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tinysushimark · 3 years

Text

An Honest conversation (NJM ,1.1K words) (16+)

TW: Jealousy, Toxic Relationship.

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

"How hard did you think it would be?" He asked looking into your eyes as he held your hands.

"I knew it wouldn't have ever been easy." You said looking down at your tangled hands. His touch was both warm and cold as his hands reached your cheek. "I'm sorry you had to make that decision alone." He said, eyes glimmering with tears.

"Why did i know I'd end up like this but i still did it?" You asked him. "You were too lost in the moment, just like i was." He said and looked at you with sorrow you never knew he had. "Was it me? Or was it you?" He asked.

"I have no clue." You said looking at his hand which still wasn't ready to let go. You took your hand away from his, "It's time to say goodbyes. I have to leave you here, Jaemin."

"Do u think i could've changed anything? Was there anything i could have done to change the outcome?" He said looking at your eyes.

"I dont think so." You said as you got up, knowing that you had to leave. "I am sorry Jaemin, you fell out of love too, i should've tried harder." You said looking at him one last time. " I have one wish." He said looking at you with expectancy. "Go ahead, tell me." You said.

"Have an honest conversation with me. That's what i want." He said looking at you.

"What do u want me to say?" You said sitting back down in the empty room that once you and jaemin had shared.

"Did you fall for someone else?"

"No jaemin. I love you, but I'm not good for you. I'm your enchantment and you're mine. We need to let go before it becomes deeper." You said staring at him all you could before you would leave, and never see him again.

"What did i do? Is it wrong to be enchanted with someone i hold dearest?"

"You didn't do anything Jaemin, Its not wrong to feel that you're in love, but you weren't just in love with me, i was the only thing you saw and it had become such that you treated me like a doll, and not a person it felt good before but it had started to feel like someone was trying to take the air inside of my lungs out after one point and i knew that it would harm us both if not brought up ."

"When did u know that?"

"I knew that when i met my friends a few months ago, i was telling them about you and they said they're sorry for me. At first i didn't understand and i came back and slept next to you just like any other day, but when i woke up the next day and you watched me brush my teeth, just like any other day, i felt like you were choking me. I wasn't myself anymore."

"Is it my fault?" He asked you. No, it wasn't his fault, it wasn't your fault either. It wasn't anyone's fault. You both had just become so enchanted with each other that you forgot that you were your own person. Everyone else apart from you could see it. What you and Jaemin had wasn't love, it wasn't passion, it was an obsession which would turn into hate because what you love the most always comes to bite you back in the neck. But mind you, you knew that you were obsessed with Jaemin, you knew he and you both had control issues, you knew that if you got in a relationship with him, you wouldn't let him stray out of your sight and it was the same with him but you both still did it. You both labelled it love but everyone else could see the monstrosity you both would give birth to if this kept going on.

"Did you love me even for one day?" You asked him.

"I have and will always love you." Lies. Deception. Jaemin had deceived himself to believe that he loved you. The little laugh you had with Renjun, the small arguement you had with Haechan, the giggles you had exchanged with Jeno, he hated it. He absolutely hated all of it, he loved Haechan, Jeno and Renjun, he loved you but not together. He cut you off from the world and he cut himself off the world, to be yours.The day Jeno saw the marks and scratches on Jaemin he had tried to tell Jaemin that this was wrong but Jaemin said, "Its love kid." It wasn't love, it was his obsession of you and his little world in which he liked to play pretend, pretend that everything was ok.

Just like Jaemin you liked to play pretend too, you'd dress up for him, make new dishes for him and think that it was totally okay to stay at home 24/7 waiting for him to come back. There were times you wanted to break all the plates and you did and when Jaemin came home at 12:00 in the night he saw the mess and knew why you did what you did.

It was him, you wanted him to get home early. He didn't want you to leave his house. When you said you wanted to talk about something you still remember the awestruck face he had made. He thought that you were breaking the rules. You were seeking for happiness, that wasn't the rule, you were supposed to love each other, but he never knew that even happiness was a factor. He remembered the time you marked his neck when he got home late from shooting, he remembered when you threw his pictures with other girls in the trash, he remembered when you told him not to go to the dorm to play with the boys. He remembered and so did you. You wanted Jaemin all to yourself just like he wanted you all to himself. The day he met your friends and smiled, the way he conducted himself like a different man in front of them and the way he passed a smile to Celina and Diana, all of it felt wrong. You didn't want anyone to even spare a glance at him. "You're just mine." You had said to him that night in bed when he kissed your bare shoulder. "I'm just yours." He had said. Where did it go wrong? This game of pretence should've lasted longer.

As days had passed by, he knew, you knew. He knew what he was doing, he knew what you were doing. It was one evening, just one evening that he had allowed you to spend with your friends, is that what he did wrong?

Or when he yanked you away from Jeno and pulled you into another room to make love, was that wrong?

"I loved you." He said.

"That's a lie Jaemin." You said looking at him again.

"All we did was lie." You said once again, getting up and leaving.

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scarletemeterio-thesecond · 4 years

Note

hello, I'd like to request a zuko imagine with an earthbender reader, i was thinking maybe like he likes them but he thinks there's something between reader and sokka so that's why he doesn't say/do anything? and I'd love it if reader was toph's older sibling

I really liked this request! I wanted to try and do something different so it's written from Zuko's pov. It took me like three days to write this and it's pretty long, hope you like it!

-Mica :)

•••

Heartfelt Confessions (Zuko x Reader)

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Fandom: Avatar, The Last Airbender

Summary: See request

Word Count: 2553

Zuko's POV:

Here I was, in front of the people I once tried to defeat, trying to make things right. I really wanted; I needed this to work out. I knew I was destined to help the Avatar.

"Hello, Zuko here" I said. Why did I say that? Of course they knew who I was; I had followed them for a long time!

As soon as I said that, they all got ready to attack and to be honest, I didn't blame them at all. I explained myself as best as I could, which wasn't actually very good at all, and then I waited for their response.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you?" said the waterbender girl.

"One of you has already! And I've done some good things" I said.

"What do you mean by one of us?" asked the little earthbender girl.

I immediately looked at the other earthbender in the group, whose eyes now were full of despair. And as I did that, everyone else did too.

"Back in Ba Sing Se, we ran into each other once" I began, now looking directly at them. "I knew you could tell who I was, I figured you were with the Avatar but you never told them that I was there when you faced Long Feng, did you?"

"What!?" said the earthbending girl. "How could you hide something like that? We could've known Zuko was in Ba Sing Se? I'm your sister, (Y/N); I thought we told each other everything!"

"Just tell us what happened, (Y/N)" said the waterbender, a bit strongly.

