn't have a lot going for him at work, and expresses frustration that he's not being trusted with more responsibility. Then at the party, Tim just keeps deflecting Saxon's accusations and ignores his heartfelt confession that all he'll ever be is Timothy Ratliff's son, and that he's okay with that. Because that's what Saxon has been ordained to do, follow in Tim's footsteps, but never overtake him.

Saxon takes this relationship and pays it forward to Lochlan. Except Lochlan is a high schooler, he has no career (and seemingly no ambitions in terms of a future career), so Saxon takes the only thing he is quote unquote good at, and constructs the same framework of a relationship. He's good at sex (allegedly). Therefore, Lochlan should want to be him, follow him, learn from him, mold himself into him, but he better not succeed. That defeats the entire purpose of this narcissistic... I don't even know what to call it. I also think it's telling that Saxon is much more involved and intense about it than Tim is with him.

Tim seems a little aloof with all of his children (Piper the least), and maybe Saxon is so much more forward because he wants to feel like the Man, the Alpha, the Big Dog. He doesn't get affirmation or respect from his dad so he turns the dial hard trying to farm these feelings from his little brother. If his self worth can't come from making his dad proud it sure will come from having his little brother worship him. And a cornerstone of that is that Lochlan can't actually succeed. He can't learn from Saxon and then score chicks (heavens forbid start pulling more girls than Saxon). That defeats the whole point.

So Saxon is constantly putting Lochlan down, making snide little comments, seemingly sabotaging his efforts, making Lochlan look young and inexperienced and awkward and cute in front of the women he is supposedly trying to get his brother to fuck. Lochlan can only ever be the student, always in need of more advice or assistance, shadowing Saxon, watching and learning. Maybe by being Saxon's wingman, his adorkable baby brother who makes Saxon look more tolerable to women? Lending a helping hand? No not like that Lochlan!

I think Victoria's relationship with Piper is somewhat similar. But it's different because they're women. What does Victoria value most in life? Comfort, beauty, status, wealth. Piper's only goal in Victoria's eyes is to not embarrass the family, find a husband, and start her own family. And the thing is, Piper is already younger than Victoria, she's already succeeded at besting Victoria at her own game. So I think that's why Victoria has a much more fraught relationship with her daughter. If her narcissism demands Piper become her but fail... but Piper can't fail because she'll always be younger and prettier than Victoria is... I can see that resentment clouding every aspect of their interactions. Piper can't be Victoria's doe eyed apprentice or lackey like Lochlan is to Saxon as Saxon is to Tim.

Even when Piper wants to do something pretty harmless like take her eat pray love gap year in Thailand, which would not harm her "prospects," at all, certainly not more than Tim's crimes and humiliation, Victoria is adamant that Piper is throwing her life away. I can easily imagine that Piper has spent her whole life having every decision scrutinized by Victoria. She's been nitpicked clean, and she can't take it anymore. That's why she's daddy's girl, and it's also why mama's boy Saxon takes up the charge and bullies Piper on their mom's behalf.

Which brings me to Victoria's relationship to Saxon: if Piper will always be a younger version of her, and she resents that... Saxon will always be a younger version of Tim. But also a combination of Tim and her, their first born, the boy that made her a mother. Of course he's the apple of her eye. And there's no doubt in my mind her life plan includes Saxon taking care of her if Tim should ever pass. And isn't Tim about to lose everything for them and probably go to jail (if only for a few months)? She's probably been adultifying and toying with emotional incest with Saxon for a long time.

Same thing with Tim and Piper, but the inverse obviously. Piper is not a threat to Tim's grandiose master of the universe narcissistic persona. She's daddy's girl, she is a precious object that Tim is meant to cherish and then give away to a man who impresses him (a man he will undoubtedly expect to be similar to himself). He kind of has a soft spot for Piper, but he's very comfortable pretending that he's getting rid of their phones for her sake, and the way she lights up at that... ouch.

Meaning neither parent really ever gave a fuck about Lochlan. The heir (Saxon) has a spare, and he's a boy, so he's not a resource to be traded to another rich family for more status. He can't do anything for them so they're content to just focus on the most "egregious" ways he embarrasses the family name, namely posture.

The Ratliff family structure is built by bricks and mortar of pure narcissism. Narcissistic parents pitting their children against each other, demanding their loyalty and emulation, but unable to cope with the idea that their children could ever surpass them (you know, like normal parents would be thrilled about). Those children in turn recreate a similar dynamic with the youngest, who they almost treat more like their pet than anything else.

[sea-of-dust]

Hello, and if its okay to request? On Yugioh?

Seto Kaiba, Kite Tenjo, Declan Akaba

with a S/O who has a younger brother that has the same or personality of the childhood/younger version of these Yugioh guys, S/o's brother being 'angel' to his sibling but to others his not, showing cold, bad, mischievous, & smart side, even those who have interest to S/o, that he try sabotage any love interest/s

Kaiba, Kite,Declan x GN! reader

" I'd marry you in the near future" "HES A NERD!!! HES A WERIDO!! DONT DATE HIM PLEASEEE"

N: thank you for reading my mind annon!! 🎉🎉 don't worry about it being ok to request the button will usually say if they're closed or open. Now time to add in every brainrot term I can think of/j

Who the hell is this little brat telling THE Seto Kaiba how to court someone? He didn't care for your sibling at first but now he's just getting on his nerves to get on his nerves. What the hell is a sigma and why does he have to be 'alpha' to date you?

Literally how does a kid fly a drone up to his office just to give him reasons he can't be with you? "You're smelly?!" "You let some guy with cubes outplay you?" How did he even know that one? Kaiba continues reading until he gets to 'Joey Wheeler is better than you'll ever be' he groans rising from his chair dramatically. "Oh it's on little man"

So imagine getting dropped off via helicopter, kissing his cheek as a goodbye only for your brother to stand there unimpressed. Like a helicopter isn't cool. He doesn't care he's getting his message across. He's suddenly more into splurging and dramatically pausing after what he perceives as a win.

Mokuba seems to like you enough to warm up to you pretty quickly. (You got Kaiba to look in your direction he's trying to take notes) You don't mind Mokuba too much, a bit professional for his age but hey your brother's similar in age! Maybe introduce them!... Your brother got Mokuba to put stickers on the windshield of Kaiba's jet with him. The crappy ones that dont come off in a single peel

Worst thing that could happen was your brother finding out how to push Kaiba's buttons to the point this dude pulls out the most dramatic poses known to vogue. For example "this is why Yugi's the king of games i bet he'd treat my-" he didnt even have to finish, throwing a duel disk at the kid, clattering at his feet. His arm extended dramatically. "Lets see who's the better duelist then kid." You sigh rubbing your temple

Despite all the times this kid has dissed Kaiba over dating you, he isn't as rude to him as you'd think. Actually, they get along quite well as soon as you aren't in the room. By get along well I mean they can sit in opposite corners of the couch without any death glares. Crap they even diss Joey from time to time. He's slowly becoming a mini Kaiba. Wait till you catch them playing board games and monologing to each other

"You've survived my dad, I'm sure you'll get through my brother" Your lips curve into a smile "he's the sweetest" "he tried to home alone me the second you left me alone with him" Kite retorts remembering the experience. "He's a good kid" you'd nod your head after a few seconds of silence

He was not indeed a good kid. Feeling his judgmental stare right next to him as he talks to you. "Do your eyes hurt from staring so long?" He wips his head around only for your brother to be engrossed in his tablet. Kite stares blankly at the wall behind your brother before focusing in on him, he could have sworn he saw your brother shiver. "If I stare at you long enough do you think there'll be a hole in your hair?" Without much thought, you lean into Kite staring at his hair intensely

Your brother's not the biggest fan of Kite appearing from the shadows. Him watching from behind you as he appears from a random pole. Greeting you casually as if he didn't just manage to fit his body conveniently behind a thin pole. It makes him wonder how many times he's dramatically landed on your windowsill...

When you requested a park date he thanked every lord he knew. God forbid he was a loving boyfriend around your brother. The rare sight of him smiling while you two enjoyed the view of the pond nearby and window shopping in random shops. You always somehow snuck a few gifts for him and Heart. The least fun thing about today was walking you home. "We should do that again" he smiles softly a hand in his hair in an attempt to calm himself "yea we-" "SAY NO" your brother shrieks from the window as you completely ignore him and enjoy your conversation with Kite

He knew your brother hates him...but does he hate Heart? He'd never put Heart in a situation where he'd think Heart might dislike or feel disconforted by. So when you both walked over to the same ice cream truck you both looked down at your brothers and back at eatchother. While you were absorbed in how pretty your boyfriend was, Kite was more worried about Heart. Fortunately the two got along over ice cream flavors and pretty quickly made a close friendship. He might have to ask Heart for tips on how to win over your brother

He eventually did. Via combined hatred for Mr Heartland. As he doodles something for Heart, he occasionally looks up to the TV. "Dude his voice is so exaggerated this is why they have to dangle quattro in our faces" he rolls his eyes. "I agree but you dont have to be rude about it" you chuckle handing him a sticker. Kites quiet at first, give them a few sit downs with eatchother and your brother will suddenly become alot more of an aura farmer...

