#tiff is worried about her

[featherhasaface]

Okay! Remember how I said the game events happened in some of our AU's, Planet Robobot included? Well, I wrote a small thing. This is a small story regarding Susie meeting Tiff. It's under the cut! ^^

“Poyo!” Kirby jumped up and began running off. Tiff sighed and followed him. This wasn’t uncommon, but it was tiring. He had been running around all day. At this point she was hoping Meta Knight would show up so she could tell him to keep an eye on the puffball. He was good at keeping him still. Kirby ran into the town and squeaked as he nearly ran into a cappy. He briefly waved and continued to wherever he was going, which was apparently the large tree. There was a small crowd of cappies and Kirby slowed down until he stopped, staring at the person they were talking to. She didn’t recognize her, not that she had much time to think on it before Kirby made a high pitched squeak that sounded sort of like a name and ran at her full speed. 

The lady turned and seemed to brighten up once she realized who he was. “Hello, Kirby!”

“Poyo!” He jumped up and hugged her. She sighed and put him back on the ground.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Poy!” He nodded.

“You know her, Kirby?” The mayor looked at him.

“Poyo Suey!”

“Susie.” The lady looked back at the cappies. “Does Kirby live here?”

“Yes, he sure does.”

“Poyo, poyo poy!” Kirby grabbed Susie’s hand and started trying to lead her, pointing at Tiff.

“Alright, calm down, pinky. Where are we going?”

“Poyo Tiff!”

Susie stared at her for a few moments, then seemed to realize what Kirby was trying to do. “Oh! Hello, I’m Susie! Are you Kirby’s friend?”

“Yea. He seemed to know you well.” She wasn’t sure how to respond to this.

“Sorta.” She shrugged. “We’ve helped each other out in the past.”

“Poyo!” Kirby hugged Tiff.

“So uh… what’s your name? I’m sure he’s already said it, but he’s not the most coherent.”

“Tiff. When did he meet you? I assume it would have had to have been during one of his space journeys.” She picked him up as he started hopping and making small squeaks.

“Oh, a while ago!” Susie laughed as if it didn’t matter. “Yes, we were in space when we met.”

“And you’re… friends?”

“Ye!”

“We sure are!”

“...Alright.” Kirby wasn’t as gullible as he was when she first met him, that was difficult to remember. She’d trust his judgment on this one. “So why are you here?”

“I simply enjoy learning about anything I can! I wanted to see what Kirby’s home was like.”

“I see.”

“Speaking of which, what are those uh…” She waved towards the cappies, who were keeping an eye on her, clearly curious. “Those guys?”

“Cappies.”

“I see. What other creatures live here?”

“Wildlife, I guess… There’s king Dedede and Escragoon. And whatever I am.”

“You don’t know what you are?”

She shook her head.

“What are Dedede and Escargoon?”

“A penguin and a snail. There’s a few others as well, but I don’t know what they are either.” She shrugged.

“Is it peaceful here?”

“Mostly, when random people aren’t attacking or trying to take over.”

“Does that happen often?”

“More often than I’d like…”

“I see.” She was writing something on her clipboard, then appeared thoughtful. “Say, you’re good friends with Kirby, correct?”

“Yes, why?”

“Do you know what he is? Like, what is his species called?”

“Puffballs, I think.”

“Ye! Puffball!”

“Interesting… Now, I’ve heard Kirby has been referred to as a Star Warrior. Care to explain what that is?”

“Do you know who Nightmare is?” It would be pretty difficult to explain everything if she didn’t.

“I know of him, I’ve never met him.”

“That’s probably for the best.” She shrugged. “Star Warriors fought against him.”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense!”

She watched her write on her clipboard some more. She’d have given more details, but it was Meta Knight who had given her the information she had to begin with, and he had made it beyond clear, indirectly of course, that he didn’t like strangers knowing too much about that. Although if this person had met Kirby, she’d likely have met Meta Knight as well.

“Nightmare’s dead now, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So do you think other Star Warriors can still be born?”

“I don’t know. Probably.” That was actually a good question. Arthur had told her that Star Warriors had existed before Nightmare caused the war. However, Meta Knight had implied he’d waited decades for another Star Warrior to appear, so the rate at which they were being born had clearly dropped while Nightmare was still around. He may have been the reason for it, maybe killing most of them off had some sort of effect on it. Maybe Star Warriors were born as a defense against people like Nightmare? It’s not his existence dictated whether or not they did. “...I think… They can… but it’s rare now.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“I don’t know, maybe Nightmare did something… I don’t even know if I’m right, you’d have to ask someone else. Sorry.”

“I understand.” She wrote something down. “You seem pretty smart for your age.”

She shrugged. “Either that or the rest of the town is unfathomably idiotic.”

“Are there any teachers here? Schools?”

“I’d like there to be.” She sighed. “Unfortunately we’re ruled by a fool and I know maybe one cappy who is capable of teaching anyone anything. Usually I’m the one who tries to teach their kids but… it’s been rather unsuccessful…”

“That’s unfortunate. So I take it that cappies aren’t the smartest beings?”

“They try. I guess that’s all I can ask from them.”

“Poyo.” Kirby gave her some pats as if to cheer her up.

“Well, then I supposed it’s a good thing there are Star Warriors here to defend-”

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Tiff looked at the tree, Meta Knight was there, glaring at Susie with his sword pointed at her. That was… a bad sign to say the least.

“Meta! It’s been-”

“Do not call me that!” He jumped down, keeping a bit of distance between them and forming his cape into wings, lifting them to hide Tiff and Kirby from her line of sight. “You have no right to be here!”

“Tch, so aggressive.” She rolled her eyes. “I have every right to be here, I’m Kirby’s friend.”

“Why are you talking to the child?”

“Tiff?”

“No, the fucking alligator!”

Tiff backed away. This was the most angry she’d seen him. He’d been aggressive before during other incidents on Popstar, but he’d never yelled at anyone like that, or acted as if he was facing a monster. Not to mention, forming his wings was something he rarely did. He never used them around Nightmare, granted Falspar had told her he had a reason for it. Susie would have had to do something horrid for him to be acting like this.

“Kirby introduced me to her, I was merely curious about-”

“Curious?” He hissed, flaring out his wings more. Kirby tried to jump down, but she held onto him, feeling more than concerned.

“Calm down. I was curious about this planet, not the kid.”

“I’m sure you were! You’ve done enough! Leave!”

“I don’t think I will. I’ll have you know that since taking over the company, there have been zero mechanization projects.” She crossed her arms, closing her eyes as if that information was supposed to calm him down.

“Well, isn’t that great! You can keep it like that and leave!” 

“Kirby, do you want me to leave? I feel Meta’s acting a bit-”

“Do not talk to him!”

“He’s my friend.”

“He is not!”

“Medi-poyo..!”

“I thought you were over it.”

“How in the fuck did you come to that conclusion?”

“One, when there’s a giant clock that you sent to destroy our goddamn planet running off, I’m going to be just a little bit focused on that! Two, No, I’m not fucking over it!”

“You didn’t seem too angry when you showed up with the Halberd.” She shrugged. “I thought you were over it.”

“My mistake.”

“Get the fuck out of here!”

At that point, the cappies that were already watching had backed away, and others had stopped to stare. Tiff wasn’t sure what to do. Kirby suddenly puffed and jumped away from her, running in front of Meta Knight and holding his arms out. “Poyo! Suey gud poy!”

“She is not good now.” He was clearly trying to keep himself from yelling. “The only reason she helped you was because it was in her best interest.”

“Poyo poy poyo!”

“Kirby, I don’t blame Meta for being so angry with me.” Susie shrugged. “I’m not surprised that my presence concerns him.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Would you rather Mecha Knight?”

He suddenly hissed and swung his sword down, launching a sword beam at her and knocking Kirby aside with his other hand. Susie had just barely managed to avoid the attack, suddenly looking a lot less casual about the situation. Tiff ran forward and grabbed Kirby, picking him up and quickly backing away again. Meta Knight was shaking, likely from anger, and it was freaking her out. Kirby quieted down as well, staring wide-eyed at the damage caused by the attack. Luckily, it had barely missed the houses, taking a small bit of the roof off of one. Susie looked a bit concerned.

Then she laughed. “I forgot you could do that. Are you done now? I’d like to have a reasonable discussion with you.”

“You’ve thrown that opportunity away a long time ago!” He took a step towards her. Galaxia was glowing and sparking excessively. Galacta had mentioned her habit of creating small static shocks in response to Meta Knight’s anger. She’d seen it before multiple times, even when Nightmare had appeared directly in front of the battleship before luring Kirby into a battle. Apparently it was harmless, but he’d said the more it sparked, the angrier he was. She couldn’t remember why he’d told her that, she might’ve asked about it, or he might’ve brought it up and ended up explaining the whole thing to her.

“Alright, I understand. You’re upset and you don’t want me near anyone, but Kirby could easily overpower me if it came down to it so-”

“I don’t give a fuck! Stay away from the children!”

“I’m not here to mechanize anything-”

“Then leave!”

“Meta-”

“If you call me that one more time, I will stab you!” 

“I heavily doubt you’d come anywhere near me.”

He hissed in response. 

“Poyo…” Kirby jumped away again. It was a little irritating being unable to keep him still. He ran back towards Meta Knight and put a hand on his sword. “No.”

“Back away, Kirby.”

“Now that you’re a little incapable of doing immediate damage, will you listen?”

“Never.”

“I don’t want to cause harm. I simply want to apologize for everything. I was simply following orders-”

“You made it very clear to me that what you did had nothing to do with orders!”

“Well, I lied. I was ordered to stop Kirby from getting to far by any means necessary and-”

“You told me you did it because you were curious and it just happened to align with your goal! Don’t you fucking dare lie to me!”

“...Okay, you got me there, but look, is it so much to ask that you calm down and let me be friends with Kirby?”

“Yes!”

“Rude.”

“Poyo poy!” Kirby tried to pull Galaxia away from him, with no success.

“...Kirby, come here..!” Tiff called to him, keeping her distance.

“No, poyo Medi-poyo poy Suey!”

Meta Knight looked at him.

“Poyo..?”

He hissed and pulled the sword away from the small child, putting it back into its sheath and glaring at Susie. “If you threaten or harm any of them at all, I will kill you.” He kept his voice low, but failed to hide his anger.

“Well, I have a tazer so I doubt you’ll do much, but sure.” She shrugged.

Meta Knight hissed again, letting his wings fall back into his cape and wrapping himself up tightly. His eyes were red, not a color she saw often.

“I’m joking, I won’t taze you.” She laughed. “And I’ll make sure I do no harm to anyone or anything!”

“Good.”

“Poyo..!” Kirby smiled and ran towards her, then grabbed her hand and began leading her through the town. Meta Knight followed at a distance, his eyes turning back to normal. Tiff waited a moment, then ran towards him.

“What did she do?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He still sounded as if he’d like to tear the lady’s head off. Best not to ask any more questions on that topic.

“Why’d you calm down?”

“I didn’t.” He hissed. “Kirby was upset. Besides, he’s capable of handling himself. He’s beaten her before, along with multiple… weapons.” There was obviously more meaning to than word that he’d like to discuss. “For now, I’ll keep an eye on her. If she proves that she is not here to cause harm, I may consider leaving her alone.”

“So you’re giving her a chance because Kirby wanted you to?”

“...Yes.”

“Alright.”

“Do not go near her by yourself.” That was clearly a serious warning. “And do not listen to a word she says.”

“I won’t.” She glanced at Kirby, happily leading Susie around and pointing at random buildings. “Especially after that… introduction…”

“Forget that happened.” He was beginning to sound like he was calming down, but knowing him, he was likely just trying to hide his anger. One of his specialities was always appearing calm, even under intense circumstances. It could be either incredibly useful or painfully annoying.

“...How long are you gonna keep an eye on her?”

“Until I’m confident she can be trusted alone.”

“And then what?”

“I trust Kirby’s judgment.” He sighed. “Nothing she does will get past him.”

// Meta Knight will change his mind about anything if it makes Kirby happy. Sorry to those who like the idea of Susie being friends with Meta Knight but I like him to suffer so she sort of tortured him during the mechanization thing. Also I know I spelled tazer/taze wrong but I hate the actual spelling so you'll have to live with that lmao. Susie does end up spending a bit of time on Popstar. And maybe meeting some other game bois but that's a story for some other time! Meta will get to the point of trusting her unsupervised but that doesn't mean he'll stop hating her beyond words. Tiff is so offput by this whole thing. It bothers her to no end. //

[doppelnatur]

S/o to man hating women who make an exception for me <3

[illbegottenfaith]

lucky pt 3 - theo nott x reader

Theo doesn’t seem to care about you, and you can only lie to yourself that it doesn’t bother you for so long

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

a/n - the final part! so happy to finally write a happy ending :’) wasn’t planning on writing this until my finals were over but um here we are 🙈

tropes/warnings - tw smoking, a lil slapstick comedy ft the other slytherin boys, slight platonic hurt/comfort, angst, soft ‘smut’ (quite mild idt it warrants an 18+ tag)

word count - 3.4k

Two can play a game.

A week had passed since you submitted your Potions project, and after that one night of Theo staying up to help you, things went back to going from bad to worse. What were once paltry tiffs had now disappeared altogether. Theo attended and left lessons as if you didn’t exist. And you supposed you didn’t. At least, not to him.

Ivy worried over you, bless her. She’d noticed how listless and distracted you’d gotten, how much more prone you were to staying holed up in your room, how exhausted you seemed by the most mundane tasks. But this was something even she couldn’t help with. No one could help, you decided mournfully, resting your head against your dorm’s cool window pane. So here you were, staring out the window at 6.30 am on a Monday morning with irritated and aching eyes after a restless night of tossing and turning.

