#this body survived getting hit by a car out of stubborn will for me

[greenvertumna]

Me: human body hair is natural why should we shave it

Also me: damn my eyebrows look better now that i’ve plucked them

[floralcyanide]

Gasoline

Joel Miller x Reader

request: "congratulations on 2k my dear friend!!! ana i would love to see smut prompt 5 (“I think you lost your underwear somewhere.”) with our emotionally stunted apocalypse daddy joel miller if you have time and/or the inspiration for it 👉👈" by @she-is-juniper

smut prompt #5: "I think you lost your underwear somewhere."

warnings: smut, oral (f receiving), fingering, use of a makeshift gag, car sex, mentions of a gun.

summary: When a mission suddenly turns awry, you and Joel have to make a run for it. Later, you discover you left something behind.

word count: 1237

author’s note: welcome to the 2nd request of my 2k celebration and my first Joel fic!! I hope everyone enjoys this (: if you do, please let me know! I hope to write more for him in the future.

masterlist | add yourself to the taglist here | 2k celebration prompts here | request a prompt here or in my asks.

“There’s a sickness that is going ‘round, but no one’s got a vaccine.”

ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴘʏ, ʀᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇ, ᴏʀ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀs ᴏɴ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ, ᴀᴏ3, ᴡᴀᴛᴛᴘᴀᴅ, ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴡᴇʙsɪᴛᴇ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ɪɴ ᴀɪ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀᴛᴏʀs ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀʀᴛɪғɪᴄɪᴀʟ ɪɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ᴛᴏ sᴇʟʟ ғᴏʀ ᴀs ʏ��ᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

Your eyes burn into Joel’s, unblinking and unwavering, as his fingers bury themselves deep inside you. The pads of his pointer and index fingers hit a spot inside of you, causing you to whimper. But the sound is muffled by your underwear that’s been bunched up and shoved into your mouth to keep you quiet.

You were on your way back from abusing Bill and Frank’s shower and getting some supplies from them when a storm began blowing through. Not wanting to get drenched and come down with a cough, you and Joel broke into a car that wasn’t completely submerged in vines and had a viable backseat. The two of you are now cramped in the said backseat, passing the time as rain pelts down on the car. It wasn’t long that the two of you were in the car before Joel began to get handsy. He had hurriedly yanked your old jeans down your legs, to which you warned him to be careful- they were your only pair that survived the apocalypse- and then he did the same to your fresh underwear, which is now obviously being used for other things.

A spring from the torn-up backseat digs into your back as the smell of stale gasoline fills your nose. You figure the action of you thrusting your hips forward is making it move around in the tank as the car jostles slightly. You’re desperately trying to chase that familiar warmth in your lower stomach as you push away your thoughts.

“That’s it, doll. So good for me, taking my fingers so well,” Joel drawls, his eyes heavy with lust.

His free hand has your wrists enclasped, holding all his body weight on them as he relentlessly stretches you out with his deft fingers. You’re still burning your gaze into his, willing yourself not to let your eyes roll into the back of your head. You’re stubborn when it comes to Joel, who is also very stubborn himself, and you two often battle over who's in charge in many aspects. Including sex. So, even if you’re the one on the receiving end right now, you aren’t letting your guard down completely. Which means you’re not gonna break eye contact until you absolutely have to. But that comes all too quickly when Joel snaps his head to his right, eyes now wide with alert as he stares out of the back windshield. His fingers pause their movements as well, much to your dismay.

“We need to go. Now,” Joel mutters, pulling away from you.

You rip your underwear out of your mouth, tossing them somewhere on the floor of the car, “What’s going on?”

“I thought I heard someone yell,” Joel says, his eyes still focused on the street outside.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay here, then?” you whisper, trying to listen for the voices he heard.

“The rain stopped, and we need to head home with our stuff as soon as possible anyway,” Joel says, “It’s gonna get dark soon.”

You sit up wordlessly, trying to regain your composure from the cloud of pleasure you were experiencing. Suddenly, you hear the yelling Joel was referring to, and in a panic, you grab your jeans and pull them up your legs as Joel grabs the backpacks with your stuff in them from the front seat. Joel pulls his gun from his waistband as he slowly opens the car door, ushering you to get out quickly with one of the bags.

Before you make a run for it, Joel grabs your shoulder, “You see that dumpster over there?” he jerks his head in its direction, and you nod, “Make a run for it and hide behind it until I get there.”

Looking in both directions of the street before pushing yourself off the side of the car, you bolt for the dumpster without issue. You watch nervously as Joel sprints across the street, gun in hand. He hunches beside you before slowly rising up, peeking over the rotted dumpster to make sure no one is coming. After a few minutes of silence, Joel sinks back down.

“Let’s go,” he says, and the two of you, very carefully, proceed to your usual route back to the QZ.

The night begins to fall right as you and Joel reach the apartment building the two of you have holed up in. You two weren’t far from the QZ when it began raining, so thankfully, the trek back home wasn't too strenuous. You sit the backpack down by the door, sighing as you slump your shoulders and drag your feet toward the bed. Joel follows you, hovering over you as you lie down. 

“Now,” he says, “Where were we?”

You giggle as he unbuttons your pants again, but your smile fades when an unreadable expression crosses Joel’s face, and he pauses his movements.

“What?”

“I think you lost your underwear somewhere,” he says, stifling a laugh by pursing his lips.

You furrow your eyebrows and become aware of the feeling of denim on your delicate skin. 

“Damn, I left them in the Buick,” you groan, covering your face with your hands.

“It’s alright. Makes my job easier,” Joel smirks as he fully removes your pants and tosses them on the floor.

He lowers himself and levels his eyes with your core, taking a gentle hand and spreading you open before planting a kiss on your clit.

“So beautiful,” Joel says, his breath fanning against you.

He ever so slowly licks a stripe up your slit, circling your clit carefully when he finally reaches it. 

“Fuck, Joel,” you squirm, and Joel grips your hips with his large hands, keeping you still against his face.

You clamp your thighs around his head, squeezing as he begins to suck lightly on your bundle of nerves.

“Be nice,” Joel mutters as he briefly pulls away from you, only to resume his soft torment seconds later.

His tongue laps at your growing wetness, swirling around your clit before he takes it between his lips again. You whimper, squeezing your legs around his head again. Joel pulls them off his and spreads them, pinning them to the bed by your knees. Now you were on full display for him. Joel flattens his tongue against your clit, shaking his head side to side vigorously. You let out a guttural moan, your legs struggling against his grip. Joel then gently nips at the bundle of nerves, rolling it between his teeth lightly before sucking it between his lips again. He flicks his tongue on the bud as he sucks, causing your stomach to tie in a familiar knot.

“Close,” is all you could muster, your stubborn facade melting away. 

Joel grazes his teeth over you again, sucking harder than before. The feeling of his teeth pinching you slightly sends you over the edge, your legs shaking under his hands as your hips buck wildly against his face. Your stomach tightens as your release washes over you, Joel’s name slipping from your lips repeatedly. 

After letting you come down from your high, Joel pulls off of you and wipes his face of your arousal.

“God, that was definitely worth losing my new pair of underwear,” you sigh as Joel climbs beside you and lays down next to you. 

“They were gonna end up ruined anyway,” he jokes.

You just roll your eyes at him and smack his chest playfully.

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE → THE COME DOWN

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 4.7k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

The instant Steve pulled the stolen car into the Byers driveway, every ounce of adrenaline disappeared. It hit him all at once after he threw open the car door and stumbled out, falling to his knees in the grass. The world spun too quickly for him to stomach. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to pass out, throw up, or both. The only thing he could get his body to do was close his eyes. 

A hand shook his shoulder lightly and a soft voice sounded in his ears. “Steve?” Sunshine called his name. 

He swallowed down his nausea and peeled his eyes open. “I’m good. I’m just-” 

“Beat to hell?” Dustin finished Steve's sentence, standing over him with arms crossed. “You look awful, dude.” 

“Thanks, bud,” Steve muttered. With a groan, he struggled to his feet and attempted to move toward the front door, but pain clouded his mind and halted his movements. He swayed forward but was caught by both Sunshine and Dustin.

Before they could walk up the driveway, a loud “Fuck!” echoed through the quiet night, and their attention was pulled back to the car where Mike sat halfway out with one foot in the driveway and the other hovering slightly in the air. 

“What’s wrong?” Sunshine asked. 

The kid, as irritatingly stubborn as the rest of them, shook his head and tried to stand again, but the second he tried to stand on both feet, he fell back into the seat. “It’s my ankle,” he said through gritted teeth. 

“Max, Lucas, help Mike inside and we’ll get Steve,” Sunshine directed. 

They all made it inside. Sunshine and Dustin exchanged words that Steve missed; he was more focused on not falling face-first to the ground. The pain in his face let him know whatever Hargrove had done wasn’t pretty, and he didn’t need to mess himself up anymore. Besides the pain in his face, his knuckles stung, his vision was a little blurry, and he was certain a rib or two was bruised because it hurt every time he inhaled. 

He was led into the bathroom and all but collapsed on top of the closed toilet seat. Dustin left and Sunshine quietly rummaged through the cabinets until she found a small basket of medical supplies. 

He felt terrible, but he didn’t want to admit that. It felt a little unfair of him to do so, when Sunshine saved their asses multiple times that night and also looked beat up because of it. Steve felt like he deserved to mull over his mistakes with the dried blood around his cuts and thundering headache. 

“Sunshine, I’m fine-” 

She shot him a look that cut him off. He pressed his split lips into a thin line as he gazed into her golden eyes. “Just let me help.” 

He was too tired to argue, so he sighed in defeat and stayed quiet as Sunshine wet a washcloth and pressed his against the cuts on his face. She tried to be as gentle as possible, but Steve couldn’t help but wince each time the washcloth touched one of his deep scrapes either from shards of broken glass or Billy’s knuckles. 

The pain was a lot, so he tried to distract himself from it. He focused on Sunshine, who leaned down close to his face. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. Fresh red and purple bruises had grown along the bridge of her nose and spread out across the apples of her cheeks. Blood stained the skin between her nose and upper lip, and it was smeared across the corner of her mouth in a way he hadn’t noticed before. It stared for another moment before he realized the blood had come from a nasty split along the corner of her mouth that he was sure wasn’t there before. 

He wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing before his thumb brushed across the skin just under the split, wiping away some of the dried blood. “What happened?” he asked. It was stupid, in the grand scheme of things. The number of injuries they all had accumulated throughout the past day and night was staggering, but something about the cut didn’t sit right with him. 

Sunshine paused and backed away from him to gaze at herself in the mirror. She was quiet for a moment like she was trying to remember how she managed to get that cut throughout their hellish night. Then, she shook her head and discarded the bloody rag in the sink before she grabbed a box of band-aids. 

“Billy,” she replied, simply, and started to cover his face in the color band-aids that Steve assumed were Will’s because they had pictures of characters Steve didn’t know. 

“He hit you?” He didn’t know what happened after Billy knocked him out; the last thing he remembered was a plate being smashed over his head and then hitting the ground. The next thing he knew, he was in the backseat of a car being driven by a child. But the thought of Billy hurting Sunshine or any one of the kids caused anger and guilt to rise steadily inside of him. 

“Well, I did try to blind him.” There was a light humor to her voice, but Steve didn’t find it funny. He wanted to believe his fight with Jonathan last fall was a fluke; his mind had been all over the place and that threw him off his game. But, failing to stop Billy from getting inside and causing damage just confirmed that he was not a fighter. He got himself beat up, Sunshine got hurt, and who knew what else happened while he was miserably knocked out. 

“I’m sorry," Steve sighed. 

Sunshine stopped what she was doing and peered at him quizzically. “For what?” 

“For not stopping that asshole from getting inside or hurting you. And God only knows what would have happened to the kids if you weren’t there. I��I’m sorry.” 

Steve couldn’t read the expression Sunshine wore, but there was something about the gaze in her eyes that was overwhelming. Her eyes were red, probably from whatever kind of toxic air was inside the tunnels they were in, but the little illuminated flecks of gold intensified her gaze. 

“The kids are okay. I’m okay. You, on the other hand, are not.” 

With a half-hearted shrug, he replied, “I’m just a little banged up.” 

Sunshine dropped what she had been doing and sucked in a shuttered breath. “I thought he was going to kill you.” The lowness of her voice startled him; it was twisted with emotion. It almost sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and he couldn’t wrap his brain around why. “He wouldn’t stop. A-And you just…I was so scared, Steve.” 

Her words took him aback. She stared at him with such an intensity in her eyes that it nearly took his breath away. He was sure no one had ever looked at him like that before; he wasn’t sure anyone had ever seemed to care that much about him before. Steve didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about it, besides confused.  His head hurt too much to think about it. 

Clearing his throat, Steve tried to reel himself back in. “I’m fine. It’s gonna take a lot more than some mullet-wearing-asshole to kill me, okay?” 

A small and tired smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “Promise?” 

Steve returned the smile. “Promise. Unfortunately, that means you're going to be stuck with me for a while.” The world wasn’t going to end that night; they had time. 

“I’m okay with that,” she replied and continued placing band-aids across his face. Once she was done, she leaned back against the wall and let out a breathy sigh. “There’s medicine in the kitchen that should help with the pain. We can-” 

“Yeah, I’ll get some later. But now, it’s your turn.” He stood up, ignoring the pain in his muscles as he moved, and gestured to the seat. “Sit.” 

She looked ready to protest, but he turned away in search of more first aid supplies. He heard her huff before she sat down. Comfortable silence engulfed them. He cleaned the blood off her face and was careful not to disturb the angry bruises from using her powers any more than they already were. There wasn’t much either one of them could do with the supplies Ms. Byers had. In her defense, she probably wasn’t prepared for her home to become the home base for a monster-infested night. 

Steve changed the gauze that covered Sunshine’s tattoo and winced when he saw the bruises the vines left behind. If her wrists were already black and blue, he could only imagine what Mike’s ankle looked like; no wonder the kid could hardly walk on it. 

Once they both were in slightly better-looking shape, voices rose from the living room that indicated the others were back. They wordlessly left the bathroom and found the Byers clan and Nancy in the living room. 

The newly arrived group turned at the sound of Steve and Sunshine’s footsteps. Nancy rushed towards them, sweaty and disheveled. "Jesus! What happened to you guys?"

In the mess of feelings and pain that had a hold of his body and mind, Steve had almost forgotten that he and Nancy had officially broken up just hours prior. Almost. 

“Long story,” Steve said, brushing off her concern. 

Sunshine pushed the attention away from them quickly, not necessarily wanting them to know they did exactly what they were instructed not to do. “How is he?” she asked, looking at Will who was fast asleep in Jonathan’s arms. The kid looked just as bad as he had when they left, but noticeable calmness to his slumber. They had gotten the Mind Flyer out of him, thank God. 

“He’ll be okay, I think,” Jonathan said. 

Joyce approached them after she had checked on the kids, who were scatted around the living room. Dark circles hung under the woman’s eyes, but there was a sense of ease in her shoulders. Steve couldn’t fathom what she felt like after all she and her family had been through. She had nearly lost her son again. Yet, somehow Steve knew Joyce would never give up home on her sons, no matter what kind of otherworldly dangers they had to face. 

Steve wondered what it was like to have a mother as devoted and determined as Joyce. She had fought monsters and entered another dimension to save Will, all while everyone in town called her crazy. Steve loved his mother, but he didn’t believe she’d go through all of that to get him back. Joyce was unlike most parents in Hawkins, as were Sunshine’s parents. Most were shitty, absent, or indifferent. But Steve was glad that the kids who had been through the most had good parents to fall back on. If anyone deserved that, it was them. 

Joyce’s face scrunched up in concern when her eyes landed on him and Sunshine. “What happened? Are you two okay?” 

Steve nodded his head. “We’re okay, Ms. Byers.” 

She didn’t seem to believe his words, but she didn’t say anything else about it. 

“Listen, everyone’s staying here tonight,” she said to everyone. “You can call your parents in the morning, but I don’t want anyone leaving tonight.” 

No one argued. Dustin and Lucas gathered pillows and blankets from around the house and piled them in the living room. Max and Luke finished sweeping the glass up off the floor, and Mike iced his ankle. 

Jonathan put Will to bed, and Joyce followed her boys. 

When they were alone, Nancy turned back to them with her arms crossed over her chest. “Alright, what actually happened? You two look a lot worse than when we left. And don’t say nothing.” 

They didn’t get the chance to say anything before the front door was swung open and a young girl stumbled inside. Leia’s hair was matted to the sides of her head and blood stained underneath her nose in a nearly identical fashion to Sunshine's. Behind her trailed Hopper, who carried a passed-out El in his arms. 

“El!” Mike shouted and tried to stand up from his seat. “Ow,” he grumbled but didn’t let his messed-up ankle keep him from El. He grabbed a hold of her limp hand and squeezed it sweetly. “El?” 

The girl was out cold, though, and didn’t so much as stir in Hopper’s arms. 

Joyce peaked out from Will’s bedroom at the commotion. “You can put her in my room, Hop,” she said. Hopper nodded and headed off in the direction of Joyce’s room, with Mike right behind him. Steve had a feeling that the kid wasn’t going to leave El’s side for the rest of the night, and it didn’t seem like Hopper had the heart to shoo him off. 

Bounding up to Sunshine, Leia smiled up at her sister despite the tiredness that was clear on her pale face. Sunshine was quick to look over Leia for any injuries, but she seemed okay under their circumstances. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Sunshine asked, brushing a couple of knotted pieces of bright blonde hair behind Leia’s ear. 

“I’m sure, just a little tired.” Leia smiled as Hopper and Joyce returned from tucking their kids into bed. “She did it. El closed the Gate!” 

“And she’ll be okay?” Joyce asked the chief. 

He nodded. “She will be. And Will?” 

“I hope so.” 

Just when Steve thought they’d all be free to pass out on Joyce’s floor, Hopper turned to him and Sunshine with furrowed brows. “What the hell happened to you two?” Steve didn’t think they looked that bad. He didn’t think they looked bad enough to warrant so many looks of concern. 

Everyone had gathered together in the living room and all attention was placed on Steve and Sunshine, much to Steve's discomfort. 

Dustin chuckled awkwardly under his breath. “It’s a funny story, actually. Well…okay. It’s not funny, per se, but-” he was cut off by a quick slap on the arm by Lucas. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. Nothing happened here. Nothing…at all.” Subtle, Steve thought. Dustin was about as subtle as an earthquake. 

Hopper was a cop and knew how to see through bullshit better than most. So, when he turned to Steve and Sunshine, Steve knew he couldn’t bullshit his way out of that one. “Somebody talk, now.” If anyone was going to get in trouble, Steve knew he rather it be him than Sunshine, even if both of them were technically kidnapped by the gaggle of middle schoolers. 

He was about to explain what had happened, but Max cut him off, much to his surprise. 

“It’s my fault!” she rushed out. “I sort of snuck out of my house earlier with Lucas, so my mom sent my stepbrother to look for me. But he’s an asshole. He found us here and…” She trailed off for a second and looked over her shoulder at where Lucas stared at her. Max’s face was pinched with guilt that didn’t seem fair. “He tried to hurt Lucas, but Steve and Sunshine stopped him. But then Billy kind of beat the shit out of them.” 

Hopper was quiet for a moment before he raised his brows at the teens. “Is that true?” Steve and Sunshine nodded. With a deep sigh, Hopper ran his hands down the length of his face. “Jesus. Okay, well, where is he now? I can call whoever’s on duty-” 

“No,” Steve cut him off. He didn’t want to explain to the Hawkins P.D. that while, yes, Billy did beat the shit out of them and threatened a child, they did steal his car. “Really, it’s fine. We’re good.” 

“Yeah, besides, Max took care of him,” Dustin said, earning himself a look from Hopper that told him he better elaborate. “He kind of was about to kill them and probably us. So, Max stuck him with whatever was in those syringes you gave to knock Will out.” Steve didn’t know that part. He looked to Max, whose cheeks were tinted red, and eyes were glassy. 

Hopper blinked, probably trying to process that information on top of everything else that had occurred that night. A few curse words were muttered under his breath before he asked, “Where is he now?” 

“It wore off, but he was still pretty out of it and just left. He left his car too.” Lucas was the better liar. It probably was what happened, just while they were away in the tunnels because Billy was gone when they returned, and Steve was grateful for that. 

“Okay, I think that’s more than enough questions for tonight,” Joyce said, much to Steve’s relief. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. Everyone, make yourselves comfortable. And I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee.” Joyce gave Hopper’s arm a light squeeze, prompting him to follow her into the kitchen, and leaving everyone else to make up their sleeping arrangements in the living room. 

“Max,” Steve called out, beckoning the redhead over. She stepped into the hall, just out of earshot of everyone else. “You know Billy and I’s fight wasn’t your fault, right?” 

His words seemed to throw her off. She turned her gaze onto her shoes and shrugged. “I mean, it kind of is. I’m the reason he came here in the first place.” 

Steve felt awful. Not only was Max thrown into an impossibly terrifying situation with monsters that nearly killed them three times over, but she also had to live with that ragging asshole. If Billy was willing to beat up some kid he hardly knew, what did that mean for Max? It was a shitty situation that Steve knew he couldn’t fix, but the least he could do was make sure Max didn’t feel like what had happened was her fault. 

“It’s not your fault. Billy’s been looking for a fight since you guys moved here. We would have fought sooner or later, and that’s not on you.” 

Max was quiet for a moment before she said, "I’m still sorry about your face and stuff.” Her jaw clenched in anger, but her eyes were still glassy. “Billy, he’s just…he’s so angry all of the time, and I-” she cut herself abruptly. “I’m just sorry, okay? I’m sorry he came here. But thanks for at least kicking his ass a little. He deserved it.” 

“Any time, kid. And if he ever tries to mess with you or Lucas again, I’ll let you borrow my bat.” 

A small smile formed on her face, and Steve counted that a win. “Thanks,” she said and tossed a look over her shoulder for a moment before she looked back at him with a little bit of fire back in her eyes. “But I think I’ll just borrow your girlfriend, instead.” With that, she turned on her heel and rejoined the rest of her friends, leaving Steve confused as to what she was talking about. His hurt still hurt, and he thought maybe he had just misheard her. 

He felt heavy on his feet and made his way over to the couch, falling beside Sunshine. She greeted him with a bump of her shoulder. “Everything okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I think so.” 

Sunshine replied with a quiet hum and leaned her head against the back of the couch, closing her eyes. Steve followed suit, letting his exhaustion overtake him. His body sank comfortably into the couch, below the broken window that was hastily covered with a tarp to keep some of the cold air out. Someone spread a blanket across them, and he felt himself begin to drift off, but a weight fell onto his side, and he peered through half-open eyes to see Sunshine’s head resting on his shoulder. 

Sleep was quick to overtake his body, a body that was finally able to rest for what was no doubt the longest night of his life. 

That night, Mike slept on the floor of El’s bedside with his ankle iced and his affection toward the girl overpowering any pain. Nancy sat upright in Will’s desk chair, not daring to close her eyes as she watched over Will and Jonathan’s sleeping figures. Joyce and Hopper shared a cigarette and hushed conversations over hot cups of coffee. Lucas slept curled up on the ground in a sleeping bag he was close to outgrowing, with his lucky bandana still wrapped around his forehead and his wrist rocket within arm's reach. Luke slept in the armchair with his knees pulled into his chest and his face scrunched up. Max and Leia shared an air mattress, too tired to care they were strangers. And Dustin camped out right in front of the couch where two people he had grown a fondness for sleep.

All of Hawkins slept soundly through the night, once again saved by unsung heroes. 

→←

“Should we wake them up?

“I don’t know, they look peaceful. Maybe we should let them sleep?” 

“But what if they can’t wake up? Oh, God! What if they’re dead?” 

“Uh, no. They’re definitely breathing.” 

Sunshine groaned as a swarm of voices assaulted her ears. She rubbed her eyes and winced as her fingers met the settled bruises on her skin. Each little movement of her body ached dully, which she knew was payback for pushing herself. 

“Oh, shit. I think we woke them up.” 

Sunshine forced her eyes open and was met with a series of faces that leaned in too close, startling her into a more awake state. She sat up and yawned. “What’s going on?” 

Dustin smiled at her and pointed toward the kitchen. “Hopper made waffles.” 

Mike rolled his eyes. “Eggos. He put Eggos in the toaster.” 

Beside him, El nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! They are very good.” 

At the sight of her sister, Sunshine’s flooded with relief. “You’re awake.” 

“Yes,” El replied. She narrowed her eyes, which were freed from the dark makeup that covered them before and studied Sunshine for a moment. “Are you okay?” All things considered, Sunshine was fine. She was alive, Will was monster-free, and her three siblings were back in her life. 

