#this fic is turning out a bit longer than I intended lmao

[shingekinomyfeelings]

Cadet Reiner being a tsundere dumbass is just very, very funny to me.

[python333]

need a ride? — python333

— — — —

synopsis ur walking home from school and theres a weirdo following you, luckily the 141 are there and they help u out!! :3

relationships platonic!taskforce 141 & gn!reader.

characters cap. price, soap (for like 2 seconds, so sorry soap enjoyers), ghost, gaz.

word count 2.4k

warnings a creepy old man following [reader], [reader] intended to be in high school, 2nd person pov [you/yours/yourself], usage of y/n [your name].

note i have like 5 drafts and all of them are requests from people so im so sorry i havent been working on those!! i pinky prom once i get the motivation to write them--which probably sounds weird since i wrote this but trust me when i had to force myself to write this lmao--i will be posting them :3 i hope u all enjoy this fic, its all fluff and emotional hurt/comfort + protective-ish 141!!

You really wish you had listened to that first warning light. 

For a whole two days, your car had been in an auto repair shop, because you decided to ignore four whole warnings signs that something was seriously wrong with your car. Suspension and alignment issues, they’d told you yesterday, The wheels need to be realigned, the damaged suspension components need to be replaced, and the whole thing would take a day or two.

Fast forward to now, it’s 3:30 in the afternoon and you’ve been walking from school to your house for about ten minutes. The sun is close to being fully set—one of the worst parts of winter—and there’s been a guy following you for about five minutes now. 

He showed up once you’d exited the school premises and since then had been very determined to follow you home. You obviously did not want this to happen. But it didn’t matter if you walked faster, because he would only match your pace. If you tried to run, you assume, he’d just run after you, and seeing as he had far longer legs than you—you were pretty fucked if you decided to run. 

You would try to call an Uber, but your phone had been dead since fifth period. And you would try and catch a bus or something, but there were no bus stops near where you live, and even if there were, you weren’t carrying any cash or any cards on you. 

So, again, you’re pretty fucked. 

You look back at the man again, and turn your head right back around to look ahead of yourself once you see him looking right back at you, closer than you remember him being. Is he walking faster? Do I have to walk faster? 

You let out a shaky breath and keep walking, speeding up your walk just a bit and widening your strides, trying to think of what you should do. You didn’t want to just lead him to your house, that was just stupid. But you couldn’t just not go home—where else would you go? 

You continue to walk, speeding up a bit when you start to hear the man behind you speed up, and you try to control your panicked breathing. What are you supposed to do? You mentally curse yourself out for not carrying any self defense on your person, and continue your walking. 

Then suddenly, as if they were sent by God himself, you see four men come into view—one with a mohawk, one wearing some sort of skull mask-balaclava, one with sunglasses on even when the sun is almost set, and one with a boonie hat on—all walking together, all engaged in a casual conversation. 

You wonder for a moment if you should try and get closer to them to see if the guy would leave you alone. You hear the guy behind you speed up as you think and you take a deep breath before walking significantly faster to get closer to the men ahead of you. 

Am I really gonna trust a group that has a guy wearing a fucking skull mask in it? You hear the man behind you speed up as well and you speed up in retaliation, trying to think more about what to do, Do I just walk near them or do I straight up pretend I know them?

You think that the second option would be more likely to ward the weirdo following you away, but how would you even go about it? Do you just walk near them, or actually talk to them and join in on their conversation? 

You look behind you again and see the man significantly closer to you.

Deciding to take the risk, you rush up to them, swallowing down your panic when you hear the man behind you’s footsteps speed up to try and match your own speed. 

“Hey, guys!” All four of the guys turn around to look at you, their expressions all varying looks of confusion as you continue to talk, “Crazy seeing you guys here, it— it’s been so long.” 

You try to get as close to them as possible while not touching them and end up standing right by who you assume is the oldest. You try to subtly gesture to the man who was just following you, and the man you’re standing next to seems even more confused for a moment. 

“Uh, I don—” One of his friends cuts him off with a swat to the arm and when he turns his head to look at them in confusion, they nod over at the man whose just now catching up with you, and his mouth shapes into an ‘o’ before he looks back at you with a bit more understanding in his eyes. 

“Right, yeah, it has been really long,” He corrects himself, the other two of his friends catching on and stepping closer to you, almost creating a shield around you. He looks you over for a moment, before asking, “You just get out of school?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I did,” You nod, grateful that they caught on, hoping your gratitude is somewhat apparent, “About ten minutes ago.”

“Nobody picked you up this time?” The older man asks, tilting his head to the side a bit. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the man who’d been following you getting closer, but you force yourself to ignore him. 

“Yeah, no, everyone was kind of busy, so I have to walk home,” You respond, shoving your hands into the pocket of your hoodie to hide their shakiness as the other man stopped to stare at you two’s conversation. 

“Aw, well that sucks,” The other man frowns, before offering, “I was just heading back to my car, I could drive you back to your house? It’s on the way to the hotel we’re staying at, anyway.” 

You hesitate, trying to see if the man who’d been following you was still there, and much to your disappointment, he was. It was like he was just waiting for you to make a decision. 

Not knowing if you had any other choice, you nod affirmatively, “Yeah, sure. If that’s okay.” 

The older man gives you a small smile and pats your shoulder, “Of course it’s okay. I don’t want you just walking out here by yourself.”  

You almost sobbed in relief when you heard the creep that was following you scoff and finally walk back to wherever he came from after hearing that you accepted their offer of a ride. The older man takes his hand off of your shoulder and looks over, noticing the man has left as well, then looks back at you with a more concerned expression on his face. 

“Sorry, I almost gave you away at the beginning there,” He sincerely apologizes. 

“It’s fine, he probably didn’t even notice,” You put on a small smile and take a deep breath before adding on, “Thank you for that. I didn’t think he was ever gonna go away.” 

“Yeah, no problem,” The older man smiles at you, and tacks on, “I was serious about the ride, by the way. If you’re comfortable with that, of course.” 

You pause for a moment at that and think about if you trust them enough to have him drive you to your house and know your address and everything. 

“It’s my car, by the way,” The guy with the sunglasses butts in, “I’m the one paying for it. No clue why he said it was his.” 

“Because it was easier than saying it was yours,” The other guy sighs. 

“Actually—” The one with a mohawk interrupts, before immediately being cut off by the other two with a simple ‘shut up’. He rolls his eyes, and does indeed shut up. 

The one with a skull mask must notice your slight confusion, because he comments, “We’re renting a car for this week. Gaz is paying for it.” 

“Don’t call me Gaz in public,” Gaz grumbles, “That’s weird. Just call me Kyle.” 

“That sounds weirder,” The one with the skull mask argues, before the one with the almost-bucket hat sighs exasperatedly, the sound enough to make the two others shut up. 

“Uh…” All their attention is back on you as you talk, making you resist the urge to shrink back in on yourself, “I mean, if you guys are totally okay with it, then I’d be… okay with getting a ride home.” 

“Great!” Gaz smiles at you before dropping the smile and turning to the one with the skull mask, “You’re getting an Uber or something. I’m not driving you after that.” 

“Wh—” The one in the skull mask, despite you only being able to see his eyes, looks baffled, “I didn’t do anything, fuckin’ kick out Soap or something!” 

“Me? Why me?” The one with the mohawk—Soap, you assume—squawks, watching as Gaz actually thinks about it before nodding. 

“Good point. Soap, call an Uber so…” Gaz pauses before turning to you, “What’s your name, love?” 

You give him your name and he nods before turning back to Soap, “So that [y/n] can take your spot in the car.” 

“I—” Soap begins to argue, before sighing and rolling his eyes, reaching into his back pocket for his phone, “Fine. Whatever. Fuck all of ye.” 

“Sorrows, sorrows, prayers,” Gaz says dryly before turning back to you, “The car’s just another block up.” 

“Got it,” You nod, “So I should just follow you guys then, or…?”

“Yeah,” Gaz confirms, “Stay a little closer in case that guy decides to come back, or if anyone else tries to follow you, alright, love?” 

You nod again and take another step closer to the man with the skull mask and follow everyone else as they continue walking down to their car. They’re silent for the rest of the walk back, the man in the skull mask and the one with the almost-dad-going-fishing-hat keeping an eye out for any creeps while Gaz leads the way to the car. 

Once you’ve all reached the car, Gaz unlocks it and the man in the skull mask and the one in the almost-bass-pro-shops-hat immediately get into the back seats, letting you have shotgun. You mentally thank them for it and wordlessly get into the passenger’s seat, happy that it’s not too dirty in the car, closing the car door once you’re in. 

You buckle yourself in immediately and look right out the front window whilst Gaz gets in. This definitely won’t end up in me being kidnapped, You tell yourself, Totally not. This is the best idea I’ve ever had. Getting in a car with someone who goes by Gaz, someone who wears a mask from Spirit Halloween, and someone’s dad who somehow ended up here. Fucking perfect idea. I should do this more often.

Gaz gets in and buckles himself in, putting the car key into the ignition and twisting it, starting up the engine. You continue to stare out the window wordlessly as Gaz pulls out of the parking lot he’d been in and gets onto the road. 

“Could you give me the directions to get to your place?” He asks you once he’s stopped at a red light right outside of the parking lot. Silently, you nod. 

“Yeah, just, uh, keep going straight then take a left on Monroe,” You instruct him quietly. He nods and presses on the gas once the light turns green, continuing straight like you’d said. 

“You alright?” The bearded man in the back pipes up, making you twist your head back to look at him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” You assure him, half-lying, “Just a little tired and creeped out.” 

“Reasonable,” He hums, before adding on, “I’m John, by the way, and this is Simon.” 

Simon, the dude wearing the Spirit Halloween mask, perks up at the sound of his name, but otherwise doesn’t say anything. 

“Good to know,” You respond, wondering if you should say anything else before awkwardly turning back in your seat to continue staring out the window, watching as Gaz takes a left. 

“Take the next right, then just continue straight and then take a right on Balboa,” You tell him. He nods and takes the next right just as you told him to. 

It’s probably safe to assume they aren’t kidnapping you, You think, your breathing finally back to normal now that you know you’re probably not in any danger. 

“So what’s with the name ‘Gaz’?” You ask Gaz without thinking, tired of the silence in the car. Based on the way Gaz groans and John huffs out a laugh, you assume it’s somewhat of a long story. 

“It’s kind of a long story?” Bingo. “But in short, I just don’t talk too much, and someone decided to make a big deal out of that.” 

“I never made it a big deal!” John insists, all while Simon looks at him like he knows he’s lying, “It’s just a nickname!” 

You listen in on their bickering, grateful to finally have some noise in the car, and huff out a small, amused laugh at their antics. 

Soon enough, Gaz is turning right on Balboa, and he drives right into your neighborhood. 

“It’s the house right up there,” You point to it, and he looks at the house you pointed at and speeds up a bit to reach it faster. 

Once he’s at the house he thinks you pointed at, he asks, “This one, right?” and pulls into the driveway when you nod in confirmation. 

He parks the car in your driveway and turns off the engine, immediately unlocking the car and turning to you. 

“Well, I hope you have a good rest of your day,” He says politely, offering you a smile. 

“Thank you, you too,” You smile back, feeling a little bad for being so eager to get out of the car. Then again, you really just want to get inside of your house where it’s safe, so you quickly unbuckle your seatbelt and open the car door. 

You carefully get out and close it behind you, fishing your keys out from your back pocket, walking up to the front door of your house and unlocking it, only hearing Gaz’s car pulling out of your driveway after you’ve successfully opened your front door. 

You yawn as you walk in, and close the door behind you, toeing off your shoes and leaving them by the front door.

You think, in the back of your head, about how weird it is that you didn’t get kidnapped despite that being the perfect opportunity for them to do so—but you don’t think about it too hard. You’re just grateful to have gotten home safe.

[robinsno1lesbian]

hi! i was wondering if you could do a fic for robin? im actually deprived of hurt/comfort fics for her so maybe reader and robin go to a party tgt and r gets picked on in an uncomfortable conversation? thank you so much lovely <3

𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 & 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 ˖⋆࿐໋

-r.b. x reader

summary: robin comforts you after a homophobic incident at a party. (1.2k)

warnings: hurt/comfort, homophobia, maybe the slightest bit of internalized homophobia too, there’s one homophobic slur in this, lots of fluff & reassurance, let me know if i missed anything!!

a/n: thank you for your request anon!! i hope you like how this turned out! i’m not 100% if this is what you had in mind but it’s the first thing i thought of lmao. anyway thank you for requesting <3

the crimson red of the drink had soaked its way into the thin fabric of your top, leaving a deep mark behind.

you’re muttering curses underneath your breath as you inspect the damage that had been done in your reflection.

this was not how you imagined the evening to go when you’d pictured the graduation party. the party you’d been looking forward to for years. the party you dragged your girlfriend to, even though she despises parties.

now, with the liquid splashed all over you, you wonder if it would’ve been better for everyone involved if you had stayed at home and spent the night with robin instead.

you scoff, reaching over to grab a towel and clean yourself up a little.

mere minutes ago, things had been fine. they had been great. even robin had been having a good time. she’d been excited for you and had promised to come along and be there with you regardless of her feelings about these kind of parties.

you’d been dancing, sharing drinks and laughing. and then there’d been jason.

he’d picked on you before, had snarled slurs at you under his breath when passing by that earned him howling laughter from his friends. he’d never gone this far, though.

the two of you had been dancing together, far enough from each other to avoid suspicious glances -no matter how much you hated the pretending. it had been enough, however, to catch jason’s attention.

robin had caught him staring first, had stepped up the minute he approached you. she couldn’t stop him from emptying his drink over your shirt though, couldn’t undo his hiss of “piss off, dyke”.

you immediately felt tears burning in your eyes, his words like a dagger to your heart. the people around you had obviously heard his words. it’s not like there hadn’t been rumors about you before, but this was different. you’d been the center of everyone’s attention, humiliated by the soaked fabric of your stained shirt and the laughter that went through the crowd at the scene.

you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of crying in front of them, so you pushed through the room, away from him, away from robin calling your name.

and now you’re here.

you dry up the mess in silence, listening to the music that is still blasting through the house, its source being somewhere downstairs.

before you can dwell in the thoughts of the previous events any longer, the bathroom door is swung open with way too much force.

you look up immediately, meeting a familiar pair of eyes in the mirror.

robin.