That was when you decided that the only thing there was to be done in a situation like this was to do what you did best - going head-to-head with Theodore Nott. He wasn’t the only one who could play at being emotionally avoidant, and it would be a cold day in hell before you let Theodore Nott best you in anything, including this.

And ignore him you did. You didn’t know or care if he noticed, but soon your already limited interactions became highly unabsorbing and apathetic. You barely acknowledged him in your shared classes. You matched every careless toss of his head with one of your own. As little as Theo cared, you could care even less. 

Finals came and went. The morning after your last paper Ivy came barging into your room, demanding you come for an end-of-semester gathering by the Great Lake the next day. No amount of begging or burying your head in your pillow seemed to deter her. She was determined to see you there even if she had to drag you out herself, the recluse that you had become. She finally left after you very unsportingly relented and unsuccessfully tossed a book at her head.

You were already regretting being worn down by the next morning when you were deciding what to wear. Was Theo going to be there? Not that it mattered. You weren't about to pick an outfit around a guy who may or may not be present.

You met Ivy and Katie near the castle entrance and once you started walking down to the lake, you started feeling better about your decision. The weather was surprisingly cooperative and it was perfect picnic weather, if a little windy. It was a little early, only shortly after breakfast, and the refreshments were still being set up. From the few that had already arrived, it seemed to be a rather intimate gathering of mostly familiar faces. If you were especially lucky, Theodore Nott might not make an appearance at all.

You watched a group of Slytherin boys flail and struggle to set up a folding picnic table and put a sheet over it. Enzo Berkshire had flopped onto the table to stop the sheet from flying off while the table groaned underneath his weight. Draco Malfoy was crossly telling him off and trying to get him to stand while Mattheo Riddle stood a little to the side, still frowning over the table's instructions. Draco had now moved onto threats when there was a terrible creaking sound and the table collapsed under Enzo.

"I was just about to say," Matheo started offhandedly, while Enzo moaned pitifully, "I don't think we put the table together right."

"I told you we should have waited for Theo."

Speak of the devil.

“Ladies,” Theo drawled from behind, in his appealingly lazy accent. You turned to see Theodore in a relaxed button-down folded at the elbow, wearing a simple but likely designer pair of black sunglasses, holding a red solo cup. You instinctively glanced at his tanned forearms before snapping your gaze back to his face. Did he notice? It was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

“Hi, Theo,” Ivy said awkwardly when you stubbornly refused to respond. “What's that you got there?”

"Punch. Enzo had me taste test it."

"Oh. Is it good?"

He gave a wry smile. You wanted to roll your eyes. You had no patience to tolerate his irritating posh affectations.

"A little strong for my taste, but it'll do."

"Have you seen Ivan?"

He waved his hand carelessly. “He’s…around.” He turned, peering in the distance. “Right. There he is, by the steps. He’s bringing the drinks.”

“I’ll go help him!” Before you could reel Ivy back in and threaten her to stay with you, she was already halfway down the path, heading straight for her boyfriend. You scowled, your impassive mask shattering. You turned back to see Theo grinning at you with his stupidly mysterious sunglasses and you shot him a dirty look. 

“Nice weather we’re having, hm?”

You schooled your features and shrugged noncommittally. The silence stretched unbearably between the two of you. Theo vaguely gestured to the boys with his cup.

“I should help them with the table."

You stayed tight-lipped, refusing to give in to the sense of camaraderie he seemed to be trying to foster with you. After all, you weren't friends. He made sure of that.

As he set his cup down and started looking over the instructions with Mattheo, Ivy returned, drinks and Ivan in tow.

“Punch?”

You raised your eyebrows. Even from a distance, the bowl reeked of booze. Still, you accepted a cup, downing it even as your eyes watered. You pulled a face.

“Merlin, that’s awful. Pour me another.”

You ended up sitting in a cluster of lawn chairs around a picnic blanket with Ivy, Katie and some other girls in your year. You were all giddily tipsy and in very silly moods, gossiping and swapping terrible first date stories.

The drunker and drunker you got, the harder it was to pull your eyes away from Theo. After all, as your inhibitions dissolved, what was there to stop you from glaring a hole into his skull?

Not that he noticed. He was sitting some distance away with his own friends, examining the bottom of his red Solo cup disinterestedly. The other Slytherin boys were absorbed in a spirited game of Exploding Snap. In the unassuming midday sun creeping up on them, he was a refreshing sight, sleek and cool in ways mere mortals could only dream of wishing for.

You scoffed under your breath. What, were his childhood friends too boring for him? Was that it? Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? You had half a mind to strip naked and run into the lake. Maybe that would finally be captivating enough for the oh-so-hard-to-impress Theodore Nott. 

How many other girls did he help write essays for late into the night, letting them doze, holding their hand? You shook yourself. He never held your hand. He helped you with your project, brought you breakfast, and that was it. Still, your gaze stayed fixed on the back of your hand. Whatever possessed you to think he held your hand?

The sky had gotten a little cloudy. Theo pulled off his sunglasses, blinking, and cast his eyes around, looking for a place to put them. Finally, he settled on hooking them on the open collar of his shirt and looked rather pleased with himself. It was almost endearing.

Your gut told you to avert your gaze, but you didn't, and the next second his gaze was on you. For the first time in weeks, his eyes met yours, intense and unforgiving. You told yourself it was just his gaunt complexion and bruise-like eyebags, but that didn’t stop your throat from seizing with some inexplicable want. Even when he moved away to rejoin his friends, your skin tingled; your body positively thrummed with it. Any hope of playing at sanity was out the window at this point. No, you just had to accept that the two of you would always be unfinished business.

But that was it - he wasn’t playing at this like you were. This was all a pretence for you; the unaffected stares, the nonchalant nods, the afterthought smiles. This was all just you pretending you weren’t watching his every move. Pretending your attention wouldn’t stay fixed on him in a room full of burning bodies.

But he wasn’t pretending. Not for one second.

All of a sudden, you felt queasy. You were going to be sick.

"Y/N?" Ivy was saying, looking concerned as you unsteadily got to your feet. You could feel the back of your neck prickling with Theo still watching you.

"I'm - I'm fine," you slurred, fanning yourself weakly. "Stay - I'm okay. Just...s'hot. Need to -" 

You put your cup down somewhere, stumbling back to the castle as fast as you could, your head spinning as the ground wobbled dangerously under you. You weren't sure how but you somehow made it to your dorm, flung open the bathroom door and reached the toilet just as your stomach started emptying its contents. 

You vaguely registered that you had never been this drunk - it felt like you were slipping in and out of consciousness. You were only distantly aware of a familiar pair of hands holding your hair back, rubbing soothing circles on your back as you heaved. It was a cathartic kind of release, a purging of all the toxic anxiety that had been festering inside of you. And just like that, a dam broke. You started crying, sobbing like the world was ending, slumped against your best friend.

“Oh, Y/N…”

“I don’t understand,” you choked out, leaning your forehead against the tiled bathroom wall. “Why doesn’t he like me anymore? Why does he h-hate me?”

Ivy delicately smoothed some of your unruly hair down. “He doesn’t hate you, honey.”

“I’m not a k-kid, Ivy," you hiccuped. "You don’t have to lie to protect my feelings.”

Ivy hugged you close as you sniffled. “I’m going to kill that asshole if Ivan doesn’t beat me to it.”

“No,” you said in a shaky voice, gingerly sitting up. “Promise me you won’t tell Ivan.”

“Y/N - “

“They’re friends! I don’t want to spoil that for him.”

“Trust me, if he knew what Theo was doing, he wouldn’t be feeling all that friendly.”

“Don’t, Ivy,” you pleaded. “This is just…it’s just between us. I’m fine, I swear.”

Ivy looked highly unconvinced. You let out a frustrated sigh.

“Look, at least give me a week to work through this on my own, alright? Then you can sic your boyfriend on Nott.”

“You’ve already had your week. Weeks, in fact.”

“Ivy.”

She pursed her lips. “Fine.”

You felt a lot more sober after throwing up. But you still weren't feeling up to returning to the party, so once you finally managed to shake Ivy off, you wandered the deserted halls of Hogwarts. Just like that one evening lifetimes ago, when Mattheo had insinuated Theo might have a thing for you in the library, you ended up at the Astronomy Tower.

It was peaceful. You could see why Theo liked to come up here to think. You looked up as you heard a scuffling sound from behind one of the pillars, near one of the stone arch windowsills. You walked over to find Theo sitting there, smoking, his long legs barely fitting across the length of the window. He didn't expect to see you either, if the way the cigarette was dangling from his lips was any indication.

“Put that out.”

It was the first thing you had said to him in weeks. You felt almost as surprised as he looked. He started, as if he had forgotten about the cigarette, and took another puff.

“I said,” you started again, half-heartedly raising your voice, “put that out.”

It was weak and unsurprisingly ineffective. If Theo picked up on what it truly was, a plea for normalcy, he didn’t let on.

Your already thin patience snapped. You stalked over, stealing the cigarette from his lax fingers. What you weren't expecting was Theo's fingers closing around your other wrist and firmly pulling you down to press his mouth hard against yours. It was a clumsy mess of teeth and tongues as you ungracefully reached for his arms to steady yourself. His grip lessened when he got the inkling you weren't about to pull away and sock him in the jaw. His hands drifted to your waist as the two of you fumbled for a more proper kiss. You could taste the lingering salt of the cigarette and your senses felt overwhelmed by the distinct feel of Theodore Nott.

“Tesoro -“ he wheezed, twisting away from where your hand had dropped to his bicep, the smouldering cigarette having singed through his shirt.

“Shit, sorry. How do you -?”

Theo plucked the cigarette from your hand and dropped it on the floor, grinding it with the heel of his shoe. He looked up to where you were still hovering above him before pulling you down into his lap by your hips. He grabbed your wrists, placing your hands on his shoulders, and you had to bite back a smile over how adorably particular he was.

“Telling me where to place my hands? And I thought I was the bossy one.”

Theo quirked an eyebrow. "Maybe I'm just sick of waiting." He tipped his head back against the rough stone wall. "And...wanting."

You smoothed a thumb across his collarbone, not missing the way he shivered under your touch. “So what do you want, Nott?”

He tipped you forward, kissing you much more properly this time. You didn't bother pulling much away as you broke apart, whispering with your faces inches away.

“We're actually doing this.”

“Seems so.”

He cupped your face, swiping a thumb under your eyes as his expression flickered.

“Were you…crying?”

You sniffed, dragging his hand off your face, and looking away. "Just - allergies."

Theo blinked, watching your face with a stunned (and slightly dumb) expression as if you hadn't said anything.

“But you never cry.”

You gave a bitter smile. “Congratulations, Nott. You’re officially the first person to ever reduce me to tears.” You desperately hoped he would drop the subject. Just talking about it was enough to make you want to start sobbing again.

"Did someone say something to you? I swear I - it's not because of me, is it?"

Your face crumpling was the only confirmation he needed. “It was like you - I don’t know. Like you hated me, or something.”

Theo captured your hands in his own where they had slid down to his chest. “I….hate you?”

“Or something. Probably the something.”

“But - why? How? If anything, I’d say you hated me.”

Your lips parted as your brow furrowed. “What gave you that idea?”

“What gave me the - I don’t know, all the scowling? The glaring? The snide remarks? The bodily harm?”

You flushed at the memory of the Potions storeroom incident. You could kind of see his point. “That was one time.”

“You owe me new pants, by the way. New pants and a new di-“

You muffled his rant with a kiss and instantly felt him relax beneath you, the tension and annoyance draining from his limbs as he moulded your body to fit more perfectly against his. So eager, so insistent, so different from the past couple of weeks. 

“I don’t know," you started once you pulled away. "This felt worse than hate. It felt like…like you couldn’t even be bothered to hate me." You swallowed hard, eyes fixed on where you were fidgeting with the edge of his shirt's collar. "As if that was how little you thought of me.”

"Mia cara," he sighed, almost dejectedly. "Small is the last thing I think of you." He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly, searching for the right words.

“I’m not good at expressing…fondness.”

“No. You don’t say.”

He wet his lips. You could see the smile he was holding back.

“I’m not good at being honest or direct. Everything - my mind, it’s a mess, it’s always about what I want, and how to get what I want, I never - I never meant to make you feel that way."

Maybe it was still all part of some elaborate scam. But sitting there with the rough stone arch digging into your sensitive skin, the distant scent of holding Theo's face in your hands like he was moonlight, you believed him. You didn't even have to try. You just did.

“I’m not used to playing the part of the fool, bella. But when I see you smile, or read, or fiddle with your hair…" He reached out to free the lock of hair you were nervously tugging on, "...I never feel more foolish.”

"I don't think I've ever hated you either, for the record," you said, smoothing out his shirt where you had crumpled it in your fists. "I might have thought I did, but..." you trailed off, looking into his mesmerisingly blue eyes. No, you decided softly, you never could hate the boy.

"I never thought anything could come of us. You were - you are - so brilliant. You're on the road to brilliant things. I was only going to get in the way. And...I don't think I could live with myself if I did." He glanced up and, seeing the crestfallen look on your face, hastily amended his statement.

"That, and you had no patience for pretty boys.”

You scoffed half-heartedly. “I have no patience for you, either.”

Theo grinned, shifting you up his lap, as if you could never be close enough to him. He looked so carefree you couldn’t hold back a small smile of your own. “You keep me so humble.”

“I try.”

The two of you stayed like that for a while, tracing burning expanses of skin, staring at each other like you could never get your fill. You’d occasionally press soft kisses down his neck and jaw while his hands would drift up your ribcage or down your thighs. Both of you moved at an unhurried pace, because now you had all the time in the world to have and hold each other.

“It’s getting late,” you murmured, hours later, now tucked into Theo’s side as you lightly traced shapes on his chest. It was pleasantly warm and given the late hour, you could feel your eyelids growing heavier. When he didn't respond, you lifted your head.