“Good!” Leia said, excitedly and loud enough that it woke Steve up. She grabbed Sunshine’s hand and pulled her off the couch. “Because we have so much to tell you!” 

They all took a seat at the table, with a groggy Steve trailing behind them, chuckling softly at the energetic kids. A plate of waffles sat on the table and steaming mugs of coffee were already laid out on the counter for them; Joyce had made them moments ago, according to the kids, before she went to check on Will. 

It wasn’t until Sunshine took a bite that she realized how hungry she was. They all ate waffle after waffle until they were stuffed. 

Once the waffles were gone, coffee was drunk, and certain doom had completely been washed away, they could properly catch up. 

“This isn’t what I thought would be waiting for us back in Hawkins,” Luke said, curled up on one of the chairs with his knees pulled up to his chest, but he seemed a little less tense than he had last night. “I guess the monsters and stuff make sense, but I didn’t think you’d still be here. Why did you stay?” he asked Sunshine. 

The question caught her by surprise. It was crazy how fast her attitude on the town changed. Before she and El escaped, she had been hellbent on running as far away as they could and never looking back. But she had found a home within the people of Hawkins. Her parents remained and so did she. That was her answer, but she felt guilty when she explained it to Luke and Leia. She had a home to return to, and Luke and Leia did not. Maybe they were out there somewhere, and maybe Sunshine could help them find each other. 

Leia smiled brightly with a mouth full of waffles. “Really? You found your parents? That’s awesome! What are they like? Are you nice? Do you have your own room? Oh, man! I wish I had my own room. I had to share with Luke, and he snores.” 

“I don’t snore!” Luke protested. “Would you’ve rather shared a room with Dottie? Or Axel? Hmm? No, I don’t think so.” 

In all of the chaos that had ensured, Sunshine didn’t have much time to think about the fact that there was another child of the Lab out there in the world. “Eight. Kali. Why didn’t she come back with you?” 

A somber look crossed all three kids’ faces. El answered, vaguely, “She said no one here could help us.” Sunshine found that strange. If Kali knew the wonderful people who lived in Hawkins, who had helped her and El, she’d have to change her mind. Kali could have a home with them. But Sunshine did understand the appeal of being anywhere but Hawkins. Without the people she had grown to love, Hawkins was a town packed full of bad memories. The lingering ghost of the Lab shadowed them, and some days were more overwhelming than others. But Sunshine believed Steve when he said no one would let her or her siblings end up back there. 

“She’s scared,” said Luke. “She’ll never admit it, but she’s scared to come back. We were too, but we needed to find you. And we did.”

Leia grabbed a hold of Sunshine’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “And we’re not leaving you, again. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure out a way to stay here. All that matters is that we’re together.” 

“You can live with me and Hopper,” El suggested. Sunshine also hadn’t fully grasped the idea that El had been in Hawkins the whole time, hidden by Hopper who had spent the last year lying to her. She was mad, but she was grateful someone cared for El. It was complicated, too complicated to think about at that moment. 

“You guys could join our party, like El!” Dustin practically bounced up in his seat with enthusiasm a bit too bright for the morning hour. “Of course, we’ll have to ask Will and take a vote, but…oh. First, you guys will have to meet Will, when he feels better. But I think he’ll be cool with it.” 

Under her breath, Max mumbled, “Unbelievable.” 

Beside her, Mike rolled his eyes dramatically. “Relax, Zoomer. You’re in.” 

“Whoa, wait. Really?” She tried to hide the excitement on her face, but it was impossible to miss. 

“Sure, whatever.” Sunshine saw right through Mike’s ‘I don’t care’ attitude. He was morphing back into his old self with his best friend safe and El back in his life. Maybe everything would return to a new normal; Sunshine hoped so. 

“How’s your ankle?” Sunshine asked Mike. His ankle was still wrapped, and she noticed a slight limp in his walk, but he seemed less miserable than last night. 

Mike shrugged. “Fine. It’s not broken, I’m pretty sure. How’re your guys’ faces?” He looked between Sunshine and Steve. The latter had remained quiet, leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in his hands. The colorful band-aids on his face helped make his injuries look less awful, but the bruises started to form overnight, and it would be a while before he was back to normal. Sunshine knew school for Steve would be rough come Monday, but she hoped Billy left him alone, at least. At least she only had to answer her worried parents�� questions, not the whole student body’s. 

“I feel about how I look,” Steve replied. 

“So, awful?” Mike smirked.

A playful glare narrowed in Steve’s eyes. “You’re a little shit, you know that, Wheeler?” 

The kids all erupted in laughter; it was a welcomed sound. After their hellish night, she should almost pretend they all had woken up from a normal sleepover. She glanced over at Steve, who was already looking at her. 

“We’ll be okay,” she said, though it was lost to the kids' ears as they found themselves engrossed in another conversation. 

Steve smiled softly and replied, “Yeah.” 

The air of dread fled, and the sun rose in the cloudless sky above Hawkins. Nothing was normal by any means, but things felt like they were on the right track. Sunshine felt that things would be okay after all; they would be okay after all. 

Tag List. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @echoing-oursong

[merge-conflict]

amusing myself by collating a list of all the "definitely not flirting" back and forth between johnny and valentine in my long fic. it's all just a way for them to annoy each other, of course. they don't really care about each other, of course. (of course)

—

Johnny was quiet for a moment, but she could still feel his irritation under her skin, like an electrical current. <You’re one stubborn motherfucker, you know that?>

<That’s why you like me, isn’t it?> She relaxed her smile, wished in vain that she could hit him square in the jaw, lay him out on the floor. Be left alone in peace.

<Don’t get all mushy on me. You’re not my type.>

—

<He can take care of himself. You got a bad habit of getting attached to every lost cause and sorry son of a bitch you find.>

<I do wish we were a little more unattached.>

<Please. If I had a body you’d be all over me.>

<If you had a body I would punch you in the face.>

<Exactly.>

V laughed, despite herself, sitting abruptly down against the coffee table with a pillow in her arms.

—

<You know a little fucking gratitude for trying to save your life would be nice.>

<New from Johnny Silverhand: Broken-Hearted Valentine.> V was caught up entirely in the idea. A stylized version of her synthetic heart, with the Samurai logo superimposed on it for the album cover. Some sort of Lucifer fall from grace, complete with wings, Johnny’s left arm outstretched. <If things don’t work out you have permission to use my likeness.>

“What is so funny?” Goro demanded.

—

He stretched up on the balls of his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. <Not only did I survive I had the best sex of my life inside that car. Even had an audience.>

The elevator doors screeched open, and V stepped through. <So your story has finally reached its climax.>

<Well you know, I like to build up the tension first. Makes for a more satisfying ending.>

<Is that your big secret?> She hit the button, waiting impatiently until the doors closed and the entire elevator lurched upwards. <Been a lot of improvements in that field since you were around.>

—

<Too good for a flak vest and a decent pair of boots,> Johnny said, a little drowsily.

<Not a look I can pull off.>

<I don’t know,> he said, and then went quiet. Amused.

—

“Oh, so front seats to fucking Ragnarok. No thanks.”

“We get through this, the end of the world should be easy. Who knows, maybe we’ll be the only two left alive.”

That made her laugh. “If you were the last person on earth, maybe.”

“Yet another good reason to live.”

“I’m not going to fight Arasaka.”

“If you really thought that you wouldn’t agree to let me have your body. What do you think I’m going to do with it?”

“Get laid.”

And then, two times where they definitely don't give a fuck about each other, no sir:

“The kind of man who would destroy the tower a second time.”

She exhaled. “Exactly.”

“When this is finished, I hope they shred him.” The conviction in Goro's voice surprised her. As was the idea that perhaps some part of it was on her behalf.

But whatever she felt about Johnny (best not to feel anything about Johnny), she didn’t want him shredded, like he was nothing more than retired hardware. Too dangerous to live even at the disconcerting edge of human existence. Would it be so easy for them to destroy T-Bug and Jackie a second time? And after all the inexorable changes, what did that make her?

“I guess we’ll see,” she said with a smile, for his benefit.

—

<Rise and shine, motherfucker. You are not allowed to abandon me here with your aging joytoy, alright?> He could feel her breathing faster again. <C’mon, V…>

<Johnny?> Her response was slow and syrupy.

The wash of relief that followed would have been embarrassing, if he thought she would remember it. <Mornin’, sunshine. How you feeling?>

[cenizasdenaranjo]

Fanfics en mi celular - parte 2

Joder la parte uno fue enorme, peeeero no llega ni a rozar los de MDZS... pero eso lo dejaré para el final.

STAR WARS

Second Chances by Lorixjake

Capitulo 14

Ben Kenobi dies on board the Death Star. Instead of becoming one with the Force, he meets his old Master and is given the opportunity to go back in time to try and prevent Anakin’s fall. Can he save his best friend or is he doomed to watch it all happen a second time?

HOMESTUCK

Take my Hand, Take my Heart by bloomissing

Capitulo 2

You know that Dave was raised to fight, but to you, everything about him seems to come from a much gentler world than your own. Just like the little world you’ve built together on this meteor.

>Dave: survive three years on this rock by MadSeason (naive_wanderer)

Growing up on a flying meteor is hard work. You know this from experience.

TG: dude what is this piece of shit you just sent me CG: TO PUT IT IN YOUR HUMAN TERMS: CG: IT’S A FUCKING LOVE STORY, DAVE.

Well, it's a bit more than that.

Over My Head by aceAdoxography, Jadells

Karkat accidentally hits Dave with his car and, upon finding out that he's concussed and has some broken bones, guiltily agrees to take care of him until he heals. Soulmate au

Songs Made on the Meteor by apocalypticTaco

Once the train of aimless tree blabber has left the station, you remember why you agreed to meet up in the first place. Leaning forward to sit up properly, you turn to Dave.

“So,” you say, “what did you want to show me?”

“Oh! Yeah, I forgot about that, sorry. The topic just fucking strayed from me like some kind of toddler seeing a candy store and waddling away from mom. Chubby little bastard gets me this time. Here.” He plops out one of those music tables onto his lap, and motions for you to come closer. - (It's music, and along the way they fall in love.)

Short Circuits, Sudden Endings by uncle_edgelord

Capitulo 3

Your name is Dave Strider.

You really wish you could remember everything.

Shadows of Ourselves by devilsalwayscry

Capítulo 3

The Game is over. You've won.

But it was a long, hard, painful victory, and the rewards have a catch, and you're all a little broken. But you'll stick together anyway because that's just what you do. You help each other cope and somehow in the end you'll make it through.

Merits and Faults of Intriguing Alien Biology by Lacertae

Capitulo 3 (omg, cuantos capitulos 3)

Karkat's first experience with human biology leaves him quite interested and a tad bit more obsessed with humans and their weird, creepy bodies than he would like to admit.

As for Dave, he has feelings of his own to consider, and things somehow work out.

Karkat/Dave, written for the kink meme. Plot more 'serious' than the summary makes it seem like.

Paint the Roses Red by EchoResonance

Capitulo 3

*Humanstuck high school AU* You can't love someone else, and you can't expect someone else to love you. Not when you can't love yourself. It takes a special kind of person to make you understand what that means, though, and an even more special person to help you embrace yourself. Sometimes, if you're very, very lucky, this person will find you all on their own, and they will never really know about the spell that they cast on you because you were too busy working your own accidental magic on them.

I spy by Royalrastafariannaynays

Capitulo 18

You're just trying to get home, have a peaceful trip, stay as calm as a troll like you can until you get back to your moirail. All that shit. You didn't expect to make any lasting connections on the train, especially ones that live in your area. You definitely didn't expect to meet anyone quite like Dave Strider. Apparently the universe likes to prove you wrong.

Somehow after that train ride, he fuses himself into your life. Another stubborn fucking barnacle with an uncanny ability to inconvenience you at every possible moment. Even while sleeping. But somehow, despite all the trouble, you still feel like he has the potential to make your life infuriatingly better. And you definitely can't act on it or let him know. Definitely.

Catch my Cold (reflections of a sick troll) by CaffeinatedCopyeditor

A self-indulgent short sequel to Catch my Eye (Reflected in the Cinema Screen) because I am ill and I like hurt/comfort.

Its cute its fluffy its dave looking after his boyfriend what more do you want.

The Calm Is Terrifying When The Storm Is All You've Known by HappiKatt

There were two kinds of trolls who went to Earth: rich shitheads with too much money and free time, and desperate assholes who couldn’t survive on Alternia, even with the best efforts of the young Condesce. Karkat hated the planet almost immediately, but with his home planet too dangerous for mutants, he really didn’t have any choice but to hide out on this weird little diurnal planet. At least he’d be safe. Or so he thought, right before blundering his way into an accidental friendship with the son of an anti-troll terrorist.

Slow burn, shifting perspectives; romance really isn't the focus here but it'll still play a significant part; extra content warnings will be posted with each relevant chapter.

all flowers (in time) bend towards the sun by Miss_Nihilist

"Maybe sex is difficult and no one ever told us."

Karkat shakes his head. "Maybe that's how it worked on your putrid planet, but sex on Alternia has to be easy. Did you miss everything I've said about us literally being fucking culled on the spot if we can't perform for the drones?"

"No, bro, I think you're missing the point. That's reproduction, which is easy. I'm talking about sex." When Karkat only continues to stare blankly, Dave turns red. "You know, um��" He ducks his head and mutters, so quiet that Karkat barely hears him, "Making love. Or whatever."

Oh.

In which Karkat's inability to relax causes difficulties in the bedroom. Dave talks him through it.

Crash Course of Planet Earth by TurkeyCat

Karkat escapes his home planet from being culled with the help of his friends. After sweeps of travel he crash lands on a distant planet named Earth. Lost and confused, a really cool human takes him in and helps him navigate his new life on Earth.

The Eurydice Suite, v2.0 by callmearcturus

Dream-sharing: a highly illegal little industry in which agents delve into people's dreams, and unearth their deepest secrets and memories.

Within this business, the Strider-Lalondes are known as the best there is — until Dirk Strider gets his fool-ass trapped within the confines of his own subconscious, with his Auto-Responder playing malicious prison warden.

To save him, the best and brightest dreamers in the world will have to form a team. Backed by the token rich friend, lead by the surliest extractor ever bribed out of retirement, haunted by the shade of the latest, greatest agent in the biz, and on the run through a dangerous tiered dream in a hostile mind... It's going to take a miracle to pull this one off.

Bring You Down by acedavestrider

“I know this is like, super fucking weird,” he says with a small southern accent, adjusting a bag over his shoulder. “Letting a dude you’ve never met before into your house and all. I swear I’m not like… the fucking Zodiac Killer or anythin’ like that.”

“I don’t really care,” you say honestly, overly tired. “Even if you are a murderer as long as you clean up all the blood you’re good in my book.”

Dave breathes out a small laugh, exhaling once through his nose. “The bar is too low, dude.”

Beyond The Stars by cedarbranch

Karkat Vantas was a mutant. Rejected by the universe for his cherry blood, he searched for a way, any way, to show everyone that he was worth noticing. He thought the invasion would be the perfect opportunity. He would kill some humans, get some glory, and prove himself to be more than a freak. What could go wrong?

Dave Strider was just a teenager. With an abusive brother and not much else, he kept himself moving, leaping from one distraction to the next. He just wanted something to change.

They would both get what they wanted, but in a way neither of them would have ever seen coming.

Directed to Fail by what_hasnt_been_taken_yet

Karkat spent the last five years of his life ignoring his friends to finish writing the greatest romcom film of all time. Now, he needs a director.

Fanfics que no leí en su momento y ya no podré jamás: 1

[cjsinkythoughts]

Windows Down, Music Up

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Word Count: 3730

Warnings: !FATWS Spoilers!, Cursing, Lotsa Fluff, Slight Angst, Talk of PTSD/Flashbacks, No Seatbelts at One Point (WEAR SEATBELTS!)

A/N: The Part I didn’t know I needed. I started writing and this is where it got me. I needed these soft moments after the intensity of the last few parts. I know I said there’d only be one part left, but…I didn’t know this Part would be so long. So three parts for episode 5 it is!

I hope you enjoy this! I know it’s not really a part of the show, but I love the idea and I think both Bucky and the Reader needed it. Plus the show has a lot of leeway this episode because time passes but they kinda skip over traveling and stuff, so I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what it looks like in mine!

Not beta’d, as per usual! All mistakes are mine and please excuse them! Be kind to yourselves and others! Enjoy this part and stay tuned!

FATWS Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

!SPOILERS UNDER CUT!

******************

“So what’s next?” You questioned, your feet hooked onto the bar below the bar you were sitting on so you didn’t fall. Not that you could - Bucky was right next to you, his hand flying to your thigh every time you shifted even a little bit to keep you steady. “Walker’s been arrested, we have the shield, Karli’s in the wind…where does that leave us? Do we have any leads on Karli right now?”

“The GRC is conducting raids to try and find Karli, but so far they’ve only found her followers. They’ve searched this camp, and just like the last camp, nothing. She’s gone. And we’ll never find her.”

You huffed at Sam’s words, rubbing your temples as you grumble, “way to look on the bright side.”

“What bright side? There’s not one here, cher. Not this time.”

“Hey.” Bucky snapped. “Back off, Sam.”

You grabbed his forearm and squeezed reassuringly. “Hey! You got your, uh, you got your sleeve back!” You turned at the familiar voice that caused Bucky to scoff lightly and shake his head.

“Torres!”

The kid smiled at you, waving as Bucky pushed off the bars, helping you down (he’d been refusing to let you do anything on your own since you woke up) and started walking towards the door. “Hi, Y/N. It’s been a while.”

“Are you off to take care of Zemo?” Sam questioned, making Bucky look over his shoulder at the three of you. The former assassin raised an eyebrow at you. You nodded, and he turned around to leave. 

“Alright! Good to know you survived!”

You snickered a bit at the kid. “It’s good to see you.”

Torres turned back to you and grinned. “You too. I really am glad you survived.”

“I know you are, kid.”

Sam looked at you questioningly. “Are you gonna go with him?” You pursed your lips, chewing your cheek, and nodded. “Alright. C’mere.”

You frowned as he lifted his arms, but walked into them anyways. “What’re we doing right now? This isn’t goodbye. We’ve still gotta find Karli.”

“For now.” He responded, setting his chin on your head, careful of your shoulder. “But we don’t have any leads and I’m sure we’ve been benched. So, until we do and we meet again, stay safe. And take care of yourself. And for the love of God, please have that conversation with cyborg, now.”

A small puff of laughter came from you and you nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you later then, Sammy.”

He pressed a kiss to your head, before letting you go. “Later, cher.”

“Bye, Y/N!”

You smiled, waving to Torres. “Bye, kid. Keep out of trouble.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

You chuckled, shaking your head as you walked out the door Bucky disappeared through earlier, turning down the hall to exit the building.

When you got outside, you found Bucky leaning against a wall, narrowed eyes watching the police as they finished the raid. “Do you agree with it?”

“What?”

“These people getting arrested.”

You shrugged, shoving your hands in your pockets. “They harbored a criminal.”

He looked at you with a frown, eyebrows knit together and forehead creased. “We harbored a criminal. We broke him out.”

“Technically he broke himself out.” Your joke fell flat, Bucky’s head dropping. “Buck…” You sighed, eyes following a lady as she was shoved into the back of a car. “No. I don’t. I think these people have been through enough.”

“But?” His eyes grew sad as you met his gaze again, making you smile softly at him.

“But we can’t do anything about it right now. So we need to focus on doing what we can and finding Zemo.”

He nodded, reaching for your hand as he straightened and started walking off. You grabbed his fingers, jogging slightly to fall into sync with his strides. He seemed to notice and slowed down slightly. “We already know where he is, though. Don’t we?”

You hummed, thumb brushing over his knuckles. “Where else would he be?”

“Anywhere.”

You shook your head. “No. He’s there. Question is…how are you going to take care of him?”

“Sam thinks I’m gonna kill him.”

His blunt statement made you raise an eyebrow. “Are you?”

Licking his lips, he looked down at you, eyes set with certainty. “No.”

Your lips pulled up at his answer, leaning closer into him, shoulders brushing. “Good. Not that I’m an advocate for never killing people ever…it’s just,” you chewed on your cheek, thinking about the previous day’s events. “Revenge and justice are two different things.”

“Yeah.” He agreed softly. “We kinda witnessed that.”

“Yeah…we did.”

He let go of your hand to wrap an arm around your shoulders, tenderly avoiding your wrapped wound. “Good thing I contacted Ayo while you were sleeping then, huh?”

“You did?” You looked up at him with a smile as he nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah. And…I’ve been thinking a lot. Since our conversation about Wakanda and Zemo and Sam. You were right.”

A smirk graced your lips, an eyebrow quirking in amusement. “Pardon me? I don’t think I heard you correctly. What was that?”

He rolled his eyes, reaching over with his free hand to shove your head lightly, making you laugh. “You are such a punk sometimes. I’m serious though, doll. I-I’ve been…I dunno…I haven’t been thinking straight. The whole thing with Zemo was wrong and-and Sam didn’t deserve what I was blaming him for.”

You froze in your steps, tugging him to a stop as well, staring at him thoughtfully. Just since that phone call a couple weeks ago he’d grown so much. You could barely believe what he was saying - that he was finally saying it. He was a stubborn ass sometimes, so to hear him say that? It just stunned you. You knew he was a good person, but this…you felt yourself falling more, which you thought was impossible.

“Doll? Why’re you lookin’ at me like that?”

Your arms raised around his neck, tugging him down into a hug, your lips pressing to his cheek. “I’m just proud of you.” You murmured softly, kissing his temple. He ducked his head, leaning against your shoulder, arms wrapping tightly around your waist. You held him like for another minute or two, before kissing his temple again. “We should get going. Gotta get to Sokovia before the Dora do.”

He hummed in agreement, pulling you tighter against him and squeezing you slightly, before letting go. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Question.” You said once you two started walking again.

“Possible answer.” He replied, making you elbow him as he chuckled.

“How’re we gonna get to Sokovia?”

He blinked, tilting his head. “Uh…plane? Unless you wanna have a road trip. The plane would only take a couple hours at most and a car, well…I could have us there in under a day with some broken traffic laws.”

You giggled, shaking your head. “Know what? I could go for a road trip right now.”

“Yeah?” He grinned at you.

“Yeah. And yes, you can drive. Just don’t get us in the middle of a high speed chase.”

He winked, kissing your head. “No promises.”

**********************

Bucky was actually a very good road trip partner. He made sure you had plenty of your snacks and let you control the music, turning up the volume for your favorite songs, shouting the lyrics to the heavens as you danced in your seat, the windows rolled down, wind ripping through the car, ruffling both of your clothes and hair.

You grinned over at Bucky, bobbing your head to the beat as he stared back at you, his eyes soft and sparkling. “Watch the road, dork!” He chuckled as you shoved his face.

“I’d much rather watch you.”

You felt yourself heat up despite the cool breeze moving through the car. “Have you ever stuck your head out the sunroof?” You suddenly asked him.

He gave you a weird look. “What?” Feeling a bit mischievous, you smirked and unbuckled. “Woah, woah! What are you doing?! But your seatbelt back on!”

“Oh calm down!” You stood on the seat after opening the sunroof, the top half of your body outside the car. He laughed as you whooped and hollered.

“Alright, alright. Sit back down, doll.” He tugged you back in, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”

You smiled, putting your seatbelt back on and plopping your feet on the dash. “Like what?”

He turned to look at you, his teeth pulling his bottom lip between them contemplating. “Carefree. Relaxed, even.”

You shrugged, leaning back in your seat. “I don’t get to do it often. But it’s so hard to care right now.” You gestured out to the gorgeous landscape you were moving through, the sunsetting on the horizon. “The wind, the music, the open road. Nothing feels more like freedom.”

“Yeah…yeah. I guess. I’ve never really…been on a road trip. Unless you count going across Germany in that little blue car-”

“Ha! That was not a road trip! That was Steve being a reckless dumbass driver for a few hours.”

He laughed. You’d heard him laugh before, but this was different. Something about the freedom you were talking about made it different. It was nice. And you’d do anything to hear it more often.

“I’ll take you on a real road trip once this is done.” You vowed. “We’ll hit all the states. Even go through Canada to get to Alaska. Nothing but us in a car for weeks. Wherever we wanna go.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

You winked. “You do that.”

Conversation died after that, the only sounds being you and your music with the occasional chuckle from Bucky at your over dramatic dancing. You made a few stops at gas stations, getting food and drinks, before you felt yourself start winding down as the stars came out, winking down at you. You didn’t even realize you drifted off until the car jostled, waking you up.

