#they are not for us to figure out whats going on her life its for her to share how shes feeling

[seresinhangmanjake]

The One I Want: Part 16

Jake Seresin x plus size!reader

Summary: You're new in town and some guy named Jake is about to be your roommate. Being skeptical of new people keeps you lonely and uninterested in any entanglements, but Jake is desperate to change that.

Warnings: a little smut

Words: 1500

The One I Want Masterlist / Main Masterlist / Tag List

“I can’t tell you much,” Jake had told you, but you knew that. “We’re not a hundred percent in the clear, but it’s looking like four weeks, maybe five.”

“Beats fifteen,” you’d said, hearing a rewarding chuckle in return. 

You were thankful no one could witness the mess you were at that moment, your face-splitting grin heavily contrasting the puffiness of your eyes from tears. But that was just the beginning of weeks of inner turmoil. 

For forty-eight days, your stomach has swirled a storm that’s consistently had you on the edge of nausea, whether from anxiety regarding his safety or butterflies at the thought of Jake returning. You miss him, more than you thought yourself willing to, and regardless of what he told you, nothing guarantees he will walk through the door of your apartment. And if he doesn’t, you know exactly what will happen to you. You’ll crumble into unsalvageable pieces, and no one—not Millie, not Rooster, not anyone who has been kind to you over the last months—will be able to put you back together. 

And then what? Your only choice will be to leave. Start anew. Twelfth new place. Except this time, you’ll be more numb, less human, less operable on a daily basis. It’ll be like waking from a dream to a gray environment. You fear nature will lose its color, and you will lose your light once again.

—

It’s another week before your phone rings with a name other than Millie’s plastered across the screen. Unknown Number, but the first three digits are recognizable, matching those of the number Jake has been using to call you with. What you hear on the other end of the line, however, is not Jake, but instead, a gruff voice asking you to confirm your identity. 

“Yes,” you answer. “That’s me.”

The man clears his throat. “You are the emergency contact for Lieutenant Jake Seresin. We’d like you to come down to our medical facility as soon as possible,” he says before providing you directions.

You drop your phone, and then you’re running. Running to his truck, running from his truck to base, running through halls until you find someone willing to lead you to him. You’re so terrified, your arms jittery, legs barely functioning from the panic of Jake’s pending fate, so overwhelmed by nerves that when you finally do see him, it pisses you off. 

That man with the voice that imbued you with dread is on your shit list for life. Maybe next time, he could lead an emergency contact call with He’s fine or Don’t worry, because his implication was severe enough that you feared lost limbs or damaged brain functioning. But there Jake is, not in a coma or with some life-threatening injury, but sitting on the edge of a bed in a room with his back to you as a nurse seals a strip of medical tape across a small patch of shaved hair on the side of his head.  

When she’s done with her work, she smiles at Jake and nods at something he says before walking out of the room. She jumps at the unexpected figure lingering just outside the door, and then realization dawns. 

“Oh, you must be the girlfriend,” she says. “You’re welcome to go on in.”

So you do, cautiously easing into the room, hoping that when he turns, his face won’t be covered in slashes and bruises—a sight you’re not sure you can handle with strength and maturity. You’d love him all the same, but to see him in such pain would take you to your knees. But again, he’s fine. Beautiful as ever. Not a mark on him that you can see save for the one on the mend. 

Jake’s face brightens at the sight of you; he practically glows, and you’re shocked to discover yourself not running into his arms. You’re frozen for a moment as you take him in. It’s a quick moment—a brief second to recover—but then you’re stepping to him, your eyes watering, your bottom lip quivering, your fingers reaching up to brush over the stark white tape. You’re careful with your feathery touch, relieved to see that his injury is not so sensitive as to make him wince.

Jake’s arms wrap around your waist. His eyes do not break from your face. He’s patient as you scan him once more for visible injuries, verifying for your own sake.

“It’s just the one,” he tells you, his voice soft and only a few notes above a whisper. Your eyes snap to his. He lifts his hand to cup your cheek, thumb stroking your cheekbone. “Come here, beautiful.”

You melt when his lips gently touch yours, but the kiss doesn’t last long as innocent. There’s bites and sucking and giving and taking, and it’s perfect in its semi-sloppy neediness. Voices passing by the door is what breaks the two of you apart. Jake lightly groans before he chuckles and rests his forehead against yours. 

“I missed you,” he says. He places another quick peck on your lips. “I want to take you home.”

“Then take me home.”

—

“J-Jake!”

You feel his mouth curve against your core before he licks another stripe right through you, tongue like a heated blade slicing you in two halves, spreading you open and baring you inside and out. You’re completely gone—lost in the sole way you’re willing to be lost—as Jake tethers you to this earth. He’s the only one you trust to ground you while simultaneously letting your head float amongst the clouds. 

His arms curl around the thickness of your thighs, locking onto you and keeping your hips steady atop the mattress as he devours and tastes and sucks and licks some more.  

“Come on, beautiful,” he mumbles into your folds, just loud enough for you to hear through the rush of blood in your ears. “Let me have it.”

As if you could hold it back. 

Your whole body jerks and writhes as you sink into pleasure, back arching, head digging into the pillow. Jake reaches a hand up to intertwine your fingers and you squeeze them tightly while he continues to kiss folds and brush his nose against the overstimulated bud.

“There we go,” he coos until your body calms.

Jake crawls onto the bed, lips and tongue traveling up the soft flesh of your stomach, between the valley of your breasts, into the dip in your throat before he kisses you, demanding you taste everything you just gave him. 

Jake introduced you to your taste during those weeks before his deployment. His head lived between your legs. He showed you how to perch perfectly on his face, encouraging you through your concerns of suffocating him. He begged you to relax when he backed you up against the wall, slipped your pants off, knelt, and tossed your leg over his shoulder as he dove in. And after each success of making you crumble to pieces, he sealed his lips to yours and pushed his tongue into your mouth. 

You know your taste as well as you know his, and on the occasions he spills down your throat before he returns the favor, you get the satisfaction of the combination on your tongue—a mixture more intoxicating than an alcoholic binge. 

“I’m never going to want anything like I want you,” he says after he slips inside of you, the intensity of the love in his eyes penetrating your soul.

“Then it's good that I’m yours,” you whisper back.

Thrusts that were paced and steady and gentle falter. With your words comes a sharp rut of his hips—unexpected to you both—that hits hard, deep. Jake chokes on the air in his lungs, his eyes snapping shut as you cry out. 

“Fuck” hisses through the grit of his teeth. Then he finds his pace again. 

His head falls to your neck. Nibbles make you gasp, and the image of examining claiming bruises in the mirror first thing come morning causes your walls to clench around the veiny column moving in and out of you. Your fingers fist into his hair. Nails dig into the toned muscle of his ass. 

“I do love you, Jake,” you say. 

He stops completely, but you don’t question it. The fingers in his hair loosen and you lightly scrape your nails along his scalp, down to the base of his neck, then back up into blond locks. Turning your head, you stamp a tender kiss onto his temple. 

Jake doesn’t say a thing. He doesn’t look at you. His thick breaths burn the delicate skin just under your ear. When he begins to move, he’s slow, taking his time before he picks up, working to nudge that special spot inside of you that tightens a white-hot coil in your belly. 

“I love you so much, beautiful,” he whispers.

[faeriekit]

Health and Hybrids (XXVIII)👽👻💚

[I can't remember the original prompt posters  for the life of me but here's a mashup between a cryptid!Danny, presumed-alien!Danny, dp x dc, and the prompt made the one body horror meat grinder fic.]

🖤Chapter navigation can be found here🖤 Click to browse previous updates.

