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taesanluv3r · 17 days

Text

almost twenty

kim woonhak x reader

non-idol woonhak and reader anxiously holding onto their disappearing youth. kind of emotional, esp if youre aged 17-19, might make u cry (i did while writing it) idk. this fic is dedicated to everyone who's worrying so much abt the future (me) it'll get better i promise (telling myself this). lowercase intended. pls ignore any spelling mistakes/grammatical errors. enjoyy

wc: 2,365

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"so...have you heard back from any of the colleges yet?"

her mother's simple question alone was enough to ruin yn ln's whole afternoon. normally, it wouldn't piss her off that much at all, but the fact that she's heard the exact same words come out from the woman's mouth about a billion times this week alone was just the thing to fully pull on her veins. "i told you a million times already, mom!" she shouted, abruptly- and angrily- standing up from her seat at the dining table. "the schools will get back to me in two weeks. i just applied like two days ago! god..."

"...do you ever listen?"

the answer is no. what kind of parents were understanding enough to listen to their teenage daughter? in fact, what kind of adult would ever understand the way their kids, regardless of age, felt? maybe out there somewhere there was a family that were healthy enough to get each other that way. maybe out there somewhere an adult was caring enough to relate a little.

"tsk...yeah right...fat chance"

yn groans as she slumps belly first onto her bed. she turns over to lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. her eyes almost water as they scan her surroundings. the glow-in-the-dark stars that decorated her walls, the baby-pink chair she had out-grown years ago, and the collection of stuffed animals that snuggled comfortably in the very corner of her bed-room; memories of the trajectory of her own life- well, the life she had up until right now, up until this awkward stage between teenage youth and adulthood.

she sighs as she gets up again, her fingers tracing against the gold medals that sat atop the floral wallpaper. she giggles, looking through every old photo inside each frame placed on her shelf. one of little yn holding up three gold medals, little yn with a big toothy grin only half the size of the cotton candy in her tiny hands, a slightly older yn when she had graduated elementary school, and one last image of a smiley middle-school yn, hands happily intertwined with her closest friend, kim woonhak.

the girl stops to stare at all her belongings a little longer. in just two more weeks she'd be hearing back from at least one of the colleges she had applied to. in just two weeks all of these things that surrounded her would be stuffed into a card-board box, somewhere far away from her sight. a sick feeling forms in the pit of her stomach. it's bittersweet. sure, she'd finally be free from the so-called shackles of her parents' constant nagging, finally having a life of her own...but at the same time, yn just couldn't help all the doubts that constantly clouded up her mind, those thoughts that made the sunny days look gloomy through her eyes.

she swears she might just start crying. not that it's anything new, the stress that comes forth from being on the verge of twenty always seemed to push a lever in the tear-making department in her eyes. she's interrupted this time though, by the unnecessarily loud ping of her phone. 'who could possibly be texting me now...'

'woon-not so-agi'

the contact name alone allows a little laugh to escape the girl's lips as she swipes her fingers against the screen to open his message.

where u at?? you aren't flaking on me are u????

his texts confuse her for just a moment, she had no clue what he was talking about.

hellooooo? don't tell me u forgot? we're supposed to meet at the tree remember?? hurry uppppppppp im not waiting long >:(

"shit is it 7pm already?!" without any more fuss, yn rushes to throw on her sweater. she doesn't bother to bid goodbye to her parents before she runs out the door- she's still upset at them, of course. the girl hastily climbs onto her bicycle, her legs pedaling the fastest they ever had. in almost no time, she arrives at the boy's backyard.

"what took you so long?" a male voice calls out from the top of the tree, woonhak's head peaking out from the wooden structure that sat between the branches. yn points a finger up at the air, signaling for him to wait for a second as she catches her breath. she could hear him laugh, followed by the rustling of leaves as a gust of wind flew by. "hurry and get up here" he said impatiently, prompting her to roll her eyes as she began to climb up the wooden ladder.

"finally" the boy said, smiling stupidly as the girl took a seat beside him on the tree-house-like space. it was a flat piece of wood, decorated with acrylic paints and a couple old throw pillows that his dad had installed for them on the tall tree in their backyard. they were about six years old then, just two little kids begging their parents every single day for a 'super ultimate tree-house' to pose as their 'super-spy head-quarters' on their silly playdates, having no clue that their favourite playing spot would hold the same purpose years later in their teens.

"what's up with you?" the boy's voice shakes yn out of the trance she didn't know she was in. "huh?" he laughs again, "you always look like you're about to jump off this tree" woonhak teases, and usually she'd tease back. usually, she'd say something too witty for him to understand, dying of laughter by herself while he sat there confused. that wasn't the case today though, instead, she stayed quiet, only the slightest smile on her lips.

in an instant, his face softened. "hey..." he began, shifting the weight away from his hands to lightly tap at her shoulders. his grip tightened, adding a bit of force to turn her around so they were face to face. "there really is something wrong, isn't there?" yn couldn't bring herself to answer properly, only a whimper of sorts coming out from her mouth- the quietest of noise before that lever inside of her eyes came loose.

"yn...what's wrong?" woonhak asked again, catching her body in his arms when she fell towards him, incasing her in his warmth. "i..." she manages to muster out, her voice muffled from the fabric of his baby-blue sweater. "...i don't know...i just..." once more, the words in her head failed to solidify, all her thoughts coming out as silent cries. he doesn't force her to speak anymore, just holding her tightly, rocking back and forth as if he were comforting a teen-sized baby.

it takes about half an hour for yn to gather herself and her thoughts up again. she had removed herself of woonhak's embrace, sitting straight up beside him. the shadow of their swinging feet moved with the grass below them, the afternoon sky creating a blue-ish tint and painting the scene like a movie. just the right atmosphere for the boy to open his ears up, all for her voice to enter right in.

"i just don't get it. i don't get why they keep pressuring me with all these questions! when are you going to college? you should start packing, have you found a dorm yet? have you found a job yet? when will you get your license? i just...it's just too much- it's like..." she momentarily stops her speech-like dialogue to think of the right adjectives. "like it's all going so fast? like they're rushing you?" woonhak completes the sentences for her, his eyebrows furrowing when she nods in agreement.

"exactly" yn says, bringing one leg up to rest her chin on her knee. "it's just so stressful...i guess i just can't believe it's all happening- i mean..." she picks up her speaking space, perhaps to stop herself from letting the tears take over again. "in two weeks we'll hear from those colleges...then we'll have to move and then start a whole new life and what if we don't end up in the same place? what if we lose contact? what if everything i've lived the past years of my life for..." her voice cracks and she pauses for a moment to look at the boy beside her.

"...what if it doesn't work out? what if it just all goes to waste?"

the water that had begun to well up in her eyes were a clear image in front of him now, only prompting him to start to tear up himself. their gazes lingered on each other for a moment, the vulnerability of it all crashing against the two teenagers like it had fallen straight from the sky.

"i get it" woonhak says, trying his best to stop himself from bawling like a baby- even if it meant breaking eye-contact with the girl and staring all too seriously at the leaves above him. "ah, being our age is so hard!" he yells this time, falling backwards to lay down on the wooden surface. his hands slapped over his face, the mere thought of the pair's coming adulthood far too frustrating for him. his slight temper-tantrum made her smile for the first time that afternoon- i mean, fully smile.

something about the boy's childish nature comforted her. like despite all these worries and all the stress about their coming twenties, whenever they were together they still had that little bit of youth to grab onto.

"hey...you're smiling again" she nods at his observation, moving to lay down on her back right next to him. yn lets out a sigh, watching as a flock of birds migrated over the skies above them. "yn?" woonhak calls out and the girl hums in response, turning her head over to face him. the boy's eyes are shiny and bright, despite the fact that the sun was long gone. she's confused when he moves to sit up again, but never breaking eye-contact.

"can you promise me something?"

she sits up with him now, nodding along with his words. "promise what?" her words are quick, like she didn't have any more time left in the world. "that when we're away in college, even if we get too busy with whatever twenty year olds do, even if we barely have any time on our hands anymore..." his voice starts to shake, eyes begin to water all over again. "promise me we'll never lose contact. promise me we'll still talk every chance we get? please?" the weakness displayed on his face, a kind of look she had never ever seen on the boy before this very moment. he fully expected her to cry as well, to breakdown into tears as they hugged for the rest of the night. she didn't though, instead the girl broke into a small fit of laughter.

"what...why are you laughing?!" a massive frown decorated his complexion, tears streaming down both sides of his face. "oh, woonhak..." yn says, a smile on her lips as her hands moved up to cup his cheeks, beginning to wipe away his tears. "you're so stupid..." the boy furrows his eyebrows, "you can't seriously be bullying me in the middle of this right now-" he's cut off when her pointer finger presses against his mouth. "no, you idiot. i'm just saying you're so stupid if you think i'd ever be able to survive my twenties without texting and calling you every chance i get!"

his mouth opens to form an 'O' shape. she lets out a giggle and his own one follows. yn lets out a deep breath, "i'd be way too lonely without you, woonhak" the boy smiles, "yeah, you've got like no other friends anyways- ow!" he exclaims, rubbing the spot on his shoulder she had slapped. "meanie" her baby-like language only makes him roll his eyes, "how are you almost twenty and still calling people meanie?" yn pouts, crossing her arms over her chest. "i only call you that...and only cause its the truth!" woonhak laughs once more before suddenly pulling her into his chest, she squeals at the sudden force sending them to lay down flat on the tree-house structure again.

they stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's arms under the shade of their comfort place. "i wish we could stay almost-twenty forever..." yn says through a sigh. woonhak nods, a hand stroking through her hair. "yeah...i wish time froze at age nineteen or something...like at nineteen point nine nine" her eyebrows knit together, "nineteen point nine nine?" he nods again, "yeah, like the ultimate teenager" the girl laughs, hiding her face against his side.

"you're an idiot, you know that?" - "but where would you be without me, yn?" she agrees with him, "you're right...life would be so terrible without you- even if you're the dumbest person i know..." he rolls his eyes. "hey, yn?" - "yeah?"

"you know...later if we're away from each other, please call me. call me all the time. call me if you're bored, call me if you're happy, call me when you're sad, when you're stressed, and please..." the boy trails off, sitting up again and grabbing the girl's hands to pull her up with him. he stared deeply into her eyes, and she did the same as she bit on her bottom lip.

"please call me if you're lonely...promise?"

she nods quickly, "of course. i promise" the pair melt into each other as they hugged once more, the blue sky had darkened and the bright moon watched over them from the cracks between the branches of the tree. "thank you..." kim woonhak says, separating from her grasp. "for what?" yn ln wonders, tilting her head off to the side in confusion.

"for spending the rest of our youth with me"

just like that, yn's worries and all her anxiety flew out the window. in a time like this one, when it feels like their teenage years are disappearing far too quickly, when no one around them seemed to understand, when they've become all too sensitive to the concept of change...at least they've got each other to seek comfort. an everlasting youth whenever it was just the two of them. as though time had frozen and they were stuck in the in-between...

at 19.99.

the end.

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aaa i cried while writing and proofreading this TT 19.99 coming out the same time ive been the most stressed abt future-related stuff, the album is so amazing and relatable! its very precious to me, dont forget to stream!! ily bonedo, ily woonhak, ily readers! here's to growing up together <3 tysm for reading. love, kona.

#kona's work ♡#boynextdoor #boynextdoor drabbles #boynextdoor imagines #boynextdoor x reader #woonhak #woonhak x reader #boynextdoor woonhak #bnd x reader #bnd woonhak #kim woonhak #19.99 aoty #19.99

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milliesfishes · 25 days

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omg you write angst so well😭😭😭 literally been sobbing while reading your latest works 😭😭😭😭😭 anyways here’s an idea: billy finally settles down with you and the two of you start a family and have a little daughter together (girl dad! billy agenda never ends!!) and right before he almost thinks he has it all the world takes you from him :(

⋆౨ৎ𝓘 𝓒𝓪𝓷 𝓖𝓸 𝓐𝓷𝔂𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓘 𝓦𝓪𝓷𝓽, 𝓙𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓝𝓸𝓽 𝓗𝓸𝓶𝓮⋆౨ৎ

[fem reader] contains: death, grief, illness, *angst* pairing: billy the kid x fem reader summary: you were the center of billy's world, and the center faded away author’s note: offering my apologies once again <3 tagging @phantomamor because they helped me come up with some of the content <3 Pinterest Board Spotify Playlist

Everything was bright, the day an endless dawn that rested its rosy cheek on the glass that covered the earth and touched the spot between reality and dreams.

You felt the stirrings of that feeling as you leaned on the porch railing, hair falling over one shoulder and tickling your wrist. The wood was grainy and smooth under your palm, and you shifted from one foot to the other, dulling the ache brought on by the activities of the day. It was a happy thing, borne of the many joys present in your life.

Off in the distance, by the oak tree that sprouted thick and wide, with leaves that blocked the sun on summer afternoons, your daughter sat among the knotted roots, playing quietly by herself. You had always said Annie was born content, evident in the way she minded herself, preferring long daylight hours spent alone. It was a touching thing, how comfortable she was within the confines of her imagination.

Bootsteps thumped on the wood of the porch, the boards creaking under Billy's weight, and then a pair of warm hands were creeping around your waist like the vines that crawled up the walls of the house, pulling you in. You smiled, leaning back and finding his body less than a breath away. He ducked his head and pressed a kiss to your cheek, the gentle prickling of love lingering long after. "How's my wife?"

Five years you'd been married, and still you could hear the way he relished the word like a sweet melting on his tongue. Billy wore his ring proudly, brandishing it for all the world to see. The gunslinger feared far and wide across the south was tied down, and he was happy for it.

You had been pleasantly surprised by how well he took to domesticity after so long on the run. He'd built this house for the two of you, every nail hammered in establishing permanence. It had been a rare luxury for him before, even when you'd met. But he'd proudly given you the brass key to your new house, sweeping you into his arms to carry you over the threshold even though you'd been married for a year at that point.

Now, standing on the porch built with your husband's own hands, sheathed in his arms, you could practically feel the love he'd siphoned into every board, every wall. Billy hadn't only built you a house, he'd built a life. All those nights holding him, promising him he wasn't ruining yours had come to fruition. It had been clear when your belly had begun to swell with his child, a promise of tomorrow. And it was clear now, as you watched that little girl hum to herself under the tree that had been a mere sapling when you'd first moved in.

The first breaths of spring were opening the world up again, sunshine kissing your skin and whispering about new beginnings. It instilled a sense of hope in you, something beautiful brimming with joy. This was your favorite time of year.

"I'm good," you responded to Billy, holding one of his hands against your stomach. "Really good."

He kissed the top of your head, swaying the two of you back and forth. "Should we go inside?" Billy nosed at your neck. "Think you need a little lovin'..."

You laughed, turning around in his arms and pressing your cheek to his chest. "With Annie out here?"

"Aw, she won't come inside 'till it's past dark and we make her." You could hear his smile in his words, and you lifted your chin, tilting your head and letting your hair brush his hands on your waist.

"Hm, maybe you're right," you murmured, reaching up and playing with his collar, straightening it out.

Billy ducked his head to catch your lips in a brief, tender kiss. He pecked your lips once after. "Just make sure to be quiet."

"I'm not the one who-oh-!" Suddenly you were being hauled up, lifted to hang over his shoulder like a sack of flour. He laughed quietly, not wanting to disturb Annie out in the distance, carrying you through the door of the house and shutting it gently. Your hair obstructed your view, and you parted the silky curtain when he bent, setting you down on your feet and grabbing your hand.

"C'mon, pretty-" Billy paused, looking at you and squeezing your palm. "Baby? You okay?"

You were frozen, eyes wide with a sudden realization of the happenings within you. Your skin was icy hot, a blizzard and a wildfire blended into a raging storm that ravaged at your chest. It tore into your bones, filled them with a cloud of dread. Something's wrong.

Billy came closer, blue eyes struck with concern as he searched yours. "Sweetheart...what-?"

Your knees buckled, weakness spreading in a swarm that enveloped your body. Now you were tumbling, poised to hit the ground before Billy's arms caught you, his voice speaking your name over and over like a prayer. "Honey...what's wrong?"

No words found you, only blackness.

The doctor was summoned quicker than Billy thought possible, and he thanked the heavens above for the man's swiftness. You insisted he stay with Annie while you were being examined, and he suspected it was for his own sake as well as your daughter's.

Annie was quiet, staring at the door you were behind. It felt ominous in that moment, and he tore his eyes from the sight. His knee was bouncing, heel of his boot tapping the floor over and over. The voices in your room were muffled, and Billy wished he hadn't listened to you.

The sun was setting now, smearing a palette of color across the sky and shadowing the clouds in hues of orange and pink. He ran a tired hand through his hair, weary already from whatever news awaited.

He reached wordlessly for his daughter, and she crawled into his lap, head resting against his chest. Billy didn't know what to say to her, and so he chose silence. He was grateful for her old-soul tendencies, but also wished she was still naive enough that she was oblivious. More than anything he wanted Annie to be able to be a kid, to be able to forget her mother's distress and go out to play.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting. The way you had collapsed so suddenly worried him beyond belief. That was the way it had all started with his mother. And now she was no more than a shadow, a memory haunting him.

When the door opened, he shooed those thoughts from his mind, standing and lifting Annie to sit on his hip. The doctor appeared, bag in hand, expression grim. He nodded once at Billy, gesturing to the room. "We'll talk in a minute."

Billy offered half a nod before rushing in to you, Annie in his arms. The sight of you nearly stopped him in his tracks. Paler than a ghost, nearly the color of the sheets you laid atop.

When you noticed them, a sweet smile brightened your face, and you reached out, beckoning. "Annie."

He set his daughter down, and she ran to you, burying her face in your chest. You hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head. "Sweet girl. Are you okay?"

Annie mumbled something Billy couldn't make out. He was still, like a statue caught in time's grip.

Nothing was going to be the same. He had that thought over and over in the next few weeks.

It was a symphony of the same scenes over and over again. Your illness took hold of you, settled into your bones and became all that had been you. That version of you was replaced with a feverish imposter, weaker than a newborn foal. You still laughed often, but it was a dull, raspy sound that panged at Billy's heart.

He clung to hope that somehow you would pull out of it. That by the grace of a miracle one day he would wake up, and you'd be looking back at him, saying you felt better.

The opposite persisted. Every time you awoke in the throes of a fever, tossing and turning until he wound his arms around you, he felt you slipping away. It pounded at his chest, an awful realization he ignored in the hopes that it would prove wrong. He shut it out, hiding his face in your hair, holding on tight and wishing, praying, pleading.

You seemed oblivious to it, though you were feeble and listless most days. Still, you smiled, hugged your daughter, kissed him. You were bedridden, but still your spirits were high as the heavens. Even now, as you read quietly beside him, thumbing through the little book with the red cover you so adored, he swore he saw glimpses of you before the sickness that had eaten away at your being.

Billy was absentmindedly stroking your side, lost in thought. He kissed your temple. "Why don'tcha rest for a bit, sweetheart? You can read more when you're better."

He reached his hand out for the book, and you waited a moment before handing it over, letting him set it on your nightstand beside the vase of dried flowers, petals withering away. They had been a gift from Annie, picked in the field not too far from the oak tree.

You settled limply against his chest, fingers rubbing up and down his stomach softly. Your quiet spoke magnitudes, things Billy wasn't sure he was ready to hear.

"I'm not going to get better," you whispered, though the quiet did nothing to dull the sting your words ensued. He felt a tide of panic begin to crash, and immediately ran the other way.

"Shh, don't say that," he murmured, squeezing your shoulder. "You'll be better in no time. Just needa rest, baby."

"Billy-" you sat up, lifting your head from his chest. He tried to pull you back down, but you shook your head. "We need to talk about this."

"No. No." Billy looked away, dread crawling over his insides. He felt as though he were in the middle of an ocean, waiting for it to swallow him up. "You have to get better. I need you-"

"You're going to be okay," you promised, taking his face in your hands and turning it back to you. "It's gonna be okay."

He was struggling for air. "It can't...I can't...how am I supposed to do a damn thing without you? I can't..." Tears were pricking at his eyes, threatening to spill over. "Baby..."

"I need you to be there for Annie. She'll have questions," you murmured, making sure he was looking at you. "She's gonna need you."

"I need you," he whispered, arms tightening around you. "I can't do this without you. I can't raise her. I-" Billy swallowed thickly. "I can't live without you."

"You still have me," you said softly, and he could see tears in your own eyes now. "You have Annie. She is me. She's got all the good parts of both of us, none of the bad."

"There were never any bad parts of you," Billy breathed, and you took in a breath, smiling in a bittersweet way.

"Promise me you'll be there for her," you said, voice firm despite your gentle hold. "Please."

"I promise," he managed, biting the side of his cheek. "Baby-" An unborn cry cut him off, and he looked down, squeezing his eyes shut. Everything he'd tried to avoid had him pinned down now, shaking his shoulders and screaming at him to wake up.

You took in a breath, pulling him closer, down so his head was on your chest. He clung to you, feeling like a child. Your fingers stroked his hair, delicately roving through his curls in an attempt to soothe. Billy only let himself cry then, tears soaking the front of your nightdress. You breathed, "Oh, Billy," and he fisted your bodice, trying not to imagine what things would be like if you were no longer here.

When you were no longer here.

He wasn't ready. How can anybody ever be ready?

Grief hunted him down, made him miss you before he was gone. It stripped the skin from his bones, buried itself into his being and filled the spot where you were. He couldn't remember how it had felt before.

You were slipping away too quickly, and he was grasping for you, milking every second he was allowed. This was a familiar notion- he'd known it before, so he'd thought. But it was different now. You were a new love, one he'd embraced wholeheartedly. He'd given up everything to be with you and done it gladly. You were the center of the life he'd built so far from the land of outlaws and wanted posters. You were epitome of everything good and pure in the world.

Had his sins truly been so unforgivable that you were now being taken from him? Was he so far from absolvable? Billy had repented with every second since he'd met you, knowing that men who kept doing bad things didn't get to keep women like you. It had all been for naught now, because you were turning into memory.

"Give Daddy extra love, okay?" you whispered to Annie, holding her in a tight hug despite your growing weakness. "He's gonna be sad for a while. Can you give him love for me?"

Annie nodded, and you kissed her forehead, squeezing her to your side one last time. You said one last soft thing to her, and she nodded, leaving your side and shutting the door behind her when she went into the other room.

When she was gone, you gave him a tired smile, one that told him everything he needed to know. Billy crawled in beside you, pulling you to lean against his chest. He felt tears wet his shirt, unsure if they were yours or his.

"I don't want to die," you whispered, the pain in your voice making him want to sink into the earth.

Billy squeezed you, tears raining into your hair. "I know. I know, angel."

"I don't want to leave you." Your hand found his, winding fingers together and clenching.

He felt the lonely rise of grief's dull ache seize him again. "I know, angel." Billy's lips parted, something he both wanted and didn't want to say lingering between them. It escaped before he could think further. "Just rest. We're...we're gonna be okay. You can sleep now. I'll hold you the whole time."

"Billy-" you were grasping, breathing faint. He could see life draining from you, your body growing heavy.

"Shh," he whispered, tears like rivers down his cheeks. He brushed them aside, sitting up and pulling you into his lap, so your head was resting against his shoulder. He was still in one piece, strong for you as he rocked you steadily, holding you tight. Love...that was what you needed right now. To know you were loved.

He wouldn't fall apart yet. Not when you were still here for now, clinging to him and holding on for every moment you could squeeze out. Billy leaned down and kissed you tenderly, trying to convey every bit of what had always been yours. His heart. "I love you."

Your body relaxed, and sunbeams spotlit the floor through the windows. He could hear birds outside, singing their merry tunes. It was the birth of summer, the sister of spring. Your essence alone existed in these few months, and it would echo at him for the rest of his days.

Billy held you close as your expression grew peaceful. The veil separating life and death was thin, and you were answering its call. He whispered over and over like a mantra. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

Your body went still.

And now he fell apart.

#billy the kid #billy the kid x reader #billy the kid fanfiction #billy the kid x you #william h bonney x reader #billy the kid 2022 #william h bonney fanfiction #william h bonney x you #billy bonney #billy the kid imagine #billy the kid fic #billy the kid fluff #tom blyth x reader #william h bonney #william h bonney imagine #william bonney #tom blyth #milliesfishes billy

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lunajay33 · 7 months

Text

Just Us🩶Part.2

Summary: In a world full of walkers y/n was able to escape with her best friend, but maybe that friendship turns into something more

Pairing: Carl Grimes x f!reader

A/n: This story starts when the group is on the road after Terminus but I’m gonna make y/n and Carl 18 just to speed along the story!! This is also my first Carl Grimes series! This story includes 18+ scenes, pregnancy and more

Part.1<-

•Masterlist•

It’s been a week now since we got to Alexandria, we were still settling in, a few of us were still on guard but it was better than being out there, constantly in fear and always hungry, now we had food and a home

I was sitting on the porch with Judith in my lap as I rocked the chair back and forth as she played with a little stuffy someone from the community gave to her, Daryl was sitting against the railing tinkering with his cross bow, it was silent between us mostly, I always found comfort around Daryl he just gave that silent peace that I desperately needed sometimes

Judith was babbling as she pushed the bear in my face

“Oooo you like the bear sweetie?” I said taking it from her and wiggling it around as she giggled

She calmed down holding the bear and resting against my chest

“She really likes ya” Daryl said from his spot

“I’m glad, I’d do anything for her, do you wanna hold her?” I asked

“Nah don’t wanna get ��er dirty” he said motioning to his greasy dirty hands

We heard voices close so we both looked to the street on alert, it was Carl and this girl I learned was Enid, Carl started talking a lot about her a few days after we came here and it was starting to eat at me, I noticed him drift a bit away from me, he wouldn’t be affectionate as much, I know we aren’t official but it sure felt like it and now he was interested in the new shiny toy

They were walking down the street right the house, I sighed biting my lip to prevent the built up emotions from overflowing

“Who’s that?” Daryl asked

“Enid, Carls been hanging out with her a lot, I’ve seen them climb the wall, I’ve barely even seen Carl much anymore” I said as I rubbed Judith back as I noticed her falling asleep

“They together?” He asked and it made my heart clench

I looked down not wanting to talk about this anymore

“Umm I think I’m gonna go for a little walk, are you okay here?” I asked standing up slowly as to not wake Judith held tight to my chest feeling her little hands unconsciously grip at my shirt

“ ‘m fine, ‘m here if ya need somethin’” he said going back to work

I left walking along the streets enjoying this moment with Jude, what if Carl really moved on, what if he only saw me as a best friend and now that there was actually another girl our age he wanted her, was I not good enough?

I sat on the curb under a tree for shade, I heard the little birds chirping and felt the gentle breeze blow through my hair as Judith curled in closer to me, I took the little blanket from my shoulder and draped it ontop of her

I found peace alone sometimes but my mind spiraled quickly, Carl always kept me grounded and now that he was off doing god knows what I was here thinking about everything

In the middle of my thought Judith woke looking up at me with those big wonderous eyes

“Mama” she babbled and my heart swelled, this beautiful little baby saw me as her mother and it just reminded me that I’d probably never get to have one of my own but for now I would cherish her

Tears sprung from my eyes running down my cheeks before I was interrupted

“Hey sweetie you okay?” I looked up to see Michonne standing over me with a worried look

I wiped my face and nodded

“I’m fine”

She sat next to me wiggling her finger in front of Judith as she tried to grab Michonne finger giggling

“It’s Carl isn’t it?”