“Sorry, sleepyhead.” Bucky apologized. “There was a deer. Maybe if you put your seatbelt on you would’ve stayed asleep.”

You rolled your eyes, rubbing at them and blinking. It was still dark out, no hint of the sun peeking out yet. “They’re uncomfortable.” You grumbled, shifting and wincing at your leg which was still asleep. “What time is it?”

“Almost two.” Bucky answered. “Are you okay? Is your shoulder hurting?”

“No. My leg’s just asleep so it feels weird and it’s aching. You want me to drive so you can sleep?”

“Nah, it’s fine. We’ll be there in a few hours. I’ve got it.” 

You hummed, sitting up and digging through your bag for some food. “Hungry?”

“Uh…I’ll just take a bag of pretzels.” Nodding, you grabbed one of the bags and handed it to him. It was quiet, the radio now turned low on some jazzy station you were sure Bucky turned it to once you fell asleep. “I’ve been thinking-”

“Hope you didn’t hurt yourself.” He shot you a bemused look, making you giggle. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“I’ve been thinking of that fight. With Walker.”

You tensed, clearing your throat as you munch on your snack. “Oh?”

Glancing at him out of the corner of your eye, you saw him lick his lips, setting the bag down on the middle console, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. “When you were fighting him…why-why’d you hesitate?”

“What do you mean?”

He glanced over at you quickly, forehead creased. “You had the shield. You were holding your own. I’m sure Steve taught you some stuff…but then…” He trailed off, seemingly trying to find words. “It was like that first fight. On the semi trucks. You hesitated. Got distracted. Why?”

You shrugged, turning back to your food nonchalantly. “I guess I just had a lot on my mind. That’s all.”

“I know you better than that, doll. Please don’t lie to me.” Turning to the window, you just noticed that yours wasn’t down anymore. You look over to his side to see his was only a little cracked open. “I didn’t want you to wake up so I rolled them up. Answer the question.”

Letting out a sigh, you shrugged again. “I’ve been having…flashbacks.”

“Flashbacks?”

You nodded, sipping on your water bottle. “Yeah. Kinda like PTSD, but it’s not. Not really. They’re never traumatic or anything.”

You could see the gears in his head turning, his jaw clenching. “What are they about then?”

“Steve.”

The tension in his shoulders slipped, his head ducking while still keeping his eyes on the road. “Oh…why…why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want anyone to worry about me with all the other problems we’re having-”

“Hey.” Your eyes snapped up from where they fell at his sharp tone, his gaze meeting yours. “Don’t ever think that. Ever. You’re not a fucking burden, Y/N. You’re important to me. I-” He cut himself off, shaking his head and looking back out the front. “Does Sam know at least?”

You pursed your lips. “I-I told Sharon?”

He groaned, head falling back against the seat. “Sweetheart…”

“They’re just memories. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is if it’s affecting you on the field. And if it’s gonna get you or someone else hurt-”

Crossing your arms, you shifted in your seat, feeling the ache in your legs from sleeping in that position too long. “What? You don’t trust me now?”

“No! That’s not what I’m saying!”

“What’re you saying, Buck? You can’t have me watching your back because my mind’s messed up right now?” The car came to a halt and you sat up, looking around worriedly to see if any cars were coming. “James, we’re in the middle of the street-”

“Look at me.” You turned to him, only to look away at the intensity of his eyes. “Doll. Look at me.” He repeated tenderly, grabbing your chin between his fingers, making you face him. “I trust you.” His tone was nothing but genuine, and you’d never seen him look so sincere. “With my life, I trust you. But if your head isn’t in it? It’s okay, you just need to tell someone. When did you start trusting me?”

“At the airport in Germany.” You answered quietly.

He tilted his head. You kinda missed his long hair - the way it used to get in his eyes and you’d have to brush it behind his ear. “Even though I could still get triggered?”

“Well, yeah. But that’s different! You wouldn’t have been in your right…mind if you were…triggered…”

He raised an eyebrow as you frowned. “Trusting you and trusting your mental state are two different things. I’d know. Sometimes our brain’s do stupid things and we can’t stop it. But we can get help.”

You sighed, hanging your head. “Okay. Alright. I got it. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just…tell me about it.”

You nodded, before looking at the road. “Okay, okay. But can you drive? We’re still in the middle of the road.”

He chuckled and nodded, starting up the car again. After a moment, he glanced at you. “So?”

Another sigh left your lips, before you told him. You told him what’s triggered you so far and what the memories were about. How it feels when you slip. “It’s like, I remember something and my mind latches onto it and won’t let me out until I relive it again.” He just nodded, never interrupting as you explained what was going on.

It felt good to finally get it off your chest. And it felt good knowing he wasn’t freaking out and pulling you from the mission like you thought he’d do. It was something you hadn’t done in a long time. The last person who sat down and listened to your problems was Steve and the fact that you felt comfortable enough around Bucky to pour out your soul made you realize that Steve was gone. But Bucky was here. And maybe it was time to let go.

Bucky looked over to you when you stopped talking abruptly, cocking his head to the side. “Sweetheart? You alright?”

You lunged forwards, hugging his shoulders, burying your face in his neck. Fortunately for you, he had great reflexes, or else you’d probably be wrapped around a tree. You couldn’t care about the what ifs though. Sniffing, you closed your eyes, a couple tears leaking down your cheeks and landing on the skin connecting his shoulder to his neck.

“Thank you.”

It was so soft and muffled by his shirt, you weren’t sure if he heard it. But then he set his cheek on your head, his hand coming up to run through your hair like you did to him when he needed comfort. “C’mere, cuddle bug.” He cradled your head, shifting you easily so you could lay down comfortably, your legs curled in your seat, your head in his lap, taking extra care that your shoulder wasn’t agitated. “Try to get more sleep, doll. We’ll be there soon.”

You nodded, sleep taking over you once more with Bucky’s fingers in your hair, soft jazz still floating through the air along with the slight whistle of the wind from the crack in his window.

****************

You leaned against the hood of the car, crossing your arms, watching Bucky pull on a shirt. You had stopped at a rest stop to clean up and change, just a few more miles until you got to the memorial.

“Ayo’s there already.” Bucky spoke, shrugging on his jacket. You pushed off the hood of the car to pull him closer by the sides of his jacket, your fingers moving to button it. “I just…I want a couple minutes alone with him.”

You nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

“You trust me right?”

“More than anything.” You confirmed, looking up at him, smoothing his jacket down with your hands.

He nodded, leaning forwards to kiss your forehead. “I just - I just need you to know…I’m not gonna kill him.”

You nodded back, smiling softly at him. “I know.”

“Okay…let’s get going then. Get this over with.”

It didn’t take you long to reach the memorial, only a few more minutes down the main street and then going off down a side road.

Just as Bucky said, the Dora Milaje were already there, waiting for the two of you to show up. Bucky and Ayo had a conversation in Xhosa - which you were really regretting not learning anything more than “hi”, “please”, “thank you”, and “where’s the bathroom?” - before he turned to you.

“Stay with them. Just...I just need a couple minutes.” You nodded, eyes flickering down to the gun he pulled out from his coat pocket. He hooked a finger under your chin, lifting your gaze back to him. “Trust me.”

“Sometimes our brains do stupid things.”

He shook his head, kissing your forehead. “Not this time. ‘Cause I have help.”

Pursing your lips, you nodded. He gave you a reassuring smile, before stepping away, out of the trees to face Zemo. You couldn’t hear what was being said, but you had to admit that when Bucky lifted the gun, your heart skipped a beat. But he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. He promised.

The quiet click of the gun seemed to echo, a pressure lifting off your chest as the bullets spilled from Bucky’s hand, clattering against the ground.

You figured that was the signal, considering Ayo led her badass women out to grab Zemo right after the bullets hit the ground, so you followed them out. You stopped next to Bucky, his hand slipping out of his pocket to wrap around your shoulders, tugging you to his side, your arms wrapping around his waist.

“I was listening to your heartbeat. You get nervous for a second, doll?”

You hummed in response to his question in your ear. “I trust you…but that doesn’t mean you don’t raise my anxiety levels.”

He snickered, kissing your temple, before straightening to listen to what Ayo had to say as she stepped towards you. She informed you both that Zemo would be going to the Raft and told Bucky to stay away from Wakanda for a while; both very fair statements that you weren’t surprised to hear. What you were surprised to hear was Bucky’s next sentence.

“I may have another favor to ask of you.”

Ayo raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to go on. Bucky caught your eye and his lips twitched up into a small smirk, before he faced her again and started speaking Xhosa, making you groan.

After their conversation, Ayo nodded. “We will drop it off here tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you.”

You pouted as Ayo turned to walk to their ship, Bucky starting to lead you back to the car. “You’re not gonna tell me what that was about, are you?”

“Nope.”

You huffed. “You’re the worst, you know that?”

He chuckled. “You’ll find out.”

“Soon?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

Bucky shrugged, pulling open the passenger side door for you. “On when Sam wants you to see it.”

You narrowed your eyes, a smile spreading on your face. “You got Sammy a present?”

“Maybe.”

You groaned, sliding into the car before he shut the door, watching him jog to his side. “You’re so annoying.” You spoke once he got in and started the vehicle again.

“If you feel that way, you don’t have to come to Louisiana with me to drop it off.”

Scoffing, you gaped at him in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shrugged, turning in his seat and putting his hand on the back of your headrest to back out of the spot he parked in. “If I’m so annoying-”

“You’re so dramatic!”

“I thought I was annoying?”

“You’re both!”

He grinned at you, before looking through the windshield, blinking as something occurred to him. “I dunno where we’re going. We have to come back tomorrow morning-”

“Just drive, Buck.”

He blinked at you, eyebrows raising in slight shock. “What?”

You shrugged, nodding your head to the road. “Drive. Wherever we want, remember? Just until tomorrow. We can go back to reality after we pick up Sammy’s gift, but for now-”

“Just drive?” He guessed, the corners of his lips pulling up.

You smirked, shooting him a wink before propping your feet up on the dash again, turning up the radio, and linking your hands behind your head. “Exactly, Buckaroo.”

[igotanidea]

Gritty - sweetbitter fanfiction (Jake x OC) : chapter 4

masterlist

chapter 1 : Welcome to new York

chapter 2 : If we ever meet again

chapter 3 : Bruises

Chapter 4

Get out of my life

Just because I say that I miss you Doesn’t mean that I should ever see you again Though we have some similar issues But that don’t mean we’re friends Get out of my life, Little Hurt

Travelling in New York is always a challenge. Public transport is a menace and crowded streets doesn’t make it any better for those who choose a car. Therefore, the best and sometimes the fastest way to get to your destination point is simply on foot or by bike. However, you need to remember that the fastest doesn’t equal the safest.

It was my fourth day in Howard’s restaurant and the week was almost over. According to Will surviving those first days without drama was quite the accomplishment. I guess he spoke too soon.

On this particular day, which was unusually warm and sunny for this season of the year, I made a decision of retrieving the bike from the basement and remind myself how to use it, since it’s been a while from my last trip. Of course, safety came first so all dressed up in my bike shorts, helmet and a pair of shin pads I got ready to get to work. Weaving between the pedestrians, cars and every other possible obstacle I did my best not to be late, but it was hard because of all the stubborn lights, that changed way too fast for my journey to went smooth. In conclusion, I had to pick up the pace and completely forgot to focus on the environment and surroundings. The only thing in my mind was making it on time.

“Watch out!” before I could do anything I found myself on the ground with unpleasant and painful pounding coming from my bottom and back.

“Ouch” I muttered desperately trying to look dignified and to massage the hurt part of my body.

“Are you all right?”

“What do you think I am?” I felt humiliated and what made it even worse was that the whole accident happened in front of my workplace and Sasha (of course, who else) was just outside, smoking, so had perfect vision of all that happened “why didn’t you pay attention?”

“Me?” the guy asked “I’m sorry princess, but you were the one to get lost in your mind and cut in. Do you have any idea on how to travel through New York?”

“Listen, you…..” I started taking a step towards him, but then felt something hot dripping from my temple “Oh, shit”. Upon closer inspection it turned out that my helmet, which was supposed to protect me worked the other way round. During the hit it tilted and hurt my head to the point when it started bleeding “you see what you did, you idiot! You just caused me a health issue….”

“Hey, Mystery!” Sasha evidently had enough of this shit show and took the action “That is enough, dear, let’s get you inside and patched up, before you draw blood in retaliation”. He grabbed my hand trying to pull me inside.

“Let go off me Sasha, I am not done with him!”

“You are, honey. Come with me, I don’t want to hear any no coming from you. As for you” he turned to the guy “go before she becomes a beast.”

The biker just shrugged and was quick to follow Sasha’s advice leaving me angry and disappointed.

“You know I was handling this shit” I entered the job place with hands crossed over my chest.

“Mackie? Oh my god, what happened to you?”

Shit. Of course that with my visible injury I was a second before turning into a daily event and a subject of talk between the entire stuff.

“I am fine, Will. Really, it’s nothing”

“You know, you keep saying that all the time, but….”

“Mackie” – Tess looked above Will’s shoulder, squinting her eyes “are you ok?”

“Guys, seriously…..” I whined hiding my face in hands in embarrassment. Being the center of attention, how I love that.

“Everyone just let the girl breathe.“ Sasha waved his hand  trying to make some space “we got a casualty here”.

“Casualty?” Will took a step forward “are you dizzy? Concussed? Look me in the eyes.” He commanded and I had to follow. What I saw in his gaze was pure concern and care and sympathy. I swear, if he wasn’t after Tess I would still him for myself. I had a deficiency of nice guys in my life.

“Sasha is overreacting” I patted his arm reassuringly, almost like he needed it more than I did “I just need a minute and I’m ready for work, I swear”.

“Let’s get you cleared up then” Simone appeared out of nowhere with a first aid kit “Just not here in plain view. We don’t need unnecessary drama”

“Sasha seems to be enjoying it” I muttered

“Are you?” Simone eyed me carefully.

“You know I hate being the first fiddle, Simone”

“Oh, yes, that I do” she laughed wholeheartedly and for a second she was the girl I remembered her from the past. Free of all the drama, understatements and the tension.  “Come with me to the back, I’ll help you”

“I’ll do it” Jake was faster, intercepting the kit from her hands leaving us both surprised. “You coming or what?” he nodded his head urging me to move forward. Why did I have the feeling like this would turn to be the talk of the stuff? “Just act professional.” I thought to myself.

“Mackie.” Will stepped in front of me before I crossed the door “If you don’t want to with him…. “

“Cut the protectiveness Will, ok? I’m a big girl, I can handle myself”

“But if….”

“I know, I know. We’ll talk later ok, I promise. Unless you really do want me to faint?” I smirked and with that he let go of my hand. “Good boy.”

***

“Sit” Jake pulled forward the chair using his foot.

“Charming” I muttered rolling my eyes 

“You know I’m not. Never was.”

“That is not what I remember”

“Then what do you remember?” he crouched in front of me, using hydrogen peroxide to clean m wound and the sudden sting made me hissed “Sorry”

“Don’t mention. I’m not used to this, you know”.

“Yeah, I know” – he lifted right corner of the mouth “I recall you running away every time I tried to dress your cuts when we were ….. “ he didn’t finish the sentence letting the rest hang between us like an axe.

“Right, when we were ….” I hang my head, trying desperately to avoid his gaze.

“Hey” – he lifted my chin with his index finger forcing me to look up “what do you remember from….”

From the time when we were together. That was what he was going for. What do I remember? Both too much and not enough. After our breakup I spend a lot of time trying to wipe off the memories, but funny thing about them is that they are carved inside your brain and just a simple gesture like a smile or touch of hand can bring them all back. Did I want it? Absolutely not. Definitely not. Maybe not….. Or maybe….

“I remember Cape Cod” I said “our favorite spot on the pier, the wind in my hair and how carefree we were at that time. Guess it’s true what they say about time changing people, right?”

“Kestrel, I …. “

“No, shh, don’t. Don’t say anything, please.”

“But I …..”

“Jake.” I warned “I don’t need a trip down the memory lane. And neither do you. It’s gone, all right?”

“Right. If that’s what you want.”

“Work relation, ok?”

“Sure” he shrugged “whatever”

“I’m glad we have that clear. Thank you for your help. Now I have to go back to my duties” I stood up a bit to abruptly and loose my balance nearly falling to the floor. “You are a bad nurse, Jake” I smiled lightly which caused him to snort.

“Get out Mackie, go back to Will. Surely he will keep you busy.” was that jealousy in his voice?

“What do you mean?” I tilted my head not sure what was his intention

“Nothing” he muttered passing through me and getting back to the bar without another glance.

“ You are still an asshole, you know?!” I called after him making sure it was loud enough for him to hear it.

***

The service was crazy. Crazier than usual. Rumor has it that we had a surprise visitor in the person of culinary critic who could either take the restaurant to the next level or put the skids under us. Scott was frantic, yelling at everyone in the kitchen, his mind spinning and his perfectionism getting the best of him. It was nearly impossible to work with him today.

“Service” he yelled at Ari, who clearly was also struggling with something

“Oh, get lost Scott. Why is it always me you are yelling at? Maybe the star of the show should take my place since you think of her so greatly?!”

“Maybe I should!”

“Than do so!”

“Guys! Calm down, stop screaming at each other” Tess tried her best to pacify those two

“I don’t know what is happening here, but the echoes of your conversation can be heard at the front” well, if Howard decided to pay us a visit we surely were in trouble “cut it. Now.”

“Sure, Howard” Ari smiled with the widest grin I have ever seen in my entire life “I will cut it. Provided you tell this asshole to loosen his pants” – with an angry scoff she grabbed the plate and rushed off to the guests.

“What is wrong with her today?” Tess asked Heather who was just passing by.

“I honestly don’t know. And I don’t have time for it now, Tess.”

“Perhaps she forgot to take her pill” Sasha interposed.

“I think I need a minute. I feel a bit overwhelmed with everything.” Tess looked at me, her face pale.

“Go, Tess. Take a break, I can handle this for a while. Take some air, a few deep breaths and be right back.”

“Thanks, Mackie.”

She was quick to take a back door leading outside and I could hear her uneven panting. Poor girl still had so much to learn about dealing with stress and work pressure.

“Mackie. Drop the dishes for a second, and come with me” Howard grabbed my elbow from behind “I want your opinion on something”.

“My opinion? What happened about no special treatment? And what happened to warning while standing behind someone?”

“Behind you” he rolled his eyes not paying much attention to what I was saying “You are like the smartest person here, so we still stick to that rule, but I need you. Come on”

He lead me out of the kitchen towards the front, making me stand by the bar and motioned his head towards our special guest, who was being taken care of by Ari and Heather.

“What do you think of her behavior, Mack?”

“I’m sorry?”

 “You can read most people like an open book, so tell me, does she like it here or not?”

“I….” – honestly I felt like suffocating. I mean, I was capable of reading body language and face movements, observe and draw conclusion, but not with Howard demanding it right on the spot. All of a sudden everything just seemed like too much. All the noises, voices, demands, the pace, the expectations of me. A panic attack was the last thing I needed at this moment. “I….” I gasped desperately trying to draw breath “I think…..”

“Breathe, Mackie. Just breathe” before I realized Jake was behind me, whispering softly and touching my hand “you can do this. In and out.”

“I know.” I exhaled deeply, secretly grateful for his sudden support. Another memory came right to me.

Flashback

“I’m scared. What if I can’t do this?” I was standing in front of the classroom where in a second I was about to start writing an admission test. This was supposed to determine whether I will get a scholarship or not and that single though made it harder to breathe.

“Of course you can do this. You have been preparing for this for like half a year, Mack. Why sudden doubts?” Simone asked in confusion

“Jitters, I suppose”

“Hey, look at me” she firmly grabbed my arms “you can do this, ok? I believe in you. And you should do the same. We will be waiting for you here when you are done with it, all right? Keeping our fingers crossed. If you get scared or nervous just try to think about our intangible and undying support. I’m going to save us places, we are not the only supporters here. Coming Jake?”

“In a second” he didn’t move the slightest, eyes fixed on me, even despite the fact I was looking at the ground.

“Right. A kiss for good luck, isn’t it?” she smiled “good luck , Mackie. Break a leg”.

“Why do I have a feeling like she really want me to break a leg?” I turned around, my back to Jake so he wouldn’t see me shaking a bit.

“That’s bullshit, Mack” – his hands sneaked over my waist from behind pulling me close to his chest. The warmth coming from his body enveloping me and calming me down a little. “And even if so, you still have me” – he whispered into my ear, mouth brushing over my cheek “Breathe, just breathe. It’s gonna be fine….Follow me. Inhale” I took some air into my lungs “and exhale. Good girl.” Oh, shit. He only called me that in some specific situations and this was not calming me anymore. If anything I felt the fire taking over my whole body and my shirt made it even worse as his fingers swiftly moved the hem and  brushed over my bare skin.

“Stop it” I tried to yank myself free of his embrace “that is not helping.”

“I think it does” he smirked not letting go “your energy just went somewhere else.”

“You are an asshole, Jake, you know that?”

“Your asshole.”

“Still. An asshole. I think I will have to take action to prevent such behavior in the future.”

“Well, can’t wait for that” he whispered in a low voice his eyes darkening “and now, just breathe.”

“Thanks for reminding me of that. But what about my kiss?” I pouted

“With people watching? I though you weren’t a fan of PDA?” - he mocked

“Since when do you care about the audience?”

“I don’t.” he spun me around and crashed his lips on mine, literally making me forget about the people, the place where we were, the stress, the test…. Everything. It was just him and me. My body started acting on itself and I wanted him closer and closer and closer. He took a step forward and I was now caged between a wall and his body. This was like the sweetest trap I have even been in and truly, I never wanted to get out. His hands moved a bit lower grabbing my hips and playing with the hem of my shirt, occasionally touching bare skin and making me shiver. And since two could play the game I fiddled with his hair, a little gesture that always turned him on. I could stay like this forever, not that he was intending of letting me go. Unfortunately, one of the teachers finally notices our little “good luck kiss” and broke it without any warning.

“Miss Wilson! What do you think you are doing?”

“Nothing.” the rebel in me didn’t even bother to acknowledge her.

“This is not the time. Or, more importantly, the place!” she exclaimed “now, fix yourself, the test is about to start” she pulled me by the hand “and you, young man, I suggest focus on school instead of distracting our most prominent student.”

Jake just smirked, his eyes sparkling with this too-appealing “bad-boy” attitude. Too bad he had a bad reputation in the neighborhood. I couldn’t hold back a smile but hid it with biting my lower lip and knew well enough the sight made his blood boil.

“Break a leg, Kestrel. We will celebrate later.”

Oh, just let me start and finish the test and I’ll show you the definition of the word.

End of flashback

Inhale and exhale.

“Well?” Howard was growing impatient in anticipation for my answer

“Honestly, it doesn’t take a genius to read through her. If you weren’t so uptight you will see it yourself.”

“Mackie!” Howard scoffed me, now angered “don’t play with me!”

“Fine. She’s got an open posture, you see, her shoulder are back and she’s facing Ari and Heather. No crossed arms or possibly ankles, but I cannot quite see it from the distance.”

“Anything more?”

“Yes, but I think Jake should get back to work and not hover over my shoulder. It’s annoying.” I turned my head to look at him and Howard was quick to follow my gaze. Clearly his tunnel vision made him omit this little detail that one of his bartenders halted the job.

“Why are you here, Jake? Don’t you have guest to serve?”

“I’m learning ” he spat

“Since when are you so eager on getting any knowledge?”

“Since now “ he frowned ready for confrontation. Knowing both my ex and my uncle this could get ugly. The best chance I had was getting Nicky’s attention. Even though I normally don’t do this, a desperate person resort to desperate measures. Using my injury as an excuse, faking another wave of dizziness I quickly reached the other bartender under false pretense of getting a glass of water.

“Nicky, I need a favor” I muttered taking a sip.

“Sure, what’ up kiddo?” of course, the nickname made me grind my teeth, but it was not the time for it.

“See those two?” I motioned toward Jake and Howard “at dagger’s drawn”

“Nothing new. Their relation was always intense, Jake’s not exactly Howard’s favorite.”

“Yeah, do tell” I mocked “Why they don’t like each other?”

“Don’t like? That’s an understatement. I’ll tell you about it if you want.”

“Not now, but later - gladly. Can you just make Jake busy while I occupy Howard?”

“ No problem. Even if I don’t think Howard will take any action in front of the guests.”