Beneath you, Theo breathed deeply and evenly, looking half-asleep. You rolled your eyes and gave him a hard jab in the ribs.

“Hey. Nott.”

Theo grunted, stirring, swatting your hand away. You grinned to yourself - annoying Theo would never lose its appeal. Eyes still closed, his hand haphazardly searched for you to once again pull you against him. You ignored his efforts, deliberately unhelpful.

“You need to pick another name, y’know. This whole last-name business isn’t going to fly as my girlfriend.”

You felt yourself unreasonably perk up over his words. “Your girlfriend? Me?”

He cracked an eye open. “I thought the exclusivity thing was obvious. You're a serial monogamist.”

“Yeah, but you’re not.”

Theo groaned, too tired to keep up with you. He rolled you onto your back and propped himself up with a forearm. You giggled softly, flustered by the heat in his gaze.

“Then I guess you’re lucky I like kissing you the best, amore.”

He dropped his head, and you got the distinct impression you could never tire of the feel of his hands and lips on you. 

“What were you saying before?” Theo inquired, while his hands continued their distracting exploration under your clothes.

“It’s late.”

“Right.”

“You have Charms right after breakfast. We should,” your breath hitched, “um, go to bed.”

Theo grumbled something in the crook of your neck, sending the most delicious vibrations down your spine.

"Fine," you sighed, encircling your arms around his neck. "Five more minutes."

He barely made it in time for Charms the next morning.

[sansuri]

𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞

Arranged marriage | gojo x indifferent!wife | MDNI

WARNINGS: you guys have a child together, subtle smut MDNI, fem!reader, mentions of the reader’s body being different after having a child, bad writing bc I switch from third to second use pronouns interchangeably

Synopsis: Gojo and you were the product of an arranged marriage, undoubtedly hating each other, but after your first child together, Gojo begins viewing you in a different light.

Cont: Sea Glass

—————————————————————————————

You were arranged to marry the Gojo Satoru.

The man who belonged to one of the top three clans of Jujutsu, a man who was known for his arrogance and ridiculous amount of privilege. You knew him in your school days, and let’s just say that you two didn’t like each other.

So it was only inevitable that your marriage was definitely rough and you two hated each other, and I mean despised each other. You were required to bear an heir for Gojo, and although reluctant, that’s exactly what you did. Sex with no strings attached, only for the sake of an heir, but after birthing your first child together, Gojo starts viewing his wife differently. He begins to see her soft side and the way she tenderly cares for their child, and Gojo has never felt so jealous in his life. Who knew his usually quiet and distant wife could have such a domestic side, so slowly but surely, he falls hard for you.

And I mean hard.

He begins showering you with gifts and staying home more often, trying to be around you more in the house. He follows you around like a puppy, making sure that if you needed a break from your guys son, that he would be there to switch.

Gojo, however, notices your continued indifference towards him, and he only sits there, wondering how he can convince you to also love him back, not hate him because you were forced into this predicament with him. You loved your son so dearly, yet you never seemed to give any affection to your husband. You had no problem placing a chaste kiss on his jawline whenever there were clan parties, so why couldn’t you do so in the privates of your shared home?

Gojo decides to change this, and begins placing a soft kiss on your cheek each time he gets home, also making sure to place one on the little gremlin too, one that seemed to have taken on his appearance more than his wife, but that’s not a worry because he can always keep having children with you until one pops out looking like you too.

He beds his wife more often, not just during her ovulation period. Sex soon becomes a daily thing than a monthly thing. He beds you because he loves you, and you’re just so soft and tender from having just given birth to his child. He loves the way your body has changed, and he always makes sure that you know that you make him feel so good. He does this not for the sake of having another child, but for him to show his love for you.

He rolls his hips so nicely yet roughly into you, ensuring that you’re feeling just as pleasured. And you, on the other hand, only comply with his desire for you, only thinking that he was just needier than usual, something the Gojo men were all known for. You were merely satisfying his needs, only because you knew your role as his wife. Nothing more.

You begin noticing that after sex though, he stays in the bed with you, instead of leaving like usual, rubbing up and down the curves of your body, worshipping you as you two lay there together, basking in each other’s presence, eventually resulting in you snoozing off in his hold.

He begins asking you questions about your day, sitting with you for breakfast with your son, which he never did before. He starts helping you dress in the mornings, zipping up the cute sundress he bought for you to wear, admiring the way it fits so nicely on you. He always makes sure to feather soft kisses on your shoulder up to your neck, before he places a sweet, yet wet kiss on your jawline, nuzzling his face in your neck to smell the Tiffany & Co perfume he bought you as well.

His goal in mind is to get a kiss from you, but you seem to have no interest in that, which makes him sigh so deeply. You’ve never really kissed Gojo genuinely, and he wants to change that. Sure, you’ve kissed him on your wedding day, but even during sex, when his eyes become lusted and he stares at you so lovingly with desire, leaning his face down to get a kiss from you, you turn your head away, gently pushing his head into the crevice of your shoulder. He’s never been so deprived in his life, but Gojo respects you, so he waits for you to initiate it first. Yeah, you’ve had sex together, but kisses were a whole new level of intimacy for him.

However, just one day after he came home from work tired, you catch him off guard and come over, sweetly grabbing his face and pulling him down to press a soft yet delicate kiss on his jaw. In the privates of your home, not just at a clan party where you needed to keep show. Gojo has felt high before, but this was a new type of high.

It may not have been on his lips just yet, but there’s always next time, right?

[tortillamastersblog]

Back To You - Part 11 | Sam Carpenter

Pairing: Sam Carpenter x reader

Warnings: mentions of violence, death, blood, injuries, and swearing

Summary: When Sam left after turning eighteen, you were devastated. You’d been in love with her since you were kids and her leaving meant you never got to tell her how you truly felt.

Fast forward a couple of years, Tara gets attacked and Sam returns. . .

Previous Part | Next Part | Masterlist

_______________________________________________

The rest of the walk back to the apartment was uneventful. Sam and I stayed a couple of paces behind everyone and even though we didn’t speak I kept stealing glances at her, feeling my heart flutter every time I caught her snuggling deeper into my hoodie in search of comfort.

Now, we’re back at the apartment. Tara and Chad are in Tara’s room, talking, according to Quinn, while the rest of us is gathered in the living room.

Well, almost everyone. Sam stayed downstairs when we got here, saying she needed a moment to compose herself.

I completely understand where she’s coming from, tonight’s been a lot and I get that she needs some space, but I still have an innate need to comfort her.

I know we’re not on the best of terms especially after our little tiff on the way to the party, but I still care deeply about her and I hate seeing her upset.

Which reminds me. . . I should probably have a little chat with Tara.

I set down the bottle I just took from the fridge after taking a big sip of water, and slowly make my way to Tara’s room.

Much to my surprise, Quinn is already there and what she’s saying makes my eyebrows rise up.

She’s saying something about cock blocking Tara and Chad, something they both vehemently deny and I slow down so as to not get into the middle of it.

Eventually they drop it though, and Quinn leaves the room, smirking at me when she passes me in the hallway before Chad exits the room as well after telling Tara not to kill Sam.

He sends me a small smile as he brushes past me and I pat his shoulder with a sympathetic look before going to the door and leaning against the doorframe.

Tara still hasn’t noticed me and when she lets herself fall back on the bed with a dopey smile I can’t help but smile too.

Oh, she and Chad have it bad for each other. I can’t wait to ask how and when that happened.

For now, there are more important things to talk about though.

I push myself back off the doorframe. “Knock, knock,” I say quietly.

Tara’s head whips around and she immediately sits up when she sees me, her dopey grin turning into a somber smile. “Y/N, hey. . .”

“Can I come in?” I ask and when Tara nods and pats the spot beside her I cross the room and take a seat next to her. “You okay?”

She shifts closer and rests her head on my shoulder with a sigh. “No, not really. I hate fighting with Sam, but she’s so overprotective, it’s suffocating. . . I’m sorry I didn’t greet you properly How was your drive? I thought you and Liam had plans for tonight?”

“We did, but he was called into work. The drive was fine, long, but fine and you don’t have to apologize, I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” I nudge her softly and press a kiss to the top of her head. “As for Sam,” I continue. “I get it. It’s a lot and she might have overreacted tonight, but she’s just worried about you. I’m worried about you, I mean—Date Rape Frankie? Really?”

When Anika told Sam and me the name of the guy Tara’d left with I thought I’d heard wrong.

Tara winces and fidgets with her fingers.

“I know, I know. Not my best move, but I just. . . I want to make my own choices and, yes, Sam is worried, but she keeps treating me like a child. You don’t.“

I sigh and let her play with the bracelet on my wrist, so she stops fidgeting with her fingers. “No, I don’t. But she lives with you and takes care of you, and she was gone for five years, so she’s probably trying to make up for everything she missed.”

Tara doesn’t say anything, but her fingers still as she thinks about what I just said.

“I know it’s a lot, too much even some times, but you have to understand where she’s coming from. Sam loves you so much, Sprout.”

“I know. I love her, too, but. . .” Tara trails off and sighs.

I chuckle softly and press another kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah. . .”

We stay like that until Tara lifts her head off my shoulder a couple of moments later to study me.

When she does say anything, I raise an eyebrow and ask, “What?”

“You look. . . tired,” she says which makes me shrug.

“I mean, yeah. It’s late and the drive was pretty long,” I say, not knowing where she’s going with this, but Tara just shakes her head and deflates a little, her eyes softening.

“No, I don’t mean like that.” I frown, which prompts her to continue. “You and Sam. . . You barely speak these days and I can tell you’re both miserable because of it. I mean, I get that you have your own life and it was hard to stay in touch when you were in Boston and we were in Woodsboro, but we’re here now, so why don’t you try to fix things between the two of you.

I sigh. “It’s not that simple, Sprout. We’ve all changed and even though I love Sam with all my heart, I realized I can’t be around her. She doesn’t think of me as anything other than a friend a-and it hurts. It hurts so much, I just can’t be a friend .”

“But she loves you, too,” Tara tries to reason which makes my heart ache because oh how nice would it be if that was true. “You guys just have to talk. I mean, she watches all your games on TV and you’re the first one she wants to call when something’s wrong or when something good happens.“

I blink back tears and avert my eyes. “That doesn’t prove anything, Tara. She knows how I feel about her and she’s never done anything about it. Besides, why would she be fooling around with Danny if she loved me?”

Tara grabs my wrist to get me to look at her again. “She knows?! I mean, it’s pretty obvious, but. . . How? And since when? And who the fuck is Danny?”

I smile sadly at her rambling and pat the top of her hand. “Danny, you know—cute boy? No one knows though, so keep that to yourself. As for since when she’s known, Richie called me out on it at Amber’s. We never talked about it, but yeah, she knows. . .”

The pity that fills Tara’s eyes is almost too much for me to bear, and when she sigh and says, “I’m so sorry. . .” I have to blink back a new wave of tears.

“Well, it is what it is, Sprout, but I need you to know that no matter what happens between Sam and me, I’ll always be there for you. You can always call me and should you ever need a break from everything you can come visit me in Boston.“

Tara hugs me tightly and whispers, “Thank you.”

I hold her closer and press another kiss to the top of her head before pulling back and suggesting we join the others in the living room.

I still want to ask about her and Chad, but there will be time for that later.

She agrees and together we make our way to the living room where the others are in the middle of turning on the TV and finding something to watch.

It is pretty late, but it seems as though no one is ready to call it a night yet.

I don’t pay much attention to what they’re watching as I go to the kitchen to retrieve my water bottle, but then a collective gasp makes me turn back and when my eyes land on the TV, I freeze.

A news host is talking about a recent Ghostface killing, and even though it could all just be a big coincidence, I have this eerie feeling that it’s not and that we’re in for another ride with the masked killer.

He’s back. Ghostface is back.

It’s just like Sidney said, they always come back.

Fuck.

Various scenarios of what might happen go through my head and I shudder when I think of anyone getting hurt, or worse, killed again.

Tara. . . Sam. . . The twins. No, please, no. Not again.

“Someone get Sam,” Mindy says. It snaps me out of my thoughts and before anyone can get up, I head to the front door.

Outside in the hallway, I peer over the banister, expecting her to be sitting on the stairs at the bottom of the stairwell where we left her. She’s not though, and when I see her standing there instead, holding onto the lapels of Danny’s jacket, I have to swallow the bitterness that rises in my throat.

So much for not being a thing. . .

I push my hurt away and focus on what’s important instead.

“Sam!” I shout, doing my best not to let my voice waver. “Get up here right now. There’s something you have to see.”

At the sound of my voice, both Sam and Danny immediately look up, and I try not to read too much into the way Sam instantly lets go of Danny and takes a step back.

They share a quick look before making their way up the stairs, and I turn to go back into the apartment without waiting for them.

I leave the door open and stand next to Chad, watching the news report until Sam comes storming in with Danny right behind her.

“What’s going on?” she asks and Chad just points at the TV.

Quinn smiles briefly at the sight of Danny and shoots Sam a knowing look, saying, “Cute Boy. . . nice,” but both Sam and Danny, despite his confusion at the nickname, don’t react.

They stare at the TV in a mix of surprise and confusion and when Mindy points out that one of the two victims was in their Film Studies Class, Sam’s face hardens and she turn to Tara, saying, “Pack a bag, we leave in ten.”

I can’t say I’m surprised because I knew she’d want to leave, but we already found out once that running away doesn’t work.

Sam heads into the kitchen to do god knows what and Tara looks at me pleadingly for a moment, hoping I’ll say something to change Sam’s mind but I just shake my head and sigh.

I’m scared, too, and once again a million scenarios of what could happen go through my head, but it’s not my place to interfere and even if I did, I doubt Sam would listen to me.