Was it really that obvious, but I mean Michonne always noticed everything

“I’m losing him”

“There’s no way you could lose him y/n, we’ve all seen the way he looks at you”

“Use to, not anymore”

“He’s a boy, he’s gonna realize his mistake and that you’re the only one right for him just give it time”

“But I don’t want him to realize I’m the one after he’s given everything to her, he should just know, I know……” I said as I handed Judith to Michonne

“I just wanna be alone right now I’m sorry” I left going to the watch tower that no one really used

I swear everytime I tried to get away Carl jus plagued my thoughts, usually I’d love it thinking of our moments together but now all it brought me was this throbbing pain in my chest

I stayed in the watch tower until the sun was setting watching the few walkers would wander across the road and back into the trees dissapearing from sight

Groups Pov

Michonne, Rick and Daryl were standing around the island in the kitchen catching up on the days work

“Have either of you talked to y/n lately?” Michonne asked worried

“Chatted with her today, seems upset” Daryl said as he picked at his nails

“What’s going on?” Rick asked confused

“Really you haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what is she okay?” Rick asked

“It’s Carl, been running around with that Enid girl, haven’t you seen he’s been running after her like a puppy and totally forgetting about y/n?” Michonne said upset that Carl would actually tear you like that

“I guess she has been asking to have Judith more and it’s just been them when I see her, never with Carl, damn kid” Rick said pushing his hair back in frustration

“Nothing we can really do we just gotta be there for her, kid might come around” Daryl said hoping for the best outcome

Y/n Pov

I got back to the house later that night after supper and most people in the group were gone to sleep or at least settling in, Carl was in his sleeping bag fast asleep making me miss the days on the road where he’d hold me, just a little over a week ago he was playing with my hair and holding me in that shitty barn before Aaron found us

With how close we got I thought maybe if the community was safe we’d start officially dating but that was quickly ruined

“Hey sweetie you’re back late” Michonne said from the kitchen as she sat talking with Rick now both looking at me

I went and sat with them as I took off my jacket and laid it over the back of the chair

“Oh ya, was just…….sorry”

“Did you have any supper?” Rick asked smiling gently

“No im not really hungry but ummm where’s Judith?” I asked trying to change the subject as I looked around looking for her

“We set her up in the crib up stairs, tomorrow we are gonna start picking rooms between the two houses, my rooms next to Judith’s, so me and Michonne will be staying up there tonight” Rick said

“Hmmmm I see” I didn’t wanna split up just yet it made me anxious

“Who else is staying in this house?”

“Carls got a room up there then Daryl is staying in the basement” Michonne said

“Is there other rooms downstairs?” I asked feeling most safe around Daryl now it might help ease my anxiety with the house splitting

“Ya do you wanna stay down there too?”

“If that’s okay I’d like to” I said biting on my lip nervously

“Of course sweetie” Michonne smiled

“Okay well I’m gonna stay there tonight so good night” I said getting up to head to my new room

I see Daryl across the hall laid on his bed keeping the door open which made sense, not wanting to fully close ourselves off from the group, I looked at my new room plain cream white walls, a double bed with blue sheets, a bed side table with a lamp and a dresser

I checked in the dresser seeing there was some tops and pants, I pulled out a black tank top and a pair of sweats I sighed in comfort, finally being able to wear comfortable clothes, no bra was nice for once as well not having the rickety worn wire digging into my ribs

I opened up the window a bit just to still feel that breeze then pulled back the covers of the bed and sliding in feeling that fresh cool touch of the sheets in my bare arms, it was so comforting in a way reminding me of the old day before everything happened but I also had this nagging feeling that I should be out there, out side of the walls fighting every second it was a weird feeling knowing it was miserable out there, maybe I just missed what I had out there, how I felt with Carl

Walkers were everywhere groaning and reaching trying desperately to rip me apart, I screamed for Carl seeing him across the clearing not being bothered by the walkers

“CARL PLEASE SAVE ME” I screamed desperately feeling hands all over me but he just turned around seeing Enid pull him away

That’s when I felt my skin being ripped apart my nerves torn the pain unbearable

I woke with a scream shooting up in bed huffing feeling my chest rise and fall rapidly as my heart thrummed in my ears

“Y/n hey it’s okay”

I looked to the edge of the bed beside me and it was Carl holding my shoulders with a distressed look on his face

“You left me” I said feeling the tears build against my water line

“What do you mean I’m right here?” He asked as he started rubbing my arm

“No you’re not, you’re not here with me anymore Carl, you left me for Enid I never even get to spend time with you anymore, you never hold me anymore, you never say those sweet things to me, was I just a distraction for you on the road did what we shared mean nothing to you?” My lip now quivering as his eyes widened

“I…..I’m sorry I didn’t realize I hurt you like this, I would never purposely hurt you, you know how I feel about you”

“No I don’t Carl because you’ve never told me” I dawned on him that he never got the chance to tell you since Aaron came and it distracted him

“I love you y/n not Enid, how could I like her when I have the most beautiful, kind hearted, generous, loving girl right in front of me, I was just hanging out with her because she was having problem with her boyfriend, I love you y/n always have but I promise to never make you feel like this again” he said as he grazed my cheek with his fingers

“I love you too Carl, please just talk to me more because I hate feeling shut off from you”

“I will I promise” he smiled as he leaned in placing a gentle kiss to my lips

His confession lifted a huge weight off my chest making things feel a lot more normal again

Taglist: @eiirqgi

Part.3<-

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jogetsobsessed · 10 months

Text

Little Life - Paul Lahote

It was a seasonably warm day as the sun shone through the canopy of the towering evergreens. The buzzing of honey bees darting from flower pot to flower pot and the rustling of squirrels running along tree branches.

The small laughter and water splashing added to the forest's serenity. Hissing came from the grill as burgers and hot dogs were flipped. The sound of a soccer ball being passed back and forth and PG trash talk mixed with the Sunday afternoon melody.

The creaking of the old porch swing, one that held so many core memories for so many different people creaked as your feet pushed against the old floorboards of Emily's front porch.

Gazing out past the porch steps and into the vast front yard you couldn't help but smile when your daughter erupted into a fit of giggle as her dad cupped his hand and poured a small amount of water on her head.

The wobbly water table was gifted to you and Paul from another young couple on the reservation after their son outgrew it. There was no doubt in your mind that it was gifted to them as well. You were probably the sixth or seventh family to own it. The years of usage were evident as the paint faded after spending long summers baking outside in the stuffy heat. But it didn't matter to your little girl.

Since the rain had begun staying away and the temperatures started to pick up, the pack had gotten back into the routine of the weekly family-style barbecues. Today was the first day that it had been warm enough to break out the old water table and your daughter was jumping up and down with excitement when she saw Paul loading it up in the back of the pickup.

You watched as she talked Jared and Kim's ears off and as they nodded along probably having no idea as to what the two-year-old was talking about. Paul pushed himself off the ground, leaving your daughter to talk about her nonsense, and strode towards you.

Emily decided to go and find Sam at the grill to inquire about how much longer lunch was going to take, leaving the other half of the porch swing empty. She and Paul shared soft smiles as they passed each other on the front step.

“Don't tell Em, but I think Kim has her beat for a favorite aunt,” you laughed at his statement. No matter how much your daughter loved Kim, she was always going to love Emily just a little bit more. Those two had been connected since you and Paul showed her off to the pack when she was just a few days old. Emily offered to be her babysitter when she found out you wanted to go back to work once your baby girl had hit eight months old. Which was an offer you and Paul gladly accepted, feeling at ease at the thought of your girl in the caring hands as special as someone like Emily.

“Kim can butter her up all she wants but there is no way,” he laughed, this time wrapping his arm around your shoulder. His warmth brought you happiness and comfort even in the warm summer months. “What even is she talking about I don't know if I have ever seen Embry so confused".

“I think she’s trying to tell them that story we read last night, but you know it's coming out of a two-year-old mind, one who fell asleep before she even heard the ending”.

“Oh boy".

-----------

“Sweetheart you need to come eat something”, you called over to where your daughter was still standing in the grass, playing with her toys in the shallow water of the play table.

You saw her physically recoil at the thought of not playing so she could eat lunch and you couldn't help but roll your eyes. Why did toddlers have to be so defiant?

After calling out to her a few more times you looked over at your husband who was standing at the grill with Sam, your pleading eyes burning holes into his.

You watched as he pushed off the grill and waltzed over to the water table, crouching to your daughter's height.

Everyone was invested in this battle between her and the two of you all of them turned from their spots at the picnic tables so they could see if Paul was going to be victorious.

Your daughter seemed to be putting up a good fight, even cocking her hands on her hips as she tried to reason with her dad. But luckily, Paul knew how to resist the puppy dog eyes.

After a long standoff, you could see your daughter starting to cave once she saw Emily come outside with a platter of freshly baked famous brownies. A few of the boys saw it, so they each grabbed a couple and threw them on their plates, talking loudly about how they wanted to eat the whole platter.

That was enough for your little girl. She set her toys down and stretched her arms up towards Paul. Triumphantly, he picked her up and carried her towards the picnic tables, where you had a plate of pre-cut food waiting for her.

“You need to eat your lunch, and then you can have a brownie that your aunt Emily just made.

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

The day faded into night as the cotton candy sunset faded into darkness. The glow of the fire lit up the front yard at Emily’s and provided enough warmth to ward off the brisk early summer nights.

With great force, you had convinced your daughter to trade her polka-dot swimsuit for a light sweatshirt and sweatpants.

Now she was sitting on Emily's lap, Sam helping her make another s’more. You knew all that sugar was powering her awake since she had skipped her nap earlier in the day. She had to have been exhausted, you knew that more likely than not Paul was going to be carrying her inside once you got back home.

“How’d we get so damn lucky?” you and Paul were snuggled under a blanket the log the two of you were sitting on was just perfect in size for the pair of you. The clear night sky had caught your eye so you only hummed in response. No matter how many years you lived in the great Pacific Northwest, you would never get tired of its beauty. “More importantly, what did I do to deserve this perfect little life? I've got the most drop-dead gorgeous wife on the plane and the most perfect daughter”.

“Yeah, I don't know how you swung that how much did you have to bride the big guy upstairs”, you cackled at your joke as Paul chuckled and pulled you closer.

“You know your something huh”.

“Says you”.

You shared a nice moment of comfortable silence as both of you watched your daughter bounce around from pack member to pack member victoriously showing off the s’more that she assembled with the help of her favored aunt.

“You wanna know something”, you questioned, your eyes never leaving your daughter.

“What”.

“I'm glad I get to live this little life with you”.

#edward cullen #fanfic #imprint #paul lahote #paul lahote x reader #twilight #x reader #fem reader #sam uley #seth clearwater #jogetsobsessed

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bunny-lily · 4 months

Text

Tether Me - Chapter 5: Part 1

Pairing(s): Geto/Gojo/Reader Summary: Right in the middle of you savoring the beverage and scrolling aimlessly through your phone, a piece of paper was suddenly smacked down onto the wood in front of you. You paused mid-sip and looked at it blankly, then traced the source of its origin up to Satoru’s gleaming, boyish grin. When had he let himself in?

You raised a curious brow at the man, finishing your gulp. “What’s this?”

“That, sweet girl, is a wedding invitation,” he declared with all the vigor of a show host announcing the spoils the victor had attained, “and you’re gonna be my plus-one.”

Your other brow lifted to match the first. “Eh? Since when?”

The sun is warm today.

It coats the exposed stretches of skin on your arms and legs in a cozy, yellow glow. Shadows from the leaves dancing on the branches of the tree behind you cast across your face, splotches of blueish-gray that provide a hint of coolness on your relaxed posture.

The sky is your favorite shade of teal, with fluffy, white clouds spread across it far and wide, forming funny shapes and animals that only you can discern. There’s a bunny-looking one that you’ve been following for a while now, watching as it extends its legs while bounding lazily across the eonic, untold cyan. You’ve named it Marshmallow for its resemblance to those bird-shaped, sugar-coated treats.

Which doesn’t really make sense, but you don’t care all that much. It makes sense to you.

So far, the story you’ve created about Marshmallow is simplistic, but it’s giving you something to do. Marshmallow is frollicking in a massive meadow, running around between tall stalks of indigo grass and snowy flowers. She’s celebrating her freedom after escaping the maws of a vicious wolf, bouncing back and forth in joy as she claims the sky as her home, where no wolf can catch and eat her so long as the sun shines through the heavens.

There, she is safe to chirp and thump her little feet and fly as much as she desires, no longer fearing being trapped in the muzzle of a hungry beast.

In the far distance, you can see a smear of dark gray hugging the horizon. It’s not close enough for you to fathom how big it is, but you can tell by the streaks underneath it that it’s raining over there. The flowers will be happy, you think. Fresh water to help their roots spread and their petals bloom.

You like days like this, where it’s quiet and calm. Birds spring from the electricity cables spanning down the length of the street, a bug occasionally buzzes past you, and the air smells sweet.

Your legs swing back and forth lazily over the short, cement-brick wall in front of your house. The light stone is brisk under your palms, a comfort in the burn of summer. You’ve already had a crisp icy-pop earlier, but now you’re uncertain if you should have saved it, as the temperature has gone up quite high.

It’s peaceful out here, but, confessedly, incredibly boring.

Yet, you savor it all the same. Anything is better than being in there, where your heart rarely has a chance to settle, always tapping on your veins to keep them active and roaring with blood laced too heavily with poisonous adrenaline. It’s nice to have an opportunity to rest and relax, a rare moment of serenity, even if you do feel a little lonely.

Glass shatters somewhere behind you. Skin meets skin.

You wince.

The world grows a little more dim. The bunny splits in half.

Tranquility can only last for so long under the richly fragrant blooms of the Callery pear hiding you from the sight of those within the house.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, woman!?”

You stand up slowly, your fingers already growing jittery as you brush off the dirt and prickling twigs that dug imprints into the backs of your thighs. The heat no longer bothers you.

“Can’t you do anything right!? Can’t even get me a fuckin’ beer! You’re useless!”

“I’m–”

They left the kitchen window open again, the mesh serving to let air in while keeping insects out. It does nil to block sound.

“This is the one fuckin’ time I get a goddamn break from supporting this fuckin’ family, and this is how you repay me? By droppin’ my goddamn bottle of beer?”

You’re scared. You don’t know why you are, he always gets like this. He’s always yelling.

You think you’re used to it by now, you try to tell yourself that you are, but your heart still pounds uneasily in your chest. It feels like there’s ice in your veins, prickling and spreading frostbite in tiny kitten nips. It spreads to your stomach, growing heavy and sinking lower and lower, steel through honey.

You hate being scared. It makes you feel sick. You wish you didn’t have to be afraid anymore.

“I’m out there, breakin’ my back every damned day for you and that stupid brat–” you flinch, “workin’ my hands to the bones, and all I want is a drink to wind down after a long day of work.” It’s midday on a Saturday. He woke up an hour ago. “I ask my lovely, darlin’, sweet little wife to get me a beer, and what does she do?”

You think you can hear a woman mumbling something, but it’s hard to make out over the man’s screams.

He bangs his fist on the laminated kitchen counter, by the sink. Metal utensils stored to dry clink against each other from the force. “Answer me, woman!”

“You…bumped…accident–”

“Speak up!”

“Y-You bumped into–”

“Oh, so, now you’re goin’ off and blamin’ me?”

A sob. “It was an accident.”

“It’s always a fuckin’ accident with ya, ain’t it? Always forgettin’ shit, always lazy, always so clumsy. All you women are incompetent. Can’t even get me a damn drink without wastin’ my hard earned money. The money that supports your livelihood, by the way.”

There’s a hiccuping sound, followed by another bang on the counter.

“Now you’re throwin’ hysterics! You ungrateful whore, fuckin’ manipulative bitch, usin’ crocodile tears. I’ve been so kind, so patient, so lenient with you,” you tried to count the bruises he left on her one time, but you lost track after thirteen. “But, you’re just so fuckin’ spoiled, yeah? Damn hag. It’s ‘cause of me you get to sit your pretty ass at home all the time and do nothin’ all damn day while I’m out there, breakin’ myself for a useless bitch of a wife.”

Your nails dig into the tree’s bark for support. A white petal twists and ebbs as it falls from a flower above, landing on your shoulder.

She’s silent beyond short gasps of air and phlegmy sniffles. A stifled choke here and there.

“Don’t ignore me, bitch,” he hisses, then groans in defeat, as if he is choosing to surrender and indulge her. “Agh, it’s pointless, you’re too fuckin’ stupid to understand. You damn women are always so fuckin’–”

He says a word that makes you cringe horribly.

The heavy stomping of boots follows his tantrum, then there’s complete stillness. You wait outside for a long time, hesitating. You want to go to the woman, to comfort her despite your young age and inherent naivety.

You startle out of your skin when you hear the screechy garage door open and hare around the bulking trunk of the tree to hide behind it. Your back presses into the rough material, breaths barely filling your lungs before they’re pushed out again. Your skin crawls at the subdued sounds of the man’s mad ramblings, too indistinct for you to make out.

His tone tells you enough. It tells you he’s angry, and that he’s saying a lot of bad words that you’re not allowed to say.

Bad words hurt people, baby.

As hidden as you can manage to be, you peer around the calleryana, grimacing at the loud, metallic thump of his car door slamming shut. You watch as the contraption, old with time and lack of maintenance – ‘It’s vintage,’ he slurs, bragging about the red machine like a proud father that treats it better than he treats his own teeth. Better than he treats you. – coughs and rattles down the short length of the driveway.

It turns along the curb, twisting ‘til its nose faces your direction. You jolt back out of sight.

You’ve always despised the sound it makes, the horrid noise passing by you and growing quieter as the car chugs down the gray asphalt. Like a dying goat. Or, cats yowling as they tear into each other in the dead of night. Jarring and uncomfortable, instilling a sense of dread in you.

You wait for a long time like this, staring blankly at the end of the street, holding your breath. You wait for the car to reappear at the turn, to come back no sooner than it had gone. You wait for him to loop the neighborhood.

If he’s in the same mood, or worse, who knows what could happen. Maybe, he’ll have the courage to pull the trigger and end it all with a swift right hook this time.

Minutes or hours later, the street remains empty, and you exhale the breath you’ve been holding, allowing yourself to cautiously hope he won’t return for a while.

Itchy imprints are left on your palms, the backs of your arms, and upper back as you peel away from the tree and sneak across the yard to the rear of the house. Even though he’s not here anymore, you still walk on your tip-toes and avoid stepping on sticks or leaves.

The backdoor is open. It leads into the living room, with the kitchen doorway on your right. From this angle, you can see the fridge and sink. The cup holding the clean utensils has been knocked over.

You walk forward and turn left, instead. You stick to the walls, where the wooden floor doesn’t creak as loudly, and make your way to the bathroom. The light flickers on, struggling for a few seconds. Its orange illumination is dim and makes you nauseous.

You pull out the stool from the cupboard under the sink and pop it flat, then climb on top to reach the mirrored cabinet above the faucet. It’s a singular, fluid action; a habit, muscle memory honed over time.

You pry open the semi-shiny, scratched panel and dig around through the mess of products inside. You push aside aftershave, old tubes of half-used creams, rusted safety razors, and bottles of miscellaneous concoctions that intrigue and scare you in equal measure.

You collect the needed items, stacking a stocky, dark bottle of hydrogen peroxide, cotton pads, knock-off antibiotic gel, and bandages into your arms. It’s not as heavy or hard as it used to be, and you don’t forget anything after so much practice.

Hopping off the stool, you shuffle your way to the kitchen.

From the doorway, you can see the woman sitting on one of the dining chairs, partially facing you. Her face is in her hands. Her shoulders tremble with mute weeping. There’s green glass and something wet spilled across the floor.

You’re careful to mind your step and veer around it.

If she’s aware of your presence, she doesn’t react, and says nothing. She doesn’t lift her head as you wriggle your gathered spoils onto the table, diligent in making sure none fall off. She doesn’t make any noise as you pull out a chair beside her and hoist yourself onto it. She’s eidolic as you sort the items around into a neat order for easy access.

She only responds when you reach a small hand forward and curl it around her wrist. Your fingers barely reach halfway.

“Mama.”

Her movements are lethargic, tired. She lowers her hands sluggishly and looks up at you, but she has that far-away glaze over her eyes. She’s staring at your face, but her mind is a million miles away, unseeing.

You learned it was useless to try and bring her back to earth when she’s drifted so far off. So, you don’t bother attempting. Not anymore.

There are a couple cuts on her face, one stretching diagonally under her left eye, and one curving from the right side of her chin to partially underneath it. A bruise is swelling along her temple, and an old ring of claw marks adorns her throat like a necklace. Dried tear tracks mar her visage, eyelids puffy and scleras red. He was forgiving this time.

She lets you guide her palms down to rest on her lap. Her muscles don’t twitch as you dampen a pad with hydrogen peroxide and delicately begin dabbing it on the wounds to clean them. The blood, no longer beading and trickling, fizzles under the influence of the solution. You take care to not get any loose fibers caught in the new injuries.

It was nice of him to leave the ones that are still healing alone. He isn’t always this kind.

You’re too focused on your work to notice when your mother comes back to herself. The fog over her irises lifts, replaced with a glassy sheen, but no tears remain to fall.

She looks a lot like you, just older, and fatigued. Faint scars linger and taint her sullen expression. Her eyes are sunken, cheeks hollow. Your eyes are the same color, as is your hair. Your upper lip follows the same curve hers does.

The only difference is your age, what you’ve been through.

Your bruises, along your limbs, weren’t caused by him.

You stopped asking questions a long time ago, too. Around the same time she stopped physically showing any sort of pain or discomfort she might experience from you taking care of her. You smear a thin layer of the gel over the cuts, capping the tube.

As you’re reaching for the bandages, she suddenly grasps your wrists, spooking you.

“Promise me, baby,” she urges you frantically, voice low. Like she’s afraid he’ll hear her, even though he isn’t home anymore. “Promise me you’ll never let a man tie you down.”

You gaze at her – at the shallow cuts on the side of her chin and under her eye, the rapidly swelling bruise on her jaw, the spot forming on her temple – and nod once. It’s not a difficult choice. Hell, you don’t have to think about it to agree.

All you’ve ever known about love is that it does nothing but hurt those who experience it.

All you’ve ever known about love was taught to you by fists and shouts.

All you’ve ever known about love was that it would break you, like it broke her, if you let yourself fall to it.

Wordlessly, you swear you’ll never end up like your mother.

Audibly, you seal the vow.

“I promise, mama.”

─────•(-•ʚɞ•-)•─────

It’s cold outside.

The sun hid behind the wide expanse of ashen-gray clouds that painted the sky a new color, one of mottled Nile lily and argent. You could make out shallow waves and hills in the skyline, but not much else, the world washed in desaturated periwinkle.

It made for a great environment for pondering.

Months had already gone by since you made your vast move to this quaint little stead, all in the blink of an eye. It was nice; peaceful. The routine you'd built up kept where no other had before, and instead of boredom and mundanity, or the anxiety that came with getting too comfortable, you were enjoying yourself.

You were content.

In the mornings, you'd eat breakfast with Satoru and oftentimes Suguru, then continue the well-proceeding renovations on your house. In the afternoons you'd work at Granny’s shop, and your nights were free. Usually you'd either go to the park for a while, hang out with your friends, or go straight to either Suguru’s or Satoru's house.

Geto-mama and Geto-papa took a particular liking to you and enjoyed having you over. You learned very quickly where Suguru got his spice tolerance from, the pair of parents being worse than him in overusing various pepper seasonings.

His parents were also ridiculously tall, especially his mother, who stood toe-to-toe with Suguru himself. He was the spitting image of her.

You underestimated how much Geto-mama liked plants until she sat your pretty ass on the armchair in her living room, threw a blanket over your legs, and proceeded to whip out decades’ worth of knowledge on all kinds of husbandry.

Which, actually, was very entertaining and engaging, with plenty of hands-on activities. You were now the proud mother of a cardboard egg carton full of itty bitty forget-me-nots.

When she told you that she was a kindergarten teacher, it all added up.

She was a blast to listen to, every conversation with her energetic and fun. You had a great time everytime you hung out with each other, leading you to frequently exchange flower and vegetation pictures with her over text. She had some shockingly hilarious husbandry memes, and you’d never seen Suguru come close to pouting before he learned you texted with his mom more than you did him.

Sure, it was barely a downward twitch of his lips, but he looked so much like a wounded puppy that you had to fix the situation ASAP.

Which meant texting his mother in secret.

His father was vastly different from his mother. The silent type who didn’t speak much, spending most of his free time sitting on the couch, filling out crossword or sudoku puzzles featured in the weekly newspaper.

You chalked him up to be the type to emotionally close himself off, until you saw him embracing his wife while she cooked, face buried against the crook of her neck while she rambled his ear off about anything and everything.

You picked up on how he followed her around soon after that, always trailing after her around the house, lamb and shepherd.

They shared more similarities than you initially caught. He was a teacher, too – a professor of ethics at the nearby college, specifically. Though he wasn’t talkative, he made for fascinating and thought-provoking conversation when he was in the mood to chat.

Suguru was a lot like his dad, you concluded, based on careful examination of the way they interacted with others and the world around them. They were both the wordless protector types, speaking more in gentle touches, subtle expressions, and words of affirmation than with open, boisterous actions. They were observant and highly aware of the emotions of others, and acted well on them.

Which is to say, they could both read you like a book. They knew when you were thirsty or hungry before you did. You weren’t as close to Geto-papa, but despite his quiet nature, he made it clear to you that you could go to him for anything.

Unlike them, Satoru was nothing like his dad.

You met Gojo-sama once, and wanted to keep it at only once if you could help it.

He wasn’t necessarily rude or anything, quite the opposite. He was polite, courteous, and respectful.

Problem was, he scared the absolute bejeezus out of you.

He carried this constant aura of authority with him everywhere he went, stern and straightforward to a fault. Where Ijichi was a trembling mess in front of Satoru, he went ramrod straight when in Gojo Saichi’s presence. He turned himself into a statue, and you couldn’t discern if it was from fear or great reverence, because Gojo-sama was quite kind to him, all things considered.

You were still spooked by the man, though, and preferred to avoid him. Lucky for you, he more-or-less lived in a town a few hours away, far enough to need to take the train, as he was busy working.

The only person you’d seen him cower before was Granny, as she apparently also knew him since he was younger. Whatever that woman was built of, you wanted it.

One day, sometime in late summer, you broke the golden rule of avoiding the park on Thursday nights and very quickly found out why Aoi and her boyfriend fucked there. They went at it like rabid animals – hell, you thought they were animals at first. Then, you saw a bit more ass than you were bargaining for and bolted out of the park, swearing to avoid the bushes they had chosen to desecrate at all costs.

You had come to know most of the more commonly seen townsfolk by name now, but that was about it. You were still introverted, after all. Everyone outside your group was an acquaintance, generally. You knew some people better than others, whether by intention (Granny, Shoko, Utahime) while others not so much (Aoi's boyfriend’s ass), but that was fine.

You sighed softly as you watched lilliputian snowflakes drift past the window of Granny’s shop, your chin propped up on your palm. They stirred and danced, waltzing with one another, then came to rest on the ground.

It wasn’t cold enough for them to stick – winter in this part of Japan was fairly mild – but it was alluring nonetheless.

You couldn’t remember the last time you stopped everything to just…observe. You hardly had enough time to settle and let your lungs fully fill to admire the scenery anywhere else you went. A shame and a waste, you knew that. Some of the places you drifted to were revered for their natural beauty, or hypnotic architecture, or lively communities.

You’d be lying if you said you went to them with the first two in mind. Mainly, you drifted towards densely packed locations. The more people, the more sounds, the less you were able to hear your own thoughts. Clubs, dating apps, friend groups full of names you would never remember, nothing worked.

Being unable to think left you feeling like your sanity was being torn apart by ragged, filthy nails. It made you want to rip into your own skull to wrench out the obnoxious fucking buzzing. At first, you thought there wasn’t enough noise, that the rattling was a result of there being too much room in your cranium that let things clatter about.

Living above subs and stumbling your way into various parties, drinking your weight in liquor until you couldn’t think at all, making out with someone knowing that you wouldn’t be able to handle anything more than light petting, nothing sufficed.

It’s possible you moving to such an isolated valley wasn’t such a difficult thing to believe. Something, something, insanity.

The passage of time seemed nonexistent here. When you arrived, you were slipping into summer, battling the hellish heat under the AC at Suguru’s house blowing on full blast, prancing in the river with Satoru, and now it was snowing. It felt like only yesterday, or at most before yesterday, you had arrived.

The memory of your first night on a floor you couldn’t believe you actually slept on in hindsight was so distant, yet merely a few hours back on the clock of your mind.

Intrusive thoughts – the same that told you to stab your hand, jump off a cliff, fantasize about your worst fears and subsequently having panic attacks because of it – persisted. Hard habits to kick, but they were significantly quieter nowadays. Further spaced out, too.

The voice of the demon clinging to your cervical spine, the one that urged you to run like your feet were on hot coals, had all but gone mute. Sometimes you got the thought, but it was more reflex than anything else.

Maybe, just maybe, you found where you were supposed to be.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Granny’s calm voice roused you from your reverie, drawing your attention to her.