“I’d rather hedge my bets. “ I shook my head “Thanks Nicky, I owe you one”

***

“You good?” Jake asked when I came back

“Yeah, yeah, sure, I think Nicky needs you, so off you go” – I pushed him towards the other end of the bar.

“We’ll discuss this later, Jake” Howard fixed his glasses

“Can’t wait” the other man hissed.

I’m working with a bunch of kids of a men.

“So, anything else about our guest, Mackie?”

“Well….” I wanted to point out a couple of traits but once again was interrupted. Did I mention how I hate when someone cut my train of thoughts “Oh, what now?!”

“Howard…..” this time it was Heather, possibly the only reasonable person here, so how could I be angry at her? “She wants a words with you”

“She?”

“The critic”

“That’s all she said?”

“Yes. And I can’t quite tell what this is about. She is a complete mystery. Just like this one here” she smiled at me.

“Well, let’s see if you were right with your predictions, Mack” Howard fixed his tie and walked towards the table.

“You are a future-teller now?” Heather eyed me with indescribable look

“Sorry, what?”

“Howard mentioned something about your predictions, so that made me wonder”

“Are we playing 20 questions now?”

“Why are you like that? Every time someone tries to be nice to you, you turn into sandpaper. Is being suspicious in your nature or something rubbed off on you”

“I’m suspicious by nature” I squinted at her “but you may be a bit right”

“Maybe?” she raised an eyebrow “a bit?”

“Ok, fine. You are right. What are you now, a mind reader?”

“A would-be lawyer.” She smiled lightly

“Really? Then why…?

“Long story, but to cut it short let me just say that living and studying in NY is a challenge so .....”

“I’ll drink to that” I raised my water glass “and about your question I have some experience in psychology so Howard asked me to read our guest body language and tell him what the outcome of the visit may be.”

“And what does it tell you?”

“I’m just hoping for the best. Shouldn’t you go back to the customers?”

“Yeah, maybe. But I’m too curious of what will happen.”

“One way or another we are going to find out from tomorrow’s review, right?”

***

Howard didn’t spoke a word for the rest of the evening. At least not to me. However, I suppose he had quite a discussion with Simone in his office since when all the stuff were leaving I could hear their raised voices. It did not sound like they were arguing but something were going on.

“Are you eavesdropping?!”

“Jesus, Tess! Don’t sneak out on me!”

“Sorry.” She smiled widely

“Well, aren’t you happy. I guess your nervousness is no more?”

“I got some help. From Will. And Jake. They are both … supportive.”

“Jake? Supportive?” I was taken aback for a second but then realized that in some cases it was true “I guess. If he want to.” Did he help her the same way he used to support me in distress?

“He gave me an oyster to try. Have you ever eaten one?”

“Mhm. I did.”

“Those are so, so delicious.”

“I know.”

“And Will? He is always there for me, ready to jump in. He’s such a nice guy.”

“He is.”

“I think I’m gonna ask him for some help with learning the dinnerware… You know, the order of placing and all this stuff…”

“Yeah, right. That’s an awesome idea, Tess.” I muttered my mind elsewhere.

“You are not listening to me, Mackie.”

“What? Of course I am listening. Jake, oysters, Will, dinnerware. All of it.”

“Are you girls talking about me?” Will emerged from the support area, changed into his normal clothes.

“Of course we are. Number one matter here” I rolled my eyes

“Hey, what’s with the attitude, Mack?” Will was slightly confused “I thought we were friends?”

“Sorry. I’m just tired and ….”

“How is your head after the accident?”

“Good.” I answered

“Good” he retorted and for a couple of seconds we just stood there in awkward silence.

“Are you eavesdropping” Ari came right after Will, smiling widely with a smile that did not reach her eyes “anything interesting coming out of boss’ office? Is Simone there with him or is she sneaking out with Jake? Only two places for her, anyway” she smirked

“She actually seems nice. Why are you talking shit about her?” Tess eyed Ari

“Oh, new one, you have no idea about so many things.”

“Like what?”

“I think it’s time to go, Tess. If you still want to learn about the dishes that is”

“Sure. I do. Let’s go”

“See you tomorrow, Ari, Mackie” Will bid his goodbye

“See ya, Will” Ari scoffed “he’s going to go down on her, don’t you think?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care” I turned around in my best intention to leave, but she didn’t let me.

“Oh, come on. You are so… stiff and intense. Relax a bit Miss Perfect. I can help you with that, you know” she reached into her tiny purse and retrieved a single blue pill “Do you wanna?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, why not? You look like you could use a bit of letting loose”

“Unbelievable” I shook my head “I don’t want it”

“Your loss” she put the pellet in her mouth and swallowed it quickly. “So, do you think he’s gonna go down on her or now. Given my experience…..”

“Good night, Ari” I rolled eyes at her and left the kitchen hoping everyone would just leave me be so I could go home and rest by myself. With all my thoughts running.   

“Mackie!” Oh god damn it, who wants what now? “Are you ready for that story now?”

“Nicky …..” I had the strongest urge ever to refuse him and disappear but it turned out to be impossible since he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Fine… just make it quick, all right? Don’t you have kids to get home to?”

“I’ll keep it brief but you need to know what’s happening around you.”

“You know, human contacts were never really my strong trait”

“I’ve noticed” he scoffed handing me a glass of wine “come on, try it, it will make you feel better.” I took a sip and have to give it to him that he was an expert in his profession. “Anyway, this whole conflict started when Jake get the attention of one of the hostesses, Jenna was her name. And let me say that Howard likes younger girls”

Ok, so now Jake’s innuendo from before made sense.

“So that’s it? It was just about the girl?”

“Not just about the girl. Jake finally got what he wanted – he always does and Howard got mad.”

“He turned this personal? Dumbass” I took another sip of wine and Nicky chuckled

“Be careful how you speak of your boss”

“He’s not only my boss, he is….” My eyes widened and my mouth flew open before I could finish. I almost spill the secret. Nicky tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

“Kiddo? What did you got yourself into? Do you have some sort of trouble with Howard?”

“No. No. It’s nothing like that. I promise. Can you please continue, so I can go back home?”

“Like I said, Howard got mad and basically wanted to get rid of Jake for sleeping with the girl, but ….” Nicky hang up waiting for me to ask. However I did not formulate the question “but Simone  talk him out of it”

“How do you know so much about everything?”

“Oh, you little naïve one, you’ll learn soon enough that there are no secrets here. Everything comes to light and being at the front makes it so much easier to gather information”

“I wouldn’t think you to be gossiping type”

“I’m not, but sometimes it’s worth to know about what’s happening backstage”

“I’m not really interested in that. But what happened to the girl?”

“She was moved to another restaurant and Howard hired new one, Becky. You’ll get a chance to meet her tomorrow. She is probably your age so you know…”

“Wait. Let me recap: Howard fired a girl because of some sexual tension?”

“Isn’t that the most controversial one?”

“I’m sorry Nicky but this is just wrong and absolutely jerk-like”

“I’m just letting you know you should be careful. Standing between this two can be detrimental. And I’m 100% sure Simone will not protect you the way she did with Jake. Even if you used to be friends in the past.”

“I don’t need heads up Nicky, I know how to handle myself, but thank you I guess. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, night, kiddo”

My head was pounding, the only though on my mind being my bed. Too much happened today and all the human drama practically drained me. I knew if I drove home by bike I would probably end up under a car so decided to left it at the restaurant and instead call a cab. As I reached for the car and almost got inside someone rushed off the restaurant. No, no! It was so close. I thought the urge to jump behind the bushes so that they would not see me.

“Mackie” Simone smiled “it’s dangerous for a girl to walk the streets at night alone”

“You should know that by now” Jake smirked with a clear reference to what happened last nigh

. Come join us, we’ll walk you home. You live nearby, don’t you.”

“I do” I hissed through gritted teeth “just a couple of streets and I can walk by myself….”

“Nonsense. We can’t risk you getting hurt. Come on” she took my arm so I was now squeezed between her and Jake. He moved away instantly.

Thank god my place was close, because thanks to that I didn’t have to deal with Simone talking and Jake grumping. Unlike the woman, he did not say a single word, hands fixed in the pocket of his jacket, slouching with directly fixed gaze. Almost like I was invisible to him.

Jake’s POV

Of all the diners and restaurants in New York she had to come here? Fuck! I had enough trouble as it was and she was just messing around, destroying my life. When Simone asked her to join us in a walk I almost hissed and told Mackie to go to Hell and get out my life. I didn’t want to see her, hear her or feel her around. Clenching fist inside of my pockets I focused solely on the though how much I needed her gone. And there was one simple way to do that.  

@pinksirensong @meganmayhem89 @anastacia-lynn @wardlow @queenshelby @j@juxtaposeddreamer @dees-newest-obsession @amandarobertsboyce

[rumblelibrary]

I was listening to Dust to Dust by The Civil Wars and it came to my mind that this song would be a great source of inspiration for a headcanon for Modern!Laszlo Kreizler. What do you think?

What me? Crying my eyes out??? How did you know?

The night was happy and light, the chorus of laughter that bursted around him made his lips twitch instinctively into a tensed smile.

A sense of emptiness pervading him, a sense of loss even though in the happiest of times: the case was solved, the disappeared child was back.

The joyous parents kissing those puffy cheeks, Sara sipping her wine and darting engaging looks at John. Laszlo scratched his cheek lightly as he observed them, he didn’t need all those degrees to see what was bare in front of his eyes. His soft scratching was a mix between a show of tension and a reassurance to himself.

After all that running around, fear of finding the corpse of a child, after all that begging and researching and striving.

Then why happiness didn’t hit him? Why there was no relief?

He knew the truth, but the reality of things was that he wasn’t ready to admit it.

“Already going away?” John asked him as he picked up his coat from the chair where he abandoned it.

“Yes, I have an early round of appointments tomorrow”

“We couldn’t have done it without your insight” John insisted. To celebrate in the conference room of the police station just showed how much the happy ending of such a potential tragedy struck everyone.

Laszlo’s eyes darted slowly over the happy family in the corner, the father holding the baby daughter kissing her cheeks as the mother kept a steady hand on her small back, her smile was everything that a sight should be graced of: fullness, undivided love and tenderness.

“I know” Laszlo said only making John huff and chuckle joking that he is humble as always. Laszlo only smiled holding the coat under his arm as he gave him a nod and left.

Only once he was out he realised he came in John’s car, so he resumed to walk his way home, he needed some fresh air.

He never regretted his divorce, he was dragging a dead horse. His ex wife hated the guts of him and he never realised how much he didn’t trust her until the time to get parted came. Until he saw how many times he closed, how many times he felt that she was there to hurt him and, ultimately, she did when the right time came.

He brought it upon himself, that’s what he kept saying.

He tried, but not hard enough, he offered his heart but her pain was so vivid back then that he wondered did he ever gave it all? Or maybe he just believed it, he believed to have done it.

The happy smile of the woman that just had her baby back kept hunting him, the unfiltered happiness they felt caused him a primal form of envy that he refused to acknowledge to himself.

The soft tug on his back woke him from his trail of thoughts. Hand pulling his shirt shooting him back to reality.

A lone man walking home with the damn expensive watch he wore, any other person would have been worried.

And yet, when he turned around and saw you he was the worried one, like you just pointed a gun at him. He opened his mouth lightly but didn’t speak up.

“John told me you left, I hoped to catch up on you”

The way you spoke, the way you smiled, the little huffing in your breath showing you run after him. This is so wrong. He kept telling himself.

He just, he didn’t deserve this, the way you looked at him.

You’re just good at crushing anyone else Laszlo.

The words of his ex engraved onto his mind more than he would ever admit.

“I was just going home”

“Are you close?”

“Yes”

You looked at him with a soft sigh veiled by a smile, like you were dealing with some stubborn child.

“May I walk with you?”

“If you like”

“I do”

He titled his head down looking up at your frame, the way you looked at him teasing something inside him, something that was scratching, a loud white noise in the back of his head that you made audible.

He moved on side as you positioned yourself on his right.

You didn’t speak as you just walked with him, he didn’t talk either.

A shiver run through him, a sense of nervousness pervading him as his street got nearer after every step.

“You should go home, I mean, it is already late, I could call you a taxi”

“Do you really want to get rid of me, don’t you?”

He didn’t answer, because the answer was yes.

He needed to keep you far from him, since he met you your presence was both joy and pain to his eyes.

You sparked a new light, you opened his mind, got his interest. Hearing you talk, watching you move, even the smallest quirks and the little pet peeves of you. Everything was entertaining to him. He felt this need, the need to get under your skin, both mentally and physically. He wondered how it is to blend against your body, to kiss your lips, to taste your tears and your skin. He wondered if you cry while watching sad films, if you have childhood fears, if you talk in your sleep. He wondered if you ever found him attractive, if you’d refrain from his touch, if your kisses begin slow or passionate.

The truth was that he was the one not ready for you, he was the one afraid to let you touch him, to be bare with someone once again.

“I live here” He said noticing the apartments building standing on his left.

You looked up at it and smirked as it was an old building, one of those that survived after hundreds of restyling and it ket this old beginning of 1900 kind of feeling.

“Can I come in?”

“You’re shameless” he said as he indeed was admiring your persistence.

“Also that”

He looked at you for a moment, you didn’t blink away, not even for a second.

Just leave, please, just go away, stay with me, no go, better if you go.

He kept debating inside himself as you waited silently.

“I can’t do this”

You leaned your head on side at his words, you waited for him to explain himself.

“This thing, I mean, I can’t really get anyone in my apartment, alright? It is still a work in progress”

“You have done fooling me around with your excuses Laszlo” you said to him “you can’t take decisions for me and you won’t”

“I am not good at this, I will just hurt you, I am good at the beginnings but I just fail with time, I get sloppy, I won’t be a good choice on the long run”

“Laszlo” you interrupted his rambling as he stared at you. His eyes were begging you, begging you not to force him into this.

“Stop it now” you took a step forward as the space between you two closed abruptly, he felt the warmth radiating from you, the way your eyes shone for him, a sense of being lost and found taking over him, the unreasonable fear of something happening at that ungodly hour, like the building falling, anything, something that will ruin this moment.

“Aren’t you tired?”

You asked it so simply and yet he felt like he was the child that got lost in the night and was now being found again.

He parted his lips, eyes erratically escaping yours as he looked for any word, any excuse, any reason.

“Terribly”

He just said it as your hand gently raised, it was a slow movement like you were about to touch some frightened animal.

His eyes were fixed onto yours as your fingertips traced his cheek and up his temple. Your hand was a little cold against his skin, yet warm into your intentions. He leaned forward slowly pressing his forehead against yours.

“I can’t do this to you”

You smiled as your hand gently moved down his neck giving him a soft caress.

“You have been lonely for too long” you whispered.

He opened his eyes slowly, dark lids blinking into yours as his jaw tightened, a little redness forming as he tried to conceal the emotions running through him.

“Don’t let me hurt you”

“You won’t”

“I will”

“Then I’ll be there” you just said “I’ll be there for you, for us”

He shivered closing the space between the two of you with a sealing kiss, the push that got through him, like his whole body rebelled his mind, made him crush you against the heavy bricks of the entrance.

You could almost sense the immediate regret he felt, but you tugged him in, you pulled him closer as your lips sweetened the kiss from its initial desperation.

There was no pain in what it was about to begin and you wanted him to feel it.

You had no fear, no fear of the empty dark spaces of his mind, of the loneliness of his soul or the searing pain of his past.

You watched him consume himself for too long.

The time of excuses was over, and as your hands cupped his cheeks and whispered softly to him he could almost feel the abrupt silence of his mind after the loud noise of you tearing down his first defence wall fainted into that kiss.

Tagged @cazzyimagines @lieutenantn @handmaiden-of-mischief @thesunflowersutra @zemomybeloved @fictionlandslanddreams@charistory @greeneyedblondie44 @apparrio @hb8301 @whatawildone @rhymerhymerhyme  @thehuiabird @lilith-blackrose @unbeatablecurlgirl @obsidianlaszlo @alindeluce @zemosimp05 @baronesszemo-blackwood @nocapesdahling @everythingbeginsineternity-blog @archangelproperty

[nights-legacy]

Survival on High Emotion-Todoroki

Main Masterlist MHA Masterlist

+The class was given a choice of partners and setting for a training mission. Naturally, Todoroki and you chose to partner together since not only for us dating but they work together well. What you didn’t account for was the disagreement you and he would have the morning of the training mission.

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

“This way.” Todoroki said in front of me. I followed him wordlessly. I had my arms crossed across my stomach. I looked around at the surrounding woods. The path we were on weaved through the trees with no clear purpose. We were on an overnight survival training mission and so far we hadn’t had any problems.

“We need to find a place for shelter and food for the night.” I said. He made a sound of agreement. I listened intently around the area. I heard water in the distance. I grabbed Todoroki’s arm as he went to go another way. “Over there. I hear water.”

“Are you sure?” He asked looking in that direction. I nodded. “Okay.” He pulled his arm away swiftly. He was being short with me. We had a small argument this morning and we both were being reserved.

After a while of finding the right spot, scavenging for food, and firewood, we settled down. Todoroki lite the wood before sitting back against a tree on the other side. I silently sighed, looking into the fire. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling the cold start to creep up with the sunset.

“To bad we can’t see the stars to well.” I said. He didn’t respond. I huffed. I sat down on the ground and leant back against it, leaning my head back. “And now he won’t even talk to me.” I lowly.

“I can hear you.” He said with slight irritation.

“Wasn’t trying to keep it to myself.” I told him outright. I heard a sigh of annoyance. I looked up and saw he had his elbows on his knees and was rubbing his forehead in irritation. I let my head drop back.

“Insufferable.” He whispered. I took in a breath and sat up.

“Oh so your still unhappy? I mean you have me all to yourself now. No one else around to ‘steal’ me away.” I shot at him. His gaze shot up and locked on me.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He said sternly. “What I meant was that he is going to steal you away from me!”

“Tama? Tamaki Amajiki is going to steal me away from you? Really!” I exclaimed.

“You spend so much time with him that it wouldn’t surprise me.” He said running his hand through his bi-colored hair. I gave me an annoyed chuckled.

“Then you do not know Tama very well and you don’t know me very well at all, you idiot. He has been one of my best friends since I was a kid and you know it!” I yelled getting to my feet. “He could never do that to anyone and I definitely would NEVER do that to you.”

“How can you be so sure? He could be playing you, using you for his own…” I scoffed before turning away.

“I can’t believe!! I know you are still working on your social and people skills with trust and everything but I thought you trusted me.” I yelled.

“I do trust you but not him. Can’t you see that?” He exclaimed throwing his hands out. I rolled my eyes before walking away. “Where are you going?”

“Away from you!” I yelled.

“Wait! L/N, come back.” I heard him get to his feet. I shook my head. “L/N, we supposed to be in this toge…Wait not that way!” He yelled, panic suddenly filling his voice. I turn to look back at him in wonder as he yelled again. “Watch out there’s a…”

“Ahh!” The ground under my feet disappeared and I began to fall. I hit against a few hard surfaces until I finally hit a full surface and stopped hard. I yelped when I hit, the breath being knocked out of me. I was suspended in a state of half-consciousness.

“L/N!” I heard a distant yell. “L/N, are you okay? Can you hear me?” I whimpered in response as I heard him above me somewhere. “L/N?... L/N?... Y/N?!” I tried to move but everything hurt. A thud caught my attention. “Shit, Y/N.”

“Todo…” I whimpered. I felt hands gently begin to move me. I screamed out as a pain shot through my side.

“I’m sorry, shh. Shit, Y/N.” He moved me to lay across his lap, holding me close. I gripped his arm that was reaching for my face. I opened my eyes to see a look of panic, fear, and worry in his face. He inspected my body and his hand brushed across my side.

“Ah!” I flinched away when his fingers hit the same spot the pain came from earlier. He pulled his hand up for us to see blood in the moonlight. I could feel the more places start to hurt and throb.

“No, no, no.” He stuttered looking around. “I need to get you back to the fire. This is going to hurt, I am so sorry.” He readjusted me on his lap. I felt cold formulate under us and then we were moving up. He picked me up and ran as smoothly as he could once we reached the surface.

“T-t-t…Shoto.” I whimpered as he laid me down. I pulled at his suit when he went to go somewhere.

“I will be right back, I promise baby.” He assured before moved from my line of sight. I heard his footsteps run away. I whined, reaching down and touching my wound. I flinched before pulling my hand up to see there was quite a bit of blood on it. I felt my head spin. My hand felt very heavy and I let it drop.

“Shoto!” I screamed out in fear. I finally heard footsteps coming back my way.

“I’m here. I’m here.” He said running a hand over my forehead. I felt very cold but I could see the sweat from my forehead on his hand. He turned his attention to my wound. I felt something wet hit my skin and I jumped.

“What?”

“I have to clean the wound.” He clarified. I nodded and turned my head, biting my lip in pain. I felt myself going in and out of consciousness as he fixed up my wound as best as me could. “Y/N? Hey come back to me. Please. Wake up.”

“Shoto?” I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He looked half relieved when my eyes met his. He pushed hair back and held my face.

“I am sorry. So, so sorry.” He whispered. He laid his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes in small content before flinching when I felt a throb in my side. I felt him pull away. I opened my eyes as he moved to my good side. “I should have tried harder to stop you. You fell because of me.”

“Shoto, uh, sorry Todoroki. No it wasn’t. I was just being stubborn. I should have been more careful.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I leant my head on his.

“Maybe but I over reacted. I know Amajiki would never try to take you away from me and I definitely know you wouldn’t do that either. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I just…The other day when you were spending time with Amajiki and Mirio, Kaminari made a comment about how you two are so close and how you two would be cute if you were together.”

“Todo…”

“And it hurt because I could actually see what he was saying. You too are very close and it would make sense if you two were together.” He said solemnly. I reached up and turned his face towards me.

“I think of Tama only as friend or even a brother. Nothing more.” I ran a thumb over his cheek. He nuzzled into my hand before kissing my palm. “If I wanted to be with anyone else, I wouldn’t dare string you along.”

“I know.” He whispered. I shifted and tensed. “Don’t move too much. I didn’t have much to treat your wound and we don’t need it to get worse. I can’t stand seeing hurt as it is.”

“I’m alright, Todo.” I said. “When morning comes we’ll get help.”

“Hm.” He hummed, nosing my hair. “Please call me by my name. I, I…I liked it when you called me Shoto.” He said lowly, almost embarrassed. I chuckled and cuddled into him slowly.

“Alright. As long as you call me by mine.” I felt him nod. I relaxed the best I could against him, falling into an uncomfortable sleep.

I woke up to gentle movement. I opened my eyes and saw Shoto. He was carrying me somewhere. I yawned and snuggled into his chest. He looked down at me and smiled. His hands tightened for a moment.

“Good morning, love.” He said softly.

“Where are you?” I asked trying to move up his chest. He helped and paused when I flinched.

“Almost to the end of our training area.” He said. “The sensei’s should be waiting on us and we can get you help. You started bleeding again slightly.” His voice was laced with concern. I nodded before nuzzling into his neck.

“Todoroki! L/N! There you are. How did things…What happened?!” I heard Mic Sensei yell. I heard multiple footsteps coming towards us.

“She fell into a chasm and was wounded badly. Bad enough I couldn’t move her until morning.” Shoto explained. I looked and saw Present Mic and Aizawa standing before us. Aizawa moved forward and move whatever was over my wound to look at it.

“You took care of it well for what little you had. Take he to Recovery Girl immediately.” He instructed. Shoto acknowledged. “You will be alright, L/N.”

“Thank you Aizawa sensei.” Shoto walked us away to the waiting transportation back to the school. He set me gently in the backseat of the car. He made sure I was comfortable before he went to close the door.

“L/N. Todoroki.” Shoto paused as we both looked at Aizawa. He walked up, hands in his pockets. “I would like to also tell you that you both passed this exercise.”

“But…” I motioned to myself and my wound.

“It was a survival exercise that you chose. You have to work with what you can find and what you have on your person. You have to run with whatever happens including in injuries. You two worked through you that hand you were dealt while also dealing with high emotions on top of it. You did very excellent. Now run along children, don’t need one of my students bleeding out on my watch. Looks bad on me. Now go.”

“Thank you Aizawa-sensei.” I called out chuckling. Shoto closed the door and ran around to the other side. Once he got in, he pulled me into his side to be more comfortable. “Or should I say Dadzawa.”

“Darling.” Shoto chided but was chuckling all the same. I smiled before bringing my knees up carefully, tucking them. Shoto grabbed at the bend of my knee to help and pull me close. “After we get you tended to…can we go get some Soba? I am rather hungry.”

“Shoto!” I laughed. “Of course but only as long as we can go and cuddle afterwards. I would really like to cuddle…in a warm, soft bed…not the cold, hard ground.”