She’s got one thing on her mind right now, and that is protecting Tara, and even I won’t be able to change her mind, especially now after nine months of almost complete radio silence between the two of us.

Tara’s face falls, seeing that I’m not going to come to her rescue, and she jumps up to follow her sister into the kitchen, protesting. “Sam, wait! Sam!”

Danny frowns and goes to follow them, confused why Sam would just straight up pack a bag and leave at the first sign of trouble, but Chad steps in his way and places his hands on his shoulders.

“Thank you very much, suspicious new guy, but I think we’ve got it from here,” he says, ushering a still confused Danny out of the door before closing it land locking it.

I’ve got to say, I understand why Chad doesn’t trust him, but from what little I’ve seen of Danny so far, he seems like a decent guy and I doubt he has anything to do with this whole Ghostface situation.

“Sam, hold on!”

I turn back at the sound of Tara’s voice and try to hide my surprise at the sight of Sam coming back out of the kitchen with a knife in hand, Tara hot on her heels.

So that’s why she went into the kitchen. If you ask me, she’s overreacting just a little bit. Yes, Ghostface is back, but he’s not here right now, so I really don’t see the need for the knife.

“No, come on, we’re leaving,” Sam says, heading to her room, presumably to pack a bag, but before she gets there, Tara grabs her by the elbow and spins her around.

“No, wait! Let’s talk about this for a second ‘cause this might not have anything to do with us.”

True, but I doubt it. Still, I don’t get in the middle of it. I even take a step back to give them some room and when I glance at the others I see they’re also conflicted about what to believe and whose side to be on.

Well, they all are except Ethan. He just looks scared and his eyes keep darting between the two sisters and the TV.

When Sam points out that it can’t be a coincidence, Chad and Mindy back her up, mumbling, “Yeah, it is a little bit close to home,” I see Tara deflate.

She looks at me helplessly and I just shrug timidly, agreeing with the rest of them which prompts her to turn to Quinn for help. “Quinn, your dad’s a cop, right? Can you call him and find out what’s going on?” She turns back to glare at Sam, adding, “Before you make the unilateral decision to abandon my college education and flee the fucking state!”

Sam flinches slightly, but looks at Quinn for answers, her eyes filled with desperation and an underlying fear that makes me feel for her.

I’m scared, too.

The redhead cringes slightly and nods. She obviously doesn’t like the fact that she’s been roped into the fight, but she takes out her phone nonetheless. “I’m calling him now.”

Tara lets out an exasperated sigh. “Thank you.”

Quinn sends her a tight lipped smile and lifts her phone to her ear after dialing her dad’s number, only for the rest of us to flinch a second later when Sam’s phone starts ringing on the kitchen table.

Oh no.

Her eyes find mine and I do my best not to let my own fear show as I tilt my head, silently telling her to answer it.

Whatever happens, we’re in this together. The past nine months be damned.

She visibly shudders but takes her phone after setting down the knife. She doesn’t answer it though. She just stares at the display before declining the call and turning back around.

Huh. What was that?

The atmosphere is charged and a tense silence has settled over the living room and the only one who dares to break it a second later is an oblivious Ethan.

“Why did everyone just freak out when her phone rang?” he asks which makes Anika roll her eyes and say, “You’ve got to keep up my dude.”

She’s right. How can he not know Ghostface calls his victims every time before he attacks. By now, that’s like common knowledge because Stab is a franchise everyone knows, but then again, he doesn’t strike me as someone who watches horror movies, so his question seems fair.

“Sam? My dad wants to talk to you,” Quinn says, getting off the couch and holding out her phone.

Right. Her dad.

Sam takes the phone and we all watch with baited breath as she raises it to her ear, saying, “Mr. Bailey, hi,” but then a thought strikes me and I’m quick to pull out my own phone and excuse myself for a moment.

I dial Liam’s number in the hallway outside of the apartment, waiting with a racing heart until he finally picks up.

It’s not been confirmed that Ghostface is back, but I still have to warn him. I can’t ask him to leave again because of his new job, but I can give him a heads up.

“Hey, Y/N. You good? I’m sorry I know it’s late and you probably thought I’d be home by now, but my boss—“

“No, no, it’s not that.” I cut him off, but before I can say anything else he beats me to it.

“Okay, good. You know speaking of my boss, he’s a big fan of yours and I may or may not have slipped him your resume and he’d love you to work for him should you retire any time soon.l

I shake my head even though Liam can’t see me and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Liam—“

“Also I talked to Paige on my way to dinner and she’s, like, so jealous the two of us are spending a couple of days together, even though you visited her in Portland a couple of weeks ago and—“

“Liam!”

Liam shuts up instantly and for a second there’s silence. When he speaks up again the concern in his voice makes it clear that he knows something is wrong. “Y/N, what’s going on?”

I exhale shakily and tighten my grip on the phone. “He’s back, Lee. . . Ghostface is back.”

“What? But—“

“Listen to me,” I say sternly before he can go on. “I know I can’t ask you to leave again, but I need you to keep your distance from me until this whole thing blows over. Stay vigilant, stay in crowded places and maybe even stay with a friend for a couple of days. He might not be after you, but you’re my friend and when he finds out he might want to hurt you.”

Liam huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “If you think I’m going to go into hiding and let you face this motherfucker alone again you’re out of your mind, Y/N! Let me—“

“No! You’re staying out of this.”

“You can’t just decide that for me!” He fires back and I clench my jaw.

“Liam, the less people that are involved, the better,” I say. “I told you before and I’ll tell you again, if something happened to you because of me, I’d never be able to forgive myself. You’re not going into hiding, you’re keeping yourself safe. . . I’ve faced Ghostface before, so I know what I’m getting into, and we’re prepared this time. Quinn’s dad is a cop.”

“Y/N. . .”

“Lee,” I whisper, feeling a lump growing in my throat. “It’s going to be okay. We’re all going to be okay as long as you stay out of it, okay? Please promise me you’ll do what I said.“

I hear Liam sigh and it’s clear he doesn’t want to agree, but he does eventually. “Fine. Fine. I’ll stay out of it.”

“Thank you.” I swallow thickly. “I’ve got to get going now, but before I do. . . Please, don’t tell Paige about this. She’ll only worry and she’ll want to come here to help.”

“I know,” Liam says. “I won’t tell her.”

“Thank you.” I hang up after telling him to stay safe, and turn around just in time to see Sam and Tara coming out of the apartment.

Both of them have changed out of their clothes from the party. Tara’s wearing a striped shirt, jeans, and a pink corduroy jacket and Sam is wearing a simple white long-sleeved shirt and my hoodie.

Her necklace glints in the low light and distracts me for a moment.

“Hey, where are you guys going?” I ask when I snap out of it.

Sam grimaces. “Detective Bailey asked me to come down to the station because they found my driver’s license at the crime scene and Tara’s coming with me.”

“What? How’d that get there?” I ask, following them down the stairs without hesitation.

Wherever they go, I go, even though I’m only wearing a shirt and I know it’s going to be a little chilly outside.

Sam throws her hands up, keeping her eyes trained on the stairs so as to not stumble while Tara holds onto my arm. “I have no idea, but I reported that it was stolen two nights ago.”

Why would someone steal and then plant her license at a crime scene? It’s almost like they’re trying to frame her, but why?

I feel like I’m missing something.

We step outside and I wrinkle my nose at the smell of wet dirt and urine. It rained while we were inside, I realize, and the air is much cooler than I thought it would be, but there’s no turning back now, so I just lean into Tara when she huddles closer for warmth after noticing the goosebumps on my arms.

I’m just glad it’s not raining anymore.

Sam is walking two paces ahead of us, seemingly lost in thought and I’m about to speak up and ask her to tell us what’s on her mind when her phone suddenly rings.

She stops walking and Tara and I catch up to her, watching her pull her phone out of her pocket.

I freeze when I see the caller ID and the three of us share a horrified look.

Richie Kirsch

“What the fuck?” Tara whispers.

“I never deleted his contact,” Sam admits.

“Don’t pick that up, just let it ring,” I warn, knowing that it can’t be anyone but Ghostface, but after looking around with a clenched jaw, Sam picks it up anyway.

Tara and I share an incredulous look, but we stay quiet when Sam asks, “Who is this?”

I can’t hear what the person on the other end of the line is saying, but even without the speaker I can make out Ghostface’s distorted voice.

Sam tenses and she stares straight ahead, her grip on her phone so harsh her knuckles are turning white. “I want you to think long and hard about whether you really want to do this because the last two people that fucked with us ended up dead,” she spits and my chest fills with pride at how confident she sounds.

Ghostface says something I can’t quite make out, but I don’t focus on him because as he speaks, a hooded figure rounds the corner in front of us.

They’re on the phone as well with their head down so we can’t make out their face and I instantly shake off Tara and step in front of her and Sam.

Not today. . .

My ears start ringing and I ball my shaking hands into fists, ready to pounce, but then the stranger looks up with furrowed eyebrows. It’s a man in his late thirties, and he looks weirded out by the fact that we’re just starring at him, but he doesn’t comment on it and simply walks by while still talking on the phone.

I feel a hand on my lower back and deflate a little.

That wasn’t him. . .

I turn, thinking it’s Tara who’s touching me, only to freeze when I realize it’s Sam.

She’s not looking at me, and I’m not even sure she knows what she’s doing, but when I shift out of reach her jaw twitches.

“So, what? You’re protecting us now?” she asks Ghostface which makes me frown.

What are they talking about?

Tara steps closer and tries to listen to what they’re saying with a frown of her own pulling at her lips all while resting a hand on my forearm to make sure I don’t go anywhere.

A police car races past us with blaring sirens and blinking lights, but I keep my focus on Sam whose face tightens more and more with every word Ghostface spews.

“You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, asshole,” she says with a tilt of her head which only fuels my earlier confusion.

Yeah, I’m definitely missing something here.

Tara looks at me, her brown eyes filled with worry and I go to comfort her by wrapping an arm around her shoulder, but then movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention right as Sam says, “You better watch yours!”

I spin around and pull Tara behind me just in time to kick Ghostface in the stomach before he can get his hands on either of us.

He stumbles back and doubles over, and I use his momentary distraction to push Sam and Tara in front of me.

“Shit! Run!” I shout and they do as I say, running ahead with me hot on their heels.

I keep checking over my shoulder where Ghostface is, and my stomach sinks when I see him picking himself up faster than anticipated.

Shit. He’s tough. And he’s not small either.

“Help! Please!” Tara shouts, but no one in their car hears her and there are no pedestrians around, so Sam does what I would have done too if I was in front and drags Tara around the corner and into a bodega.

I follow them inside and turn so I can keep my eyes on the door while they frantically plead with the man behind the register to call 911.

The other customers who’re stand in line to pay for their stuff complain and shout at us for cutting the line, but I ignore them and keep my eyes on the door.

And then he comes in. Ghostface stands tall and unbothered, looking almost calm which makes him even more menacing than when he was chasing us.

I take a step back, bumping into Sam and Tara, and keep my eyes on him when one of the customers who complained about us cutting the line steps in front of him.

“You got a problem here, guy?” he asks Ghostface and I have to suppress a scream when not even a second later, Ghostface pulls a knife out of his robe and stabs him with it.

The other customer gasp and scream in horror as absolute chaos breaks out, and I don’t protest when Sam pulls me backward, further into the store and away from Ghostface who drops the customer he just stabbed before ramming his knife into the neck of another guy who comes at him.

It’s all happening so fast, it feels like a dream, but I know it’s not because Sam keeps dragging me with her and Tara until we’re at the back of the store with our backs against the coolers.

Ghostface’s latest victim collapses, his lifeless eyes staring at me when he lands on the floor and I think this is it. He’s going to kill us now, but then the store owner behind the register pulls out a shotgun and fires it at Ghostface.

He misses, but it makes Ghostface scramble for cover and Sam, Tara, and I stare in horror as the owner cocks the gun, his eyes scanning the isles for any sign of the masked killer.

“Go out the back!” he shouts and we rush to the back door, but it’s locked and before the owner can give us the key, Ghostface appears out of nowhere.

He stabs the poor man in his shoulder and rips the gun out of his hands before shoving him to the ground and shooting him without a moment’s hesitation.

The sight makes my blood run cold, but it’s a reminder that if we don’t act, we’re going to be next, so I’m quick to pull Sam and Tara to the ground behind one of the nearby shelves.

There’s only one way out, and Ghostface is blocking it, so we’ll either have to somehow get around him or distract him long enough for the police to get here.

I’m sure by now someone’s already called them, but with Ghostface each second counts and if we don’t play this right we’ll be dead long before anyone can help us.

We crawl down an isle out of sight of Ghostface, but when we hear the shotgun cock again, we stop.

It’s nearer than I would have liked and my heart pounds in my chest when I meet Tara’s and Sam’s eyes.

They’re both white as a wall and Tara is crying silently, her mascara running down her cheek, and I grit my teeth, trying to keep my own panic at bay.

This is like the time Tara and I hid in the hospital. We’re sitting ducks, just like we were back then, and I know the only thing that kept us alive back then was staying as calm as possible for as long as possible. Well, that and Dewey, but there’s no time to dwell on that now.

Deep breaths, Y/N.

There’s a crunch, and I close my eyes, trying to figure out where Ghostface might be heading. Not a moment later though, a shot rings out and my eyes fly open again when the glass door of the cooler behind us shatters.

Tara let’s out an involuntary whimper which leads to another shot being fired in our direction. It hits the shelf above us and makes bags of chips explode and rain down on us.

Then, silence.

Sam ushers us around the other side of the shelf and we press ourselves against it in hopes of making ourselves less visible and for a moment I feel her hand on mine.

Even now, her touch sends sparks up my arm, but I don’t look at her. I just turn my hand around and slip my fingers between her trembling ones, squeezing gently.