What a put-together child. Perfect etiquette, polite when spoken to, and he didn't mind sitting next to him at dinner. "Are you in love with my sibling?" Your brother mutters "Yes, what of it?" Declan responds. The boy continues to eat before turning his fork and stabbing it into Declan's dinner and staring directly into his eyes, so close to poor Declan he could probably tell how many times he's practiced this exact situation. An intense stare-off between the two of them commenced. This is how Declan discovered what it meant to be someone's "opp"

When was this kid so evil? Was he Doofenshmirtz's assistant in his past life? Do you know how many times a small hand grabbed his because he tried to wrap his arm around your shoulder? Or the time he literally sent a drone to message him to stay away from you romantically? It took a talk with his own sister for the thought of "I think this kid hates me" to cross his mind

That being said your brother did catch you sleeping using his scarf as a blanket. In his annoyance, your brother had decided to use your deck against his. "I challenge you to a duel" he whispers "If I win you can't make them marry into your weird rich people company" he raises an eyebrow yet still pulls out his deck. Dueling the kid half heartily, it was fun seeing the kid nearly pop a vein with how hard he was losing

To be fair d/d/d was known for its combos from hell, and so the kid decided to get even more annoying than all the negates. Just not letting them happen! Ash blossom. Call from the grave. Dark ruler no more. Fossil Dino Pachyephalo. WHY??? You watch the duel from the sides the both of them staring at the table before Declan flips over a card and the kid slams his fist down enough to rattle a few cards before leaving. You could have sworn you saw Declan smile before pushing up his glasses

As much as he likes foiling your brother, Declan is surprisingly a big fan of romance, at least you think. Who else do you know that can sit through an entire novela, without even adjusting himself unless you do. He'll sit stiffer than a wood plank, you'd have to bend him lower, as if to articulate him to sit in a certain way. Patting his head and if you take off his glasses you'd run the chance of him just straight up dozing off. Only to get hit with your brother's loud "you guys are so annoying" "you had to walk into my room to say that" you pout continuing to stroke Declan's hair, your brother perks up suddenly. "I sensed it from the bathroom." "Downstairs?" You look down at Declan before narrowing your eyes at your brother for almost disturbing his sleep ushering him out.

Declan is nonchalant when it comes to people who dislike him, especially kids. He definitely knows his way around them and it's 100% because of how long he was exposed to perfomapal while making those pendulum cards. One funny family guy funny clip and suddenly your brothers very forgiving. That dosent work? Oh so you're a reddit story and gamer kinda kid. Still feeling death glares? Fruit dancing videos. Even with distractions his hatred still stands. Angrily shaking his fist as the non copyright music plays behind fruits twirling around in sync. They'll never fully get along, so try not to leave them in the same room for too long

[moonmothbroth]

thank you for saving me I was so thirsty I was so thirsty

the omegas of the pack are super clingy to Cora no doubt their own father figure after years of suffering when kids

Kid pirates heartbreaking seeing the omegas cuddle up to this massive handsome older guy who looks so mysterious with his black feather coat (kid brought a red one later one to see if he could get law attention)

Cora devil fruit will freak them out since their first time meeting him they were discussing how cute the omegas were ‘maybe we should keep them like prices’ as a joke they will never admitted to jumping in fear as they notice a shadow over them which being this serious deadly glare and silently walking down the stairs to sit between the omegas who quickly cuddle up to him, Cora puts his arms around Penguin and Law and gives off a little smirk

Cora hates other pirates his morals as a marine do stick a lot with him even as pirate himself

to me Cora could get physical with kid pirates he was a marine a damn good one that was able to keep up being a spy for so long he protected his cubs for so long watch them grow into the doctors they are now no dirty pirate like kid killer wire and heat will change that

your new posts gave me so much joy 👍

You are welcome for the thirst quenching, Anon!

AND OMGGGG PROTECTIVE DAD CORRRAAAAAAAA!!!! I do think, with how dangerous being a pirate and traveling the seas as an omega can be, that it can be advantageous for people to assume that Cora is, like, Their Alpha. However, I do headcanon that once you're close enough (physically) to someone you can typically smell if a relationship is more familial than romantic with the type of scent markers someone can carry on them from another person. Which is funny whenever the day comes that Kid actually comes super close to Law and realizes that, hey! Wait a minute! That dumbass blonde alpha that keeps getting in his way is their dad! Definitely makes Kid try to instigate more fights with Cora I'm sure 😂

Also omg,,,Cora holding his kids in a big bear hug and just smiling evil-y at the Kid Pirates like "😈😈😈 hehehe you will NEVER court my pups." Also I 100% think that Kid has no brain-to-mouth filter so he will def hit on Law in all manner of ways, right in front of his future father-in-law 😭😂😂😂

[rubykgrant]

AU where every Freelancer had an armor ability, Beta didn't become a Freelancer (so no Tex agent), and no AI trades? Carolina has Sigma & Speed Boost, York has Delta & Healing Unit, Wyoming has Gamma & Temporal Distortion (or maybe replace with Cloaking), North has Theta & Bubble Shield, South has Omega & Armor Lock, Wash has Eta (fear) & Emp, Maine has Iota (joy) & Autosentry, Connie has Epsilon & Holo-Decoys, and Florida has Xi (Yellow Church, Love+Greed=Desire) & Promethean Vision. Thoughts??

It would be interesting to see how it all would have played-out if they each actually had an AI companion, and it's also a different kind of combo with give Wash and Maine Eta and Iota, then give Connie Epsilon! Maybe since Beta is still an AI, she could also go to a Freelancer (though, I doubt the Director would allow that in any scenario). While everybody enjoys a good "Meta Carolina" scenario, I think if she actually had Sigma from the beginning, they would have come to a different conclusion together about how to "bring back the Alpha", and she may have fought against the other Freelancers at some point, but it wouldn't quite be as the "Meta"... I feel like maybe from Sigma's influence, Carolina would have resented her dad more and wanted to break away from his shadow, while from Carolina's influence, Sigma would want to give the AI a chance to "realize their potential" without being tools, so he still encourages her to steal them from the Freelancers, but instead of holding them in a containment unit/combining together, they each get put into a robot body like Church and Tex, maybe also with memory loss, so now there are just some guys out there who don't know they're illegal AIs.

Connie with Epsilon is VERY cool, if the whole "Allison" incident didn't happen, and Epsilon had a chance to settle down after he was activated, I think they would have an interesting dynamic of not totally trusting each other at first, but without animosity; they're both secretive but have motivations to help others. Epsilon existing as an AI BEFORE we get to know him after Caboose tells him stories about Church is also a whole other concept... like, yeah, he's still That Dude, he's still Church, but "Church" isn't even Church yet! Alpha is still trapped somewhere! He would also have a different dynamic than what we see with Epsilon helping Carolina, etc

South getting Omega kicks-ass, and I think ti would be especially unnerving for everybody else if she DIDN'T fly off the handle in a rage right away. Calm and quiet South is NOT what they're used to. I think internally, she and Omega would rant and rave at each other, but all this venting gives them a chance to burn-out on the anger, so they can recover and move on. They become each other's vindicators, Omega defends South's feelings, and South appreciates his intensity. Ironically, they work so well together, it makes North go into over-protective-brother-mode, and South is just... so DONE dealing with that. This flips into North feeling like the one being "left behind", because he's not sure how to exist side by side with his Twin when she's succeeding and he doesn't need to clean up after her

Wash and Maine having the twin AI might mean they need to work together as partners more often, which would be good for them both (takes some of the pressure off Maine to always push forward on his own and carry all the weight by himself, and allows Wash to grow more confident by helping somebody else). Eta and Iota would also encourage their Freelancers to think about their actions and the end results a little more, meaning they might dip out and escape Project Freelancer on their own (so there would be a whole bit of the other Freelancers thinking they have "betrayed" them, plus Carolina and Sigma are trying to find them for Eta and Iota. sure would be funny if these two guys tried to be inconspicuous and hide in a box canyon in the middle of nowhere haha)

Florida not only having Yellow Church, but also having him during Blood Gulch is hilarious; he might even use this guy instead of Vic, so now Yurch is the one answering the phone calls from both teams, all bored and sarcastic like- "What do you want NOW?". Church talks about how this guy is SUCH a loser and a buzz-kill. Tucker tries to point out that he, uh, kinda sounds EXACTLY like Church? "No he doesn't, I'm way cooler than this a-hole". Yurch is only helpful with Flowers around, the rest of the time he's just snarky (however, he secretly does a lot of stuff to keep everybody from killing each other. he just doesn't want anybody to know he gives a heck)

[apomaro-mellow]

Taking Care of Business (And My Business is You) 14

Part 13

It was a frosty morning, deep into autumn, inside a cozy cafe, when Steve told Eddie what he intended to do. Robin was there as well, practically Steve’s shadow anytime she wasn’t his eyes on the street.