💚 Ao3 Is here for all parts 💚 (now featuring mediocre mouseover translations, only available on a computer)

Where we last left off... Danny has another hashtag breakdown! Man, we've got a lot of these, huh? It's YJ's fault this time; whoopsie doodles! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Trigger warnings for this story:  body horror | gore | post-dissection fic | dehumanization (probably) |  my nonexistent attempts at following DC canon. On with the show.

💚👻👽👻💚

“Danny,” Diana says from the door.

Danny looks up from his place in the book. It’s definitely aimed at younger kids, but it’s a pretty wordy picture book; there are a couple paragraphs he can’t quite parse, but he’s making pretty good progress on the words he can’t recognize.

It’s a story about a cat who misses its mother. Danny tries not to relate to it too much.

“Hm?” he asks, flipping the front flap of the dust cover over his current pages to mark his place. The book goes back onto the nightstand, beside his space shuttle; Danny uses the railing beside his bed to support himself stepping up and out of his wheelchair, leaning on the railing until he can figure out…wait, where’d he leave his old people walker?

“This walk is long. You will want your chair.”

Well, then. Couldn’t she have said that before Danny did all that pulling? Danny falls back into his chair, kinda peeved. “Fine.”

Diana smiles. She doesn’t have to wear the mask around him anymore— Danny’s pretty sure that his injuries have been declared as clotted, or sealed, or whatever at this rate. They for sure swabbed his ectoplasm and came to some kind of conclusion, anyway, which means he only looks gross, but isn’t, like…actively leaking fluids.

On the one hand, gross! But, well, you know. Nothing for it but bandaids and time.

And her face looks nice. Danny hadn’t known what she’d looked like, before. She smiles when she sees him. Her light eyes crinkle, and her lips turn up… She’s nice. Danny’s sure that she’s only there to be in charge of him in case he gets scary, but she’s in charge of him and she’s nice. She doesn’t have to be nice; lots of people have been in charge of him and been mean about it. There was that one guy who kept holding him—with the taser—

(Time slips away from him, a little. When he gets back to the world in front of him, Diana is carefully looking at his face, the back of her hand stroking the back of his.)

Danny’s in his chair. He’s not…there. He’s in his chair, on a big space station (????) with a bunch of really colorful fighters on it, and Diana is touching his hand (that’s so much weaker and slower than it used to be) and he’s not hungry and he’s only scared because of memories. He’s safe. He’s not being pinned down by the neck so that they can strap down his wrists and hips to the table—they’re not shocking him—he can move his fingers, he’s not stuck in his core—

His core throbs. Danny bites into his bisected lip, and tries not to cry.

“Are you alright?” Diana asks, voice gentled. The soft touch of her hand doesn’t stop. “We can wait. There is no—“

Danny shakes his head, and takes his hand away so he could wipe at his eyes. It’s fine. Bad memories are everywhere: in the walls, in the floor, in the ceiling, in the hands of people taking care of him. That’s not… There’s nothing Danny can do about that. That just. Takes time.

…He think he might have that time. Now. He thought he would die for good in that five by five box, waiting for something that would finally end him instead of just keeping him in a cycle of injuries he never fully healed from.

But now he’s not. He’s here.

He wants to keep going.

“Alright,” Diana says, slow and careful. “Hold on.”

Danny doesn’t hold on—or, well, you know, he engages his core muscles and all that, but he doesn’t cling to his arm rests or to the frame of his chair because he knows that Diana is really, really strong, but she also really, really doesn’t want to hurt him.

She rolls him out of the medical wing and into the space station proper. Danny feels like he’s been here before, but he doesn’t remember it super well. Maybe it was when he was sick or something? Either way, a lot of different people wave at him as they go by—or just straight up stare, if they’re rude—and Danny generally just watches people rush by, carrying all kinds of equipment, and a potted plant, and a…starfish in a jar…?

Oh, the starfish waves at him???? Danny waves back because?? What??

Danny rolls to a stop at a smooth, cylindrical elevator. It looks like a giant test tube.

…Oh boy. Danny takes a deep breath, and holds it. Reflexively. Sure, this elevator probably isn’t like being dunked into water to see if his body absorbs ambient oxygen from the atmosphere or if his biology is truly not oxygen-based, but the memory is. Bad.

They go upwards. Nothing happens but Diana’s pushed button.

Danny exhales.

They get off at a section of the base Danny’s never been to, and it's essentially just a long, somewhat narrow hallway. The walls are actually painted a creamy off-white here, and there’s…like…decorative panels towards the base of his wheels trailing down the hallway? An orange ceiling, too?

Huh??

The rooms are numbered, but they’re not plain steel like in other areas downstairs; some of them have stickers, or drawings, or marker written straight onto the door itself. They look...cozy...? Danny thinks so, anyway, compared to the rest of the ultra high tech space base.

They roll to a stop in front of a door. It’s got a number on it, same as all the others, but there’s a box cutout taped to the front of it. The—

—The print is of the same style of space shuttle Danny keeps next to his bed, inked onto glorious cardboard medium.

Danny stares.

“Gegrapa,” Diana urges, so gentle. Too bad that, uh, Danny doesn’t know that one. He looks at her. She mimes touching the door— Oh. Got it.

Danny leans forward just enough to touch the door with his fingertips.

The door says something in a robotic voice, but the synthesizer is too mangled for Danny to make out the words. The door slides open horizontally into the wall, instead of the way the other doors open like portals or from below, and it’s kind of cool?

Inside is a bedroom. Danny stares.

…No, it’s actually a bedroom. Not a medical wing, not a cot, not a repurposed conference room or—it’s actually got a bed in it. Like. A real one. There’s a wooden headboard and it’s got a mattress on it that’s thicker than a VCR.

There’s constellation sheets on a bed big enough to curl up on.

There’s a nightstand, a small desk on the far wall—there’s a little lip where the bedroom dips into a tiny sitting room, a small television on a table and a small table and chair. It’s kind of…it’s kind of like a little hotel suite.

Danny’s mouth goes dry.

He doesn’t move, and Diana doesn’t wheel him in. “It’s okay,” Diana says, and—Danny almost flinches when she touches his hair, but it’s only Diana, who’s never hit him, and they’re fine. He’s…safe. It’s safe. He’s safe here. “Do you want to go in?”

Danny doesn’t move. His hands don’t touch the wheels. They’re shaking; he puts his hands in his lap and he tries to breathe. “…What?” he asks hoarsely.

“A rum for my Danny,” Diana murmurs, quietly. Danny’s heart throbs at the possessive. “You are healthier now. You do not need doctors every hour, but only sum hours. You cuðe spenda more time here, all ana.”

Words go by so fast even at Diana's smooth, unhurried pace— and Danny licks dry, split lips. He looks around the room—and the room is small, sure, but they're in space. Space will always be a premium. Even in this small room, though, the furniture is sparse and placed distant from each other…distant enough that Danny can wheel around freely in his chair.

There’s a Moon clock display hung on the wall over the doorway, and Danny can faintly see the outline of what he assumes is the current lunar phase as seen from Earth.

Having the lamp isn’t exactly the same as glow-in-the-dark-stars, and thank goodness for that. If it had been, Danny might have cried.

(Or, he realizes, something burning in his eyes that isn’t ectoplasm, maybe he is crying.)

“...Me?” Danny asks, terrified to know the answer. Is this room for him?? Is he getting a room here? Is he supposed to stay here? On the moon?! Is he supposed to stay with everyone here, in a tiny room, where there’s nowhere to go and nowhere to escape?

…It’s a bedroom. It’s already so much more than the stupid guys in white ever gave him.