It’s not an acknowledgment of defeat—I’m not going to just let us die like this— but I want to reassure her that I’m here. I’m here and I’m going to do everything in my power to prevent anything from happening to her or Tara.

They have to get out of here. That’s all that matters.

The sound of approaching footsteps right behind us makes me hold my breath, and my eyes dart around the floor in front of us until they land on a crushed soda can.

It’s by Sam’s feet and when I squeeze her hand again and tilt my head in the direction of it, she reaches for it. Tara watches us with wide eyes and a tear running down her cheek.

We need a distraction. That’s our only chance.

Sam shoots me a questioning look, but I just raise my hand in front of us and hold up three fingers.

3. . .

She frowns, but I gesture at the can and fold down a finger.

2. . .

Understanding dawns on her and I nod encouragingly and jut my chin in the direction of the other side of the store before folding down another finger.

1. . .

I fold down my last finger and Sam grits her teeth before throwing the can.

It clatters against a shelf on the other side of the store and not even a second later a gunshot rings out.

This is my chance.

I jump up, much to Sam’s and Tara’s surprise and make a run for Ghostface who’s got his back turned to me.

At the sound of my footsteps, he spins around and aims the gun at me. My heart drops for a moment, but when he pulls the trigger nothing happens.

He didn’t reload it which is exactly what I was counting on.

I close the remaining distance between us and grab the barrel of the gun and push it up so it’s no longer pointing at me. I push against it with all my strength which makes Ghostface stumble back and into a shelf.

“Y/N!” Sam shouts when he manages to cock the gun again.

I grunt and shout, “Run!” right before he pulls the trigger. This time the gun fires, but Ghostface misses me because the barrel is still pointing at the ceiling.

Debris rains down on us as our struggle continues and because my hands are sweaty, my grip on the gun slips until I’m shoved backward.

“No!” Sam’s scream breaks my heart when Ghostface reloads the gun and points it at me, but just like the first time, nothing happens when he pulls the trigger.

It’s empty.

“Run, Sam!” I shout again, lunging at Ghostface before he can grab his knife. “Get out of here!”

“No!” she cries in protest and when I catch a glimpse of her to my left I’m surprised to see that Tara is actively holding her back and dragging her to the front door of the bodega. “Y/N! No!”

“Just go!” I try to focus all my attention on Ghostface, but Sam’s continued cries of protest make my heart hurt until Tara finally manages to get her outside.

I honestly don’t know how she did it because she’s like a foot shorter than Sam, but all that matters right now is that they’re both safe.

Ghostface and I stumbled through the store, hitting every shelf imaginable all while I’m trying to stop him from reaching for his knife.

“Motherfucker,” I hiss through gritted teeth when he slams my face against the cooler, making the already cracked glass break completely.

Something warm runs down my cheek, but I don’t have time to wipe it away because not a moment later I’m kneed in the stomach and I double over, coughing.

This Ghostface is nothing like Amber or Richie. Whoever’s under the mask knows what they’re doing and if it wasn’t for the nearing police sirens I know I’d be done for.

Ghostface shoves me once more for good measure, making me drop to my knees. Then he hurries out of the bodega, leaving me alone to cough and chuckle mirthlessly in disbelief.

Sam and Tara are okay. I’m okay.

I sit down and stretch my legs out in front of me.

They’re both okay.

I rest my head back against the frame of the broken cooler door and catch my breath while watching the red and blue lights of the police cars dance on the ceiling.

I can hear some shouting, someone’s probably calling for me, but I’m too exhausted to respond, so I just close my eyes and wrap my arms around my aching stomach.

I stay like that for what feels like minutes but is probably just a few seconds in real life before feeling warm hands on my cheeks.

“Y/N, hey, open your eyes. Look at me. Look at me. Are you okay?” Sam’s shaky voice makes me open my eyes and when I see her kneeling in front of me, I smile weakly.

“I’m okay,” I whisper, but she doesn’t seem to believe me. Her eyes dart all over my face and she brushes her thumb just below the cut on my cheek. “Hey. . . I promise, I’m okay,” I say again when her chin starts quivering and in response she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me into a hug.

I return the embrace, although a little less energetic because my stomach still hurts and rub my hands up and down her back. I keep repeating that I’m okay until Tara comes into the store, followed by two police officer’s who take in the scene with wide eyes.

She drops down onto her knees as well as soon as she’s by my side and I’m quick to include her in the hug.

This is just the beginning, but we’re okay, and I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure it stays that way.

_______________________________________________

Good God, that was stressful, but we’re okay!

Hope you guys enjoyed this part. For some reason it was a bit of a struggle to write, but I did it and I can move on now.

Tag list: @bella423 @artrizzler19 @btay3115 @canyonyodeler @quadofthec @pussyydestroyer @rqizzu @pithod @morganismspam23 @idontliketoread2137

[mimiiiiiiiiisstuff]

Girl I have so many questions about your story it’s actually ridiculous!

(I don’t want to overwhelm you though so imma hold back)

is reader becoming a snake person a reference to snakes preying on bats and birds?( and will the snake being joker’s be important?)

Is Tiffany going to have to put effort into pretending she’s the ✨perfect sister✨ now that reader obviously isn’t going to do jack for them anymore? (Because ungrateful families don’t deserve muffins 😒)

Is reader going to be a hero or villain, or maybe something in between?

will we be able to get an idea of why the batfam treats reader like they’re some sort of pest?( you’d think they’d be more careful since reader could easily expose their identities if they thought about it 😒😒)

and finally.

Tim had a very…different…reaction to reader ‘framing’ Tiffany- is that important?

-🚚

yay ok this is my first like real ask! Yall have been making me so so happy with all the love! It really encourages me! And don't worry about overwhelming me! I can take it :) i'm answering this and then signing off to go to bed because I have the worst flu ever.

Ok so yes! Reader becoming a snake-meta-person does have to do with snakes preying on birds, honestly that was a little easter egg for funsies. Im glad you caught it! reader's gonna eat those hoes up !!!!!!! ( and they'll lock her up right after)

Tiffany will for sure try to imitate reader at first but that will eventually lead to her downfall! she can only keep it up for 6 months and then she'll be discovered. she can't imitate the genuine love and care reader puts into these things so they'll always be off no matter how much she tries. the batfam will end up realizing what they lost and do whatever it takes to get it back.

And yes, the snake being the Joker's will be important bc he's the joker and is so fucking insane that even his snake has to be special! all powers have consequences and these will be heavy. it will put reader through it, but will really shape them as a person.

Im leaning more toward reader being a hero??? but with the snake being literally radioactive it might be a kinda venom dynamic. im still not too sure tbh. with all the angst and neglect and the troubles of being a teen, she might be a bit of an anti-hero! she might pull a jason (ironic, i know) and go around killing all the villians!

the thing about the batfam, is that they don't even realize what they're doing to the reader. they literally see her as irrelevant so they don't notice their neglect or how much it affects reader. she's not even on their minds enough to be perceived as a threat. the only ones purposefully being mean are Damian and Jason, Damian because he sees reader as less than/ a threat and Jason because he is trying to push the reader out his life and not 'taint' her innocence.

Tim's reaction is different because he's suspicious. he thinks he would've noticed if reader was capable of doing something so sneaky and underhanded. he's the only one who is suspicious because he simply doesn't think she's smart enough to do this. he's gonna be the first to see Tiff's true colors.

Goodnight yall!!! i'll be back tmrw morning! keep sending more asks! I take requests so if you have any ideas you want me to write just send them in! I'll yandere platonic or romanitc. SEND THEM IN!!!!!!!!

[blackenedsnow]

art the clown, jason voorhees, thomas hewitt, tiffany valentine and otis driftwood with a goth s/o? :D

slashers with a goth s/o ; headcanons

WARNING:

PAIRING: Art the Clown x Goth! Reader, Jason Voorhees x Goth! Reader, Thomas Hewitt x Goth! Reader, Tiffany Valentine x Goth! Reader, Otis Driftwood x Goth! Reader

NOTE: I love this so much!! As a goth, this was so much fun to write AAHH!! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :D

ART THE CLOWN

Art is non-verbal, but he’s an excellent mimic.

He’ll listen to music with you and try to “dance along” in his creepy, mime-like way.

Bauhaus? Siouxsie? Whatever. He’s all in.

Art adores your aesthetic.

He’s already a fan of theatrics and over-the-top looks, so he sees your style as an extension of his own love for the dramatic.

If anyone mocks your look, they won’t live to regret it.

Art sees your style as sacred, and he’ll take special care to make sure the offender’s end is particularly theatrical.

He loves how you’re both “outsiders,”

Your style reminds him of the things he loves! Dead things.

But unlike his usual grim interests, you’re warm, alive, and you notice him.

That fascinates him endlessly.

JASON VOORHEES

Jason is shy and hesitant at first.

Your aesthetic catches him off guard—he doesn’t meet many people, let alone anyone with such a striking style.

But once he warms up, he loves it.

The music you play around him, especially softer tracks, is incredibly soothing to his mind.

Bands like The Cure become his favorite.

Pamela is… skeptical of you at first.

She's worried your dark aesthetic would be a bad influence on her boy.

But after seeing how kind and patient you are with Jason, she approved. (You also keep her son calm, so she can’t argue with the results.)

Jason is protective to an extreme degree.

If anyone dares to insult you or your style, he’ll make sure they never bother you again.

Let’s just say Camp Crystal Lake has one more “missing camper.”

He loves sitting quietly with you, watching you do your makeup or put together an outfit.

He doesn’t understand it fully but finds it fascinating and comforting to watch.

THOMAS HEWITT

Thomas was unsure about you at first.

Your style stood out so much in the rural Texas environment, and it took him a while to understand it.

But once he did, he couldn’t get enough of how unique and beautiful you were.

His family, on the other hand, was… less accepting.

Hoyt made plenty of snide comments at first, and Luda Mae worried about how “different” you seemed.

But after they saw how happy you made Thomas, their attitudes softened.

Thomas loves how confident you are in your look.

It inspires him, especially since he’s always struggled with his own appearance.

Your music is a huge comfort to him.

It helps drown out the chaos of his life.

He especially loves slower, atmospheric songs—anything that lets him close his eyes and relax after a long day.

TIFFANY VALENTINE

Tiffany's goth herself, so having a partner who shares her love of dark fashion and culture is a dream come true.

You two are the ultimate spooky power couple.

She’ll raid your wardrobe and lend you her own pieces.

Date nights often involve matching outfits!!

Tiffany doesn’t care what anyone thinks about your relationship or your style.

If someone dares to insult either of you, she’ll handle it—usually in a very violent, very Tiff way.

She’s incredibly affectionate and constantly showers you with compliments.

She loves how unapologetically you express yourself and always reminds you that you’re stunning, no matter what anyone says.

OTIS DRIFTWOOD

Otis was initially surprised by your aesthetic but quickly grew to appreciate it.

He’s always been drawn to people who stand out.

The Firefly family, on the other hand, took some time to adjust.

Baby loved your look and immediately bonded with you over fashion tips.

While Mama is suspicious of your “big city ways.”

Otis doesn’t care—he likes what he likes.

He’ll mock you playfully at first, calling you things like “Dracula” or “Morticia,” but deep down, he admires how unapologetically you embrace who you are.

He’s the same way, after all.

Otis is fascinated by your music taste.

He doesn’t fully get it, but he respects it—especially when you introduce him to more aggressive goth or industrial tracks.

He’s a fan of She Wants Revenge after a while, even if he won’t admit it.

He loves your individuality and makes it very clear that anyone who disrespects you disrespects him, too.

[artsninspo]

FORGIVELESS - V - BACK AND FORTH IT GO, IT'S HARD, I KNOW 🔄

« previous part

➨ rio's library - good girl nbc

「 ✦ full library & archive ✦ 」

V - BACK AND FORTH IT GO, IT'S HARD, I KNOW 🔄

Pairing: Rio (Good Girls) X Reader

Word Count: ~2K

Warning: Mentions of cheating & abusive behaviour.

Summary: The aftermath of the tiff between the reader and her soon to be ex husband is explored with Rio and her mother. Rio is confronted with the depths of his feelings for the reader and how to make his next move his best move. This one is fluffy 🧸 and angsty.

It’s late when you wake up in Rio’s bed alone. You don't remember falling to sleep. All of the stress and adrenaline of the day had finally caught up to you. The clock reads 3am and you sigh climbing out of bed. The cold floors cause you to tiptoe into the bathroom. The tiled floors are even colder. When finished in the bathroom you see a loungewear set and smile that Rio has thought of you. You help yourself to a hot shower. It feels like you've been re-wired. The events of the past 24 hours had been too much mentally and physically. Not only had James cheated but he’d been too close to getting physical. As angry as it made you feel it was sad that it even had to come to this. Freshened up you leave the bathroom and find Rio on the couch looking at a chess board studiously. It’s like he senses you immediately and looks up.

“Thanks for the clothes” you smile and he sits back with open arms. You take the invitation sitting on his lap. It feels good to know he has your back. He doesn't need to make a promise or a declaration. He’s shown it every step of the way. Rio didn't do crazy, drama or stress. He had enough problems to sort out. It was how he knew this thing with you was different. You were in his home and in his arms fully dressed. His previous relationships with women had been more transactional. Sex without strings suited his lifestyle and expectations well. The responsibilities and expectations of a committed relationship didn't appeal to him after exiting his teens and early twenties. The world was too big to commit to one person without seeing what else life could offer him.

"Thanks for letting me crash here” you speak first looking up at him. Rio holds you there against him calmly, settling your nerves and anxiety.

“You don’t have to thank me but you should call your mom.” Rio says. He’d watched your phone ring every hour before plugging it up into the charger. There was no need for missing reports but he could tell she was worried. You sigh ready to admit the truth out loud. You still don't want to, knowing the truth will likely break your moms heart worse than it broke yours.