"The Dai Li had opened some kind of tunnel to get me away from you. I tried to come back as soon as possible but I found him instead" they said, looking at me. "I never said anything because so much had already happened... between Jet and the entire Long Fend thing I- I'm sorry, I should've told you. I didn't think he would do what he did later in the cave, he had freed Appa and I thought that maybe... He had some good in him. I'm sorry".

"That's right, you should've told us" began saying the guy from the Water Tribe, "but we know you didn't mean any harm, (Y/N)". After that the boy put an arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders.

"S-See! I could've stolen your bison but I set him free! That's something" I said, still trying to get them to trust me.

"Appa does seem to like him" said the little girl.

But they still were suspicious, and things got even worse when I admitted that I had sent an assassin after them. They rejected me and told me to leave, so I did. Thankfully, the following day, after so many mistakes they allowed me to join them and teach firebending to the Avatar.

Aang and I started practicing as soon as possible, but shortly after we were forced to stop; for some reason I couldn't firebend.

"Hey, jerks" suddenly said Sokka. "Mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerk bending?"

"Sokka, don't say that!" said (Y/N) while passing by.

"Get out of here, Sokka!" I screamed, clearly annoyed.

Sokka left while laughing a bit, but the earthbender decided to get closer to us.

"Hey, what's going on, guys?" Is everything okay?" while saying that, they sat right next to Aang.

"I think Zuko lost his firebending".

"I didn't!”

"Well, I think someone's a bit on edge right now. I'm gonna go and do some earthbending with Toph. Maybe I'll be able to annoy Sokka a bit, too" (Y/N) said as they let out a little laugh.

I couldn't avoid looking at them and think about how sweet their laugh was until Aang snapped me out of my thoughts. I really had to do something about my firebending.

After going back to the Western Air Temple with Aang, we quickly got back to training. Although that didn't last long since this time I was going on a trip with not only one but two members of the group.

"I still don't know why you came".

"You have to understand, Sokka, there's no way I would've let you do this by yourself" said (Y/N), still slightly arguing with the boy.

"I wasn't! Zuko was gonna come with me".

"And now I am too. I couldn't just stay there and lie to Katara and everyone about your trip, and I couldn't just do nothing!"

"I just don't want anything to happen to you, (Y/N); I care about you, okay?"

"I care about you, too, Sokka. But we're in this together. All of us" after saying that, they both made a pause, and when I turned around to look at them, they were already looking at me. "We're all on the same side now".

We all nodded in agreement and suddenly there was silence in the air.

"You know, a friend of ours designed these balloons" Sokka said, starting another conversation.

I paid attention to him but I could tell (Y/N) was lost in their own thoughts before drifting off to sleep while sitting next to Sokka. It felt so weird to have a crush on someone who was with another person. It even felt wrong. Ever since I joined the group I've tried to get them off my mind, I've even tried to stay away from them, but it just didn't seem to be working out. I sighed before turning my gaze back to the sky in order to distract myself from my own feelings.

When we got to the Boiling Rock, we decided to pretend to be guards. Shortly after that, Sokka got sent to take someone to the 'cooler', leaving (Y/N) and me behind. On lunch time, we tried to get some information about the prisoners, trying to find out if Sokka's father was here, but we weren't lucky. When we reunited with Sokka, I told him that there were no Water Tribe prisoners.

"What? Are you sure? Did you guys double check?"

"We did, Sokka. I'm afraid he's not here" said (Y/N) while taking his hand, trying to calm him down.

"I'm really sorry, Sokka".

"So we came all this way for nothing? I failed... again".

"Ugh, what would uncle say?" I wondered, trying to be positive. "Sometimes clouds have two sides, a dark and a light, and a silver lining in between. It's like a silver sandwich! So when life seems hard, take a bite out of the silver sandwich".

"Maybe we haven't failed after all" Sokka said, now a lot more hopeful.

"That's the spirit! I can't believe that worked, I didn't even know what I was saying".

"No, what you said made no sense at all".

"Yeah, Zuko, for real" said the earthbender, laughing at me.

"But look... It's Suki".

"What? I can't believe she's here!"

Sokka left quickly to wherever this girl was.

"Who's Suki?" I asked a bit confused.

"She's a friend of ours, and she had something with Sokka a while ago" they explained. "Come on, we have to go!" they grabbed my hand and took me out of there, going to wherever Sokka had left. I couldn't help but blush, thankfully it wasn't noticeable because of my helmet.

(Y/N) and I decided to keep guard outside of the cell, letting Sokka go inside.

"You seem pretty chill about this" I commented, without fully understanding the reason why.

"What? I'm completely terrified; we could get caught in any minute! I'm just trying to remain calm".

"That's not what I meant, I-" I realized a guard was coming towards us, so I stopped talking and knocked on the door, letting Sokka know that we had company.

To say things didn't go well was an understatement. We couldn't just let her get into the cell, so we had to fight back. Now, (Y/N) and I had been arrested for being impostors, which wasn't wrong of course, but it definitely wasn't what we had planned. I was sent to my cell, where Mai's uncle threatened me and then we were told to clean the floors.

"Listen, I think I have an escape plan" said Sokka once we were all together. "I checked out the coolers again. The whole point of them is to keep firebenders contained, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So they're completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in. Well, to keep the cold in it also has to keep the heat out, right?”

"Just get to the point, Sokka" said Suki.

"Yeah, my brain is starting to hurt" agreed (Y/N).

"I'm saying it's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water".

It wasn't going to be easy, but we had no other choice; we had to get out of here no matter what.

Once I was sent to the cooler I started taking out every single screw. Sokka came to take me out and we overheard some guards saying that some new prisoners were coming in tomorrow. Some war prisoners, specially.

“It could be your father” I said.

Sokka nodded and I asked what we were going to do.

“I don’t know. Is it right for me to risk Suki’s freedom- all of our freedom- on the slim chance that my dad is gonna show up?” he asked. “What if we get hurt or caught? What if something happens to (Y/N)? Oh my god, Toph would literally kill us!”

“Hey, calm down, Sokka. It’s your call; we’ll do whatever you say”.

We decided to go to the shore after all, it’s not like we could keep the others waiting.

“Are you sure you want to go? You’re the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself, redeem your honor” I said, still not sure about Sokka’s choice. “Rescuing your dad is your chance”.

“What do you mean? Is Hakoda here?” (Y/N) asked, looking at us.

“No, but we heard some war prisoners were coming in tomorrow” I answered.

“I’m going to stay, you guys go. Suki, you’ve been here long enough”.

“I’m not leaving without you, Sokka” the girl said.

“Yeah, there’s no way we’re gonna do that!”

“I’m staying too” I said. (Y/N) was right: we’re all on the same side now.

The others ended up getting caught, and quickly we were in a lockdown.