“Yes,” Diana says, and lets go of his hair. “Use it, or do not. Sitta here, or sitta in the medical bay, but now you have two choices.”

Okay. So Danny has choices. He swallows his feelings—they taste a lot like snot—and rolls himself inside to inspect the room.

There’s another little fridge inside the sitting area. It’s not right next to the bed like it is beside Danny’s cot, but it is the same style of fridge. When Danny pops the door open, it has the same styles of snacks. Fig Einsteins. Peanut butter squeezies and applesauce squeezies and yogurt squeezies. Protein shakes in bottles. Pedialight. Hummus packs.

Danny might still need someone to open the snack packs for him. That’s kind of a high dexterity food, if he thinks about it.

“If you wish to sitta here, we will visit you all you like. There is a belle at your bed,” Diana says, and walks in with all her purple scrubs and tied-up hair to point to a little button on his nightstand. It’s red. It’s got a little smiley face sticker next to it, and Danny thinks he recognizes the style from one of his nurse’s bestickered name tags. Belle is probably a direct cognate for bell. He’ll be able to get everyone to come up here if he needs help.

…Okay, that’s kind of nice. To have personal space. He hasn’t had that since… Danny’s eyes squint as he thinks; he rubs an eye. Wait, when had he been squatting under a conference table? Was that a real memory??

Diana is very tall, even in the little space, but when she ducks her head, the gesture makes her a little smaller, a little more manageable for Danny’s lower-than-usual-gaze. Now that he can see her expression, she looks soft, and even uncertain, even though she looks stone and strong on the television when she goes out to fight. “Do you like it?” she asks.

Danny fidgets.

He—does. He likes it a lot. The room doesn’t have any windows, but if Danny moved all his things in here, got used to being able to come and go, and people coming in and out…this space could be just another space. It’s quieter than the medical ward. More peaceful.

…The room is utterly devoid of other people.

(Danny thinks of The Box. Danny thinks of being in The Box.)

(Danny doesn’t like remembering The Box.)

“I am scared,” Danny admits to his twitching thumbs, his fingers itching for a fidget toy or one of his physical therapy tools. Diana’s face immediately drops.

“Why are you scared?”

I’ll be alone Danny wants to say, but he doesn’t know the word for alone and he struggled with phrasing. “No…people here.”

“That is triewe. You would have more dīegolnes here,” Diana agrees, and straightens out of her crouch. “Is that good, or bad?”

It isn’t good and it isn’t bad…? Danny isn’t sure how to phrase it. It’s neither. Being alone is just scary.

“You not hurt me,” Danny tries, knowing he’s missing some connecting word in the middle. He ignores how Diana comes back to kneel beside him, because if he looks at her, he won’t say anything. “Do not.”

“No,” Diana says, from beside and below him, gentle, careful. “We do not.”

No. They don’t. Danny swallows. “Bad…hurt me.” He doesn’t know the word for Earth or planet or even downstairs, so he just meekly points downwards.

Diana stills. It’s like watching Vlad’s Maddie cat spot a bird to hunt down. Danny tries not to feel pinned. “On eorþegearde?” she asks, still light, still gentle. Danny can hear a shadow of steel, though, and he counts himself lucky that she’s never treated him like an enemy. Danny quickly nods. His eyes squeeze shut.

“Who?” Diana asks feather-light.

Danny doesn’t want to tell them what he is. Admitting the name of the agency hunting him itself would be given in.

…But maybe if he doesn’t say the name…and they...and they promised they'd help hide him...

He wants to be right. Danny wants to be right that they're nice, and that they want to help him. Danny wants to be right that they want to protect him. As long as he never, nevernotevernever tells them he's a ghost...

Maybe someone will help him. This time.

“Bad,” Danny repeats, because he genuinely has no idea how to translate?? “Wants…hurts me? For…” WHAT WORDS DOES HE KNOW? Danny gives up and just draws a y-shaped autopsy incision on his chest. It goes down from his collarbones to his belly button.

Diana watches. Her eyes are sharp.

“Do you feel safe with the staff dunstæger in medical?” Diana is quick on the ball with the question and Danny nods quickly—he’s never alone there, and no one’s ever hurt him, and people whose job it is to help people are always coming in and out, and Medical helps them too.

“Good,” Danny whispers. “Talk…talks to me.”

“Ealne weg,” Diana affirms firmly. Whatever that means. “We will cepa you safe.”

You safe and we is all Danny needs to hear. He could probably cry by himself, but Danny wants the comfort anyway; Diana lets Danny take her hands into his, and he lets tears fall into someone else’s grip instead of his own.

*

Bruce is halfway to the monitor room before he feels himself be picked up from underneath the armpits.

Usually finding himself at inappropriate heights involves horseplay from Clark. No one else would be so bold as to actually put their hands on him within the professional setting of the Watchtower—and Bruce has worked very, very hard on maintaining a reputation that keeps the handsier of his fellows at bay.

The culprit is not Clark this time. Bruce finds himself looking downward at Diana’s tearstained face, fury and resignation warring in her expression.

Bruce is careful not to sigh. “Wonder Woman. What is the matter?”

“Someone,” Diana grits out, voice carefully modulated to cut out her own pain, “Hurt my charge.”

On the one hand, the situation with their patient is exactly as Bruce had expected. The circumstance is tragic. The circumstance was predictable.

On the other, Diana's new upset means that Bruce now has more information to work with than ever before.

Bruce can work with this.

“Tell me everything.” Bruce’s voice is just as firm—even held midair like a cat. “I will help you in every way I can.”

[megalony]

I Trust You

This is my newest Dark! Buck imagine, I hope you will all like this one and thank you @missdreamofendless for going through ideas with me for this one.

Taglist: @justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyje @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie @classyunknownlover @jayyeahthatsme @sp1ritssz @dumb-fawkin-bitch @oliverstarksbae @gimatida @heart-35 @supernaturalstilinski @kyky9103 @wutheringhearts2275 @gay4hotmilfs @itshamleth @chaoticnosleepinfluencer @gs29 @wh0reforsmutstuff @mel-vaz @natashamea18 @chrisevansdaughter @alexandra848484 @deena-beena-weena @targaryenluvs @kpoplover-19 @marvelmenarebeautiful @gillybear17

@zoeybennett @mrspeacem1nusone @zephyrmonkey @estella-novella @eleventhdoctorsangel @kniselle @senjoritanana @shauna-carsley @dottierose @cfdhouse51 @darkfemme1 @rainechase45 @lolalolsstuff @jupiter1700 @ashdoctor @an-aliens-ghost @lunaroserites @houseoftwistedspirits @callsignwidow @winterreader-nowwriter @reneinii @bellsbomb @western-pyro @itsgigikay @harry-satellite @midsummereve1993 @babyqueen17 @buckyyyismahhlife @sammiejane22

Evan Buckley Masterlist

Summary: After meeting (Y/n) and her baby out on a call, Evan quickly finds himself falling for her and attaching himself to her. She's all he can think about. And she will be his.

Enjoy.

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

A deep sigh rumbled past Evan's lips when he hopped down from the truck. This looked like it was going to take a while.

He squinted up at the building in front of them, trying to think and get a layout of the hospital in his mind to figure out which part of the building was on fire.

Evan had never been to a hospital fire before. He had never known a hospital in this area have a fire or have one that was catastrophic enough to cause a full evacuation like this. The 118 hadn't been here at the beginning of the fire, they seemed to have turned up right in the middle of things like they were the last ones to arrive to a party.