“Can you drop me to the airport? I don't want to talk about it over the phone. I’m her only child” you confess.

“Alright” Rio responds and his calm is too much for you. You mistrust it knowing how much he lives for control and his principals.

“Rio” you say and his eyes close.

“If you're gonna cop a plea for him don't. It’ll piss me off, he almost put hands on you. He doesn't deserve grace. Keep your plausible deniability. Go visit your mom and then meet me in Mexico. You deserve a vacation” He says with his next steps laid out as far as James was concerned.

You swallow your commentary looking Rio in his eyes before sighing. “I’ll come to Mexico. I get a flight from my moms” you concede.

“I’ll get you the flight,” he says. His usual demeanour is gone, there’s no humour or play in his eyes. Lust is absent too; he’s angry, attentive and composed instead. A side you aren’t familiar with. He gets his phone out and then sighs. “Come on, we gotta go now so you can board on time.”

“Rio, I’m alright. Lighten up” you smile trying to lighten things up.

“Let’s not start lying to each other.” He stands dismissing your attempts to placate the situation.

“Just promise me you wont get yourself in trouble” you sigh, willing to drop it with that assurance.

“I won't” he agrees immediately. Relieved you stand getting your purse and necessities. Rio holds his arm around you the entire ride down the elevator and to his car. He keeps a concerned look on you as he drives you to the airport. He pays for your ticket at the counter and sticks close. He doesnt give a fuck if word gets around that he’s been around town with a woman. Hell he wants it to get back to James. That’s part one of his plan. He needs the whispers to make James sick. He’d fuck with James head first before holding him responsible for his actions.

“Call me when you land” he swallows.

“Ok” you nod, walking into his arms. “See you in Mexico” you smile. Rio forces one. Your commitment to make the best of the situation in spite of your obvious pain only infuriates him more. Not wanting to push your process he presses a kiss against your forehead.

“See you later, Mama” he says, letting you go. He stands there until you're cleared and out of his sight. You feel thankful for how attentive he is. The fact that you are hyperventilating right now is in direct correlation with who Rio’s been for you lately. The fact that your eyes are dry and you have a safe place to land is everything to you. The fact that he had someone there to look in on you makes the world. Once on the plane you draft a message to thank him while your phone is on airplane mode. 

The flight is significantly shorter than the drive and you walk through straight to arrivals without any baggage. Your mom greets you with an uneasy smile and you run to her relieved. Her perfume has an instant effect on your nerves and worries.

“Ohh baby, I’m so glad you came,” she says, squeezing you tight.

“Me too Mommy” you admit.

“Are you hungry or do you want to go home?” she asks.

“Starving” you admit having slept on an empty stomach. Checking her watch, your mom sees nothing is open.

“I’ll make your favourite” she smiles, taking your hand.

Once in her car you send Rio a message saying you've landed and are with your mom before sending the one you constructed on your flight. You hope it isn't too much.

“So tell me what’s been going on?”

“What did James tell you?” you ask and she sighs merging onto the freeway.

“That you’ve been absent lately, stopped cooking, cleaning, being around and that you threatened to leave him. He says you think he’s cheated but it’s a misunderstanding. One of his clients has gotten inappropriate and he’s only entertained it via text but not in person. He says he thinks you’ve actually stepped out on him physically. Asked me if you told me anything.” she says and its your turn to sigh.

“Momma-”

“Don’t explain, the panic in his voice told me he was cheating. It was how fast he was talking, how scared he was to lose you. If you think he’s cheated I trust you and I’m so sorry baby.” your mom sighs looking over at you with remorse. Your eyes water, feeling the pain she feels for you.

“He’s been cheating since we moved and she’s fully aware of me, and she talks about me” you confess shaking your head. “I’m done mom.” you add letting a few tears fall.

“I’ll help you move out, for now stay with me” your mom says, surprising you. You frown looking at her. “My love for James is conditional to how you feel about him and how he treats you. The fact that he called me LYING, baby. I’m sorry. He has no shame and I’m disgusted with him. He does not have an ally in me. Hasn’t since he moved you away. I knew something was up when we spent so many weekends having virtual movie marathons.” she says and you look shocked as you arrive at her house. Once parked you follow your mom into her house. A Bachelorette pad, without a single trace of a male touch. You smile feeling the good energy as she heads to the sink to wash up before starting breakfast.

“You don't know how relieved I am to hear you say that” you sigh, sitting at the island as she begins preparing your favourite breakfast. She backs you, oiling the frying pan when she speaks again.

“We haven’t talked in a few weeks, and you dont look like someone who is distraught by cheating. Is he right about there being someone else?” Your mom asks. You feel your face and hands heat. She keeps her back turned giving you privacy and opportunity to lie.

“When I found out I decided I wouldn't be the only one honouring our vows” you confess and when you turn you see your mother is smiling. It's a surprise that she isn't disgusted or disappointed with you. It’s the last thing you expect after your highly moral upbringing. She smiles, shaking her head.

“Good” she says and a smile creeps onto your lips.

“Good?!” you ask shocked.

“Smelled his cologne on you when you hugged me. I’m happy you trust me with the truth and really I’m grateful you're not in pieces” she says. You hold your shirt before remembering you showered at Rio’s using his things.

“MA!” you scoff and she chuckles.

“I’ll never encourage you to stay somewhere you aren't appreciated or treated well. James better not call me again if he doesn't want me to tear his head off. The uppity mother and father of his either.” she adds.

“Thanks mom” you smile giving her a hug and she breathes you in.

“So what's his name?” she asks and over breakfast you giggle.

“Rio?” you respond.

“Baby, not the codename like Japan” your mother laughs and you realise you haven't asked him about his name.

“Rio’s what he’s called,” you tell her honestly before detailing all the PG versions of what you know and your time with Rio. She sits happy for your outlet and his disposition with James. She warns you about Rio’s boundaries, reminding you not to fall too hard and heed what he says. You feel rejuvenated by the time she’s asleep. You sit on your bedroom balcony looking out onto the lake behind the backyard. You respond to Rio’s goodnight text and he calls riding around in his truck. He’s even more fine to you now that your mom knows the truth and approves of your marriage ending in the eyes of the law too.

“What are you smiling about?” he asks.

“Just imagining how much fun we're gonna have in Mexico” you tell him and he smiles.

“Momma gonna let you leave her?” he asks.

“Yeah, she knows about you too” you inform him.

He raises a brow. “And?”

“So far so good. She trusts me and she appreciates you for being here for me.” You tell him.

“Hey” Rio says, getting your attention. You look at him in the camera.

“Don't thank me for being here for you. That's what a mans supposed to do.” he says frankly. “Don't apologise either. I wasn’t upset with you earlier.” he says.

“Rio?” you ask.

“Hmm?” He responds sitting at a red light.

“I never asked, but what's your real name?” You say. Rio smiles as the light goes green glancing at you back on the screen to you.

“Christopher,” he says without hesitation. Smiling as you look at him. You wouldn't have guessed it. Honestly you haven't put any thought into it until your mom had asked if Rio was his real name or a codename like Japan. 

“Christopher” you repeat trying to get a feel for it.

“Get some sleep Mama, i’ll call you tomorrow and text you the details for the trip. Ok?”

“Ok. Good night” you say not liking the emptiness on the line.

“Goodnight” Rio responds feeling it too. You hang up first to ease the tension. It felt like there should be more. But your mother had advised you wisely to take heed of Rio’s initial warning. Endearing terms and lovey-dovey language wouldn't serve the inevitable end that would follow whatever this was. Even if it felt like more now. Cradling your phone in your lap you take in a deep breath getting up and heading back into your room. After completing your nightly routine you check your phone before plugging it up.

Night ❤️

Ria

You smile changing his name back to Rio in your phone. You like the message before sending back one just like it and sleeping tight.

Author's note: Thanks for reading loves! How do we like Momma? How did we like Rio's name reveal? What do we think about how Rio is handling his anger? Comment some baecation activity ideas to put in the next part. Vote, Like & Reblog! Also my inbox is open with ideas. There'll be an intermission after this chapter before I start on the 2nd half of the story.

» next part

TAGS:

@meadows5 @wnbweasley @becauseimher @ariiaeltheedonn @woahthatshitfat @miniaturehideoutmentality @kokobells

[flowerfreya]

Complaint

This is part 11 of The Office AU

Chapter Index

a little tiff between wacky girlfriend and reader

Pairing Poly!141 x reader

You hear your name being called softly, you look up and see Gaz standing there. You give him a smile, “What’s up?”. 

You notice that his smile looks pained, not reaching his eyes and is starting to look like a grimace. 

“Can talk to you for a moment”, then nods back to his office, “In private”.

No, not really, “Of course”. You're raking your brain trying to figure out what you did wrong. DId you mess up Price’s meeting, missed an important email, took too long of a lunch, or maybe you did nothing wrong and they are giving you a raise. 

You try to meet Price’s gaze but he’s enthralled with his computer and his door is shut he wouldn’t hear Gaz anyway. What worries you is that Simon nor Soap will look at you. Not that odd for Simon since he only looks at you when you aren’t looking at him but with Soap who is always looking at you trying to distract you, his head is down and you know he’s not doing anything because he is just staring at the keyboard. 

You follow Gaz to the annex, “Take a seat”. 

You sit with your hands crossed in your lap, “Do you know why I called you back here?”

“No”

“How long have you had Simon’s number”, you look up then, surprise and disbelief on your face. Simon filed an HR complaint. against you. 

“Well, I have everyone’s number”, you start picking at a hangnail trying not to fidget in your chair, “you gave me your numbers”, you reply. 

“not in trouble, it’s just that some people are worried that you might be abusing or harassing Simon”, you can tell he is trying to do this in the nicest way possible, he has his best HR voice on. 

“Simon,said that?” , you ask back still not really comprehending where did this come from.

“You didn’t call Simon last night asking if he wanted to get dinner with you?”

“Well , I did yes but-”.

Gaz cuts you off, “That's not appropriate use of the number”. 

There’s tears welling up in your eyes. You never wanted to make Simon uncomfortable , you thought that you were friends and he was just as lonely as you were. 

“I’m going to get fired for this?”, you ask, trying to wipe the tears before they ruin your makeup. 

“No , `course not”, which has you relieved but now you're ready for this day to end. 

“So, can I head back?”

“Yeah”, and then he mentions not to worry about this, since nothing has been documented it was just a warning. Ha, you think, don’t worry about it. Now all you're going to do is worry about it. 

When you sit down at your desk you look up and see Simo giving you a question thumbs up.You nod once and then start typing on your computer to look busy. You decide to skip lunch , just trying to stay out of everyone’s way when a wacky girlfriend shows up. She doesn’t even check in with you before kissing Soap on the mouth. Loudly. Giving Simon a check kiss before heading towards you, “Did Kyle talk to you today” ,she ask sweetly. 

Who the hell is Kyle, “Kyle?”, you question. 

“Oh silly me, I forgot he only goes by his nickname, Gaz”. 

How did she know that you talk to Gaz today, “Yeah”, you answer slowly. 

“Good, I don’t want anyone to be uncomfy”, she giggles, “You know what I mean”. 

Oh.

Oh.

No you don’t because you didn’t do anything wrong, but you know what it looks like when a woman is trying to stake her claim on a man, “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean”, you reply back.

Masterlist

[paiges-1vur]

from across the crowd pt. 2… and as always enjoy loves <3 🏀⚡️🪩

“you probably have a boyfriend.. right?”

I heard what she had said, but it was like the words didn’t register in my head for another minute. i blush for a moment, and look down before looking back at her, smiling. “no..” I say giggling slightly. why am i acting this way? Tiff lock in. she seems genuinely surprised, but before surprise another emotion crosses her face that i cant decode. “a beautiful girl like you must have a boyfriend, though” she says in total surprise. she must think im lying. “no.. no boyfriend haha” I say trying to calm my nerves. why am i so worked up right now?

“well im sure your ex boyfriends regret ever leaving you, or letting you leave” she says, flattering me. i tense up for a moment. how do i put this? “ive.. never uh- had a boyfriend” i say shyly, slightly embarrassed. i can tell my cheeks are red, but i cant do anything to hide it. “no way..” she says quietly matching my volume. she pauses before speaking again. a smirk spans over her face and she puts her hands in the pockets of her sweats. my eyes flicker down to them for a minute. my breath catches in my throat. im suddenly brought back to reality by u the sound of paiges voice, louder this time. “did you hear me?” i look up to see paige a little closer than before, hovering over me. a smirk that can only be described as devilish on her face. shit. she saw me. “uhm, im so sorry, what did you say?” i say hurriedly, my face even redder than before. nice going tiff way to be nonchalant. “dont worry about it” is all she says in reply.

she looks back down, into my eyes. “whats your name, pretty?” she asks me intently, looking down at me. “my name is tiffany but my friends just call me tiff” i reply, proud of myself that i didnt forget my name. “tiffany,” paige says it again. “even your name is cute huh” i cant help but blush and look away from her for a moment.

theres silence for a minute. but not necessarily awkward silence. just us co existing with each other. i decide to say ‘fuck it’ and be bold. when is the next time im ever going to talk to a hot basketball player, who by the way seems to be very into me. i break the silence. “paige, if you want to know anything, just ask me” i say in a low voice. i could tell something was puzzling her. she knew i had never dated a guy, so im sure she was wondering if im into guys at all.. she looks down at me, her voice dropping an octave. she moves a little closer to me, and we are still in the tunnel towards the locker room so its just us still there at this point. she leans into my ear, and whispers “so no boyfriends.. hm” i can smell her scent even stronger than from her sweatshirt and it’s intoxicating. my eyes flutter closed, breathing her in. she pauses for a moment and i can hear her breathing, “no..” i reply my voice breaking slightly. just when i think shes about to question me farther she leans away from my ear. “just wanted to make sure i heard you right.” she says smirking at me.

she then reaches down next to her and grabs her bag. she puts it on and grabs her glasses, also putting those on too. i secretly hope this moment never ends. “so, will you be out celebrating the win at teds tonight?” i speak up and ask. her eyes flicker to me, still in her hoodie and she smiles. “will i see you there..?” she asks looking at me. gosh. how is she even more sexy with her glasses on. “i guess so” i reply, biting my lip.

she looks me up and down one more time. i can tell seeing me in her hoodie is making her think of a lot of different scenarios right now. “i need to go find my friends,” i finally speak, “but it was really great to meet you paige… i guess i’ll see you tonight.” I say smiling, trying to process everything that just happened in the last 20 minutes. she smiles back at me “here, let me walk you out” she walks over to me. we walk out of the stadium and i look over and up at her. she really is big. my croatian genes may have made me a lethal face card, but in the height department they lacked. heavily.