"oh" robin says, returning your stare. "y/n���

"it's fine” you immediately tell her, looking back at your reflection. it comes out harsher than intended.

"it’s not fine" the taller girl closes the door behind her as she enters the room. "it’s not fine at all"

she shifts awkwardly, her gaze wandering from her own reflection, then back to yours.

"are you alright?" she whispers.

your eyes burn. you’re cold. the stain won’t fade. you’re not alright. and regardless of the fact that you don’t want to break in front of your girlfriend, your shoulders are trembling before you even know it.

“oh baby” immediately, robin is by your side and wraps her arms around your body from behind. “oh baby, baby, baby, baby”

she soothes you in that raspy voice you love so dearly.

“don’t cry” robin whispers. “or do. whatever you need. i’m right here with you okay? i’m here”

your body shakes with the force of your sobs, and not even her hands on your shoulders manage to soothe you yet.

“it’s not fair” you manage. “it’s not fair”

“i know” she murmurs against your temple. “i know it’s not baby”

you try to get your breathing back under control, your vision blurry from the tears you’ve cried.

“i just wanna love you” you tell her. “what’s wrong with that?”

“love” she coos, gently loosening her grip on you, if just to spin you around and cup your face. her own eyes seem glossed over. “there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this okay? nothing”

“it’s not that i feel like there is” you go on. “but people like jason- people like him- they-“

“there will always be people like jason and i hate that. i hate that there are people who wanna see you hurting for who you are. people who wanna see anyone hurting, really”

robin kisses your forehead once more.

“but it’ll be easier, okay? we’ll get out here and it’ll be easier and then, as we get older, it’ll get easier too”

“we’ll get out of here?” you croak and look up at her. your mascara has stained your cheeks by now and your eyes are swollen. robin still looks down at you as if you’re the most precious thing she has ever laid her eyes on.

“yeah” she promises. “yeah we’ll get out of here and- and we’ll go to rome. or to paris. anywhere! operation croissant, remember? we’ll go somewhere where nobody knows who we are. and then i can love you just a little bit louder”

you huff against her shoulder.

“see?” robin smiles proudly. “you’re smiling again. that’s good! that’s go- hey! no don’t stop now“

her index fingers poke your cheeks, trying to get you to smile again. „put it back“

„okay, okay“ you chuckle wetly.

robin’s expression softens and she brushes a strand of hair out of your face. “you’re so pretty you know?”

you blush and look down at your feet.

“don’t look away” robin hums, her voice endlessly soft as she’s holding your chin between her index and her thumb. “don’t look away. you are. you’re so pretty”

your cheeks are soft and rosy by now, her compliments evidently affecting you.

“i love you okay?” she says, slightly more urgent. “i love you. and I’m not gonna apologize to anyone for loving you. not to jason. not to anyone”

“you love me?” you repeat, voice shaky and weak.

“of course i do. so so much” robin assures, with all the conviction in the world.

“i love you too”

the two of you remain silent for a moment, letting the words linger between the two of you. in the end of the day, you realize, it could be the two of you against the rest of the world and it wouldn’t change a single thing. it wouldn’t change the sense of safety only her arms can offer you, it wouldn’t change the way your heart races whenever you get to kiss her. it wouldn’t change the way you love her.

„seriously though“ robin says after a minute. „do you feel better? a little bit?”

“hmh” you nod and wrap your arms back around hers. robin’s height had always been perfect, just tall enough for you to rest your head on her shoulder. like this, you can close your eyes and let her hold your weight.

“that’s good” you feel her putting her chin on top of your head. “that’s good baby”

“i think I just wanna go home”

“we can do that” robin rubs circles over your back. “we can do that baby. i just wanna make sure you’re okay”

“i will be” you lean back, chin against her chest. “i will be”

“okay” robin says. “i’ll take you home yeah? we’ll have our own party”

you hum against her.

you know, then, that everything is gonna be okay after all, that you’ll still have the graduation celebration you wanted.

[jillsandwhichs]

Our Future Day's

Joel Miller x Reader series , Chap 1 , Move in day

Masterlist

Pairing: Fem!reader x Joel Miller

Summary: You officially move from oregan to texas and get to meet your very new & handsome neighbor, Joel

WC: 3.1k

Type: SFW

Some thing's you need to know before reading: this is a series, not a one shot collection! you (the reader) already have a semi premade backstory. first off, you're originally from oregon. you studied at med school and got a job offer in texas to become a doctor, which you took. you are 23 in this but if you don't like that, imagine any age (18+) and i did make joel younger 26 (until the 20 year time jump, he'll be 46) but he does still have sarah, just pretend it's not wonky LMAO! one more thing, ya have a dog in this fic, he's a boy but imagine any breed you'd like! aside from that, this is tlou game version but i included some sides from the show! a couple more things: 1. all characters from tlou1/2 will be mentioned/featured. 2. this takes place before outbreak, then eventually outbreak day, then eventually in the apocalypse. 3. this is a slow burn romance (drabbles of it in each chapter though, esp when it progresses) and does feature a decent amount of smut. 4. JOEL NEVER DIES!!!

A/n: Hi! Hope you all enjoy. Please check out my masterlist, there's a lot of stuff there. You can get to know me, you can see the rules of my blog and then you can see all of my fanfictions. You'll be able to find the previous chapters to this fic and upcoming ones. You'll also be able to find my Wattpad & AO3. Thank you

Tapping your fingers on the steering wheel, you matched the beat of the song playing on your cars radio. It was a song by Blake Shelton. You weren't a huge fan of him but he had some classics. It has been such a long day for you. You've been driving for the past two hours, not a single break in between. You just wanted to get to your new home as soon as you could. You could tell your dog, Becker, needed to go potty as well. He'd just have to hold out.

The GPS on your phone stated you were only about ten minutes away. The center of Austin TX was busy as all hell, so that time span could get longer by the second. So many cars & people flooded the streets. "God dammit." You mumbled to yourself, rolling your eyes as you seen all the upcoming traffic ahead. This was going to be a long night. You had no clue when you'd even be able to get into bed. Then again, it was only 4:30 in the afternoon, almost evening.

Behind you, in the backseat, you could hear Becker whimpering & whining. "Don't worry boy, we're almost home, just a little bit longer." You cooed to him, reaching your right hand back and allowing him to lick you. You got Becker as a graduation gift a few weeks ago. You two have bonded ever since. You were never a cat person, dog's were more of your style. "You'll be able to go potty soon." You said to him, pulling your hand back up and holding onto the wheel.

Traffic wasn't going as slow as you intended, was traffic always going to be like this though? This ain't going to be pleasant if so. Especially working for the hospital. Imagine an emergency happens and you're needed but the roads are packed, that's going to be one helluva time. But, you wanna think positively. You missed your family too. It's going to be hard without them, especially your mom. She is your number one supporter and without her in the same home as you, it'll be a large change.

You turned the radio up, hearing the country music blast throughout your car but not loud enough to scare your dog. Dogs ears are sensitive and you didn't wanna bother him further than he already was. No doggo wants to be stuck in a car all day, especially in this heat. Despite it being early September, it was still quite warm out. That's another big change from Oregon, you imagine that back home, it's either really windy or heavily raining. The change could be nice though.

The sound of Becker panting was clear as day, it only made you feel more guilty. "Hold on baby." You muttered to him before you then rolled your window down and the window directly behind you, not a lot though, you didn't want him to jump out or something. Through your rearview mirror, you could see his slobbery tounge blowing in the wind as he stuck his head out the window. "Hah, good boy!" You giggled, turning left onto the exit, finally getting off of this miserable highway.

Finally, the road wasn't full anymore. It was a downtown rural area now, cars slowly made their way through the town. Austin is busy, yes, but this side of it, not so much. The only logical reason it was super busy on the highway and earlier roads was because people are getting/going to work. Your first day at the hospital is on Monday. You were nervous but in a great way. You have been non stop thinking about it. All of the work you've put in and you're officially where you wanted to be. Life was going good... For once...

You passed by all sorts of different places. Gas stations, fast food chains, locally owned stores & stands, it felt so honey. Back in Oregon, you lived in the center of the city, it was always so lively and never calm. Austin is like that too but not as bad, and definitely not as bad as Dallas is. You were grateful you didn't end up moving there or even somewhere that was worse. Austin was a good enough fit for you.

The GPS showed you were only a minute or two away from home, your heart was racing a bit. You've never been on your own before and you least expected it to be in a completely different state. Luckily, a week from now, you'll be going back home for the weekend. It'll be comforting. You'll definitely make sure to call your family everyday, you made sure they knew that too. They'd have to simply put up with it.

You could tell you were getting closer due to the change in scenery. There weren't any establishments around these parts, just either compact or extensive suburban homes. You actually used to make fun of those perfect American families who lived in these types of areas but look at you now. Back home, you lived in a small house, only two bedrooms but you were an only child so it was never a problem. You did wish for siblings growing up but you understand now that if you had some, things would be a whole lot different.

As you turned left, the tracker built into your phone made a dinging noise, indicating you had arrived at your destination. It wasn't wrong. Just to the left, you could see your newly purchased home. It made your heart skip a beat. Not only were you nervous but you were also so happy. You glimmered as you pulled right into the driveway and set your car in park. You could tell Becker knew this was your guy's new home, his whimpers weren't ones of boredness but rather excitement. "One second." You sighed out before getting out of the car.

Stepping out of your car, you sighed softly as you breathed in the fresh air. The smell of outside was always so welcoming. You grabbed your purse out of your car too and swung it across your shoulder. It was a brown leather purse with an embroidered strap. You then opened up the backseat so Becker could jump on out. "Stay over here buddy." You chuckled out, scratching the top of his head a few times before closing both doors. You had quite a bit of stuff in your trunk & backseat but you hired a truck to drive all of your other belongings here. It wouldn't be there for another day or so.

Becker ran off to the side of the house to go potty ; You trusted him enough to not run off. He was a good dog. You went to the back of your car and popped open your trunk. It was a mess but everything you needed for the night was in there. You even bought an air mattress, your back would die trying to sleep on a wooden floor. You grabbed the first two boxes, they weren't very big, and set them on the concrete of your driveway. They just had toiletries in them.

You grabbed out another box, this one was a bit bigger than the other two. It had all of your kitchen appliances in it. You were excited to cook your very first dinner in your very own home. You already decided on making Pesto Pasta, one of your favorites. In your trunk, there was the air mattress box. It wasn't going to be the best way to sleep but it'd have to suffice for the night, your proper bed should be in either tomorrow or on Sunday.

Whilst grabbing out the air mattress, you heard the sound of a truck driving past and pulling into the driveway across from you. They must've been your neighbors. Your neighbors back home weren't the nicest. There were the Johnson's so were beyond uppity and thought they were better than everyone else, they lived beside you. Then there was Cassandra and Cody, they were your age and pretty kind except they were literal kleptos.

You ignored the truck behind you, just trying to get everything you needed for the night. You could hear Becker barking but you didn't know what it was he was doing it at. You figured a wild animal, maybe a bunny or a stray. Becker was actually from a shelter, you'd never buy an animal from PetSmart or whatever. "Becker, quit your barking!" You shouted at him, nudging him to come over to you. Maybe he wasn't good with new environments.

You placed the last cardboard box from your trunk on top of another one, shooting your eyes to look at Becker. He was looking at the truck across the street, barking at it. "Oh boy, quit it." You spoke out to him but he didn't listen. You went to grab onto his collar but right as you did, he bolted off into their driveway. He was a friendly dog, you didn't think he'd do anything bad, he was just inquisitive, but it was still bad of him to run off like that.

"Becker!" You yelled, jogging across the street to grab him. You watched as two men got out of the black truck. The one in the driver's seat had a mullet and lighter hair than the other man, he also seemed shorter. The other one though had short dark hair, although you couldn't tell if it was purely brown or black. He was well built, along with the other man. Were they brothers? That's the only assumption that came to mind.

Once you reached their driveway, you grabbed Becker and pulled him back to you. The man getting out of the passenger seat looked back at you and had a puzzled look before letting out a chuckle beneath his breath. "Listen, I'm so sorry, he's just curious." You sighed out. Becker was now listening as he sat down right by your feet. "Sorry, we'll be out of your hair." You giggled, beginning to turn around before you heard the man's voice speak up.

"You just move in across the street?" He asked you, his voice sounded southern and it was very deep. "Oh uhm, yeah, just got here tonight actually." You said kindly, looking back at him again. "Well, welcome then, and to your dog." He snickered out. "I'm Joel, this is Tommy." Joel spoke deeply, pointing over at the other man. You let the two men know your name before asking them whether or not they were brothers, and they were. You weren't surprised, they did share similar facial features.

"Where are you from?" Joel raised, his arms crossed. His arms were huge, he definitely has a nice body. "I'm from Oregon." You said softly, placing your slender hands onto your waist. "Damn, that's a long ways out. What made you move all the way here?" "Got a job offer at the hospital." You said with a titter, his accent was thick. "Oh, you a nurse or something?" He questioned, leaning up against his truck. "No, a doctor. Recently gradated from medschool." You explained, glancing over at his brother as he walked into the house. Maybe they lived together.