“The gondola’s moving” said Sokka. “If my dad’s not here we risked everything for nothing”.

“We had to” as Suki said that, she grabbed his hand. I couldn’t help but look at (Y/N); not only because I wanted to hold their hand too, but also because I was afraid that little action could hurt them. Still, they didn’t seem to bother.

Sokka’s dad was in the gondola after all, and we speedily went back to our cells. Not much later, I was taken out of my cell and sent somewhere else, where I saw Mai. I didn’t think I’d see her again, at least not until all of this was over. I guess I was wrong. We had a talk about me leaving her, but when I had the opportunity, I ran out of there, I had to go and meet the others.

“Great, we’re all here. Now all we need to do is grab the warden and get to the gondolas”.

“Good, how do we do that?”

“I’m not sure”.

We started arguing about him not thinking this through but we were cut by (Y/N)’s voice.

“Could you just shut up? Suki’s taking care of it!”

And they were right. Suki was heading towards the warden, successfully making him our prisoner. We ran to them and then we started running to where the gondolas were.

It was difficult, but we managed to escape, mainly because of Mai. I figured Azula had to get there somehow so we took her airship and left.

We had been travelling for a few hours, and everyone had fallen asleep, except for (Y/N) who was looking at the sky.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked.

"A bit, but I like looking at the stars".

"Be careful, I wouldn't want you to fall off".

"I'm fine, dummy, you don't have to worry about me" they said before giving me a soft smile. "The girl who helped was Mai, right? Your girlfriend?"

"My ex-girlfriend, and yeah. I wish I could thank her".

"Was it difficult seeing her there?" I stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out why they were asking me this, but when they spoke again, it seemed like (Y/N) had read my mind. "I'm asking you this because you're with us now, and I care about you, Zuko".

"Its was… weird, but not difficult. I did feel a bit bad for getting over her and liking someone else, though".

"Ooh, who is it?"

"I'm not telling you".

There was a brief silence between us before (Y/N)'s voice cut it.

"Well, if any of us looks tired then it's you" they said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, well, I'll sleep once we get to the Air Temple" while I was saying that, I saw (Y/N) getting closer to me. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, it's just that- You're pretty warm and in case you haven't noticed, it's cold". I didn't say anything, I just stood there. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to annoy you or anything, I know you don't really like me".

The last words were said in a soft mumble, but I still heard them. I raised my head, looking at the earthbender's eyes with confusion.

"What do you mean? Of course I like you".

"It's just that, you know, you kind of avoid me so… I figured you didn't like me".

"No, I- I didn't want to come in between you and Sokka so I just stayed away, you know?"

"Between me and Sokka? What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath and turned my gaze away from theirs, trying to think about what I wanted to say.

"You and Sokka are really close so I thought you were dating or something so I stayed away from you in order to not come in between you guys because I kinda like you and I know that's wrong and I- What are you laughing at?" I cut my own words once I started hearing them laugh.

"You really thought that Sokka and I-?" they kept laughing and I had to tell them to be quiet, we didn't want the others to wake up. "Oh, that was funny, I really needed that".

"Yeah, you're welcome" I said under my breath, hoping that my little confession had gone unnoticed.

"Wait, did you just say you like me?" they said, processing my words. "I-I didn't know you liked me like that" I closed my eyes, clearly not ready for the rejection.

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I know you probably don't-" I was cut by a pair of lips on top of mine, giving me a soft kiss. I didn't have any time to react before I felt their lips separating from mine.

"I like you too, Zuko… like that" I smiled cheesily at their words before pressing my lips against theirs again.

#prince zuko fic #prince zuko fanfic #fire lord zuko #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla imagine #atla fanfic

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staarkindustries · 4 years

Text

Locked

Locked in a room with Johnny Storm. Everyone's dream, right?

Warning: angst if you squint, fluff, swearing, Johnny being Johnny

Words: 912

(Gif not mine)

Locked in a room with Johnny Storm. Everyone's dream, right? No.

"Certainly not my fault!" "And whose Storm? Mine?!" "My sister and Reed are in Berlin, Ben is pissed at me. How do we get out?" "If I knew I would have been out long ago! I wish I'd never met you." I snorted leaning against the wall, with my hands on my face. "That fucking day I could have stayed home instead of following you and that gang of jerks into space. I could have painted or read but not. Why not follow Reed Richards in a fucking space mission?" I saw the strange look Johnny gave me, but after a second it disappeared. "I assure you that as soon as we get out of here you will never see me again. This way we will both be happy." "Perfect." "Perfect... I can try to overheat the door and melt it." "I don't want to melt too." "You won't, protect yourself with water." I created a shield around me with water and looked at Johnny. "You will remain naked: you are not wearing a suit." "I don't think I need to be completely on fire and, if it were, have a good view." He made fire going out of his hands and put them on the door.

"Storm, I think it's impossible." "Wait a second!" "We will end up running out of oxygen, idiot!" "One second ..." "Johnny!" I screamed and he left the door. "I could have done it." "What? Kill us both? You were close! My God Storm why don't you ever do what you are told?!" "Were you afraid, princess?" "Fuck you."

"Two out... Three left..." I looked out the window, where a missile fired by Victor exploded next to Johnny. I looked down and felt my eyes pinch. Damn Storm, what have you done to me? Victor came towards me, took me by the chin and glanced at me. "Too bad, I'm sorry to ruin such a pretty face."

Johnny's POV

After tricking Victor's missile I flew to the town square and noticed Reed, Susan and Ben. Where is Y/N? I thought, going next to the Thing. Reed and Susan looked at me in regret, as if they knew something that should hurt me. When I understood it was too late. Y/N was there, in front of us, stuck in a strange Victor's machine. The first thing I did was a step forward, but Ben stopped me. "Johnny, Supernova." "I thought we agree Supernova was bad!" "Johnny!" "Okay." I began to circle around Victor, going faster and faster. "Can't you do better?" "Chemistry 101: What happens if molten metal cools? Ben!" In the meantime, I run towards Y/N. "Hey, hey it's all over." "Y-you are... Alive..." "I'm not that easy to kill." "I saw the missile explode... You..." "Shh, save your breath, princess." "I hate that nickname." I released her from the different threads and held her in my arms, where she fainted. "Shit ... Reed?" "Let's go to my house. Quickly."

4 days went by and still Y/N has not woken up. "Come on Y/N, you are strong... You have to wake up." Someone knocked on the door. "Johnny? I have to do some tests, you should..." "I'll stay here." "But your sister needs to talk to you..." "I said: I'll stay here." After Reed's various analyzes I was left alone with Y/N again. "You are stronger than Victor, okay? You have to wake up. Wake up princess, I'm not going to stop fighting with you for an idiot, okay? I love fighting with you. You're the only one who stands up to me, so make sure you wake up." Nothing, Y/N was motionless on that damn bed. "Johnny, you should take a shower and shave... You look like a homeless man." "Susan, if she doesn't wake up I..." I didn't finish the sentence. "Then make sure that when she wakes up, because I know she will, you are at least presentable." I nodded, so Susan walked out. "Don't wake up while I'm not there, I want to see you." I brushed my lips with hers and I went out too.