This meant full gear. Evan set about zipping up his overall jacket and found his helmet in one of the compartments. He stuck it on his head, fished around for his gloves and strapped them tight around his wrists. Once on, he found his mask in its dusty orange bag and strapped it around his waist. They didn't know how much smoke they would run into up there and when Bobby gave them all a look, they all nodded.

Evan could feel his shoulders slumping as he helped Hen hand out the oxygen tanks to their team.

Smoke and fire meant all the oxygen would be sucked in to feed the flames. They had to be able to breathe in order to evacuate the patients. The tank weighed heavy on Evan's back right between his shoulders, but it was a weight he was used to and not nearly as heavy as the ones he trained with down at the gym. He just knew that the extra weight and effort was going to make him sweat more profusely in that sauna of a hospital.

Fully suited, Evan clicked his neck into place and stood in line with the rest of the team, waiting patiently for Bobby to confer with the 106 who had gotten here first. They needed to know where they were needed and what they were going to be doing.

"Alright, Chim they need an extra set of hands assessing the ICU patients and getting them transported. Hen, you and me will go up to the third floor, there are a few patients they're struggling to transport with all the equipment."

Both of them nodded and Chimney jogged over to the tent set up outside where they were trying to sort out who was most in need of transportation. Nearby hospitals were taking in anyone they would who needed special monitoring or dialysis or life support.

"Eddie, Buck, there's still people on the second floor in the maternity wing who aren't evacuated so go there and make sure that ward is clear please."

"Copy."

Evan took the lead. He knew where he was going, he had been in the hospital enough times to know where the wards were located and he knew the maternity ward was near the front. He steered towards the left and over to the 106 truck that was conveniently moving their ladder towards the front windows to help get their teams in and patients out.

"Can you get us up to the second floor?" Evan pointed at the ladder and when the guy whose helmet read Taron nodded, he and Eddie climbed up on the top of the truck.

There was no time and no need to clip a harness onto the ladder when they could just run up and get in. The ladder was safe enough and they didn't have time to mess around here.

Evan was glad when he got to the top of the ladder that he didn't have to break the window. It was open on a latch, so all he had to do was wiggle his fingers, undo the latch and shimmy the window up as high as it would go. He briefly took off his helmet so he could shimmy through the window before he plonked it back on his head and looked around.

"Where'd you wanna start?"

"Fire's towards the left part of the building, there should be an exit across at the back. Start left and loop around?" Evan pointed to the door on his left that would lead them into the corridor.

It seemed safest to head nearest the fire and make sure no one was in peril, then they could loop around, clear the floor and get out.

"Sure," Eddie tapped his helmet to make sure it was in place but when they headed out the room, his eyes narrowed and he looked up at his best friend. "You holdin' out on me or something?"

How did Evan know his way around the hospital so well, especially the maternity ward?

"Nothing so exciting. I've got a good memory, from visiting Mads and Jee."

He steered to the left and headed down a long corridor, both of them peering into each room they passed. They had to get everyone out, smoke was already starting to clog up the halls and seep through the vents. They didn't want to be in here long.

When Eddie peered down a corridor on the right, he placed his hand down on Evan's shoulder and pulled him back in that direction.

There were two women and two nurses heading their way, hurrying as fast as they could down the corridor.

"All of you, this way and down the back exit there will be people outside to take you somewhere safe." Eddie waved his hands and guided them towards him, showing them the back stairs which weren't yet consumed by the flames or drastic smoke following them like a shadow.

They found another three mothers, all with their own newborns in their arms, and Eddie turned and guided them back down to the stairs while Evan carried on. They only had a few more rooms to clear and then they could check the neonatal rooms and get out of here.

Just as Evan went to open one of the doors on his right, he took a step back when it was yanked open like a force of nature. He stumbled on his back foot, eyes wide and lips parted.

The girl stood in front of him displayed the same shock that was written across his face. They hadn't expect the other to be there.

She was stunning.

Evan wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline coursing through his system, the smoke he had started to inhale or just the rush of emotions in this situation. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

The way the loose tendrils of hair fell down her face made her look positively angelic. Her doe eyes were wide and round and her pupils took over almost the whole expanse of her eyes. Those plump, parted lips were heart shaped and made Evan want to lean closer and taste them.

Her hands were gripping the door, clinging to it like she was trying to prop herself up and the way she was slightly stooped forward made Evan trail his eyes up and down her frame.

She had already had her baby. A lot of the rooms in this ward were mixed, some women had given birth, others were under observation and some were in labour. He guessed all those in labour had been escorted out first, they would have been priority to be taken to the nearest hospital.

And by the way she was leaning forwards, Evan wondered if she had gone through a C-section.

He noted that she was wearing pyjamas. A thin, light blue top with thin spaghetti straps over her shoulders and matching, baggy pyjama bottoms.

"Come with me, we're evacuating all the wards in this wing. I'll take you outside." He reached his hand out for her elbow and gently tried to coax her forward, but her eyes were rapidly scanning the corridor. "Miss-"

"I- my baby, I have to get her." Both her hands clutched Evan's arm so tightly she had him shaking along with her.

She tried to turn him around and drag him in the opposite direction towards the neonatal unit.

(Y/n) couldn't go and just leave her baby. She was two days old. She had to go and make sure someone had taken her and if not, she had to get her baby and get out. There was no way she could leave the hospital and go outside to safety if she didn't know whether her baby would be there or not. She couldn't leave Rory here in peril.

When she desperately pulled on his arm, Evan moved. He looped his right arm around her back and let her keep hold of his left hand. He tilted his head down, taking note of the nametag strapped around her wrist and he tried to rub his gloved hand up and down her back.

Something about the way she slotted into place in his arms almost made Evan smile. He felt like he'd seen her before, there was something about her that captivated him completely and Evan wanted nothing more than to keep her in his arms and escort her downstairs himself.

"(Y/n)," Her name felt like sugar on his lips and her eyes held his full attention when she stopped struggling and looked up at him. "I need you to go out to safety. You go with my partner, and I'll go make sure no baby isn't still here. Chances are she's already outside waiting for you."

When Evan caught sight of Eddie coming back from the stairwell, he slowly turned (Y/n) around so they were facing the right way.

He had to make sure the ward was clear anyway, and he couldn't allow her to come searching with him when she was a patient and needed to be looked after. If the fire got worse, Evan had a gas mask and an oxygen tank and protective clothing, (Y/n) didn't.

The tight grip she had on his hand made him step closer to her and the desperation in his eyes drew her in. He didn't want to let go of her. He didn't want to hand her over to Eddie, as if she was a friend Evan didn't want to share or part with.

Her voice sounded like a song, serenading him and her words struck his heart and rattled down to his core.

"Please- she- she's all I've got-"

"Hey, I'm going to get her and bring her right back to you, okay? Don't worry, you go wait outside."

When Evan nodded at Eddie, he begrudgingly unravelled his arms from her and let Eddie take her arm instead.

He made sure to note the last name written on her wristband before he disappeared down the corridor to the last place he hadn't evacuated yet. He burst through the doors of the first room, the neonatal room compact with incubators and equipment and heaters and oxygen masks and all the smaller instruments specifically for premature babies.

All had been evacuated. That was good. The most fragile patients had been escorted out of here.

Evan could feel the heat following him like he was a thief in the night and the heat was licking the back of his neck and smothering his jacket. He pushed ahead towards the last room in this ward where the healthy newborns were looked after.

To his surprise, there was one nurse left, one babe in each arm and her head instantly ticked to the cradle behind the door Evan had burst through. "These are the last ones, everyone should be out by now." The nurse sounded relieved but her expression was panicked.

There were no more babies to be evacuated and now that Evan and Eddie had evacuated all the other patients, they were all in the clear.