“I’ve already begun the investigation of my father and I have a few leads.” As Steve said this, he laid out a manila folder onto the table. Eddie started to flip through it, finding some photos and files.

“The guy responsible for doing the deed has already been snuffed out”, Robin said when Eddie got to a mug shot.

“We’re still trying to find out exactly how he’s connected to my father”, Steve said.

“If you can confirm your dad contacted him then he’s in hot water”, Eddie nodded. “But what about the family business?”

Steve played with the stirrer in his cup. “That’s something I need to work on while searching for clues. People are either in my father’s pocket or my mother’s camp.”

Eddie raised a brow. “You don’t have any direct support?”

“He’s an omega with zero accomplishments under his name”, Robin pointed out. “Not a lot for people to uplift there.”

“Hey, I’ve got some accomplishments under my belt.”

“Being a high school athlete doesn’t count”, she said. “Nor does being a very skilled flirt”, she added very quickly.

Steve kicked her under the table but she moved her legs in time to make him hit the table’s leg instead, jostling their drinks a little. Eddie was still looking through the file, trying to commit the names and faces to memory. A few of them he’d seen or heard of. Steve reminded him that if all went well, his induction would be soon and he’d officially be family.

Eddie followed Steve on the usual tasks he was given, which was often just collecting on those who had mafia protection. Apparently Robin did most of the investigating. It was easy for a beta like her to go unnoticed unless she made her presence known.

During Eddie’s escorting, he always stayed a step behind Steve, speaking only when spoken to, which was never. Fortunately, most knew how to act with decorum and if they had a problem with shaking an omega’s hand they knew not to show it.

They were in the middle of downtown, collecting from some of the vendors, when a downpour began. They hid under an awning, already drenched to the bone. Steve’s hair flopped over his forehead so adorably, Eddie almost couldn’t resist. He knew he looked like a wet rat in comparison.

“The car’s just a couple blocks down the street”, Eddie said. He pushed some of his hair from his face.

“We are not getting my car all wet”, Steve said.

Eddie bit his lip, trying very hard not to remind him that other, much more scandalous fluids had been present. Instead, he thought of some other options. Steve probably wasn’t opposed to going back out in the rain if it meant getting to dry off somewhere and wait out the weather.

“Well, you know…my place is just down the street. In the other direction.”

-------------------

They had held their jackets over their heads like that would do anything to keep them dry. But they made it to Eddie’s apartment and hung them on the coat rack. Steve took in everything when he walked in, first noticing how small it was. But then how homey it was. It just looked so…so lived in.

Steve perused the pictures on the wall, seeing a younger Eddie, probably twelve, holding up a fish next to his uncle.

“Don’t look too hard, the eyes will start to follow you”, Eddie teased.

Steve turned in time to see Eddie start to unbutton his shirt. It was already bordering on transparent and when Eddie took it off, droplets ran down his skin. Steve bit his lip while the alpha pulled it off.

“Wet…”, he whispered.

“What?”

Steve cleared his throat. “We’re both-we’re both really wet um, do you have a dryer in here?”

“As a matter of fact, we do. Lemme get us a change of clothes first. Unless…”, Eddie turned his body this way and that. “My uncle is currently out. So we coooould….”

“What? Walk around in the nude?”

Eddie waggled his brows which made Steve actually guffaw. If he thought he could keep his hands off the man, he might actually entertain it. But it had been much too long since he laid his scent on Eddie and he knew he couldn’t resist.

“We better not. Knowing you, you’d have my knotted right on your couch”, he said, flipping it back onto him. He spied what must be Eddie’s room and went inside, shutting the door. 

“Um…?” Eddie stood outside of it, confused for a moment as he knocked on his own bedroom door. 

There was a shuffling noise and Steve cracked it open just enough to hold out his wet clothing to Eddie. He accepted them, brain melting a little at the idea that Steve was naked just on the other side. But then Steve shut the door and he was left outside again. He waited, just to see if it would open again. But when it did, Steve was dressed in a pair of Eddie’s shorts and one of his cropped band tees. It was the sort of thing he’d wear in the dead heat of summer. Not when winter was on their heels.

“You might want to get the dryer going”, Steve said, walking past him.

Eddie went inside his room and got undressed in a hurry, piling his wet clothes on top of Steve’s. He put on a sweater and some boxers and went to get the dryer started. By the time he met back up with Steve, the omega was in the middle of cooking…something in his kitchen.

Steve’s back was turned so he got a prime view of his ass in those shorts. His legs too. Steve’s thighs were thicker than his and they filled out the shorts much better than Eddie’s ever did.

“I bet you’re gonna tell me you’re making some authentic Italian meal you learned from your mom that translates to something like ‘Venetian Orgasm’.”

Steve snorted. “I don’t know how authentic it is. And it doesn’t have a name exactly. But I learned it from my mother.” His face softened whenever he talked about her. “We didn’t got down to the kitchen a lot. But she taught me how to take simple things and turn it delicious. And how to make pre-made stuff better.”

“Doesn’t really seem in the skillset of a mafia princess”, Eddie said, leaning against the fridge.

“Whatever she knew, she learned from my nonna, God rest her soul. And she hated canned food.”

“Ahh, she would’ve been my arch enemy”, Eddie said when he noticed Steve had taken one of the many cans of Chef Boyardee from the cabinet. He picked it up. “This must be blasphemous to your people.”

“It has its place. And I know I can’t expect a five course meal from you, so…let’s just say it’s a good thing you have parsley. And real parmigiano reggiano.”

They talked while Steve cooked and Eddie carried his weight by setting the table. It was a scene so unexpectedly domestic that it caught Steve off guard and he briefly wondered if his parents ever had moments like this. 

When they finished eating and started to clean up, Steve asked, “How long until the clothes are done?”

“At least another thirty minutes”, Eddie answered.

“And how long will your uncle be away?”

“He’s playing cards at a buddy’s, it’ll be a couple more hours.” Especially if the rain kept him away. Coast cleared, Steve’s eyes began to darken and Eddie could scent the sweetness in the air. 

“Well then, why don’t you give me a tour of your bedroom?”

-----------------------

Even if Eddie was completely privy to all the leads Steve had, he could tell when he was getting close and when something turned up dry. He was rather open with his emotions. Or perhaps it was just because Eddie could read him well now.

He could also read others well, but he chalked that up to them being too free with their facial expressions. Such as one Tommy Hagan, who had been a sourpuss the more Eddie showed up to the estate. He probably figured he’d be chosen to be sponsored by Steve.

“Something like that”, Robin replied when Eddie brought it up.

They were lounging on couches while Steve did pull-ups. Eddie definitely enjoyed the show. He could fight, but he wasn’t much for exercise in general.

“Tommy has been gunning for Steve for a while. He’s pretty open about marrying him. But he hasn’t officially asked permission to court.”

“Why not?”, Eddie asked.

“Because he can’t”, Steve said as he dropped down from the bar. “My old man has control over a lot of things, but courtship and my eventual marriage are not in his hands.”

“How is that even possible? Isn’t he the boss? Why are people trying to impress him then?”, Eddie questioned.

“They’ll do anything to get in good graces”, Robin said. 

Steve wiped the sweat off of him with a towel. “When I presented, my dad basically handed over all of my upbringing to my mom. I don’t know how much she foresaw, but she even got it in writing that only she or my nonno were to take care of my courtship.”

Eddie whistled. “Sure she wasn’t a psychic?”

Steve shrugged. “Whatever the case, Tommy can’t court me unless he has my grandfather’s permission.”

“And the old boss hates the Hagans”, Robin said.

“Lemme guess, they’re all brown nosers?”

“God, it’s like they think we shit roses”, Steve said.

Eddie watched out for Tommy more and sure enough, the guy had a permanent scowl on his face whenever Eddie was present. Eddie tried to keep to Steve’s side, it was his place after all. But more than once, he saw Hagan walk off with Steve’s dad. A mob boss meeting with an underling of no actual rank was odd. 