Like you, she peered at the slow-falling flakes, following the twirls and spirals they made when a mild breeze caught them. If you had to name the expression she wore, it would be reminiscence. You’d think that, after living here for as long as she did, one would be used to the sight of the year’s first snow. Impassive, even, or perhaps irked by the omen it brought, but the childlike wonder sparkling in her eyes told you otherwise.

You sensed you would never truly get used to it, either.

“Yeah,” you matched her tone, returning your fixation to beyond the window. “I’ve seen snow before, but never really…”

Granny easily picked up on what you didn’t voice. “It’s quite magical.”

You nodded faintly, unbothered by the countertop digging into your elbow.

The day was uneventful for the most part.

Geto-mama had stopped by earlier in the day to pass you a plate of mini lemon tarts, which you idly nibbled on while reading. She had taken to using you as a test subject for her experimental baked treats, and (to your massive relief, since you lived in constant fear of Satoru and Ijichi and their calamitous baking skills) she made amazing snacks, and taught you when she had the time to.

Everyone else was busy either completing preparations for the forecasted snowfall, promised to last the week, or they’re already bundled up at home, staving off the frost from within.

Which meant it was slow-going at the shop, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It gave you time to catch up on the new manga series you’d picked up from the shelf of the store after becoming curious about it. It was an odd story, something about a boy whose body was doused in a fire that could never extinguish, but it kept your mind busy.

The tale under your hand was…difficult to stomach. Not for any massive horror or emotional reasons, no. Rather, it was so painfully cringy that you had to periodically stop and take a breath to steady yourself.

The plot was rather good, an interesting concept for a world that would make for a fantastic anime, but the author really enjoyed causing his readers physical pain from the dialogue. It made for fantastic taunting material, though, and Satoru and you enjoyed ripping into the characters.

It amazed you that this author apparently had a popular manga in both Japan and the States that was released only a couple years after this one, because wow. It was bad.

The dainty chime of the bell drew your attention away from your manga in time to see Suguru ducking under the door frame, giant that he was, a furoshiki-clad object in hand. A quick skim over the shop had his sights landing on you, locating his target. His eyes creased into slim lunes, the corners of his lips digging into the plush of his cheeks as he approached you.

You stepped out from behind the counter and oof-ed when his free arm encompassed you and tugged you into his hoodie-covered chest.

He placed the side of his face against the top of your head and rubbed it endearingly. You never chalked him up to be the type for physical affection when you first met, but here you were, practically getting scented by a territorial feline.

“Hey, you,” he lilted, withdrawing after far too much time passed for the embrace to be considered a normal greeting between friends. His palm stayed in contact with your figure, gliding across the curve of your waist as he was pulling back, seemingly reluctant to part. It raised goosebumps on your nape and along the lengths of your arms.

“Hey, Suguru,” you welcomed, your lips subconsciously tilting upwards. Your heart filled your chest with a warmth akin to the heat the hot chai he frequently made for you. “What brings you here?”

“Brought you lunch,” he explained as he set the object down on the register counter. A succulent scent wafted towards you, forcing you to restrain your stomach in a chokehold around its neck like a crazed mutt. Decorum and politeness were vital in the presence of royalty.

You crooned, grinning wider at him. “Aww, Sugu, you didn’t have to do that.”

He merely shook his head, tucking his hands into the center pocket of his hoodie. “It’s no problem. You mentioned you never tried somen or nikujaga, so I figured I’d make you some.”

His kindness and thoughtfulness had you swooning, so much so that you had faith even the biting chill of the world outside the temperate shop wouldn’t dare bother you.

“I’m serious, Suguru, you’re too nice to me,” you pouted playfully, to which he shook his head in disagreement.

“No such thing,” he replied, leaning back against the wall behind the counter. He jerked his chin towards the bento box. “Eat before it gets cold.”

Not needing to be told twice, you untied the cloth and pulled it away, further unveiling the mouthwatering scent. The container was still hot as you scooted it off the cloth that you folded neatly, then frowned minutely.

“You didn’t bring a box for yourself?” You asked, worry etched into your brow.

He smiled at you. “I ate earlier, don’t worry.”

“Such a good man, dear,” Granny reappeared, squeezing his arm affectionately. “Your parents raised you well.”

“Thanks, Granny,” he said, keeping an eye on you to make sure you ate. His concern was assuaged when you began feasting contentedly, his shoulders loosening. “How’s the shop?”

The old woman waved her hand loosely. “Just fine. Not many have come in today. Oh, but your mother did.”

He nodded. “She told me she wanted to stop by and drop something off before she went to work.”

“Tarts!” You covered your mouth with your palm to muffle your words and pointed at the plate of half-eaten snacks next to you. “Sho yummy.”

“Ah, her lemon tarts? Those are pretty good.” He approved. “Don’t let Satoru know she gave you those.”

“How is Yoriko doing?” Your sorta-grandmother asked, since the topic was brought up.

“Mom is alright,” Suguru answered. “She’s fussing over the snow, as if it doesn’t snow every year.”

She complained indignantly. “She’s just like her mother, that one. Always worried about the smallest things. Your father is a terrible enabler.”

He snorted. “You think he’s any better? They enable each other, it’s an echo chamber.”

She tutted disapprovingly. “Missing the forest for the trees,” she mumbled, then reached out and patted your head. “You can leave for the day after you finish eating.”

You furrowed your brow. “Really? But, it’s so early.”

“It’s alright, there won’t be much work to do today. You should go enjoy it.”

You were prepared to argue further, but were halted by the hard glare she gave you. “Okay, fine. Thank you, Granny.”

“Good girl,” she patted you one more time for good measure. “Eat up, now.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get rid of me,” you teased.

“I am,” she deadpanned.

You balked at her.

A laugh rumbled in Suguru’s chest, and you turned to him with wide eyes. “Can you believe this? She’s trying to get rid of me.”

He cocked his head towards you. “She’s just being kind enough to let me steal you away.”

You grumbled as you stuffed more food into your mouth. “Unbelievable. The absolute gall of you people, passing me back and forth like a football.”

He and Granny exchanged light conversation, talking about his folks’ plans for their farm in the coming spring, once the cold season passes, while you nibble away until the box is empty and you’re stuffed.

“Thank you for the food, Sugu,” you sighed in satisfaction and slid off your stool, stretching your arms above your head.

“You’re very welcome. I hope you liked it,” he spoke as he gathered the bento back into its furoshiki.

You chuffed. “You kidding? Your cooking is always amazing.”

The elder jabbed your ribs painfully with her elbow, making you wheeze. Unperturbed, she cupped a hand around her mouth to mutter to you. “He likes you.”

“Granny, please,” you rubbed the spot she impacted.

Your further objections were cut off when you found a scarf tossed over your shoulders, the fabric being looped around them a couple times to properly cover your neck and the lower half of your face. The culprit of the surprise attack stood in front of you, now sans his own scarf, as he was diligently securing it in place on you.

“Suguru,” you crinkled your nose at him as he tucked the ends of the fabric into the collar of your sweater. You didn’t fight him on it, but you did feel perhaps a teensy bit child-like with the way he cosseted you.

He merely smiled, cupping your cheek when he finished. “Indulge me.”

Granny gave you a knowing glance from your side.

You freed your chin to stick your tongue out at her before you were stuffed straight back into the scarf. It smelled like Suguru, like tea and spice and him, and you instinctively nuzzled further into the thick material.

“My place?” He moved a section of your hair away from your face so it wouldn’t bother you.

You acquiesced easily, offering to take the bento and furoshiki, to which he declined. You waved goodbye to the weird lady who kept looking between you and your friend while waggling her eyebrows as you stepped out of the shop. You had no idea who she was. What a strange person.

Cough.

The bite of winter nibbled anywhere your clothes didn’t cover as you met the outside world. Baby snowflakes began to gather and melt in your tresses, and you shuddered as a slight draft skittered past your legs.

His fingers easily slipped into the gaps between yours, palms pressed together as he tucked both of your hands in the pocket of his hoodie.

That was the thing about Suguru – he knew what you needed without having to exchange words. He was nothing if not perceptive and observant, a caretaker at heart. Likening him to a guardian angel would’ve been an understatement, in your opinion.

It unsettled you at first, the way he would do something for you, whether or not you said something. You were nervous he could read your mind, but extensive testing (consisting of you saying random gibberish in your head) proved he couldn’t. He was simply good at guessing what you were thinking, and was spectacular at planning ahead.

Your thumb rubbed idle circles into the back of his hand, grazing over the prominent knuckles and thick veins there.

You admired his hands a lot, everything about them. Their size, the roughness of the pads of his fingers, their strength. You liked that, regardless of the feats he was capable of pulling off with those hands, he was always attentive and dovish in the way he treated you.

You enjoyed watching him tear apart old cabinets the same way you enjoyed watching him leaf through a book. Those hands, the ones that dexterously tore out prickly weeds bare, were the same that affixed the fabric keeping your neck protected from the elements in place. Capable of destruction and creation in the same stroke.

The bones of his wrist were a particular draw to you, you couldn’t help but stare at them whenever the chance presented itself – you swear it’s not in a creepy way. Like a hand fetish, but not sexual. Was that a thing?

Ugh, this was just digging your grave deeper. You had to shift your thought process a hint to the left.

What else could he do with them? You’d bet easy money he’d be killer at knitting if he ever asked his dad to teach him. He had a good sense of textiles, knowing the texture of something before touching it, if he had to at all.

A flake dropped onto the round of your cheek and you flinched, rubbing at your face with your free hand. As much as you loved winter, you were looking forward to getting to Suguru’s place to get the sprouting wetness out of your hair. You adored snow, but you’d rather snuggle up under a blanket and relax with him.

You craned your head back, taking in the expanse of ash, stretched from mountaintop to mountaintop.

The crests were sugar dusted, fluffy powder so delicate, you could sink through it effortlessly. Icing glazed down in streaks, brooks and streams frosted by a thin layer atop them. If the town river had a thick sheet of ice over it, you could try to convince your friends to go ice skating with you.

Satoru would be the easiest to convince, Suguru would be the hardest, and Shoko and Utahime would be somewhere in the middle.

Never having experienced nature to this degree, as you hadn’t given yourself the chance to in years past, you pined for a taste of all of it. Hiking in autumn, swimming in summer, sunbathing in spring…you doubted the snow would be dense enough to ski on, and the mountains were too short and steep, but ice skating was well within the realm of possibility.

Whatever season it was, you were determined to be part of it, and to take it with you.

“What’s on that pretty mind of yours, hm?” Suguru eased you from your daydreaming.

You angled your head so you could see him and still fantasize about flying above the frigid clouds. “Suguru, are you any good at painting?”

His head tilted to the side, woefully reminiscent of a curious puppy. “Painting? I never gave it much thought. Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking of turning one of the walls in my house into a simple mural.”

“What kind?”

You ran your tongue over your back teeth in consideration. “I haven’t decided yet. Nature-esque would be nice, vines and stuff. Nothing complicated.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” he replied, squeezing your hand. “We can look at some inspiration together later, if you’d like.”

You grinned brightly. “Absolutely!”

He reciprocated the smile and reached for his door, making you realize you’d arrived. He hiked the furoshiki up to his forearm and curled his fingers around the knob, twisting it and pushing inwards. In seconds, you went from the crisp sting of wintertide to the protection of his home, shielded from the snow and chill.

The scent of the food he made earlier permeated the residence, undertoned by a layer of sandalwood and agarwood incense.

While you were wriggling off your shoes, Suguru was undoing your scarf, pulling it off with smooth movements to hang it over the coat rack. His hands took your face into them, large thumbs rubbing over the swaths of plushness under your eyes to thaw them out.

“I’ll make you some chai,” he said, sharp, russet irises darting across your features. “Wanna sit in the kitchen while I do that?”

You nodded, fleetingly nuzzling into his hold to warm the tip of your nose. He obliged you, only releasing you when you were satisfied with the pleasant buzz tingling over your skin. He motioned for you to go ahead while he pulled off his hoodie and put his shoes away.

The walls of his home had become calming to you over time, the path to his kitchen now one you could follow automatically. You’d even gotten your own designated spot at the breakfast table in his kitchen. Sure, it was a two-seater, so it wasn’t saying much, but it gave you that happy, fluffy feeling anyway.

You slid into your seat as he came in, his hands busy with coiling his long, obsidian locks up into a messy bun that he pinned into place with a claw clip. He was always careful with his hair, taking measures to ensure its condition remained pristine and luscious. You admired and spited him for it; the former for his dedication, and the latter for inflicting you with the constant desire to play with the silk strands like a honeymoon lover.

Suguru was structured and organized in everything he did, preparing chai not excluded. Your jaw rested on the curve of your palm, your focus placed on him as he moved around the room with practiced dexterity.

If you were honest, this was one of your favorite things to do.

Sitting in silence while observing Suguru do his thing lured you into a drowsy sort of state. Not sleepy, but definitely cushy and snug, an invisible blanket laid over your back, weighted and heated.

He taught you how to make it – rather simple, once you know – but his tasted better than anything you could ever make. You could’ve been biased, but you wholeheartedly believed he made the absolute best chai.

A mug was slid over the tabletop to you, mouthwatering steam rising from it. You peered down at the milky-brown liquid with hearts in your eyes, hands grasping the ceramic without hesitation. Suguru enjoyed drawing cute things on the surface of the drinks he made, and used a shallow bowl of milk foam and a toothpick to painstakingly doodle a pudgy bear for you to gulp down.

“Thank you, Suguwu,” you crowed happily, almost feeling too bad for the bear to drink him.

Almost.

“You’re very welcome,” his hand settled on your nape as you lifted the edge of the mug to your lips, gently blowing on the tea, then taking a sip. “How is it?”

You purred. “So good,” you praised him. “Your chai is incredible.”

He chuckled and positioned his index and thumb an inch or so above your hairline. He pressed down, and you stiffened as a sharp spike of pain went through your temple – then you were melting with a satisfied sigh, sliding back into the chair. You had no idea how he knew where to poke and prod to have you turning into putty, but it left you feeling squishy and content, thus you had no complaints.

“Very good, I’m glad,” he said, accepting your compliments, both spoken and silent. “I’m gonna go take a shower. Put the mug in the dishwasher when you’re done, please.”

You nodded and murmured in acknowledgement, relaxing with a dopey smile as you sipped at your chai.

You weren’t sure when it happened, but you’d gained a sort of philosophical appreciation for things like this. Stopping to smell the roses, feeling the snow on your lashes, tasting vanilla and black tea and cinnamon under your tongue, the things you hadn’t bothered to treasure, you now made sure to.

After a few minutes of slouching and drinking lazily, you sat back up and pulled out your phone, unlocking it to occupy your mind.

Right in the middle of you savoring the beverage and scrolling aimlessly through some social media app, a piece of paper was suddenly smacked down onto the wood in front of you. You paused mid-sip and looked at it blankly, then traced the source of its origin up to Satoru’s gleaming, boyish grin. When had he let himself in?

You raised a curious brow at the man, finishing your gulp. “What’s this?”

“That, sweet girl, is a wedding invitation,” he declared with all the vigor of a show host announcing the spoils the victor had attained, “and you’re gonna be my plus-one.”

Your other brow lifted to match the first. “Eh? Since when?”

“Since now,” he sidled up to you, slipping into your space. “I need a wedding date, after all, and I’ve chosen you to be the lucky lady to accompany me.”

Unamused would be a good way to describe your mood. You weren’t very fond of weddings; they were loud, busy, and grossly romantic. Sure, the idea was nice on paper, but spending half a day (or, more often, far more) watching two people slobber over each other in a socially acceptable version of PDA always made you feel gross and invasive, like seeing something you weren’t meant to.

And envious, to some extent, but you preferred to not dwell on that.

“Take Suguru,” you suggested.

Satoru’s nose wrinkled like you waved something expired under his nostrils. “That old hag? No way, he’d kill all my game.”

You scoffed. “And I wouldn’t?”

“Not at all,” he tipped further toward you. “You are the game.”

“Very flattering,” you returned to your phone and tea. “Today I learned that I’m a game.”

He made an affronted noise and curled over you to stare into your eyes, making sure you had no choice but to stare back. “I didn’t mean it like that! Come on, bunny, it’ll be fun!”

You set your cheekbone against your knuckles. “What’s in it for me?”

The Gojo heir puffed up his chest, going full peacock. “A date with me, of course.”

A tempting offer on its own, but not enough. “And…?”

“And,” he continued, “I’ll treat you to anything you like, just name it.”

You deliberated on what sort of ridiculous thing you could ask for that could get him to back off, partially because you really didn’t want to go to a wedding, and partially because you were curious about what the great Gojo Satoru could and couldn’t achieve.

What could you ask of him? You knew money was of no concern for him, in terms of anything your brain could come up with. You weren’t about to ask him to buy you a whole ass estate, no, you were thinking more in the realm of something purposelessly expensive but practical.

You weren’t a big fan of jewelry, hardly wearing the stuff. You’d had enough of world travel as it stood, so a flight to Spain or France or whatever was out of the question.

Your eyes flickered down to his lips unbidden. Plush, pink, parted with anticipation.

A kiss.

You caught the cringe that bubbled up the column of your spine by a hair. What ugly hell did that intrusive thought crawl up from?

Mentally picturing slapping yourself with a sad, wet newspaper and calling yourself a bad pooch, you jumped on the next thing you could come up with.

“Make soap with me,” you said.

Ah, finally, a good idea. You could use some decent soap to scrub your brain wrinkles free of filth.

He frowned. “Soap?”

“Yeah, like one of those soap-making kits. I’ve wanted to try one of those since I was a kid,” you clarified.

“Done,” he agreed with a serious bob of the head. “What else?”

You blinked. What else?

As greedy as you could be at times, you already felt bad asking for the soap kit. You didn’t like people spending money on you, even if it was on Satoru’s tab. You knew his wallet ran deep, you were afraid to know how deep, but your point remained.

You gnawed the inside of your cheek.

You really didn’t want to go to the wedding, but you did kind of get his hopes up with that soap kit ask…

It’d be a good idea to know who you were up against.

“Whose wedding is it?” You queried

His reply brought you a vast amount of satisfaction. “Aoi’s and her fiancé’s.”

Ohohoho, this you had to see. The bush-sex-freaks getting married?

Alright, worth it. “Fine, I’ll go–”

“As my date,” he insisted, not letting you finish.

You half-groaned, the sound ribbing more than anything else. “I’ll go to the wedding as your date. Happy, now?”

He cheered as if he’d won the lottery and pressed a giant kiss to your cheek, rubbing his nose vigorously against it for good measure. “Yippee! I knew you’d agree!”

You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t stop the up-quirk at the corners of your lips. “I swear to God, if you’re just using me to get numbers from girls–”

“I’m not,” he sneered, following you as you got up, gulped down the rest of your chai, and set the mug away into the dishwasher. “I wouldn’t dare do that, not when I already have the number of the girl I like.”

Something under your ribs twinged. The girl he…likes?

Whatever the odd pinch of discomfort was, you shoved it aside, refusing to address it. “Trying to get her attention by making her jealous of me, then?”

Duckling to mama, he continued to trail after you out of the kitchen and towards the living room. “Nope.”

You made a ‘hrm’ noise. “So, you’re the one who’s jealous and you’re trying to get back at her?”

“Nada.”

You gave up rather easily. “I got nothin’,” you declared, stepping into the living room.

“Don’t you get it? You’re– oh, hey, Suguru,” Satoru cut himself off to greet Suguru, who was reclined in the armchair, freshly showered and casually reading a book. “Didn’t know you were here.”

The nox-haired man halted mid-paragraph and slowly dragged his gaze upwards. A pair of glasses sat low on the bridge of his nose, further adding to that skeptical mom look he had going on. “You didn’t know I’d be in my own house? Yet you figured she would be?” He spoke incredulously and gestured towards you.

Satoru shrugged and dropped himself onto the floor in front of the T.V., tugging open the doors of the cabinet it stood on to withdraw a game controller. “Was lookin’ for her. She wasn’t at my place, since I just left it, and wasn’t at the shop. Next logical place: here.”

“What about the park?”

“In the fuck ass middle of winter?” He jeered. “I’m a himbo, but I’m not stupid.”

“Wow, he’s self-aware,” you commented dryly, climbing onto the couch and nestling into the corner closest to Suguru, tugging at the blanket on the back of it to drape it across your lap. “He did find me here.”

“Touché,” he conceded. “What’d he want from you?”

You used the armrest as a support for your back and tapped open your phone, searching for something to read. “Oh, just an invita–”

“Suguru!” Satoru’s commanding tone clipped through your words. “Play Smash with me!”

“No.”

The cotton ball sulked. “Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty pleeeease?”

“Still no.”

“Pretty please with sugar on top?”

Suguru let out a long-suffering sigh. “Satoru, we played Smash just this morning for, like, two hours.”

Gojo’s lour deepened. “Not even if I added ghost peppers on top of the sugar?”

Geto’s upper lip curled. “Gross.”

You set one foot on the floor, keeping your other leg positioned on the couch, and used the coffee table to lean as far forward as you could to pat the absurdly fluffy mop of white Gojo called hair. “I’ll play it with you later, how’s that?”

If fireworks were a person, they’d be Satoru. Dark one moment, then lighting up the sky the next. “Okay! Wanna watch me play GTA, then?”

“Sure,” you assented, entertained by how his giddiness reminded you of a child opening presents on Christmas.

He got into the zone, navigating through the menus with a grace that told you he’d done this countless times. Watching another person play a game could be tranquilizing in its own right; you could turn your brain off and peep the horrors of him crashing a helicopter head first into a street in the middle of Los Santos.

His manic tittering as he created the most heinous looking vehicle further added to the domestic atmosphere of Geto’s home.

You retrieved your phone at some point to scroll through it, then stopped when you saw a post of a girl showing off her fairy braid. You chewed on your lip, thinking, then dropped your device once you made your choice.

“Suguwu.”

“Mm?”

“Lemme braid your hair,” you demanded, making grabby hands at him.

You couldn’t make a fairy braid as pretty as that, but you could sure as hell make a stellar normal braid.

He took one glance up from his book to you, then he was standing up from his arm chair to sit in front of you at the foot of the couch, already engaged with the words beneath his fingers again.

Satoru gaped, distracted from his game.

“Wh– you never let anyone touch your hair! Not even me!”

The noiret flipped the page as you carefully undid his bun, clasping the clip to the neck of your shirt. “That’s because you’d do unspeakable damage to my hair if I ever let you. Besides, nobody else knows how to treat hair well.”

A blue eye twitched. “Oh, yeah? And she does?”

Suguru opened his mouth to quip back, only to let out the most scandalous groan you’d ever heard when your nails scraped lightly across his scalp.

Sweet disciples of Jesus H. Christ, what was that sound?

He reclined into your touch, book promptly forgotten on his lap as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

“How long did it take you to find a routine?” You asked him, hoping to distract yourself before your imagination took off with the noise now permanently ingrained on your brain. “Your hair is so soft.”

“Trial and error,” he said with a rasp. “My mom has the same hair as me, so I learned from her. You?”

You combed your fingers through his silken locks with a delicate touch, moving slowly so as to not catch and tear any potential knots. Whenever you found one, you carefully untangled it before proceeding. “Trial and error for me, too. My life changed when I discovered leave-in.”

“I think I’m in love with you,” Suguru mumbled.

You burst into giggles, your laughter fueled by Satoru’s baffled expression. In two seconds flat, he had dropped the controller and was directly in your face, brows set with determination.

“Braid my hair, too!”

You snorted horrendously and angled your face away out of embarrassment, Suguru’s chuckle making you laugh harder. “S-Satoru,” you heaved. “Your hair is too short to braid.”

“Don’t care!” He grasped your hand and planted it firmly atop his head, his demands made clear. “Do it anyway!”

“Okay– okay!” You panted, willing the rest of your chortling away. “Let me do Suguru’s hair first, then yours.”

Subdued, he sat on his knees on the couch cushion next to yours, and though he didn’t prod, he very much continued to reside in your personal space. His wide eyes were fixated on your hands as they worked sedulously to curve and twist Suguru’s hair into an elegant braid, intrigued with every shift and swoop.

You were no professional, but you were beaming with pride at the end. Using the claw you’d removed earlier, you folded the braid into itself, then pinned it into place, satisfied.

“There, all done,” you announced.

Geto peeled his droopy eyes open, but made no move to stand and go back to his seat, fully content to stay where he was. “Thank you, pretty girl.”

Satoru threw himself over your lap, face down as he shoved one arm under and the other over the thigh pillowing his head and hugged it in a hold bordering on a death grip. “My turn!”

His poor parents.

Dealing with an adult Satoru was already hassle enough, considering his impatience and penchant for pestering the living hell out of you to get what he wanted. Kid-sized Satoru was probably eons worse, if the anecdotes from others were anything to go on.

You spoiled him, anyway.

Your fingers carded through his hair, eliciting a loud purr. Given the significantly shorter length of his hair, you elected to transform isolated sections into micro braids. They held themselves together nicely, the rhythmic and repetitive motions lulling both you and Satoru into amicable quiet, disturbed only by the occasional scratch of pages sliding against each other as Suguru returned to his book.

It took you some time to figure out that Satoru had fallen asleep, his breaths deep and even, cheek squished against the plush of your thigh. He was turned towards you, allowing you to inspect his features closely.

He really was beautiful.

In gaps of time like this, where he wasn’t bouncing off the walls with energy, you could pick apart the details that made him who he was.

His brows and lashes were the same shade of gardenia as his locks. Thick petals protected those whirlpools residing beneath, hiding the blue of a moonstone’s shine. His lips formed a natural pout, a tad glossy in the middle, dark magenta lining the inside.

He had freckles, you discovered. They were faint, virtually invisible unless you were this near to him, but they were there. They dusted across the bridge of his nose and the apples of his cheeks, giving him an extra boost to that boyish charm of his you had become partial to.

He really was handsome, blessed by the heavens, made in their image.

Your susutake-eyed friend gained your attention with low-toned words, pulling you away from your veneration. “I’m guessing it was about the wedding?”

You took a few seconds to recall what he was talking about, the reason Satoru was looking for you. “Oh, yeah.”

“Wanna be my plus-one?” Suguru inquisitioned.

You exhaled, drawn out and defeated as you laced your digits through the mane of the boy napping on your lap. “Satoru already coerced me into being his plus-one.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you can’t be my plus-one, too.”

Your brow knitted. “How so?”

Topaz locked onto you. “Simply by being my plus-one. We’ll all go together.”

Satoru stirred as you mulled over it, your motions pausing in fear that you woke him. But, he merely repositioned, his lanky arms moving to encase your waist so he could press his face against your stomach, then he sank back down into deep sleep.

Your heart fluttered, fingers brushing his hair out of his eyes.

A bird, downy and young, burrowed into the nest behind the defensive embrace of your ribs, and chirped shyly. A fragile thing, one that cautiously set foot into a desolate and hollow place, hoping to fill it with feathers and, perhaps, an emotion akin to devotion.

It’d need compassionate hands to hold it, to nurture it, let it rise and spread its wings wide until they could sprout from your shoulder blades to return what was once lost.

You had to allow it to do so, though. You had to be the one cradling it to where you were most vulnerable, let it seep strength from your pounding heart, but you recognized that your warmth alone wouldn’t be sufficient. You had to let others in, let their hands clasp around yours, let them share the fires of their souls with you.

In the past, such an idea was inconceivable. The nest had been empty for endless years for a reason, unsuitable for any kind of life, especially a docile and infant type.

You weren’t in the past anymore.

You were terrified to give anyone entry to the darkness that painted the walls of your ribcage, sapping all light that deigned to creep in, but…

How you longed to feel the sun on your skin, to feel the moon crowning you.

It didn’t have to be everybody, no. It could be just them, the celestial bodies you cowered from yet coveted.

Just Satoru and Suguru.

“Sure,” you decreed. “Why not?”

─────•(-•ʚɞ•-)•─────

You twisted side-to-side in front of the mirror, examining yourself, dissecting every part of you.

You were standing on the rug in your room – your actual room, the one in your house, rather than Satoru’s. After months upon months of hard work, you were finally able to say you’d accomplished your goal of fixing it up to be properly habitable.

And, yes, you’d stolen the rug from ‘your’ room back at his place to bring here.

One thing you didn’t consider about living alone after having so long to get used to living with Satoru was how lonely it could be, so the fluffy piece watered that feeling down.

After you’d made the move here, he insisted the room in his home was permanently yours, and that you’d always be welcome there. Well, more accurately, he begged you to stay. While you were too enticed by the idea of having your own house and being able to live in it, you frequently slept at his anyway. It was hard to beat the repose that came with the familiarity of his estate, and knowing he was close by.