He nodded and spun around, suddenly glad that the hospital put wristbands on each child as soon as possible. He couldn't imagine not knowing which child was which or leaving with two and getting them mixed up. What a horror that would cause.

When he looked down at the cradle, something surged through his heart. He didn't need to read the wristband on the child's arm that was waving back and forth as they wailed, clearly petrified. He could see the name written on the chart on the side of the cradle.

The last name stuck out first. This was (Y/n)'s baby. This was the little one she had been trying to get to, the one Evan promised to find. And when he looked at her first name, his lips quirked.

Aurora.

Fitting. Such a lovely name for a little girl that reminded Evan of a princess.

His gloved hands shook as he carefully reached down for her and slowly eased her into his chest. He knew his jacket wouldn't be the comfiest, it would be itchy against her soft, tender skin but they didn't have much of a choice right now.

The moment she was in the crook of his elbow, her cries ceased almost immediately. She switched to whimpers and wriggling around and when Evan cooed and rocked her as he turned around, it was like magic.

He tucked her blanket a bit higher so it was draped over her neck and very loosely over her mouth. Just in case the smoke followed them in here.

He whispered a soft "It's okay, I've got you." and held her higher to his chest as he moved towards the window. He knew the layout of this place, this room was facing the chaos outside. He could get the truck to move the ladder over to them and get them out quicker. He didn't want to risk going back down the stairs when the fire was still spreading.

It didn't take long to open the window, wave his hand and wait for the truck to tilt the ladder a few degrees to the left to reach them.

"Here's our ride." He held his free hand out to the nurse and took one of the newborns so she could climb over the legs and carefully stand on the ladder. Once she had both back in her arms, she started her descent and Evan cast his eyes down to Aurora in his arms.

He couldn't look away from her as he swung his legs over the window frame and climbed onto the ladder.

His gloved hand cradled hers, his thumb stroked over the back of her hand and he rocked her up and down while he steadily walked down the ladder. He was more careful than he usually would have been when he climbed down from the truck and got back onto solid ground.

He wouldn't let anything happen to the girl in his arms.

"You're okay, you're okay." He cooed as he lifted her higher against his chest and looked around the scene.

He didn't want to let her go.

What would happen if he held her for just a while longer? Would anyone stop him? Would someone take her from him? What if he couldn't find (Y/n) again? Possibilities ran through his head until his eyes lifted and he looked ahead to where one of the tents was set up in the middle of the foyer.

There she was.

He wasn't too sure where Eddie was, maybe he had been roped into getting the last part of the fire under control. Maybe he was getting patients to an ambulance for transporting, Evan wasn't sure, and suddenly he didn't care. All he cared about was watching that captivating girl hurry towards him as fast as she could in her state.

She had one arm tightly bound around her abdomen, making Evan sure that she was recovering from a C-section. Her eyes were looking at him as if she had tunnel vision, as if Evan was the only thing she could see. The only person worth looking at.

He could see the desperation in her eyes and the panic written across her face and when he glanced down, he realised she wasn't even wearing socks. She was barefoot, aiming for him to see if he had her baby.

"Is- Is it Rory?"

He was about to say no until it clicked a second later that Rory was short for Aurora. He liked that. He really liked that name.

"I've got her, she's fine."

It made something twinge in his chest like a muscle had snapped when he lowered the newborn down into her mother's arms. It was fascinating that (Y/n) didn't have to check the nametag on the newborn's wrist to know that this was her baby. Instinct must have taken over, unless she simply took Evan's word as gospel that this was indeed her child.

He could see the relief pooling in her eyes and she looked so thankful that she could have fainted and collapsed there on the spot. She held Rory close to her chest, dragging her thumb over the back of her soft head that she started to kiss. But her eyes looked up to stare at the fireman who had helped them.

She read the name on his helmet.

Buckley. 118.

She wasn't going to forget that in a hurry. (Y/n) would bear that name in mind, she was going to have to thank him for this.

"Can I take you to a medic, to make sure you're both okay?" Evan dared to rest his hand on her lower back and took a step closer until their sides were touching and he had to look down to see her face properly.

She nodded and he was spurred on when she didn't pull away or create some space between them. He motioned his other hand out in front of them and slowly started to guide them towards a paramedic he could see in the distance. They both needed to be checked out before they were taken somewhere to wait for transport to a different hospital for the remainder of their stay.

His eyes found their way back to (Y/n) when she lifted her head up and he saw a smile forming on her lips.

Her smile was beautiful. He wanted to keep that smile in his memory. He wanted to gaze on that smile and be the reason she smiled. He wanted to keep that smile for himself and be the one and only reason she sparkled as brightly as that.

"You're a real hero, you know that?" She sounded breathless and he could see she was subtly shaking, but her words were enough to spark a fire igniting throughout Evan's system.

He liked the sound of that.

He had never been a hero to anyone before. He had failed in trying to save Daniel, and that meant he would never be good enough in his parent's eyes. He had never done anything to warrant being a hero to Maddie. He had been there after she got away from Doug, but he never did anything to actually save her, not like he wanted to.

He hadn't been a hero to any of his past girlfriends and that had been okay, he didn't have anything to prove to them or a desire to be heroic for them.

But hearing (Y/n) say that, seeing her look at him like that, it sparked something to life in his chest and made his heart swell and his head rattle with ideas and thoughts and images of a future that he wanted. He liked the thought of being a hero to her. He liked the thought of being there when she needed him, of being the one to help her.

Curiosity dwelled in his eyes along with a spark that started to form. Maybe she needed a hero. Maybe (Y/n) was someone who needed saving.

Evan could do that. He could save her. He could be there and help her, he could definitely see himself trying to help her and the beautiful little bundle in her arms.

And as he stared down at the pair of them, he couldn't get that thought to leave his mind.

***

Something sparked in Evan's eyes when he looked dead ahead of him. He could feel all the blood rushing to his stomach, fluttering along with adrenaline and a sense of hope that was growing wings and trying to take flight.

She was here.

The girl. The one he had been thinking, imagining and dreaming about for the last week. The girl he had saved from the hospital, she was walking right through those station doors.

He knew it!

He knew, Evan just knew if he bided his time, he would run into her sooner or later. But oh, had it been hard. He found it so hard to stay focused at work, to go home each night and try to find a way to get her off his mind. Nothing worked. Going to the gym didn't help when she still plagued his thoughts and he couldn't push through the barrier she created. He couldn't find the attention span to watch movies after work.

He didn't want to go out for drinks with any of the team, and when some of the women on calls tried to flirt with him, Evan felt angered. They weren't her; they weren't (Y/n).

But now she was here. It just proved that Evan knew deep down it would work out. He knew he would bump into her again at some point, and it had only taken a week for her to walk into his station.

Evan didn't have to resort to hanging around where she lived- the address which he had found on her file that he checked back at the hospital fire when patients were being transported to different hospitals. He didn't have to wait around where she lived and try to catch another glimpse of her and create a casual meet.

He didn't have to go looking for her to stop her from haunting his every waking moment, because here she was, walking into his station like this was where she belonged all along.

Evan tossed down the cloth in his hand, rolled his eleeves up to his elbows and jogged ahead between the fire trucks. He wanted to make sure no one else got to her first. He wanted- no, he needed to be the one to talk to her, to find out why she was here. To find out if she was here to see him.

She looked lovely. Hair swept back out of her face, teeth sunk down into her bottom lip that looked like an anxious habit to Evan. She was wearing jeans and a pale turquoise shirt that cut a bit low down the front and had ruffles around the shoulders.

His eyes cast down to the pram she was pushing. She had brought Aurora down to the station.

"(Y/n), hi."