But two sleazeballs conspiring wasn’t out of the ordinary at all.

Part 15

[ciciciron]

Random Gen 4 Character Hcs cuz I'm Too Sick to Write Anything Good

Ya boy's got strep, gonna do every Gym Leader and the E4, some characters will have more cuz I'm autism but I'll write something for everyone

Roark;

He's the second youngest Gym Leader, like, 18 - 22 at most

That doesn't mean he's inexperienced, no, it's honestly based upon the timeline of whatever I'm writing but I think he's been a Gym Leader for a good few years

I get the vibe that he's just like really nice, like just a good, reliable dude who needs a break and is fortunately likable enough to escape his father's shadow

Gardenia;

She's afraid of like everything, beyond just ghosts, my girl is a coward

She's pretty close with every other Gym Leader because of this, got em all on speed dial to come get the Spinarak out of her house and all that

Such a cringe fail lesbian

Honestly I see her as such a Kobeni (csm) type character, she knows what you are

Maylene;

Girl is 9 get her out of here

My reasoning for that age is because in pokespe it's mentioned that she's younger than Platinum, who is like 12

She's not weak but like someone help this poor girl she don't know what's going on

Crasher Wake;

Bros like, really good with kids, great at entertaining them, they just think he's cool af

He's not very helpful but he definitely tries, like if you cried he would recommend petting Quagsire, which would probably help tbh

He just gives the vibe like he's the type of guy you'd call uncle your whole life only to learn later on he's just a friend of your dads and not at all related to you

Fantina;

She isn't actually French- I know, who would willingly act French? She would, her real name is Heather because I came up with all of this when I was going through my musical theatre phase

She's Jupiter's older sister, naturally they don't talk much anymore

She isn't very lucky when it comes to love, swears after the end of every bad relationship that she's going to give up and become a nun, she is not religious nor does she ever stick to her word

Byron;

Sometimes he just forgets he's a dad, not like- forgets who Roark is, just that if he got called to come bail him out of jail he'd be confused why he was the one getting the call

Himbo energy, not a thought behind those eyes

Wildly irresponsible but on accident

Candice;

Girl's an influencer, she's the only one of them who knows how to properly work Tiktok, she will send you Tiktoks that remind her of you and you WILL receive those links through Instagram DMs because she forgot to save your phone number or just doesn't have it

Adding onto that- she will post fit checks regardless of what is happening in the background, she doesn't care that that man is drowning, this ain't about him

She is really good at remembering things about her coworkers though, she's in charge of every birthday party, if you forget your birthday don't worry she remembered and she is in your house don't ask how she got in

Volkner;

I don't care if he's canonically just some skinny twink he's big to ME. Like- 6'4", at least 200 pounds, guy is just huge and bulky and built like a brick wall, tons of practical strength because,,,

This is more about his Luxray but his name is Oscar and he's massive, think an Alpha Luxray in Legends Arceus, that cat is huge, Volkner is only even slightly strong just to be able to lift him off of his bed at night when he's trying to sleep

Wildly irresponsible but on purpose, he thinks it's funny to endanger himself, no he won't seek help he doesn't believe in therapy because he wasn't properly helped when he was younger

He does care about Sunyshore though, spent a week fixing that black out that stopped you from visiting the city at first in DPPT, he claims it's Team Galactic's fault but like no one believes him

Sorry to give Volkner 5 I mean what to expect from the guy who named himself Volkner but he's related to like every Electric Type Gym Leader and also whoever I see fit. It's a very large family. He makes frequent trips to Unova to visit his only respected similarly aged cousin Elesa so they can trash talk their not respected similarly aged cousin Colress (Long story). Also yes I do believe Palmer is his dad and Barry is his younger brother and I'm deciding today that they all have a good relationship. (Also I want to elaborate on this all so much like smh I didn't even bring up the Shinx based ceremony but that's gonna have to be a different post)

I don't have biases what are you talking about anyways E4 time.

Aaron;

He may or may not be distantly related to this fellow green hair and prong having man named Ghetsis but that's more lore to unpack on my end and I don't want to explain my real life friendships that make Ghetsis relevant here.

He can't be in the same room with Gardenia for too long because she gets freaked out just knowing Vespiquen is there, they have to be cycled out intermittently at every League meeting

He's been in the E4 the 3rd longest despite the fact he's only slightly older than Flint and Lucian, everyone who doubts Bug Types is amazed

Bertha;

She's been here before Cynthia was Champion and was actually the Champion before the guy who came before Cynthia, there's no getting rid of her

The hair makes it obvious but she's related to Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four, sometimes they meet for tea and to trash talk every challenger they've faced as well as their coworkers

She's excellent at comforting people without even realizing what she said half the time, you'll thank her for the advice and she'll accept that without knowing what she told you to do, she was completely out of it

Flint;

He was the Oreburgh Gym Leader before Roark, however many years before depends on the timeline, but he was second choice to join after Volkner declined for reasons I don't actually have outside of my main au

He acts exactly like one of those straight boys pretending to be gay to make fun of gay people expect it isn't acting and everyone can tell aside from him (i.e. jokingly being incredibly affectionate with Volkner)

He's probably the most reliable friend one could have and is like always ready to throw hands, he has too much energy and just wants to punch someone in the face, please ask him to punch someone in the face he will happily do it he's begging you

Lucian;

Guys a fucking ass, like, he's just very rude. That's not because I hate him he just seems kind of stuck up. (I'm mad that he tells me about how much he reads whenever I talk to him in Pokemas because I can't read large paragraphs without my vision blurring and it feels like he's bragging, and also a specific decision I made for my general lore)

He's genuinely psychic, like, telekinesis style, it comes in handy at sorting books and throwing things at people because that guy ain't got an arm on him to save his life

I think that psychic power could be totally nullified by putting a hat on him. Battle tactic.

Cynthia;

Her father was Champion before her, she's a nepobaby, she would get upset if you called her that though because she worked real hard for her position and is tired of people devaluing her

Her slug is named Sharon and she hates men, specifically blonde ones. If you are near that Gastrodon as a blonde man you are about to be hydropumped. You can't out run Sharon don't even think about it just accept your fate.

Meanwhile her Garchomp is named Joan and she's just a large scaley puppy.

She definitely needs glasses but she's very stubborn

She also can't drive. Don't let her do it. She is going to hit another mythical Pokemon.

Cynthia is also incredibly shocked whenever she learns someone doesn't care about history as much as her. She's just like- in awe, she forgot people could have other interests and it's throwing her for a loop, she'll just kind of stand there with her mouth agape until you speak again and even then she'll never look at you the same again

Okay that's...everyone for today, I would do Team Galactic but at that point I'd feel like I have to write something for every single character in the game and I'm neglecting my homework too hard for that.

[bee-barnes-author]

Dead Darlings Tag

Tagged by @tabswrites

Tagging: @coffeewritesfiction @vivrune @violeaes @tombstuck @ellierenae @milkhoney531 @amandacanwrite @leahkentwriter @pheita @following-the-drum @sirensatyr and an open tag for anyone else!

Rules: Share a part of your writing you love that got cut for the greater good. It doesn't matter if it's a line or a paragraph. It doesn't matter if you might work it back in. If it's not currently in a WIP and you want to share, please do.

Deleted excerpt from 'The Beast in the Glass House' (it's a long one!)

Elijah doesn’t take it well when I tell him I’ll be staying behind this moon cycle, leaving him in charge of the pack while I’m here. “Seriously? You won’t be there? Well, what the hell are you doing instead?”

“I’m attending a Halloween party with Freya and her friends.” I say, cool toned and firm in my phrasing. My little brother can’t talk me out of this one. I’m confident in my position. This is the right path for me.

Elijah gapes at me like I’ve spontaneously sprouted a second head on my shoulders. “How are you going to do that? It’s the first night.”

“I’ll be fine. We’ll leave the party before the moon is even an issue for me.” I wave his concerns off. “Haven’t I proven my control?”

His lips twitch like he has a thousand words to say, but after a moment he finally lands on, “Do you want me here as backup?”

I shake my head. “No, I need you to lead the pack run.”

He pushes back, not satisfied by my answer. “Klaus can do it. I think you need me here as backup.”

“Look, Elijah, I appreciate that you’re trying to protect me, but what you’re actually doing is undermining me. I said I’ll be fine without you.”

My final refusal seems to push his temper over the edge. “But what if you’re not fine?! What if you’re just getting sicker and sicker like dad did?!” He stomps his foot at me like a child and for a long, horrible second I think I’m going to slap him.

But I control myself. I won’t lash out like that. “ENOUGH! Elijah! I am your Alpha and you will obey me!”