But, the benefit of having a solo-abode was that he couldn’t pester the living hell out of you while you got ready for Aoi’s wedding.

Your makeup was flawless, as it should have been, given how long you’d been slaving away on it. You didn’t do your makeup often, so you were plenty chuffed with how it turned out. It only took two-and-a-half hours, too!

…You were smart to start early.

The thin chain around your throat complemented the neckline of the dress Suguru and Satoru gifted you beautifully, glimmering like the sparkling dots decorating the profile of the fabric.

Breathable fabric followed the shape of your body, powdered with microscopic, iridescent glitters that fluctuated with every movement you made, catching the light zealously. Satoru had snuck it in with the soap kit, shutting down each of your attempts to reject the gift.

Suguru had chosen the style, while Satoru selected the color. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t suit you.

It was perfectly tailored to you, flattering and enhancing in all the best ways.

You wouldn’t admit to anyone that you spent ten minutes running your hands over your tits, waist, and hips after putting it on. You looked good. Like, good good, the kind of pop and spunk and beauty that you’d swoon over in a hit music video.

You had a pair of sandals that were miraculously a match, which meant you could not only turn down Satoru’s offer to get you a new pair, but you didn’t have to worry about wearing beaten up sneakers, either. There was no way in hell you were letting that man buy another thing for you. He wouldn’t tell you how much the dress cost him, no matter how many times you banged on his chest and demanded answers, so anything more was out of the question.

He relented after bickering back and forth, giving you the relief to dress up without guilt.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

As you finished fawning over yourself, there was a knock at your front door. Your heart rate spiked and you giggled, giving yourself a second to cool off, lest you looked too eager. No man liked that, you’d been told.

You skipped across your house, pausing to admire the accent wall in the living room. Suguru had painted a fairly simple nature scene on it of tree silhouettes encasing a mountain background, and it’d become your absolute favorite thing. You knew he was good with his hands, and you were elated with the results.

Giddy, you popped open the door, where you found the men of the hour awaiting you.

Oh, hell.

They looked like kings in those tuxedos of theirs, fit for royalty. They were already striking, you wholeheartedly believed they couldn’t possibly clean up any better. Boy, were you wrong.

Suguru’s gorgeous mane was interwoven into a plait that rested over his shoulder, dotted with baby’s breath flowers in resemblance to constellations, courtesy of Geto-mama. Satoru’s tresses were swept back, looking minimally less disheveled. You really couldn’t ask much from his hair, it did what it liked, when it liked.

“Oh, my god,” you said. “I wanna see you in suits.”

Suguru laughed, deep and rumbling, orbs glinting with mischief. “Next wedding, princess.”

“Look at you!” Satoru whistled, checking you out blatantly. “Damn, you look hot as fuck. That dress is perfect on you. Who picked it out for you?” He teased, sapphires glimmering. “I wanna get a drink with him sometime.”

Suguru snorted. “You don’t even drink, Satoru.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t get a drink with the handsome fella who dressed our girl up so pretty.”

You rolled your eyes at his antics. “You look fantastic, too, Satoru. Both of you! Seriously, you’re killing it! You’re gonna steal all the attention from the groom.”

“So long as your attention is on me, I don’t care,” he winked, taking your hand to ghost a kiss over your knuckles. Heat rushed through your being, adding to the blush you applied earlier.

Suguru bent over, pressing his own to the spot right in front of your ear. “You look beautiful, angel,” he murmured. Pulling away, the two of them presented corsages – one in blue and white, the other in lilac and black.

You placed a hand to your chest, taken aback and flattered. You picked up on how their corsages matched the flowers they had respectively pinned to their breast pockets.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” you snickered and offered out both arms for them to take and adorn.

They were coordinated as always, neither wrist bare for longer than the other.

“They’re gorgeous,” you doted. “Thank you.”

Suguru’s palm slid up your forearm, digits pressing so tenderly into your skin, spawning chills under his touch. “Only right for someone as ravishing as yourself.”

You blushed, relishing in the praise. It was alright to indulge sometimes, you considered it a treat for finishing your home renovation. The opportunity was there to let loose and wash away all your worries, you’d be a fool not to take it.

“Coming from you,” you blew him a jesting kiss, which he pretended to catch. “Cheesy.”

“Let’s go already!” Satoru butted in, hooking his arm with yours.

Suguru extended his for you to take, continuing to be the polite and proper of the two. “Shall we?”

“We shall!” You declared. For once, you were excited to attend a wedding.

So long as it was with them, you’d go anywhere.

banner by cafekitsune ♥

taglist: @kimi01985

#Tether Me #gojo x reader #satoru x reader #gojo satoru x reader #satoru gojo x reader #geto x reader #suguru x reader #geto suguru x reader #suguru geto x reader #jjk x reader #satosugu x reader #chimera writes

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cherrychilli · 2 years

Text

Do over

Part 3 of Caught

Steve Harrington x Hopper! Reader smut, AFAB reader

Summary: Hopper finds out that you’ve been dating Steve Harrington in secret and you’re both left to deal with the aftermath of your father's unfortunate discovery.

A/N: This little series was so much fun to write. Thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged, commented and asked to be tagged. Hope you all enjoy the conclusion!

Warnings: NSFW, Minors DNI, breeding kink, P in V sex, unprotected sex, creampie, dirty talk, pussy spanking, slight daddy kink

Wordcount: 4.8k

Not proofread

“Hopper’s daughter? Are you insane? Like, actually, clinically insane?”

The full body shock is immediate as Robin begins to pace rapidly back and forth, running her hands through her frazzled hair disbelievingly while her eyes double in size and her mouth hangs agape.

It was big news. Steve knew that and if it wasn’t such an urgent problem he would have allowed her more time to wrap her mind around his bombshell of an admission.

“Yeah yeah- enough of that- what do you think I should do? I mean, I can’t just go over there without a plan. I need to map something out. And quick! before he thinks I’m trying to hide”

But it’s no use, his impatient plea falls on deaf ears because she’s still reeling.

“A dead man- I’m talking to a dead man right now”, she rambles to herself before turning on her heal to begin pacing in the opposite direction.

Steve sighs defeatedly, realizing that he can’t rush her into a more coherent state.

This time with more patience, he attempts in a softer tone like one might with a particularly anxious toddler, “alright, why don’t you just take these in the back- get this all out of your system and then come back and help me, please”. He places a stack of newly returned tapes in her arms and directs her towards the back room with a hand pressed gently against her back. Somehow, she manages to find her way despite her unfocused gaze and her repetitive utterances of “I can’t believe this – I just believe this” while shaking her head from side to side.

Getting caught with you, especially in the way that it had happened, by your father, the Chief of Police was...not ideal. But Steve was determined. He cared for you and he needed to make it clear to Hopper that you weren’t some girl he was using for sex.

Steve returns to the counter and fishes out his wallet, in desperate need of a pick me up. Flipping it open, a smile tugs at his lips as he looks down at a picture of the two of you together. Your ‘first date’. The picture was taken at the photo booth two months ago when you’d ran into each other at the county fair. You both knew the other was going to be there with your respective groups of friends – there’d been so much tension between the two of you during the weeks leading up to the fair. Very ‘will they won’t they’ as cliché as it sounded. You’d had your first kiss together that night too. Steve remembers how demure you seemed in your pretty dress as the two of you walked by the tree line, away from your friends and away from the rest of the crowd. Everyone was too preoccupied to notice the way you both looked at each other or the fact that you’d wandered off to be alone. He’d wanted to kiss you so badly but held off thinking it might be too soon.

Everyone had this idea in their heads about you. They all treated you like you were made of glass and the last thing Steve had wanted that night was to scare you off by being too forward. But there was another side to you and that was the night he caught his first glimpse. He was in the middle of relaying a story – something funny Dustin had done – and it wasn’t that you were disinterested in hearing it. You liked hearing how fondly he spoke of the younger boy. You found it incredibly sweet how their unlikely friendship came to be but there was a pressing matter on your mind and you couldn’t resist any longer. Your hands reached out to grasp at the front of Steve’s shirt as you pulled him down for a sudden kiss. It was unexpected but he melts into it quickly, remembering everything from the sound of the fireworks going off in the distance, to the taste of cotton candy on your lips.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t wait anymore”, you’d said when you finally parted for air.

He realized you weren’t nearly as fragile as people thought you to be.

Quickly checking over his shoulder to make sure Robin hadn’t shuffled back in yet, Steve carefully pulls the picture free from behind the little plastic display to sneak a peek at the one he’d hidden underneath. It was one of the pictures he had taken of you yesterday. He couldn’t resist – he had to have one with him while he kept the others hidden away in his room. Your face wasn’t in it- he’d promised you he’d be careful. It was a shot of your body – stretched out on his bed, still clad in your lacy underwear and peppered with fresh hickeys.

He can feel his cock begin to stir in his pants and he knows better than to get hard at work but he can’t help but let his eyes linger a few moments longer. Who would have known just by looking at you that this was what you’d been getting up to in secret.

Steve’s so busy admiring every curve of your body that he doesn’t take immediate notice when the front door swings open. No one really came in at this hour – kids were supposed to be in school and the adults were usually at work right about now. When he does finally look up it feels like he’s just stepped off the edge of a cliff, wallet slipping from his fingers and landing on the opposite side of the counter.

Jesus, Fuck

Hopper’s mirthless, raging face looms over him, his stare alone somehow willing Steve into fearful submission.

The fear intensifies when Steve’s eyes dart down momentarily to realize that his wallet’s landed right beside Hopper’s boots – thankfully, picture side down.

Steve’s mouth’s completely dry and all he can hear is the sound of his own blood coursing in his ears. Jim Hopper was a big man, by anyone’s standards. Big enough to make even the most arrogant drunk think twice about picking a fight with him. Right now, he seemed impossibly big. Almost mountainous, even.

The look on Hopper’s face told Steve everything he needed to know and now all the boy could do was wait. With no one around to see, there was no way the Chief wouldn’t swing. Right?

He clearly wanted to. What father wouldn’t?

God, this is going to fucking hurt…

“This is major. Huge! There’s no way he won’t kill you, I mean really- “

Like a godsend, Robin strides back towards the counter, only cutting herself off when she sees who’s walked into the store.

Steve takes his first breath since Hopper showed up, relief washing over him. A witness!

He eyes Robin from where he’s frozen in place, a mix of helplessness and desperation evident on his face.

She knew she needed to do something to help her friend from getting his face caved in. Despite being the one who hadn’t messed around with Hopper’s daughter, she struggles to maintain a calm cadence, croaking out a very nervous, “Hey Chief, here to check out the new releases?” to distract him.

Steve’s nothing but thankful for her awkward but sincere effort to break the dangerous tension mounting in the store but Hopper ignores her altogether to turn back to him.

“Whatever you think I might do to you if I ever see you near my daughter again is nothing compared to what I’ll actually do to you, understand?”

Steve nods quickly. Even if he wasn’t afraid for his life he knew there was no convincing Hopper of anything right now. There was no room to carefully explain or reason. There was barely any room to breathe. He’d have to plead his case later.

With one last ire fueled stare at Steve he turns to leave, eyes briefly skimming over Steve’s wallet on the floor before stomping out of the store.

Robin cautiously inches over to Steve, eyes trained on the door, wondering if Hopper might just change his mind and come back.

“Are you okay?”, she finally asks.

“Ask me again in an hour”, he replies weakly, blood yet to return to his pale face.

━─━────༺༻────━─━

You knew this was hard for your father. He had trusted you and you had lied. You should have been honest from the start. Sure, he wouldn’t have been crazy about the idea of his daughter dating Steve Harrington but if you hadn’t tried to hide your relationship and instead, had explained how happy Steve made you, things might have turned out differently.

“He won’t be bothering you again”, was what Hopper said to you when he came back home that morning. You hadn’t even realized he’d been gone. You’d accidentally slept in late, exhausted from having cleaned up your father’s mess last night and your many futile and tearful attempts at trying to convince him that Steve wasn’t the kind of boy he thought he was.

Hopper seemed pleased with himself, having scared the shit out of your boyfriend with not more than a look and a single warning. Instantly, you knew what he’d done and now it was your turn to start yelling. It goes on for hours – you, trying to make it clear that he had no right trying to decide who you can and can’t date and him, trying to shoutexplain that he’d done it for your own good because according to him, all Steve wanted to do was take advantage of you.

“If he’s such a good guy, why didn’t he try to explain himself this morning?!”, Hopper boomed

“You probably didn’t give him the chance! All you do is intimidate!” you shot back defiantly

“He was corrupting you- I needed to keep that pervert away!” he retaliated.

Frustrated and well beyond your limit, you angrily tread to your bedroom and slam the door behind you, locking yourself inside before burying yourself underneath your blankets. It infuriated you. You’re an adult now but this was Jim Hopper. As long as you’re under his roof, he still calls the shots.

You avoid Hopper the next day. Only coming out of your bedroom when you hear the cruiser pull way as he leaves for work. You use that time to fix yourself something to eat and wonder around the cabin, wracking your brain for solutions before going right back inside when you hear him return in the evening.

Hopper can’t find it in himself to apologize because he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. The way he sees it, some handsy boy treated you with less respect than you deserved and there was no way he was about to let that continue. But at the same time, he couldn’t stand to have you mad at him.

You’re the only person he’d ever even attempt to make peace with after a bitter fight. He’s just about to knock on your door when the phone begins to ring. With an irritated huff he walks away from your door to answer it. He sighs again, rubbing at his temple as he listens to the caller on the line. “Alright, I’ll be right there”, he grunts back and hangs up the receiver. Grabbing his keys, he’s about to head to the cruiser but he decides to try reaching out to you one more time before he leaves.

He knocks gently against your door. No response. It hurts because he knows that you’re up and not actually asleep – he’d seen your shadow from under the door not very long before the phone had started to ring. Carefully softening his tone, he starts, “Honey…I have to head out again- there’s some sort of commotion down Marley Street- house party that got out of hand – some little sh- someone set a couch on fire and it spread- it’s a mess and I have to get down there”. No response still. “I might be out a while so keep the doors locked…I’ll be back as soon as I can”. Hopper turns to leave but the sound of your room door being unlocked has him whipping back around. You crack open your door just a couple of inches and his face drops when he sees your eyes all red and your cheeks puffy from crying all day. He may not be the calmest person around or the easiest person to reason with but you knew he had done what he did because he cared about you. You didn’t like being mad at him either knowing that it hurt him too. “Be careful, dad”, you reply softly. He smiles back tenderly. “Thanks, hun”. You both part a little somberly but hopeful that the next time you talk, you’re more likely to reach an understanding than another screaming match. You both just needed some time to cool off first.

You decide to clean yourself up with a nice hot shower when you hear the cruiser take off. Returning from the bathroom you remember that you hadn’t been able to call Steve the day before – too busy and exhausted from all the yelling. You dial and wait. When he doesn’t answer fresh tears start to emerge. You try to tell yourself that maybe he’s out with Robin right now but part of you worries that Hopper had managed to get to him with his threats and that he was avoiding your call on purpose. You put the phone back down, sick of listening to it ring.

You retreat under your blankets again, ready to softly cry yourself to sleep and let the cycle repeat itself. You’re about 3 minutes into it when a sudden series of taps against your window make you still your breath. You’re alone. It’s dark. And now you’re very, very scared.

You’re just about ready to scream bloody murder when you recognize the face peering through your bedroom window.

“Steve!”

You throw the blankets off yourself and practically sprint to your window, smiling so hard it almost hurts.

“He’s gone, right?”, he whispers cautiously when you unlatch the window and open it for him.

“He left about 30 minutes ago- something about a fire down Marley Street”, you beam despite the context of the news you’re relaying.

“I saw – I drove past it on my way home from work- probably Jake Ramsey’s fault. That guy’s always passing out flaming shots.” He crawls through your window and straightens out before continuing. “No one got hurt but the whole place is a mess. Drunk kids all out on the lawn, fire department was called. Pretty big – I knew they’d call your dad in and that meant you’d be alone so…”

You throw your arms around him and squeeze, “I tried calling and when you didn’t answer…I’m so glad you’re here”, you mumble into his chest.

“I never went home, babe. I just drove straight here”, he replied, hugging you back with a reassuring squeeze.

You crane your neck back to look up at him, “My dad didn’t scare you off?”

Steve suppresses a nervous laugh at that. Hopper did scare him. Almost effortlessly so but he decides to leave that part out when cups your face with his palm, thumb stroking your cheek lovingly. “Not enough to keep me away from you”, he replies honestly.

He leans down to meet your waiting lips, kissing you softly. It’s a tender, sweet moment but it slowly changes into something more needy when you purposely press your chest up against his and one of his hands trail down to glide along the curve of your ass over your sleep shorts, squeezing your flesh before breaking the kiss to suck at your neck.

“You never got to tell me over the phone- how exactly did he find out?” he makes out against your skin.

“Left a stupid notebook behind in the car- he drove back to the center to give it to me- Loretta told him I didn’t work there”, you reply, eyes fluttering shut.

“Oh?”

“But he didn’t realize yet that it was me he’d caught you with that night- he thought you’d been going around with some other girl- stringing me along during the day- probably didn’t think I’d ever put out for anyone”

Steve scoffs. “Course he didn’t. The Chief of Police’s daughter? Little innocent thing like you? You’d have to be a fucking loon to try and get under her panties”, he pulls at your waistband playfully and lets it snap against your skin.

You giggle before replying. “Remember when we started by using condoms?”, you card your fingers through his hair, occasionally pulling at the soft brown locks when he latches on to a particularly sensitive spot.

“Can’t remember a thing before you let me slip inside without one, babe” he nips at your earlobe.

You blushed remembering the first time you’d done it without one.

━─━────༺༻────━─━

You’d planned it to be a surprise. You didn’t tell Steve that you’d gotten on the pill yet, deciding that you wanted to have a little fun with him first. You tried to contain yourself as you watched him roll on the condom that day before you began to ride him in his bedroom. You staved off your own orgasm until you could tell he was getting close by the way his abdomen clenched and the grip he had on your thighs would tighten. “Stevie, this isn’t working” you’d whined in faux frustration as you ceased bouncing on his cock. You almost felt bad when worry washed over his face and he sprung up from his pillow to look at you face to face. “What’s the matter, angel? need me to be on top?”, voice full of concern.

“it’s not that- I’m just tired of not getting to feel you”, you pouted back.

“Baby, I’m literally inside you right now”, he let out a short disbelieving laugh.

“that’s not what I mean” you pull yourself off of his cock, letting it slip from your hole.

“I need this off- It’s getting in the way”, you point at the condom curled over his dick before you begin pulling it free from his length.

You enjoyed the dumbfounded look on his face a little too much as you tossed the latex aside and held on to his shaft, making a show of rubbing his bare cock along your slick pussy. “Oh, Steve, that feels so good”, you moan out, aiming his tip at your clit and pressing the two very sensitive areas together.

“Shit- baby, hold on-“

You’re not deterred, you can feel how badly he’s tempted to let you ride him raw but you anticipate his hesitation all the same.

“But Stevie, imagine how good it would feel”, you whine back. It’s downright cruel the way you’re teasing him right now but you can rest easy knowing that the torture you’re putting him through is going to be well worth it-and he’d agree.

“Sweetheart- fuck- it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s really not that”, he chokes out

“Please, Steve? I wanna feel all of you”

His resolve is crumbling by the second. “Baby, maybe we should wait until you get on the pill? You know,uh be safe?”, he sounds barely convinced by his own reasoning, phrasing everything like a question.

“So, you’ll fuck me without one if I get on the pill?”, you purr back teasingly to clarify.

The truth was he wanted to fuck you without it and you knew it.

“Yeah baby, I’ll give it to you just how you want it”, he strains.

You pretend to look thoughtful for a moment before shrugging your shoulders with contented smile. “Mm, alright”, you hum back innocently.

His breath hitches when instead of releasing his throbbing dick, you raise your hips and line up his cock with your entrance, pushing down until he sinks all the way inside.

You both moaned at the feeling. Your tight warmth envelopes his dick and you can feel every ridge and inch of it pulsing inside you.

“Fuck fuck fuck – did you- when??”, he chokes out, barely coherent but you knew exactly what he’s asking.

“Last week”, you moan out, a satisfied smile stretching across your face.

“Surprise”

He didn’t last much longer without it but it didn’t matter. You liked knowing the kind of effect your pussy had on him. And he made it up to you 15 minutes later. Thrice.

━─━────༺༻────━─━

You let the memory fade away when he works a hand between your bodies to rub over your clothed cunt.

“W-well- there was one left over. I left it inside the notebook- completely forgot about it- slipped out right in front of him- that’s when he put it all together”, you force out in a whine.

Steve stills his hand over your mound, pulling away from your neck to look down at you with concern.

“So, he knows I’ve been fucking you raw?”

“No…, I don’t think so- he never found my birth control pills”

Steve’s expression relaxes for a moment before he eyes you up and down suggestively. “Hm. Too bad.”

Your eyebrows shoot up at this. “’Too bad’? Isn’t our situation bad enough?”

He only smirks before returning to mouthing at your neck, slipping both hands underneath your shirt to give your breasts some attention.

“How pissed do you think he’d get if I knocked you up?”, he breathes against your ear.

The questions catches you off guard and you don’t know what to say because you’re too busy trying to process the way his words have begun to make your pussy throb.

“If I put a baby in you- got you all nice and big”, he squeezes your tits with both hands for emphasis,

“- couldn’t hide it then- then he’d know- everyone would know”

You let a moan slip at that, dragging your cunt along his thigh for some relief.

“That what you want, baby? Really stick it to your old man if I got you pregnant right under his own roof”

Your head’s swimming but you still manage to whisper-shout back at him, “Steve! We’re too young”

He chuckles, “I know that- I mean eventually”.

“I can tell you want it too” his eyes flick down to where your shorts have begun to turn damp against his jeans.

You see it too and you’re too far gone now to try and deny it.

“Fuck- please just fuck me before he gets back”, you finally give in.

Your shirt lay discarded in the corner of your room and your nipples throb faintly with the memory of how he’d played with and sucked them moments ago, leaving them all pert and puffy. You’re all spread out on your bed underneath Steve, a shaking whimpering mess and he hasn’t even fucked you yet.

“Stevie, please hurry- can’t let him catch us again”

“You know, if you weren’t so busy thinking with this” he brings his open palm down on your clothed clit with just enough pressure to make you yelp, “we wouldn’t be in this mess”.

You relish his faux admonishment. You both know that the two of you share the blame in getting caught but he isn’t wrong. You’d been so needy for him and he liked chiding you for it.

“Needed my cock that bad, angel?” he brings his hand down on your delicate folds again.

“That why you left the condom in your notebook? Smart girl like you- you know better than that”

Smack

“So forgetful…mind all blank now that your pretty little pussy’s being used?”

Smack

“All those years without anyone to touch you and now- “

Smack

“You can’t get enough of it”

“Steeeeve”, you draw out in a desperate whine.

He ignores your plea, “Jesus, how can you sleep in these damn things, they’re so tight. I can see every part of you”.

You’d outgrown this particular pair of shorts a while back. You could still fit into them but he was right, they looked like a second skin on you. He ogles the outline of your cunt through the pale purple cotton and your face warms up when he pinches your pussy lips together. You wiggle your hips and that earns you another slap.

“Take them off- panties too”, he commands.

You do as your told, shimmying both off before he’s forcing you back on your bed with your thighs spread.

He doesn’t say much this time, instead busying himself by landing several hits directly onto your naked cunt until your clit’s all swollen and your labia’s all pink from the impact. You can hear how wet you’ve become with every smack and he just tuts at the sight between your legs.

“So impatient…”, he lets out in a low groan, inspecting your arousal by rubbing your slippery slick between his thumb, index and middle fingers.

The way your thighs twitch and tremble with every slap isn’t lost on him. He’s confident that he could probably get you to cum from this alone and he’s so tempted to do just that but you’re right. As much as he wants to take the time to put his theory to the test, he doesn’t want to risk another encounter with your father just yet.

He brings his hand between your legs again, this time gently rubbing soothing circles into your abused little bud.

“Want me to make it feel better, baby?”, he coos.

Your chest rises and falls with labored breaths as you nod affirmatively, eyes all watery.

He picks you up and carries you away from the bed, sitting you down on the edge of your desk instead. Your college brochures tumble to the floor and your neat little pile of transcripts tip over and messily fan out behind you.

Your legs fall open as he impatiently sheds his clothing too.

Taking one last moment to tease you, he taps the head of his cock against your aching clit until you choke out a pathetic ‘please’.

He takes pity on you then and you both watch as he finally pushes it in, savouring the stretch.

It’s going to be quick and rough, you both know it but you still gasp when he pulls back far enough to begin driving his cock into you in a hurried pace. You can feel yourself beginning to gush, eyes rolling back as you chant his name again and again. Pens and paperclips rattle and roll off your desk, a mess of stationary littering your bedroom floor.

You’re so cockdrunk your unfocused gaze eventually lands on the framed picture at the corner of your desk. You and your father, his arm wrapped around your shoulder and you leaning in close to him as you smile for the picture. Your arm shoots out to turn the picture face down – his face is the last thing you want to see while you’re getting railed and you don’t need another reminder of how pissed he’d be if he knew you were seeing Steve in secret again – in his own house even.

Steve notices your expression and laughs, low and a little dark. “Forget him, baby, I’m your daddy now”.

He picks you up by the waist and you gasp. You’re forced to support yourself with your palms planted flat on your desk behind you and your arms extended. Your legs immediately wrap around Steve’s waist for stability and you’re left to hold on as he grips your ass and begins pounding into you, much harder than before. You squeal at the intensity, desk creaking dangerously beneath you while your tits bounce on your chest.

Your arms ache from having to support your weight but your building orgasm soon captures your complete attention.

“Getting close, angel?”, he grits out with a smirk

“So-so close, daddy”, you pant back out.

Steve groans approvingly when you say it, and he can tell that you like it too because your cunt clenches around him like a vice.

“Daddy, I’m-“ you let your head fall back as the coil in your abdomen snaps and your orgasm ripples through you. Your silky walls clamp sporadically around Steve’s cock and he rests his forehead against your shoulder as he spills into you with a deep grunt, driving into you with short, hard thrusts until he has nothing left to give.

Somehow, you’ve managed to keep your arms outstretched but they start to wobble and he notices, easing you down onto the surface of your desk and pulling out to watch his spend flow back out of your hole. Cum seeps out of you and leaks directly onto your half-completed college application forms but you’re too blissed out to really care. You’ll gladly pick up another set of papers when the feeling starts to return to your trembling legs.

You stare at each other, eyes half lidded, sweaty and panting.

Steve’s the one to break the momentary silence when he reaches out to frame your face with his palm again.

“I wanna be with you- no more sneaking around. I know he won’t like it at first but let’s be upfront with him. Make him understand”.

Your chest blossoms with adoration and you blush under his affectionate stare.

“Maybe at dinner? This Friday? I’ll pick a place” you offer, still a little breathless.

“Yeah” he smiles back at you warmly.

“Some place that gets packed, alright?" he adds.

And then a tinge more seriously so that you understand what he means. “Witnesses, you know?”

#steve harrington smut #stranger things smut #steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x hopper! reader

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gayassbish · 11 months

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Genshin Girls When You Have Crushes on Eachother!! Highschool AU

Genre: Fluff <3

Reader: Gender neutral | Reader is a little oblivious in Furina’s and Yae Miko’s part

Characters: Yae Miko, Kujou Sara, Keqing, Furina, Sucrose

Yae Miko-

Thought you were the cutest little thing when she saw you on the first day of the new school year. She’s quick to make her move! Befriends you and not too soon after, confesses. She can’t help it! You think she’s just messing with you when she flirts with you. And who can blame you? First, y’all just met a couple weeks ago, and second, poor you can’t even tell if she’s serious or not with that shit-eating smirk on her face.

Yae Miko does nothing to qualm your concerns. She just likes your reactions too much. Your confused and flustered face brings her much satisfaction. You’ve turned into her piece of amusement and she doesn’t want to let you go!

She teases you so so much and you can’t understand if she actually has feelings for you or if she’s just playing with your heart! She really likes you though. Its just that she sees no problem in taking her time with you. She wants to study your reactions and really see what she can do that flusters you the most! In reality, she’s trying to treasure you, hence why she’s taking it slow, but you don’t need to know that do you?