“Of course my darling.” He kissed my head. “Anything you want.”

[moonlit-imagines]

The Doctor Is Out

Stephen Strange x reader

warnings:

a/n: wrote this a while ago and its been sitting in my drafts. part 1/2

prompt:

In (2)

Without opening your eyes, you stretched your stiffened body against the silk sheets and rolled over to face your husband.

“Good morning, dear.” You whispered through a yawn, which led into a smile. Stephen was already awake and reading one of the many books he kept at his bedside.

“And good morning to you, too.” He leaned over and gave you a kiss on the temple, letting your eyes flutter open. “Did you sleep well?”

“I’d say so.” You reluctantly sat up on your side of the bed, pushing the covers away. “Any plans for today?”

“Not in particular.” Stephen decided to get out of bed with you and get ready for the day, although he was in a gray jacket and blue jeans in the blink of an eye. “We don’t have very much to eat, I might go run out for lunch.”

“Lunch?” You asked as you pulled on a pair of pants.

“Yes, well, you seem to have gotten a late start on the day.” Your husband explained. “I didn’t want to wake you, you looked so content with your dreams.” You took Stephen’s wrist to take a look at the time.

“It’s half past eleven?” You stared in shock at your husband’s watch. “You just waited for me?” He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Stephen rarely ever let himself lag behind, it was truly sweet of him to keep you company while you drifted through the peace of your head, thoughts you’d already forgotten. “It seems the odds were in our favor when our paths first crossed, huh?”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it, my dear.” Stephen’s barely shaking hands cupped your face and right before he leaned in for a refreshing kiss to the lips, he whispered, “I’m not as great a man as you make me out to be.”

You hummed into the kiss he gave you and pulled back just a tad. “Oh, you’re right. You’re just the worst.” Sarcasm failed to escape you in moments like these, it was more entertaining than anything else in the eyes of your husband. “Now, I’m starving. Want to go to the deli around the block?”

“That’ll work. We should ask Wong if he’s hungry, too.”

—————

“You don’t have any money?” Stephen asked as the three of you walked through the Sanctum in a fixed line.

“Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual.” Wong’s wise words rung in your mind as you tried to figure out what he did before the two of you had moved in with him.

“I’ll tell the guys at the deli.” Stephen snarked. “Maybe they’ll make you a metaphysical ham on rye.”

“It’s fine, we’ll pay for your lunch.” You interjected after hearing enough of that. Somehow, the trip down the stairs was unsuccessful since your steps from only a few seconds ago were nothing but rubble. You fell to the floor as Stephen and Wong took defensive positions.

“Thanos is coming.” An unfamiliar voice spoke as you lay on the cold floor. Were you able to get up on your own? Probably, but that fall would definitely leave a mark. After a moment’s time of your lonely visit with the floor, your partner rushed over to you.

“Y/N? Are you alright?” He crouched beside you and helped you back up, lightly brushing your cheek as he checked for any injuries.

“I think I’m okay.” You nodded. “Hit my head on the way down.” Peering over his shoulder while he checked your head for any bumps, you saw Dr. Bruce Banner crawl from the rubble. “Do I have a concussion or was it a gamma scientist that just crashed into the Sanctum?”

“Hi, I’m Doctor—” He waved just before you cut him off.

“I know who you are, Doctor Banner.” You replied with a smirk. “I’m Dr. L/N-Strange, specializing in neuroscience, but formerly gamma research.” Stephen smiled himself when he heard you say your name and just a little more when you described your profession. Maybe he was just proud to be near someone so accomplished.

“I don’t think you have a concussion.” A kiss on your forehead was the best medicine he could give, but you knew that it also meant he needed to get to work.

“‘Formerly gamma?’ Why’s that?” Bruce asked, somehow ignoring the big picture here. I mean, you were just happy to get some visitors, I suppose. You’d answer anything.

“For a while, they went hand-in-hand for me. You’d be surprised at what could be accomplished when you put them together...” You explained, Stephen patiently listening beside you.

“But?” Bruce pried a little more.

“But then I heard about your little ‘accident,’ decided to take a break just in case. Refocus my research.” You felt your partner’s hand rest on your shoulder and slide down your arm as you watched Dr. Banner’s guilty expression surface. It wasn’t your intention to offend, you were just obliging to his curiosity.

“As much as I love hearing you talk about your career, darling,” Stephen finally stepped in, “I think we need to talk about the threat to our planet?”

“I was wondering when you’d stop me.” You chuckled. “That’s alright, I’ll just go pick up lunch for you three. Dr. Banner, do you like sandwiches?”

“I...yes? I guess so. Turkey and swiss is...I haven’t had that in a while.” He stammered, leaving you to peer over at your husband and have him give you a near-identical look. Sometimes, the two of you just thought that same exact things, no words needed.

“Will you two stop doing that weird thing where you stare at each other in silence? We have work to do!” Wong interrupted and you decided it was about time to head out.

“Love you, Stephen.” You said with an amused shake of your head, giving him a quick peck in the lips.

“Love you, too. Don’t be too long if you can help it, Dr. Banner seems to have a pretty good idea of dangers to come.” He told you as his cloak gave you a quick pat on the arm. You didn’t know whether to say goodbye to his outerwear, as well.

“I’ll see what I can do.” You winked and pat the red cloak back, heading for the door that your bag was hung beside. Now was the time for a walk to clear your mind, no “Thanos” or whatever the hell that was. Just the music to your ears that was Bleeker Street traffic and insufferable pedestrians. You just kept your eyes front and went on walking, you’d walk straight through crowds if you had to.

A few block’s worth of steps and you’d reached the deli that was so dear to your husband, now it was time to wait in line, a pretty long one, nonetheless. Maybe it was time to shoot Stephen a text.

Just made it to the deli ;) Anything I should be worried about out here?

Tony Stark is here. Outlook not so good.

Did you just magic 8-ball me?

“Dude, are you texting right now?” Tony asked in disbelief of the wizard looking down at his phone. It wasn’t very typical of him to check it in times like these, but you had a specific ringtone. Once he hears that ringtone, he replies. No matter what.

“I always answer my s/o.” He cleared his throat and stashed his phone away.

“At least we have something in common.”

—————

The line at the deli took so long that you got caught in the crossfire of an alien attack. Was it unbelievably amazing? Of course. Was it one of the most terrifying days of your life? You bet.

You could no longer get ahold of your husband and you soon knew why when he flew overhead in an attempt of offense. You’re guessing that these people were looking for the Time Stone.

Desperately hoping for one of your wizard “pals” to come and save you, maybe have you fall through a portal and back into Sanctum, you just hid in an alley. This may be one of the lows in your life, but you’d see worse days soon enough.

And the invasion was over just like that. You, like many other New Yorkers, stepped from the crevices of the streets to witness the damage firsthand.

“Uh, Dr. L/N!” That same voice from earlier spoke, causing you to swivel your head and see Bruce waving you down. Since he was the first person you recognized out here, it’d be best for you to head his way. It was a maze of cars, bricks, and broken glass before you’d made it over to him.

“Where’s Stephen? Or Wong? Tony Stark?” You bombarded him as if he weren’t stressed enough, but scientists always wanted answers. He knew that from experience.

“The aliens have your husband.” A line you never thought you’d have to hear. This better be a sick dream. “Wong said he was going back to the ‘Sanctum’ to protect it, and Tony is also with the aliens.”

“At least my husband has backup.” You sighed with a slight hint of relief, but your stomach was still turning just thinking about what they might do to Stephen. If they wanted that Stone, they’d do whatever they could to get it. Stephen was as smart as he was stubborn, it’d take a lot to get him to hand it over.

“Are you going back home?” He asked as he snagged a phone from the rubble.

“I figure you have a plan, I’m coming with you.” You watched him freeze for a moment with a name on the phone highlighted. “Trying to reassemble the Avengers, huh?”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it’s going to be dangerous.” Way to state the obvious. You didn’t know if you could handle it, but...

“I have to get my husband back, I can’t just wait around.” You wouldn’t back down, but it was a little comforting to have someone backing him up. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to put myself to good use.”

—————

It has been...twenty days since the disappearance of several Earth-based heroes. Among them was Spider-Man, Tony Stark, and your husband. But today was the day you’d know the truth.

Half the population had vanished into thin air. It was hard to tell if anyone had survived the trip to space. You’d been staring out the window all day, just trying to spot the cosmic wonder that was “Captain Marvel.” If anyone could find them, it was her.

Just as you were about to nod off, a bright glare intruded in the sky.

“Guy? Guys! She’s back!” Everyone had been on edge today, so they were ready to dash outside. Your heart was beating out of your chest, this was the moment of truth.

Carol landed a beat-up spaceship onto the open field and out stumbled Tony Stark and what looked to be an alien. You stared at the ship’s door, waiting for one more person. Just one more.

Everyone was staring at you now, waiting for you to realize that your husband wasn’t in there. Once Tony caught sight of you, he pieced together who you were.

“You must be the wizard’s s/o?” He leaned against his fiancée and Captain America, struggling to look you in the eye. “He wanted me to give you a message. Uh...sorry, I’m going blank, rough ride.” He rubbed his forehead as you stood there in tears. “‘This will make sense later.’ Oh, and he loves you.”

“I...” Everyone was still looking at you with pity in their eyes. Yes, they all lost people, but you were still clinging onto hope. All of your optimism had been destroyed in these past few moments, you didn’t even know how you were supposed to take this. “I need a minute. I’m sorry.” You stormed off into the guest bedroom of Avengers HQ, leaving everyone around you worried. You didn’t know them long, but it was easy to bond through a trauma like this.

“Y/N?” Bruce knocked on the door. “Got a minute?”

“Sure.” You reluctantly answered and Bruce let himself in.

“I brought you carrots.” He offered the bowl. “It was all we had in the fridge, sorry.”

“We have to find Thanos.” You grumbled though tears. “I won’t give up until we fix what he did.” Bruce stayed silent out of fear, he knew what could happen to someone in mourning. People can get...crazy.

“We’ll do the best we can. We’re working on it.” Bruce explained as he set the food down on your end table.

“Take me with you. I have to be there this time.” You were in no way qualified to face an intergalactic being capable of that much destruction.

“Y/N, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” He shyly countered you, using this calm tone was an exercise he learned during “anger management,” maybe it could help.

“I wasn’t asking.”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedficrecs // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisqueer // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @thisetaernallove // @ofthedewthesunlight // @canarypoint // @zoeyserpentluck // @randomawesomeperson102 // @spideyandtheboys // @ghost-bich // @wonderful-writer // @of-a-chaotic-mind // @groovyfluxie // @procrastinatingsapphictrash // @lxncelot // @swanimagines // @randomfandomimagine // @blizzardbabe // @agentshortstacc // @rosadiaz-sarayvargas-harleyquinn //

[kurowrites]

“I hit you with my car and was the only one to visit you in the hospital” AU Prompt for Wangxian, if you like?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

---

When Wei Ying woke up, he had to blink a few times to adjust his vision to the bright glare of the lights overhead, momentarily blinding him. Something was weird. This definitely wasn’t his own bedroom, whose lighting was rather dim and most definitely off when he was sleeping.

He blinked a few times more and then turned his head to examine the room he was in.

It took him far too long to understand what he was seeing, but once his brain actually started processing it, there was no doubt. He was in a hospital room, complete with barren walls and the strong smell of disinfectant. But he had no memory that could explain why he would be waking up in a hospital bed. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had no idea what he’d been doing before he’d woken up here, or even what day of the week it was.

Impatient to have his questions answered, he tried to wriggle around and slip out of bed, but his body felt oppressively heavy, and his vision started to swim as soon as he lifted his head off the pillow.

Exhausted and distressed, he fell back into bed. What the hell had happened to him? Why was he feeling so terrible?

Just that moment, the door of the hospital room opened, and a nurse stepped in.

“Oh, you are awake,” she said. “Good.”

She moved up to the bed and started to check his vitals – or harass him, Wei Ying couldn’t really tell which one it was. She was probably around fifty and had a distinct aunt-y vibe that made Wei Ying lay still on danger of getting stabbed with a needle.

“Do you know why you’re here?” she asked, after she had apparently determined that he was conscious and held it together enough for conversation.

“No,” Wei Ying croaked, and immediately started coughing. His throat felt terribly dry.

The nurse went to his bedside table, where a cup and a pitcher of water had been placed, and filled the cup for him. Then she made him drink.

“You’ve been in a traffic accident,” she told him without ceremony. “You got hit by a car and had to be brought here in an ambulance.”

Shit. Could that be true?

He didn’t remember any of that.

“I don’t remember,” he told the nurse.

“Honey, it’s probably better if you don’t,” she said, patting him on the arm absent-mindedly. “That’s your brain protecting you. You’re also on painkillers right now,” here, she pointed at one of the drips that went into his arm, “and they tend to make your brain a little foggy. You only need to focus on getting better right now.”

That wasn’t particularly comforting to Wei Ying. He’d been lying here, doing–

“My work!” he suddenly remembered.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that!” the nurse said, shaking her head. “I think that nice Mr. Lan has taken care of all that.”

She checked her watch.

“It’s almost time for him to visit, too. Such a nice young man, if only youngsters nowadays were a little more like him.”

She sighed, patted Wei Ying’s arm again, and then left, hopefully to tell someone else that he had gained consciousness again.

Wei Ying sighed and stared at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure what the nurse had meant with “that nice Mr. Lan,” because he didn’t know anyone with the last name Lan. Certainly no one who would visit him at the hospital. Had she gotten his visitor’s name wrong? He tried to think of a different possibility, but couldn’t think of anyone. Wen Ning was away. And Jiang Cheng still wasn’t speaking to him, not to mention that no one in their right mind would ever call Jiang Cheng a ‘nice young man’ if they had spent more than 30 seconds in his presence.

He wasn’t kept in suspense about the identity of his visitor for very long, though. Only minutes after the nurse had left, the door opened again, and through came a man that Wei Ying had never seen in his life. He would have definitely remembered meeting him, Wei Ying was sure, because the man was a devastating combination of tall, handsome and well-dressed. Very memorable. Even in his current drugged-up state.

The man hesitated for one small moment when he saw Wei Ying looking at him, but then continued his progress through the room with a measured pace, finally arriving at Wei Ying’s bedside. He did not speak, but silently placed several items onto Wei Ying’s bedside table. Wei Ying saw a book, what looked to be some healthy snacks, as well as… his phone? It looked terribly beaten up, but a traffic accident might do that to a phone. He should probably be glad if it still worked.

The stranger must have noticed the direction of his gaze, for he finally opened his mouth.

“I have taken the liberty of contacting you place of work.”

“Thank you,” Wei Ying said, sending the stranger an ironic smile. “What I’d rather like to know, though… who are you?”

The stranger bowed slightly, as if to apologise for his rudeness.

“Lan Zhan,” he said. “I was the one… who hit you with my car.”

“Oh, I see,” Wei Ying said, several things suddenly becoming clear to him. “This is a ‘I’m feeling guilty’ visit. Don’t worry about that. It’s fine. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

The stranger, Lan Zan, frowned at Wei Ying’s words.

“It is not guilt that has made me come here,” he said.

Then he was silent again. Wei Ying waited for a moment, but when nothing else happened, he raised his eyebrows at Lan Zhan, encouraging him to go on. Lan Zhan looked as if he’d rather do anything else than open his mouth again, but eventually, thanks to Wei Ying’s pathetic wheedling, he conceded.

“The one responsible for your accident was the driver who suddenly came out of a side street and nearly ran you over,” Lan Zhan explained. “You ended up in front of my car because you were trying to escape his path of collision. He also crashed into my car, nearly hitting you a second time. I have no guilt to speak of, but I am grateful that you survived. I was worried, however, when your family could not be contacted.”

“Oh, uh, well,” Wei Ying stuttered. “Honestly, that shouldn’t be any concern to you. I’ll be fine. My family… well, it doesn’t matter.”

“Your family should care for you if you are injured.”

There was a stubborn set around Lan Zhan’s mouth, and Wei Ying suddenly found himself smiling. He wasn’t sure if he should call it fortune or misfortune, but this Lan Zhan was clearly an incredibly stiff man with very strict notions of propriety, to the point where he involved himself into the affairs of others.

“Ah, Lan-gege,” Wei Ying sighed. “Not to say I’m not very grateful for your help, which I am, but let me assure you that you have officially fulfilled your obligations and are free to leave. You have already done more than I can ask for. If it is as you say, I have no ill feelings towards you. Feel free to go on with your life, and sorry about the car. I think I need to sleep again, I feel very tired.”

He was, in fact, feeling very tired, and it was getting harder to keep his eyes open by the minute.

Lan Zhan seemed to realise that that was the case. He said his goodbyes, but before he left the room, he announced, “I will come again.”

Wei Ying wanted to object, but Lan Zhan was already gone, and Wei Ying’s eyes were closing.

---

The next few days passed in the monotony of sleeping, check-ups by doctors and nurses, terrible hospital meals, and occasional visits from Lan Zhan.

As handsome as he might have been, at first Wei Ying really didn’t want Lan Zhan to come back again. He quickly learned to be grateful for his frequent visits, however. Staying in the hospital was extremely boring, even with the books that Lan Zhan brought him, and everything was much better once he trained Lan Zhan to bring him spicy snacks.

After a few excessively boring days in bed (more than he cared for, certainly), he was finally allowed to walk around a little in order to regain his strength, and Lan Zhan would take him outside into the garden whenever he visited. Wei Ying was extremely grateful for that, since the nurses didn’t allow him to go alone.

Wei Ying quickly learned on their little excursions that Lan Zhan rarely spoke, but was an extremely attentive listener who would prove said attention in the most unexpected moments. It was almost shocking sometimes; Wei Ying would ramble on about something, and Lan Zhan would suddenly say one thing or another that made clear he had been paying attention when most people would have tuned out already. It was… flattering, to say the least. To have someone pay attention to him so much. Definitely something Wei Ying could get used to.

Lan Zhan was also very attentive to Wei Ying’s physical state. More than once, when Wei Ying felt his own strength lagging, he suddenly found Lan Zhan’s hand at his elbow, steadily and unobtrusively making sure that he didn’t fall over his own clumsy feet. Lan Zhan seemed to know that he needed support almost before Wei Ying himself realised it.

Normally, he would complain about being thought a weakling, but if Wei Ying were honest, he would admit that sometimes, he really needed the support. And well… he couldn’t really bring himself to mind being spoiled by a handsome man. If he were really honest, he would confess that he simply liked Lan Zhan’s hands on him, and any excuse that provided him with an opportunity was good enough, even if he had to play up his weakness.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said when they were on one of their garden excursions one day, eating little cups of mango panna cotta that Lan Zhan had brought with him today on a bench. “I will be released tomorrow. You don’t have to visit me here any longer after today.”

“Hn,” Lan Zhan agreed. “What time?”

“Around ten, I think? Why do you ask?”

“I will pick you up.”

Wei Ying sighed deeply and swallowed the last spoonful of dessert.

“Lan Zhan, ah, Lan Zhan. I can ask a friend to pick me up. You shouldn’t do so many things for me. If you are too nice, people will end up misunderstanding. Well, I will end up misunderstanding. You wouldn’t want that to happen, now would you?”

He directed his best salacious grin at Lan Zhan.

“Nn,” Lan Zhan replied noncommittally. “I will pick you up.”

Wei Ying stared at Lan Zhan for a moment. Could it be that Lan Zhan was that thick? That he didn’t realise what Wei Ying was getting at? Did he have to spell it out for Lan Zhan? That he meant misunderstanding in the sense of kissing and possibly getting naked with each other?

“Lan Zhan, I’m serious,” Wei Ying complained, tugging at Lan Zhan’s sleeve to make him look at him properly. “I will misunderstand.”

Lan Zhan looked at him, and it struck Wei Ying again how beautiful Lan Zhan’s eyes were. He had thought that Lan Zhan was pretty much expressionless when they first got to know each other, but that had been patently untrue. His perpetually serious eyes were the source of so much deeply felt emotion. Everything Lan Zhan felt, he felt with his entire heart. So when Lan Zhan looked at him, Wei Ying automatically felt his pulse speed up and his cheeks start to grow hot. That was the effect Lan Zhan had on anyone he really directed his attention towards.

“I will pick you up,” Lan Zhan repeated once again. Stubbornly, insistently. Mulishly.

Without breaking their line of sight even once. Just serious. And steady.

“Oh,” Wei Ying whispered.

Oh. Lan Zhan didn’t want him to misunderstand. Lan Zhan wanted him to understand.

Wei Ying shot up from the bench they had been sitting on and walked over to the trash can close by, to throw away his empty cup of panna cotta. Lan Zhan followed him, throwing his own cup into the trash. As he did it, he looked about as disquieted as Lan Zhan ever did, but right now, Wei Ying was unable to handle anything.

Could he be right? Did Lan Zhan – that Lan Zhan –

As he stood there, he slightly tilted to the side – and there he was, Lan Zhan was right at his side, steadying him. But right now, Wei Ying didn’t want to be steadied. He leaned further into Lan Zhan’s side, putting most of his weight on Lan Zhan right until his head a found a home in the crook of Lan Zhan’s neck.

“Ah, Lan Zhan,” he sighed. “Taking advantage of the weak and injured, I see. Do you always flirt like that? Picking people up at the hospital?”

He looked up at Lan Zhan and smiled.

Lan Zhan didn’t answer, but one of his arms most definitely found its way around Wei Ying’s waist, holding him securely to Lan Zhan’s side. It was… intimate.

It was answer enough.

“This is the part where you’re supposed to say ‘No, Wei Ying is the only one for me,’” Wei Ying pouted.

“Wei Ying is the only one for me,” Lan Zhan intoned seriously.

Wei Ying had to bury his face in his hands and scream a little.

“You can’t say things like that out of the blue!” he complained. “My poor, beaten body won’t be able to take it!”

Then he peeked out between the gaps between his fingers, up at Lan Zhan.

“Say it again.”

 (When Lan Zhan picked him up the next day, he received a kiss for his efforts.)

(One kiss, or many.)

(Who was going to count.)

[alreadyblondenow]

Melt with you | Lee Taeyong

✦ Lee Taeyong x reader ✦ Fluff, Smut, Smut, Smut, Angst, Jack Frost AU ✦ 2/5 for HOLIDAY SERIES: Once Upon A December

Summary: After being the guardian of winter, Taeyong finds himself falling in love with you while he takes care of your daughter secretly. “I’ll see you in your next life,” he says, and so he did. He waited for your next life and make you fall in love with him, until Taeyong can’t cheat on fate anymore and decided to give you to your real soulmate.

Word count: 8,550k

Warnings: A lot of smut, unprotected sex and protected sex, mentions of sex, mentions of oral sex, and oral sex (female receiving), swearing, mentions of other idols, fingering, accidental period sex, trying to have a baby but can’t, virginity loss, virgin taeyong, experienced reader, poor taeyog (no money), mentions of dying, almost dying Taeyong, pregnancy test and getting a negative result always, mentions of rough sex, mature themes, established relationship, divorce.

A/N: PURE FICTION. Inspired by the movie Jack Frost, Rise of the Guardians, Marriage Story, 500 days of summer.... Personally I wanted this to be my own version of Jack Frost and focused a lot with Taeyong and so much about the reader sorry :( but I think I did a pretty bad job about that. Jaehyun is a cupid here, and Doyoung is the easter bunny. Dont forget that hehehe. hope you enjoy.

The snow was pretty thick today and according to the news, there will be a snowstorm that will hit the town by late afternoon. Running like the wind and flying fast, the spirit of winter that makes the town cold and ready for the Holiday season came out to enjoy the said storm. As the spirit of winter, Taeyong did not just go out today so he could have a great time, but he has to make sure that the town will be safe once the storm arrives.

“Can we go out and skate? I promise I’ll be back before the storm arrives” your nine year old daughter whines to you and your husband, Taeil. You look at Taeil while he chews his pancakes, and shook his head. “No. It’s too dangerous” he says.

“But-“

“No buts, baby. You can play indoors and you can skate all you want after the storm” he reasons out. She pouts and crossed her arms, giving her father a look, and did not finish her breakfast. Even though Taeil said no, his daughter is so stubborn that she sneaked out to meet her friend from behind their house to go skating.

The storm is fast approaching and the wind is getting stronger and it is slowly becoming a blizzard. When the little girl soon realizes that she made the wrong decision because she sees that it’s obviously dangerous, it was too late because they seem to have lost their way back home. “I can’t see a thing! Don’t let go of my hand!” she shouts at her friend, squeezing her hand so tight so she won’t lose her. The wind was so strong that they can’t move their bodies, not to mention it was so cold and it’s getting really hard to try and move.