“I’m worried about you, jackass!” Elijah roars back, not quite matching my volume. He makes the wise choice not to get in my face. We both know how a fist fight between us would end.

“Don’t you think I’m terrified, too?! You stupid fuck! That’s why I have to do this! If our bond can settle completely, and she knows the truth about us, then everything can go back to normal! But this is a very delicate process. So you need to back. Off.” I emphasize my final words, putting pressure on the pack bond we share. This is an order, and he knows it. 

He knows it, and he fucking hates that I’ve done it. Elijah purses his lips, clearly biting back more vicious anger. “Fine.” He snarls, snatching his coat and stomping to the front door. “Fine. Don’t fucking listen to me. Jesus, fuck.” He’s not gentle when shutting the door behind him. He slams it so hard that the door frame vibrates violently, and the pictures on the wall rattle, threatening to slip off their mounts.

Elijah thinks I’m nothing more than a beast, whose cage is actually a house made of glass. He treats me like I’ll explode at any second, goring everyone around me with crystalline shards in the process. Tonight, I will prove to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am in control. I won’t have him undermining me with the rest of the wolves. No pack can survive if the Alpha’s Second attempts mutiny.

On the counter, next to where Elijah stood moments ago, is a cluster of purple herbs tied together with twine. Every full moon cycle, Elijah makes tea with this and that helps to delay his transformation for as long as possible. He’s stoned out of his gourd by the time he finishes his second cup, and he says it tastes like eating a fruitarian's shit, but it’s worth it because it works. And, as furious as he is with my choice to stay behind this cycle, he still chose to leave behind a bundle of his precious herbs for me.

I pick the herbs up like they’re more fragile than eggshell china. Like they’ll crumble in my grip if I clutch it too tight. I don’t know the scientific name for them, but the long purple stems grow lush, purple petals, and even the pollen that dusts the feet of the bees is a rich purple. They’re fairly rare on this side of the world. Elijah has the only greenhouse that grows them on the west coast, as far as I know. Lucius had disagreed with using them, so out of respect, Elijah kept the plants on my property and transported small batches to the cabin each moon.

My brother is a good man. I need to remember that. He’s just scared for me, and while, as I said to his face, I’m scared as well, I can’t let that stop me from doing what I need to do. For the good of myself and for the good of the pack. He’ll see that once we’re on the other side of this mess.

For today, I push away the strife. It’s eight a.m, and I’m due to be at your front door in two hours. It’s your tradition to take Halloween day off of work and celebrate in as many ways as you can. You’ve invited me to spend the day leading up to the party with you. Of course, I accepted immediately. What sort of fool would I have to be to decline the opportunity to spend more time with you?

[january-summers]

But then what would Red Vs Blue look like as a Sword Art Online fusion?

Because, like, it's easy to just dump them in complete AU, but I mean actual story translation?

Cause obviously the Reds and Blues would be newbie player, or at least they'd be casuals who don't play very often or obsessed with a certain game/genre but not actually very good at it.

And Freelancers would be more pro-players, like Wash did e-sports but he's not really into it, he's good, but he'd rather be having fun with friends than games-as-work.

Carolina's still chasing her father's approval and her mother's shadow by being the top of the gamer world, (her mother Allison was an e-sports superstar, and a top ranker in twenty MMORPGs).

Meanwhile, Director Church has created one of the worlds first full dive Virtual Reality MMOs, and he did it all while trying to figure out a way to un-vegetable his wife, who suffered brain death years ago when trying out another company's first attempts at full dive technology.

Director is convinced if he can just learn enough about brains in simulations, he can use the data that was saved from his wife's dives and put her back to rights.

So he created the game, and it's supposed to be the best game ever, incorporating all Allison's favourite things.

But there's a catch, in order for Director to get the data he needs, the game has to be running non-stop for A While. Specifically, the players need to be playing non-stop for A While.

So he's trapped them in the game with the threat of death looming over them.

There's probably something hidden in the T&Cs of the user agreement so everyone who logs on legally agrees to this shit, but no one reads the T&Cs, so they have no idea. They all genuinely believe they'll die in real life if they die in the game, and the only way to get out is to clear it. Like, even Carolina doesn't know.

The AI overlord Operating System of the game is FILSS/Sheila.

I was thinking (alpha) Church as Carolina's IRL brother who followed their dad into computer programming, but then it (the Chex) would be weird when the Allison Data that Director puts into the game develops its own personality (Beta). So maybe he's just part of the operating systems, on of several AIs running around low key maintaining the game and adding/manifesting new missions and materials based on their interactions with the users to ensure the game is meeting everyone's skill level.

He just sort of joins the Blues and pretends to be a human player.

Man I hope Director is paying the players to be there. He'd probably only pay minimum wage. Has a hospital set up for long term monitoring of players, and Aiden is going to have a field day with the research into what this kind of shit does to people's minds.

Lopez as a Bot that gains sapience/sentience.

It takes Griff months to find out his sister is in the game. (she "just wanted to spend time with him, but holy shit bro have you seen-")

Tucker accidentally hatches some kind of demon creature and tames it, it thinks Tucker is its mother. He names it Junior.

The Freelancers are the Front Line players, making the push towards clearing the game (possibly all of them were beta players for the game?), but somehow the Reds and Blues are actually some of the most powerful players even though they mostly just stand around talking, and getting into side-quest shenanigans.

Sarge is actually Simmons and Griff's shop teacher who is determined to look out for his students in the most tsundere way possible. Donut doesn't take shop class, he does home ec, but he knows them from Simmons' brief attempts at being on the school baseball team.

The Reds and Blues (minus Sarge) are all teenagers now, probably seniors, who go to the same school. (Wash is supposed to be in collage getting ready to graduate but e-sports got in the way, Carolina is younger than him but older than the Reds and Blues.)

Butch Flowers is the home ec teacher, (or/alos a computer science teacher) he and Sarge have a one sided rivalry that got passed onto their teams.

Tucker used to be on the baseball team, but he's currently suspended for reasons that probably weren't actually his fault, but no one knows what it actually is because Tucker like encouraging the rumours, since they're hilarious.

Caboose just wanted to make friends and have fun, and now the cool kids are hanging out with him and he made a Best Friend called Church and he doesn't have to go home at all!

Doc is either a first year medical student who doesn't have time for this!!! or Donut's boyfriend the others have never met because he goes to a different school.

Is the game sci-fi guns blazing or high fantasy swords and sorcery?

I don't know, irrelevant.

The reason Church is still bad at shooting things though is because as an AI he can make himself as powerful as he wants to be, and no-selling his shots is FILSS's way of smacking him with a rolled up news paper.

[sonicasura]

Ok we've talked alot about The Mothzilla family(Godzilla, Mothra, Hoppy, PJ, CatBee, and Mommy) but I have a few HCs regarding the other toys and their 'parents'

Rodan and Kickin have a sort of Eager Dad and Slightly shy kid, like Rodan will often greet other titans being all flamboyant and energetic while Kickin hides behind him but will say hi if the other titan gently introduces them to Kickin.

Behemoth, Bubba and Picky, pray for Behemoth because he is a single dad and both of his adopted kids have some issues. He tries his best but most of the time in his kind would have Matriarchs to help but as far as he knows besides his adopted kids he's the last one.

Tiamat and Boxy have a real odd vibe with each other, while Tiamat is haughty and uptight with other titans she does on her precious son. Despite the fact you will see Boxy just chewing on the most random stuff around base while Tiamat sings his accomplishments above the other kids, a very much 'This is my son, I found him in the trash but he's mine and I love him'

When Kong met Huggy and Kissy, it was a bit tense think like an ape sanctuary introducing a rescued ape to the troop and praying it goes well. Kissy and Huggy were scared of Kongs sheer size and strength, hiding from him for most time. Until Kong offered the two some food when they became hungry and let them eat in peace, it helped that Kong let them shadow him while he wandered Skull Island.

For Shimo and Crafty it's very much a grandma raising her granddaughter situation, she'll gladly let her play and try to make art with her new ice abilities but she won't be able to always join both due to old age and her time imprisoned by Skar King. Thankfully Kong has three children that can keep up with Crafty when she can't.

When it turns out King Caeser existed was more of a shock to Monarch than to Bobby and Dogday since they could 'sense' him. He was a fun but strict parent, he'll let them have their fun but he will set limits. Granted he's also very protective of the two even willing to come to blows with Godzilla when Hoppy and Dogday start dating when the two of them become teens.

These are honestly spot on. Lol

Boxy is a simple fellow when it comes to how he does things and his needs. His gnawing on random stuff is just a teeth test. Boxy has the best dental record as he's quick to point out a problem with his fangs.