She paused when Evan approached and his heart ignited when he saw the way her lips curved into a beautiful grin that flashed her teeth and creased her eyes.

"Buckley… so I am at the right place." Her voice was so soothing, no hint of panic or torment like the first time they spoke. No panic written across her face and no anguish building up in her heart.

He saw the way she cast her eyes up and down his frame as he stepped closer and tucked his hands into his pockets. He couldn't help but look down into the pram, and his smile widened when he looked at the newborn tucked up beneath a blanket. She was sleeping, she looked very settled and calm and he loved that the beige hat she wore had a Mickey Mouse silhouette sewn into the centre.

"Call me Evan. What can we do for you? Are you both okay?" When Evan moved one hand from his pocket and motioned to the pram, he waited until (Y/n) nodded to reach down. He brushed his finger along Aurora's cheek, loving the way she seemed to lean into his touch like she knew exactly who he was and that he was someone she wanted to be around.

"We're fine, thanks to you. I came to say thank you, properly, for helping us last week."

Reaching down beneath the pram, (Y/n) found the tuppaware box and gingerly held it out to Evan. She tried not to blush or let heat rise to her skin when she saw the way he grinned as he took the box from her. It wasn't much, but she knew baked goods were always welcomed and she wasn't quite sure how else to say thank you. Other than to come down in person to show her gratitude and hand over some cookies.

"Thank you." Evan was already opening the box and diving in to try a cookie and he hummed when he bit into one. "You didn't have to, you know. It's all part of the job."

"It's not everyday a hospital has a fire, or that someone goes back in to get your baby for you. Thanks is the least I could do."

This may be an everyday thing for him, but not for (Y/n). She hadn't gone into the hospital expecting a mass fire to break out. She didn't expect to be evacuated or to have someone rush back inside to make sure her daughter wasn't still in there and get her out safe. She didn't dare think what would of happened if he hadn't of been there at that exact moment, to help her.

"So, she's doing okay?" His eyes cast down to the pram when he finished the cookie and tucked the box under one arm so he didn't drop it.

Part of him wanted to reach in and pick her up. She had seemed very settled when he held her last week at the hospital. He wanted to see if she would still settle with him. He wanted to cuddle her and see how she might attach herself to him, to see if she would remember who he was.

"Yeah, she's doing great. Keeping me awake at night, but that's what I signed up for."

"Just you two?" Evan spoke before he could stop himself and despite how quiet his voice came out, he knew (Y/n) heard him. He diverted his eyes down to the pram, brushing Aurora's cheek once again as she started to wriggle. But the quiet hum (Y/n) gave out handed him his answer.

Just her and her girl. They had each other, and that was all they needed.

"Hey, what're you doing here?"

Evan snapped his head up to look over at Bobby when the Captain trotted down the stairs from the kitchen and made a beeline their way. The sight of him walking forward had Evan's brows furrowing and he tilted his head to one side in uncertainty.

"Just stopped by to say thanks to your team, for being so lovely during the hospital evacuation last week."

The smile that flooded (Y/n)'s face when she looked up at Bobby had a slither of jealousy creeping up the back of Evan's spine and surging through his chest. How did she know Bobby? Why was she smiling like that at him? Hadn't she come here to see Evan, not the Captain?

He watched Bobby loop an arm around (Y/n)'s waist and reel her in for a hug, and he did his best to hide his grimace as he watched them. And he swallowed down a grumble when Bobby kissed the top of (Y/n)'s head and gave her a squeeze.

"Oh really? Stick around for a coffee, see the rest of the team." Bobby spoke into the top of (Y/n)'s hair and when he finally parted from her, he patted Evan's shoulder and leaned around him to look into the pram at Aurora. He had a few things to take care of, but he would make time for a coffee if (Y/n) stuck around for a while.

Bobby seemed to smile wider when he saw the newborn nuzzling into Evan's hand that was still stretched down towards her.

When he walked past them both and moved towards the back of the station, Evan turned his attention to (Y/n). He tried to keep his composure, stay standing tall and plastered the smile back on his face as he stepped closer to her. He liked the way she had to tilt her head at an angle to look up at him. He liked that doe look in her eyes and the way she smiled at him was as if he was the only person in the world worth talking to.

"You uh, you know Bobby?"

"He's my uncle, I used to stay with him a lot when I moved out here after school. He's Rory's godfather."

(Y/n) would say that she was closer to her uncle than she was to her own parents. He had practically taken her in when she moved out to LA not long after Bobby left Minnesota to come out here. She had always heard him talking about his team, but she had never come down to the station or formally met any of them. They were like Bobby's second family and sometimes it was easier to keep both his worlds separate.

But from what (Y/n) had briefly seen of the team, she knew she would like them, especially Evan.

"Oh, wow." Evan nodded and began walking, motioning his arm in the right direction as (Y/n) followed along at his side with the pram. She would stick around for a coffee and a chat before she took Rory back home.

As Evan dragged his hand up and down his jaw and listened to the sound of (Y/n)'s shoes clicking against the polished floor, he found himself smiling. He had no idea Bobby had a niece, or that his niece would turn out to be someone so lovely who Evan was finding himself thinking of at every waking moment.

He liked the idea of (Y/n) being related to Bobby. Evan had come to think of Bobby as the dad he'd never had growing up. Bobby looked after him, taught him life lessons, was there when he needed him and loved and supported him and told him when he was wrong and how to right his problems.

If (Y/n) was related to Bobby, that just meant that instead of feeling like Bobby was his foster dad, he would now have a connection to him. If Evan got close to (Y/n) and found himself in a relationship with her, he would therefore be more like a true relation to Bobby. This was the beginning of a family.

They would all be drawn closer together, and Evan wanted to be as close to (Y/n) as he could get.

***

Evan almost jumped out of his skin when a hand gripped his shoulder and he felt a tall presence leaning over his right shoulder. He could feel his heart hammering away so fast in his chest he thought his ribs were going to splinter.

He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes locked with Bobby. The Captain had a knowing grin on his face that put Evan at ease, he wasn't about to be reprimanded for anything and he wasn't going to have a stern conversation. He seemed to have taken some delight in making Evan nervous, something Bobby didn't do very often.

"So, my niece, huh?"

It took Evan by surprise and he had to take a few seconds to work out what Bobby was talking about. Until Bobby cast his eyes down to look at Evan's phone that was clasped in his hands, and they both looked at his lockscreen.

(Y/n).

A blush started to creep up the side of Evan's neck and dusted across his cheeks when he nodded. He wasn't sure how to respond to that because it didn't really sound like a question, it was more of a statement or a rhetorical question.

But Bobby didn't seem upset or annoyed or like Evan was overstepping any mark here. He looked happy, if Evan wasn't mistaken.

"I uh, I really like her, Bobby, and Rory. I'd never mess them around-"

"Kid, I trust you. You've come a long way, and I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt either of them. If you're both happy, then so am I."

He had Bobby's approval, and he didn't have to try or ask or say anything at all. Bobby was happy for them. He was happy that Evan was infatuated with his niece and would do anything for her. This was better than Evan had hoped for.

Something soft dwelled in (Y/n)'s eyes when she glanced towards the living room.

Evan was sweet.

He was stood behind the sofa, looking like he had been pacing up and down for a little while now. He had Rory in his arms who he had been holding for the last twenty minutes or so. He barely put her down, and she barely cried in his arms.

She couldn't quite believe how sweet and endearing Evan was being towards both her and Rory.

(Y/n) had been a little nervous and mostly unsure when Evan came round last week, and then again, and then popped by today. She wasn't sure why he wanted to befriend her so badly. She was a single mother with a newborn, she wasn't going to be much fun or good company, but Evan seemed intent on getting to know her. And he was more than eager to fuss Rory and settle her if she woke up, to give (Y/n) a break.