I spot my friends car and stop walking, before looking at paige. this was a sight. she had pulled on pj pants after the game and had her keys hanging out of her pocket. she had also pulled the hair from her ponytail into a messy bun. i also never would have guessed that paige had glasses. but then again, i had only known the girl for less than an hour. i move closer to her and pull her into a hug. “it was so nice talking to you, ill see you tonight paige.” i say, making sure the hug stays somewhat friendly. she bends down to hug me, and her scent floods my senses once again. “bye tiff, ill see you tonight love” I walk over to the car before really thinking about what she said. before i get into the passengers seat of the car i look back at paige. shes standing with her hands in the pockets, and her stance looks quite intimidating. as soon as she sees me get into the car safely she turned around and walked to her car.

i sit down in the passenger’s seat of madisens car. i buckle up before i look up to see everyones eyes on me. their mouths are wide open and theres silence.

“what?” silence.

“TIFFANY KAY TELL US WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK JUST HAPPENED”

[goingmerryfics]

Turned into a child w/ Sanji, Robin, & Ace

Content: GN reader, fully platonic/familial relationship since they are literally children here. Light One Piece Backstory Spoilers

Notes* In this scenario, they’ve been turned into a child by an unnamed devil fruit user. They don’t retain their adult memories, but they remember everything after it wears off! I wanted to do this prompt for a while because these three really deserve some hugs and love

Content with spoilers: hinting at past child abuse 

Sanji

He’s. BABY

He doesn’t know where he is and he’s scared, so you find him hiding under the table after you weren’t able to find him in the usual spots on the ship

You didn’t understand the situation at first, but you couldn’t miss those cute little curly brows

You call his name, and he looks even more confused at the fact that a stranger knows his name

So you move to sit on your knees a safe distance away from Sanji so he can feel a little safer

You only knew bits and pieces of the treatment he went through with his birth father and siblings, but it was enough to understand why he would be scared of adults. So you offer him a soft smile, full of patience

You assure him that everything is ok, he’s safe, and that you aren’t going to hurt him

Slowly he starts to emerge from under the table and asks where he is

You offer your hand to him, asking if he’d like to see

He’s hesitant, but you look so sweet, so he trusts you and takes your hand

You take him out of the room to see the ocean and his eyes light up

It makes your heart ache

He looks at you with a big smile

“Is this the All Blue!?”

You gently tell him that no, not quite. But he is on a ship that’s trying to find it, and he looks out over the railing, scanning the horizon

Sanji is sweet on everyone, loving the attention from the girls (as always) and yet still getting into tiffs with Zoro, even at this young age

You have to stop Zoro from trying to fight him

Everyone loves hanging out with little Sanji, and he keeps gravitating back to you with a big smile

He doesn’t seem to remember Zeff when you ask him, so you leave it be

He still cooks for everyone come dinner, but you’re there to help him- especially when he cuts his finger

You calm him- you almost cried when he did -and then kiss his bandaged finger for him to help him feel better

The next day when he returns to his proper age, he shuts himself up in the kitchen in embarrassment, baking anything he can think of so he doesn’t have to face everyone

Robin

It was almost impossible to find her the morning of. Poor thing was so worried that she hid too, just a little bit better than Sanji did

When you do find her, it’s in the storage room of the ship, and she’s already crying

You quickly assure her that she’s not in trouble, nor are you going to giver her to the marines

She’s not comforted about the fact that she’s in a pirate ship though, so she might be around the age after Ohara’s death, maybe a few years after being on the run

She was open with you about her past after the events of Enei’s lobby, but it was always painful to talk about so you never pressed the subject

She didn’t look like she was going to be leaving anytime soon, so you promise to get her some things to make her stay more comfortable

You bring her a blanket and some of her favorite books, which she perks up at

Sanji enters to pass off a snack and almost passes out from how cute and little she is

You totally agree with him, but you still have to shove him out before he frightens her too badly

She only seems to touch her snack when you’re not looking

You didn’t want to leave her completely on her own so you were keeping her company

The more time passed and the more the crew poked in to say hello, the more she began to relax

She started to ask you questions- like help with reading a big word, or about how she got on the ship

That one was a little harder to explain, so you simply said you weren’t sure but that she had the whole crew protecting her from any big bag marines

You were glad that there were no bases of theirs in your path for now

Eventually you’re able to coax her out of the storage room just in time for dinner

She sits next to you and keeps looking around cautiously- the group was chaotic, and you were worried that maybe it would scare her back into her shell

But it actually does the opposite, and you’re happy that she’s finally relaxed

When she returns to normal, she thanks you for being by her side and calming her down when she needed it

Ace

The absolute biggest asshole ever

Adult Ace was this cocky, flirty, goofy guy. He was fun and knew how to have a good time

But him as a child is the worst

He is, max, 10 years old and the most conniving little shit

Not only did he go straight to throwing hands when you accidentally uncovered him hiding in the pantry stuffing his face, but he kicked you in the knee before running out to find a new spot

You’d warned Marco and any of the others you passed after that while your knee ached in pain

It wasn’t long until he was eventually found again, this time by Whitebeard of all people, which ended up with them fighting

It was clear that Whitebeard was trying to go easy on the little guy, but he was getting annoyed

Eventually Ace is picked up by the ankle and held out in front of him almost akin to garbage while he flung around, swinging his arms wildly and kicking at Whitebeard’s wrist

“Let go of me, you stupid old man!”

It took a while, but eventually you, Marco, and Whitebeard managed to calm him down enough to talk to him

He sat with his arms crossed and sour

He was only acting out as a fear response due to his lack of memory, of course

But you were still kind of unhappy when it was decided that you were babysitting him

Ace owes you big time

But even with the attitude he gives, if he’s not throwing hands, he’s a pretty cute little guy

You spend the whole day talking about your adventures on the crew when you realize that’s what piques his interest

Suddenly he’s all smiles and he’s engaging with you happily

At dinner, he still stuffs his face and falls asleep at random right there at the table

You carry him to your room to sleep there since someone needed to pick up on Ace’s missed duties today, and when you return he’s still asleep, but back to his usual age

So you scream for him to wake up and apologize for kicking you

He laughs, the dickhead, and apologizes.

“I’ll kiss it better if you want. But tell me- was I a cute kid?”

[peachhcs]

Girl I’m in the mood for some angst!! Maybe will is super stressed bc of how he’s been playing and samy is stressed bc of school or something

ANGSTTTTT MY FAVVVVVVVV i love writing but not reading angst. let's say they have a small argument and then don't talk all day and that stresses out the both of them more because they never not talk throughout the day and now it's just a matter of time to see who gives in and apologizes

edit: ok the angst isn’t a lot but i’m trying to write my drafts that have piled up and answer my inbox! thank u for being so patient with me!! :))

au masterlist

it felt like they were going in circles around one another. will was staying stuff. samy was staying stuff. they didn't even know what they were arguing about anymore except just throwing words at each other that were starting to really sting.

"whatever. i'm not doing this with you anymore. you're pissing me off," will mumbled, clearly over the conversation. samy scoffed.

"you're pissing me off. fine. just hang up then," the girl argued back and she didn't actually think will would hang up. he never did. neither of them did when they were arguing because they always worked it out.

except this time will did hang up. the line fell short and samy was left listening to the silence her boyfrend left behind. her lip trembled in the slightest, but she threw her phone down. she didn't wanna deal with him if he was going to act that way and maybe he needed time to himself to cool off.

their little tiff lasted almost the entire day. neither will nor samy called or texted one another and granted, they were busy, but they've never just straight up ignored one another like that before. it didn't worry samy, but maybe it pulled a little something in her heart when she saw nothing from the blonde almost all day.

and maybe it did make her lose focus more than she thought because anytime she was in class, she thought of him and if he would text her back. meanwhile, she didn't know will was having the same internal battle.

the blonde sat in the locker room wondering and somewhat hoping samy would text him. he for sure thought she would during his practice, but when he came back and saw nothing from her on his phone, his heart sunk just a bit.

sure, they argued, but they always made it up in the call. this felt a little more serious and the thought made will nauseas with anxiety. he couldn’t fuck this all up again after the past summer.

unfortunately, the two were very stubborn and will was going to give it more time. he was going to try to anyway. they were shooting some pretty nasty things at one another earlier and he feared calling her too soon would just reignite everything, so he waited.

he drove home from practice on autopilot. he walked back into the house on autopilot. he went up to change in autopilot. if will didn’t even think about it, it wouldn’t take over his brain.

the day went on without either of them reaching out and by the time nighttime rolled around, both of them were unknowingly pacing around their rooms with the sick feeling that maybe they did fuck this all up again. samy paced her room staring at her phone, the urge to call will on her fingertips but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. the hockey player in san jose was having the same problem because what if samy was just out not even thinking about him and then he’d call her in the middle of something.

the deeper their anxieties got, the worse the idea that their relationship was on the edge again got.

“samy, just call him,” hannah walked by her friend’s room and frowned when she saw the poor brunette pacing still.

“what if we just fucked this all up again?” the youngest hughes snapped her gaze to her roommate and hannah frowned even deeper.

“you didn’t, i promise. just call him,” she put her hands on samy’s shoulders and forced her to take some deep breaths with her. “knowing will, he’s probably waiting to hear from you too.”

samy chose to believe hannah’s words. she picked up her phone, lip sinking between her teeth as she clicked the call button. will practically leapt at his phone when he saw the screen light up.

“samy?” he breathed.

“will? hey..” the girl glanced at hannah who gave her one more reassuring smile before leaving the room so they could have some privacy.

“hey..i-i didn’t think i’d hear from you,” the blonde mumbled.

“i-i..yeah..me neither. fuck. i’m sorry. for earlier. for saying that stuff. i shouldn’t have..i think we just got so—“

“no, no, i’m sorry. i shouldn’t have said that to you. you weren’t pissing me off, i was just..tired and frustrated and it came off in the wrong way. i took it out on you and i shouldn’t have. i’m sorry,” will cut her off and the couple grew silent for a moment.

“i thought you were super mad at me,” samy admitted and will hated hearing how small her voice sounded.

“no, god. i wasn’t. i promise. i-i thought you were super mad at me,” the blonde admitted.

“no, i wasn’t either. i..i just..it’s been a busy and tiring semester so far. i took it out on you too and i shouldn’t have,” the girl frowned.

“wanna talk about it?” will’s voice softened out.

“only if we talk about what’s been bothering you,” samy agreed.

“deal, but you first,” the boy encouraged and he listened to the way samy blew out a sigh. she paced her room again.

“school’s just been a lot recently i guess. i thought it’d ease off now that the season was over, but i feel like i’m drowning in work honestly,” the younger hughes explained.

“i’m sorry. are the classes harder or different?” will wondered.

“i mean not really but i just feel like my brain’s been in a fog i guess. i’ve just been doing the same thing over and over. i can’t focus. i can’t do simple trig for calculus. i don’t know what’s wrong with me,” samy frowned as she sunk onto her bed.

“baby, there’s nothing wrong with you. you just might be burnt out. that happens a lot to college students. you have been doing a lot the last few months.”

“i’ve never burnt out before which even sounds surprising to me considering how much i’m always doing.”

“maybe it’s finally just hitting you now? have you been taking a breaks? doing things for yourself?” will asked although he knew samy probably hadn’t been because she never put herself first.

“i’m trying to.”

“as long as you’re doing your best and making sure you’re taking care of yourself, that’s all that matters. sometimes 50% effort is better than 100%,” samy smiled at her boyfriend’s words.

she really wished he was there.

“yeah, i know. i have been taking care of myself. maybe i’ll go home this weekend or something to get my mind off of everything and just spend time with my parents,” the brunette nodded.

“i’m sure they’d love that and that’d be really good for you.”

“wish you were here though,” samy managed and she knew will was smiling when she said that.

“i know, me too. i’ll see you super soon though,” he hummed.

“soon better come faster. i miss you,” will’s heart warmed hearing her say that and he couldn’t help the blush rising on his cheeks.

“i miss you too.”

“okay, enough about me though. what’s been on your mind?” like always, samy switched the conversation to will. the hockey player flushed.

“just a rough few games is all,” he shrugged, always weird about talking about his feelings.

“yeah, i’ve seen them. i’m sorry, baby. i think you’re still doing great if that’s any consolation,” samy said will smiled.

“thank you. i don’t really know what’s been up with me lately. some days i do so well and other days i don’t even make it off the bench. it sounds stupid,” will mumbled.

“hey, no. it’s not stupid, will. you’re a great player and going from collegiate to a pro level is a big jump. you’re still getting used to all of it and that’s not something to beat yourself up over,” samy reassured.

“i know. i guess i just feel like maybe i’m not the player everyone says i am sometimes because of how much better all of these other guys are.”

“you have to remember these guys have been in the league for a long time and they know how it works. you’ll be there eventually,” the brunette said.