"Well how bout that? I'm just a contractor." "That's nice." You added, tucking strands of your thin hair behind your ear. "Yeah, yeah, well I'll let you continue settling in. If you need any help with uh larger furniture, me and my brother can stop by, we helped the Adler's when they first moved in." Joel said with a deep voice, pointing his index to the home beside his. "That would be great, thanks, luckily I don't have to deal with the bullshit of larger furniture today, it'll be in either tomorrow or Sunday."

"Alrighty, well, you have yourself a good evening. See you." Joel said with a sly smirk, slowly inching backwards. "You too, Joel." You gave him a slight smile before patting Becker to follow behind you. You made your way across the street, allowing Becker to run around in his new yard. You took a gander back and seen Joel looked back at you before entering his home. When you saw his eyes on you, you felt a deep pit in your stomach. Nothing bad, rather just glee or something. You couldn't pin it.

Around your neck was a lanyard, it had the key to your home, you assumed it was locked. At least you hoped, you don't want any squatters inside. You unlocked the white door and opened it, stepping inside of it. The sunset beamed in through the windows throughout the house. It was still dark though, every single light was switched on. The seller said you'd have to go to the basement to switch them all on. That sounded like a fun time!

One by one, you dragged each box into the home, keeping some on the floor and placing some on the island counter. You didn't plan on unpacking any of it tonight, you were restless and just wanted to lay down for the night, despite it only being 5 PM. The more sleep you get, the easier it'll be tomorrow. You definitely had to get a lot of sleep Sunday considering on Monday, you start your first day. Even though it's just training, you wanna be as awake as possible.

You ambled towards the front door again and away from the kitchen to call Becker in. He'd have to deal with the floor for the night. He is a cuddly dog, he loves big comfy areas but without a bed or a couch, there's no way. "Becker!" You said with a rowdy voice, "C'mon baby." He came running over to you and past your legs, going into the house and treading around like a mad man. "Oh good boy." You chuckled, petting him gently.

You walked back over to the kitchen and grabbed the air mattress, you needed to get it open and blown up. It was sealed to a T, your nails were definitely not enough to get it open. Striding towards the appliances box, you opened it up and searched through it, taking out a knife to slice it open. You are quite clumsy so you were praying you wouldn't stab the mattress on accident. It didn't help that Becker felt the need to push himself up against you, seeking attention & love as if he's starved from it.

"Back off boy." You snorted, pulling the mattress out of it's box. It was all wrinkled up and looked compact. Although it was the size of a Full. You straightened it out on the living room floor, you didn't feel like carrying it all the way up the stairs. It came with a machine to blow it up and you connected it to the black cylinder hole, turning it on and hearing the loud blowing noise it was making. You didn't have any pillows, they were all packed up in that truck but luckily, you had a blanket, it was the one you let Becker use in the backseat when you were driving.

"You stay here mister." You stated out to Becker before beginning to make your way out of the front door to take the blanket out from the car. As you went outside, you noticed a bright light was on in Joel's house, just in one room though. You could also see the shadow of a smaller person's body walking through said room. Did he have a girlfriend? Or did Tommy have one? Maybe it was Tommy's. You convinced yourself of that at least.

After grabbing the blanket, you walked back inside and seen Becker already making himself a spot on the bed, despite it barley being inflated. "You little shit." You grinned, tossing the fuzzy blanket on top of him. Guess you were going to have to share.

The bed was officially ready to be slept on, you haven't been this excited to sleep in a very long time. Back home, you dreaded it. You would stay up all night, doing different stuff. Whether it was studying, painting, reading, working out, etc.. You were always doing something new. With Becker, it's been better. You're an affectionate person and he is as a dog. It may be a rough night, it always is sleeping somewhere new, but with him it may be easier.

Pulling the machine away from the bed, you turned it off and climbed underneath the blanket, feeling immediate warmth. The Texas heat also played a part in that. Back in Oregon, you had a heater beside your bed to help, you definitely didn't need one here. "Alright." You whispered to yourself, Becker lying right beside your feet, his fur was cozy. You were originally going to turn the lights on to your home but honestly, you were scared to go down there all alone, a pitch black basement? No thanks.

Trying to sleep in a new area was hard. You felt homesick. You miss your old room, the house noises, the feeling of it. You lived there your entire life, now you're thousands of miles away. Becker probably felt that way too, especially with how he connected with your father, they bonded. A week from now though, you'd be able to see them. It'd be easier. Another thing you couldn't stop thinking about was that man - Joel.

He seemed so different. He was kind & understanding, and that's just simply based on the short conversation the two of you had together. He was so willing to help you out, no one else was like that. It was a sweet welcoming. He was also very handsome. All the men back home weren't like that. That glimmer in his eyes wasn't something to ignore. It was the way he gazed at you that had you wrapped around the thought of him.

That brother of his was good looking too, definitely not as much, but either way. Were they both contractors? It appeared as though they had just left work so maybe they work together. And who was that smaller person walking throughout his house earlier? Had to be a girlfriend. A daughter? No way, the two of them looked to young to even have children. There was still a chance though, teen pregnancies aren't uncommon. You presume you'll deal with a lot of them as a Doctor.

Your eyes felt more & more heavy. Becker's deep breathing made you weary too. The pitch blackness of the room was helpful ; White sound would've been helpful too. Sleeping in complete silence was torture. All you could really hear was your dog and your own breathing. You were completely spent for the day. And you were ready to hit the hay.

Divider Creds: animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[septemberlikeastorm]

hi! love your acolyte fic on ao3 <3! i was wondering how you manage to pace your story so well and if you have any advice for new fic weiters on pacing out longer fics? i'm working on my first ever fic but i'm really struggling with keeping my chapters from being all over the place or certain scenes not progressing as far as i'd like them to.

ahhh hello my friend, thank you for being so kind & i am so glad you are looking to start writing fic!!!!

the really ugly & unsatisfying answer is experience, you can't tell from my ao3 profile but i am a battle-hardened fic veteran come from the trenches of FFN.net, riparoni to a real one

hopefully the more helpful & immediately applicable answer for a new fic writer is, i personally never think about pacing, only about throughlines, by which i mean, i never really am trying to go TO somewhere, but rather come FROM somewhere in the story

which looks like: i CONSTANTLY reread earlier chapters (or, if i've not begun the work yet, religiously pore over the canon) & go okay, what's been left open-ended? which character is pushing themselves too hard & bound to collapse soon? when they collapse, how does the other character react? what does Character B's reaction to the collapse reveal to Character A? etc

a concrete example is: i never ever conceived of the scene at the end of chapter 3 of cascade ocean wave blues come, where osha's interrogating qimir over his intentions toward her. i'd planned to end that chapter with them having Brat Summer but it was getting way too long (because when you write like this, all scenes progress WAY further than you ever intended, it's why my chapter count keeps rising lmao) & i needed to come up with something else meaningful to end the chapter on

so i reread what i'd written so far & said okay, osha's been having a really overwhelming day where she's discovering she really gets along well with this guy who Murdered Her Friends & she's kind of starting to understand why he did it & see that potential for violence in herself which is pretty upsetting, on top of which she's just found out he also kills for pay, which like, what the fuck but in the same breath he assures her, very seriously but also very casually, that if anyone hurt even a hair on her head he'd raze an entire planet. & they've known each other for like two weeks

& like. how's a girl meant to respond to all that at once??? so i thought an impactful way to end the chapter might be to have her try to take stock of the situation by asking what he really wants from her, a scene i'd never planned on but turned out to be one of my favorites & be really well-received by readers!

so hopefully this approach might help push scenes to progress fully/really allow you to mine each one for all its potential? as for chapters being all over the place, i think what could help is applying this method of unspooling threads from canon/past chapters not just to plot beats but to themes & metaphors

so for example, i never started cascade intending to liken qimir's most intimate feelings to shattering & to red birds, those were just throwaway lines from the first chapter that, upon obsessive rereads, i thought i could beat the horse dead about extend further to explore how his perceptions of himself & of his capacity for love & joy evolve throughout the story

& even if you've got a chapter that doesn't feel, in terms of action, like a cohesive whole, if you can touch on those themes/metaphors/that emotional through-line in most of the scenes, it can really tie everything together & show how a character's emotional journey carries a story through chapters & to the end - not necessarily to where you'd started the fic intending to go

i hope that is even A Little Bit helpful!!!!!

[hunter-sylvester]

12, 25, 36 & 44? 🧡

(got very rambly here)

12. what is something you want right now? For life to give me a break, mostly. Everything's been a bit too much lately. (Largely due to positive stuff like gender care finally starting but just in general too.) Also the focus/motivation/inspiration to work on my Halloween fic. Or any of my WIPs really, I just wanna write T-T

25. role model It feels like this should have a very obvious answer but Hunter's not really that much of a 'role model.' He's less aspirational and more just painfully relatable. I honestly don't know if I really do role models...they'd kind of always have to be fictional because looking up to celebrities is turning out to be...pretty risky. Especially as a trans person. I guess the 1st character that really comes to mind for ones I look up to is Buffy. So yeah, Buffy might be the closest thing I have to a 'role model'

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill? 1 - Become comfortably proficient at playing guitar (at my current level I just get annoyed at not being good enough so practicing is not super fun lol which makes getting better go slower, fun stuff) 2 - Publish an original novel. 3 - Getting my fucking tits chopped off & being able to talk without hating my voice due to dysphoria.

Lumped the last 2 together because they're both trans related. I very much intend to fulfill all of these.

44. age you get mistaken for I used to get routinely mistaken for an adult/older. Now I'm told I look like a teenager...but I also won't get ID'd half the time?? So the age I get mistaken for is: all of them /j I don't even know anymore. And neither does everyone else I guess lmao

Thank you for sending 🖤🤘🦇 This took way longer to type out than it should have because doing so while you're in a discord call with multiple people is kinda hard lol

[sparkles-and-trash]

The dabihawks new years fic will be out on new years day, I’m actually quite happy with it! ♥️

It turned out a bit longer than intended, and is a one shot in stead of two chapters, but it’s silly and sweet and actually turned out quite similar to how I wanted it to, which is rare for my fics lmao ~

[laurelnose]

how are we feeling about book of hours? or have you left your cultist sim phase

I was a bit confused by this ask bc I’m actually pretty active in Secret Histories fandom and then I remembered my activity for this fandom happens to be like, exclusively on reddit and the wikis, lmao. My Secret Histories phase has not ended, anon! I am always thinking about the Histories!!

Book of Hours: good! I find myself tripped up by choice paralysis every time I get ready to commit a History to paper (it takes so much LONGER to do a Librarian run than a Cultist run, Alex, I know you didn’t actually intend for us to replay the game 100+ times but also 😭) but it’s fun it’s cozy!

It is just flatly not as good or tight an experience as CS — some of the writing is weaker, like the proliferation of just... existing quotes from elsewhere? and the humor attempts are a little ehh; there are still missing features, tho’ yes, these are being worked on at an impressive rate; the replayability is not really there, on purpose — but Cultist Simulator is really fucking good, so BoH falling a touch short isn’t much of a criticism at all. I genuinely really like it and have very much enjoyed the lore-digging. There’s soooo much new stuff abt my problematic apostate fave 🩵 Coseley and Naenia? Coseley and an Hour from Nowhere? Delightful! The patches have been big QoL improvements. Plus I can’t discount the part where the first time I launched the game and the SH kachunk sound played it just—felt like coming home, and that feeling didn’t abate at all as I started working through the Library.

I’m waiting for DAYMARE before I start another descent (and, like, I also need to finish BG3 before Stardew 1.6 drops? besides all the holiday stuff I gotta get through in the next couple months) but I’m gonna do Magnate next I think. I’m a Moth/Lantern sucker so my past Librarians have been mostly the Twice-Born and the Prodigal. Time for Edge!

anyways here you can have a little sad Christopher fic snippet, as a treat

-

The Hotel Ciervo offers a continental breakfast. You pass over the buns and pastries glistening with sugar glaze, the sausages thick and dripping fat, the scrambled eggs beat to improbable voluminosity. You do not fear to eat the food of the Long. (Haven’t you eaten enough of it between your lovers?) But you lack any appetite.

You get a cup of Dawnlion coffee to have something to do with your hands and take it into the Hart Room. Choose a table near to one of the floor-length windows overlooking the glittering waters. In the distance you can see the fog-elided outline of Raven Isle’s caldera. It’s something to look at as you nurse your coffee and wait.

You’re not sure how long it is. Time in the Isles passes more like a memory than an experience, and you’re in a poor state of mind to keep track regardless. But presently a man of middling height with his dense curls cropped close to his head pulls out the chair across from you.

“So, what was so important that you needed to come to Noon in person?”

Coseley will look just as you remember him. He always does; he has been Long for centuries before your own birth. Out of the corner of your eye you see his fingers still long and graceful, his palms smudged with the walnut ink he favors, as he sets his teacup on the table and sits down. When you turn your head from the window and meet his gaze, his face is unchanged as expected. No new lines crease the deep warm brown of his cheeks; no fearsome new depth of Winter shines out of his familiar frost-pale eyes. Further heights of the Mansus have been closed to Julian for almost as long as he has been immortal, and thus he remains as he was when he first ascended.

You know he does not see the same changelessness in your face, the face of an occultist of middling power who is feeling the march of time, for no denizen of the Mansus are you. You are, and remain, merely mortal. You must not be able to keep the desolation out of your eyes, because his brows draw together like an oncoming cold front.