She’s hot and cold with you but never too cold that you lose interest, just enough so she can see that frustrated look on your face.

But one day it got too much for you! You tell her whatever is going on between you two- if there’s anything between you two cause heavens you can’t figure her out- that it’s too confusing for you :(! Yae Miko didn’t think you’d break so easily, but she’s happy nonetheless. She wanted to take things a step further soon! Really wanted to be able to hold your hand and kiss you. But she tells you that she’ll explain everything in due time and leaves you stranded, but not without a kiss to your cheek and flirty wink!

On the weekend, she calls you up asking if you have a spare hour or two to hit the park. Tells you it’s an emergency and you come running thinking she might be in danger!

You come to her rescue at the park only to find a handmade banner tied between two trees and in writing asking, ‘will you go out with me?’ The cherry on the top was the pink haired girl standing beneath the banner with a bouquet of flowers.

Your eyes swell up a little. After weeks of back and forth from her, she finally gave you a clear answer. “Told you it was an emergency.” She says and she grabs you by the arm. She brings you into her arms and holds you in a big hug. “What do you say? Will you make me a girlfriend?” She asks while patting your head and she pulls away to look at you and well.. she already knows the answer from your face ;).

P.S. She had a whole day planned with you, from the park to the movies and dinner!

Kujou Sara-

Doesn’t catch herself falling for you until she’s already madly obsessed! She starts to look at (stalk) your socials, swears it’s not cause she wants to look at you but just to protect you from online haters! You quickly become the thing she thinks about the most, from right into the middle of the night to the early mornings when she wakes.

You start to notice the dark haired women popping up around you coincidentally! (She totally learned your schedule.) But Sara tells herself that she’s just there to keep you safe really (and to see your precious little smile!) She keeps her cool and calm demeanor around you, but she can’t quite look you in the eyes when she talks. She ties your shoelaces and holds doors open for you! Follows you around to the bathroom and to your car until you tell her it’s time for you to go home </3.

She starts to carry your backpack, pencil pouch, water bottle, basically everything you own. When you finally ask her why she goes through the trouble of carrying your stuff ontop of her own, she answers without thinking! Says something along the lines that a cutie like you shouldn’t be carrying such heavy stuff! Sara doesn’t realize the gravity of what she just said until she looks towards you since you’ve gotten quiet… and she’s met with the shyest look she has ever seen of yours!

Sara immediately wants to drop everything and take a picture of you, but instead you guys just walk to class in silence. Sara musters the courage to hold your hand and when she feels you give a little squeeze to her hand back, her heart skips a thousands beats! (she still living though lol.) The walk to your class is long, but it feels so short when you’re at your class door and Sara gives you back your stuff. Sara doesn’t know what comes over her as she asks you out!

“Are you free this friday?” She leans over the door looking at you as a light blush dusts her cheeks.

You nod, “please text me the details,” Sara, stunned, can’t believed you agreed. The bell rings, indicating it’s time for class as you head inside, but not without looking back to see if Sara is still there. “Sara!” You giggle. “You’re going to be late.”

“I already am, so let me look at you while I can.” Sara replies and you can’t help but wonder if Sara has always been such a smooth flirt! You finally head in, but not without the enticement of your date this friday and potentially your new girlfriend!

P.S. Sara cannot hide her feelings for you when you guys start dating so eventually the whole school knows y’all are together. Don’t worry though, she deals with the homophobes for you too <33!

Keqing-

Immediately notices how she feels differently around you from day one. Can’t really handle these feelings so tries avoiding you for a little to see if they die down, but she ends up just missing you even more!

She caught feelings for you once she sat next to you in class and heard you laugh. It’s such a simple thing, but Keqing got herself thinking how she wants to make you laugh more and hear all your different kinds of giggles and chuckles! She got shy at her own imagination and put her head down so you wouldn’t see her heated up cheeks! Little does she know you caught the red of her ears instead >;).

But even though you notice the red on her face when she looks at you and how she starts talking to you all fast now, no progress is made :(! Keqing is still quite the studious girl. She’s worried that you’ll become the biggest distraction ever from her studies! She uses that as an excuse to avoid you, but much to her demise, when you find her in the library that she’s studying in, and pull up a chair beside her, all that homework and those upcoming tests she thought about are now out of sight and out of mind!

She gives up on her little ploy to avoid you and decides she just has to manage her time better to be beside you! You guys take it slow for a while, it’s mainly stolen secret glances at each other that lead to you guys making eye contact sometimes where you both quickly break away but then look back to see if the other is still looking. Or its bad flirting between you two that always ends up in silence and with someone heated up in the face, but eventually… as both your feelings build up and up to its climax, you two practically burst!

Keqing and you can’t hold it in your hearts anymore. You’re both tired of waiting for the other person to make the move, so on one night when you both are out late at a cafe working on a school project. You two are sitting next to each other instead of across, and all of a sudden the cafe turns quiet with a slow song spewing in the background. You both look at each other, wanting to say something about the sudden silence, but instead you realize that the dinning room is left with only the two of you in it and that it makes you feel like it’s only you and her on the planet. You lean in a little.. she leans back.. you guys nudge noses.. she cups your face.. and you cup her neck.. you’re looking into each others eyes.. and then down to each others lips.. when you close your eyes and feel something soft on top of your mouth you realize you had the perfect first kiss!

P.S. You guys were definitely not alone. There’s always someone interrupting what would be the best kiss scene ever in the movies, and now it was your turn to feel that frustration first hand. Like its so homophobic for your waitress to interrupt y’all… (kidding I used to be a waitress and would hover over straight couples going at it like animals (T_T) with their food burning my hand off </3)

Furina-

Doesn’t want to admit she has a crush on you. Denies it so hard and challenges herself to talking to you without turning red! When that doesn’t work well she takes things to the next level…

She starts to make fun of you to prove to herself that she doesn’t really like you. She reminds herself that she’s doing the right thing because she thinks this where you are… beneath her. But after a particular moment when she went too far… she sees the hurt eyes and forlorn face of yours. All of sudden it doesn’t feel so good anymore when she feels like she’s the reason you’re crying! She exclaims that it’s your fault you can’t take a joke and runs away.

It’s not until an outside force (probably Neuvillette or Clorinde) who tells her that she’s acting awfully like an elementary girl with feelings… that Furina snaps. She’s no child and knows how to deal with her feelings! Do note her progress with how instead of denying her feelings for you now when called out, she’s denying thats she’s too immature to handle them. Furina decides to herself that you must be the sole person in this whole wide vast universe that is worthy of her affection.

So the next day at school she’s holding flowers, chocolates, and a big teddy bear with an ‘I’m Sorry’ sign on its belly, and you can’t help but think it’s another one of her mean pranks! When you run away from her and her gifts Furina doesn’t throw a tantrum that you didn’t accept her love, no, she grows even more determined to win your heart!

The game of cat and mouse begins as Furina keeps thinking you’re just playing hard to get! But the longer the chase plays out the more confused you get. Why would someone who made fun of you try to win you over all of sudden? ‘No, this must be another prank!’ Is what you thought until Furina seems at the end of her ropes.

It’s been a month of Furina trying to win you over and she starts to thinks it might just not be meant to be. The last time she tries to capture your heart isn’t with her bombarde of gifts, it’s her just walking up to you after school and asking if you’d go on one date with her. She ignores the confused look on your face as she tells you this is her last chance of trying to win you over and if you really don’t like her then she’ll leave you alone for good.

“Go out with me this weekend and if at the end you admit you’ve had enough, I’ll let you be.” Furina tells you direct and bold but also tired. She’s at the end of her line and you don’t notice the eye bags under her eyes or her messy hair. She has been staying up late these nights thinking of the perfect ultimatum to give you!

You, however, are still confused at what she means by ‘date,’ still not caught onto her feelings just yet. But it doesn’t sound like a bad idea as she promises to leave you alone after.

So you agree, and Furina’s face starts to light up again! She’s lost a lot of sleep over you, constantly thinking about how to win you over but she finally did it! She tells you to get ready by 10 am this saturday and she’ll pick you up.

Furina ends up taking you to the mall. She talks about random things going on in the world until she mentions a thing you both have in common! You forget about all the past teasing for a second as you geek out on this specific thing you like and realize that this isn’t as bad as you thought. The date goes really well and at the end of it Furina’s shown a lot of maturity in the past couple hours. You realize that maybe she does really have feelings for you and you consider them in your head. But when Furina pulls back to your house and she looks a little scared.

She parks on the curb of your house and looks you in the eye. “I know I said I’d leave you alone if you went on a date with me and didn’t like it, but… if by the slim chance you did.. then can I..?” She hesitates at the end and feels like she might’ve been asking for too much from you to be your girlfriend. But she doesn’t want to lose you.

So when you throw your arms around her and promise that you’ll really consider her feelings, Furina almost turns the whole car upside down! Even though she didn’t ask you out yet, that promise means a lot to her!

P.S. And when you finally accept her feelings… then congratulations, you now have a bratty little cat named Furina on your hands!

A/N: Read Furina as your girlfriend here!

Sucrose-

Is just a complete mess around you <3. But even though she embarrasses herself a lot around you, she just can’t find it within herself to pull away from you!

When you smile at her, call her name, or do anything remotely friendly to her, she goes into shock a little and immediately hides behind her bangs! When you talk to her, her eyes gleam but is a stuttering mess in response. She beats herself up about not being more chilled out around you :(.

You’re going to have to be the one to take notice of her feelings because she needs a little encouragement to confess. Originally you thought she was just a little shy (or your resting bitch face was kicking in and intimidated her..) But even after a while, she remains as flustered as she is around you. This leads you think there might be another reason to her shy behavior.

You straight up just ask if you’re doing something wrong and Sucrose immediately wonders as to where you came to that conclusion. You tell her that you want to get closer to her but you feel like she might be scared of you. Sucrose realizes how her shy demeanor can come off as a fearful one, and is quick to deny your concerns! However, she holds herself back from putting her feelings of you into words. Sucrose wants to confess her feelings once she musters enough courage to do so! But when you ask her what you can do to make her more comfortable around you, Sucrose just can’t contain it anymore!

She gets frustrated. Why are you so nice? And why do you have to make this so hard? She mentions that she can’t tell you the reason now, but that she will soon! Sucrose quickly walks away before you can refute.

In a couple days, Sucrose walks up to you. Looking at her feet but not without a letter in her hand extended out to you. “It’s for you…” She mutters as you grab the paper from her hands and your fingers brush against each other. “Oh really? Thanks let me open-“ Just before you can open the paper, Sucrose is quick to cut you off. “No, please look at it when I’m not here!” She finally looks at you in the eyes and you can’t deny her with the desperate look on her face. After you agree, she calms down and class continues like normal.

Once the school day ends though, you read the letter filled with pretty little handwriting as your eyes quickly skim it down. In writing, Sucrose is apologizing for worrying you for thinking that she didn’t like you. She quickly tells you it was the exact opposite case! You read how she likes you so so much that she can’t handle herself getting nervous in front of you and your heart swells! She does apologize wayy too much in the letter for the dumbest things like not being able to tell you this in person and burdening you with her feelings which makes you a little mad as to why she’d apologize for something so human. But you feel the passion written behind each and every letter! You anxiously try to find her and you’re glad she finally felt comfortable enough to tell you this.

You’re trying to find Sucrose but she’s no where to be seen! She very much so ran away after handing you the letter, not wanting to see your reaction. But you scramble around the school looking for her through the mass hallway filled with students leaving the campus. You remember that she’s in the Science Fair and head to her club and low and behold there she is. She’s helping a student with a project and man are you piped to see her. She looks so pretty as she tucks a piece of hair behind her ears and pushes her glasses up looking at the fake volcano she was helping with!

But there is no time to admire her beauty, you run over to her, breathless and Sucrose looks as if she’s seen a ghost! You ask to speak to her in the hall and drag her by the arm before she can decline. You don’t waste another second as you pop the question, “Will you be my girlfriend?” And Sucrose looks as if she might pass out from excitement? Relief? Happiness? You’re not sure as to what, but are more than happy to see her reaction. “Well… is that a yes or a-“

“Yes a hundred thousand percent yes!” This is the loudest you ever heard her speak and she runs into your arms! But her excitement turns into needlessly worry. “Oh I’m sorry! I was just so happy that-“ Before she can pull away from the hug completely you interrupt her.

“We really need to work on that apologizing habit of yours…” You sigh into her neck as you tighten your arms and Sucrose eventually lets herself relax in your embrace.

You finally found the answer to your new girlfriends shy behavior around you! And that answer has led to a newly blossoming love!

P.S. I bet Sucrose gives the best hugs ;-;

A/N: screaming crying and sobbing… where’s my gf?????

#genshin fluff #genshin headcanons #genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin wlw #genshin women x reader #keqing x reader #yae miko #yae sakura #genshin yae #keqing genshin impact #furina #focalors #furina genshin #sucrose #sucrose genshin impact #genshin hcs #kujou sara #sara genshin impact

282 notes · View notes

sheeple · 11 months

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Miracles don't exist | 26: Heavy heart, truthful words

Genre(s): Riddle!reader / Slytherin!reader / kinda slowburn / little happy moments Fandom(s): Harry Potter Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x Reader / Harry Potter x Riddle!reader Summary: Being the Dark Lord's daughter and raised under the strict supervision of the Malfoy's is no easy life. Especially if you start crushing on your father's arch-nemesis, Harry Potter. And that while being engaged to one of his follower’s sons. Warning(s): Non sexy choking [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist] [Playlist]

"What has you so anxious?"

You snap up from the book you're reading, your back resting against a tree in a courtyard. Hermione looks at you with raised eyebrows, as she points towards your bouncing feet.

"It's nothing", you dismiss as you tuck your feet under yourself. "Too much sugar at breakfast."

The Gryffindor girl gives you a look, one you choose to ignore in favour of re-reading the same page for the nth time. You can't focus on the words. Your body is jittery with anticipation.

Your foot doesn't stop twitching until you spot an owl flying in your direction. Sitting up straight, you take the letter from the owl's claws and thank the animal with a scratch on its head.

Unfolding the letter, you read the simple message in the familiar handwriting.

Classroom 24C 14:00

You check your watch. You've got ten minutes.

With a quick snap of your book, you're on your feet. "I have to go. See you at dinner." You send a hastened smile before you practically run towards the classroom.

You try to catch your breath once you enter and lock the door of said classroom. The fireplace is lit, emitting a soft glow around the room. Your eyes survey the classroom, in search of someone. But it's empty.

Suddenly, the flames turn a poisonous green and it makes you turn your head. You wait for a moment to see if someone's coming through. But as the flames stay calm it's clear it's you who has to enter through.

Closing your eyes, you step into the fireplace with a big inhale of air. You get pulled and squished from all sides until you come to an abrupt stop and roll out of the other fireplace. You huff and quickly jump on your feet, dusting your robes off.

You stand in the tea room of Grimmault Place. Sirius's not far removed from the fireplace, anxiously pacing back and forth with his hands on his hips. Remus Lupin sits on one of the sofas, a woman with bright pink hair next to him. Nymphadora Tonks

As soon as Sirius notices your arrival, he's on you in a second. He holds you at arms-length as he turns you around to all sides, checking up on you. "Are you alright? What's happened? You're not hurt, are you? You don't look hurt."

To be fair, you've sent a pretty cryptic letter. I need to talk to you, was the only thing you wrote.

His worry about you brings a warm but unfamiliar feeling to your belly. You lay a hand on one of his, giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine. It's not me that's it about."

You hesitate for a moment. Are you really doing this? If this reaches the Dark Lord it would mean your death, heir or not.

With slow movements, you take off your school robes so you're only in your blouse and skirt. You also take your wand out of your robe pockets and place it on the table where the three Order members can see it. "For my safety", you explain as they look at you weirdly.

Clasping your hands together, you take a deep breath. "Draco Malfoy has been ordered by the Dark Lord to kill Dumbledore. As punishment for his father's failed attempt to get the prophecy." You cut straight to the chase, seeing no need to mince your words.

Remus blinks rapidly, processing your words. "How... how do you know this information?"

"Because... I was there... when he branded Draco with the Dark Mark and gave him his mission." Tears well in your eyes, the agony in your cousin's eyes flashing through your mind.

The mood is tense between the four of you. You basically confessed to having seen Voldemort in real life. In close proximity.

"Why should we believe you? For all we know you could just fabricate this story to get attention." Remus raises from the couch, towering over you. You take a cautious step back as you swallow.

Sirius is quick to jump in your defence. "Now Moony, just slow down okay? Don't accuse her of something as it could be true."

"Draco cursed Katie Bell. He... he hexed her or something so she would take the package with the cursed necklace. To Dumbledore. There is also a Vanishing Cabinet in Hogwarts! I do not know where the other one is."

"Arthur Weasley was tipped off by Harry that there was a Vanishing Cabinet in Bourgin and Burke's. Maybe it's paired with the one in Hogwarts", Tonks intercepts Remus calmly, looking at you before back to Remus.

"Harry?"

Sirius hums. "He's been suspicious of Draco for a while now. But I wonder; is You Know Who so desperate to kill Dumbledore that he initiates a sixteen-year-old?"

You scoff humourlessly as you run a hand over your face. "Believe me, he also makes them take the Mark way younger."

Everybody stills and you know you've said too much. Sirius and you look at each other in shock. He slowly takes steps towards you until he's right in front of you. "What do you mean?"

Your bottom lip wobbles, tears threatening to spill out. You shake your head scared. He keeps staring at you until you break. "I didn't want to. He expected it of me and gave me no choice", your voice is unsteady as a single tear rolls over your cheek. "Don't hurt me, please." Your plea comes out in a whisper.

Sirius reaches out slowly to your left arm, pulling up your sleeve to reveal the bandages you have been wearing for almost two years now. You shake your head shakely, silently begging him to not do it.

"Please don't, Sirius."

But he ignores you. He untwists the bandages from your arm until it falls on the ground, the Dark Mark visible for everyone to see.

In an instant, Remus is upon you. He wraps a hand around your throat and points his wand in your face, the tip pressing into your cheek. "Did you tip someone off? Hmm? Does someone know you are here?"

Whimpers escape your restricted throat, tears now freely flowing over your cheeks. "No! No! I promise! Nobody knows! Please!"

Remus growls. He actually growls. He presses his wand deeper into your cheek and restricts your airflow even more.

"Let her go, Remus!" Tonks intercepts, pointing her own wand at the ex-teacher. "She's a child. She couldn't have stopped it even if she wanted to."

Remus' hand disappears from your throat and you slide down, coughing wildly and gasping for air. You hug your knees, sobbing. "I didn't want to. I didn't want to hurt the muggle. And he killed him. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." You rock back and forth, the horrible memories flooding back to you.

You feel arms circle around you and you look up. Tonks gives you a slight smile before pulling you up on your feet and helping you to one of the couches.

Sirius appears before you with a glass of water and your wand in his hand. He holds both out to you. You hesitate for a moment, but only take the glass with water.

"When did it happen?" He drops to eye level, his eyes showing only concern.

You swallow a gulp of water, your face contorting painfully. "Summer break before fifth year." Your voice is raspy.

"Do you know why he chose you?"

The answer lies like lead on your tongue. You're unable to move your lips. To give him a concrete answer. "Because... because I am the Heir of Slytherin."

You wait for it to sink in, your eyes trained on the ground, tracing the shapes of the Persian rug.

Sirius starts to sputter out half sentences. Tonks pulls a weird face. "So that means You Know Who and my aunt..? Ugh. Gross."

Her comment makes you scoff in humour. "He was good-looking when he was younger." You also pull a face as you realise you called your father hot. "Ugh indeed."

"No. No joking. This is not a joking matter! Who knows? Does Dumbledore know?" Remus butts in irritated.

You nod. "Yes, he knows. I told him in my second year. Only my family and the Death Eaters that have been around Malfoy Manor know if the Dark Lord being... my father. And Theodore Nott."

"Is he also one?"

You wildly shake your head. "No. And I never want him to be one. If I can, I'll try to prevent him. I don't want to curse him with this too..."

Glancing towards Sirius, you say, "Harry does not know. And I do not want him to know. Please don't tell him."

Sirius takes your hand, squeezing it. "This is your secret to tell, not mine."

You linger around Grimmault Place until you're calmed down. Sirius has given you some Wiggenweld to help you with your throat and you can barely feel it now.

As you stand before the fireplace, robes back on you and wand in your hand, you turn to Sirius. He lays his hands on your shoulders before giving you a bear hug. "You protected me and now I'll do everything in my power to protect you. I promise you."

You smile and give him one last squeeze. Tonks also hugs you, but it's more curt. "Next time we'll meet it should be to get to know each other, cousin." You give her a shy nod. Remus stands in the back and looks at you, not saying anything.

"I don't know when I'll be able to send any more letters, but I hope to see you soon." And with that, you disappear in the green flames and go back to Hogwarts.

Your heart is heavy but you're so glad that you finally told Sirius.

Taglist (bold means I couldn’t tag you): @the0doreslover @lqndkxlmqma @st4rrry @choppedpartymuffinwinner @ledtassoo @literallyobessed @lestat-whore @vanishingcherry @harrysnovia @pietrobae @ireallywannasleep127 @yeolsbubbles @fruityfrog505 @fluffybunnyu @theroyalmanatee @shinrjj @hegdus @kermits-bitch @m1kasawps @noah-uhhh-what @mypolicemanharryyy @fals3-g0d @decapitated-coffee @thatgirljas13 @slytherinambitious @mythicalamphitrite @mastermindmiko @timmytime17 @regsg18 @supernatural-lover

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jungle-angel · 2 months

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The Neverending Summer (Calvin Evans x Reader)

Summary: You and Calvin decide to make the best of your summer despite the heat

Warnings: Parenthood, pet parenthood etc.

Tagging: @floydsmuse @ateliefloresdaprimavera @attapullman

The typewriter in Calvin's little home office space ticked away as he typed up the grant proposals for the coming school year, the jazz records playing quietly on the record player in the corner. The little bell went off on the typewriter as he finished that section, moving the roller as needed before he ticked away at the keys again. If it was one thing Calvin could hardly stand, it was the damn grant proposals for the college. Besides, lesson planning for the year was much more fun.

The scritch of nails on the wood floors and the jangling of the metal dog tags signaled Six-Thirty's arrival. He put his paws right up on the desk, panting as his tail wagged happily back and forth.

"Hey you," Calvin chuckled, scratching the back of his ears. "Where've you been all day? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were hiding from the Missus and the kids."

Rosie, the little squished nose cocker spaniel, came trotting gracefully into the room with both hers and Six-Thirty's leashes. "Oh I see how it is huh?"

Calvin looked up to see you and your six month old daughter, Ellen, in the doorway, the baby happily babbling in your arms and the both of you in matching salmon pink.

"Don't you look gorgeous sweet pea," Calvin remarked, happily taking you into his arms and kissing both you and Ellen.

"I thought you'd like your girls to match," you giggled. "Now why don't you get out of that stuffy office and come with us?"

Calvin couldn't have agreed more. He very quickly switched out of his dark button down and into the one that matched your dress, drawing a laugh from you. He hooked the leashes onto Rosie and Six-Thirty, the pups still asleep in the big, cushiony dog bed between the living room window and the fireplace. Luckily Calvin's parents would be there in a few minutes to look after the house while you were out.

You loaded Ellen and the two dogs up into the car along with the picnic basket and the red checkered blanket. Already it was looking like a beautiful day, the sun shining and the July air warm and pleasant now that it had rained for a few days.

You finally reached it after just a few minutes, the very spot that you and Calvin had frequented since day one. It was a beautiful little spot down by the river where the water ran gently and all sorts of chicory, white bedstraw and black eyed susans grew in profusion. The air smelled so sweet and heavenly even as the cicadas screamed and a hot breeze blew your way.

You set up the blanket and the picnic basket under a shady tree, the very one where Calvin had proposed to you five years previously. You let Six-Thirty and Rosie off their leashes so they could run and fetch as many sticks as they pleased, the two of them bounding into the water for a quick swim.

Ellen giggled happily as she played on the picnic blanket while you and Calvin dug into the sandwiches you had made with the leftover steak from the night before, all of it piled onto baguettes with plenty of thinly sliced cucumber and greens fresh from your garden. You and Calvin took turns reading to Ellen from two of the books you had brought with you, her favorite being "Buttermilk", the tale of a little bunny rabbit whose father had taught her not to fear the woods. No sooner had you finished than you and Calvin had spotted a family of cottontails bounding through the grass, a mother, father and their fifteen little babies.

When Calvin had read her one of the little Peter Rabbit books, you had both lost track of the time, the sun already having begun to set. Ellen, Rosie and Six-Thirty slept the whole way home and when you had tucked her into bed that night, you and Calvin had agreed that it was a summer day well spent.

#calvin evans #calvin evans x reader #lessons in chemistry

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astralnymphh · 1 year

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𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕☽◯☾

𖤐ྀ࿐-ˊˎepilogue!ellie x afab!reader

WC: 5.8k+

designated song: red flags and long nights - she wants revenge 𖤐ྀ an: first fic i ever published so idk what im doing but im doing it! i kinda just farted out an idea and then it blossomed into a fic over the course of a couple days so hopefully it lives up to its full power cause i fr inhaled this thing 6+ hours a day and totally not with a thesaurus at hand im definitely a natural wordsmith (i like my sht detaileddd) pls lmk what you think cuz i will be writing more stuff cuz i am so done with character DAWT ai fr.

⋆࿔･ cw: NSFW 18+, MDNI! >> friends to lovers, takes place after tlou2 ending, detailed but tried to be as natural as possible, proofread enough, ellie loves to joke around, hella cursing, fingering (receiving + giving), oral (receiving), stimulation of nipples, lots of foreplay, petnames (babe, pretty girl), slight overstimulation. ✧༺♥༻∞ synopsis: you met ellie a week after she sent farewells to jackson and her farmhouse, locking away the love she embodied for dina and set forth a journey towards a fresh horizon. furthermore, you joined her on this trip after running into her in an abandoned hospital, which at first things weren't so friendly and rather condemned you to gun-point but regardless it resolved eventually. the original plans she had her mind latched on were demolished since you mentioned your living situation. you live in a community not bound to FEDRA or any other titled organizations, only an ankle-straining expedition away from wyoming. one of these nights weeks after you met, you're sunken into a makeshift bed in the cruel wilderness underneath the ivory moon, it's lunar lights absorbing into the exposed skin on your arms. moonbathing, essentially. ellie's present too, but if she engages in a chat, where might it lead you? ⊱ ───────────────── {.⋅ 𖤐 ⋅.} ──────────────── ⊰

𖤐ྀ࿐-ˊˎ

Mind oscillating on a path through notions not tended to at daylight, imagination running amok, fueling a creative craving that often returns at moonrise when most dangers, mostly most, are kept at bay and you at harbor and reeling you back into your delusions. Well, scenarios just happen to spark out of the void in your cranium, especially when there's a woody auburn head to your right. Ellie's back lined by the cut of her tank top is giving your eyes a warm greeting, a film of drying sweat cloaking the skin on her shoulders fortunately so the celestial body above reflects its light perfectly off it. Her back flexes slightly as her hands are occupied with the doodles and entries beckoning to go from head to paper. She wrote quite often on your trip, whether it be graffiti, a landmark, personal thoughts or just some notes contingent on the route and journey ahead. The faint noise of non-stop scribbling had your mind tilting towards the fact that it was probably some emotional dumping or intense art session, so you'd rather not bother her. You both had a tight and steadfast bond regardless if the initial meeting was at best a month ago. Why was it taking an age to reach home? If it wasn't for the fury of infected hordes on a fucking crusade through the country and bandits seeking trouble constantly, you'd be there.

Brushing all these thoughts off, you pushed your back into the cold tree trunk behind you, molding into the space between your shoulder blades nicely and tucking your knees up to your chest. You pulled a fine-tip Sharpie from your supply bag's netted pocket and just tugged the cap off immediately. The tip surged with a night black ink, seeping into the flesh of your knee as you scratched in a little art piece. Imagination caught you at the right time.

The noise of a book wafting closed perks your eyes over to Ellie spinning on her knee in a circle to face you. You glanced back and forth at your knee and her approaching you. Her hair illuminated a bronze auburn in the inferno of the campfire.

"Still not asleep?" Ellie questions in a low throaty tone, a voice that settles itself in your ears and invites a smile to your lips unintentionally.