A week. Nothing. Still lying on that fucking bed. I rested my elbows on the mattress, took Y/N's hand between mine and brought it to my mouth. "Y/N... Please, please." Susan walked in and fortunately I had time to put her hand back on the mattress so she didn't notice. "Okay, now the two of us are gonna have a talk." "What is it? I washed myself today, and I also shaved." "That's not the point. You're not like that... You're a playboy, the one who always has a different girlfriend and..." "Well that's not the case anymore!" I yelled. "She is important to me, okay?" "Mh ... Storm, why do you always have to scream?" My gaze immediately returned to Y/N who now had her eyes open, Susan, without saying a word, went out, leaving us alone.

"Hey... Sorry." "Don't worry." She smiled and took my hand, still on the bed. "I thought you would never wake up again." "Well, we're even." I smiled. "Yes, we are even." "Johnny?" "Yes?" "Stay with me?" "As long as you want." I lied down next to her who, unexpectedly, hugged me. "Do you tell everyone?" "Only to those who I really care about." "So how many girls did you say it to?" "Only to you." "Good."

"Johnny." "Mh?" "You're on fire." "Oops... Sorry." "Idiot."

#chris evans x y/n #chris evans x reader #chris evans #chris evans imagine #johnny storm #johnny storm x reader #johnny storm x y/n

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fluffy-lee · 4 years

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Ice Breaker

This is a TICKLE fic

Platonic Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Y/n Barnes really wants to be closer friends with the newest superhero, Peter Parker, but she is hoping for something to finally break the ice between the two of them.

A/n: This is an old fic I wrote a long time ago! I think before I even created this blog! It sparked the idea for my series Keeping Her.

It was early in the evening and I was relaxing in the lounge in the Avengers facility watching one of my favorite house-flipping shows. I was sitting on the giant, comfy couch and Steve was laying next to me, taking a nap. My father, Bucky Barnes, walked in.

"Y/N I have a little surprise for you," Bucky said with a smirk.

"For me?!" I asked all perky.

He opened the door wider and some weird white string looking thing shot to the ceiling. Then, Spider-Man swung in. I gasped.

"OH MY GOSH!!" I squealed, jumping on the couch.

Steve woke up, startled.

"Oh hey there kid," he yawned.

"Hey Y/n! Hey Cap!" Peter said, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

He dropped down from the tall ceiling with ease, landed in a squatting position, stood up to where he towered over me a bit, and ripped his mask off.

He is so cute and I feel nervous around him. We won't ever be a thing though. That's just not how it is between us and I am happy with that. I had only met him a few times anyway and I didn't know him very well yet, but he was always really nice. I wanted to be closer friends with him, but I was a bit shy. I was waiting for something to break the ice between us.

I instantly hugged him and he hugged me back.

"I'm so happy to see you again." I said sheepishly.

"Well I'm so happy to see you too! You HAVEN'T grown an inch." He jokes.

Everyone in the room chuckled. Tony, Pepper, Wanda, and Vision all came in the room.

All eight of us ended up chatting for hours. I began to feel so much more comfortable around Peter and even played a little prank on him. I thought that could be the ice breaker that would help our friendship grow. Peter had been telling us how he had lost so many backpacks, and when he wasn't looking, I hid his backpack behind a plant in the corner.

It started to get a bit late, but we were still having a good time and I felt tons more confident around Peter instead of being shy.

"Well I'm gonna head to bed. It's been a long day," Steve said.

Then, Steve smirked at me deviously. "I wouldn't be if SOMEBODY hadn't woke me up from my nap."

"I was just excited to see Spider-Man... you OLD man!" I said playfully, and everyone chuckled and went back to having their separate conversations.

"Ohhhohohoho you're gonna regret that," Steve said and wiggled his fingers toward me.

I blushed like crazy.

"Uhhhhh S-Steve umm nonono," I said nervously.

"Whyyyy?" Steve asked with a knowing smile.

"Be-because.."

"You need to be more specific," Steve said, threatening me by wiggling his fingers closer toward my tummy. He was ready to tickle me, which was a common occurrence.

"Not in front of Spider-Man." I said a bit too loud.

Peter chuckled at me and I blushed bad.

Steve's eyes widened with a bigger smile. "WHY?"

"Because I think he's really cool a-and I want him to think I'm cool, you know? He's younger than all of you guys... and I don't have any friends my age." I whispered to him, truthfully.

I was sure Peter wasn't hearing any of this, he wasn't close enough and seemed to be listening to Tony speaking. Steve frowned at me.

"Ohhh. Well, you don't need to try so hard. Just be yourself, little buddy," he encouraged, ruffling my hair.

"Yeah but he's so smart, you know? And I'm dumb. I was just an experiment and never learned like other kids." I frowned.

Steve gave me a sad look.

"We need to go upstairs and have a talk. You need to get to bed soon anyway." Steve said.

We said our good nights to everyone and made our way upstairs. Steve threw me over his shoulder and I giggled, waving bye to Peter. He waved back with a soft grin.

We got to my room and Steve flipped me down onto the bed, making me laugh. He sat down next to me and gave me a long speech about how I should be myself. He told me I was smart and funny and a wonderful person. He had really been helping me with my confidence. He made me feel better, but I still had a few negative thoughts, and I was still a bit sad. Steve could tell.

"Look kid, you hang in there alright? I know you're still having a bit of trouble, but you are making so much progress after what you've been through. I know you're still a little sad and that's okay." Steve reassured.

He hugged me goodnight and kissed my cheeks. I got under the covers and he turned off my light.

"I love you, y/n. I'm right down the hall if you need anything." He said.

"Okay, I love you too..... and thank you, Uncle Steve." I said.

He smiled at me and left, shutting the door. I quickly drifted off to sleep.

I woke up at about 1:30 A.M. really thirsty. I didn't have any water by my bed, so I decided to go down to the kitchen to get some. As I made my way through the Avengers facility, or what I simply call "home," I was a little scared. It was dimly lit and I was afraid some giant superhero like Vision was going to pop up. He is nice and all, but sometimes Vision just goes through walls like a ghost and that gives me the creeps. I made it down to the kitchen and I climbed the counter to get a cup down. I'm kind of short, and the Avengers like to tease me about it, but it doesn't bother me. I think it's funny.