She folded her arms over the kitchen counter and tilted her head to one side, watching Evan with a growing smile that spread across her lips. He looked like he was a natural with kids, Bobby had said so himself. He said all the kids they had on calls or the school groups that stopped by the station all levitated to Evan like he was some kind of beacon.

He understood them, he was a friendly, understanding face and a fun person to be around. And he just seemed to have a natural talent with kids. When he came round to have a coffee with (Y/n), to see how she was and ask if she wanted to go for a walk or just spend some time together, he was always more than eager to have Rory around.

Not many men would be like that. Not many men at all would try and befriend (Y/n) or pursue her when she had a baby to look after. And not many men would be so taken with her newborn and try to offer help and be a friend to be around when needed.

She couldn't hear whatever Evan was saying to Rory, but the grin on his face made her wonder if he was relaying a story, possibly a work scenario.

Her eyes finally tore away from the pair of them to look down at her phone when it buzzed on the countertop.

*Me and Athena are having a BBQ at the weekend, do you want to come over? You can bring Buck XX

(Y/n) could feel herself lighting up at the thought of a party, but when she re-read her uncle's words again, her chest started to ignite with adrenaline and her face fell into a frown.

She could bring Evan? Why would he ask her that? Wouldn't he just invite Evan along anyway? Most of her uncle's parties or meals and events included his work team nine times out of ten. Evan would surely be on the list to be invited, he would likely be the first person they invited. Why was there any need for (Y/n) to bring him along?

For a brief moment, she glanced back over at Evan in the living room, watching as he moved to sit down on the sofa, still cooing and quietly chattering away to her daughter.

*Bring Buck? XX

*Don't worry, he told me. I'm happy for you both, he's a good kid and the team is eager to meet you XX

What on Earth did that mean?

What had Evan told her uncle? Did Bobby think they were in a relationship? Did anyone else think she and Evan were in a relationship?

She and Evan were friends, he had been kind to her and he was becoming a good friend. But they weren't in a relationship. He hadn't asked her and (Y/n) wasn't sure she was ready for that. Her last relationship had gone bust the moment she found out she was pregnant and (Y/n) made the decision to do this on her own. She wanted to have her baby and she was happy to be a single mother to Rory.

(Y/n) couldn't be thinking about a relationship right now, not after she'd just had Rory and her world was turned upside down, in the best possible way. She wasn't in the right moment to be thinking about getting into a new relationship.

Stuffing her phone into her back pocket, (Y/n) sighed and pushed off the counter. She was going to have to talk to him about this. Either Bobby had gotten the wrong end of the stick somewhere along the line, or Evan had said something he shouldn't. Or maybe Evan had gotten the wrong end of things, but how?

(Y/n) hadn't said anything or done anything to give Evan the wrong idea. They were friends.

She moved away from the counter, but paused when another buzz ticked through the air. That wasn't her phone. She dared to lean over, just to catch a glimpse of Evan's phone; it might be Bobby messaging him.

She wished she hadn't looked.

Why did Evan have a photo of (Y/n) as his lockscreen?

When had he even taken a picture of (Y/n)? She didn't recall Evan ever holding his phone up and taking a photo of her, she would of remembered something like that happening with someone she didn't know very well. Why was it made his lock screen? Why had he taken a photo of her?

A shiver crawled down her spine as she walked out of the kitchen and slowly headed into the living room. She tried to smile when she watched Evan gently ease Rory down in the rocker near the armchair. The newborn was fast asleep.

(Y/n) folded her arms over her stomach and leant one hip against the back of the armchair, trying not to look too panicked or too casual or uneasy.

"Evan, have you said something to Bobby, about us?" She forced herself to control her breathing and keep her tone light. She didn't want to argue with him or start something here, she just wanted to clear this all up.

The last thing they needed was to go to this barbeque at the weekend and have people asking if they were an item and one saying yes and the other saying no. They couldn't get things muddled up or let the lines blurr.

She watched his head tilt to one side and a lopsided smile formed on his lips as he squinted up at her.

"Well, yeah, I talk about you sometimes, so… he knows. He's fine with it, though, so don't worry."

"He knows?" Her head shook and the placid smile on her face showed her clear confusion.

She could feel panic dwelling up in her chest when Evan brushed his hands up and down his thighs and pushed up to his feet. She couldn't help but take a step back when Evan twisted and walked over to her. He walked slowly, as if he was a predator stalking towards her, assessing her movements. And (Y/n) held steady, not wanting to give the wrong impression or seem like she was angry when she was simply confused.

Her breath caught in her lungs and she could feel her throat tightening when he stepped so close, their chests were touching. She could feel each breath Evan took, pressing down against her and she couldn't help the shiver that rolled down her spine when Evan's fingers pressed beneath her chin and tilted her head up in his direction.

The way he smiled down at her made something twinge in (Y/n)'s stomach. She couldn't quite figure it out, but there was just something in his eyes that made her uneasy. That glimmer, that added, darkened look that made his pupils dilate and caused his mouth to curve into a splintered smile that set her on edge.

"Yeah, that you're my girls."

His words were followed by his lips pressing to her forehead that had started to spin in circles.

She didn't realise Evan's hands had moved to her hips or that he was nudging her back until the sofa pressed into her knees and she found herself sitting down. Her heart jumped into her throat once again and she could feel herself trembling when Evan sat down beside her.

He was close enough that their knees were touching and he curled one hand around her thigh while the other hand cupped the side of her neck. She could feel his thumb brushing softly across her jaw and when he leaned in, the only place for (Y/n) to go was to tilt backwards.

He was leaning over her. He was crowding her, surrounding her, blocking her exit and her senses and numbing her thoughts.

She didn't know what to do when he kissed her.

His lips were soft, but there was something behind his touch, something he was holding back. She could feel it in his touch, in the way his hand was so tense against her neck it was like he was about to start shaking. There was something in his hand gripping her thigh, like he was tempted to squeeze even tighter and pin her in place.

The feeling of his chest pressing down onto hers made (Y/n) sink further back into the sofa she was becoming compressed on when Evan was practically lying on top of her.

She stole as much air as she could manage in the second that their lips parted and she could feel Evan smiling into her mouth before he kissed her again.

This was moving too fast. They hadn't even gone out on a date or made any inclination towards dating. They were friends- (Y/n) thought they were friends.

Evan had come round to see her a few times, they had exchanged numbers. There was no reason for her picture to be on his phone or as his lockscreen. He shouldn't be kissing her now when they hadn't agreed to start dating and they didn't know each other well.

Evan had instagated this all on his own, he had attached himself to her and he didn't look like he was going to part from her. He had told his team that they were dating, he was already making it a well-known fact when the person he should have been talking to about this was (Y/n); the only person left in the dark about all of this.

What was she going to do?

[frogs-mystery-sideblog]

Yk that post about Our Flag Means Death that’s like “every character in this show is experiencing a different genre” ?

Yeah, Dirty Work functions pm the same way lmao

Context under the cut, for anyone who is not familiar with Dirty Work and its messy dynamics:

Ford and Jolene (aka Dirty Work part 1)

Ford and Jolene become friends in college, when Jolene signs up for a scientific study Ford forgot about. The study is on parapsychology, and when nobody answered his “volunteers with experience in the paranormal wanted” poster, he moved on to a different subject. That was in his first year of college, and it’s now his last.

He’s supposed to be finishing up his PH.D and figure out what he wants to do afterwards, so when Jolene calls about the poster, he really should turn her down. But she claims to have weird, psychic experiences, and Ford, being Ford, can’t turn down the opportunity to expose a fake.