You mused at her until she claimed a spot on the foliaged earth surrounding the brink of the tree you call your natural headboard, blinking your sights forward on your knees again and speaking, "Sleep is barely possible in this world," a remark that slips past the threshold of your lips often, "Dunno if you noticed, but I'm never asleep before sunrise." you add.

Ellie rebounds with a chuckle and raises her brows, "Good point," she tilts her head idly. "What's that on your knee?" She nudges the air with her chin, referring to the ink doodle gracing your knee.

"Oh, boredom." You reply vaguely with a smile, returning your sight onto her and observing her freckled face longingly.

Ellie sucks her lips inwards, running her tongue from one corner to the other while nodding ponderously. Her teeth pinned down her bottom lip, akin to poking a soft cushion and curling into a smirk. "Well," Her lips parted. "Got an extra pen?"

Her asking enticed a smile on your face, cheeks jerked up by a thread, "A-huh" You hum with your mouth ajar, fingers pursuing the bigger pocket of your bag to scrounge up another pen. Eventually, you slide another Sharpie out between your fingers, holding it like a blunt to Ellie.

She grasps it gently, biting the cap off and settles it between her pretty pink lips before blowing it off into the patch of grass.

"Uh, You better not lose that cap!" You reacted swiftly, furrowing your brows in a playful sourness.

She draws the air through her teeth, "Too late."

You purse and wiggle your own lips but eventually a smirk flexes back and replaces it.

Ellie merely synchronizes a smirk back prior to inching her face near your thigh, poking the pens tip on your plush skin. Her large palm conceals whatever the hell she's sketching.

Suddenly, the pen moves in a certain pattern and a hint illuminates in your head, "I swear if it's-" You are cut off by Ellie's hand moving to reveal just what it is and your assumptions redeem truth. "Boobs.." Your eyelids peel back, staring at a pair of cartoony breasts plastered on your skin.

"Whaaat? Not appreciative of my artwork?" She curved her words, embarking on a playful tone.

"That's kinda gay." You spat back, jabbing your index finger into the firmness of her bicep which made her balance waver sideways.

Ellie played along with an offended visage, "Uhh, I know you're not talking!" She indeed bites back.

"Uhh, well I am talking!" You counter and shimmy your tongue a bit and lodged it between your lips as you taunted her.

Ellie just laughs you off and immediately starts drawing again, learning your lesson you tug your thigh away from her usage. You jeer, "Nuh uh! You're gonna draw a dick or something!"

Her tone recedes and reduces down to a calm one, that familiarly husky one sweetening the space and thrumming into your eardrums, "I won't, I promise."

A quiet brow teeters on your skin, expressing your doubt but nonetheless you lend your thigh again as her canvas and slyly relax it against her leg.

Ellie smoothly returns pen in hand, her other hand snaking over your thigh and resting her three fingers on the squishy padding of your inner thigh. She honed in on this sketch, laser focused as the pen glides over your skin.

This rockets your fragile coolness into the forest of stars above and dilated blood blooming across your cheeks. Ellie may have appeared a tinge bit flirty this past week, but not this quickly did the aura embracing both of them turn so love infested. The pads of her fingertips were coarse yet melded with your skin warmly. The way your mind delved into thought from this plain touching electrified your heart, igniting something abdominal and a fluttering ache in your hips.

"And.. there." Ellie mumbles from her throat, voice a bit hoarse and stuffy. Her dominant hand retreats without the one clasping your thigh gently, twining it gently with pressure to reveal her sketch. It was a moth, unlike the ones etched into her journal time and time again. Details were revived in it and just looked so lovely on your bare thigh.

"Wow, another moth?" You tease her with a shoulder bump to which she reels back onto the scaly tree and smiles widely cheek to cheek fashioning those signature dimples to peek. You swore a color akin to red jasper trickled across her midface.

"Shut up.." Ellie sheepishly pushes her lips together in attempts to halt a smirk but her cheeks falter and perk up, a cute sight to you and humiliation to herself.

You patch up her embarrassment with an excuse, "It's nice, though. Like.. tattoo-worthy."

Ellie chuckles in response and relaxes her eyes onto your visage momentarily, darting a glimpse repetitively at her left hand that laid solemnly against the crevice of your thigh and hip. She stutters, "S-Shit, shit, sorry." a calm tone masked the nervous lump in her throat and she swiped her hand away.

You couldn't help but feel that tension in your neck mutually, clogging your chance of saying 'it's fine' so you simply descend your head and giggle behind closed lips.

Sweat coated her forehead thinly, invoking an attractive amber glow on it brought by the flame crackling in front of you.

Ellie's husky voice sauntered to your ears, "So, does that mean.. you'd get that tattooed?" She resumes the statement you added earlier.

You blow raspberries, "Yeah, not gonna lie. You're fuckin' talented." You firmly assure her.

Her eyes perk up and so do the corners of her lips, irises painted with a color akin to the wings of a lunar moth casting onto yours, noticing luminous rings of orange light wrapping her pupils.

At that moment, you wish you could just admit 'and you're really pretty' but your stomachs sunken in on itself, reeling your heart and throat along with it. The assumption that pouring your heart out might result in Ellie fleeing this trip, rotting your body with the pestilence of rejection and would be too poisonous to bear.

"Wish I could still play guitar right now," Ellie soothes the silence, craning her neck and hangs her head low huddled to her chest. "Y'know?" Her head oscillates to gaze at you.

"I would've loved to hear that." you reply, a comforting hand advancing to the back of Ellie's neck.

"One day- I wanna at least try singing."

"What's stopping you now?"

Ellie raises her palm upwards in defense, "There's no instrumental backing it though!" her voice raises in a falsetto.

"Guess the sounds of wind and fire sparking isn't ideal." You get her point, "Ey' I'll just.. beat this stick on a rock," a stray branch enlightens you. "Nature's drum."

"Tch-" Ellie spits air from her teeth. "You're silly."

"You're silly." You emphasize.

"Right, I am, wanna hear a joke?" Her body tosses onto her hip to face you, twisting one leg more open and the other bearing against the tree root lump under her.

"What's with the jokes this week, Ellie?" you reminisce on the flurry of puns Ellie just had the itch to entertain you with this week specifically.

"Okay fine then, I'll part with the jokes!"

"That's not what I meant, I just bear some curiosity." you plea your context. "You seem more open compared to our first week together. You swore you wouldn't trust a stranger."

Ellie huffed out a hefty lot of wind, "Umm…" She became fiddly and lingered her pause, "I just found.. comfort, in your presence." the aura clouded in her eyes shifts to a darker one, "You're literally the only person I can be with after months of fucking isolation, the one person that I haven't.." Her rambling stumbles into a halt.

Wind rustles the branches above and around you, only a faint noise filling the lack of words.

"You don't have to explain-"

"Hurt." Ellie concludes.

You explore her void expression, eyes duller than the seconds before delving into this conversation. She's been bottling shit within, clearly. "I understand," you nod, the hand you laid upon the warm skin of her back returning and caressing a circle. "Do you wanna talk about it?" you offer.

"Nah, uh- don't wanna spend my time.. remembering, right now." Ellie reverts to sitting on her bottom.

You respectfully let her words settle in open space for a moment before speaking, "Still wanna tell me that joke?"

Ellie lightens up instantly, dimples convex in her cheeks as a smile is puppeteered on her luscious pink lips and baring teeth. She swipes her tongue between them before indulging, "What's the downside to eating a clock?" Her cheeky smile remains.

"Mmm… what?" you hum curiously.

"It's time consuming."

You compressed your lips tightly, a rumbling chortle bubbling within your esophagus.

"Yeah, yeah- I'm hilarious." Ellie humbles herself in tone.

"Uhuh, totally." You forced some air through lips locked tighter than a top-secret chamber causing an intense vibrating buzz to rattle your skull.

"Don't lie, you love it." Ellie tilts her head, the auburn bang like a crest to the side of her face now hanging just where it tickled the apex of her nose.

Your right index finger, bearing a will of its own, swoops in to hook this bang behind the conch of her ear, tucking it away from her eyes with the pad of your fingertip.

Ellie pores her sight over the structure of your face, exposing you like an open book. The way her green rings enveloped you felt different, like she was contemplating a daring decision. Her eyes falter only once but capture contact again, such a gaze soft and charming is born upon her eyelids.

"Ellie?" you utter softly.

The subtle touch of Ellie's fingertips cradling your head were the only thing you registered before a pillowy flesh was aligned upon your lips, suckling at your supple bottom lip and challenging the balance of your neck with the way she smashed into you. Her hand advanced to your cheeks, cupping them tenderly yet palms pushing down with friction, lips smoothing over yours multiple times and reluctant to separate as they felt practically welded and magnetically attracted.

"Mmph.." Her peachy cheeks graced yours and passed along a radiating heat. Catharsis possessed the ebb and flow of passion bursting at the seams of your swelling heart and that same infernal ache of your pelvis siphoning off your hidden lust.

"Fuck," Ellie utters a curse below her breath, shambling away from your space only to be interrupted by your eager fingers clawing into her collar and jerking her closer.

"That wasn't a mistake." You assure her in a promising tone, a solace hand cusping the concave valley under her jaw and fingertips converging with the groove behind her earlobes.

Ellie's expression lush with turmoil slowly contorts into a smirk, nasal lines and dimples beautifully indenting around her wide smile. A husky mumble, "Should I stop?" thrumms into your ears. Her eyes scan you for an answer.

"No." your breath hitches.

Ellie's hand takes harbor on the small of your back, nudging you towards the tarp tent a few feet before you.

Your body senses the hint and takes you beneath this dense blue tarp where Ellie attempts to slumber, but now its intended purpose has fizzled away beneath this lust-drunk haze. Your back sinks into the foliaged bedding with a few flannel blankets splayed across it. Ellie scales above your body and casts a shadow of her own that cascades over you. Her fern green irises fixate on yours, embers of excitement caper within the midst of your midriff, plucking and tugging at your heartstrings.

Ellie's raspy voice slithers into your ears, "I thought you wouldn't want this." Her pupils dart around to every edge of your face nervously.

"But, I do." your hand is an assurance on her shoulder, but the calf ascending over her lower back and dangling off her butt implies an abysmal desire.

Her eyes examine the situation with your leg for a split second, "What're you doing?" She mutters amid a crescent smirk pursing her coral lips.

You glance away promptly for a wink, "I said-"

Ellie's lips hush yours and sever them apart, tongue tipping the threshold and beckoning for yours to surface.

You indulge in the lovers tango with your tongues, lips smacking together as the air is siphoned from you. She suckles and bites down hungrily as seconds trickle past, feeling her fingernails etch their stamp on the flesh of your mid-back. She is so fucking enamored with you.

"I fuckin' need you.." you breathily grunt into the enclosed space betwixt you both, searing foreheads melding together and nose tips drifting over one another.

Ellie's eyes twitched half-closed, midface boiling red, mouth ajar and spilling out hot air, "Shit.." she moaned, fingering the fly of her jeans and fiddling with the zinc alloy rivet.

"What are you rushing for?" you tease in a coo.

"Shhh-shut up." She hushes onto your cupid's bow, pecking it with a tiny smack prior to elevating her torso upwards.

You ogle her toned slender bod as she slips off the ribbed white tank dabbled in sweat and crimson splotches, chucking it mindlessly against the overhead tarp causing a loud crinkle to thunder.

You panic with a laugh, "Oh m'god- shh!" and clasp her wrists to steady her arms, "That was so loud! Don't attract the clickers!" you nag at Ellie playfully.

"I wasn't!" She pleads.

"If clickers come charging up here cause of your-"

"Guns' in here babe." Ellie replied hoarsely.

"Oh, I'm your babe now?" you fakely bumble, slyly lurking a keen hand to her stoutly toned abdomen, eyes just now comprehending the reality that she was bra-clad to her upper body, damp humidity sticking to her beaten skin so perfectly you sensed yourself melting at the existence of it like there's goo in your skull instead of a brain.

Ellie affirms low and honeyed, "Yeah, a hundred percent m'babe." Her face creases into a slanted brazen smile.

Heeding her affirmation, your fingers advance down to the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head leisurely and disclosing your skin openly for her. Your shyness had fractured and dissipated completely and was yearning for the mingling of her body with yours.

Ellie's jaw suspended slightly open and lip caving over her bottom teeth as she puffed a breathy chuckle. She was unarguably turned on by the notion of you bound by bareness.

"Fuck me." She utters breathless.

You regard her words before harshly hauling her torso back down, capturing your barren lips in a sloppy entanglement which only glosses over the true pleasure you ache for.

Ellie's hand detects that desire and traverses the map of your body before flattening on the destination of your inner-thigh just below the crevice of your crotch. She asks, "Can I?" softly against your neck, because consent is sexy.

"Mhm." You nod your head eagerly and straighten at the knees comfortably.

Her left hand pulls your fly back over the button, popping your jeans open with a smidge of panty fabric peeking already. Ellie teases the zippers tab with her fingernail and sluggishly separates the zippers teeth. She inclines back slightly to absorb the sight of both hands tucking into your jeans, rolling them down at a pace that tickles the microscopic hair on your thigh.

You wiggled your legs as she heaved them upwards, tugging your bunched up jeans bulking at your ankles, unintentionally your socks caught on and slipped off your toes.

"Don't toss them recklessly this time." you demand of her jokingly and chafe your thighs wantingly.

"Wasn't planning on it."

You watch her politely cast the fabrics aside, lunging carefully with both arms cradling your head as she swooped in to steal a quick kiss before dragging her lips across your chin, stranding a dozen pecks in her path until she craned over behind your ear and leaving a fresh trail of kisses along your neck.

Ellie's lips were defiant on departing anytime soon, she was pious to your body and had to worship it with the offering of lust. She only paused to carve a love-bite with her teeth and peppering up a dark mauve bruise.

"Did you just give me a hickey?"

"Uhuh~" her voice vibrates with a laugh. She perks up from your neck and gives you a once-over, "But that's not the only place I'll be sucking.."

You give her a baffled visual with brow lines furrowing until her thumb swipes repetitively over your clothed nipple and eliciting a voiceless moan from your strained throat.

"You're a freak, you're freaky." you jest.

"Maybe, but you love it."

"I do, I do.." you assure softly and smirk up at her, your hands soaring up to pull your bra over your head willingly.

"Well~" Ellie's pupils gawked at your bare breasts. "Excuse me madame!" She impersonates shock in a playful manner, but really, she was witnessing your chest in all present dimensions. Guess you could sum it up to her really liking your boobs.

"I didn't discard my bra for you to just ogle them." you point out.

"You're just needy." Her toothy smile appears while her slender fingers stream your sultry skin up to your chest, cupping the soft skin like a crescent moon and whispering, "But I like that."

"You like me."

"I do… I do." she repeated your phrase from earlier and crooked her pearly smile.

From here, her hair bore a radiance of honey color, the fires illumination outlining that handsome mullet you always deemed so attractive on her. Speckled skin that dotted her face and chest that appealed to you, a heavenly set of juniper eyes that read you like a poem. Every detail pertaining to her existence was the sole reason you felt attached to her like a magnet.

"Guess it's my turn?" Ellie's voice snapped you out of your lustful trance.

Mind fumbling, you furrow your brows and observe her hand movements. She crosses one arm over the other and tucks her fingers in the elastic band securing her bra, snaking it off her head to expose her chest.

"Ohh, and she plays fair?" You stifle a chuckle behind a spirited grin, curving your tone chromatically.

"What? Thought I'd leave you hanging?" She snorts in emphasis, an evidently immature joke about your boobs.

You release that chuckle, chest jittering as you force the air through a gritty laugh.

Ellie gives a satisfying once-over before ambling her face downwards towards your chest, etching a favored kiss into the plender gap of your neck, sewing a seam of nibbles and pecks along your sternum.

A rush of heat plasters your face, reddening your cheeks and undoubtedly lingering upon your spine. Wetness forms itself and drips beyond the crevice of your core and onto your panties.

"Mhh.. Ellie.." you purr barely past your lips.

She continues kissing the base of your sternum before her mouth takes a detour to your nipple, teasing a ring around it with the velvety skin of her lip. Her lips tenderly latch around the perky mound, suckling and lapping with her ticklish tongue.

You sample a whimper that entrances Ellie to intensify the ministrations upon your sensitive bud, and so she does, causing an extension of these whines to stumble from your throat.

"Need my fingers, pretty girl?" Ellie mumbles, hot breath soaking a humid film around the nipple her mouth played with and sloping her head sideways to gaze at you. Her tatted arm bends to place a gentle palm against your aching clothed slit.

Your clit stung of a fiery pleasure at the mere pressure her hand brought, jutting your pelvis against it unintentionally. You shudder, "N-Now.." and choke out, "yes…" wantingly.

Ellie obeys your word and tugs your panties down in a flash, gripping them tightly and pulling them off your legs without hesitation in sight. Her head partakes in burying itself in the crook of your neck, inscribing keen bites that narrowly distracted you from her two fingers rounding the perimeter of your slit, the perfect introduction.

You croak, "I've been thinking about this momen-"

"Shut up." Ellie hushes you verbally and with her fingers languidly pressing onto your clit, letting the sensitive bud wiggle between her fingertips and sparks a glimmer of pleasure through your pelvis.

"Fuck.." a subtle winded groan expels out of your very being.

Ellie's fingers began a circular motion, swirling the wetness around her fingertips and deliciously flexing her forearm slightly at each flick of her wrist.

You weave your fingers in her feathery auburn locks, poking your nose at the apex of her head that still positions itself at your neck as you gaze down to witness her handicraft, her literal handy-craft.

"I wonder.." Her voice inaudible, felt like a puff of air taunting your blazing skin as she guides her mouth back to your nipple, teething at it sensually to arouse you further beyond stability.

"Uhhnn.. fuckkk." You entangle the soundwaves stirring around you with your gratifying moan, inadvertently tensing your fluttery legs around Ellie's hips, to which she clasps your thigh with her unbound hand and pushes it down against the ticklish cloth.

"Stay open for me, hm- babe?" She asks in a honeyed manner, assuming you'll adhere to her words.

You open your legs further for her, absolutely enchanted by her being in control yet simultaneously so gentle with her words, only furthering the strikes of bliss corroding your senses when she quickens the roll of her digits, like she's fucking the literal sense out of you.

"Attagirl." Ellie's magnetic hum haunts your ears, dawdling in an echo inside your foggy brain. Her hasty touch lingers in tight circles against your clit for a diminutive moment until her willowy fingers cruise through your damp folds and dive into your sulking pussy, stretching you slightly and easily thanks to your wetness.

"Ohh my fuckin…" your elongated moan snags in your throat, choked up by the prompt filling of your core and spluttering of your speech, "god, Ellie.."

Without a hesitative hurdle in sight, Ellie idly pumps her fingers against your clenching walls, the slickness crowning around the base of her knuckles beautifully and enticing her ears to an arousing sound.

"Mhmm.." she vibrates against your neck prior to elevating her head to meet your puffy eyes, "S'wet for me, hmm?" her words slurred.

Your tongue couldn't articulate the words swimming through your sex-rot brain, the mere gauge of your opening was enough to hit right where you wanted and mist your brain up nicely.

The autumn bang dangling from her hairline tickled your forehead as she withers the space between your huddled faces, the tip of her nose wrinkling and bending as it pushes against your cheek as lips meet timely, fondling and smacking together in sloppy affection.

Ellie's fingers curve into you like a hook, searching for that delicate spot that'll render your faculties fried and abdomen throbbing for release. She prods it like a button, propelling numerous surges of ecstasy through your bottom.

A moan interrupts, "Just like tha- dn'stop.. dun.." you battle the knot in your throat and your pelvis, your entire body shuddering along with Ellie's aggressive pumping that rocked you.

"Don't worry babe, I'm not stopping." Her breath catches and quickens, beckoning that knot to snap in your core as her pace practically defies laws of motion.

"It feels… so-"

"I know, I know.." Ellie's voice buzzes in your ear.

Your walls tightened and convulsed around her, feeling every ridge of her fingers slip and slide inside of you.

"I'm c-cumm.." your voice altered into a strained, grit one, locking away your endless string of moans.

"Cum for me, babe, cum…" Ellie bit harshly on her lip in an attempt to contain the heaving of her breaths, bewitched by your state and keeping her forehead glued to yours.

Registering the green light Ellie gave you, your aching hips gave into the delightful knot and released a flurry of pleasure through your essence, igniting your skin and throbbing cunt. Your walls entrapped her digits inside, slowing her pace a bit as she didn't waver and carried on with her ministrations. Her fingers coated in that silky mess of you, dripping down your bottom from how much she had stuffed her fingers in and your pussy has brimmed past its limit.

"Good girl."

Ellie browsed your barren neck with her lenient kisses, the fingers inside you just now sliding out after a few moments of prolonged pleasure.

"Was I good?" Her husky voice crows out, curled smirk tickling the succulent flesh of your shoulder.

"So.. so.." your voice trickled through exhaustion, "fucking good." you chuckled.

Ellie syncs a laugh with you, shimmying away slowly from your body and licking her fingers clean of you, "Let me clean you up."

Your eyes condense on the tarp above you as Ellie slipped out of your linear sight, shuffling towards your pelvis that still ached from release. The stillness in the air is all your mind renders before you feel a shaggy presence between your legs, grasping the fact that her head has found a home between your thighs and the tip of her tongue swipes between your tumid folds.

"Ahh! El-elele..Ellie.." Your tongue sputters at the roof of your mouth, fingers grasping her dull tawny locks out of oversensitivity.

Ellie continues lapping hungrily at your soaked core, apex of her nose prodding at your clit lightly. Her arms wrap around your thighs and let her calloused hands dangle over them, leaving a delicious sight for you to see. Before you displayed the crown of her head nuzzled into your crotch, flushed skin and beads of sweat plummeting on her forehead. She suckled so gently on your clit a few times, strawberry lips smacking and puckering around the pampered bud like a lollipop.

"E-Ellie.." you giggled lightly, followed by a string of short whimpers.

She moved away from your heat, smirking. "There." she put firmly in a murmur, shutting your thighs and towering over your body, "You taste nice." she utters between a chuckle.

"Not sure if I needed to know that." you quip.

"Too bad." she replies and swoops in to present a kiss onto your lips.

Tension arises from this plain kiss and you push yourself onto your jello knees until you both are kneeling before each other.

"What're you doing babe?" Ellie's hoarse mumble traces your chin and entices a mischievous giggle from you.

Your fingers fumble with her halfway-open fly and inch the zipper of her jeans open. It peels open and allows your hand inside, lurking towards her clothed entrance.

"Oh, fuck.." Her eyes flicker in a blur, jaw left ajar, panting a humid veil onto your lips and inquiring, "You gonna do this?"

Her toughened hand glides across your upper arm, gripping your wrist loosely.

"I wanna do this, for you, babe." your saccharine tone sweetens her ears and excites her lower region in ways she never detected before.

"Well, I did say fuck me.." Ellie recalls her words from earlier, indulging a partly suppressed chuckle and beaming smile.

You both entwine lips whilst kneeling against each other's warm bodies, her hand pinning your chin between her thumb and index to angle your head perfectly for her. Your unoccupied hand slithers to the rim of her jeans and struggles to pull them down.

"Use both hands, dummy." she twits with a smug look.

"I didn't wanna move my other hand.." you reply with an eye roll, moving your hand out of her pants to remove them properly.

She shifts them off her ankles and resumes her focus onto you, sealing your lips once more with hers and slipping some playful tongue.

Your hand finds purchase on her stomach, plunging into her panties and flicking her clit with the tip of your finger to tempt her further.

"Oh God, don't tease me.." Ellie begs with a following whimper, circling her hips into your palm in dire lack of stimulation.

"I wasn't going to.." your words halt at an edge while your actions suture her desires, three fingers usher beyond her delicate folds and stuff her instantly.

"Fuck, babe.. fuhhck." Ellie groans out and feels her body falter, fumbling onto her butt and keeping herself at an angle with her elbows to the blanket.

You tucked your knees in and settled between her spread legs, hand still tucked into her panties which now peeled back slightly from the angle of your wrist. A sly thumb from your vacant hand brushes over her clit and rests there, drawing long circles whilst your idle fingers begin thrusting in and out.

Ellie's cheeks summon a rosy shade, those lovely eyes rotating to the back of her head in pure bliss as you pump your hand graciously.

"Your hand is ten times better than my own." she praises, dangling her head backwards to expose her neck just coaxing you to leave a love bite.

"Mhm?" you hum into her headspace before latching your mouth onto her warm neck, suckling like a vampire out for blood.

"Shit.. god damn.." Ellie heaved a hefty breath, embracing your body with her legs cloaking your hips.

You felt her claws dig into your back, infusing her lust with each grip and grinding her swollen pussy against your hand. Your fingers curl up and explore that spongy area she so desperately whined for.

"Nghh!" she pins her lip between her teeth harshly, face scrunching up in raw paradise and pleasure.

Your focal point is her g-spot, bouncing off of it practically faster than light itself. Her every expression was like an art piece to you, peppering it with sweet kisses regardless if your hands were sinister.

"Don't fuckin' stop, dont.. fuckin'.." she demands, letting her self loose in your hands.

Both your hands were coated with her stickiness, yielding it tricky to keep your fingers steady on her clit, but you managed, rushing her towards an explosive climax steadily approaching.

Soon enough, Ellie's jaw unhinged and released a mountain of moans, body shuddering vigorously as her orgasm lit an inferno of stimulation in her core. She clutched her chest close to yours as she rode this out and pulled you down with her. Her voice shatters the barrier of your ears, even surprising you a bit.

"How was that?" you ask sweetly, searching for clarity.

"I hope nobody heard that.." she jests, gazing up at you with weary eyes.

"I really heard that."

"Shh!" she jabs your bicep with a balled fist, embarrassed at your smart-assed-ness and flaring her nostrils.

You smack her arm back immaturely causing her to capture you in a tight bear hug, rolling around in the disheveled blankets as she tackled you with numerous kisses across your face and neck.

"I love you." she declares earnestly, finally wishing to hear you assert your feelings too.

Not a speck of doubt haunts your mind, "I love you too."

Ellie adorns a grin wider than any before, creasing her skin and denting those adorable cheeky dimples that made you fall head over heels for that smile. Her arm extends to cusp your face, admiring every blemish that painted your skin, even the ones you didn't like.

Your eyes brimmed with tears like a cup as you yawned, announcing your acute fatigue loudly.

"Oof, your breath." Ellie mimes a face of disgust, waving her hand in front of her nose.

"So not funny." you roll your eyes sarcastically and tumble out of the cuddle, sitting upright to grab your panties and other garments.

"Wait," Ellie shoots upright as well, bracing her palm around your wrist, "you'll sleep with me, right, babe?" She deciphers your reaction for confirmation.

Your solace hand assures her, "Yes, I just don't want to freeze to death by morning time."

"Well then, don't leave me waiting." She wriggled her roguish brows seductively at you and huddled over your shoulder, gaining a frisky shove from you so you could get dressed for goodness sake.

Ellie eyeballs you sliding your undergarments on, tracing every curve and roll of your captivating body, enthralling her completely in your mere existence and cleansing her very being.

"I know you're staring."

"I know that you know that I'm staring." she plays it off.

You stick your tongue out as you crawl into her barren arms, whooshing a shrouded blanket over your conjoined bodies. "So much better.." you sigh.

"Are my arms not enough for you?" Ellie's voice strolls to your dulling ears, dwindling inside your twilight sealed mind as your eyes flutter tiredly.

"Shut up." 𖤐ྀ࿐-ˊˎ

#ellie williams fic #ellie williams x fem!reader #tlou #ellie williams #ellie tlou #ellie x reader #lesbian #sapphic #wlw #epilogue!ellie #farm!ellie #ellie williams smut #ellie williams x you #the last of us #the last of us 2 #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams fanfiction #ellie williams oneshot

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kindasleepywriter · 10 months

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BoP - Chapter 3: Mutual Understanding

Bird of Prey masterlist. Azriel x Reader.

Chapter summary: You and Azriel come to a tentative agreement, while he reflects on the first time he met you.

Story rating: Mature - Minors DNI

Warnings: None.

Word count: 1.6k.

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Azriel was on his way home when he met you for the second time in 300 years. He was exhausted and ready for the night to end. Everything that could’ve gone wrong in the previous 24 hours had indeed gone wrong.

He’d tossed and turned all night, falling asleep too late, and subsequently felt miserable during training. Some of his shadows had immediately rushed to him afterwards with some information from a source he had in the Day court, about an Illyrian rushing through their territory, heading directly to the Night court like his life depended on it.