“Where is Teresa, Christopher?”

[venomous-soliloquy]

39, 45, 49. ❤️

39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?

There's a few aspects, although if you asked me to outright pinpoint who inspired them, I'm not certain I'd be able to answer. There's a few fanfic authors that use lots and lots of — em dashes and from them I learned to love the fuck out of them.

In addition to that, single word breaks between things like.

He couldn't believe his eyes—what he was seeing in front of him. Terrified. Unequivocally, absolutely, he was terrified.

And I know I learned somewhere the whole thing with playing around with italic, bold, and bold italic to add more emphasis to something. But that was at least ten years ago, and I'm not certain any longer.

I read a lot. I used to read even more. It's hard to remember where every little bit comes from, unfortunately.

⋆

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

Dialogue. While dialogue definitely is something that seems to have come naturally to me in general (it's probably all those years sitting at the table with adults and listening to them talk as a wee tot) it's gotten exponentially better over the years.

⋆

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Technically I haven't been working on ANYTHING writing wise in the last few weeks. But I have restarted a gift intended for my girlfriend (as you know because I've already shared this with you lmao) over two years ago. So that's what everyone is gonna get a chunk of.

When they finally arrive at the cabin, Steve sees a flash of lighting, followed by an almost deafening crack and roll of thunder moments later. They’re inside, before it happens again. There’s still laughter on their lips as they all but tumble through the door, but soon the mirth is replaced with the sound of teeth chattering and the drip, drip, drop of rain soaked clothes. Quickly they are creating large puddles on the welcome mat just inside the door. Steve shakes his head, amused as droplets of water fling this way and that and, he licks at his lips, catching a few on his tongue. He turns to Tony and, he means to say something… But, whatever that something is, it’s lost immediately as he looks at the man standing next to him. He’s struck with the fact that no one has any right to look so good in waterlogged clothing, with their hair plastered to their head and their lower lip quivering from the cold. And, yet, Tony does. His shirt and jeans are stuck to him like cellophane, and this close Steve can see the rise of goose flesh along his clavicles. Painted across his cheeks is a rosy red flush, and Steve… Steve barely remembers to breathe. Longer than he means to, he stares, until Tony’s dark brown eyes meet his. Despite the cold clinging beneath his skin, Steve feels the telltale heat of an embarrassed flush making its way over the rise of his cheeks. He shivers and a moment later, Tony offers him a smile. It almost seems knowing. Perhaps he’s just seeing things. “What?” Tony asks, after another moment, inclining a brow. “Huh? Oh—uh. Nothing, really, I was just considering taking a shower to warm up. Looks like you might need it more than me.” Steve replies, and the shower is absolutely something he made up on the spot. Tony’s grin becomes broader, seeming to be even more knowing than before and Steve wants to fidget under the scrutiny. There’s no way Tony knows what he was actually thinking. That Tony knows how Steve actually feels about him. If there was, he would have said something by now—Tony is many things, but none of those has ever been bashful.  After another handful of seconds, Tony shakes his head. “Naw. Have at it, Cap. I’ll get changed and start a fire while you’re in there.” It’s as those words leave Tony’s lips that Steve realizes that now he has to commit to his lie. The alternative is to admit it was a lie and then be forced to explain why, exactly, he’d been staring at Tony. He doesn’t see that going over well—how does one explain being hopelessly in love with their best friend without alienating them in the same breath? It’s easier to go with the lie. “Okay. Thanks, Tony,” Steve says, and he turns and makes his way into the singular bedroom the cabin contains.

[causticsunshine]

flood it like a tidal wave?? I’m curious!!

hiii laur 💗

ok this one is for a fic fest due next year and it's an o/o omegaverse piece, which is something i haven't written for a hot minute but am very excited to get back into! HL are also a bit younger than they are now—ngl i really just wanted to write some LHH without realistically committing to the irl timeline of making him uni age as well—and while i'm still torn between two career paths for harry.... i'm making louis into a tattoo artist 👀

the title is also kind of a dead giveaway to the main plot + fic prompt lmao, so yes expect it to be Spicy, even if it's not going to be as porn-heavy as i originally intended just because i find if i'm writing anything slightly longer and it's mostly all PWP, it's a lot harder for me to actually sit down and write it because i have to be in a particular.... mood to get things done like god why is writing porn so exhausting??

and i'm rewriting my introduction right now, but here's a tiny section i'm planning on keeping.

“I just… I don’t get what the big deal is, that’s all” Harry sniffs, crossing his arms. 

He knows he’s being defensive, childish. Not at all coy about it. Mock that of which you desire for the sake of compensation. But everyone just keeps on talking about it, relating, sharing stories, and he just, well. He’s completely out of the loop and he does not like it.

And it only makes him feel silly when Louis steals but two whole seconds to consider his ruse and deadpans, “So you’re jealous.”

Harry, of course, is quick to defend his own honor, rolling his eyes and giving his head a little shake.

“I am, I am not—“

To which Louis only gives a hard look over his latte. Already decided. His forehead wrinkles slightly as one brow arches slowly upwards, yeah right.

“I’m not,” Harry hisses, petulant.

He scowls at Louis as he sips his cappuccino loudly, in turn accidentally scalding the tip of his tongue as some of the milky espresso slips up under the foam. He winces and sticks his poor burnt tongue out at Louis when he then has the nerve to laugh.

[andthebubbles]

edited that bit in ch13.5 yayyy (ch13.5 as in, it's still part of ch13/i intend to post it as one, but it's quite a long chapter so i have a heading separator thing so that i'm not scrolling forever in the gdoc); anyway it'll go through subsequent edits but yeah that's done-ish/done for now (turns out all i needed was a lil bit of (mental) peace and quiet)

but heh. yeah. anthony's really going through it... for all of arc 2. delicious.

we're on about 75k words atm, last i checked; when i get over 80k/when i notice i get over 80k, i'm sure i'll make a post, bc sebis fic is 80k and... yeah i think i've written longer fics than that but they were unfinished and way too sprawling (or maybe they weren't longer than 80k? who knows, i'm not gonna check)

anyway. 75k words and still in arc 2 (out of 4). and i still wanna write the simon/anthony fic skjfgfkjg

idk why it's so long actually?? not THAT much has happened... or has it... (basically, they meet at oxford, benedict finds out that anthony's adopted (and there's a lot more here of ~anthony info/his life in this AU/growing up working class on a ship etc), and thennn on their second london trip they end up having to stay at bridgerton house, and benedict refuses to court him ~because he's not good enough, but then they go to a ball, and then berbrooke shows up, anthony freaks out, then violet shows up/is already at bridgerton house when they return, and benedict freaks out and shoves anthony in an inn (skdjgfkg benedict is such an arsehole (in canon too and i get WHY, i totally get it)))

anyway... how is that 75k words............. perhaps character development lmao and sfkgjfkfgjn

but i did miss mentioning a lot of stuff, but somehow it didn't seem that important. but i did enjoy writing it regardless...... eh, idk

[sublimecatgalaxy]

Okay but I will beg for an awkward, cute Daryl one bed trope confession fic. 👀 I feel like I haven’t seen nearly enough of them for him.

I live this out in my head at least six times a day.

Also this has way more of a plot than I intended and way longer than I intended, 2k lmao, but. Ya know me.

(Gif off of pinterest. not mine)-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Didn't have to come out here, ya know." Daryl mumbles, stripping himself out of his poncho as he sets it out to dry, whistling to Dog as I shift my weight back and forth between my feet. From what I've gathered from Carol's stories, Dog was possibly the best thing to happen to Daryl in a really long time. He was a loyal companion, he's kept Daryl safe, and I can only imagine that he's been a comfort to him like he was to me all those years.

My hands itch to reach out to him, to hug him, to be back in his arms after all this time. After Rick, he took off, unable to move on and unable to accept Rick's untimely death. It was a hard experience to move on from, to grow as a civilization following the explosion at the bridge. But we all had to do it, even Michonne eventually had to set herself back down on earth and be there for her kids.

But Carol has been trying to convince him for years to come home, to go to any of the locations to at least be safe and sound with other people, other people he claimed to love and care for at one point. But he didn't want to, he wanted to be on his own, without anyone holding him down. He claimed it was how it should've been from the start.

This was the longest we'd gone without seeing each other since we've known each other, since the beginning of this whole thing. The longest I've gone without seeing him, being near him, high-fiving him, anything.

It took me months to get his location out of Carol's beautiful mind, begging and pleading and doing her jobs. I worked in the mud, I made food, I worked with people I hated to work with, I babysat Negan for hours and hours on end just to be able to come and see the man who's currently acting as if I'm not even here.

Daryl still doesn't realize how much he was missed. How much he is missed.

"It's been three years, Daryl." I sit down on the log in front of the fire, watching him as he works around the camp, ignoring the obvious- ignoring me. "I came all the way out here for you, will you please just talk to me?" I plead, shivering a bit as I run my hands over my upper arms, trying to gain all the warmth from the fire as I can.

Daryl turns to me, jaw gritted and chest heaving as he blinks rapidly. His eyes look over my shivering frame, my clothes damp from walking through the rain and a look of realization passes over his expression. He softens a bit, wiping his hands off on his pants as he steps around the fire to sit next to me.

"You walked here? In the rain?" He asks, my head bobbing in a simple nod as he sighs, shrugging off his jacket to wrap around my shoulders before pulling me into his side. "Dumbass." I chuckle, sniffling as I tug the jacket further around me, cuddling into his side.

An hour had to have passed before I started yawning, Daryl laughing quietly at my side as he stands, holding his hands out for me to take. He helps me up as I wobble a bit, body weak from walking the last few days. It had been the worst walk than it could've possibly been, between the walkers, the freezing rain, the lack of comfort. It was bad, but the endgame was going to be worth it- it is worth it.

"Lie down." Daryl nods towards his make shift cot, his arms supporting me as I lay back, feeling Daryl pull at my boots.

"I can do it-"

"Shut up." He laughs, untying my boots and tossing them onto the ground. Leaning over to his bag, watching him as I rest my arms under my head as he pulls out a fresh pair of socks, waving them in front of me as I reach out for them. "I got it, you need't rest." He whispers, sitting down on the edge of the cot as he pulls my wet socks off.

It makes my heart happy to see him again, to let him take care of me like he used to. He always kept me out of trouble, saved me if I was in trouble, and helped me heal from any and all trouble I've been through since the world went to shit.

"Thanks." I whisper, curling my legs up to my chest as I scoot over, making enough room for him on the cot. He looks down at me with a sideways glance, hands on his hips as Dog nuzzles his way into the makeshift tent. "Come on, D, stop acting like we haven't slept in worse conditions." I chuckle, my heart fluttering as he sighs with a playful eye roll, sitting down beside me. I watch as his fingers pull at his gloves, tossing them to the side along with his vest.

He lays down quietly on his back, hands resting on his chest as his fingers drum nervously. He looks boyish, biting at the inside of his cheek, eyes avoiding looking over at me due to the proximity. Proximity and closeness were never things he was particularly good with, always liking his own space because it made it easier for him to think. But I'd be lying if I said that seeing him so nervous around me wasn't the least bit exciting. It was more than exciting to me and it was exactly the reaction I want to get out of him.

"Our first sleepover." I tease, watching as a cringed smile appears on his lips, awkward and nervous as I snicker under my breath. He finally moves, tilting his head to look at me, our noses inches away as his bangs fall in his face as Dog jumps up onto the bed between our legs. With gentle eyes, he reaches up, moving some of my damp hair off of my neck, eyes now locked on the newly exposed skin.

"Gonna kill Carol for lettin' you come out here alone." I snort, scooting a bit closer to him as he lets out a nervous breath, my heart hammering against my chest as I watch him look over me, a glint of worry in his eyes.

"I'm fine. It was my choice." I assure but he shakes his head with a curt shrug.

"A dumb one." He scoffs, running a hand through his hair as I reach over to shove him playfully. "I'm just messin' with you." He smiles his fingers brushing against mine between us as I take a deep breath, my eyes flickering over his tired expression.

The art of eye contact was always mine and Daryl's thing, conveying more emotion through them without having to say a word. He has novels written behind his eyes, describing all of the pain and anguish that he's felt over the years along with the trust that he holds in me. My eyes convey a similar look but I'm not sure if Daryl is tuned in enough to read just how much I trust him and why. My trust goes deeper with him, venturing past care and into a more meaningful feeling, a feeling that I could only hope and pray that he returns.

"You look different." He whispers, biting at his lips as I smile, my eyes drooping a bit as I shrug. "What's different?" His eagerness makes my whole body heats up, my hands reaching out to play with the necklace around his neck, previously given to him by Judith. He watches me fondly as I do so, goosebumps erupting on his skin as I feel him shiver as my fingers brush against his clavicle.

"I told Carol I was coming to see you so she cut my hair." I admit, my eyes averting from his at my confession, embarrassment swarming around us as he lets out a quiet 'oh' as I cringe. "My skin's cleared up over the years too, Siddiq is great with natural anti-inflammatories." I blabber on, watching as he watches me speak.

"You look good." My brows tick up at his compliment, not expecting it at all. "I mean, uh-" he cuts himself off, clearing his throat as he rolls back onto his back, putting a bit of distance between us as I chuckle.

"You look good too. Just a little lonely." I reach up, poking his cheek as he huffs, reaching up to rub a hand over his face. I know he liked being alone, he liked his alone time so he could think and breathe, but I know there was apart of him that's happy that I'm here.

"Not anymore." The smile on his lips comforts me as I scoot closer to him, resting my head on his chest as his arm wraps around my shoulder. My knees move to rest on his hip, still curled up as he lets out a deep breath.