I filled my glass from the fridge and stood there chugging the water. I then refilled my glass and drank more. I finished and turned around to an upside down Spider-Man inches from my face! I screamed but his hand quickly covered my mouth.

"Peter Parker!" I hissed. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"I'm sorry, but.... I need to talk to you." His tone sounded as if I was in trouble with him.

I set my glass on the counter.

"Um... okay." I said nervously.

Peter dropped down to where he was standing right side up and ripped his mask off, shaking his hair. Again, a pretty nice sight to see, if I'm being honest.

"So, I was at a few parties in the facility, just swinging around, when I realized I was missing my backpack..." Peter explained and my eyes definitely widened.

Oh yeah... I hid his backpack.

"I returned to the living room where I left it, but it was gone. Explain." He demanded, towering over me.

"I-I don't know where it is," I said sheepishly, looking down.

"Y/n, look me in the eyes. Bucky told me you were a little prankster. Now where is it?"

"Umm.. it's your backpack that you lost, Mr. Spider," I said with a little sassiness... just a little too much.

Peter raised an eyebrow at me and picked me up by my underarms.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Y/n!"

I was loving this. I love playfulness. I giggled.

"You think this is funny, huh?" Peter asked.

I nodded, giggling a bit more. I saw him crack a smile, but he quickly hid it.

"You remember earlier tonight when you said "not in front of Spider-Man"? That sure was interesting... Hmm. Why did you say that?" He asked mischievously.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I turned red.

"Ah yes, and you blushed just like that." He pointed at my face, smirking.

He sat me on the counter and I giggled nervously.

"What was that about, huh?" Peter said resting his chin on his hand, looking really closely into my eyes.

Dang it, Steve..

"Uh nothing! You know me and Steve were just messing around. I-I b-bet he took your backpack." I lied some more.

I was just so deep in lies, I kept digging more. Peter stood up straight and put his hands on his hips.

"Come on, Y/n. Really?" Peter chuckled, shaking his head.

I smiled shyly at him.

"What was it that you wanted Steve not to do in front of me?" Peter asked, pretending to think.

My heart was pounding out of my chest. He was so skilled at teasing. He was super witty and knew just how to get to someone. I squeezed my arms close to my torso, trying to be discrete.

"It couldn't be that you're ...ticklish." Peter said and widened his eyes at me, like a cat about to attack.

I leapt off the counter and made a run toward the nearest door, leading to one of the lounging areas.

Peter quickly caught me and threw me on the couch, and began to tickle my sides causing me to burst out in laughter. Peter seemed taken back at first at how ticklish I was.

"Oh my goodness! How cute! I didn't know," He said in a high-pitched voice, giggling at me while he began spidering up and down my ribs and sides.

His tickling skills were really good. I'd never had something tickle me that much... until he attacked my tummy.

"Oh, THIS has to be your most ticklish spot," he said with a squinty smile, digging into my tummy.

He was correct. I was laughing like crazy and nearly screamed. It took everything in me not to scream, because I'd definitely didn't want to wake people up. I couldn't breathe and his tickles were too much for me to take.

"PETER! HAHAHAhahaha Peterherherherrrr! Hold ohohohnn!" I desperately pleaded through my laughter.

To my surprise, Peter halted his attack.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I ju-just need t-to breathe... You're a really good tickler," I said and then, I went pale.

Did I really just say that?

Peter's eyes grew wide and he just, kind of, froze and so did I. Then, he smirked and shot his hands under my arms and I brought my arms down, trapping his fingers.

"Well if I'm such a good tickler, then I should be able to get you to tell me WHERE MY BACKPACK IS!" Peter demanded, wiggling his fingers in such a deadly way.

I was so flustered, and in such tickle agony, I immediately shouted where I hid his backpack.

THIS KID THEN LIFTS ME UP BY MY UNDERARMS AND STARTS WALKING DOWN THE HALL TO THE ROOM.

I had to face him while he carried me, and even occasionally tickled my armpits while he carried me, causing me to squeal. I guess he could do this due to his super strength.

We reached the room and Peter looked behind the plant while still holding me.

"Good thing you didn't lie to me," he said and put me down.

I shyly looked up at him and then I bravely said "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Y/n, I haven't lost my backpack in about 6 months. Those stories were old." He said proudly.

"Oh, good for you" I said looking at the ground.

Peter chuckled and ruffled my hair, "Go to bed you little dork."

"Well you really wore me out. I think I'll just sleep here on the couch." I decided.

Peter laughed. "I could just carry you, if you want me to." He offered.

"Sure." I said happily, reaching my arma up to him. I loved being carried.

Peter surprised me by lifting me up by my armpits AGAIN.

"Nooononono not this again!"

"Why not?" Peter asked slyly and then tickled again causing me to shriek. He tickled for a little bit longer while I just laughed, only able to kick my legs.

He finally scooped me up in his arms and carried me to my room while I laid my head on his shoulder, nearly asleep. When we reached my room he placed me in my bed, and covered me up.

"Goodnight Y/n. I'll see you soon alright?" Peter said sweetly.

"Okay, Peter."

I smiled at him.

Peter cleared his throat. "And uhh it's great to see that you are doing so well. I'm proud of you."

"Oh.. thank you so much, Peter."

If only he knew how much that meant to me. As long as I've known him I've always looked up to him.

"Sure... and thanks for all the giggles!" Peter winked and turned off my lamp.

"Night Spidey."

After he left, I quickly dozed off to sleep with a smile on my face.

61 notes · View notes

post-itpenny · 3 years

Note

I thought I'd seen a ghost

Some long awaited Slasher AU

Mother, Mother

“Now just why on earth would such a little thing be out here alone?”

Maeve quietly hummed in amusement as she stalked the child down the trail. Always a good distance behind so she could hide, but never so far that she lost sight of the little one. She recognized her, the child from the diner that one time.

A little girl in a jacket with a bunny tail and ears. It was rather adorable, but there was something feral about her. The way she had acted in her small movements.

And then there was that thing in the forest.

Maeve hadn’t been able to get a good look at it, but it was big- bigger than her artist.

Speaking of.

Maeve grinned, but it was more of a nervous one. They were close to her territory. Maeve had come with another offering of bread, and finding the child had been an accident. But something… something felt off… felt...

...So lonely, yet Maeve had never felt so watched...

Maeve blinked and looked around. The child was gone.

Her grin grew wider as she crouched down, scanning the undergrowth.

A twig snapped behind her.

She sprung up, spinning around and pulling a kitchen knife from her satchel all in one swift movement.

A man stumbled back in surprise, “take it easy! Didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Maeve gripped the knife tighter. She was never this jumpy, not once had she slipped like this. She would have to-

Something rushed past her, the child now clinging to the man’s leg and hissing at her. “Stranger!”