“Didn’t your parents told you not to go out! There’s a storm coming- here give me your hand” Taeyong came out of nowhere and helped the girls through the storm and guide their way back home like the guardian that he is. He made sure that the girls will go home safely so he turned into his human form and brought them home safely. Your daughter hugged you so tight and quickly apologized for being stubborn and promised she won’t do it again.

While Taeyong on the other hand, watches you and your daughter reunite, he felt the world slow down and feel every snowflake fall oh so slowly when he saw your face. You’re so beautiful he thought. It took one look for him to completely fall in love with you, his heart melts at how you hold your daughter with such care and full of love. Being a mother suits you. But then he saw your husband Taeil coming towards you and your daughter to hug her tightly. Of course, you’re married already, Taeyong murmurs. “Thank you for saving our daughter and her friend” Taeil thanks Taeyong sincerely for what he has done.

“Don’t mention it. I’ll get going” Taeyong smiled and looked at your beauty one last time before he leaves, I’ll see you in your next life.

From there on, Taeyong became your daughter’s secret guardian until the winter season is finally over just so he can see you. But whenever you’re with your husband, he stops himself to respect your marriage and remind himself that it’s not yet his time to love you. He figured his time will come and he will have the chance to grow old with you too, all he has to do is wait so there's no need to get jealous. It was a long wait for Taeyong, but he endured it while fulfilling his duty as the spirit of winter.

Every winter season, Taeyong comes back to your house and see how you’ve been while he was gone. Too bad he can’t be with you every second because he couldn't come over during the summer. But every winter, the spirit followed you like a shadow and admire your beauty with every chance he got.

After years and years of waiting, Taeyong’s suffering is finally over now that you’re gone and ready to be born again. Although he has to wait for a couple of years before he can approach you, introduce himself and make you fall in love with him, Taeyong was really excited and happy.

The spirit of winter waited for you during the spring, summer, fall, and winter for years and years. Watching you grow up, watching you go to school until you finish college, even watch you have your first heartbreak. Love is patient and Taeyong can and will stretch his patience for you until the right time comes.

“So she’s the one? Is this really worth it?” Jaehyun the cupid whines. Some of the guardians are with him and here to watch him leave and pursue love. They were all against it because Taeyong could lose his powers and die eventually, but he will not change his mind now.

“Being a human is hard, you know that right?” the easter bunny reminds his best friend, trying so hard to stop him.

“In five minutes, her car will break down in that street” Taeyong breathes in deeply, feeling excited but somehow sad because his friends aren’t supporting him and have been trying to change his mind until the last minute. “I’ve been taking care of kids that I don’t know, I’ve been doing my duty… now let me take care of her”

Soon his friends gave up and gave him a tight hug before he transforms and become a human. They will miss him of course, not to mention they don’t know how long will Taeyong be away. Just as he predicted, your car broke down on the side of the street and he has never been so excited. As we walk towards where your car broke down, his hair is slowly turning brown from silver white, the halo in his eyes is gone, and now that he’s human he can feel cold now.

“Here goes nothing” he murmurs and walked under the snowstorm, cold and freezing. He walked past your car, which got stranded in the middle of the road because of the storm, you see him and bought his acting and did not have second thoughts to call him out.

“Hey!” you got out of the car, struggling to go call him but Taeyong heard you well. He slowly turned towards you and walked weakly, Doyoung is right being a human is hard. “You must be freezing. Come inside my car we can wait for this storm to pass, please” you begged. Of course, he accepted your offer and went back inside your car with you. The moment you two were settled inside safely, he felt bad for making you come after him under the storm but he didn’t have a choice.

He wanted to look at your face like how he normally does but now is different because you can see him already. “I’m Taeyong. Thank you for helping me” he started, putting his hands towards the heater. It was a sweet moment for him and you have no idea. You have no idea how long he has waited for this moment to happen, you have no idea how many times he imagined this scenario in his head.  

“I’m Y/n. Why are you walking under this storm? Did your car broke down and you went out to get some help?”

Taeyong was once again turned into stone because he can’t believe that you can talk to him now, he shook his head and answered your question. “Y-yes. My car broke down and my heater stopped working” lies. Taeyong stopped talking so he could stop lying to you. He admired your face while you enjoy the limited heat, you looked much younger than the first time he met you but you’re still beautiful. Even more beautiful actually.

Your cursing brought him back to reality again and started getting worried because you’re frowning. “Oh- shit, this isn’t happening” you whine and looked at him, “gosh I’m sorry. The heater stopped, it must be because of my car’s battery. Shit we are going to freeze here,” you said your sorry so many times to the guy sitting beside you because you’re the one who offered helped but now that your heater stopped working you feel ashamed for dragging him.

“No no. Don’t be” you watch him remove his jack and let him wrapped it around you. “There, I’m returning the favor. Were even now. Seriously, I’m fine and I’m thankful for you” His smile warms your heart and suddenly your worries banished the moment he said he’s thankful to you.

Hours have already passed and Taeyong wanted to go out and look for help now because you’re freezing and soon you’ll be sick. He has an idea but he’s scared you won’t like it and you’ll think of him as a pervert, but he nicely explained his plan and cleared his intentions so he won’t scare you. “If we don’t share body heat… you can end up getting sick and that’s the last thing we want right now. We can… c-cuddle until help finds us” he was getting shy too but you think that he’s sweet for thinking about your health even though you just met a few hours ago.

You accepted his offer and soon you and Taeyong cuddle at the back of your car, sharing body heat to survive this cold. Even though Taeyong is the spirit of winter, he can be warm whenever he’s in his human form. “You know that sharing body heat is effective when two parties are naked, right?” you tease him and make him blush. He smiled handsomely and let out an awkward laugh. “Tell me something about yourself,” you asked and try to turn this awkward moment around.

“I don’t know. There’s nothing much about me and nothing interested, how about you?” his voice was enough to make you melt while you hug him and enjoy his warmth. You like how he didn’t try to impress you but instead, he gave you an honest answer about himself.

“Well, since you’re honest, I’ll be honest too. I’m on my way to meet a guy, I have a date tonight but…” you breathe in and out before you continue and contemplate whether it’s right to say this to him or not.

“But?” he tightens his embrace to you as he waits for you to continue your sentence.

“But I’m glad I got stranded and met you”

You feel his heart beat so fast because your bodies are incredibly close, you watch him blush and smile so big making your body warm again. After a few more hours of talking, help finally came and brought you to a safe place where it’s warm. Taeyong did not foresee this, he felt like he’s losing you already and he didn’t know what to do. Clearly, he didn’t plan everything out smoothly before he chose to be human for you, he’s not sure when he’s going to meet you again. He remembers his suffering from your first life and he didn’t want to let you go now and meet Taeil before he could even have his chance.

“Listen” he calls you before you get inside the cab and go home, “I’m poor. I have nothing to offer, I don’t have a car and I purposely walked past your car to grab your attention. But, see me again. Give me a few months to earn some money so I can buy you a decent dinner. I promise I will never lie to you again”

His eyes tell you everything. Obviously, he’s sincere with his words and he spoke nothing but the truth because there were no other broken cars found other than yours. It was Taeyong’s honesty that moved you and made you say yes to the dinner date that he offered. Before you two go on separate ways, you gave him a piece of paper that has your number in it and you can only hope that he will not lose it so you can meet soon.

Taeyong was more than happy for accepting his honesty in exchange for your trust. He doesn’t have any clue to what he’s doing but he’s sure about one thing, if he’s going to make you fall in love with him he wanted to do it right and will all honesty. That’s what you deserve. It might take him a while to find a job, and earn some money but everything will be worth it in time. With that motivation, Taeyong looked for a job that he likes, earn enough money to buy a small place for him to stay, and save up for the date that he promised you.

After a few months, you received a call from an anonymous number and did not hesitate to answer because it could be Taeyong. When you finally heard his voice again, you smiled so big because not only that this man is honest but he knew how to keep his promise.

“I’m still not rich but I have enough money to make us dinner. Uhm… If you still want to have dinner with me, I’ll text you the address and we can have dinner tonight” he bit his lower lip, hoping that his offer is enough to allow him to see you again.

“I don’t need a rich man Taeyong. Send me the address then, I’ll see you tonight” The fact that he will make dinner for the two of you is enough reason for you to say yes.

When the time for the most awaited dinner date has arrived, you two had a great time in his small apartment with a dinner table full of good and delicious food that he made. The date went well, he talked all night telling you how he’s holding up with his new life, he told you he loved working on the daycare that accepted him because he loves taking care of the children and every story that comes out from his mouth is too good to be true but you believe every word he says because you know that he’s honest. Taeyong felt happy seeing you smile because of him and not another man. The waiting he did for you is worth it even though being an independent human is not easy, as always, he’s ready to endure everything for you.

“How about you? What’s your work?” he asks after he overshared his experience from the daycare.

“I work for my parents. At their company” you looked sad the moment you mentioned it and he wondered why. “Let’s just say that, because I’m their daughter they expect too much from me. But I end up disappointing them- I was having a bad day Taeyong, but you called and now everything is fine” you gave him a small smile and continue eating. Knowing that he can make you happy even with the smallest things makes him really happy. It looks like he started on the right foot and hope that this can continue.  

“Will I see you again?” he asks before you get a cab.

“Let’s see each other every day, do you like that?” you bit your lower lip and hope that your flirting will work. It was a bold move but Taeyong is a kind man that made your beat. Little did you know that what you just said made Taeyong really happy that he could cry in front of you but he would rather not. He kissed you on your forehead to answer your question, smiled so sweetly at you, and told you, “Text me the address of your work, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Get home safe, okay?”

After a few dinner dates, and countless phone calls, and texting, you and Taeyong made everything official between the two of you and sealed it with a kiss under the first snow in the middle of an empty street. But that’s only the start of your relationship. As you continue to see each other day by day or every other day, Taeyong is becoming like the nice warm feeling when the morning sun hits your skin the moment you step out of the house. This happens all the time when he picks you up at work and meets you outside the building and there he is, standing and waiting for you. Not a single word from him but he already, turned your day around.

“Had a rough day?” he asks, swinging his arms around you keeping you close as you two walk with the sea of people.

“Yeah. I did a lot today” you let out a sigh to further express your exhaustion.

“Don’t worry. I’m here now” one smile from him and everything is okay.

Taeyong is not perfect. But you don’t need someone perfect, you need someone who tries. You don’t know where he came from and he may seem ignorant sometimes but he’s not afraid to ask you about something like that one time he wanted to go to the movies with you but he doesn’t know how so he asked you and ruined the surprise. And whenever you ask him about his family background he simply says the truth.

“I don’t have any or maybe I don’t remember much but I do have friends, you can meet them someday. I’m sorry I lack about a lot of things,” you saw the worry in his eyes and disappointment in himself.

“No baby, it’s fine. I just asked. No need to worry about it” from there on you never asked anything about him so he won’t overthink, what you see is what you get and you let yourself accept what he can only give to you.

It’s been almost half a year since you and Taeyong started dating. He may be very different from the guys you dated before him, but it’s okay because that makes him more special. Almost a year together and you and Taeyong haven’t moved your relationship to the next level and by the next level you meant he hasn’t touched you yet, haven’t shared a lustful kiss, and haven’t had sex. It’s like high school all over again.

“Did you know that you’re my first kiss?” he whispered beside your ear. It’s a weekend so you’re staying over in his cozy apartment, enjoying his cold body against you as you sit comfortably in between his legs on his very small couch.

“I’m your first love, Tae that’s given already” you giggle and intertwine your fingers with his. “If I’m your first kiss then you must be a virgin,” you added.

“I am” he giggles and tightens his embrace, “any plans about that?”

“Woah there. Is that an invitation?” you turned your head to meet his eyes and he gave you a wink. Your heart jumped out of excitement when you saw him getting shy, smiling oh so handsomely. So it’s a yes then.

“My knowledge about sex is very limited don’t get too excited,” he says while watching you sit on his lap, legs on both sides. This is new, Taeyong thought. “you’re going to tease me from now on, I get it. But you do look sexy now on top of me” he giggles and pulls you closer for a heated kiss. He never kissed you like this, his hands on your waist gripping it tightly and his tongue… oh his tongue. You never thought he’s capable of such skill.

“Okay let’s not rush and not jump right into having sex,” you said in between kissing. You don’t stop, he doesn’t stop either but he’s listening. “Put your hands inside my shirt” you instruct him and he shyly followed you. You felt his cold hands against your skin, slowly going up to knead your clothed boobs, you feel him harden beneath you and for the first time, you see your boyfriend became horny. You unclasp your bra while you continue kissing each other with want, tongue sucking, lip biting while you enjoy the way he touches you for the first time.

He stopped for a second when you removed your bra in front of him, letting your hard nipples ghost on your thin shirt. He remembered how he used to look away whenever you and Taeil get too intimate, but now you’re his. Slowly he played with the hem of your shirt and lift it over your head to see his girlfriend’s body for the first time. He smiled and kissed you again, touching your boobs gently, brushing his thumb on your nipples, and making you moan softly.  

After that night, Taeyong became confident when it comes to touching you and kissing you with full of lust that sometimes it’s all too much because he’s doing a great job. His kisses alone can make you moan and weak, while the way he fingers you slowly can make you moan his name that his landlord sometimes shush you two. The first time you introduced him to oral sex, was a wild moment for the two of you because he loved it so much and he did a pretty good job for a first timer.

When the time finally comes and you’re both ready to have sex, he didn’t even know how to put on a condom, so you taught him how and you think he’s cute. He told you he wanted to make you happy even in bed, so you let him. “I’ll do my best,” he says, kissing your neck and making you smile before he proceeds to foreplay. His lips travel down from your lips, all the way down to your neck and the valley between your boobs, giving your nipples a soft pinch before he proceeds and licks you for a few seconds. He kisses your lower abdomen, caressing your thighs as he blows cold air on your wet folds, and proceeds to lick your cunt. You feel his cold tongue glide oh so smoothly like there's a piece of ice rubbing on your cunt right now, but it’s Taeyong’s tongue. “Enough teasing Tae. We’ve had enough of that” you moan and pulled him up to face you. It’s true though, you and Taeyong have been giving each other oral for the past few weeks because he’s not yet ready to have sex with you.

“Okay okay. I understand” he says and attacked lips with hungry kisses and starts grinding on top of your body while you surround his small room with sounds of wet kisses. Kissing Taeyong always feels because his lips are always cold and it feels good against your skin. As you admire his lips and the way he kisses you, you feel the tip of his cock on your entrance and feel him push in slowly catching every sharp gasp you let out with his mouth. You cup his face with both of your hands and close your eyes as you enjoy being fucked by the man you love. “You said you don’t know what you’re doing- Taeyong you feel good!” you were basically moaning the whole time you were telling him what you feel. He asks you to spread your legs even more so he can thrust deeper and so you followed gladly, and after a few thrusts, he hits your good spot perfectly.

“And I told you I’ll do my best right?” he smirks and continues to fuck you good, keeping your legs apart and sucking your boobs as he thrusts. He feels your walls warm walls around his cock then you asked him to put his thumb on your clit and the moment his cold fingers made contact on your clit, you tried to push him away because it made you sensitive and moan his name louder than before. You breathed heavily and accept every deep thrust Taeyong give you, every cold kiss, every sweet word that makes your heart swell. It was all overwhelming and all you can do is let go and cum.

Soon he released his cum in the condom and removed it immediately before he lay beside you in his small bed. You feel him kiss your forehead while he covers your sweaty and shivering bodies with his blanket and helped you come down from your high.

The next day, the sunlight from Taeyong’s window wakes him up and quickly blocked the sun with his hand so it won't hit your eyes too. You were sleeping soundly beside him, embracing his tiny waist unconsciously. “Good morning “ he whispered to you, covering your naked body with his blanket. “You have work” he reminded you sweetly and pulled you in a tight embrace.

“Let’s stay in bed, Taeyongie. Let’s skip work and make love the whole day” you kissed him good morning and closed your eyes again. You hear him giggle and feel his strong arms cage you and cradle you.

“As much as I want to do that, we can’t. Come on, I’ll cook breakfast, let’s start our day together”

“Are you getting rid of me?”  

“No, quite opposite actually. Let’s start this day early, so we could go to work and meet afterward. I’m excited to see you again” You smile a gave him a tight embrace, allowing yourself to be thankful just for a minute for this beautiful morning, and for the naked man beneath you who loves you so much.

Beautiful nights that involved making love with Taeyong or having rough sex, eventually, happened again and again and again until he’s confident in bed just as much as you are. You go to work sore and tired but your heart is happy all because of Taeyong. He may not be as innocent as before but the humble and loving Taeyong that you fell in love with is still here. It was a relationship that involved a lot of sexual activities but you and Taeyong loved each other dearly and prove it to each other every day.

“I hate going home” you whined and gave him a glass of water. Tonight is one of those nights where you and Taeyong enjoy the meal he cooks after a long day at work and you have dinner together in his small apartment.

“Then don’t, stay here with me it’s late,” he says as he drinks the water that you gave.

“Hmm. That’s not what I meant, ask me to live with you already”

“I cant my place is too small, I’ll marry you and I’ll buy us a nice home”

“Were not getting young” you teased him, “I’m perfectly fine with this place. You know I love it here, I sleep well whenever I stay over”

“That’s because of me not because of this place” he was talking about the sex and smirked.

“Okay fine- But seriously you don’t have to buy me a big house you’re enough” he pulled you closer to him and looked at your eyes. He remembers the big house that you and Taeil owned in your past life and he was planning to give you something like that and not this shoebox. But he sees that you’re happy so he finally lets you win.

“Okay. If this place makes you happy, fine. Welcome home” he kissed your knuckles softly but you attacked him with sweet kisses and ended up making out with your boyfriend on his cold floor with a happy heart.  

Living with Taeyong was a huge transition in your life but it was all for the better. You used to eat fast food every night but now you have Taeyong to cook you good food every day. Living together also made you know him more and know some things for yourself, like his love for sweet potatoes and that he can sing. He is incredibly affectionate when it comes to animals, may it be a stray cat or a dog it doesn’t matter he will take care of it. Living with Taeyong made your life easier and beautiful even though it’s all about the simplest things with him.

After you moved in with Taeyong, he found a job as a grade school art teacher which he loved doing so much and also pays good money. With that money, he saved a lot and bought you a house that’s big enough for the two of you. You let him shower you with love because that’s what he wants, in return you love him unconditionally. Soon, you introduced him to your family during the holidays, and Taeyong cooked for everyone which made him win their hearts especially your mom.

Seasons changed and so are the years, now you’re swaying under the soft music from the background on your sister’s wedding. Your arms are wrapped around his neck while his arms are wrapped around your waist as he whispers how beautiful you are tonight for the nth time but you never get tired of it. It’s not your wedding but you feel like it is because Taeyong can easily turn a second into a special moment.

Your sister’s wedding is a series of mixed emotions, one minute you’re crying because she’s not a baby anymore and by the next few hours you’re happy because she dropped the news that she’s pregnant already. “I saw your eyes when your sister told everyone she’s pregnant, how many kids do you want in the future?” he asks, continuously swaying your bodies while he waits for your answer.

“Ask me to marry you first” you boop his sharp nose and rest your head on his chest, “but let's have two kids,” you sighed and smiled at your wish and you hear your boyfriend hum in approval.  

The night ended beautifully and you’re happy to see that your sister is happily married now. You kissed and waved goodbye to your family and Taeyong did the same too. Oh, how you wish you and Taeyong will have a happy ending soon too.

But you know what they say, be careful what you wish for.

A week after your sister’s wedding Taeyong proposed to you and made you the happiest girl in the world. It was nothing glamorous like the ones you see in movies, no big crowds, and no big signs that says ‘Marry Me?’. No. It was just the two of you. In your car, where you two first met. It was snowing too which made it even more special and romantic. When he was putting the ring on your finger, he was shaking so bad like he was cold but he’s not he’s just nervous. It was a simple ring and it represents your relationship with him, the diamond was small but the ring itself is a promise of never ending happiness because you get to spend the rest of your life with this handsome man.

Suddenly life is full of dreams and promises to keep for your marriage, no morning or night has passed that you didn’t admire your engagement ring. Just like now while Taeyong is in the shower and you’re waiting for him to come to bed. “You smell good” you didn’t notice him slide under the covers and felt him sniff your exposed shoulders. You turned your head to him and see him shirtless while he leans on the bed frame. You rolled on your side and rest your head on his abs, while you admire his handsome features.

“I want kids with your nose, my eyes, and your good heart,” you said, looking directly in his eyes. “You can teach them how to draw or cook pancakes, we can read stories to them, sing a song, and dance around our living room?”

He felt his body warm in instant. With just your words he felt like he’s melting. “Your love melts me you know,” he reaches for your lips and kissed you good night. “We can do all that and more, I promise” he whispers.

Time passed by so fast after getting married to Taeyong. Life is even sweeter and worth living for. Even though married life is never easy, you and Taeyong managed to be happy every day. More seasons change and you and Taeyong have become busier with work that you only spend time with each other during mornings and before you go to bed. But of course, the baby making is a never ending try until that damn pregnancy test will come out positive. Trying to have a baby was harder than you thought. There are times that you’re losing hope but your husband makes everything better.

“Good morning Mrs. Lee”

After being married for two beautiful years now, some things have never changed like how Taeyong wakes you up early in the morning for work with his cold lips and handsome face. You stretch your body looked at your handsome husband, who’s shirtless and only wearing a pajama underneath this thick blanket. You couldn’t stop yourself to kiss him and position him on top of you. “I have kids to teach” he giggled but he kisses your chest just the way you like it.

“Want to try to make our own kid? We haven’t tried ever since the last result. This isn’t us” you teased him but you both know it’s because of your jobs and you understand each other.

“You know I can’t say no to that” he smirked and lifts your sleepwear, exposing your boobs to your husband. Sucking your nipples immediately and felt his cold tongue swirl around it while his hands were quick to remove your pajamas and underwear. He kneels in between your legs and lowered his sweatpants before he releases his hard cock from his boxer briefs. With his middle finger, he checked if your slit is wet and ready, “you’re always wet for me” he says and kissed you deeply as he thrusts inside you with one quick move that dragged your body on the mattress. It hurt a little because you weren’t prepped enough, but once Taeyong rolls his hips and starts kissing your neck you lose your mind and all you can do is focus on the pleasure that he’s giving.

His thrusts were quick, you figured he was horny and his grip on your waist will sure leave marks. “Ah-fuck” you moan out when his thumb started drawing circles on your clit to make sure you will cum because there’s no way you will leave your house without cumming this morning. “I’m cumming-“ he says and sucks your nipples while he thrust harshly and putting pressure on your clit.

Your husband gave you a piercing thrust as he shoots his cum inside you, making you yelp and almost hit the headboard but you don’t care because you’re in the middle of your own orgasm.

“Wow- our baby making is getting intense,” you said with heavy breaths and sharp gaps. You put your shoulder above your forehead and catch your breath for a minute before you go on and take a shower.

You don’t know but your husband wanted to tell you something but he doesn’t want to ruin the morning. He helps you wear your panties again and kiss your sensitive body while listening to your giggles that’s music to his ear. He loves you so much that he wanted so bad to give you a baby soon because he’s tired of seeing you disappointed whenever the pregnancy test is negative.

Every day you and Taeyong spend your mornings peaceful and quiet. You wrap your arms around him while he prepares you breakfast, enjoy the quietness of your house and the peaceful life that he has given to you. “Have I told you that I love you Tae? So much?” you smelled his still wet hair and tighten your embrace.

“Yes. Every day, I think I don’t say it as much as you do but, I love you too” He kissed your forehead and gave your lips a peck. And mornings like this happens every day and no one is complaining because you never get sick of it.

“What if we adopt instead of trying to make one?”

It’s not that he didn’t like the idea of adopting, but it hurt him because you must really want a baby by this time and he can’t give you one for unexplainable reasons. “Don’t you want to see your nose in our little one? Or my eyes?” he stopped doing what he’s doing for a second and turned around to meet your gaze. He swings his arms around your waist, leaned on the kitchen counter, and pressed you against his body. “Where did that idea come from- I’m not against it but-,”

“But you don’t want to do it either?”

“I wish I could answer all of our questions on why you can’t get pregnant. Let’s try a few more times, then if nothing happens let’s do it. I’m sorry-“

“No, you’re not doing anything wrong. I think I’m just stressed with work,” you were just about to kiss your husband and end the conversation when the doorbell rang and you both wonder who might that be. Neither of you is expecting any visitor this early, that’s why it is a complete shock for Taeyong that Jaehyun visited him.