“is it bad that sometimes i wish i stayed one more year?”

“no, not at all.”

“i miss boston a lot even though i am very grateful to be here. i miss the guys and playing with them. i miss just..being a kid still i guess,” will flushed at his admission and samy’s features softened.

“boston misses you too, will. everyone misses you. maybe a trip over could help you? take your mind off things?”

“i have like zero free time,” the blonde mumbled knowing how busy his schedule was going to be in the next few weeks.

“well maybe we can work something out to come see you again,” samy said with a smile.

“i’d like that,” will’s smile returned as well.

“i’m sorry again for saying that stuff. it was uncalled for,” the girl apologized the more she thought about their fight.

“i’m sorry too. i guess there’s been a lot on our minds lately. i promise i won’t take it out on you like that again,” will said.

“i promise too. i’ll try to communicate my feelings instead of just saying stuff that comes to my mind,” samy agreed.

the couple shared a moment of silence together to just be in each other’s presence before deciding that they should hang up so samy could do homework.

“i love you. i’ll talk to you soon,” will said.

“i love you too,” samy smiled and the both of them felt a lot better than they did earlier after talking which relived them.

[changingplumbob]

Tiffany: Thanks for putting up with me, I love you

Byron: Yeah well you put up with me right

Tiffany: I do!

She threw her arms around him and Byron again felt guilty about not saying he loved her back but he was beginning to realise he just didn’t feel it.

Tiffany: Great job getting my brother off my back. What I do with my body is none of his business

Byron: Tiff I'm worried we-

Tiffany: Don’t worry, I’ve got protection and asked the host for a room in the penthouse. After prom you and I will be together in every way possible

Byron faltered. He wanted to tell her he didn’t intend for that to happen. But he didn’t want to upset her before prom. Best to wait, right? Let her have the dance first? Not ruin the entire night for her?

[juuuulez]

🎧 | are we still friends?, michael berzatto.

don’t get green skin (green skin), keep contact (keep contact) / don’t say, "goodbye, smell you later" (bye, later) / nah, i can't / i don't want to end this season on a bad episode.

writing this was really fucking brutal for me. i’ll do something nice and sweet another time because this was rooouuughh.

Established Mikey/You, platonic Richie/You, generally just sad stuff.

request a playlist roulette here!

Being with Mikey was warm. That’s the only way you could describe it. Warm in the way he’d look at you, the way he smiled, laughed. His tendency to touch everyone. Kisses on cheeks and hugs from the side. You wanted that in your life, you welcomed it, warmth and love.

But now it’s cold and the cold is biting. It’s harsh and relentless, seeping through layers of black silk, penetrating the nice coat you bought for this occasion. The cigarette between your lips flares with each inhale, a reddened spark you cup your hands over, in futile hopes that it’ll give off heat. It doesn’t.

“Nice shoes.” You remark the second they’re in your vision, black and shiny. It’s not like you look up, either, staring down at the pavement and Richie’s pointed dress shoes. But you know it’s him: you can smell his cologne mixing with the smoke in the air, creating a scent that’s harsh and bitter but seemingly appropriate.

“Thanks,” He mutters, following your gaze. “Tiff bought ‘em.”

You want to make fun of him. Make some stupid remark, berate him for folding so easily, for doing what she says with no complaint. It’s what you would’ve done, what Mikey would’ve done: Lettin’ her make you pretty, huh? What— you gonna be wearing lipstick next? It’s so close yet so far, you can basically hear it, and you’re sure Richie can hear it too.

“She around here?” You end up asking instead.

And Richie shakes his head, already lighting up a cigarette. “Had to go relieve Eva’s babysitter. Some fuckin’ thirteen year-old from our street.”

“Yeah, well, one day she’s gonna be that thirteen year-old.”

The silence settles between you again, thick but not suffocating. Just there. You’re fine to leave it that way, you’ve been standing here regardless, leaning against a brick wall in the parking lot across from the funeral home. Five cigarette butts have fallen to your feet, and you intend on adding to the pile.

“Heading home after this?” Richie asks.

You don’t look up because you don’t want to see the look on his face. Worry. You hate worry, because you lived in worry. A perpetual fear, an anxiety settled deep in your gut, making your skin tingle and itch. But Mikey never seemed to mind; he taught you not to worry, to laugh more, to care less.

Look where that got you.

“Dunno,” You shrug, dropping the cigarette butt to the floor. It sizzles on some residual snow, which you squish down under your nice heels. “Was gonna try and back out of the lease.”

“Thought you loved that place?” Richie is quick to counter, “Y’know, green tiles and whatnot.”

It was a little apartment, one you’d found after hours of hunting. The green backsplash in the bathroom had caught your attention, and you’d spent days chatting anyone’s ear off about how you’d style it.

But now you shrug it off, appearing indifferent. “It’s not that big a deal.”

It’d been five weeks. Five weeks of domestic bliss, or, your equivalent to that. Of finding little trinkets and unique homewares to furnish the new place. Of getting excited after work, because you get to come home to your boyfriend, instead of an empty bed.

Boxes were still shoved into most corners of the place, not yet unpacked. For a moment you wondered if that was the intention. That, in not unpacking, Mikey was saving you the grief of eventually removing his presence from your place. He was making it easier, cutting out the middleman.

“Maybe Chicago isn’t for me.”

The words slip from your mouth before you can stop them, and you’ve finally looked up, meeting Richie’s gaze. It’s odd because he’s looking at you, and not at the same thing, like his mind is elsewhere. You get it. Your mind is also elsewhere.

“Fuckin’ stupid,” He mutters, shaking his head. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

So you shrug, another cigarette pinched between your teeth. You don’t remember lighting it. This weird haze has you on autopilot, you’ve been in it all morning. Maybe all week.

“I dunno. Might be good to get away for a bit.” You try to justify.

“Nah, fuck that. You’re not goin’ all alien on us,” Richie continues to contest. “There are people here for you. Y’know.. Tina ‘n all the cooks, and fuckin’.. fucking Fak, and Nat.”

“Natalie said—“

“I know what she fuckin’ said, it’s bullshit.”

Richie flicks out his cigarette, letting it drop into your little pile. His jacket is ironed and those shiny shoes are covered in snow, and for the first time in ages, he looks nice. You notice it. You notice the effort he’s put in, despite everything, and you know he feels the way you do.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” He begins. “You’re gonna come to The Beef once a week. Eat a sandwich, talk to us, ‘n shit. And you’re gonna come to family, too. Always.”

There’s a grimace on your face at the idea. Stepping foot in the restaurant seems like a colossal task, let alone attending family. Because that’s the thing, you weren’t family, not anymore. You’d hoped that one day you would be, for certain, a Berzatto. And now that wouldn’t happen.

“I’ll try.” You end up saying, even if dread builds in your stomach. It’s the most you can do.

Richie seems to understand, letting the silence linger for another moment. “C’mon,” He sighs. “We’re getting a drink. I’m gonna pull one smile outta you tonight.”

The notion of smiling, today, seems foreign. Yet you obey regardless, following along as Richie’s hand finds your back, and he swipes the cigarette from your mouth to throw into the snow.

It ends up being a good night. As good as it can be, at least. Each memory shared, each story told is laced with an underlying bitterness, something that settles on your tongue and behind your eyes. It’s thick and equally cold as the air; prickling like goosebumps. Richie feels it too. Everyone does, but you convince yourself that it’s not forever, that it’ll go away and the warmth will return.

[celestibabs]

pairing; billy hargrove x f!reader

contents; 18+ mdni. boudoir photography, heavy petting, dry humping if you squint | wc: 1k

note; starting off simple for my return to writing... nothing too long or too spicy, but we all know that won't last very long.

Billy snatches the cigarette from his mouth as if it scolded his taste buds, flipping the envelope you’d handed him in his hand with intrigue. His perfect blonde eyebrow raised in query, he raises his gaze at you pointedly. 

“What is it?” He speaks flatly, exhaling the smoke in his lungs slowly so it kisses at his cheekbones. 

“Just open it,” you murmur quietly, worrying your lower lip with your teeth. Billy hums softly, fussing with the lip of the envelope with his fingertips and teasing your nerves. 

You’d tortured yourself over a Christmas gift for Billy, thinking of all possible options and how he’d be entirely unimpressed. Minus a new set of weights or a large tub of some kind of protein-shake powder, you knew he’d probably shove your gift in a cupboard and forget about it until he needed to take the Christmas lights out next year. 

Desperation had kicked in around two weeks before Christmas day. Wandering in and out of the few shops in Hawkins like a demented zombie had resulted in empty hands and muttered curses of frustration. Unprompted comments by Billy insisting that he didn’t want any gifts had fueled your indignation, especially given his tone had somehow strayed into something pitiful in comparison to the monotonous, bored drawl he usually offered.  

The idea came to you spontaneously. Nancy had called to tell you about a playful tiff she’d had with Jonathan over some Playboy magazine’s she’d found in his bedroom while moving her things in for Christmas. Her voice had practically faded into oblivion when you’d remembered the torn-out Playboy pages plastered to the wall above Billy’s dresser. 

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that Billy was pulling apart the ribbon you’d tied around the neatly wrapped gift, you’d begun to feel queasy.

Before tearing the wrapping paper, Billy prolongs your suffering with a smug smirk, clearly noticing your anticipation. He lifts the item, shaking it like a five year old rattling their present box as though it would offer insight into what lay inside. “Give me a hint.”

“Billy,” you huff, exasperated already with his antics, “Just open the stupid thing before I take it back.” 

He hums, finally pinching the edge of the wrapping between his thumb and forefinger before pulling upwards, the paper ripping open to reveal the contents inside. 

Billy paused, slowly exhaling the dregs of his cigarette in a gentle stream of smoke through his nose. 

Your heart catches. 

The glossy pages of the personalised Playboy Magazine rippled slightly as Billy brought the images closer for a better look. It was unmistakably you on the front cover, perched in a seductive position on a stool dressed in an unbuttoned blouse with peaks of the black, lacy lingerie you wore underneath. 

Poor Jonathan had been mortified when you’d begged him to take the last minute images. Despite his reluctance, and Nancy observing his every move to ensure he didn’t stare too long, he’d worked hard to ensure he could emulate the magazine quality. Of course, you hadn’t told him who they were for.

You knew you looked fantastic, but Billy’s silence was unnerving you. 

“There’s more inside,” you murmur, cheeks burning, “Some don’t have my face in them so you can tear them out and put them on your wall.” 

Another slow exhale, Billy’s eyes flitting over the magazine cover had your heart lurching in fear. Was he angry? He still didn’t say much when he began to thumb through the pages, stopping on a particularly scandalous page where you swept aside the bounce to reveal the curve of your breast, lips parted seductively but the image excluding the rest of your face. 

“Billy, I’m–” 

“Look at you,” he murmurs, taking his cigarette from his lips and stubbing it into an ashtray settled on the arm of the sofa you’re both perched on. “You want me to pin photos of you half naked on my wall, for everyone to see?”

Billy reaches forwards, taking a hold of your chin in his palm and pulling you forwards so your noses bumped together. Your breath hitches, seizing in your throat when you feel Billy’s breath fan across your face. 

“You little slut,” Billy coos, his free hand working its way between your knees to inch up the inside of your thigh. His touch leaves a delicious burn, like the smouldering embers of his cigarette end had set his fingertips alight. 

Billy’s lips brush against your own as he speaks, his fingers ghosting over the seam of your trousers to apply slight, teasing pressure to your clit. “I’ll put them up on the wall opposite the door. Make sure everyone gets to see how much of a slut you are for me.” 

You can see Billy’s cock straining against the right denim of his jeans. He’s all worked up at the idea of showing you off like this, and seems intent on dragging you down into a horny-haze too. 

“If you’d like that,” you whisper, voice catching slightly in your throat as Billy leans his head down to drag the flat of his tongue across your pulse point. You hear him chuckle softly, feel the rumble against your neck, and you’re almost certain it’s because he can somehow taste your arousal through your skin. 

“I’d love that,” he smirked, his hands slowly working their way beneath your shirt and pushing it upwards to expose the naked flesh of your stomach, squeezing at your breast when you arch your back for him. 

“Merry Christmas, Billy,” you laugh at that, your giggle faltering into a soft whine when Billy punches at your nipple, rolling the stiffened bud between the pads of his thumb and forefinger to tease you further. “Mhmmm,” Billy hums, nipping at your neck and slowly laying you back against the couch. He doesn’t seem to mind that the ashtray that had balanced on the arm of the sofa tips off onto the floor, or that the magazine falls to the floor. He’s far too busy grinding his hard cock against you. “A very merry Christmas it is.”

[mimiiiiiiiiisstuff]

I know this was unintentional but you completely forgot about Duke lol, unless he isn’t part of the Batfam yet in this timeline? I’ve personally taken it as Duke is the only one who gets along with Reader and although they aren’t close, just giving Reader awkward bare minimum attention instantly makes them the closest family member to Reader.

ok so i DID forget Duke 😭😭😭 bye idk why i literally alway forget him

i’m gonna go back and fix that don’t worry! but he won’t be mentioned much simply because he really only moves into the manor at 16 and because he’s 3-4 years older than Damian, he’s about a year older than reader so he came to the manor only a couple months before Tiff and around the reader’s 15th birthday. Reader doesn’t have time to try and bond with him and is kind of jealous of him at first. he just got into the family so easily and is just casually doing family game night and movie night with them so reader kind of resents him for not having to work or ‘prove’ himself.

Duke and reader are chill, i wouldn’t say they’re particularly close but he does acknowledge her way more than the rest of the family and does genuinely care for her. He’s just so caught up in trying to fit in with the other batkids that he sometimes forgets reader!

lmk if you have any other suggestions or if i got anything else wrong 😭😭 format might be weird bc i’m typing on my phone in the car!