Behemoth definitely took awhile to get used to Bubba and Picky's antics. The former has a habit of finding unauthorized humans near their habitat then wards them away with a proper response on their demeanor. Picky meanwhile often share her foods whenever they have problems scavenging. She has a unique mutation that lets her eat anything even if its inedible or toxic without any harm.

Kickin is definitely shy whenever Rodan introduces him to unknown monsters. Luckily he bounces back to a friendly playful demeanor if they're nice or have nice children he can play with. Rodan always avoids taking Kickin to meet any kaiju he's knows is bad news.

Crafty is definitely a very considerate granddaughter when it comes to Shimo. She knew what kind of pain the Skar King put the older Titan under and does her best to help ease the trauma. Crafty shared a few methods with Shimo such as deep breathes or claw drawings.

Kong definitely wasn't expecting Monarch to bring in Huggy and Kissy at all. Despite how much he wanted to interact with them, the larger ape could tell they were scared thus exercise patience. A good decision since the two rarely leave his side once it became clear he meant no harm. Kong feels a lot less lonely now and mellowed a bit to not scare his younger companions.

I can imagine a 'Why didn't you tell us' moment with Monarch once King Caeser is found. Godzilla remains civil despite there being another Alpha because of the kids. Doesn't mean the lizard isn't snarky and DogDay/Hoppy can take that. If not then good thing Bobby is a great peacemaker.

[windsorbay]

THE CHARACTER.

FULL NAME: Taemin Lee

GENDER: Cis man

PRONOUNS: He/him

AGE + BIRTHDAY: 34 + January 8, 1991

LENGTH OF TIME IN WINDSOR BAY: 6 months

HOUSING: Mountainside

OCCUPATION: Legal Assistant at Goldstein Law

THE INTERVIEW.

What’s your family like? Are you still close, or have you blocked all their numbers?

Family was a complex matter for Tae. He’d grappled with the feeling of rejection since youth, knowing there was something different about him, something that was frowned upon in the traditional home in which he’d been raised. His Aunt and Uncle in the US had embraced him, but back in South Korea, Tae wasn’t sure he had what you’d really call ‘family’. He answered, teeth lightly chewing the inside of his cheek in nervous gesture. “Oh, I don’t think my mother and father and siblings really take much interest in me. I’m lucky if I even get a comment on my social media posts from them, but family can be what you make for yourself. I’ll try to make a life of my own, regardless of whether I have their support or not.” But he had to admit, it really would have been nice to have it.

Top five songs currently on your Spotify?

“Oh,” Tae answered, blushing a little, the tips of his ears turning pink. It was sort of embarrassing to admit. “I’m afraid I don’t listen to a lot of music. I know. A lot of people find that hard to believe. But I prefer to listen to audio books, podcasts, something with a bit of a narrative. My taste in music is embarrassingly slim. I couldn’t tell you who most of the artists on the radio are.”

We’ve all had our fair share of shit hit the fan and moments in the sun — tell me about a defining moment in your life, good or bad.

Tae’s mind rushed back to that of his sixteen-year-old self, his lips pressed against the lips of another boy, slender teen body flush with desire. It was like everything in that moment had happened in slow motion. He’d relived it so many times, and yet it was also over far too quickly, never to be relived. Tae had kissed other boys, other men since then, but none had altered the course of his life like this one had. Without that kiss, maybe his father never would have sent him to live in the US. Maybe he would have lived out the rest of his life in Seoul, been pushed to be at the study hall every night after school, pushed into politics like his father. “That’s private. Sorry. I’m going to be keeping that one to myself. Hope you understand.”

Are you a leader or a follower?

Tae gave a small laugh. “Did my dad send you to ask that question? He doesn’t seem to believe there are ways to exist in the world without being the most alpha of alpha males.” Tae took a deep breath, inhaling sharply through his nostrils. Even after years living in the US, nearly two decades worth of distance from his birth parents, the shadow of his father still lingered. “More of a follower. Alright, are you happy?”

THE PERSONALITY.

— + Adaptable, quick-witted, accepting — - underachiever, insecure, complacent

TAEMIN IS PORTRAYED BY WI HAJOON, AND WRITTEN BY RILEY.

[maguro13-2]

The Dark Picture REPAINT ~ Origins of the Ink Demon : Operation Drawcia Finale (13/14)

*At the Black Comet*

Homura Akemi : At long last. I finally found the seventh and final Chaos Emerald. Now, brother...we can finally end this once and for all.

Black Doom : You stupid human brat! do you have any idea of what you've done?

Homura's Brother/Time Eater : Are you ready, dear sister?

Homura Akemi : Yes, brother.

Black Doom : Those are my emeralds! My emeralds! You aren't going to re-arrange everything would you? The whole planet is doomed, doomed by me, Black doom!

Homura Akemi : Let us combine our powers together.

Homura's Brother : Agree.

Homura Akemi : Now then...[to Seto and Grim] I just wanted to congratulate you on stopping the menace who scourged the entire planet with this useless invasion that he started.

Seto : No need to thank us. Our mission has been completed.

Black Doom : Blasted meddling kids. I've waited 50 years to have my revenge on these mobians, am I still a great father?

Seto : [Thinking] How do we put this? Hmmm...[determined] Aha...No cap, you're still the worst.

Homura's Brother : [To Black Doom] Hahahaha. You're such a major asshole, Black Doom. But it pains that I understand why Gerald wanted to make you dead.

Homura Akemi : Since Mr. Shadow could never be bothered by his troubled past because of your actions or Gerald's action, I'm keeping his promise to an oath the he decided that it's going to be a new leaf for shadow. If you want to resolve the problem with the robotniks, there's only solution. Kill yourself, that's an order.

Black Doom : With pleasure, but how about a swift strike! (attempts to the attack group, but they evade)

Homura's Brother : You sly dog! How dare you try to make a murderous attempt.

Grim : As Grim reaper of Planet Mobius, I will have your soul taken away! (tries to attack, but Black Doom teleports) Damn!

Homura Akemi : (has the Purple Chaos Emerald) Alright, I got the last one. Looks like he's worthless without the ritual, now all we have to do is to make the new era to be created! But first of all, where's that one sick son of a b*tch that just teleported out of the comet?

Egg Pawn via Radio : This is Alpha team! We have confirmed the location of Black Doom! It appears that he is outside the comet and is quite possible that he is about to transform into a giant...Oh my God! WHAT THE HELL IS HE!? All units! This Alien leader has turned into some kind of Devil!

[cues I Am...All of Me by Jun Senoue]

Homura Akemi : So...It's war that he wanted? Alright I'll go find him. Where is he?

(changes background)

Homura Akemi : Huh? Well...This is new?

Grim : Black Doom! Black Doom! Where in the world are you Black Doom!

Black Doom : Right behind you.

Grim : (turns and sees something in shock) What!?

(the group turns and sees his transformation; Devil Doom)

Grim : Black Doom...This is...

Seto : Egad! What happened to you!?

Homura Akemi : Just as I expected, that is Devil Doom. A form that Black Doom has kept hidden to make him look like the devil.

Homura's Brother : Looks like he waited 50 years to come out of that shell.

Seto : Nobody would tell me that Master Grim analyzed his body, but how in the world can he get away like this!? Aliens like him turn into this?

Black Doom/Devil Doom : I knew that the Robotnik Family wanted throw me away like garbage. It just had to happen when it comes to my full colors as father and son. But now 50 years later, Gerald is still the fool...And here I am, in my awesomeness form of a Devil! The destruction so that the Ancients and The End itself would never make their ends!

Seto : You are one dead giant sucker. I'm gonna come over and kick your butt!

Shadow in Super Form : Don't waste your time here, blondie.

Seto : Shadow! You're in super form again.

Shadow in Super Form : I had this like four years from now on, you go on and get everyone out of the comet, I'll deal with "dad" by myself.

Seto : Thanks, Shad. I won't forget.

*DBZ SFX : Teleport*

Eggman : Hey! We're free! And what happened to him!

Sonic : That's what Black Doom in that form looks like? He's huge!

Tails : It's all because of Daddy issues after four years of the Space Colony ARK incident.

Knuckles : And now I understand why Sonic took the blame of committing a crime against the country.

Amy : We did not how we thought Gerald was going to destroy us, but turns out the Space Colony ARK incident was diversion for them.

Sonic : Oh...That's right.

Rouge : Good thing that Omega brought us out of the comet! How in the world did that girl got us escape from that gas?

Eggman : I think I had a gas mask in pocket.

Tails : [To Eggman] Why would you even think about a Gas Mask?