It wasn’t that important of a tip, but he felt like he should at least go check out the south borders to check if there wasn’t any more trouble currently heading to the border alongside him. However, the Spymaster had been delayed by one thing and then another and so on and so forth until he’d had no choice but to do his surveillance in the early morning hours. The visibility was horrible even with his enhanced eyesight and, while his shadows kept an eye on the ground in his stead, he felt uneasy sticking around the same place for a while.

Luckily, he didn’t have to circle the border for too long before his shadows started whispering in his ear about the man running through the mountains. This was very unusual, as the man should’ve just been able to take flight and increase his speed ten-fold, especially if he was in a hurry. He still stuck to the ground, and Azriel wondered if something kept him grounded. However, as he pondered, Azriel’s shadows threw him one more piece of information that was much more interesting: a Peregryn was tailing the man. It wasn’t everyday one could see one of the feathered-wing fae on solid ground at all, but especially not in Night court territory. The Illyrians and Peregryns had a tense relationship, to say the least. The former didn’t approve of the freedom women had in Dawn, nor their ability to join their court’s leagues. Peregryns on the other hand viewed their Night court cousins as impulsive and cruel brutes who mistreated their own and couldn’t see past their own nose. Azriel, having his own difficult opinion on his kind, couldn’t truthfully say that the Peregryns were entirely wrong.

After learning of your presence, he’d flown slowly, high above the trees, keeping watch over the two individuals running through the forest while keeping a safe enough distance to keep him from having to cloak himself in darkness. However, once he realized that you had caught up to the Illyrian, he’d instantly disappeared into the shadows to observe the interaction between you two from up close. Nothing could’ve prepared him for the sight that awaited him: you, immaculate white wings tucked tightly against your back, using your weight to hold down the man whose own wings were covered in dirty bandages. You’d readied herself to slice his throat without a single care in the world, eyes absolutely void of any emotion. You radiated danger.

He'd stopped you, of course, only to be met with venomous and taunting verbal attacks. He’d been a little frustrated at not recognizing you initially, chalking it up to the fact that he hadn’t slept, and had initially responded in kind before he’d realized that he was going too far with his own jibes and that he had to keep some control over his emotions. You might be a vulture, but that didn’t mean he had to lower himself below his own standards. You were making it extremely hard to do so, however, and you’d become shockingly different from your time in Autumn. At the time, you’d been a meek girl at the beck and call of the Vanseras, smart and kind but completely lost in the politics of their palace. One of them seemed to have secured your love, even though it was clear he was playing with your feelings and didn’t reciprocate. He didn’t know then or now what you possessed or had done for Beron to be so interested, but the High Lord had unfortunately seemed to be successful at keeping you trapped in his court. For all that Azriel knew, maybe you still were, but the deadly aura around you made that unlikely.

When his own cruel words from that first encounter had been thrown back in his face, he’d sighed internally but pretended amusement to keep you from seeing how he really felt: ashamed. He had said those words and even Cassian had called him harsh at the time, but he had done so for a reason. He had approached it all wrong, but he couldn’t exactly justify himself to you, not with how you were acting. You probably thought of him as a complete ass and while he wanted to explain, he didn’t think he could trust you not to find a weakness in his words. You were sharper than an arrowhead now, every word chosen carefully to maintain your impenetrable shields. Azriel wondered, how had you become so cold?

He’d also noticed how his shadows reacted to you, he wasn’t blind, your presence soothing them into stillness. A completely new behaviour, as they usually never took a moment of rest and carried information to him endlessly, no matter how much he’d love for them to stop and just be quiet for a moment sometimes. Bunch of traitors, he thought, playing nice just because of a pretty lady. He had to admit that you were indeed beautiful, your captivating eyes almost urging him to come closer despite the hostile demeanour you carried. He had partially failed to resist the call, reminding himself that you could very well be a spy or an enemy of the court, but he’d nevertheless stepped forward unconsciously to find himself standing only a few feet from where you stood. Nevertheless, no matter how alluring you were, his shadows really needed to stop posturing at every new interesting woman he met. They were going to run out of tricks quickly at this rate, perhaps that would help tame their newfound determination to meddle in his life.

By the time you’d been trying to negotiate your way out of going to Velaris, he was over the entire situation and just wanted to go home, eat and sleep. You didn’t want to go meet Rhys and Feyre? Too bad. You were going anyway.

“Let’s make a bargain, Shadowsinger.”

That had snapped him out of his constant inner monologue instantly. A bargain? Before learning how Rhys had gotten Feyre to bargain with him under the mountain, he hadn’t even been sure that it was possible to do it with faes of other courts. Only one night court individual was needed, it would seem. The deals weren’t to be taken lightly, and wording could mean the difference between a friendly bet and living enslaved to another person for the rest of your life. Azriel thought back about the war with Hybern when the Inner Circle had bargained left and right to ensure their victory. If they could bargain successfully with otherworldly creatures, this could turn out fine.

Again, his thoughts came to a screeching halt. Was he actually considering this? Had his brain leaked from his skull, and he’d left behind without noticing? By the mother, this was a bad idea. Although… It sure would solve a lot of problems, it would get him home sooner, and maybe he’d learn a bit more about her in the process.

You were watching him for a reaction, growing increasingly amused the longer he took to respond. Get yourself together, he thought.

“What kind of bargain?”, he slowly asked, cautious.

“I want the guarantee of my safety and liberty from the moment I enter Velaris to my departure if I remain appropriately cooperative and truthful about information relevant to the safety of your court, and exclusively with your High Lady. Simple.”

He turned it over in his head, trying to find any loopholes or tricks. What was your deal with Feyre, anyways? You hadn’t even acknowledged Rhys’ existence once this entire time. Not that it mattered, if anything Feyre would use this as a great opportunity tease her mate, and she was just as strong, if not stronger than Rhys as far as her mind-reading powers went. Again, Azriel knew this was an entirely ridiculous situation and that he shouldn’t even entertain the idea of making a deal with you, but he needed some fun followed by some much needed rest with the day he’d had, and this promised exactly that. Not that he’d ever tell you, of course. If you were a spy, they’d also easily find out, he noted, almost as an afterthought.

“You also need to agree not to break any of our laws and to not cause trouble while you’re here.”, he said, “You stay under the surveillance of a person of my choosing at all times, the High Lady will come to you at her convenience and if you are not deemed a danger to this court, you will leave the minute she asks you to. Are we clear?”

“A bit overdramatic, Spymaster, but I’ll take it.”. He almost hesitated as you held out your hand to shake his but quickly brushed it off, taking the offered gesture, both of you grasping each other’s forearm.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, then.”, he stated at a lower pitch than he’d meant to, staring you right in the eyes.

“It would appear that I do.”, you responded.

A bit of a shorter one today! Writing from Az's point of view is *rough* when you don't have ACOFAS on hand, but I did my best! His POV should stay pretty rare, but I couldn't help giving a little glimpse into where his head is at right now.

Tell me what you think!

Banner created by the amazing @saradika

Taglist: @sapphenaa

#azriel x reader #azriel #acotar #acotar x reader #acotar fanfic #azriel fanfic #azriel POV #enemies to lovers #shadowsinger #azriel x you #azriel x y/n

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t1ts-4-scattorcio · 1 year

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Can u do a nat x sister reader where the reader went to nationals with the team (like in your hc). The reader has a panic attack in the wildreness but tries to keep away from the team while having it, but big sister nat finds her and comfort her. Fluff. (I get really bad panic attacks so i'd like to think of her as comforting me in a way idk)

Sister!Nat x Reader

I got a similar request for the same concept so I’m just joining them together TW Anxiety/Depression some self inflicted wounds

You were distraught the past few weeks weighing heavy in your heart, everything went downhill after doomcoming you couldn’t believe you ate your friend. Someone who trusted and loved you saw you as her own little sister. Nightmares haunted you in your sleep and visions of her blue corpse followed you while you were awake going about your day. The perpetual agony and guilt ate you up a poison blooming in your chest.

You knew, feeling it in your bones death creeping up on you too, like you’re next.

___

It was quiet, the wind howled outside as a storm settled in. Most of the girls were laid down in their sleeping bags or surrounding the fire for warmth.

You watch the flames light dance on the ceiling sitting in Nat's lap. You leaned back on your sister as she hummed quietly rocking you back and forth when suddenly a deck of cards was shoved in your view.

“Y/n are you listening?” Mari questioned agitated. “Huh um yeah” you nodded a pit grew in your stomach as you sat up.

Things had been tense between the both of you, she had been snapping at you for the past few weeks, and there had been whispers that you weren't doing your part that you kept messing up and she insisted you weren't pulling your own weight. Nat did her best to reassure you but the malicious gossip got under your skin.

"As if” Mari muttered shaking her head. Heat flooded up your neck evading her harsh stare. Nat’s arms slowly tightened around your waist “Get off her back she’s trying” she barked. “We’re all trying Nat she needs to get her shit together” whipping her head down with a sneer on her lips venomous gaze pointed at you.

Immediately the air was tense, a silence filled the room as the girls looked at each other awkwardly, “leave her alone” Nat growled jaw clenching, a murderous look forming in her eyes, her locked limbs shaking ready to pounce. “Whatever just be useful” Mari rolled her eyes launching the entire deck on your lap.

Embarrassment flooded your veins as you felt like you were suffocating. You immediately jump out of Nat’s embrace. The sensation grows ten times worse when you scan everyone's eyes eventually meeting your sister's, sympathy written on her face.

before you knew it you had sprinted out of the cabin legs leading you out as far as you could go snow pelting down on you blurring your vision. Gasping out your body collided against a tree. You heave falling to your knees, the cold crisp air feels like sharp knives in your throat and hot tears run down your flushed cheeks. Running your hands over your face and moving up to your scalp, gripping your hair wanting to tear it out of your skull.

You began hitting your head ‘snap out of it, snap the hell out of it’ the mantra repeated in your brain but that couldn’t even stop your painful thoughts.

Nat’s voice echoed in the air not hearing her past the ringing in your ears.

A pair of hands lift you up on your feet, you gasp eyes snapping shut pulling away from her grip, beating her chest, “hey stop! y/n! It’s me!” Nat yelled trying to doge your punches and grabbing your fists, a scream tore through your chest, it was muffled by her strong grip shoving your head against her chest. Your small frame shook in her arms, “breathe with me” her chest rising as she took deep breaths through her nose. Your breathing starts to match hers, your sister's heartbeat calming you down as heavy gasps turn into quiet whimpers.

“Talk to me y/n.” she says pulling you back by your arms and meeting your tearful face. “I can’t do this anymore, we’re starving Javi is gone, Jackie’s dead because of what we did.. And I can’t do anything right.” almost retching at the realization of how bad everything had gotten. “We won’t survive this there’s no way.” You stutter tearfully between wheezes. She stops you. "Look at me” she murmurs tucking strands of hair behind your ears and holding your cheeks. "We will be ok, I fucking swear nothing bad will happen to you. We’ve gotten this far right?” you shrug weepingly, “and fuck Mari she’s just scared. We all are.” You nod shutting your eyes. Nat sighs pulling you close before you can meet her misty gaze.

Nat honestly didn't know if anything will be alright but you would always come first.

#yellowjackets x reader #yellowjackets #natalie scatorccio x reader #nat scatorccio #natalie scatorccio #yellowjackets blurbs #nat scatorccio x reader #natalie scatorccio blurbs #lottie matthews x reader #yellowjackets x you #sister!nat

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kay-wren · 17 days

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I'll Come Running - R.C. - Chapter 57

It was the next morning, and Rafe and Jessie decided to ride until their plane landed, and that they did. They rolled up to the tarmac on the same bike they were on all night. They couldn't help but admire the beautiful sunrise over the tree tops as they watched the plane land.

"You ready to do this?" Rafe asked, not bothering to look back at Jessie. Neither one of them wanted this to end, but of course, they were adults at the end of the day.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jessie said as she took a deep breath in.

Once the plane landed, Rafe and Jessie rode up to the entry way and made their way in, this time with no one left on that island to stop them. They both held their breaths for the fear that once again the moment might be ruined as they walked up those steps, but it wasn't. They both breathed a sigh of relief as they plopped into their plush leather seats.

"Can you believe it?" Rafe asked, pulling Jessie out of her thoughts. They heard the plane start up and take off right at that moment.

"Believe what?" Jessie asked, now kicking her head off the seat to look closer at her husband across from her.

"We did it, Jess." Rafe whispered with a smile. "No more running. Just you and me, going to Nassau to get our little girl and get this cross sold... and we're done!" He exclaimed through a beaming smile. Jessie had a hard time believing it herself. After all, she never seemed to catch a break. She couldn't settle into the idea that it really was over. No more Ward. No more Rose. No more Barry. No more Luke. No more secrets. No more lies.

She tried her best to accept it and sink down in her seat with a content smile. Although she couldn't help but still grip the tan leather a little too tight, for fear that this moment could be stripped away from her. Rafe noticed her demeanor wasn't quite as calm as he'd like, and he didn't blame her for it. He just had to give her time. He still needed time as well. But this time, they would get through this together.

- - -

"Welcome... to my humble abode!" A shirtless JJ yelled from the grand entrance of the Cameron mansion as he watched Jessie and Rafe get out of the car. They could both tell he was already a little tipsy, and the drink in his hand wasn't what gave it away. They both laughed at the sight.

"Your humble abode?" Rafe asked cockily as he walked up the steps. JJ tilted his sunglasses down with a sheepish smile and looked back and forth between the two.

"Uh... our humble abode?" JJ replied more as a question. That still wasn't the answer Rafe was looking for, and that was written all over his face as he pursed his lips and knitted his brows, letting out a slight "hmm" waiting for his brother in law to try again.

"Your humble abode..." JJ sighed defeatedly as he marched back into the house. Jessie couldn't help but laugh at the exchange.

"You couldn't let him have it just once?" Jessie jokingly whispered after JJ had put some distance between them.

"Never." Rafe simply stated as he slung his arm around his wife and walked into the house. She rolled her eyes and laughed in response.

"Where's everyone else?" Jessie asked as they sauntered to the living room, where JJ was grabbing the open bottle of champagne to fill his cup once more. Jessie really didn't know why he bothered with the glass, knowing that bottle was all for him.

"They're all out by the pool." JJ mumbled as he clearly had to concentrate on the drink he was pouring. Rafe clicked his tongue and nodded his head as he watched the blonde, noticing something about that particular bottle he had in his hand.

"So I see you found the cellar." Rafe hinted in a clearly judgmental tone with his hands in his pockets. There went JJ with that sheepish grin again as if he had been caught red handed.

"How was I not supposed to explore the place a little bit, I mean... come on!" JJ defended himself with an innocent shrug.

"I just think it's funny that you managed to pick the most expensive shit we have in the house." Rafe sassed with a shrug of his own.

"What can I say, Rafey boy, I've got a refined pallet." JJ teased as he pinched his fingers together and brought them closer to his lips to kiss them, clearly mocking at this point.

"Refined pallet my ass." Rafe retorted as he slapped JJ on the back and laughed. JJ couldn't help but laugh as he watched Rafe and his sister walk out to the pool to see Charley, and the others of course. He stumbled behind them.

"Charleeeeyyyy!" Jessie sing songed as she watched Charley swim toward Sarah in her arm floaties. The rest of the pogues were lounging around in the chairs that lined the olympic size swimming pool. Palm trees littered the yard, and there was even a man made rock waterfall that was perfect for climbing and diving into the deep end of the pool. Thankfully, Charley was nowhere near that end.

"Mommyyy!" Charley responded back, however, the statement distracted her just enough to wear she found her head slipping under the water due to forgetting to kick. Luckily, Sarah was right there with arms outstretched and ready to pull Charley into her.

"Don't forget to swim, silly girl!" John B joked as he watched the scene in front of him. The pogues all greeted Jessie and Rafe and admittedly were glad to see them, albeit each for their own reasons.

"Is this not the kookiest shit you've ever seen?!" JJ yelled from atop of the waterfall, which instantly made everyone nervous.

"James Maybank! Get down from there!" Jessie demanded with a stern look as she glanced up at the drunk blonde wobbling at the top.

"You're not my mom!" JJ corrected as he pointed down at his sister. Before he could hear anyone else protest, he front flipped directly into the pool, splashing everyone whether they wanted to get wet or not. They all watched as JJ bubbled to the surface and slung his hair everywhere like a wet dog.

"I feel like I need someone to be feeding me grapes right now or some shit." JJ said through euphoria as he swam over to his niece.

"I'm out on that." Kiara sassed.

"You like this, just wait until we start bidding that cross off to buyers!" Pope chimed in.

"Oh, speaking of that!" Rafe piped up, seeing as he now remembered something important. He jutted over towards Pope's direction and sat down on the lounge chair beside him. Jessie took the opportunity to go back inside and change. Her leather jacket and combat boots weren't exactly fit for the Bahamas. Rafe just opted to take his button up off for the time being.

"On the plane I was able to talk to a few potential buyers. I think I can have some meetings lined up as soon as tomorrow." Rafe said, his tone shifting to one of business. He couldn't help it, it was instilled in him.

"Great!" Pope exclaimed through a smile.

"Uncle JJ!" Charley yelled from across the pool. "I wanna do dat!" She hinted at the precious front flip through her broken English.

"Aaabsolutely not." Rafe intervened before JJ could say anything.

"Ugh, why not?!" JJ whined.

"One, because you're drunk. Two, because she's three and three... she can't swim!" Rafe corrected his brother in law as if it was obvious. The Pogues all laughed, but JJ just scoffed.

"Minor details." He dismissed Rafe.

"Well then you can explain the concussion to her mother."

"That is the only good reason you've given me not to." JJ said through laughter. Rafe couldn't help but snicker as well.

"What're we talking about?" Jessie now came back outside right on time in a hot pink bikini and sunglasses.

"Nothing." Both JJ and Rafe said simultaneously, obviously causing suspicion. Jessie just raised her eyebrows out of curiosity but decided not to push it. Rafe took the opportunity to get up from his chair.

"I'm gonna go get changed." Rafe said mainly to Jessie, but not before grabbing her exposed waist and planting a kiss on her lips.

Jessie opted to lay out on the lounge chair that Rafe just got up from, not feeling quite hot enough to get in the pool just yet.

"How was the plane ride?" Pope asked.

"It was fine. Rafe spent practically the entire time on the phone." Jessie replied as she laid her head back and closed her eyes.

"About the cross?" Pope asked.

"Well yeah but also just about business in general. He's currently got his business in three different locations so he's trying to manage as best he can."

"And like his dad, he probably has a hard time delegating tasks and trusting other people to do them." Sarah butted in with a knowing smile. Jessie simply pointed at her sister in law as if to silently agree.

"He's under a lot of stress. He pretends like he's not... but I know he is." Jessie replied. The Pogues didn't quite know what to say to that. It was then that Jessie realized she was still talking to a bunch of teenagers who were still learning a lot about responsibility.

"But he'll be alright. We'll get it figured out." Jessie tried to leave the conversation on a positive note for the sake of the people around her. Although in her heart she wasn't so sure Rafe would be okay. She had seen the phone calls, the emails, the heavy sighs, the looks of concentration on Rafe's face. She knew he had a lot going on in his mind.

"He said he might have some meetings lined up tomorrow for potential buyers." Pope tried to change the subject.

"Oh yeah! I heard about that on the plane. I think he's really excited to try and help." Jessie admitted.

"Well if he gets this thing put in a museum, he damn sure can have a cut." Pope responded with a soft smile. At that Jessie found it hard to form a response. She looked down, trying to form her words. Pope could tell.

"What?" He asked. Jessie stopped playing with the straw on the lounge chair and finally spoke up.

"Are you sure you want this thing in a museum? You probably could get a lot more money out of it by selling the diamonds and the gold piece by piece."

Pope sighed in defeat and looked down at the ground to contemplate what to say.

"Jessie... don't get me wrong... I'm grateful for everything that you and Rafe are doing... but, this is more than just diamonds and gold for me... this is my family's heritage."

"And I get that but-"

"But without some solid backing as to the history of this cross, no museum is gonna wanna touch it." Rafe came in at the perfect time, now in just royal blue board shorts and aviators. He also managed to pour some champagne into a glass of his own. As he made his way back over he brought a glass for Jessie as well. "You've gotta have proof that this thing is real, and that it actually belonged to Denmark Tanney. These museums see people trying to pass shit off all the time. But, gold... real gold... melted down into bars and pawned off... anybody will take that." Rafe finished as he sat on the end of Jessie's chair. They both could see Pope was pondering their words.

"I don't know guys I just... I feel like there's a bigger mission with this cross. It's not just gold and diamonds... it's a relic." Pope exclaimed.

"Yeah but dude," JJ butted in from the pool, his sunglasses lopsided on his face. "It's still mostly gold and diamonds."

Jessie knew what JJ was trying to say, but she didn't feel like Pope needed to listen to his drunk wisdom.

"Look, Pope, at the end of the day, it's yours. It's whatever you wanna do with it. We're gonna help no matter what. But I think you'd be wise in heeding some of Rafe's advice... he's done this a time or two." Jessie reiterated through kind eyes.

"And seen it done a time or twenty." Rafe chimed in as he took a drink from his glass. Pope just nodded in understanding.

"Okay." JJ yelled. "I can't take the business talk. We're doing kook shit today, no exceptions! Someone get me some grapes!"

#drew starkey #obx #outer banks #rafe cameron #rafe obx #rafe outer banks #jj maybank #rudy pankow #outer banks imagine #fanfic #rafe cameron imagines #rafe cameron fanfiction #outerbanks rafe #dark rafe cameron #rafe cameron angst #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron imagine #angst #Youtube

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mermaidgirl30 · 9 months

Text

Look for the Light

Chapter 23

- Summary: Aly finds herself trying to escape the Boston QZ. What Aly doesn’t know is Tess is pairing her up with Joel to go on a dangerous mission to find Tommy. Will Aly survive the brooding, moody Joel or will she find herself falling hard for him?

“Aly, don’t!” Joel hissed at you as you slid off Shimmer. You weren’t really listening to him though, only caring about the little girl that was hiding behind the tree in front of you.

You cautiously inched closer to her as she eyed you with speculation. You noticed she was digging in her pocket, searching for something. You took a step closer, and then she took a step back.

“Don’t come any closer, I have a weapon!” she yelled as she pulled out a metallic brown switchblade, opening it up to let you see how serious she was. The blade was shiny and sharp, ready for using.

You held your hands up in defense, showing her you meant no harm. “I’m not gonna hurt you. See, nothing in my hands,” you said softly.

She braced her jaw and gave you a once over, slowly lowering her switchblade and putting it back in her pocket. “You’re not with the fireflies are you?” she asked cautiously.

“No, we’re not. We ran into them back at the hospital though. Marlene told us about you.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking between you and Joel, conflicted about if she could trust you or not. You turned your head to look at Joel. He was clenching his jaw and he looked so livid. That couldn’t be good.

You turned back to the little girl and held out your hand. “It’s alright, we’re not going to hurt you. You can come out.” You motioned her forward, trying to get her to come out from the shadows.

“How do I know I can trust you?” she asked cautiously.

“I swear, we mean no harm. I give you my word,” you promised.

She looked at the ground and shifted her weight between her feet, thinking about her options. After a few seconds she took a few steps forward, coming out from behind the tree and stopping right in front of you.

“Who are you two anyways?” she asked looking between you and Joel.

“I’m Aly, and that’s Joel,” you said as you glanced back to Joel. He was standing next to Shimmer, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He didn’t say a word, only stared harshly at her.

“Uhh what’s his problem?” she asked with a snarky tone.

“Oh, don’t mind him. He’s fine,” you lied.

“Your name’s Ellie, right?” you asked tentatively.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Marlene.”

“Oh, I see,” she said as she sighed. “You’re not gonna take me back there are you?” she asked with fear in her bright green eyes.

“No, we’re not going back there.” You shook your head as you looked over at Joel. He was going back and forth between looking at you and Ellie, his mouth shut tight. You could see the anger fuming off him, it’s like you could smell it. You met his eyes, and he just stared back with heat in his dark eyes. That’s the last thing you wanted right now, him to be angry.

You looked back to Ellie, and she was stuffing her hands deep in the pockets of her purple jacket. She was cold. You couldn’t just leave her here to freeze. You needed to get her to some warmth, out of the harsh elements. You felt a pull to help her. You weren’t sure why, but you needed to do this.

“Why’d you run off?” you asked with concerned eyes.

She glanced up nervously and bit her lip before she spoke. Her green eyes looked scared, her body tensing up. “They just wouldn’t stop. They kept wanting more blood, more tests and the questions. They asked so many, it was never ending. They promised me it’d only be one more blood draw, one more test and it’d be over. It didn’t end though. And today they were supposed to prep me for surgery. They never told me how long it’d be or what they were doing. I freaked out and snuck out and just ran as far as my legs could carry me.” She reached up to her shoulder and squeezed, her fingers digging into her jacket material as she was lost in thought.

“Can I see it? The bite?” you asked slowly.

Ellie eyed you cautiously, doing a once over. She finally rolled up her right sleeve and revealed the bite mark. It was a decent size, but nothing like you expected. You expected the bite to be massive, growing larger as it spread and got worse. This just looked like a phantom bite mark, one where it barely left its marks. You could clearly see the indentions from the bite, but it wasn’t what you were expecting. It was…strange. You could see why those doctors were fascinated by her. Joel looked over your shoulder and scowled at the bite, but his eyes were wide. Almost like he didn’t believe what he was seeing.

You knelt down to her height and placed your hand on her arm slowly. She jumped and took a step back, but she didn’t pull away from your touch. “You’re safe now. You’re not going back there, not if we can help it. Right Joel?” you asked as you glanced over at him.

His eyes flew back and forth between you and Ellie as he bit the inside of his lip. His eyebrow was raised and his hands were in fists at his side. He then started walking towards you, grabbing your shoulder as he started walking you over out of hearing distance from Ellie.

“If you’ll excuse us for a minute, I need a moment alone with Aly,” he snapped and his grip on you didn’t soften. He walked you a few feet away and whipped you around to face him, his eyes cold. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled.

“She needs help, Joel! I’m not just going to leave her here to freeze to death. She’s scared, just look at her,” you said with force as you pulled away from his grip.

“I already told you, I’m not getting involved with this. Do you have any idea how dangerous this could be? What we could get caught up in?” He was so mad, eyes blazing and his face was a shade of red.

“I’m aware,” you stated, but Joel quickly interrupted.

“No, you don’t get it! Those fireflies are nothing to fuck with. I’ve seen what they can do, and they’ll come after that girl. They will hunt us down until they have what they want.” His eyes were cold, serious as the sunset hit his eyes at just the right time. His warm honey eyes were now dark, threatening.

“I figured that much, but we can’t just leave her here to die! It’s freezing out, she’ll be dead before sunrise unless we take her with us.”

Joel stopped you right there, holding his hand out and placing it right above your chest. “Hold on, take her with us? No, no, we aren’t doing that.”

“Joel, please,” you pleaded as your eyes went heavy, just to the point where they started to water.

“She’s a liability, Aly!” he hissed.

“Could you two just shut the fuck up and stop yelling at each other?” Ellie yelled across the way, her voice high pitched and coming off as annoyed.

“Watch your mouth!” Joel yelled at Ellie as he pointed a finger at her, squinting his eyes.

He turned back to you, voice a little quieter. “She’s not coming with us, period.” His voice was stern, final.

He started to walk away, but you grabbed the edge of his tan jacket, holding on for dear life. “Joel…” You put on your best begging face, your eyes turning into puddles as you batted your eyelashes and made those sappy eyes he couldn’t resist.

He turned back to you, staring into your needing eyes. He slowly started to shake his head, not having any of it. “Don’t do that. Don’t give me that look.” His voice got calmer, less angry.

“Please.” You were begging him, telling him with your eyes how much you needed to do this. You stared intensely into his amber eyes, batting your eyelashes a few more times as you gave him the most innocent look you could muster up.

He stared back at you, clenching his jaw as he considered. He relaxed his jaw and huffed. He couldn’t resist. You knew it’d work. “Goddamn it, Aly,” he said as he ran a hand through his messy hair. You let out a little sigh of relief.

He turned back to Ellie, his voice stern. “You,” he pointed at Ellie, making sure she was paying attention. “If you’re coming with us, there’s some ground rules we need to lay out.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She was a sassy little thing. “What’s the rules?” she asked loosely.