This must be important.

Since Taeyong needed to talk to his friend, you had to drive alone to work and drown with the things that you told your husband. I shouldn’t have said that, I completely hurt his feelings. Stupid. You said those things to yourself as you drive and arrive at your office safely. Then…

“Oh gosh. I’m sorry” a stranger bumped you so hard while you were walking towards your office. Completely bringing you back from reality. He was quick to apologize and his beautiful smile was hard to not notice. “I’m very sorry Miss. I’m Moon Taeil. I was reading some guidelines, I’m very new here and I can’t seem to find Mrs. Y/n Lee” he read it from the paper he was holding.

“You found me” you smiled and invited him to your office to talk about the work he has to finish.

While you were busy orienting Moon Taeil in your office Taeyong and Jaehyun had a serious conversation in your living room which made Taeyong very angry and frustrated. Turns ourtJaehyun is here to tell him that you and your soulmate will finally cross paths.

“That’s the thing when it comes to this soulmate thing hyung, we can’t stop it. Even me. It’s beyond what I’m capable of. I’m sorry, you just have to work harder and keep her away from him. Try and stop destiny” Jaehyun says, frustrated like his hyung too. Taeyong was quiet but he was thankful to Jaehyun for telling him.

“I’m starting to melt” Taeyong admitted to his friend. "I think I could last two more years"

“Make up your mind. Would you rather be selfish or let her be happy for the rest of her life?” Taeyong watched his friend leave after dropping a very hard question to answer. He can indeed feel his heart is slowly melting and the only way to save himself is to go back to being a spirit again.  

It was a very disturbing day for both of you. He was worried about you and Taeil meeting, you were worried about the things you said to him this morning. To make it up with your husband, you decided to surprise him and pick him up from the school he's teaching. You see parents hugging their children and hear them asking about their day and you can’t help but tear up a little because you want the same things too.

You wipe your tears when you see your handsome husband walking towards you and greet you with a kiss. “Adults go here to fetch their kids, but here you are fetching me” you both let out a giggle before going inside your car. Before you start apologizing, you gulped the lump on your throat and keep your eyes on the road.

“I’m sorry about this morning. I know I hurt you” you finally said.

“Hurt me a thousand more times, I’m still going to love you deeply. Everything is fine, I understand you’re desperate because I’m desperate too. But we both have different solutions to this problem that's why. Let’s talk about it at home,” he says, reaching your free hand and kissed your wedding ring. You love how he’s always right when it comes to things like this. He always knew what to do.

As usual, you and Taeyong fixed this baby situation and decided to try and try until you get pregnant. You have nothing against it but you don’t know how long you can hold on anymore. Nonetheless, you try and understand Taeyong’s feelings too and you don’t want to hurt him again. After having that conversation with your husband, he tried so hard to get you pregnant and initiate having sex almost every day. Exhausting but at the same time fun, you just let love and lust drive you and your husband to bed over and over again.

Like right now, you were so weak and you can’t feel your legs anymore, you don’t even have the energy to roll on your side and reach for your husband but he does it for you. “You okay?” he kisses your neck and caress your sensitive body softly, naked and still sweaty from sex.

“Can we go back to the time where you don’t know anything about sex?” it was a joke which both of you find funny. You return his embrace and let out a shiver when you felt his skin so cold like ice and he was sweating so hard… like he was melting, “are you sick? baby you’re so cold like ice” you were worried but your husband is smiling weakly at you with lustful eyes, clearly, he wanted another round. But little did you know Taeyong is not feeling well.

“Come here so you could keep me warm then,” he kissed you deeply on the lips and felt him spreading your legs again. Oh boy, you thought. You tried to push him but you’re too late, he made you horny too, and just like that you gave in already.

You and Taeyong continue to try to have a baby and have sex whenever you can. Until one day when you were busy cleaning the house, and you saw your pads on the drawers and realized that you’re late. Your period is finally late.  

“I’m home. Y/n?” Taeyong shouts as he enters your house, putting his shoes on the side. You greet him with a warm hug and a smile so big, inviting him to bed this instance. What better way to celebrate your pregnancy right?

You kiss him until you reach your shared bed and remove your clothes in front of him, intertwining your fingers with his and guiding him to touch your body. He doesn’t know what’s happening but he was enjoying it even though he doesn’t feel good. Taeyong quickly switched positions and removed his clothes from work before he goes in between your legs and kisses your body.

First, he licked your pussy good. Making your head turn and make you moan his name a little louder. You hear wet sounds as Taeyong licks you up and down and kiss your pussy like it’s your mouth. You were so wet that it turns you on even more and can’t wait for Taeyong to finally fuck you. When he felt your excitement, he quickly pumped his cock and slide it on your very wet folds just to watch you lose your mind beneath him.

He came in slowly, fucking you deep and careful because he was too weak right now but he can’t show you. After a few moments of heavy breathes and taking Taeyong's deep thrust, Taeyong fed his lust and looked how your cunt take all of him slowly and got excited to see blood coating his cock because loves period sex so much.  

“I love fucking you when you’re on your period-ah” he was moaning so good and fucking you at a quick pace now, nipping your earlobes and kneading your boobs. After a few dirty talks, he heard you sob and felt tears falling on your cheeks. He thought you were crying because of overstimulation so he smirked and gave your ass a light slap. When he pulls away from your neck to kiss you on the lips, he sees you crying while covering your mouth with your own hand.

Your husband stopped.

“Am I hurting you, what’s wrong?” you didn’t answer him.

He quickly pulled out and went to the bathroom to get a damped towel to clean the blood on your thighs and put a tampon inside you while you were crying. He kissed your shoulders and begged you to talk to him because he is clueless.

“I was excited because I thought my period is late just a few minutes before you get home. Then it fucking came” it was a very harsh move for fate to give you false hope and hurt your feelings like that. Taeyong didn’t know what to do when you asked him to leave you alone for tonight.

He needed you too because he’s sick right now but he can’t tell you.

And that is where your marriage failed.

Taeyong was desperate to keep you while you were desperate to have a child. You two started to fight, and you can see that things are slowly changing now. You were cold towards him because you don’t know what else to do to have a kid. You have sex, take a test, negative, have sex again, take the test again, and have the same results over and over again.  

You hope that it’s easier than ‘you don’t love him anymore’ but it’s not, you love each other so much but this baby problem is ruining your marriage and you can’t fix it because you don’t know what’s wrong, even the doctors said you’re both fine and you just have to try and try but its getting tiring already.

“I don’t know what else to do” Taeyong admits after you take another test just a few minutes ago and he sees you crying. He can’t take it. He never saw you cry when you were married to Taeil.

“Do you want to give up? Because I’m getting tired, baby” you hug him so tight and cried on his shoulders, “we fight, we don’t sleep peacefully now, and we're not happy. This is not us” you cry out and tighten your embrace to your husband. You forgot how his presence comforts a lot.

“Okay, let's stop. I’m sorry. I really am”

“I’m sorry too”

Taeyong realized what he was doing all this time. If he didn’t steal you from Taeil you wouldn’t suffer like this because he is not the right man for you. Love is cruel, Taeyong thought. No matter how much you love each other, no matter how much he loves you, fate won’t consider it and will find a way to ruin your chance of being happy.

He puts you to sleep and went out to meet his friends and tell them that he’s slowly dying. You were so focused on yourself and didn’t notice that Taeyong is getting thin and his hair is slowly turning white. You thought it’s just him being stressed with everything that’s happening right now but it’s more than that.

“Well, you can’t die. It’s simple as that. You’re more than Taeyong, you have an obligation in this world as the spirit of winter” Doyoung was beyond pissed upon hearing the news. "We told you from the very start that this is not a good idea" he added.

“We have no choice but to let her and Taeil have their happy ending. But how she loves you so much” Jaehyun says with worried eyes because they know that Taeyong is going through so much.

“I’ll Divorce her, with all the strength I have left ” Taeyong says weakly, tears in his eyes started to ball.

“All for the better hyung, you can save your life and she can be happy” Doyoung pat his back and told him to do it immediately because he doesn’t have much time.

After a week, Jaehyun helped Taeyong with the process of divorce and will make everything official once you sign the papers.

And just as you thought that life couldn’t get any more brutal, your husband is handing you the divorce papers before you start your car and drive you both home. You never thought that this damn car will witness everything. How you and Taeyong met for the first time, the night he asked you to marry him, and now that he’s completely giving up on your marriage. Taeyong watched you cry while you’re driving quietly and wonder what’s on your mind. Do you hate me? He remained silent the whole time until you reach home.

You look at the envelope in front of you while Taeyong is on the other side of the kitchen with you, waiting for your thoughts. “If this is about me wanting to have a baby- Taeyong I don’t want it anymore just please” you were begging him in the middle of your kitchen, tears started falling and you can’t believe that this is happening. He came closer to you, cupped your cheeks, and kissed your forehead because he can’t see you like this, “We’ve been through so much Tae, you can’t do this to me”

“But I can’t make you happy anymore, someone will fill in my shoes” he kept you close and savor the feeling of your hug that will last for a lifetime.

“To hell with happiness- I’m sorry I was selfish, I was only thinking of myself” you cry some more and stain his dress shirt with your tears.

“I was the one who became selfish in the first place, not you,” you don’t know what he was saying but you don’t care anymore, all you want to do is never let him go.

But he was the one who let you go and you couldn’t get a hold of him no matter how much you beg. It was more than heartbreaking. When Taeyong left you, the house he bought you was never home without him, he didn’t even take anything with him, not even his clothes. The only thing he got for himself is his wedding ring which he will wear forever.

“Welcome back,” Doyoung says but neither of them is happy about the divorce. Taeyong felt strong and healthy now that he’s a spirit again but his heart is dead, he doesn’t feel alive anymore. It’s been weeks since he left you, and since it’s not winter, he’s not allowed to be around. Perfect, he thought. He needed the time to move on and heal alone.

Who knows? Maybe he'll try again in your next life.  

To whoever read this, i hope you live a happy life a simple life and you’re happy genuinely. 

[son-yejin]

Title: It’s all it takes

Pairing: Amelia Shepherd + Atticus Lincoln

Note: English is not my first language and this is just for fun. It’s cliche and fun so don’t expect anything else. The end is kinda meh but if the show writers can do what they did then...Enjoy!

//

It all happens in a flash.

Thirty seconds, she counts. It’s all it takes.

Second One, they are saying good byes at the door. Her eyes is on Link’s and she is laughing at his attempts at flirting as if they are not broken up. Second Ten, Scout let’s go of his father’s hands and runs towards the road, trying to get God knows what that makes children behave so fearless and carelessly. In second fifteen, she can already see it, the car coming in full speed and Scout getting hit by it. He won’t survive, her mind tells her. And she is already living the grief before it happens.

What she doesn’t see coming, however, is in second twenty, Link catching Scout just in time before it all happens, pushing him to the sidewalk. And in second twenty five, Scout falls sitting on the concrete floor - safe, away from the car and she goes running towards him. It’s like a miracle happening before her eyes. “Ames, being a dad comes with super hero speed and the coolest spider senses” Link had once told her and maybe he was right. But the super powers don’t seem to work if it’s for himself as he can’t get off the road in time before he is hit instead.

Thirty seconds.

Suddenly everything seems to be happening in slow motion and then back to moving in normal speed all at once, and somehow she is dialing 911 desperately as she sees Link on the road, face up and his arm in a weird position. There’s a buzzing ringing in her ear, she sees all the neighbors coming to see what happened and everything turns into background noise then her body seems to have gone into autopilot. She finds herself inside an ambulance with Scout in her lap and Link with paramedics, then they are taking him inside and she is standing in front of Meredith, in the emergency room.

“He seems fine, he is pretty responsive.” she numbly nods in response, barely processing a word Meredith is saying as her mind seems to be busy remembering every moment of hers with Link. Every kiss, every hug, every fight.

No matter what happens, I want to go through it with you.

“He won’t shut up about you and Scout, actually. And his scans came out all clear and he is heading to surgery for his arm”

It felt like a what-are-we-waiting-for-moment. I’m sorry.

“Amelia” Meredith cracks a small smile when their eyes meet again, her voice uncharacteristically soft when she places a hand over Amelia’s forearm, giving it a squeeze like she is trying to ground her and push all thoughts away from her head “Do you want me to take Scout to daycare?”

“No,” she replies, quicker than she planned but the thought of being separated from Scout (too) right now makes her anxious and irritated “It’s..fine. We will wait for him together. I’m just-He could have-“ she draws a long audible breath and she finds hard to speak when her heart is in her throat.

“He didn’t, Amelia. He is okay. It’s okay”

“Right. He is okay.” she sighs, heavy, trying to hold the sob in as to not disturb Scout peacefully sleeping in her arms. But as she sees Maggie walking inside the emergency room, eyes soft and caring, she feels it pressing harder and harder in her chest. She tries to hold in but she knows it’s useless, Maggie has always gets her way inside Amelia’s heart, sneaky as she is, finding ways in between the cracks.

“Are you okay?” Maggie asks and she nods once, then she sees nothing but blurred images of her sisters.

//

“Doctor, I can’t die”

She turns around away from putting Scout on the bed she made for him to face Link, her surprised gaze finding his, It’s only been a few hours, she thinks, giving him a soft smile as she walks towards the bed. She’s glad he is awake, even if he looks like he is not fully functioning right now

“I have-My girlfriend, she- -I love her. Her name is Amelia-I can’t die.” he sounds disoriented and scared, much like she felt when the accident happened.

He tries to get up in his euphoria to go searching for her (even though she is literally right in front of him but his brain must be a little fuzzy from the anesthesia) and whines when he feels discomfort in his arm.

“Ok, calm down. You won’t die, Link” she comforts him, and her hands are on his chest pushing him back down on the bed then fixing his pillows

“Woah, hey! what are you doing? I have a girlfriend”

“I’m helping you get comfortable. Don’t move around too much or you will hurt your arm.”

“I love my Amelia so don’t get near me” he insists, pushing her hands and pillows away with his good arm. He is pouting when she looks up at him, adorable is the first thing that comes to mind then ridiculous when she gets her hands pushed again for trying to reach for a pillow.

“Link, stop moving” she sighs “I am your... Amelia” he stops moving immediately and she can finally put the pillows under his arm like it were before he pushed them all away

“Hi, Ames” His voice turns gentle and his eyes are soft and dreamy, making her laugh a little

“Hey, Atticus”

“I love it when you call me that” he says, words coming out all slurred and she wants to say she knows but he is already on his next words before she can say anything else. He is speaking 10 words per millisecond and she can’t understand half of it. She can catch a few “I love you”s and “I’m so sorry”s, and she thinks he might have said something like “I don’t need a wedding or any of that, please believe me” before he falls right back asleep, probably exhausted from talking all of his energy away.

“You are so silly, Atticus Lincoln” she says in a whisper, trying to not wake him, and she fears the sound of her heart beating fast and loud inside her chest just might do it.

She already knows he is sorry. He has apologized for it already, they’ve had the (full of tears) talk. And they agreed on taking a break from each other for a reason.They want different things and as much as he seems to be willing to sacrifice his dreams for her, she is not sure she finds it fair that he does so. He deserves the big family he wishes for and if he loves to be a dad so much then he should be a dad to more kids. She thinks she loves him enough to let him go and watch him be a father to a bunch of not-hers-children.

She could handle it.

But now, as she looks at him, and as she feels his hand search for hers as he sleeps, her confidence slips away entirely (if she’s really honest, she would admit that every time they are at work and he looks at her, out of the corner of his eyes like he does when he thinks she can’t see him, she questions if breaking up was really a good idea at all) and she thinks she is finally ready to admit to herself that she would never handle it and that the thought of almost losing him today has made her completely terrified of having a single second more of her life without him.

She thinks of messaging her therapist to say she finally gets it when the sound of Link moving and waking up snaps her out her thoughts.

“Hey, you are awake again. How are you feeling?” she asks

He hums in response, closes his eyes back and she thinks he might fall asleep again before he opens them again, staring at the ceiling “My arm hurts so bad right now” he replies, voice all husky and weak but a little more awake than he was an hour ago and she immediately grabs him the cup of water she left on his bedside table, he drinks the water slowly and asks, “Who are you?”

She thinks he might be just joking around but as she stares at his face, she sees he is completely serious.

“I’m your...girlfriend...Amelia?” she huffs out a small laugh, waiting for his response and while he seems surprised, he still carries a positive expression on his face.

At least he is not speaking another language yet, she thinks. She examines him for any sign of brain injury, checks his vitals and he seems fine to her but she still sends a message to Meredith and Owen and schedules new exams, just to be sure.

“You‘re really pretty. Like really pretty.” he confesses, in an attempted whisper but she can still hear him loud and clear. Amelia considers herself hard to surprise when it comes to flirting and cheesy pick up lines, she has never been a shy woman. But Link reminds her everyday how easy it has always been for him to make her face get hot and red as she blushes,

“The anesthesia must be still working its way out of your body, I think.” she says, more to herself than to him, trying to hide the way she seemed flushed

“So we are dating? Like, for real?” he asks, his eyes seems to be fighting to stay focused on hers, he looks all funny but, still, he takes her breath away nonetheless and she chuckles.

“Well, we have a son together” she looks towards the makeshift bed their son is resting in as she speaks “so I’m guessing yes, it’s for real.”

“A son?!” he yells a bit, his eyes wide and she tells him to keep it low before he wakes up Scout and the entire hospital floor “Wow.” He whispers, eyes softens and the smile on his face is so big she can’t help but mirror it “Does he look like you? I hope he looks like you...”

She grins knowingly, “You have mentioned he is as stubborn as I am, once or twice”

“Good. You seem great” he sighs and she can’t help but wish she was filming this for leverage later. He looks so goofy. “If we are dating...And I still can’t believe I’ve been this lucky” he admits softly, reaching out to her hand with his good arm and she decides he doesn’t need to be reminded that they are on a break “Can I kiss you? I’m scared I will wake up from this dream and you won’t be here”

Before she even gets a response out, her body seems to go gravitating towards him on its own and she is so close, she can see that his pupils are almost completely dilated, his eyes dark like the night unlike the clear sky blue it usually is and her heart seems to be too loud in her ears. She doesn’t wait to talk herself out of this, or for any thoughts that might make her reconsider, she just goes willingly, leaning towards him and lowering her head until she can feel the air he is breathing in her lips. When their lips touch, she closes her eyes and feels him pull her tight against his heart.

Thirty seconds, she thinks. It’s all it takes.

But doesn’t seem enough.

When they pull back she lays a caressing hand against his cheek and feels the walls inside her heart crumble at the tender look in his eyes. He blinks slowly once, twice and then a third time, like he is trying hard to stay awake. “It’s okay, go to sleep” she tells him, just in case he is thinking of forcing himself to stare at her all night. He turns his face into her palm, presses a small kiss to the center of it, mumbles something she can’t hear but can guess what then falls back asleep.

“I will be here, Link. I promise”

//

1 year later

“You know, when I was in the hospital for...um...the arm...” she hums in response, pushes her head deeper on his neck, she is almost entirely on top of him but she knows he won’t complain, not when she has her lips busy collecting kisses down the side of his neck “I had the weirdest dream. It was like I was meeting you for the first time, I think? It’s all fuzzy”

His hands trails down to her waist, touching her whole body and pressing her against him. His grip on her tightens as she nips and sucks on his skin.

Still, he continues “All I can remember is that I fell in love with you, immediately.” and she has to part her lips away from him for a second, remembering the exact moment he is referring to and he whines impatiently at the loss of contact.

“Of course you did” she grins wickedly and he looks at her with a grin of his own that turns into a frown when she says, “I’m so pretty. Like really pretty” then his eyes widens, seeming to discover the secret she has been hiding this whole time as his brain remembers why that phrase seems so familiar. He firmly but gently pushes her down onto the soft duvet of their bed, his weight on top of her now and the sudden change causes her to giggle loudly, carefree and full of love.

She expects him to kiss her but it doesn’t come, he stays watching her like she found out he is so fond of doing every other day, his eyes amazed over the fact that he can see her, be with her. And in this moment, she feels loved.

When their lips touch, it’s all consuming with passion, trying to satisfy the never dying need to be with each other like the concept of time don’t seem to work on them. They could stay like that forever, two hours and even just thirty seconds and still would never be enough. Time seems to be too short to be with each other, too long to be a part.

But still, she thinks, if she had to chose, thirty seconds with him or none at all she knows what she would choose.

Thirty seconds. It’s all it takes.

And she would love him,

Like it would never end.

[myblueeyedbuggers]

My Boys

Chapter 13

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3  Chapter 4  Chapter 5  Chapter 6   Chapter 7  Chapter 8  Chapter 9  Chapter 10  Chapter 11  Chapter 12 Chapter 14

Pairings: Steve Rogers X Reader (Best Friend) Bucky Barnes X Reader

Word Count: 2063

Warnings:  Swearing, bit of violence if you looking very closely 

Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.

Ey up my Loves, so we’re back and kicking ass! Quite literally in this Chapter, I’ve been going back over my previous chapters and I’m considering rewriting them to fit my new style. Let me know what you all think, do you prefer them as they are or would you want them to match my new style ? Anyways without further ado here's chapter 13, enjoy everyone! <3 

3rd person POV

Years have passed since that moment, time brought changes to the trio, what was once a childhood crush developed into a fierce love that neither of the pair wanted to acknowledge or admit in fear of loosing the other.

As you can imagine both Steve and Becca were ready to rip the heads off of their dumbass siblings.

6 years is a verrrry long time to put up with long looks of pining and repressed feelings, but unfortunately for the Brooklyn natives, y/n and bucky were about as stubborn as each other and refused to listen to the reasonable, sometimes frustrated, rants of their best friends. So much to the utter frustration of Steve and Becca, the two young lovebirds lived in a state of denial and attempted (the keyword being ATTEMPTED) to move on with their lives.

Naturally, someone as charming and handsome as James Barnes seemed to have a never-ending line of girls begging to be his, it had become a common occurrence for him to have a new girl on his arm each week, not that Steve or Y/n approved of his behaviour but hey Bucky can be a real big dumbass when he wants to be. Y/n did try to hide how much it bothered her, thankfully not only was Bucky a dumbass he was also completely unaware of her feelings and simply chalked it down to her being the unapproving sister, but to Steve it was a clear as day. He could see it in her face every time Bucky left to take the new girl dancing, or when she’d finish work early only to see Buck and his new girl on a romantic date in the Café opposite the dinner she worked at. The bright light behind her eyes always dimmed a little and she wouldn’t talk for hours, which for anyone that didn’t know her was enough to ring an ambulance and arrange a mental evaluation.

Now that’s not to say that Bucky was any better, the look of absolute utter rage that covered his face when another man called for Y/n was enough to make Steve and Becca completely loose it and simply laugh at his misery, neither of them felt bad because they’d been telling him for YEARS to man up and confess his feelings. Occasionally the pair did feel a slight twinge of guilt towards their brother, like the time the trio went to Y/n’s house to surprise her after work, only to see her kissing the cheek of a guy they’d never seen before, just like his other half Bucky did try to hide it, but the flash of pain that crossed his face was impossible to miss.

It’d gotten to the point where Steve wanted to lock em both in a closet til they finally admitted their feelings and put themselves out of their misery, though the fact that he had all the physical stats of a toothpick quickly nipped that idea in the bud.

Cut to today, for once it looked like it’d be a fairly normal day for everyone, boys were off doing god knows what, knowing those two it’d involve a punch up started by a small blonde idiot and finished by an even bigger idiot of a brunette. Though the same couldn’t be said about their girl, ever the more responsible one of them all Y/n had agreed to work overtime in the local dinner over on main street, meaning that she’d be the one closing the place down at 9pm.

Y/n didn’t even wanna think about what her two idiots would get up without proper adult supervision, though over the years she’d learned to expect that it would more than likely be something illegal.

Thankfully, it wasn’t something she had to worry about for the next couple of hours, though 9 times out of ten she’d be the one cleaning up the cuts and bruises only for them to come back the next day fresh wounds. As much as it did on occasion piss her off to no ends, Y/n wouldn’t want it any other way, they were and always will be her boys.

Y/N’s POV

Well, that was an absolute shit show of a day.

I mean you’d of thought that I was common knowledge not to put ya hands up a waitresses skirt, but nay some men didn’t seem to have got that memo, ever the public servant I made it my job to enlighten then with a hot cup of coffee to the crotch. How I’ve not received employee of the month is beyond me, what’s not to love ? I’m a fucking delight!