(changes to Devil Doom)

Black Doom/Devil Doom : Since I...Black Doom of the Black Arms can't make the Robotnik Family pay for their transgressions, guess I'm gonna make them pay...with your own blood!

Shadow in Super Form : Quit your bitching, and get it on already! I really need to watch the super bowl.

Seto : Now or never, Master! Time to pay up for his sins!

Black Doom/Devil Doom : Then Burn in the Inferno! Along with him. (gets his attacked by the remains of Central City)

Sadistic Solva : Mr. Black Doom...You sir are a horrible father...and a major wiener! (flips Devil Doom off)

Black Doom/Devil Doom : YOU PESTS! I WILL DESTROY YOU WITH THE POWER THAT I UNLEASHED! AND HOW DO YOU EXPECT MY SON TO BEAT ME TO A SUPER SONIC THAT I HAVE NEVER BEEN BEFORE?

Super Shadow : By the power of the Chaos Emeralds sent by the Ancients to warn us about abusing their powers. Look over there, I see the Final Fortress zone covered in the red skies of madness!

Black Doom/Devil Doom : Nice try, Shadow. But that foolish trick won't make me fall for it! Now let me hurry up so that I can kill you and destroy this planet.

Homura Akemi : Trick r Treat!

Black Doom/Devil Doom : What!?

*DBZ SFX : Surprise*

Homura Akemi : It's now or never! Alright, brother. Time for us to combine the powers and rewrite to create the new era.

Homura's Brother/Time Eater : Indeed.

(summons the Chaos Emeralds to encircle them)

Homura Akemi : Let's create a new era together and fix all of this so that I can may rewrite the world and never let this happened.

Homura's Brother/Time Eater : With pleasures.

Homura Akemi : Time for Shadow's past to fade from existence.

Black Doom/Devil Doom : NOOOOOOO!!! YOU STUPID HUMAN GIRL! DO YOU REALIZE ON WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO? IF YOU REWRITE THE WORLD IN THE MULTIVERSE, THE INVASION WILL NEVER HAPPEN!

[Cues The Messiah by Yutaka Minobe]

Homura Akemi : Chaos...

Homura's Brother/Time Eater : Chaos...

Seto : They're going to rewrite the world...

Solva : Using Chaos Control?

Grim : That could only mean one thing...The world is gong to be...

Shadow : Rewritten.

Homura & Her Brother : [together] Chaos...CONTROL!

*DBZ SFX : Fuse+Explosiver Wave*

Black Doom/Devil Doom : NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

*Sonic SFX : Chaos Control*

"Somewhere in the Space Time Rift"

Homura Akemi : This is it. I've finally done it. This should be enough time for me to rewrite 2005. With all of that, I can finally create the new era.

*Solaris Howling*

Homura Akemi : Huh? What's that sound?

[cues "Solaris Theme 1" by Hideaki Kobayashi]

Homura Akemi : Brother? Brother where are you?

Homura Brother's voice : Sister!

Homura Akemi : Brother! Is that you? What is this place?

Homura Brother's Voice : This is the Space-Time Rift. You need to get out of there now!

Homura Akemi : Brother! The Rewrite should be complete.

Homura Brother's Voice : But there's something blocking in our way.

Homura Akemi : Huh? What's blocking in my way? (turns and sees a creature floating; it's Solaris from Sonic 06) What the? What is that creature, some kind of monstrosity who is this?

Homura Brother's Voice : That is Solaris, the creature worshiped by Shinra and his people. He is basically monstrous form of a flame that caused that incident in 2006 AD.

Homura Akemi : 2006 AD? Somehow, the Ohkuboverse is connected with that creature that handles the power of the emeralds. This is what the inhabitants of the Ohkuboverse worshiped a phony god like this one.

Solaris's Voice : So you and your brother are behind all of this. I knew the Ohkuboverse would be destroyed by the likes of you and "him", I never thought Shinra and Maka would be both destroyed and resurrected into life forms known as Chaos. They were such heroes capable to all the religion that I have been given them an offer.

Homura Akemi : [To Solaris] I was right about you all along! They praised you all of this to the Ohkuboverse!

Solaris's Voice : No not me, well perhaps I did favor them to keep all of this a secret in the multiverse. That is why I helped you and your brother destroy the Ohkuboverse's to make them like fools.

Solaris's Voice in Action : In any case, as your reward for destroying that pathetic shared universe of Shinra and Maka, I'll grant Chronos a quick death! Prepare to die, human from the future. 2006 Would've been one hell of a year for Sonic to suffer the same fate.

Homura Akemi : Damn! I have to get away from creature immediately! Why would this thing would be worshiped by the inhabitants of the Ohkuboverse? I can't believe that someone would want to worship a creature like this. This is why we scolded both the Ohkuboverse's heroes, it was this creature all along.

Homura Akemi : Mephiles...You crazy bastard. You've been pulling the string to manipulate the heroes' tales from your mind manipulations.

Solaris's Voice : I hardly understand that why Shinra banished Demon Vibe to a dimension located within in the multiverse. His influence has spread across the multiverse to inspire countless lives.

Solaris's Voice : Although the three eyes of Demon Vibe were used as symbols knowning as the Bai Ze's predecessor, from Demon Vibe to a blasphemous mad man named Asura.

Homura Akemi : I never seen a creature powerful like this before! Standard Attacks won't work on this guy. He eats dimensions for lunch? This creature or this flame manipulated everything for the Ohkuboverse, it understands why now. Chaos Spears!

(tries to attack Solaris with Chaos Spear, but the attack vanishes)

Solaris's Voice : Ah yes. I remember the powers of the Chaos Emeralds. This was truly a gift from the Ancients. They did warned everybody about abusing the Emeralds's power. Human and mobians have been nothing more than an arrogant species. This what happens when you and the Time Eater scolded Shinra for the responsibility of creating Soul World and even his man-made son.

Solaris's Voice : Run away as fast you can! With me making a mess on the multiverse, I can do whatever I want to do as a God and manipulator to Chronos himself. AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN SURPASS A GOD LIKE ME!

Homura Akemi : I hate it when they say stuff like that.

Homura Akemi : Time to give up or shut up!

Madoka's Voice : Homura, run!

Homura Akemi : (gasps in shock) Ah...M...Madoka?

MAdoka's Voice : Run, Homura! Run back before you are trapped inside the rift! Please! Run away now!

[cues Emperor Ing Phase 2 Theme]

Homua Akemi : (shakes head to respond) That's what I'm about to do. I know how to clearly to make the perfect technique to get away from this Godlike wannabe creature.

Homura Akemi : And I know just how to do it.

*Inhales*

Homura Akemi : NIGERUNDAYO!

*Sonic SFX : Spin Dash+Dash panel*

Homura Akemi : Brother, warp me out of here now! The creation of the new era is about to begin! Get ready! I'm heading back now.

*DBZ SFX : Instant Transmission*

Homura Akemi : (sees the time door) There it is!

Homura's Brother : Hurry now, sister! The door won't last this long!

Homura Akemi : I know brother! And this why we're going home! (Goes into the door before vanishes)

Solaris's Voice : Did you really think that you would rewrite the world, do you? I'll enjoy this for a long time before all worlds could meet their ends. If it's the last thing I do for myself.

*Solaris Howling+TV Buzzing*

"Back in the Future..."

~ STARFALL ISLANDS ~

(cues Starfall Islands Theme by Tomoya Ohtani)

Homura Akemi : Nii-san. Do you believe everything should work out now? Looks like we finally know what this place is.

(a view of Kronos Island is shown)

Homura Akemi : It looks beautiful, kinda mysterious with all of this technology. The true home of the Chaos Emeralds.

Homura's Brother : Yes, dear sister. We discovered where the Chaos Emeralds' true location is this.

Homura Akemi with glasses : So this is it. The Starfall Islands...This is where the Ancients colonized the entire region before they sealed The End itself. That's why all the villains in Sonic's world wanted to abuse the Emeralds' power for greed, corruption, and even destruction. No wonder the God of Destruction himself would keep all a secret to himself. Comic book writer Ian Flynn told us about this place.

Homura Akemi : It's a great start, that this could be a great picnic for us.

Homura's Brother : Shall we begin the mystery solving to this place?

Homura Akemi : Why absolutely.

(scene changes to show them having a picnic)

Homura Akemi : You know brother. I was thinking about Mobius being called Earth at a time like this. But do all monsters in Sonic's world wanted to destroy the planet that badly? Villains like them are always hunger for greed, corruption, and abuse of power. That's why the Ancients warned everyone about the Chaos Emeralds that we used to rewrite the Real World in the multiverse.