A few moments go by, my eyes fluttering shut at the sound of his heart beating slowly, a reminder that he's here with me, safe and sound and in my arms. But I'd be stupid to ignore the way he's fidgeting, even Dog whines every once in a while at the way that he's stirring.

"Can I tell you somethin'?" He asks suddenly, taking me off guard as I tilt my chin to look up at him through my lashes. "Can't laugh or nothing." I hold up my pinky to him, an action I used to do frequently with him when I would make him promise that he'd be safe. Instinctively, his pinky wraps around mine. He takes a deep breath in before looking up at the ceiling, his tongue sweeping out to wet his lips. "I bugged Carol 'bout you every time she'd come out here." My stomach flips at his confession, my brows pulling together as I grin.

"Oh, so you did miss me?" I tease, watching as he nods, his arm tightening around me as the wind whistles outside the tent, the sound chilling me to my bones.

"More than you think." He admits, voice shaking a bit as he gulps, letting me get impossibly closer to him without hesitation. My arm wraps around him, resting on his other bicep as I trace over the skin. "Every time I'd go out to hunt with traps I'd hear your damn voice in the back'a my head telling me not to step in one." I giggle quietly, quickly followed by a yawn as his fingers run through my hair. "Hope you stay."

"I told you I'd stand by you and not walk away, even when you do." I feel him press a simple kiss to the top of my head as he stutters out a reply.

"If you want to, you can stay. I want you to." I lean up a bit, resting my weight on my elbow as I look down at him, feeling his hand at the nape of my neck. He looks embarrassed almost, cheeks blushed as he mutters, "I, uh, want you." My breathing stops at his second confession of the night, my heart skipping a million beats in my chest as my lips part. "Been meaning to tell you that."

"Only took ten years of knowing each other, Daryl- Jesus." I chuckle, my hand reaching up to cup his cheek gently as he sends me a tight lipped smile and a nod, tilting his head to hide in my shoulder. I just giggle, hugging him close to me and I press a kiss against his cheek.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

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[d-for-donatello]

Parties aren't my thing.

Robin Buckley x reader

summary: robin doesn't like parties, but in this case, she's so glad she came.

word count: 1.4k

a/n: this is my first st fic /oneshot thing, and also very self indulgent lmao. this is also longer than i intended lmao.

——————————————————————————

robin buckley does not like parties. she doesn't like them one bit. of course she goes to one every now and then, but on more that one occasion has been threatened by steve (lovingly of course) that he'd drag her by the earlobe so she can socialize. steve knows that she doesn't particularly enjoy being surrounded by sweaty, drunk and horny teens from all around town, but he also knows that once she's had a drink or two, she begins to loosen up and enjoy herself.

more often that not, the pair are joined by none other that eddie munson who knows that he isn't particularly liked by the masses, but won't miss the opportunity to get free drinks and to sell to the idiots inside who want to get high. he preferred to stick close by robin due to the fact that steve was usually off flirting with girls. that, and the two of them just got along incredibly well together.

this particular party is loud. and busy. and robin does not like it, despite having alcohol in her system. as she suspected, steve was nowhere in sight. and strangely enough, neither was eddie. they had all parted ways after leaving the kitchen with their first round of drinks and robin was yet to spot either of them.

she had quickly made her way through the crowd, still having no luck, and decided that she needs some quiet. so with that thought in mind, she heads outside and sits on the steps of the porch. its not exactly the quiet she was looking for, but the front door that swung closed behind her definitely did a decent job of muffling the music a bit.

and all too quickly, her solace is disturbed by the door opening, a short shuffling of feet, and then the door closing once more. robin takes no notice of whoever had disturbed her, instead leaning her arms on her knees and looking aimlessly down the street.

that is, until the person speaks up.

"are you okay?" the voice asked. robin knew that voice. sorta.

she turned around to confirm the belonged to who she thought it belonged to, and sure enough, she was right. stood behind her stood her knight in shining armour (not that the girl knew). except robin thought her less like a knight but of a princess, and her suit of armour was but a baby blue coloured summer dress and slightly dingy white converse. it took robin a few moments of staring at the girl behind her with wide eyes before her brain finally thought of something to say that wouldn't make her sound strange and her mouth caught up with her mind.

"huh? oh, yeah, i'm good. great. fantastic. thanks for asking. what about you? are you good? did it just get hotter right now?"

robin wills herself to stop talking. she locks eyes with the girl and gets a smile thrown her way.

"you sure you're okay?" the girl says with a smile as she steps forward to stand beside robin, before sitting next to her. the girl smiles at her again and takes a swig of the beer that robin hadn't noticed her holding until now. she can't think of anything sensible to say that would't cause her to start rambling, so she just nodded her head.

for a moment, the two sit in a comfortable silence, listening to the dulled down music, before y/n pipes up again.

"how come you're out here alone robin? don't you usually hang out with steve harrington?" at this, robin internally starts panicking. not only does this gorgeous girl know who she hangs around with, she she also knows her name! she takes notice of her. robin, slightly red faced, turns her head to look at y/n.

"he disappeared ages ago to flirt with pretty girls." she then added in a small voice, "you know my name?"

y/n laughed slightly, and robin decided she wanted to hear the sound all day every day.

"that seems very in character of him. i don't see why he isn't flirting with you then, because, if i'm being totally honest, between you and me, you are probably the prettiest girl here." she leaned to the side and rested on her palm, bringing her face closer to robins as if to make sure her point got across. "and why wouldn't i know your name silly?" she added with a smile.

robins face flushed a bright red. she was sure that even with the dim lighting that y/n could see it, and she thought it fruitless to try and hide the fact. y/n leaned away and placed her drink down on the step closest to the ground so neither of them would knock it over.

"um, how come you're out here?" robin was playing with the small rip in her jeans, hoping that the girl next to here wouldn't sense how nervous she actually was. y/n leaned forward slightly, and then back, swaying in the soft, summer night breeze.

"parties aren't really my thing. my friends dragged me here and gave me no choice in the matter since i flaked out on them at the last party invite. but, can i tell you something?" y/n turned to robin with a small, expectant smile on her face.

"yeah, of course." robin said, nodding dumbly.

"i'm actually kinda glad i came though, because i kinda got to know someone tonight. and it's an amazing feeling to talk with them because i've liked them for so long but i have no idea how to talk to them. but honestly, it just came so easy." y/n said with a wide grin, and upon hearing this, robins heart shattered a little.

"o-oh, let me guess, was it one of the jocks, nerds, maybe my boy steve?" she said, trying to put up a facade to not let the girl next to her know she had broken her heart slightly. she scolded herself for getting her hopes up, because of course a pretty girl like her was straight, and of course there was no way robins feelings would be reciprocated.

y/n's face softened a little, and she tuned her body to face robin. "can i tell you a secret?" as expected from her, robin nodded furiously, a hint of a supportive smile etching its way onto her face. y/n let out a slightly shaky breath, before her face fell and she became serious. "it's not any of the jocks, or the nerds, or your boy steve." she let out another breath, and robin was waiting to hear who her crush was so fascinated with.

"it's you."

the two words were uttered at barely above a whisper, but when they left the girls mouth, robin feels as though they had been shouted from the rooftops.

robins eyes widen. her face flushes. and she's instantly smiling, thanking the gods above that steve had forced her to come along.

"you like me? you, y/n l/n, like, me? like, like like or just like, like?i just said the word like too many times. i'm sorry, i ramble when i'm nervous! i don't mean to, i just, i like you too! like, like like but i thought you-" her rambling is cut off by y/n's hand being gently placed over her mouth.

"thought i was what, straight? no way, have you seen the guys here? like don't get me wrong they're definitely attractive, but have you seen you?" robin feels like she may explode as y/n's hand falls from her face.

"wow." is all robins brain can come up with.

"yeah. i'm sorry if i'm coming on a little strong, i just thought-" robin unintentionally cuts her off because she feels like her mind is thinking about things at a million miles and hour, and the one thought she can coherently say is,

"can i kiss you?"

y/n nods her head, and there, under the moon light, robin finally gets to kiss the girl she was convinced was unattainable. it's slow, and a little awkward, but to both of them, it feels heavenly. after a moment, the two finally part, smiling like a pair of idiots, and they rest their foreheads on one another.

" you know, parties aren't really my thing either, but i'm so glad steve made me come with him."

"i'm glad steve made you come too."

[tbyfandoms]

Nowhere Else to Go | JJ Maybank x Reader

Pairing: jj maybank x f!reader

Word Count: 7.4k

Summary: during a storm, y/n discovers jj’s dealing with a lot more than he led on. in a mix of thunder and lighting, a whole lot of secrets and feelings are revealed

Warnings: swearing, mentions and depictions of abuse (things shown and talked about on obx)

Masterlist | Ask/Tell/Request

A/N: hello everyone! i had the idea for this in october and i only just finished it. i kept thinking of extra ideas to add in and it just kept going, making this post much longer than i originally intended lmao. in the end im still proud of it and like how it turned out. i really wanted to finish this and upload today as well considering s3 of obx is officially confirmed! so excited for next season and i can’t wait to see what they do with the show. also incase anyone was wondering about any fics i have coming up, i have a few shawn mendes x reader ideas in mind and also a few others so hopefully if you’re following you’ll see something you’ll like. anyways i hope you enjoy the fic and lmk what you think! :)

"Ugh, c'mon!" You grunt as you try to close the window that's currently allowing a ton of rain into your house. It’s stuck and won't budge for anything. The rain isn't making it any easier either, the water causing your fingers to slip on the smooth wood.

You were expecting the storm, but not this soon. You were doing everything you could to make sure you were safe inside the house, but it's as if the storm came out of nowhere. Definitely started a lot earlier than anyone predicted.

Suddenly, the window slides down into place, startling you enough to almost land you on your butt. You grumble before regaining your stance and sliding the latch into lock position.

Taking a look around your house, you nod your head in satisfaction. Everything looks to be in order from what you can tell. The only thing left to do is get through the storm. You remember on the news earlier that the weather man said it was to be one of Outer Banks' worst. Not the greatest time for a storm considering you were all alone, your family having business on the mainland.

There isn't really anyone you could go to either, the majority of your friends having their own family protocols about these things. Besides, there was no way in hell you were going out in that storm just to try and make it to someone else's house.

If the storm had started later like it was supposed to, you might have been able to head over to Kiara's house, but alas, you have to suffer on your own. To be fair, you and the pogues have suffered much worse over these past few months, so you're sure a little storm is no match for you, or so you hope.

A flash of light followed by a loud crack floods the house, and you nearly jump at the sight and sound of it. Okay maybe this will be a bit terrifying to deal with, just a bit.

You make your way over to the couch and grab your phone that you had left there earlier. The screen lights up as you lift it and you see you have a couple messages, some from Kiara and some from the groupchat you and the other pogues have.

Opening the messages from Kiara first, you see she's just checking up on you. She was one of the only people you told about being home alone for the weekend, knowing if you told the boys they'd want you to throw a party at your house, which was a definite no after what happened last time.

You send her a quick text letting her know you're okay, and not to worry. You can tell she feels bad about leaving you alone, and that if her parents let her she'd be over in a heartbeat, through the storm and all.

Moving on to the groupchat you see almost everyone has replied. Pope called for a headcount to check in on everyone which ended up in Kiara replying first, then Sarah, and then John B. You send your reply and notice one person is missing, JJ.

This is nothing new, JJ is prone to not responding for hours, or at all. You'd think with the severity of the storm though that he would text back as soon as possible. You shrug it off and close your messages.

Wherever JJ was, you’re sure he’d turn up or respond sooner or later. Even though he’s your friend, you couldn’t care less at the moment. JJ had been a complete ass over this past week, and frankly you’re still pissed at him.

Every time you tried talking to him or tried making plans with him, he’d shrug you off, give you some short and rude reply, or tell you he had to go to work. The work part you could understand, it’s the fact it was a lie that got to you. You’d ask the others if JJ had work when he told you he did, and they told you he didn’t.

You were done trying at that point, not understanding at all what his problem was. He didn’t appear to be treating the other pogues the way he was treating you. He seemed more reserved with them than usual, but at least he wasn’t avoiding them completely like he was with you.

So when Friday came around and JJ had tried starting a conversation with you, as if nothing had happened, you kind of lost it. You called him out on his behavior and may have called him a few names, but you couldn’t help it, you were done being nice when all he did was treat you badly that week.

The look in his eyes as you yelled at him broke your heart. But the way he had treated you had done the same. JJ had always been kind to you, sure he’d tease you here and there, but he was never rude to you like he was this past week. He was someone you hadn’t recognized, someone completely different from the guy you fell for.

It had taken you a while to accept the fact the feelings you have for JJ were much stronger and much different than those you have for the other pogues. When you were around him there was a fluttering in both your heart and stomach, a light feeling you hadn’t ever really felt with anyone else. He was kind and gentle but could also be a complete badass when needed. His insane ideas and impulsiveness gave you incredible amounts of anxiety at times, but also showed you he was so much more than people made him out to be. He’d do anything for the ones he cares for, and it’s clear to you in the way he’s always treated his friends.

There were moments when you wanted to tell JJ about your newfound feelings, but something always got in the way. And by something, you really mean someone. Kiara. You love her with your whole heart but when it comes to JJ, there’s the tiniest inkling of jealousy. It’s so easy to see the feelings JJ and the rest of the boys have for her. You thought it would be fine considering Kiara told you she might have a thing for John B, but that quickly changed when she discovered her feelings were nothing more than those of a best friend, especially after John B got with Sarah. That left JJ and Pope, both incredible boys, but you couldn’t sit by and hope Kiara picked Pope over JJ, or that you had misread JJ’s feelings for Kiara. That’s not how it works, or at least it shouldn’t be.