Maeve wasn’t smiling now. She needed a plan, needed… needed.

Something.

The man gave a small wave, “are you ok miss? I’ll be honest I thought I saw a ghost, walking around the corner and spotting you.”

Maeve gave her head a small shake, she had to pull herself together and focus for five seconds. What was her plan?

Did she need one?

The man watched the knife in her hand but didn’t seem too frightened. Rather he was concerned.

Maeve blinked, well then.

She smiled and stashed the knife away. “I’m not a stranger dearie, we met once at the diner yes?”

The girl hissed and her hair puffed up. But she didn’t say no.

Maeve smoothed her skirt and took one step forward. The man staying still and the child gripping his pant’s leg tighter.

Maeve took another step forward, “Forgive the startle dears I”m just looking for a friend.” Maeve watched the child, remembering the thing in the woods waiting for her.

Perhaps….

“Well I’m afraid my granddaughter and I are the only one’s out here miss.” The man explained. “Maybe-“

“A bird,” Maeve explained, “I’m looking for a great bird.”

At this the man fell quiet, eyeing the woman intently. The child poked her head around her grandfather’s leg. More interested then scared now.

Maeve grinned, “her name is Maggie.”

……………..

The next day, Cecilio held Ama’s hand as they walked up to the woman’s front door.

She said her name was Maeve Blackwood. Ama did recognize her but the meeting had been brief. Cecilio cleared his throat as he knocked on the front door. Not sure what to expect of the strange woman. She seemed very proper, or at least she tried to be. Her old fashioned dress and sickly sweet mannerisms felt both genuine and an act. Like a possessed china doll.

Maeve opened the door at the first knock. She was, surprisingly, in jeans and a sweater, her white hair down in loose curls.

As they walked inside Ama froze, grabbing her grandfather’s hand as she sniffed the air. Cecilio leaned down for her to whisper something in his ear.

Cecilio sniffed the air as well for a moment but said nothing, standing up to find Maeve watching them intently despite the bright smile on her face. There was a “ding!” from inside as Maeve’s head whipped around. Demeanor shifting as she practically skipped down the hall humming to herself. He thought back to how distracted she seemed yesterday, was she always this flighty?

Maeve was found in a kitchen pulling something from the oven.

Fresh baked bread

Amaranthus gasped at the smell causing Maeve to turn with a grin.

“I wondered if you would recognize it, I’ve left loaves for our friend in the past.”

Cecilio sat down at a small kitchen table where tea was already laid out. “You’ve left her baked goods?”

Maeve nodded with a small hum as she carefully sliced the loaf and set it on the table with a small plate of butter. “Best way to anyone’s heart is their stomach, yes? I wanted to try and slowly build an acquaintanceship with her but she’s so weary of strangers I worried I wouldn’t succeed. But… well, here the two of you are.”

Cecelio took a sip of tea, “why are you so interested? No offence ma’am, but you don’t seem the type to enjoy long hikes in the woods with a monster.

Maeve took a sip of her tea with a small smile. “No, she’s not a monster. An artist yes, but not a monster. She is a person of interest to me however. Would you be so kind my dear in sharing what you can about our friend?”

Cecilio arched an eyebrow at the “artist” comment but did not say anything on it. “Well ladies first, I have a feeling you know something I don’t if I’m being honest.”

Maeve gave a warm smile with the tilt of her head. Humming quietly as she pulled something from her pocket and set it on the table.

A police badge.

Maeve gave a wicked grin, “lets try this again hmm? Tell me what you know.”

Cecelio stared down at the badge in disbelief. It was a good minute before he could muster up a dry chuckle. “Well son of a b-”

“Language!” Maeve snapped.

Both Cecilio and Ama jumped in their seats, startled by the first real sign of aggression Maeve had given them, a deep frown on her face. For just a moment Cecilio thought back to what Ama had whispered to him.

Cecilio cleared his throat, “my apologies miss. You just threw me for a loop there. Let’s make a deal huh? I’m here because I’m worried about Maggie, and you clearly know something I don’t. So let's all be honest to each other.”

Maeve tilted her head, “have I lied? I mean, in this room?”

“Well you weren’t forthcoming about being a cop.”

“Our dear one here met my brother and I at a diner,” Maeve replied with a nod to Ama, “we showed her our badges.”

Ama wasn’t paying attention, she hadn’t touched the bread or tea either, she was still sniffing the air. “Why does your garage smell like blood? I could smell it from outside.”

Maeve and Cecilio both froze. When Ama had whispered this piece of information to him, Cecelio was concerned but driven in the want to help Maggie. But now here was Maeve with a blank expression on her face. Watching him as she slowly leaned to one side.

“She’s got a weapon under the table”, Cecilio realized.

“Hey now if we’re all being honest I can honestly say that's not an issue.” Cecilio said with a casual wave of his hand. “Ama sweetheart, I think you can take your hoodie off.”

“But-”

“Eh, she's ummm…. Our new friend here is kinda like your dad. “

Ama watched Maeve in uncertainty before slowly pulling her hood off to reveal a tiny set of horns.

Maeve gasped in surprise, but there was no fear. She grinned like a kid at Christmas.

“They’re so darling!” She cheered as she clasped her hands together in delight. “I wondered if there were more than just our artist. This is splendid!”

Ama stared at the older woman dumbfounded. “Your not gonna-”

“Oh no don’t worry sweetheart I won’t say a word to anyone.” Maeve promised before turning to Cecilio, “As long as we’re all honest with each other, there is no need to be a tattle tail.”

The badge went away and all three of them calmed down after that. At one point a small dachshund entered the kitchen much to Ama’s delight and Cecilio’s relief since she didn’t see Maeve pick up the butcher knife from under the table and casually deposit it in the sink.

Cecilio shook his head, remembering the knife from yesterday. Guess she had an M.O.

Ama pulled the dog into her lap as Maeve returned with a plate of cookies and several manila folders. “Trouble can’t be at the table when there’s food my dear,” she instructed as Ama set the dog down with a sigh.

“Now then,” Maeve began. “I am technically a part of an investigation regarding several ritualistic murders in that part of the forest. When I couldn’t copy the M.O. myself I realised the killer couldn’t possibly be human.”

Cecilio nodded as he bit into a cookie, “but I think she is- or at least was.”

“You’re correct.” Maeve agreed as she flipped open a folder. Inside Cecilio was shocked to see photos of two older women. One with frighteningly familiar red hair.”

“Are they?”

“Her oldest sisters yes.’ Maeve confirmed, “did you know Maggie is in her fifties? She wouldn’t look it would she?”

“She doesn’t age?”

“I don’t think she could if she tried. But picture this, nearly fifty years ago twelve children were found on the side of the highway. Oldest was fifteen and the youngest was six. You won’t believe the leg work I had to do to track down these two.”