Homura's Brother : So all the monsters in Sonic's world weren't monsters at all, they were only eldritch beings or even machines that wanted to destroy the planet, just to get away with omnicide. Black Doom and his alien race knew about the discovery of the Emeralds' origins. Do you think that the mad leader of the evil alien race wanted to take advantage from The End itself?

Homura Akemi : You are absolutely right. It's all because of the Mobians have learned one fatal mistake, all thanks to one error in the Sonic Universe.

Homura Akemi : Black Doom or the other Sonic villains weren't stupid enough to put the planet in jepoard for any personal cover ups. In that case, I guess that we may never know why we had to make sacrifices to buy us some time. Glad that you're with me, brother.

Homura Akemi : (starts giggling)

Homura's Brother : Hmm? What's so funny?

Homura Akemi : Oh it's nothing, I guess all Sonic's Villain's were not always that bad, but they're nothing when it comes to abuse of the Emeralds' power. Guess the Ancients did warned everyone about the emeralds. Maybe Truth is there to seek answers with all this technology around the Starfall Islands, just to imagine if some random human girl wanted to control the machines via data and networking at the same time. Do you think that an A.I. named Sage is coming to see this place.

Homura's Brother : Let's wait until that...We got a New Era to control.

Homura Akemi : Hai...Nii-san.

[cues "Wakle Portrait" by Michiru Yamane]

Homura Akemi : I may not know what the future holds something for us. But it's a challenge that we must face everyday.

Homura's Brother : Hai.

Homura Akemi : Come, nii-san. Let's go meet someone that awaits us in the future. (looking up into the sky) Madoka...At long last, I'll be able reunite with you, one last time. (leaves with her brother)

(behind unknown to them is Sage with the Titan; Giganto)

Sage : So...Time Travelers. You've known about the past, present, future. That's really a classified fact that you rewriting a world won't be better in the multiverse. But did you really think that you wanted to outsmart an A.I. like me?

Sage turns blue : However, this will be important lesson for you than meets the eye. After all, you are related to the Time Eater, the one who destroyed one's universe, and make ways of creating the new era. I'd like it in that of favors.

(the other titans ; Wyvern, Knight, and Surpreme, are shown with Giganto and Sage)

Sage : However. I'll make sure that you make the same mistakes with father. [Referring to Eggman/Robotnik] But Let's pretend these Time Travelers didn't happened to our world, father of mine.

Sage turns Red again : [Referring to The End] Let's pretend that this never happened with you, Omnicider of Mobius.

"NEXT IN THE FUTURE IS BEYOND THE FRONTIERS"

~ Mission 43 : Rewrite the World ~

[casspurrjoybell-28]

The Alpha's Addiction - Chapter 32 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Aftermath - Kao

Cyrus doesn't need to be able to speak to get the message across.

He growls lowly, his icy stare directed at me that's basically saying

'I'm taking your ass back to safety. Now.'

I'm tempted to tell him I was handling the situation perfectly fine before he came but one look at his huge, intimidating wolf makes me think better of that.

He walks at my side, keeping close to me and almost curled around my body as we make our way back to the Pack House.

I see other warriors heading back too, which means the attack has been dealt with but how many losses?

And what was the exact motive?

I feel the hair on my neck rise suddenly and I whip my head to the side, spotting a shadowed figure upon the grassy hillside, eyes flashing in the moonlight.

I squint, trying to make out if it's someone I know or another warrior when I hear a woman's voice calling my name.

"Koa. Oh, dear Koa, are you hurt?"

I turn to see Juliet running towards us, concern etched across her face.

"I'm fine. I promise," I smile at her as she embraces me in a tight hug.

"How could you put yourself in danger like that, darling..."

"MOVE. FUCKING MOVE," Xavier's voice booms across the clearing, catching all of our attention.

What I see next makes my blood run cold.

Morgan. Bleeding. Limp in Xavier's arms.

The Alpha is running towards the Pack hospital in desperation, pushing people out of the way.

I put my hands over my mouth.

No. No. This cannot be happening.

Juliet wastes no time, making after them.

I feel faint, wanting to follow her but knowing I will be of no help.

She's the professional here but Morgan... how could someone do this?

It's evil. Pure evil.

"Mama," Oliver comes running across the clearing a few seconds later, bawling his eyes out as one of his teachers jogs behind him.

"Oh, baby."

I scoop him up into my arms, burying my face in his curls.

He's safe. Thank the Moon Goddess.

Relief doesn't come easy with Morgan still on my mind but I am grateful nonetheless.

Cyrus was right.

Oliver was kept safe and protected, just like he'd promised.

I hold him close as he cries into my chest, making sure he's real.

My baby is here.

********

The commotion has died down.

Guards are still on the lookout, ensuring that no attackers are hiding anywhere or watching the territory perimeter to make sure backup forces aren't coming.

Other than that, I don't know much.

Cyrus hasn't talked to me yet, having been ushered away by his father and other warriors to his office, so I have no one to clue me in as to what the fuck caused this.

I've tried to go see Morgan but the hospital isn't letting anyone in who isn't injured.

My bloody nose and bruised face don't exactly count.

I get that they are putting in all their focus into treating the wounded but it is agonizing, not being able to know what state Morgan is in or even see him.

I pray to the Moon Goddess that he will be okay.

He has to be.

Sweet, loving, beautiful-souled Morgan cannot be taken from us so soon.

It's not right.

After Oliver is tucked in for the night, I lock our door and decide to see if Cyrus is available yet.

I know that he's mad I disobeyed his orders and snuck out but I deserve some intel, at least.

I find myself in front of his father's office door, cursing that it's shut this time.

The last time I came here, I'd overheard Cyrus's dad's not-so-favorable opinion of me.

Maybe I didn't want to hear that but I do want to hear the conversation going on this door right now.

I push my ear up to the wood, eyes widening as the voice of my mate comes into semi clarity.

"The attack must be due to the alliance being severed."

"They attack us over that? Fucking bastards," his dad groans.

"The agreement stated we could pull out at anytime."

"Thornstone attacking us over this is proof enough they don't give a damn about the fine print," a female voice intrudes, one that I recognize as Lonnie.

I've barely seen her since she, Cyrus and Xavier first rescued me.

"Alaric, I told you..." Juliet starts but is cut off by her mate.

"Silence, woman," he scoffs.

"Let her speak," Cyrus growls and the room goes silent for a tense moment.

"I didn't think..." she begins.

"That allying ourselves with them was a good idea from the start but you insisted, Alaric or shall I call you man."

Moon Goddess, I love her.

"Get on with it," Alaric replies in annoyance.

"Now that we've seen their true colors, it's no wonder they've aligned themselves with that barbaric Blood Pack..."

My heart drops to my chest... no, to my feet... to the damn floor and through it because I cannot have just heard that Pack name coming out of Juliet's mouth.

Pure unease overcomes me, flashes of Alpha Zacan and the other horrible Alphas in his pack and how they treated me.

The days of hiding and tiptoeing around, hoping that by the grace of the Moon Goddess I wouldn't be spotted by a passing Alpha that needed something to beat around.

Wrapping my wounds while sitting on the cold tiles of the communal Omega bathroom floor, hands shaking as I poured salt water over the raw scrapes and bruises.

The constant, agonizing abuse.

The way the anyone lesser than the adult Alphas and Betas were treated.

The way Oliver would wake in the night, crying from hunger even thought I'd given him both our rations.

It's like a fucking nightmare, just thinking about it.

Being in this safe, beautiful place has completely destroyed my old view of life as a vast abyss of pain... transforming it into one of hope and love.

The very mention of that disgusting Pack is horrifying when I contrast it to where I am now.

I don't want to go back.

I don't want Nightshade having anything to do with Zacan and his goons.

It feels like everything is going so, so very wrong.

First Beau, then Morgan, this whole damn attack.

Nothing is working in our favor.

I wait there with my hands clenched together until the meeting is over. Soon, Juliet, Lonnie and Alaric are leaving the office, the Alpha male giving me a scrutinized glance.

He looks displeased at what he sees.

"Do you think Cyrus wants an Omega who recklessly endangers himself? You've got blood smeared over half of your face. It's not a good look for you, on top of everything else," he says in a low, threatening voice once Juliet and Lonnie are out of earshot.

Wow, the first time the man speaks to me and it's this shit and I wanna reply... 'Well, that pot belly's not a good look for you, either, douchebag but here we are' though I hold my tongue, considering the consequences of insulting the previous Pack Leader that everyone is still loyal to.

My wolf gives me a mental pat on the back for controlling my temper for once.

When I don't provide a rebuttal, he scoffs, walking off.

Good.. be disappointed that I didn't take the bait.

Taking my mind off the father, I decide it's time to face the son.