You understand completely how people can fall for Kie, she’s incredible. She’s gorgeous, smart, and passionate. She’s a kook who chose the pogues. Why wouldn’t JJ like her? It just sucks you happened to fall for a guy who’s so obviously fallen for another girl, one of your best friends at that.

Talking to Kiara about everything always felt so out of the question. You didn’t want her to feel bad if you discovered she did in fact have feelings for JJ, or if JJ came forward and admitted his feelings to her. It wouldn’t be anyone’s fault, it’s just how it goes. So instead, you kept it to yourself, and you continue to do so to this day.

Shaking any further thoughts about the situation out of your head, you reach out towards the coffee table and grab the remote to the tv. Since you can’t spend time with your friends right now, you might as well try and find something to occupy your time with.

You flip through the channels and see nothing but the news broadcasting the storm. It's as if every channel was blocked by a weather watch. Although it's probably good to be updated constantly about what's happening outside, it does nothing to help your nerves and you would rather be watching anything else but a broadcast of a horrible storm you’re stuck in alone.

Groaning, you shut off the tv and throw the remote aside. Seeing the lightening on tv that you can very much see out your window is definitely not easing the tension.

You lean your head back on the couch and close your eyes. Maybe the deafening sound of the rain can somehow lull you to sleep and you can nap through this whole thing.

Mother Nature is certainly not having any of that.

A loud crack rings out through your house, somehow even louder than the last one, and you leap off the couch. Not even a second later and you're now in complete darkness, the clicks of circuits surrounding you before nothing at all is heard besides the storm outside.

"Great," you sigh, defeated. Just one more thing to deal with. There's no telling when the power will be back on, especially when you live on an island.

Careful not to trip over anything, and with the use of the lightening flashes to guide you, you make your way over to the kitchen to try and find a flashlight. You scavenge through the drawers and cupboards before finally finding a decent one. You turn it on and have to hit the side of it a couple times, but it finally turns on and the bright light is an absolute gift in this darkness.

Making your way back into the living room, you sit back on the couch and bring your knees up to your chest, wrapping your arms around them while holding on to the flashlight.

Now that the power is out, it's not so much the storm you're scared of, but the people who might be out in the storm. You'd like to think you live in a pretty nice area, but you aren't ignorant to the talk that travels through the town. You know about the drug dealers and the people who would do anything to make a quick buck. Thinking about the idea someone may have been just waiting for an opportunity like this to attack someone while in this vulnerable state makes you sick.

Anxiety seeps deeper into your mind as you wonder if there's any chance someone you don't know could have found out you'd be home alone this weekend. You want to believe you could defend yourself properly, but depending on what or who's involved, it could end very badly.

As if the night couldn't get any worse or more fear inducing, you hear several loud knocks on your front door.

You shoot up from the couch, not knowing exactly what you should do. Standing still for a second, hoping maybe it was just a branch banging up against the house, you listen intently for another knock.

Slowly moving across the living room, you almost drop the flashlight as more rapid knocks are made against the front door. You flatten yourself against the door, trying not to be spotted through the windows even though it's pitch black and pouring.

You tilt your head and peak through the peep-hole. Of course, you can't see anything but a dark figure, the glass being covered with rain water. You huff before stepping back a bit from the door, raising the flashlight above your head, ready to swing.

"I swear to god this is a horror movie waiting to happen," you mumble before reaching for the doorknob and yanking the front door open.

Looking up at the figure in front of you, you gasp and bring the flashlight down to your side as you take in the sight before you.

It's JJ, and he looks absolutely broken.

"Y/N! I know you like hate me right now and I'm sorry to bother you, really I am, but I-I can’t go to Pope’s because he’s helping his dad, I can’t go to the chateau because John B and Sarah are there and I just can’t third wheel right now, and Kiara’s parents are on complete lockdown and hate me anyways and-“ JJ continues to ramble on as you stand there and stare at him, feeling like the air is being ripped from your lungs as you take in the sight of him.

Besides the fact he’s soaking wet, no coat in sight, there are wounds on him you wouldn’t wish to be inflicted on anyone. There’s a gash on his left cheekbone, right under a very large and very red circle surrounding his eye, a mark you know probably hurts like hell. He has bruises up and down the left and right sides of his jaw, and a smaller cut on his right cheek. All of this is just from what you can see from the light of your flashlight.

“JJ,” You whisper, barely audible above the storm, but it seems to have been enough as it halts JJ’s speech and has him looking straight in your eyes now.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” his voice breaks and you can see the pain and emotion within his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes that are surrounded by ugly marks.

Before allowing pneumonia to be added on to JJ’s injuries, you quickly move back and make room for him to enter the house. You hear JJ let out a low wince as he moves inside. How many more wounds does he have?

You feel tears start to prickle in your eyes, you don’t even want to imagine how many more injuries JJ currently has or how he came to obtain them. Who would do something like this? It couldn’t have been a normal fight, you know JJ can get in quite a bit of those, but he’s never come back from one looking like this, ever. At least not as long as you’ve known him.

Blinking your eyes a few times to try and rid the tears, you clear your throat and move towards JJ. There are lots of things that need to be discussed, but most importantly you need to take care of your friend. No matter what happened this week, you still care deeply for him and you understand he needs you right now.

“Let’s go to the kitchen, we’ve got a first aid kit in there.” You make the mistake of looking at JJ’s face and with the closer proximity you can see just how bad his wounds are. “I’ll get you a towel first so you can dry off a bit,” you whisper before hurrying along. It’s going to be so difficult to help patch up his wounds when all you want to do is cry when you look at him and see the violence that’s been inflicted on him.

“Alright, thank you,” JJ says. He follows closely behind you after you’ve made your way back from down the hall. You nod your head and hand him the towel in response before you make you way over to the cupboard, but forgot it’s so dark in here he probably couldn’t see it.

“How did you get here?” You ask suddenly. Based off the small clips of the broadcasts you watched earlier, you know majority of the roads were closed or flooded. You’re already scared of JJ’s answer as he begins to talk.

“I rode my bike here,” he replies, lifting himself up and taking a seat on the countertop. He begins to rub the towel in his hair, wanting to soak up as much of the rainwater as possible.

You quickly spin around with the first aid kit in one hand, and the flashlight in the other. The light passes over JJ’s face and he squints his eyes at the sudden brightness.

“You rode your bike here!?” You ask, thinking of all the ways that could’ve gotten him more hurt. “In the storm!?”

“Well, yeah. How else was I supposed to get here? Or anywhere for that matter.” He says. “The roads are complete crap, I had to go on the sidewalks a couple times, at least I think it was the sidewalk. Hey, if the storm passes and your neighbors see track marks in their yard do you think they’ll know it was me?”

You roll your eyes and let out a small, airy laugh as you make your way over to JJ.

“You’re not making me feel any better,” you say as you stop in front of him, setting the first aid kit down next to him on the counter. You tap one of his knees with your finger, signaling for him to spread his legs a little so you can get closer. He obliges and you scoot towards him, not allowing your mind to wander away from the task at hand and think about how close you are to JJ right now.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. You look up into his eyes and see the sincerity in them. You can tell he didn’t want to worry you, but you know there’s something deeper here, something he’s not telling you.

Shining the flashlight in a way that won’t irritate JJ, you let your eyes travel across his face. You take in each mark, and each one you hadn’t noticed before. JJ is tough, he’ll get through it, but you can’t even begin to imagine the pain he must be feeling.

“What happened?” JJ’s mouth turns up in a small smirk and you know instantly he’s going to try and brush this off, try to make jokes.

“I got my ass handed to me,” he replies, letting out a chuckle before groaning, moving his hand to grasp at his stomach. You frown and reach your hand out, placing it lightly on his arm and grabbing JJ’s attention.

“JJ, please,” you say. The next part coming out as almost a whisper. “Who did this to you?”

JJ’s head hangs as he gives up on trying to hide from you any longer. He knows you won’t let him joke his way out of this one, and he knows he owes you an explanation, especially after how he treated you this week.

“I’m sorry for being such a dick this past week. You don’t deserve to be treated like that,” he admits. You shake your head, no longer caring about that. His wellbeing is all that matters right now.

“Don’t worry about it, I just want to make sure you’re okay. I want to know what happened. Why-“ JJ holds up his hand and cuts you off mid-sentence.

“No, I have to say this. It goes along with what happened to me.” You nod your head, signaling for him to continue. You have no idea what he’s getting at.

“I was an ass to you because, well because,” JJ seems to struggle with his explanation. He doesn’t know how to just come out and say it, doesn’t know why he can’t just admit it to you. He sighs and gives up on using his words for a moment.

Before you can process what’s happening, you watch as JJ reaches down and grabs at the bottom of his shirt and begins to lift it up. Even given the circumstances you can’t help the nerves that surge through you. Sure you’ve seen JJ without a shirt plenty of times, it’s just the fact he’s taking it off in front of you while you’re standing between his legs that’s making those butterflies return to your stomach, mixing with the anxiety and fear you have for your friend right now.

He doesn’t say anything for a few moments after you know he’s already removed the shirt. You don’t understand what the point of it was until you move the flashlight across his chest and abdomen.

Your blood runs cold and the feeling you had when you first opened the front door and saw him returns, but feels doubled now.

All across JJ’s abdomen are yellow and green bruises mixed with others that are red and blue. Some look a few days old while others seem to be more recent. The majority of them are large, around his ribs, but others are smaller and more scattered. The sight breaks your heart.

“Oh my god, JJ,” you say as you bring your free hand up to cover your mouth.

“It was my dad,” JJ sighs before meeting your gaze. “He’s the one that did this to me.”

Your hand drops from your mouth, only a puff of air coming out as you struggle to fathom the idea a father could do this to his son. You knew JJ’s dad wasn’t father of the year, that he pushed JJ around sometimes, but you never believed he was capable of something like this. When you became friends with the pogues you thought you had a pretty good idea of where everyone came from, who their family was. Apparently JJ kept his dad’s true abilities from you all this time.

“Your dad did this to you?” JJ nods his head in reply and all you can do is shake yours in confusion. “I knew your dad could be a jerk but I didn’t think he would do something like this to you. I thought you said the most he’s done was shove you around a bit? It doesn’t make it any better but Jesus, JJ.”

“Yeah that’s the most he’s done to me since I learned to fight back,” he scoffs. “It used to be worse, when I was younger and too scared to stand up for myself. Once I started working out and learning his habits I was able to prevent it from happening, avoid it, and if needed I was able to fight back.”

You reach out and grab his hand gently, wanting him to recognize he’s safe now. You want him to know you’re here for him, here to listen to what he has to say.

“He was angry about something Sunday night. I think they laid him off at work, I don’t know it was hard to tell with all his yelling and slurred speech. I made the dumbass mistake of getting in his way and I fell and he just let me have it. Thankfully it was just my stomach he came after. Bastard couldn’t bother throwing any punches at my face while I was down. He could barely stand so he gave up with his kicking, but it was long enough to leave me gasping for air and feeling like shit.”

JJ closes his eyes and readjusts himself a bit. You squeeze his hand softly, letting him know it’s okay, to take his time.

“I thought I could hide it, ice it and move on like every other time, but I could barely move Monday morning. You think the bruises are bad now but it’s nothing compared to what they looked like then. I tried to hide it from you all week, thought of dumb excuses so you wouldn’t see me like that. I didn’t want you to know or find out. I figured i’d heal up during the week and talk to you on Friday, make up another dumb excuse as to why I was an ass and it’d be fine. Understandably you didn’t want to talk to me, then this happened.”

Using his free hand, JJ reaches up and motions to his face.

“Guess I really pissed him off this time,” he says, chuckling a bit. “As you know the storm came early. I hadn’t finished closing everything up at the house and you know my old man wasn’t helping at all so I was on my own. All of a sudden I heard yelling and stuff being smashed and here comes good ol’ dad to show me who’s boss. He started complaining about water coming in and there being puddles or something. I smarted off and he wanted to make sure I regretted it. I tried to fight back but it was like he just kept coming from every side. I was able to push him out of the way after a while so I grabbed my keys and bolted. I didn’t even get a chance to grab my phone or anything so I couldn’t call anyone or reply to the groupchat. I just knew what everyone’s situation was so i didn’t know where else to go besides here. I really didn’t wanna go anywhere else but here, I just didn’t want you to see me like this.”

JJ takes his hand out of yours and turns his head away, he can’t believe he’s doing this to you. Letting you hear these awful stories and seeing him like this. It’s what he wanted the least. He thought he could hide this from you, hide how his dad really is, but it didn’t last as long as he hoped.

“That’s why you blew me off all week? You didn’t want me to know you were hurt? You let me stand there and yell at you and call you rude names while you were hurting? I feel like such a jerk, JJ. I am so sorry,” you choke out. You feel like crying, from the wetness on your cheeks you know you probably already are. This whole time you thought he was just being an ass for no reason, meanwhile he was getting beat at home and trying to shield you from his pain.

“Don’t be it’s not your fault, I should’ve handled avoiding you better than treating you like that. I just figured if you were mad at me it’d make it easier to hide everything from you. The others know how it used to be and how I handle it, but I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to worry about me or see me be…weak,” JJ looks over at you and you can see the wetness in his eyes, misting over that blue color you’ve come to cherish so much.

“JJ Maybank there is nothing you could do or share with me that would make me believe you are weak. You are the strongest person I know and I want to be here for you when things like this happen. You have nothing to be ashamed of, especially not with me. If anyone is to feel shame or weakness it should be your father. That man is horrible and you are nothing like him,” You say before putting the flashlight down and reaching out to carefully cup JJ’s jaw within your hands. “You are kind, smart, funny, brave, and a million other good things that I can list all day if you wanted me to. You deserve so much better than you get and I am so sorry you have to deal with it. I wish you would have told me sooner that things like this happen to you. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want me to see you like this when the other pogues have?”