Cecilio nodded, “I’ve been teaching Maggie to read. We became friends after Ama wandered into her territory by accident.”

Maeve nodded, “she won’t kill children.”

“Yeah, I got a free pass as well I guess. But in her cabin there’s a photo of all these kids plus a number thirteen.”

“Maggie.”

“Yes. Where did they come from?”

“About three miles from where most of the killings occurred there are the remains of a compound. From what the sisters told me their community worshiped whatever it is Maggie is bound to serve. Think of her as an unwilling high priestess. The honor was supposed to go to the eldest sibling.”

“So they were runaways? Why leave Maggie behind?”

“It wasn’t their intention. But we are talking about two teenagers organizing a mass breakout. Their mother was the old Huntress and the community had no choice but to use Maggie.”

“So she's been like this since she was a kid? What happened to the compound?”

“Abandoned.”

Cecilio leaned forward, the writer in him sensing a plot twist, “what do you think happened?”

Maeve gave a grim smile, “No child would be able to perform such a complicated kill. It takes too much strength and dexterity. I suspect until Maggie was capable, the entity turned to the only food source available.”

“It ate them?”

“I suppose.”

“Maggie said she feeds it so whatever that thing is would get out of control and eat everyone else. How much do you want to bet she’s protecting a village she doesn’t even realize is empty?”

“Maggie’s job is to share visions and directions she is given to her people in exchange for her work.” Maeve explained. “I guarantee you she knows and is trapped in her contract. But I have a suspicion this thing isn’t nearly that powerful if it needs a host.”

“Wait,” Cecilio choked as he hastily swallowed the cookie he was eating. “Host?”

Maeve nodded, “it needs someone to kill for it. It’s shaped our girl into the thing that she is but according to the sisters Maggie is just a glorified puppet.”

“She’s not the monster-”

“She’s it’s first victim. At least in my investigation. The sisters gave me the impression this has been going on for several generations.”

Cecilio nodded, processing all this new information. “Maggie is out there alone, she stays quiet and follows that thing’s orders.”

“Not very well if she’s letting the three of us live whenever we visit,” Maeve commented with a sip of her tea. “From my understanding this thing is rather glutinous.”

“What will it do if it gets angry with Maggie?”

“Maggie is apparently not allowed to live for herself but she's not allowed to die either. Not until a suitable successor is given.” Maeve explained, “her sisters told me that the last time a hunter was belligerent their free will was stripped away entirely.”

“Maggie hasn’t been allowing Ama or I to visit in months,” Cecilio stated. “We’ve been trying but she won’t have it. And yesterday-”

“Didn’t it feel like something was wrong out there?” Maeve asked.

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the-fiction-witch · 4 years

Text

Doctor

REAL LIFE

COUPLE TBS X READER

RATING SMUTTY

I sat tapping my thumb against my hand desperately trying not to draw attention to myself.

I sat on the horribly uncomfortable wooden chair with the world's smallest amount of padding ever covered by scratchy blue fabric. The room was warm almost enough to make me feel strange but I didn't want to remove my jacket. The radio was playing some local station I wasn't sure what, playing some random thing from the charts I'd never heard off, the sounds of phones ringing in reception and people hurrying back and forth, every so often a loud beep would sound and the screen would call people into certain rooms. The place stank of disinfectant and sanitizer but I suppose it's better than it being a bad smell I guess.

I hated coming here but I had little choice some people get paranoid and I don't blame them for that just means I have to come to this place I hate and sit for hours, and see the doctor who had literally been seeing me since I was in the womb, it actually kinda worried me a little more I mean I highly doubt there is anywhere on me he hasn't seen… or touched. Eh he's a doctor.

I heard that loud beep again and saw my name so I got up and headed to the room. They told me to go pushing open the door as always, but I was a little surprised.

My usual doctor was not sitting in his chair as usual, it was a woman rather… attractive woman sat in the chair fiddling with her pen as she lightly moved the chair in her little nurse dress,

"Ooohh excuse me I must have the wrong room" I said

"Mr Sangster?" She asks

"Yes" I nodded

"Not the wrong room your perfectly fine come have a seat" she smiled

"Uuuhhh okay" I said shutting the door and nervously sitting in the chair

"So?" She smiled at me

"So…"

"You seem a little nervous?" She asks

"Sorry uhh what happened to dr weston?"

"Retired, Dr Y/L/n I'm taking over from him" she explained

"Oohh okay, well I uhh just need a sign off for work and all" I answered

"I see, says you haven't had a full physical since… 2001?"

"Yeah that's probably true, dr westons just kinda always been my doctor so he just kinda like took five minutes to look at me then sent me on my way" I explain

"Well, I'm not dr weston" she smiled "table quick as you can Jacket off Mr Sangster"

"Uhh okay," I nodded doing as she had asked me too I was beyond nervous having to constantly remind myself, she's a doctor, she's a doctor, nothing to worry about, she started doing a couple little tests and things on me before she spoke up

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you smoke don't you?"

"Well...yeah" I admit

"That's very bad for you, you know" she says going to her desk to make a note "bad bad boy" she smirked

"What!" I asked in shock

"It's bad for you, but I'm not here to lecture you hun" she smiled "now how about I strip for you?"

"I'm sorry?" I said very confused

"Could you strip your shirt off for me?' she smiled

"Ohhh right sorry, my heads all over the place today" I blushed doing as she has asked even if I felt nervous doing so crossing my arms over my bare skin as I was a little cold she did a couple other little checks if this and that she sat doing my blood pressure and I admit I was a tiny bit bored waiting around, I gulped a little as I felt her touching my forearm kinda playfully as she sat with the little machine

"Uummmm… that's a lot of pressure building" she says making notes

"Umm yeah there is baby" I muttered

"What?"