Problem is; Jolene herself is not entirely sure she believes in psychic abilities, and even worse, her preminitions are absolutely true. Ford would know; they’re about him. And she doesn’t even know it.

Hilarity ensues!

Fast forward to 1980. Ford and Jolene haven’t spoken except a few holiday cards sent by Jolene, to update Ford on how life is going now that she’s got a better understanding of herself and her “clairs”, thanks to him. But Ford is at a loss in his research. He knows there’s got to be a source out there but he just can’t find it. While digging through his research in hopes of finding *anything* useful, he uncovers his old research notes and interviews he did with Jolene.

Maybe…Just maybe, she could help?

Jolene agrees to join him, and together they strengthen her intuition further, while moving towards Bill (Jolene does not feel good about this, Ford, however is thrilled that they’re making such fast progress)

Fast forward again, it’s 1983 — everything sucks now! Fiddleford has left, and Jolene is very much intending to follow him. Ford is desperate not to be left alone with Bill, but obviously doesn’t want to show that. In a moment of panic, he proposes to Jolene, despite having like 0.5% romantic history with her. He shoots off a bunch of logical reasons they ought to be together, which is all a cover for his actual reason as to why he wants her there.

Jolene, also panicked, says yes. Its all very allegorical and whatnot.

—

Stanley and Jolene:

1983, portal incident occurs. Jolene is…Not home when it happens. There’s a long story there that we need not delve into.

She returns to the shack, aware that something bad has happened. When she finds the portal, and Ford’s belongings strewn about as if there was a struggle, she knows Ford is gone.

So seeing Stanley is a bit of a shock. Stanley, on the other hand, thought Jolene was an intruder and nearly had a heart attack when he bumps into her.

After the confusion settles, they agree to help each other build the portal to bring Ford back. Its very “While you were sleeping” (or, While you were stuck in an inter-dimensional portal for 30 years)

Hilarity ensues!

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Dracula (1897 novel) thoughts?

I've read it once, but it was many years ago now, so not sure how much this still apply if I read it again today.

I liked it, I thought it was an excellent horror novel, and tellingly it was genre defining and one of the first of its kind. Dracula served as the inspiration for books, movies, and plays for over a century, but also because of that... there's things we have in modern fiction that just weren't there in Dracula.

In particular, I thought the first half starring Jonathon was far and away the best part. It's tense, terrifying, we have a great buildup of mystery with things like the terrified villagers, Count Dracula being the world's biggest creep, Jonathon's increasing desperation then escape attempts, the "WHAT THE FUCK" brides, and the whole thing is riveting.

Then we get to the second half which I'll call the Scooby Gang half. It still has some great stuff, such as Reinfeld being turned into a thrall, Lucy's ridiculous life that very quickly becomes her being a victim/bride of Dracula, Mina's slow wasting away and being much smarter than all the other characters but it doesn't mean shit, but we also get to suffer through Van Hellsing, Harker, and the gang being the world's most ridiculous detectives trying to figure out how the devil they're going to kill Dracula.

It's not bad, but that part does noticeably drag compared to earlier parts of the novel, and leads us to a death of Dracula that's a little... anticlimactic.

But it is a good novel and telling that it's been the inspiration for so many things.

[possamble]

I'm not allowed to be on social media for more than two seconds today but I just wanted to say that Laios will absolutely have his own reaction to all this as someone who would die for Falin but has also imprinted on Marcille as his Emotional Support Comphet White Girl Not-Girlfriend along the way

[toastsnaffler]

in a hilarious turn of events my flatmate didn't even know I use any pronouns....

[kenmaiii]

oomf right honestly drawing faves and ocs like ponies is fun :3. pretty slay for a first attempt i think

[piplupod]

mother: "theres this great job where you'd be on-call to come in!"

me: "ahhh i don't really want to be on-call, that would stress me out a lot because I'd always be on edge,,"

mother: "no you wouldn't, you could make it your thing!"

me: "...my thing?"

mother: "being on call! it'd be great! :)"

me: "i would probably be crying like... a lot ahaha. because I would always be on edge never knowing when to expect having to go into work, yknow?"

mother: "nooo, you could just make it a thing!"

me: "sorry, what do you mean by thing?"

AND I NEVER FOUND OUT !!

[idledreams4]

I improved my morning alarm

[gibbearish]

btw similar to the whole "if you try adderall at a party and it calms you down, get an adhd test" thing, if at some point in your life you try microdosing shrooms with a friend and end up feeling like a functional person for the first time in your life, get tested for depression. like yeah hallucinogens come with elation so youre probably gonna have some "this is the best ive ever felt in my life" vibes regardless, but like. if that in and of itself feels like finally breathing in for the first time in years, thats for sure a sign that something is up with your ability to process serotonin most of the time. feeling better than ever before should be a nice bonus, not a crushing weight off your chest

[thanatoseyes]

So we're in Avernus in my DND campaign and I play Hysteria a purple tiefling, fighter/warlock, my patron being Asmodeus, grand pa pa. We passed this mirror ice wall and my first instinct was to shatter it but I didn't. Instead hysteria was granted a wish. And you know what she wished for? For Asmodeus to be free. It didn't actually work entirely. But it did loosen a few chains and I think she started the apocalypse.

[thebleedingeffect]

.

[foxgirlmoth]

I don't talk about this stuff on here pretty much at all, but a past relationship really broke a ton of bits and pieces of my brain and heart in weird ways (I'm finally thinking about him almost never but the shit he pulled was abusive as hell and still affects me sometimes). Being in love with my current girlfriends for a while felt almost. Painful? Almost like I should be ashamed I can fall so deeply in love with people, and especially how quickly that can happen sometimes too. Thats how it kind of felt. I tend to get overwhelmed with emotions if I'm feeling them very strongly, and that has been extremely embarrassing and also felt almost like I was being a burden to those I love (which love is the main emotion that can 'get dialed up to 11' for me). It IS debilitating in some ways!!! It hasn't gotten bad enough I've been nonverbal in a really really long time but that happened this past week and it was wild to me.

Things are getting better now though! Therapy in the past has helped, and honestly having such patient and understanding partners has made a world of difference ;w;. my wife is someone who was one of my best friends and I had a huge crush on and now I can ask for cuddles and we can nap together and I've fallen so much in love. Her and her presence are literally heaven for me, I don't know if anything has ever made me happier than just laying next to her and feeling her warmth.

Worries of course flare up and I feel like I need to lean on her a lot during those moments, but I don't feel like too much of a burden to her. I love seeing the posts that say stuff like 'Its okay to be a burden' or 'its okay to be annoying' because really truly I think I need to be those things to survive sometimes. I can be 'a lot' and I can be a little bit obsessive and those things aren't inherently bad or evil of me. I just make sure I'm feeling okay during and after and make sure I'm checking in on myself often. I'm a bit of a broken girl, but that doesn't mean I'm not extremely happy and living a life I love. I've written poems and everything about how it feels like it must hurt to love me and my broken jagged edges, but hey, even if it does a little bit, it doesn't mean someone like my girlfriend/wife won't go through a little bit of burden to love me, and I'm more than happy to return all of this and more for her as well if she's ever in need or feels broken ;^;

[theygender]

Yeah sure growing up abused may have left me with permanent scars on my psychological state that I'm still working to unpack, but on the bright side it gave me the ability to give a thoughtful in depth analysis of Roald Dahl's Matilda and all of its adaptations

[mxdotpng]

best part abt having an ff14 oc is creating side content for ur wol's character development, completely unrelated to the msq going on