JJ gives you a soft smile before bringing his hands up to grasp yours on his face.

“You really don’t know? I thought I made it so obvious every time we were together.” You tilt your head at JJ’s reply and your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Y/N, I like you a lot. More than just as a best friend. I have for a while now. I thought you’d be able to pick up on my flirting and glances, I guess I was wrong.” Your eyes widen in response and you can feel your cheeks heating up instantly.

“W-What? Are you being serious right now?” You question, finding this to be a complete surprise and definitely unexpected.

“Y/N, we’re sitting in the dark, in the middle of one of the worst storms we could have, and I just got my ass beat. I don’t know a better time to be more serious,” JJ replies. You can’t help the giggle that escapes you, causing JJ to chuckle as well.

“I’m sorry it’s just, I thought you liked Kiara? The way you look at her, I figured you were into her. I mean who wouldn’t be,” you say, removing your hands from JJ’s face and wrapping them around yourself. “You guys have just always seemed so close for as long as i’ve known you. When things didn’t work out with her and John B I thought it would be you two who ended up together, considering your bond.”

“Me and Kie? Absolutely not. I love her, but I see her as nothing more than a friend, a sister even. She and I talked about it before, she feels the same. Pope’s the one that’s into her. I promise you for as long as we’ve been friends it’s always been you I’ve been interested in. I can’t believe I gave off the impression I was interested in another girl when you’re the one that runs through my mind all the time.” Within the dim lighting coming from the flashlight and the lightening still shining through the windows, JJ reaches out his right hand and places it on your cheek. He rubs his thumb back and forth a few times across it and smiles at the warmth he feels there.

“Really?” is all you manage to get out, too stunned and feeling on cloud nine. JJ simply nods his head and smiles in response. “You don’t know how happy that makes me. I wish we would’ve figured out we had feelings for each other sooner, i can’t believe neither of us realized.”

“Wait, so you feel the same?” JJ questions. “If I knew that I would’ve made my move sooner. I didn’t want to come onto you and you didn’t see me like that and I ruined everything. That’s why I hoped you’d catch on to my feelings and you’d be able to figure it out”

“Of course I feel the same!” You lean forward into JJ and feel butterflies erupt in your stomach over the added closeness. “How could I not fall for a great guy like you. I just wish I would’ve caught on instead of being so stuck in my own head about it.”

“Hey, at least we figured it out now. That’s all that matters to me,” JJ says as he reaches up and tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear. You lean into his touch and feel so much content.

As you stand there and take in everything JJ has told you, you continue to scan over his wounds, understanding there is still an important task to be done, and a just as important conversation to be had.

“Promise me you wont hide stuff like this from me anymore. I can’t stand the thought of you going through something let this, let alone going through it alone and without any help. If you feel like something bad is gonna happen with your dad I want you to come over immediately, I don’t care what day or time it is. Im here for you JJ, I always have been and I always will be.”

JJ looks up into your eyes and you can see him struggling with his defenses, struggling to continue to break down the walls he’d already cracked open when he decided to show up at your door. JJ has always struggled with letting even the people he cared about most in, but he’s willing to try with you. He can tell you mean every word you’re saying to him, and he knows he can trust and rely on you.

“I promise. I really am sorry I kept everything from you, it would’ve been better just to tell you. I promise I won’t hide anymore,” he says. You feel relief after he’s said it, but part of you knows there’s no telling if he’ll keep the promise. He’s hid it from you for so long and you know how hard it is for him to open up, especially about his dad. All you can do is hold onto the hope he’ll tell you next time, that he won’t hide.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be sorry, I understand,” you reach up and use both your hands to push JJ’s hair back, out of his face. The dampness from the rain keeps the hair in place and you’re now able to see every part of his face clearly, ready to finally patch him up. “Now, let’s fix you up, shall we?”

You reach over to grab the first aid kit next to JJ, but you suddenly feel him wrap his hand around your wrist.

“Wait,” JJ says as you turn to him. “Can I kiss you?”

A flash of lightening engulfs the kitchen and you notice the small spark of light that glistens in JJ’s eyes, followed by that smirk you’ve become all too familiar with.

“Absolutely,” you squeak out in response, a blush blossoming across your cheeks.

Through the flashes of lightening and the dim glow from the discarded flashlight, JJ reaches out and places his right hand on your cheek. His thumb moves down across your jaw and traces over your lips, finding the spot he’s yearned for for so long, the girl he’s fallen so deeply for.

JJ leans forward and you do the same. His nose brushes up against yours and you smile at the feeling.

Reaching out, you place your hand at the back of JJ’s neck, tangling your fingers in hair at the nape of his neck. It’s still damp from the storm he traveled through, the storm he traveled through to get to you.

You want to cry and laugh and scream all at the same time over what’s happened and what you’ve learned, but you can’t and you won’t. So instead, you close the minuscule gap between the two of you and kiss the boy who you thought would only exist in your dreams.

It’s soft and light because you don’t want to hurt JJ any more than he already has been, but it’s perfect and so special. The situation that it’s occurring during could be much better of course, with the storm and revelation that JJ has a horrible father, but it’s special nonetheless.

After a moment, JJ pulls back slightly. He squints his eyes and let’s out a small sigh.

“I wish the power would turn back on, I’ve wanted this to happen for so long and of course when it finally does I can barely see you.”

You can’t help the giggle that escapes your lips. Of course that’s what he would be thinking about during this.

JJ looks around for a second before his eyes land on the flashlight laying next to him. He grabs it and brings it between the two of you. He holds it upwards and suddenly your and JJ’s faces are illuminated.

It reminds you of little kids telling each other ghost stories at sleepovers, but fear is far from what you feel as you stare into JJ’s eyes and notice his boyish grin.

“There’s my girl,” he whispers while brushing his nose lightly against yours, causing your heart to flutter. JJ really is so sweet, no matter what he goes through he’ll always have a pure heart.

“And there’s my boy,” you whisper in return.

JJ closes the gap between you once more, letting his free hand travel to the back of your neck, holding you perfectly in place.

After a while you pull back, needing a small breath and deciding it really is time to patch up JJ. He protests, saying he’s fine and that he’ll heal on his own, only wanting to continue as you were, but of course you decline. He needs medicine and to have his wounds cleaned, no matter how many times he says he doesn’t.

You notice the majority of JJ’s wounds are bruises with only a few cuts here and there. Part of you wants to be relieved that the majority of them are bruises and that it appears he won’t need stitches, but the other part knows that shouldn’t be anything to feel relieved about. JJ shouldn’t have any of these injuries to begin with, especially not from his dad.

Every time you pat the cotton pad with hydrogen peroxide onto JJ’s cuts you can’t help but feel bad, noticing the smalls flinches and winces that follow. You give him tiny smiles and short unspoken breaks between each treatment, not wanting to overwhelm him with everything, knowing he’d rather just walk it off.

Once you’ve finished cleaning JJ’s cuts, you do your best to lightly apply antibiotic and place tiny bandaids where they’re needed. They don’t cover each cut completely, but it’s enough to keep the medicine on and provide protection from them getting infected.

Sorting through the first aid kit, you find some ibuprofen and hand JJ two tablets. You don’t know how much help it’ll do, but hopefully it’s enough to ease at least some of the pain.

You get JJ a glass of water and tell him you’ll be right back and to not move. Taking the flashlight, you rush to your room to find extra clothes for JJ to put on, his still soaked from his trip in the rain. You do your best to find some that’ll decently fit him and then head back over to him in the kitchen.

As JJ puts on the hoodie you gave him, you frown at the sight of his bruises on his chest as they become covered once more. The way he moves slowly and scrunches his face as he puts on the hoodie, you can tell JJ is still in a lot of pain.

“I wish I could give you some ice to help with the bruises, but with the power out I can’t get any,” you say to him, wishing there was more you could do.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve done so much already,” JJ replies, reaching out and squeezing your hand in reassurance.

“Please, I just helped clean up your cuts. I wasn’t able to take all the pain away,” you say. “I can’t even begin to imagine how you must feel right now.”

“If you’re really so worried about it, I know a way you can help me,” JJ retorts, giving you a small smirk as he gets down from the countertop.

You tilt your head in confusion, not understanding what he’s referring to. You watch as JJ grabs the flashlight before leading you into the living room, and motioning for you to take a seat on the couch.

“We may not have any ice, but you know what else helps with pain?” JJ questions. Shrugging your shoulders, you look up at him in anticipation. “Heat.”

Before you know what’s fully happening, JJ lays down on the couch and pulls you towards him. He positions you nearly on top of him, and you’re worried the added weight is going to make him hurt more, but the content look on his face eases your nerves.

“So what? Your plan is to use me as a human heating pad,” You smile as you feel JJ’s chuckle rumble across his chest.

“That’s exactly my plan, Y/N,” he replies.

You smile and lightly squeeze JJ with your arms. Laying here next to him, providing him any kind of comfort after what he’s just been through, is really all you could ask for right now.

“That’s fine by me,” you whisper.

The both of you lay wrapped in each other’s arms for a while, the only sounds heard coming from the raging storm outside and your light breathing.

There’s no telling when the rain will stop, when the roads will clear, when JJ will have to go back and face his father, but right now all he needs is this time with you.

Suddenly, you hear your phone start to vibrate against the table. You reach your arm out and grab it, not wanting to completely leave JJ’s arms. You squint at the sudden bright light and after your eyes start to adjust, your heart drops at the sight.

“Shit!” You exclaim, jolting out of JJ’s arms. JJ mumbles an ‘ouch’ at the sudden movement against his aching body, and you ramble out a quick apology as you stand up.

“What’s wrong?” JJ asks as he sits up a little on the couch, watching as you type frantically on your phone.

“I got a million missed messages and calls from the pogues, they’re all worried because you never checked in and then I wasn’t answering either,” You reply, making sure you explain the best you can to your other friends, not wanting them to worry. “I’m just gonna let them know we’re okay and that you’re with me.”

“Dammit that’s right I wasn’t able to grab my phone,” JJ sighs. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah they are. Kiara’s with her parents, Pope’s still helping his dad, and John B and Sarah are still together at the chateau,” You assure him. “Nothing to worry about.”

JJ nods his head and seems to relax again, he felt bad for not checking in when Pope first messaged everyone, but he was trying to hurry up with securing the house so he wouldn’t piss off his dad. Didn’t matter in the end, he guesses.

When the pogues start replying to your messages you can’t help the small gasps at their replies. Witty remarks from John B and Pope and then cute messages from Kiara and Sarah. You didn’t tell them that much about what happened between you and JJ, but apparently it was enough for the others to catch on.

“What are they saying?” JJ questions, intrigued with your little chuckles and shakes of your head.

“Oh nothing,” you reply. “I just apparently spilled too much on where you were and what happened between us and now of course the guys are being the guys and the girls are making a fuss.”

“Of course they are,” JJ smiles. “They wouldn’t be them if they didn’t.”

You laugh and set your phone back down, confident everyone is now at ease and all that’s left to do is get through this nightmare of a storm.

Slipping back into JJ’s embrace, you revel in the fact you now get to hold the boy you’ve fallen for, close. The feelings you both have for each other might not have been revealed in a situation you’d hoped for, but it happened nonetheless. It allowed you into a part of JJ’s life you wish he didn’t have to deal with, but could now help him with.

“As long as they know I finally got the girl of my dreams, that’s all that matters,” JJ teases, kissing the top of your head as he snuggles in closer to you.

“And that I got the boy of mine,” you add on.

JJ rubs your back slowly as you two fall into a comfortable silence. The warmth of your body genuinely helping JJ feel more comfortable and at ease, and his presence helping your anxiety from the storm to subside.

As the time passes by, you take it to reflect on everything that occurred within the past hour, within the past week even. Romantic feelings for JJ or not, what he’s going through is horrible and something no child, no matter their age, should have to endure from their parents. You think of how he wanted to hide it, not involve anyone if he didn’t have to, and that thought alone makes your heart ache.

No matter if things work out between yourself and JJ, he’s still going to be one of your best friends, someone you care deeply about. You hope he’ll let you in more, that if this happens again he’ll know he can count on you and the others.

Lifting your head and looking up at JJ, you notice he’s falling asleep, exhausted from the day he’s had. Leaning over, you plant a small kiss on his cheek before laying back down and deciding to drift off as well.

Even when JJ thinks he has nowhere else to go, you’ll be here for him, always.

[wh0rephobic]

I’m sorry I keep coming back, I hope I’m not cramming up space in your ask box sjdosbwidh (also please never feel rushed to answer any of my asks! I promise I don’t flood you because I’m impatient I just get a lot of ideas and if I don’t share em when/as they come I lose em lmao) but n e ways, here is an idea to consider: most fics portray the reader to be a brat towards William or Michael at least a small bit, which is great because yes, y/n can have a little brat, as a treat, but what about readers who are just completely and totally desperate to be good? Like she just wants to please him and make him feel good by being good for him, following every order to the best of her ability; taking his cock just a bit further into her mouth than she can handle, struggling to look at him because her embarrassment makes her want to look away but her overwhelming desire to be good for him is fighting against it, etc (also I’m sorry this turned into more of a word vomit than I meant for it to. These always end up longer than I intend oop)

share all the ideas you want with me omg!!!!

but yeah giver!reader >> who will always push themselves further through overstimulation if it means being able to draw an orgasm through william or michael. you try to hold your own orgasms back, as well. as one of them roughly rocks their leaking cock in and out of you, chasing their own high as you suddenly arch your back and begin taking in sharp, close, uncontrollable gasps but will swallow your pride and take a deep, leveling breath to regain leverage over your body. mike and will know that you’re close, though. they know your tells and they know that you’re holding back for the sole purpose of not letting your body get too sensitive to the point where you can’t take them. the boys however, don’t want that. they want to push you to your limits, william especially. he wants to see hot tears stream down your face when he finally pumps you full of his release, he wants to see your poor, overused body shake when he’s done with you. so, at that moment when he sees you start gasping helplessly, he does not hesitate to grab you by the scalp and begin pounding into your tight heat so perfectly that it actually does make you burst into tears. he manages to take a total of four orgasms from you before he buries his dick deep inside you and floods your insides with his cum, draping himself over you so that he can kiss away your tears and hold down your shivering.

service!reader who will do anything for their boys’ pleasure.