“One, you do as we say, when we say it. Two, you keep your arm covered. Don’t let anyone see that bite because they’ll either kill you or they’ll draw attention to where it’s not needed. Three, you’re not staying with us. We get you somewhere safe and we go our separate ways. Understand?” he asked with a harsh edge to his voice.

She kicked the ground and nodded slightly. “Yeah, yeah,” she said with not too much attention.

“Repeat it!” he demanded.

She looked up at him, more focused as her eyes met his. “Yes, I understand.”

“Great, then let’s get a move on,” he said as he turned and headed for Shimmer.

“Wait, where are we going?” she asked as she took a step forward.

“We’re headed to Jackson, Wyoming. Away from here.”

“But why?”

“Stop asking questions. Do you want to stay here and freeze to death or are you coming with us?” he spat as he turned sharply, his face right on the edge of bright red.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she said quickly as she walked up to Shimmer. She reached out and touched Shimmer’s back, softly stroking her mane. She laughed as her smile grew wide on her face. You couldn’t help but smile at the noise, at the joy on her face. It was contagious.

You caught Joel staring at her, conflicting features showing on his face. He looked like he was hiding a smile, but he held it in. His eyebrows furrowed and then he turned back to Shimmer, leaving Ellie in the dust.

“What’s her name?” she asked with wonder in her eyes.

“Shimmer,” you answered.

“Hi, Shimmer. We’re going to be good buddies aren’t we?” Shimmer softly neighed at the question and that made her laugh even more. She really was a cute little girl. You wondered what happened to her parents, but that was a question for another time.

“Let’s go,” Joel grunted as he hopped on Shimmer’s back, waiting for the two of you to join him.

You quickly walked over and hopped up on Shimmer, using Joel’s hand for support. “Come on, give me your hand,” you said to Ellie as you held it out for her to take.

She glanced nervously at your hand, eyes big with questions in them. She finally took your hand, and then you were pulling her up as she settled behind you, her arms cautiously snaking around you.

“I’ve never been on a horse before. It’s kind of exciting,” she smiled.

“Really? Well, I think you’re going to like it. Just hold on tight. It might be a little bumpy,” you said as Joel took off, Shimmer running through the sunset as the sun started to go down slowly. The pitch black about to settle across the sky.

As your arms rested around Joel’s waist, you could feel just how tense and stiff his muscles were. He had a hard line across his mouth and he wasn’t speaking. You noticed his hands were so tight on the reins that his knuckles were turning pure white, but he didn’t let up. He just kept telling Shimmer to go faster with every touch of the reins to her skin.

The air was cold, the wind blowing through your hair like you were caught in an oncoming storm. You looked around the area and saw towering, colorful mountains. Trees stood high and you could see a giant crater lake to the west of you. Utah and Wyoming were pretty similar, so you looked for any changes to the landscape the further you went.

“Wanna hear a joke?” Ellie asked from the back, leaning to the side so she could see your face.

“No!” Joel grunted from the front.

You slapped him in the arm. “Be nice,” you warned. You turned back to Ellie and answered her. “I’d love to hear one.”

She smiled and said, “What do you call two ducks and a cow?”

“I don’t know. What do you call them?”

“Quackers and milk!” She giggled loudly and slapped her knee.

You laughed quietly. Cute kid. “That wasn’t even funny,” Joel huffed in front of you.

“Sure it was,” you said as you turned to Ellie. “Thanks for sharing that with me.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I have a whole book of jokes in my pocket so there’s plenty more to go around,” she said enthusiastically.

Joel sighed and shook his head. He wasn’t appeased in the slightest. The next few minutes were quiet except for Ellie talking about the landscape and how she’d never seen such beautiful views before.

Before too long Joel found a place to stop. There was a covered cave-like entrance on a hillside that had large boulders surrounding it. This would cover the wind chill of the night and hopefully deter anyone from spotting you.

“We’ll stop here for the night and rest. Now grab your shit,” he grumbled as he jumped off Shimmer. He didn’t offer you or Ellie his hand down. He just grabbed his backpack and stormed off in the opposite direction.

You slid down and helped Ellie off, making sure she didn’t fall. “Has he always been such a grump?” she asked as she looked in the direction he headed.

You sighed, “Unfortunately.” You thought he had gotten better, but Marlene and the fireflies had set him off again. And now Ellie. You hoped that tomorrow he’d be in a better mood. You didn’t want to get the cold shoulder again from him.

As you walked up the small hill to the covered area you studied Joel. His face was tense, and he looked so stressed. You watched as he paced the hill after he set down his bag, and then he looked up at you. His eyes were cold, distant. Just like that first week you had traveled together. You didn’t want to go back in time, back to when he could barely look at you. You dropped your gaze and kept walking.

When you made it up the hill you set your backpack down and laid out your sleeping bag, in preparation for the long night. The wind was cold, and you hugged your jacket a little tighter to your body.

You looked to Ellie as she walked just a few steps behind you. “Do you have something to sleep on?” you asked as you looked to the small backpack that was mixed with blue and dark green material. It didn’t look to hold much as it hung across her back.

“No, I didn’t think to bring anything like that,” she said as she looked to the ground.

“You can use mine tonight.”

“Wait, what will you sleep on then?”

“It’s alright, I’ll be fine,” you assured her. She looked at you for a few seconds and nodded.

Before you could react, Joel threw you his black sleeping bag hard as it landed with a thud against your stomach. You barely caught it before it went tumbling down to the ground. “She can use mine,” he said gruffly.

You looked up at him, but he wouldn’t meet your eyes. They were only focused on starting a small fire in the corner of the hill. You watched as he carefully laid out sticks in a small pile as he gathered all the material he needed. And then he was grabbing the small box of matches out of his pocket. He struck the match against the side of the box and then threw it in the pile, the fire coming to life.

The orange flames sprang up, and you could feel the rising heat the fire was putting off. It instantly warmed your chilled body, bringing you more at ease. But once you looked back up into his cold brown eyes all the heat disappeared. Evaporated into nonexistence.

While Joel was busy with the fire, Ellie went and found a large boulder, climbing up on it as she stared at the sky. “Wow, look at the stars. They’re so clear out here. It’s so cool. I’ve never seen them look like this.” She was hypnotized. Her face was star struck, a huge smile splayed across her mouth.

“You didn’t get out much, did you?” you asked her as you stared at her, wondering just how much of the outside she’d seen before.

“Ellie, get down from there! You’re going to fall,” Joel said sternly as his forehead wrinkled in concern.

“You worry too much, old man,” she teased as she laughed at him.

That just made him more mad. You could practically taste the frustration dripping off his lips. “I said get down,” he growled, his voice deep and menacing.

“Alright, alright. I’m getting down uhhhh,” she whined as she climbed down from the towering rock. As soon as she got down she smiled at him and stopped in front of him.

Joel gave her a double glance before blowing up again. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing, just a grumpy old man.” She let out a contagious laugh, and you couldn't help but laugh yourself. Joel looked between you and Ellie frustrated and just shook his head.

“Lighten up. Do you have anything to eat? I’m starving,” Ellie whined. Joel clenched his jaw and then huffed, searching inside his black backpack. He pulled out a can of chicken and threw it at her, Ellie just barely catching it.

“You better eat it. We don’t have much canned food left, so be glad you even have something.”

“Oh, I plan to. Thanks. I haven’t had anything since yesterday,” she said as she opened the can hurriedly and shoved her fingers in, taking a bite and licking her fingers clean.

“I had a spoon in my backpack, Jesus! You’re not a wild animal, so don’t act like one,” he yelled.

“I couldn’t wait, sorry,” Ellie apologized.

Joel put his hand on his temples and raked it all the way down to his mouth, like he was trying to hold in his temper. This girl was going to be the thing that sent him spiraling out of control.

You walked over and got your own can of chicken out, including a spoon and sat down next to Ellie, opening the can and sinking the spoon down into the soft substance. You scooped out a spoonful and took a bite, letting the plain taste run down your throat.

You looked over at Ellie as she devoured another mouthful of chicken. “This is really good,” she said with her mouth stuffed as she smiled up at you.

You gave her a faint smile back, glad that she was enjoying the dinner. You looked up at Joel as he was taking a bite out of his own can, his eyebrow going up as he looked annoyed at Ellie.

“How long have you been in Salt Lake City?” you asked as she looked up at you through another mouthful of food.

She turned her head and looked up at the sky, counting silently in her head. When she reached her answer she looked back to you. “I’d say about three weeks give or take. I don’t know, the days seemed to run together in there. It’s not like I was really allowed to go outside. I was stuck inside that hospital as all the doctors and nurses poked and prodded at me.” She looked down at her can, turning it around as she tapped her fingers on the sides.

You thought about what to say next. You didn’t really know what to say, a thousand questions running through your head. You didn’t want to overwhelm her though. Not on the first night together. “How’d you get away?”

“I watched the fireflies. I memorized their routines, which doors they patrolled at night. I knew which ways were locked and which ways had secret escapes. It wasn’t that hard. It was scary though. Going out alone in the middle of the night. I just ran like lightning out of that place. I had enough.” Her eyes were sad as her green irises sparkled just the faintest from watering eyes.

“And Marlene? You knew her before you were taken to the hospital?”

“Yeah. I didn’t see her much though. She’d drop by from time to time. I was stuck with FEDRA most of my life. They were training soldiers in that place, that’s what they were doing. Nothing I wanted to be a part of.” She was now finished with the can, so she sat it down next to her. Her arms crossed over each other as she leaned against her knees.

“And your parents?” you asked cautiously.

“My parents…I never knew what happened to them. Marlene never talked about them. I just assumed they passed when I was born. I figured that’s why I ended up where I did. With FEDRA.” Her eyes were now teary as she gazed into the simmering fire.

You slowly put a hand on her back, and she didn’t jump at the touch. She just sat there letting you comfort her. “I’m sorry about that. Seems like you’ve been through a lot. I’m glad we found you. We’ll make sure we get you someplace safe, okay?” you said as you looked into her somber eyes.

She nodded and gave you a sad smile in return. “Okay. Thanks for helping me.”

You gave her one more pat on the back before you brought your arm back to your side. Joel was looking from you to Ellie throughout the whole conversation. Whenever you’d look up at him, he’d break eye contact and look down or look the other way. He was still upset, you could clearly see that. You just wish he’d look at you or say something, but he stayed silent throughout the entire dinner. And he stayed silent for the next two hours, lost in his own thoughts.

When it was getting late, Ellie yawned as she rubbed her tired eyes. She got up from the spot next to you and started heading for the purple sleeping bag in the covered cave-like area of the hill. “I’m pretty tired, so I’m gonna go to bed. Night, Aly,” she said to you as she passed you by.

“Night, get some rest,” you said back to her.

She stopped before she passed Joel and looked at him. He was stiff as he looked back at her. “Goodnight, old man,” she laughed as she headed under the shelter and got inside the sleeping bag.

You heard Joel mumble something under his breath, but you couldn’t make out what he said. You looked back to Ellie and saw she had gotten all cozy like in the sleeping bag and brought the edge of it up to her chin as she turned to the side and closed her eyes, taking on sleep fast.

You sat there for a few minutes just staring into the fire, focusing on the warmth. Joel still wouldn’t meet your gaze. He was looking anywhere but at you. He was fidgeting with his hands, looking out into the distance, clenching his jaw and then relaxing it.

He looked like he was in shambles. Whatever was going on in his brain was ruining him. He slowly got up and paced for a couple of minutes, then he sat back down facing the opposite way of you.

You turned to see if Ellie was asleep. There she was sleeping peacefully, still in the same spot she was earlier. You breathed out a sigh of relief because all hell might break loose the moment you go talk to Joel.

The silence was killing you. Your skin crawled with nerves. You didn’t know what he would do. Would he lash out at you, would he give you the silent treatment, would he storm off into the night? You didn’t want to think about that last thought. You needed him here. You both did now.

You finally got the nerve to try to talk to him. You slowly stood up and wiped the dirt from your jeans, moving cautiously to Joel. You walked around the small fire and came up just behind him. He was breathing heavily, his hands clenched together as he rested his chin on them.

As soon as he felt your presence he sighed and turned his head so he could look at you. “What do you want?” he huffed.

The question hit you hard in the gut like a knife cutting straight through you. What did you want? What the hell kind of question was that? You took a quick breath before you responded. “What do you mean what do I want? You haven’t said a word in the last couple of hours, I was checking to see if you were okay.”

Silence. You swear you could’ve heard crickets with how absolutely mute it was. You waited as the clock ticked by. You shifted your weight and braced your foot into the hard ground. Joel dropped his hands into his lap and finally spoke. “Checking to see if I’m okay? Aly, I’m far from okay.”

“Tell me what’s wrong then,” you pleaded.

He looked up at you, and his eyes were far from kind. They were cold, calculating, brooding. And they were dark. So dark. Like nothing you’ve seen before. And that scared the hell out of you.

“Everything is wrong!” he spat in a hushed whisper as to not wake Ellie. “All I wanted was to find Tommy so I could finally be at peace, but no. We had to run into the fucking fireflies, get threatened by Marlene and now we have that one to deal with!” He turned his body and pointed to Ellie who was passed out in a deep slumber.

He turned back around and ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair. You could see the veins in his neck bulging out as his face was fighting not to turn a shade of red from being angry.

“Look, I know it’s a lot. I wish we had never ran into the fireflies either, but maybe it was fate. Maybe we were meant to help that girl.”

“That girl is nothing but trouble for us! Do you have any idea how long the fireflies have been searching for a cure? Do you really think they’re just going to let her run off and let her slip through their fingers? They will continue to search until they find her, even if they have to cover the whole goddamn map,” he hissed.

Your forehead creased as you listened to him yell in a hushed tone. He was right. They would do anything, but maybe we had a chance to save her from it all. “We can protect her. We can try to..” He cut you off right there.

“There is no we in this! I did not want any part of this, Aly. You know this and you just insisted we take her in. Now I have to figure out what the fuck we are going to do with this mess we are in!”

“She would’ve froze to death, I couldn’t just leave her there!”

“No, you couldn't, could you?” He was staring daggers at you, his eyes pulsing from the adrenaline that was fueling his body.

“Are you blaming me for this?” you asked quietly, feeling like a lump was stuck in your throat.

He didn’t answer you. He only huffed as he looked out across the open land. You took a step toward him, getting a little closer to the fire. You could feel the rage seeping off him. “Would you have left her there if you were the only one there and I wasn’t?” you asked cautiously.

He thought for a minute as he scratched at his neck, lost in thought. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t change anything,” he spat.

“Don’t you have compassion for her at all or for anyone else? She was scared, starving, far from home and she needed someone! Do you have any comprehension of how she might’ve been feeling? The way you were talking to her, you weren’t being nice at all, Joel. Do you just hate kids, is that it?”

“Enough!” His voice came out in a harsh growl, his teeth bared. That voice alone was enough to make you jump and take a step back.

You got carried away. Maybe what you said was too harsh. You were just trying to get your point across. You took a step forward and tried to reach out for his arm. “Joel, I…”

He grabbed your wrist tight before you could reach him. “Don’t. You’ve already said enough.” He shoved your arm away and turned back around, brooding silently.

You took another step forward, but he stopped you fast. “Go to sleep,” he said quietly.

“But, I..”

“Go. To. Sleep,” he growled.

You tried one more time. “Joel..”

“Leave me alone.”

That’s all you needed to hear. He was done talking. You stood there for a few more seconds before turning on your heel and heading for Joel’s sleeping bag. Tears burned at the backs of your eyes, but you wouldn’t shed them. At least not while he was looking.

You hated how you felt. Hated the way the day had gone from alright to a fucking nightmare. If you wouldn’t have met the fireflies or Ellie then this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t be fighting. You wouldn’t be doing whatever the hell this was.

Your heart ached from the way Joel had just talked to you. He wanted nothing to do with you. He was so angry, so tense. It was hard to be around him when he was like that, but you’d rather be here because you wanted to be with him no matter what.

You’d take the chaos if it meant you wouldn’t lose him. But right now it felt like you were being ripped apart from him, and it felt like you were fucking drowning from the weight of the night. From the weight of him. The way he was looking at you made you want to die. Those calculating dark eyes that burned holes through your skull with the weight of his cold stare. It was almost unbearable.

You tucked yourself into the sleeping bag and brought it all the way up where it was covering half your face. You wanted to hide, to disappear from Joel’s view. Even though he wasn’t looking your way, he was still there in your vicinity.

All you wanted to do was make up, forget all this happened. You wanted the Joel back that you knew. Not this cruel stranger that you had left behind that first week you met. This time felt deeper, it hit more nerves the closer you got to him. And it honestly felt like he hated you all over again.

You bit your lip as you felt the tears build in your eyes. You couldn’t do it anymore, you couldn’t hold them in. So you covered your mouth and let the tears rain free down your face as you felt the sleeping bag beneath you become soaked with tears. Your vision was so blurry that you couldn’t even see anymore.

This was your fault this time. You had convinced Joel to let Ellie tag along. Now you’d have to pay the price of the fireflies. Whatever that may be.

You thought of the way Joel had kissed you earlier that day, how passionate he was, how affectionate he was being. That Joel was dead for now, and you didn’t know if that side of him would come back. You felt the tears continue as they dripped down your face, burning your already cold face.

Sleep. You needed to sleep. Maybe that’d make it better. You fought every single bone in your body that told you to walk right up to Joel and wrap your arms around him as you fell into his lap. He would only throw you off and walk off, leaving you on the cold ground alone. That’s exactly what would happen. So you let your mind go numb as you closed your eyes and wished for peaceful dreams. But the only thing you dreamed of was Joel yelling and walking away into the darkness. Sleep took over quick and so did the nightmares as the world became pitch black.

You woke up a couple hours later as you heard Joel pacing outside, the slide of his feet hitting against the rocks. You kept your eyes closed as you listened to him huff and puff. You wanted to know exactly what was running through his mind. He was really going through it with whatever was eating him alive.

After a few minutes of torture listening to him go on and on, you heard quiet footsteps. They were heading straight for you. You kept your eyes closed and focused on normal breathing, making sure to keep as quiet as a mouse. The footsteps rang louder as they marched slowly over to you, and then they stopped right next to you.

You could feel Joel standing next to you, his dark shadow looming over you as he stared down at you. You were fighting everything in your body from opening your eyes and pulling him down to the sleeping bag with you, desperate for his warmth. His touch. That magnetic pull you always felt when he was just inches away.

You heard him sigh as he sat down on the ground next to you. So close…so close that you could reach out and brush against his arm if you wanted to. You wouldn’t though. Not after the fight, the words that had been spoken. Venom seeping off your tongue and his mixing together to become a chaotic swirl of events. Two snakes that were tangled together with only one that could come out winning, the other being swallowed whole.

After a few seconds of sitting there in silence you felt something breeze over the top of your head, and then his hand was in your hair. You froze as you bit back the urge to move. His hand carefully rubbed against the back of your head as he gently ran his fingers through your hair. It felt comforting, affectionate. And it somehow made you feel better. Even after all that, he still felt that pull to you like you felt with him. You didn’t push him away after all like you thought you had.

You slowly opened your eyes and blinked a few times, your vision going from blurry to crystal clear. He sighed again as he rested his left hand over his eyes as he leaned on his knee, his right hand still tangled in your locks of hair as he dragged his fingers over your scalp. It was relaxing, calming. You could feel every rough surface of his fingers as they brushed against your scalp, and it about made you come undone. You loved his large hands, the way his rough edges burned against your skin as they collided together.

You watched him carefully as his facial expressions turned from somber to worried to lost as he let his hand drop from his eyes to his mouth. He scratched the surface of his beard with the palm of his hand as he looked deep in thought, restless. You didn’t take your eyes off him, too consumed with studying him, figuring out what was going on in those deep brown eyes of his.

He took his hand off the top of your head and brought it back down to his lap, turning his head slightly to the right and then he was staring at you. His doe eyes burning into yours as you melted at his gaze. You just laid there silently, unmoving. Your eyes locked on his. And that’s how you two sat for what seemed like minutes. Not speaking, but the eye contact was all you needed. It was so intense, so consuming. Those eyes alone could burn down bridges, obliterating everything in sight. Those eyes could also calm stormy seas, putting even the worst hurricanes to rest.

He broke the eye contact and slowly pushed himself off the cold ground. He started walking away back towards the fire until he stopped cold in his tracks. He looked down at his left wrist and grazed his fingers gently over the broken watch. He was thinking about something, lost in thought as he carefully ran his fingers down the murky green material of the wrist band that was connected to the watch.

He dropped his hands back to his side and turned back to face you. He stood there staring at you with weighted eyes and then he was motioning with his head for you to follow him. You got up from the sleeping bag quickly and made your way over to him slowly. He led you back over to where the fire was still burning and sat down on the ground. You sat down close to him, your knee just slightly brushing up against his, careful not to get too close.

You watched him carefully as he looked down at his watch, quietly stroking the broken glass, a lost look filling his eyes. He sighed before he spoke, eyes still on the watch. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while, I just haven’t found the right time to say anything. It’s not exactly easy for me to talk about, so just bear with me.”

You kept focus on him, staring into hollow eyes as they weighed into the broken watch. “I had a daughter before the outbreak took place.” Your eyes went wide as the information shocked your system. You had no idea and wouldn’t have guessed. You stayed silent as you continued to listen to him, not wanting to interrupt when he was trusting you with this sensitive information.

“Her name was Sarah, and she was my whole world. She got me this watch for my birthday. The same week the virus spread into Texas.”

Oh. The watch. That’s why he was so protective of it, why he didn’t want you asking questions about it. It was in remembrance of his daughter. The last piece of her he took with him into this new, devastating world. It all made sense now why he kept his walls so closed. He’d lost the most important thing in his life, and you couldn’t imagine how he must be feeling since he lost his own child. The pain he must be feeling. Oh, Joel.

“Joel…I had no idea. What…what happened to her?”

He shifted nervously in his spot, raking his hand over his beard and finally dropping his gaze from the watch, slowly trailing his eyes up to you. He looked so sad, it nearly broke your heart looking into those dark brown eyes that were full of pain and sorrow. “A FEDRA soldier. He thought we were infected, so he shot at us. He shot my baby girl right in my arms. It was only a couple minutes until she was taken from me completely. I didn’t want to let her go. I was clinging to her lifeless body, and Tommy had to drag me away. It was…so hard to let go. I’ve never been the same since then. I’d never wish it on anyone…”

His eyes were watering and a silent tear fell as it ran down his face. You’d never seen him look so destroyed, so small. It hurt your heart in ways you couldn’t even explain.

You cautiously reached your hand up and caught the tear, wiping it away as you rested your hand there for a minute. “Oh, Joel. I’m so sorry…I can’t even imagine how you must be feeling. I know I can’t take the pain away, but if you ever want to talk or just vent, I’m here.”

Before you could say anything else he crashed into your body, snaking his arms around your waist as he rested his head against your shoulder. You could feel another tear leak onto your shirt from Joel. He was absolutely wrecked, heartbroken. And that alone made you break too.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and slowly slid one of your hands in his hair, gently sliding your hand up and down as your nails embedded their way through his thick salt and pepper hair. He leaned into your touch, chasing it as he buried into you deeper.

“She was so young…Only 12 years old. It wasn’t enough time...I didn’t have enough time with her. She was gone too soon. We had so many plans. And we didn’t get to do any of them…” he cried into your shoulder. You’d never seen him so vulnerable, so open with his feelings. So you just held him tighter, helping him through the pain.

“I know, and it’s not fair. I’m so sorry… I’m here for you. I always will be…” you whispered quietly into his ear.

He gripped his arms tighter around you, his hands digging into your sides. You’d let him stay like that as long as he needed. You had no idea who all he told about Sarah, but you had a feeling that was something he kept locked tight, not letting anyone in. He let you in though and it made you feel a certain kind of way. A way you couldn’t quite explain. You just knew he trusted you completely to give you the part of him he was missing. A part of his past. And you’d guard it with your life.

You stayed locked in his grip for you don’t even know how long. It might’ve been minutes, it could’ve been an hour. Time was not real right now. Not in this moment with Joel. This vulnerable, delicate moment.

His breathing was so slow, you could almost hear the sound of his calm pulse against his neck as your ear gently brushed against it as you broke the embrace. Joel glanced over you with honey eyes. They were calmer, more clear now. But they were sad…so sad.

He gently grazed his knuckles across your cheek, his hand warm and inviting. “You should go back to sleep, get some rest. It’s really late.” You shook your head no, not wanting to leave his side. “Aren’t you tired?”

You were tired, but you didn’t want to sleep alone. You didn’t want to leave his side after what he just told you. “I don’t want to sleep alone. Not tonight. I’m staying right here.”

He looked out into the dark distance and flexed his jaw just slightly, thinking about something. “Alright. Bring over the sleeping bag then. You don’t need to lie on the cold ground.”

You shot up and rushed over to the sleeping bag, grabbing it up as you dragged it back over to Joel. You looked back to Ellie, and she was still sound asleep. You laid out the sleeping bag right next to Joel, the material touching his denim jeans.

You quietly pulled back the top layer and slipped inside, letting the warmth envelope your body. You noticed Joel was watching you closely, his eyes still a little somber. You looked to the slick sleeping bag and back at him. “There’s room for one more,” you motioned as you casually lifted up the top layer again.

A small smile rose at the corners of his mouth as he said, “Tempting, but one of us needs to keep watch.”

“Fair point,” you said disappointedly as you sighed, laying down flat in the sleeping bag.

“Come here.” He pulled you closer, your head landing on his lap as he let his arm slide over you. “This good enough?” he questioned you as he looked down into your eyes. Those warm honey eyes staring back at you, making you all tingly inside.

“It’s perfect,” you said quietly as you shifted your weight to the left, your arm wrapping around his leg as he slowly moved his hand up and down your arm, sending chills down your body.

You laid there in silence, staring into the warm embers of the orange fire, the wind blowing gently in the distance. The stars were bright tonight, shimmering like diamonds across the sky. The snowy mountains across the way were captivating, glistening across the landscape. It was quiet, just how you liked it.

Joel kept his arm across you, still moving gently up and down as if to tell you he wasn’t going anywhere. You were safe with him. Protected in his solid, strong embrace. Exactly how you wanted him.

He made his way up to your shoulder, then his fingers were in your hair, running through your waves, scratching against your scalp. You quietly groaned in response, the sensation of his hand putting you on cloud nine. You heard him quietly laugh in response, knowing all the right ways to send you over the edge.

“I’m sorry…” you heard him whisper to you, almost too faint to hear. You stayed quiet, knowing just what he was talking about. “For lashing out earlier. All this has just been a lot, and I really wasn’t planning on taking on the task of that,” he said as he looked behind at Ellie.

“I’m sorry too. I wasn’t thinking clearly earlier. I just wanted to help her. She looked so scared…” you said back in a low breath.

He sighed as he looked out into the dark distance. “Don’t be sorry. We’ll figure it out, no matter what. Just get some rest, okay? Tomorrow will be a long day for all of us.”

“You sure you don’t want to sleep instead? I don’t mind staying up.”

“No, I’ve got too much on my mind to sleep. Now go to sleep,” he coaxed.

“Joel?”

“Hmm?” he hummed softly.

“Sarah was lucky to have you as a dad. I can tell you loved her very much. I’m sorry about what I said earlier, about you hating kids. I didn’t know, I was just mad and I shouldn’t have said that. I’m really sorry..”

He stayed silent for a few seconds, taking a breath before answering. “It’s okay, Aly. You’re forgiven. How could you have known? I never opened up. I should’ve told you a long time ago. But now you know. And thank you…But I was the lucky one to have her as a daughter. Enough about that for now though. Just go to sleep, okay?”

You gripped his leg tighter, hugging your arm around him just for the sake of knowing he was there, for comfort. “Okay, goodnight. Wake me if you need me, I’ll be right here,” you said with a yawn. You really were tired. You just needed to know Joel was somewhat okay, that he wouldn’t go off the rails again. There was no telling what else would set him off, but you hoped you would be enough to calm the blazing fires that were burning him alive.

You closed your eyes, and sleep came quickly. It didn’t take long before you were deep in the darkness, fading away from consciousness. But you heard Joel’s voice faintly before you slipped away completely.

“Goodnight, sweet girl.”

And then you were gone.

Chapter 24

Series Masterlist

#joel miller #joel tlou #joel the last of us #tlou fanfiction #joel x female reader #joel miller smut #joel miller fic #joel x oc #protective joel #joel miller fanfiction #look for the light #angst

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