Thank god it’s home time, if I’da stayed in that place any longer something would of happened, knowing my crazy ass it’d of been something violent but in my defence….okay I don’t have a defence, but men can seriously suck ass when they wanna. All I wanna do is have a peaceful walk home, ignore the homeless guys that like to gawp at my ass and run a big old bubble bath whilst relaxing with a decent book.

Naturally, that didn’t happen.

Now, If ya spend as much time around a bunch of over aggressive monkeys that love jumping into fights as much as I do, you’ll probably get real good at recognising the sounds of a fight. And I’ve got a pretty good idea who the two dipshits are that started this pissing contest.

The sounds of shoes scuffling across the pavement were pretty much impossible to miss now, that along with the grunts and groans of a bunch of guys smacking the absolute shit outta each other tipped me off to what was happening around the corner. Everything in me screamed to carry on my merry way and let these morons sort out whatever beef they had in peace and believe me I was so close to ignoring it and walking past em, but it’s kinda hard to do that when ya hear ya best mate scream “come at me motherfuckers!”.

I couldn’t help the frustrated sigh that came outta my mouth but come on guys! This is the 5th one this week!

Very reluctantly I doubled back and went to help my idiotic boys out of whatever trouble they managed to get em selves into, and boy I’m glad that I did cause they were losing. Badly. It would seem that Steve’s request was met for them to “come at” him, cause one of em had him by the arms and was pummelling the life out of his small body, and Bucky wasn’t having any better luck either. Buck was in the same situation, but he had the pleasure of two guys restraining his arms whilst another two took turns in kicking him in the stomach, I mean I was already pissed off at what was happening to Steve but now,  I’m beyond pissed and IF I’d of taken the time to calm down for a few seconds I’da thought of a better plan than this.

“Man…I really liked these shoes”.

In my defence, I didn’t mean to throw them as hard as I did, I was hoping to distract them for a couple of seconds so I could get the jump on the guy beating the crap outta Steve, instead I hit him square in the back his head and knocked him the fuck out. Any other time I’da been wetting myself laughing, but instead it seemed like time slowed down as the assholes holding Steve up froze and made eye contact with me, even the guys on Bucky stopped to see what had happened, all four of em had a look of complete and utter disbelief when they finally saw me. Not that I really cared, all I wanted was for em to get the fuck off of my boys.

Nobody seemed to wanna say anything for the next couple of seconds, the assholes beating up Bucky and Steve were still trying to wrap their heads around what just happened, and my idiots were looking back and forth between the guy on the floor and me, not even taking the time to try escape their holds. How the hell they manage to survive all these years without me is beyond my understanding.

“Sup my dudes, my names Y/n and I’ll be kicking ya ass today”.

I think it’s safe to say that I snapped everyone out of their shocked states, cause the guys holding both Steve and Bucky dropped their asses to the ground and instead focus on me, which is pretty fair considering I did just knock their mate out with a 2-inch healed shoe.

“Do ya know what we do to girls that don’t know their place round here? Cause ya about to find out girly” why is it always the ugliest motherfuckers that try to act tough, I mean look at this guy! he’s got more stains on his shirt than he does teeth, and about as much hair as a furless cat, I’ve been more intimidated by a group of 12-year-old girls in the dinner than I have him!...teenagers are fucking scary don’t judge me.

Right back to this absolute shitshow of a ‘fight’.

Mr ‘I’m only 30 years old and I already need dentures’ swung his arm out towards me in a pathetic attempt at a punch, which massively backfired on him cause I threw that dumbass over my shoulder and ‘accidently’ knocked his last 4 teeth out.  That left me with the rest of the hounds, two of em were rushing at me the second I let go of their newly toothless friend, the one on my right missed me completely and fell over a fence, dumbass. The dude on my left though, well he didn’t miss I’ll put it that way, he fully rugby tackled me into the car behind me, knocking the wind outta me and leaving me dazed for a few seconds.

But just like the first guy, his ‘punches’ were about effective as a marshmallow. Pretty embarrassing for him really, I mean you hate to see it.

“Okay no, give me your hand I’m gonna teach you how to punch cause this is just embarrassing for you dude, first don’t put your thumb at the bottom cause ya gonna break it, second don’t just throw ya arm forward and hope it hurts, use your body weight cause ya got a lot of it and throw it into the punch.”

At that point I’d pushed him off me and the car, his form was absolutely terrible so I went ahead and corrected it for him, found out his name was Eric, which was pretty interesting, gave him a few practise shots and then let him hit me for real, and I must be a fucking amazing teacher cause that one hurt!

“Really Doll?”

Let me tell you, I’d never seen Bucky so unimpressed in my life, his face was completely deadpanned with only his eyebrows raised, Steve wasn’t too impressed either, his infamous mum glare was in full force as I sheepishly backed away from my new best friend.

“In my defence, you left me unsupervised, and Eric’s form was absolutely atrocious, wasn’t it Eric my lad ?”

“….She’s a pretty good teacher to be fair”.

“See? I’m a good teacher! Suck it Barnes!”

Bucky Knocked Eric the fuck out in response. I think you can all understand how heartbroken I was.

“What the hell Barnes?! If it weren’t for me you and Steve would be dead!” I’m pretty sure I looked as insane as I was acting, Steve was full on laughing his ass off behind Buck, I mean if I weren’t so annoyed by them both right now I’d be on the floor with him just dying of laughter. But nay, I had a bone to pick with the both of them, which I think they both realised considering they both went pale before turning around and bucking it to my house. What you need to remember is that these are fully gown men, running around a Brooklyn neighbourhood screaming bloody murder, with a much smaller y/h/c lass running right behind them brandishing a pair of heels, fully intending to murder them both.

How we’ve gone all these years without being arrested or locked in a mental asylum astounds me.

So hopefully you all enjoyed this, let me know what you all think, we’ve got about 2 more chapters left of my boys then we move onto Captain America the First Avenger!! 

lots of love

Rose xx

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

thoughts on hurt/comfort fics?

@takingthehighwayhome this is for you and for you anon. i'm extremely tired which is why the quality is less than my usual but! it is something! and i did want to write something today!

there is no consistent tone, i have not read it, and you know. yeah.

so here's some thoughts on hurt/comfort fics motherfucker.

Toni hadn’t been sleeping.

At first it was easy to ignore, they would curl into each other and Shelby would let that steady heartbeat rock her to sleep. And if she noticed Toni’s breathing never evened out it wouldn’t bother her—she could just be going to sleep after Shelby.

But Toni was always awake when Shelby was, nightmares that slammed her awake into Toni’s arms—eyes carrying hers through the storm. Always Toni was was awake.

And it was weird because she was still Toni. She was still fidgety and moving and filled with constant energy, she couldn’t sit still and she couldn’t relax—she was Toni. How was it possible that with no sleep, she was still Toni?

Martha was no help, as per usual. It was one of those rare moments they got alone, Toni hopping to the nearby 7/11 to get Taki’s and Gatorade, the rest of the unsinkables with her or doing their own thing.

“You know how she told me about her mom?” Shelby asked. “It was to win an argument. Now she won’t even complain about a bad night’s sleep.”

Martha, still on the hospital bed, was silent.

“And I know it’s not just a bad night’s sleep, but I know it ain’t healthy. Did she have trouble sleeping at yours?”

Shelby sighed and took Martha’s hand. “What if she’s got it in her head to stay awake until you wake up? That’d be very stupid and like her, huh?”

If it were some kinda emotional kids movie, Martha woulda squeezed her hand. She didn’t.

Shelby knew the hospital chairs weren’t comfortable, but they were more comfortable than sand. And she knew the ICU waiting room wasn’t quiet, but it was quieter than the pounding waves of the ocean and the screeching of distant animals.

And Toni would wrap an arm around her and even if Shelby was determined to stay up until she fell asleep, that steady heartbeat would lull her into almost as deep a coma as Martha was stuck in.

Maybe Martha had the right idea, maybe after their ordeal they all just needed to conk out for a few days.

Days or weeks, as in Martha’s case.

Martha was getting worse and Toni was too. Gatorade became red bull, and Fatin’s usual remarks became Toni’s outbursts, screaming at her in waiting room until she stormed out, Shelby sighing after her.

“Statistically,” Nora said. “She’s still more likely to survive. Even with how long it’s been.”

“She doesn’t even know we’ve been rescued,” Leah said. “Why the fuck would she want to wake up.”

“I know what to do,” everyone looked at Dot. “There’s an issue with Rachel’s blood transfusion so Leah and Nora need to stay here, and Fatin and I need to stay with Martha. Shelby, can you grab Toni to pick up Leah’s medical records from her house?”

“There’s an issue with Rachel’s blood transfusion?” Nora asked.

“Leah has the closest actual bed,” Dot said.

“I don’t think Toni will go for it,” Shelby said. “She’s never gone that far from Martha’s side before.”

“Figure it out,” Fatin threw a set of keys at her.

It was a simple order, and one Shelby wasn't completely sure she was capable of following. But she went after Toni anyway, pacing the ground outside the hospital stewing.

“Toni,” Shelby said.

“Do not take Fatin’s side,” Toni spat. “I don’t give two fucks if—“

“There was a problem with Rachel’s blood transfusion,” Shelby said. “We have to get Leah’s medical records, let’s go.” She grabbed Toni’s hand and dragged her to Fatin’s car, unlocking it and swinging in.

“Why do we need Leah’s medical records?”

Shelby started the car, driving as quickly as she could.

“She’s donating the new blood,” Shelby said. “She’s o-neg.”

“She’s a-positive.”

“No, Nora’s a-positive.”

“Nora’s AB,” Toni said. “Why the fuck are you lying to me.”

“We’re going sixty you can’t jump out of the car.”

Toni looked like she might scream, instead her hand went through the glove compartment, punching a dent that’d make Fatin very upset.

“Now you have to take me back to the hospital,” Toni said.

“That’s a bruise, not a break, don’t be a wimp.”

“Negative energy is the biggest obstacle to patient recovery.”

Shelby stepped on the gas.

Leah had texted her parents or something because the door was unlocked and the house was empty when they got there, Shelby dragging Toni to Leah’s room.

“You’re gonna sleep,” Shelby said.

“Are you gonna make me?” Toni asked, putting her chin up.

“If I have to,” Shelby crossed her arms.

They glared at each other for a moment before Toni lost, sitting on the bed, her fingers curling in the quilt, as she looked at her vans.

“I’m not—not tired,” Toni tried. “I just—what if I wake up and she’s dead?”

Shelby took her hand, the undamaged one.

“Faber was aiming for you,” Toni said. “And I’m relieved that he missed. I’m a horrible sister.”

“You’re not,” Shelby said. “I’m relieved he missed too. Don’t that make me a horrible friend?”

“I wish he hit me instead,” Toni said. “Why did Fatin have me get Rachel and Nora out? Why? I could’ve been there—I could’ve—”

“Died,” Shelby said. “And you know where I’d be? Texas, some camp gettin’ brainwashed.”

“That’s not true.”

Shelby snorted, nothing was funny about it. “Yes it is. You know where’d Martha’d be?”

“Not needing to be told to sleep like a fucking toddler?”

“Maybe,” Shelby said. “Or maybe she’d be here too, too worried about everyone else and not even able to think about catching a wink herself. Both of y’all are very stubborn, you know. I love that about both of you.”

“Did you just say I love you for the first time to guilt trip me into sleeping?” Toni asked.

“Yes,” Shelby said.

“Fuck you.”

Toni didn’t bother taking off her shoes, plopping them on Leah’s quilt, getting it messy in some weird form of revenge.

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep in the middle of the day,” Toni said.

Shelby pulled down the blinds. “I’ll be back in a few to check in. If you aren’t asleep I’ll dump you.”

Toni scoffed and Shelby shut the door behind her. She waited an hour, knowing Toni wouldn’t have the patience to stay up that long, and peeked behind the door.

She was asleep, finally, arm thrown over her eyes, and Shelby sat down beside her, taking her hand in case any monsters arrived in that late afternoon Shelby’d needed to fight off alone. She was strong enough to do it. Toni was strong enough to let her.

Twenty minutes away, a girl’s brain signals spiked, as her body began to long process of healing itself.

[xbunnybunz]

Daybreak (4/?) [Wolf Keum x Reader x Alex Go)

Summary: The day brings to you Alex Go, and in the night, Wolf Keum. Your past is inescapable. They build you up and tear you back down, but this is what you need to survive.

Genre: Romance, Angst, Drama —–

When you pick up the call, Alex is talking to someone else in the background.

The flame of excitement you feel flickers, and for a second you deflate. You stop your stride down the street, shadow falling long from your feet and quivering in the glow of the moon.

Did he dial you by accident?

You hear his voice, but it sounds distant. “—Shut up Ben, I know what I’m doing!”

Another voice you don’t recognize cuts in, sounding like he was holding in laughter.

“Man, Gogo, I think you pressed the call button already.”

“What? Oh shit, you—”

There’s distant, hushed arguing, then loud rustling. Suddenly, Alex Go’s voice is right by your ear, breathy, sounding as sheepish and awkward as ever.

“Oh, hey there! What’s up?”

You feel your lips turn up again, the burning in your chest and cheeks slowly returning. You press a hand to your mouth to stop yourself from laughing.

“You tell me, Alex Go. You’re the one who called, after all.”

There’s a pause, and you can almost see his face now, eyes darting, a dumb smile, leg bobbing with a nervous jitter.

“Hah! Haha. Yep, that’s me. Me who called you.”

He pauses- a thing he does when he’s nervous, and you count, one, two, three seconds until he speaks again.  

“So, ha, what are you up to tonight?”

You think you hear someone give an exasperated sigh in the background, but it could just be a car passing by a street down.

“Not much. Pretty much the same night as all the others.”

You swing one foot in front of another, less focused on taking steps and more focused on balancing on the curb. Wonder if you always felt this way talking on the phone, wonder if it’s just Alex.

Alex hums on the other end, the sound tickling your ear.

“And what about tomorrow afternoon?”

A cartwheel flips in your stomach, and you almost loose footing on the curb. It sounds too smooth, and you bet he’s been practicing it in the mirror. It almost takes you off guard, but you keep a level head.

“What about it?”

There’s a dare in the question, and it sits boldly in the silence hanging between you and him.

He flounders, like you expect him to, but you smile regardless.

“Well I, uh,” He gives a nervous chuckle and your eyes soften. “I was wondering if you’d want to hang out tomorrow."

You give your head a tiny shake, feeling your eyelashes brushing your cheekbones. “Are you asking me on a date, Alex Go?”

He laughs gently, it’s sweet, but there’s a bit of a raw edge from nerves. “It depends how you answer.”

“And if I say yes?”

“Then I’d tell you to meet me at Eungang High School at two thirty, tomorrow.”

The fingers curled around your phone are alight with tingles and you flex your grasp on it, wiggling your toes in your shoes.

“I’ll be there.”

You catch Alex breathing a sigh of relief, attempting to dilute it with an airy chuckle. It’s cute, you think, and funny.

“That’s great- it’ll be great, I promise. I know just the place.”

“Anything’s better than another cup noodle lunch, so I’ll take your word on it.”

Alex laughs, and this time he’s not holding back. It’s real and it’s sunny, warm. It reminds you of something, but you can’t put your finger on it.

“I should’ve known you were still eating that stuff. You’re in for a treat tomorrow, I’ve heard people say their cakes are the best in Yeongduengpo.”

“Sweets, huh? I haven’t eaten out in a while.”

You turn a corner and stop at a red light, the dim scarlet glow splashes over the street, the sidewalk, colors your shoes. When was the last time you hung out with a group of friends? Hung out with anyone?

A thought pops into your mind and you turn back and look at the restaurant you came from.

“No way!” Alex’s voice sings into your ear again, just as the light turns green. “There are so many good places that opened recently, we gotta check them out!”

Your lips curl at his enthusiasm, and you turn back to cross the road. Listen to the tik tok tik tok of the countdown. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it too.”

You can almost hear him smiling through the phone when he pauses, trying to find more things to convey his excitement. But he reels himself back in.

“Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your night, so I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yessir, unless you get cold feet.”

Alex laughs again. “Nothing to worry about then, seeya later.”

“Goodnight, Alex Go.”

You pull the phone away from your ear and stare at the call time, crawling up second by second, until the call drops and the screen goes dim.

The next day rolls around without much nuance. Your head is pounding when you wake up, but not as much as it usually does after a night out.

Was it because you had something to look forward to today, or because you couldn’t drink with Wolf staring you down?

The question bounces around in your head for the duration of your morning classes, but fades by the time you’re pulling up directions to Eunjang High.

The school is relatively easy to find, given it was the only all-boys academies in the area. You wait outside the main gate, and chuckle at all the strange looks you’re getting, no doubt wondering what a student with your uniform was doing at Eunjang.

Eventually you catch a glimpse of black hair and a shock of green eyes in the upcoming wave of students, and wave. Alex perks up and throws up an arm in greeting as well, almost hitting a familiar, bowling-alley-carpet-eating redhead beside him.

Alex claps him a few times on the back in apology, and a taller boy with green hair taps his shoulder and points in your direction, lips moving to form a question.

Your gaze wanders and catches a purple one. The way his eyes shoot through you sends a cold shiver down your spine. His eyes pierce you, like he’s trying to remember something. Then his eyes snap up to your outstretched hand, in a wave. Unnerved, you retract your hand and pull your arms back into your body, turning and placing your back flush against the stone gate.

What the hell was that? You wonder, wringing your hands. Why was there so much space between Alex and his friends from the rest of the kids? Did they have a reputation or something?

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Alex’s face pops up from behind the stone gate, plastered with his usual goofy smile and all your thoughts melt away. Alex Go? A reputation?

“Haha, nothing. Just something silly.” You uncross your arms, brushing a piece of hair behind your ear. “Where did your friends go? They were with you a second ago.”

Alex folds his arms behind his head, leaning back a bit to peer back towards the school. His button down rises a bit, and you have to snatch your eyes away from the tantalizing sliver of skin that unveils itself.

“Ben said he left something in the classroom and made everyone go back with him to get it. He’s so scatterbrained, I don’t know what to do with him.”

You don’t have the heart to tell Alex what the real reason probably was, so you don’t.

You both begin your walk to the location, Alex leading the way.

“So, that uniform is pretty fancy huh?”

You look down at what you’re wearing. “Oh, this?” You tug a bit at the hem of the blazer. “Right, you haven’t seen me in my school uniform yet, huh?”

Alex shakes his head with a smile, his hands in his pockets. “Nope! To be honest, I almost didn’t recognize you. It’s like you’re a whole different person with an academy uniform on.”

You watch your feet next to Alex’s, faux leather uniform shoes beside brand name sneakers, both falling into sync. A bit of a half-smile slips onto your lips, teasing.

“Oh? My clubbing dress isn’t that flattering, is it?”

Alex holds his hands up, pink tinging his ears. “H-hey! You know I didn’t mean it like that!” He rubs the back of his neck abashedly, casting his gaze elsewhere.

“I was just a bit surprised you attend Jagga Academy. I mean, I’ve heard they’re super selective.”

Your smile takes a gentler curve, and you sigh. “Yeah, I studied really hard my eighth year to get in. Those were the days.”

Memories of your younger self flood your mind. You were fresh out of middle school, hopeful, bright, and stubborn. Unstoppable, that’s what all your teachers had used to describe you. A fighter. A writer. And memories they would stay.

His face flashes in your mind, like a haze, like a dream. One second he’s there, then he’s gone. You push the thought back into your mind.

Right now was about having a good time, and you didn’t want to ruin that.

Alex takes a turn and you follow him, willing yourself out of your thoughts.

You look up, skimming the area, unsure of where you were.

You look to the left, just past Alex, and see a familiar karaoke center. You look to your right and see the flash of a familiar scaffolding, leading to a bank you knew the name of without reading the sign.

A cold wash of something creeps up your body, something that feels like a licking flame, a cold fire. It inches up your back and into your fingers, and you ball them up, pressing your nails into your palms until the force has you trembling.

Something in your chest aches, and it keeps twisting, turning, throttling itself in your body and this can’t happen here, not now, not with him, not after being alone for so long.

A hand appears in front of your face, waving.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

You jerk your head up, pearls of sweat beading down your back and dotting your temples.

“Huh? Yeah?”

Alex gives you a look, brows furrowed, and lips pressed together. “Are you alright? You’ve been looking kind of out of it for a while.”

You swallow thickly and give what you hope is a convincing smile, but you can see a glimmer of yourself in Alex’s eyes. Shaking, scared, and shrinking, shrinking, shrinking away.

“Hah, yeah. Sorry, I’m just…”

You trail off. Don’t let yourself finish. You hate that your voice sounds so thin, so weak. You hate how you can’t even finish a sentence because of how your words sound like they’re teetering on the edge of oblivion, scared of falling into that dark, endless pool of vulnerability.

“…Tired.” You choke out, and it sounds like a cough. Feeble and sick.

Alex looks concerned now, but doesn’t ask any more questions.

He looks around, like he’s looking for a distraction, and you hate that he has to do that, hate that you’ve made this awkward, made him feel strange, fucked up this shit, again. It’s just past this block, you think. Then you’ll be fine, this will be fine.

“Hey!” Alex’s fingers graze your arm, and his fingers feel like freezing static on your body. “Look at that!”

He points a finger at something, you don’t know what, so you follow his gaze upward.

“Check it out!”

He jumps up and slaps the hard plastic backing harshly, the sound booms against your ears like a car crash, like any crash, like--

“Me and Ben used to do this all the time!”

Your lips feel dry when they part, you want to ask what he’s talking about, why he did that. But when you speak, no questions come out. Just a small and pathetic squeak,

“Huh?”

His green eyes glitter in the sun, his black hair is tousled, he’s happy and laughing and beautiful but you feel so so cold.

“We’ve been doing it since middle school, haha! We used to have competitions to see who could hit it first on the way home from classes.” He demonstrates with a few swings, but you’re not looking at him.

You turn around to focus on the traffic light again, remembering the noise it made when Alex’s hand struck it, like unrelenting thunder.

“The traffic light?” Voice like crinkling paper.

“Yeah, but there’s kind of a funny story here. There was a day Ben said I wouldn’t be able to slap the top of the traffic light, so I took a running start from half a block down and struck that baby right where it hurts.”

He laughs and it hollows your heart like a great echoing cavern.

“I hit it way too hard though, and the thing started spazzing out. I think it took them like a whole three months to get it replaced!”

Alex smiles fondly at the memory and you try hard to smile with him, but turning up your lips feels like a dreadful task. Your heart thrums in your chest and it feels strained with each beat, like it’s imploring you to run.

There’s a huge storm now, whipping into a hurricane in your head. Two pieces of the same broken person trying to pull themselves together by tearing someone else apart. It’s not his fault, you know. You think this, but you keep seeing his face, those eyes, and the memories stay with you, make it impossible to move on.

You want someone to blame for everything that’s been lost, for every day you’ve had to live with blaming yourself not reacting fast enough, for not doing something.

The screech of tire, the scent of burning rubber, the beeping of the heart monitor echoes in your mind, the clicking of hospital tiles underfoot.

And then you see him. He’s there, illuminated by the halo of yellow light, flickering, flickering, then gone- and instead now you see green eyes, black hair, a radiant smile, and it’s so blinding.

The tik tik tik of a broken stoplight echoes in the back of your mind, like a haunting melody in the abyss of a night.

It couldn’t be Alex, you think, but you can’t stop clenching your jaw. Alex is too sweet, you reason, too kind, too oblivious, too careless, too reckless-

You stop yourself and take a shaky breath in, no. When would you ever learn to stop pointing fingers, to move on from this? Would you ever even get there? This wasn’t anyone’s fault, you think, but it was also yours. No one but yours, who was there and failed to stop it.

And Alex? Well…

You take in another stuttering breath of air and it floods your lungs, and you wonder how long you’ve been holding it. Your hands are shaking, so you push them into your pockets, carefully.

Alex has his gaze turned away from you, but his arm is hovering a bit, like he’s ready to grab you in case you pass out, and only then do you realize how pallid you look, you feel.

…Alex Go, silly, thoughtful, bright Alex Go.

And you remember his smile, the way he shines like the sun when he smiles at you.

Smiles.

At you.

He helped you feel things you hadn’t felt in what seemed like years, he had given you wings to fly with again. And for the temporary moment you were with him, you were free to soar through the endless sky.

You gulp, and feel the warmth of his arm hovering over your body. Like an offer, an invitation. You want to lean in, to lose yourself in his touch, in his grasp. But something is stopping you, and you don’t.

For now, being afar is good enough, it’s as much as you deserve.

You both make another turn and he slows beside you, pulling you out of your trance, a gentle smile on his face, patient, and warm.

“We’re here, (y/n).”