[davincsoo]

Vegaspete + Vegas wants to celebrate an anniversary but the fucking mission he's on gets in the way (vegasandhishedgehog)

Wow, so this turned out much longer than I was intending, um, lmao. Not sure if it is exactly what you were expecting, but I still hope that it's a good read! Feel free to make comments on it, I am no opposed to critisism :D

Little fic info:

Words: 2751 Contains some fluff, some spicy scenes, (I don't know how to label this really lmao). Warnings: Mild smut, language, tad bit of old vegas pokes through.

This fic doesn't have a name, because I suck at names. So. LMAO

(Had to shove it all under a read more tab because it was so long lmao)

"Where do you want to go?" Vegas had let the question escape his mouth in a whisper against Pete's neck, just under his ear lobe. It was his favorite place to place his lips, and he definitely noticed how sensitive the skin was there for Pete. "Name the place, and I will take you there."

Pete and Vegas had been sharing a bath for quite sometime now, having to refill it twice so far because the water had gotten cold. Pete had been nestled in between Vegas's legs, back resting against his chest. "What's the occasion?" he asks as his eyes started to become droopy.

"You didn't think that I would forget, did you?" The tone in his voice was playfully hurt, something that Pete noticed, and clicked his tongue at. "I've been working hard in order to request time off for this."

The 'this' in which he speaks of is the anniversary of the day Pete forgave and accepted his feelings for him. It may be such a trivial thing to celebrate, but for Vegas, it meant the world.

"You hadn't been home in weeks, but to sleep and shower," Pete defends. He leans his head back against Vegas's shoulder, and tilts his head slightly to look at him. "I wasn't thinking much of anything other than neglect."

Vegas frowned. "It was the only way Porsche would let me take the time off. That guy has been a pain in my ass over it."

"That's my best friend that you are bad mouthing right now," Pete warns.

"And you know that I am right," he answers calmly.

Pete didn't respond, and lifted his head back up to look at the slowly disappearing bubbles. For a while, they sat in silence, neither of them uttering a word. It wasn't until Pete drained the tub for the last time that anything was said. "I want to go to the beach," he answers finally. "Before it starts to get cold. I want to go to the beach."

"The beach it is."

A few days later, the two of them arrive at a privately owned beach, one of which is owned through a friend of Vegas's. He had chosen this specifically for the sights, and how sealed off it was from outsiders. Not only that, but it had a cove that Vegas was most interested in Pete seeing, and maybe even having a picnic at.

"Wow," comes Pete, astonished by the sights that he was seeing. He looked at the two story beach house in awe at how large it was. "Are you sure that it's okay that we can stay here? Seems like we should be paying to stay here."

"My friend owes me the favor," he tells him, with a pleased smile at how happy Pete looked. "So as long as we clean up after ourselves, and don't break anything, I don't owe him anything."

"I want to have a look inside!" shouts a very excited Pete as runs up the steps, and into the house.

Vegas stood there for a few seconds, taking in the sights, and just thinking about how needed this will be for the both of them.

Later that night after dinner, Pete poked at Vegas until he finally agreed to going out back to sit in the hot tub. The nights had been starting to get cooler, so it made it the best time for a dip. "What are you doing, Pete?" questions Vegas as he watches the other slide his trunks down over his hips, letting them fall to his feet, and then kicking them out of the way.

"What do you mean by, 'What are you doing?'" he responds with another question.

Vegas watches as Pete plays innocent all the way inside the hot tub, and submerges half of himself in the steamy water. What an evil little shit, he thought to himself. "You know that I can't control myself when you act this way," he lightly warns, following Pete's lead by ridding himself of his own trunks. He then heads over to the hot tub himself, and takes the spot beside Pete.

"I have absolutely not a single clue as to what you could possibly be talking about," Pete says, continuing on with this act that he is doing. "I'm just letting the warmth of this hot tub reach every inch of me. What could be so wrong with that?"

Vegas had enough of this little game Pete was playing. He couldn't take the teasing any longer, and Pete knew that. Vegas grabbed Pete by the waist, and then lifted him onto his lap. This had Pete grinning in satisfaction, but not for long. He slid his hands from Pete's waist up along his back, toward his neck, and pulled his head down to capture his lips with his own. The little muffled moan didn't go unnoticed, and neither did the attempt at grinding himself against Vegas. Before Vegas could respond, however, he could hear his cell phone ringing from inside the house.

"Ignore that," Vegas tells Pete, who seemed to have had peeked interest at the fact that someone was calling this late. He focused his attention back on Pete, moving his lips along the other's jaw line, dragging his tongue along his skin.

The phone continues to ring, and Pete pulls away from him annoyed.

"You either go and answer that, or I will put a bullet in it."

Finding it best not to argue with him, Vegas brings himself out of the hot tub, grabbing the towel he brought out to use as he heads back inside. Carefully walking his way through the kitchen, he grabs his phone from the kitchen table, answering it with a sigh. "It hasn't even been a full twenty-four hours yet," he complains. "What could you possibly want from me right now?"

On the other end of the phone is Porsche, who seemed apologetic, but not enough to hang up the phone call. "I know I promised you a full twenty-four hours before I would order you to continue on with this job, but it turns out that they are moving out tonight. I need you at the drop sight before dawn, before they get there. I've sent some guys down there to assist you in your cover, they will arrive around the same time that you do."

"Porsche, I have plans set for Pete and I all day, you can't expect me to just ditch him..."

"This wouldn't be the first time you've hurt his feelings, and it won't be the last. Before dawn, Vegas. Lord help you if you fuck this up."

The line went dead, and Vegas had to refrain from throwing his phone. "Just one fucking week," he says through clenched teeth. "One fucking worry free week, and he can't even give me that!"

The following afternoon after convincing the buyer that he needed time to think, he was in the kitchen cooking lunch for Pete who had been still sleeping. Before they had gone to bed, Vegas had explained the circumstances of this trip, and tried his damnedest for Pete to understand, as well as forgive him for partially deceiving him. Pete said that he understood, but Vegas knew that he was in a deep shit with him.

In the midst of finishing placing everything on the table, Pete finally makes an appearance, although very sluggishly. "It smells good," he tells him with a tad bit of a groggy voice. "When did you get in?"

Vegas places the last dish on the table and urges Pete to have a seat. "Not too long ago," he answers, and takes a seat himself. "I would have woken you, but you looked like you needed the rest, so I left you sleeping."

"Leaving someone to fend for themselves will do that," he answers with an attitude, one that he quickly apologises for. "Sorry... That wasn't fair for me to say."

"It's valid though, and I'm sorry too."

They both end up eating in silence. Not one looked up at the other, and neither one spoke a word. The only sounds you could hear with the scraping of forks and spoons against plates. Vegas would steal a few glances at Pete, watching as he complimented it with each bite that he took. It was cute, how even though Pete was clearly upset with him, he still managed to make him smile in the smallest of ways.

"There is a festival happening in town," Vegas begins carefully, breaking the silence as they both had finished eating. Pete was cleaning up the table as Vegas watched, something he often did because he just looked so damn attractive while he was cleaning. "Not sure for what, but my friend said that they are really fun, so I was thinking that we should go..."

Pete just shrugged, and began to fill the sink up with soap and water. Vegas sighed heavily, and got up from his seat. He hated when Pete was mad at him, but he just couldn't stand when Pete wouldn't engage in conversation with him. "Pete..." he pouts as he comes up behind the other and wraps his arms around his waist. "Don't be like this. You know that this vacation is all about me and you."

"And the job that Porsche sent you here to do, right?"

"Ouch," Vegas mumbles.

Pete turns around in Vegas's arms, and brings his arms around to hug him. "I'm sorry," he tells him again. "I guess I'm just upset that you weren't just honest with me from the start, instead if finding all of this out while trying to actually spend a decent night with you."

"I know, and you're right. I should have told you about the job that I was sent here to do before we even left."

"I just said that," teases Pete, and he yelps when Vegas moves his hands down to dig his fingers into Pete's ass.

"You really like trying me, don't you?" When Pete doesn't answer, Vegas moves his hands from Pete's ass to inside his pants, and then slides one of them in between the both of them. It was the gripping of something else, and the motion in which Vegas was moving his hand that caused a whole different noise to leave Pete's throat. "You've been awfully daring with that mouth of yours lately."

"Stop giving me a reason to be," Pete breathes out, only to find his hips jerking forward on their own accord when Vegas begins to work his hand all too well.

"See," he whispers into his ear, his lips brushing against Pete's ear lobe. "There you go again, thinking that you can just say anything without repercussions."

Pete swallowed hard, and attempted to hold back another moan, but it was useless with Vegas rubbing the pad of his thumb over the tip of his cock. It made him weak, it made him crumble, the things his fingers could do to him. Pete's legs began to buckle beneath him, and Vegas was quick to pin him back against the sink.

"Vegas," he whispers, his head falling back, and his eyes shutting. Vegas places a kiss to Pete's exposed neck, giving him a few licks and nips as he does so. He looks up at the other, watching as Pete unravels at his touch.

Then again, like clock work it seemed, Vegas's phone rang. "Don't," Pete forces out. "Don't you fucking dare."

He didn't want to, god did he not want to. If he didn't answer the phone, Porsche would kill him. "I'm sorry," he says softly, and retracts his hand from Pete's pants. He pulls away from him, only to have his hard sink at the sight of Pete falling to the floor, hard, and pissed off. Vegas takes his phone from his pocket and answers it. "Yes?"

As Vegas spoke with Porsche, Pete sat up against the cabinet beneath the sink, chest heaving, and his eyes shooting daggers up at him. When Vegas finishes the call with Porsche, Pete looks at him for a few moments before finally getting up from the floor. Not sparing him even a glance, Pete walks past Vegas to exit the kitchen.

"Where are you going, Pete?"

"To go take a shower and finish what your ass fucking started."

The following day, Vegas was determined to spend all his time with Pete, even if it killed him, which it still might. He started the day off by pampering Pete in various ways, as an apology for being the world's greatest asshole on a vacation. He drew him a bath with smelling salts and bubbles. He then lit a safe amount of candles around the tub in order to set a relaxing mood.

After the bath, Vegas gave Pete a massage, which he found that was well needed after all the knots that he had found. "Am I hurting you?" he had asked him, referring to the pained noises coming from him. To which he responded, "Yes, but it hurts so fucking good, so don't stop." This made him laugh, and then he just continued on with it.

He then topped it off with a nice breakfast poolside as they watched the sun come up. They sat side by side at first, but then Pete eventually ended up sitting on Vegas's lap, complaining that the wind was far too chilly to be sitting alone.

Now Vegas was in the car waiting for Pete to finish packing the picnic basket. "You've done so much for me this morning, let me take care of lunch," Pete had told him while they were putting together beach bags. Vegas didn't argue, mostly because he really didn't want to make Pete angry again, but also because it didn't matter to him who it was that made the lunch, he just wanted today to go perfectly.

"Hey," comes Pete's voice as he get into the passenger's seat, and shuts the car door. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" responds Vegas, having not been paying attention. "Oh, yeah, yeah. I was just lost in thought."

"If it was involving that job again..."

"No, no! It wasn't. I was just thinking about you, and wanting today to go as planned is all."

Pete, although skeptically, just flashes him a smile, and pats his thigh. "Relax, I'm just teasing." He tugs on his seat belt and fastens it, and then makes sure that it's secure. "Where are we going today anyways?

Vegas shook his head. "I'm not telling you because it is a surprise."

"Vegas!" Pete ran excitedly, dragging him through the small man-made path to the little cove that he had wanted Pete to see. "Look at this view! Look at it!"

"I see it, I see it," Vegas responds, laughing lightly at how enthusiastic Pete was at the sight before them.

Pete let go of Vegas, and ran across the sand, surprising even himself that he didn't fall flat on his face. "Wow," he gasps, looking out at the crystal clear blue water. He dropped his beach bag beside him, and slid out of his flip flops. He instantly heads into the water, and bends over slightly to look at his feet under the water. The entire sight of it all: Pete kicking one foot back and forth to see if the water changed color from the sand being moved, and then gasping in awe that it remained its clear blue color, just the kid in him showing made his heart flutter.

He was reminded because of it, just how much he loves Pete, and why he fell in love with him. Despite everything he has put him through, and how much pain he has caused him, he still manages to let it go, and still love him anyways.

He looked down at the pocket of his trunks as his phone rang, and groaned. He looked back up at Pete, who had also heard the phone ring, and pulled the phone from his pocket. He looks back down at his phone, his eyes lingering on Porsche's name coming across the screen, and decides that he'd rather deal with a pissed off Porsche, than hurt Pete again. So he turns his phone off, and drops it into his own bag. He was going to spend an entire day with Pete with no interruptions, and his life, more so his job, was just going to have to wait.