"What I uhhh I didn't say anything" I blushed realizing I said that out loud she giggled a little and took it away

"Do excuse me a moment mr Sangster" she says leaving the room

"Now we have a little privacy" she smirked coming back and locking the door "I suppose we should get on to the real testing" she smirked undoing the top fee buttons in her dress exposing her white lace bra I can see a lot of tension and pressure building mr Sangster"

"Uuummm hell yeah there is baby,"

"Whatever has caused that then?' she asks kissing down my neck leaving her red lipstick marks down my skin pushing my legs apart so she could stand closer to me

"All for you, doctor"

"All this because of little me? I don't believe you, perhaps I should take a look as it's causing you… so much trouble"

"Umm look all you want baby but touch and you better finish what you started"

"Not sure I should, you have been such a bad bad boy, Maybe I should examine all of you just to check of any issues, Maybe I should strip you naked and examine every single inch of you me Sangster"

"Ummm you're gonna make me cum doctor…"

"MR SANGSTER!" her voice yelled and I instantly woke myself up out of my fantasy shutting my legs "Yes… Doctor?" I blushed

"What did I miss?" She smirked making notes about something

"How so?" I asked

"You seem a little… excited?" She asks

"Ohh just uhh bored while you were gone and all" I lied

"It's alright shouldn't be much longer, just a couple more tests" she says coming over doing a few more little things even if I struggled to look her in the eyes "last one and it's really easy" she smiled getting her little steposcope and blowing on it warming it in her hand before she rested it on my chest listening I noticed she put her hand on my wrist too "your heart rates a little high" she says

"Yeah…. I wonder why that is" I said absentmindedly slightly looking down her dress she saw me looking and shot me a rather warning look as she continued glancing down

"Well at least I know something works" she smirked I was confused before I looked down and instantly panicked putting my shirt over my jeans trying desperately to hide my rather obvious erection

"I uhh I am so sorry" I blushed

"What for? It's a reaction nothing to do with you, it's not your fault" she giggled "all done" she smiled going to her desk I got my shirt and jacket back on covering myself up best I could "here, follow up in a few months, any issues relating to… problems call the number in the bottom" she explained handing me a little card with a phone number and the date for my next appointment then I noticed something about that phone number

"Uhhh the number in here is a mobile?" I asked

"As I said for relating to any.. specific problems" she smiled winking at me and returning where work

"When uh when do you get off work?"

"An hour"

"I'll uhh call you then" I smiled going to the door

"Have a nice day mr Sangster" she smiled blowing me a little kiss

"You too dr y/l/n" I blushed, blowing her a little kiss too before I left heading out to my car. I rather think I'll be going to the doctor a lot more.

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imzadi-caskett-huddy · 4 years

Text

House, M.D. Fanfic (8/?)

Thank you to everyone who has taken time to leave a note on my story. I hope you continue to enjoy my kind of rewrite and/or additions to certain episodes! As always, I don't own House. If I did, Lisa Edelstein would have gotten the respect she deserved contact wise for a season 8.

As stated in previous chapters, the story follows the big picture laid out on the show, but with my own take on things. This chapter starts with Cuddy's struggle to keep it a secret from House about his previous diagnosis being correct. I should say that I REALLY don't care much for early season 3 Wilson, and I'm going to do my best not to let that affect the storytelling. This chapter is longer... lots of story development to get through.

Thanks to @love-hope-faith-feels-like-a-lie on Tumblr for reading my ideas and providing positive feedback! Anything in the way of feedback is always appreciated! Enjoy!

xxxxx

She was definitely not comfortable lying to House about this. He deserved to know he was right. She didn't know why Wilson suddenly thought he needed to teach House a lesson on humility and make her a party to it. "I have to tell him. I see him every day. I..."

"Everybody lies."

Wilson's words echo through her head that night as her head lay on his shoulder, her fingers tracing lines across his chest. "You were right."

He turned his head slightly to see her better. "I'm right about a lot of things. You're going to have to be a little more specific."

She pushed up slightly on her elbow, the sheet sliding down her chest a bit. "Your patient. In the wheelchair," she started.

He smiled slowly. "You gave him the shot."

She sighed, dropping her head back to his shoulder. "I gave him the shot."

"Why?"

"Because I know you. Because you see things the rest of us don't see. Because as infuriating as it is, you're never wrong about the medicine."

He smiled smugly. "I was right."

"Yes," she sighed, rubbing her face. "You're always right. The man stood up from his wheelchair and hugged his son."

"You weren't going to tell me..."

She looked up at him then. "Wilson thought it was a bad idea..."

"Wilson would think this is a bad idea too. That mean you're going to stop sleeping with me to get pregnant?"

"No, of course not..."

"Then why are you suddenly listening to him?"

She was quiet a moment. "You like the high. The night you showed up outside my window with your diagnosis, you were higher than I've ever seen you on Vicodin. We just worry about you."

"And yet you told me anyway," he pointed out, shifting to get up and grab his boxer briefs. He needed to walk. He needed to think.

She made a grab for his shirt and slipped it on. There was an argument brewing. "You're an addict, House. You're always looking for a fix. If it's not Vicodin, it's a medical mystery that only you can solve. If you don't have the puzzle, you get your high in my bed. Its all just a fix for you."

"That's what you think this is? That's all you think you are? A fix because I don't use Vicodin anymore and you told me no at work?" He spun around to face her. The look in her eyes said it all... she did think that's all she was to him. "I'm going home," he started pulling on his clothes.

"House, that's not what I said..."

"You said enough. I got my 'fix.' Keep the shirt." He headed for the front door.

"House!" She called after him. But it was too late as she heard the front door slam. She sighed and for back into bed. She should have said something. She should have told him him she knew she wasn't just a fix...because she did know. This had been going on for months... it was way past just sleeping together to get a fix or to get pregnant.

Her hand moved over the place he'd occupied in her bed not even ten minutes before. How had this even spiraled out of control that quickly? Sliding closer to his pillow, she inhaled his scent. She could hear his bike engine revving as he tore down the street, and she knew sleep was not going to come easy now in her empty bed.

xxxxx

"How's the leg?" she asked cautiously as she opened his door. She wasn't going to push too much since they were at work, but she was trying to judge his mood. Especially since he hadn't bothered to tell her that his leg was starting to hurt again.

He looked up from his desk and saw her entering his office. "My leg is fine."

"You're limping. Cameron thinks it's because we lied to you. We both know that I already told you, so that's not it. Is it because we had a fight?"

"Your breasts are different," he studied her closely, completely ignoring her attempt to talk about him.

She continued unfazed. "Wilson thinks I haven't told you, and that I'm feeling guilty and want to coddle you."

He shook his head. "You're pregnant."

"I'm not pregnant. How badly does your leg hurt?"

"Your breasts are firmer. As someone who had intimate knowledge with the girls, I would know," he stated. "You're pregnant."

"It's called an underwire. Tell me about your damn leg." She was not going to let him deflect by turning the tables on her.

"My leg is fine."

"Let me do a scan on your brain. If the Ketamine is wearing off..."

"Let me do a pregnancy test." They each wanted to test the other. Fair was fair, after all.

"House, I'm not pregnant!" she dropped her voice at the end, not wanting that word to escape the walls of his office.

"You've been taking fertility drugs. You've been getting laid on a regular basis, without protection. Your breasts have enlarged. You're doing crazy things, because I can't think of any other reason why you would ever listen to Wilson about lying to me. You're pregnant."

"You're not always right, you know."

"Actually I am. You said so yourself. I'm never wrong about the medicine. But you and Wilson would just have me think I'm wrong. You'd rather have me doubt myself and lie to me about it than tell me the truth and prove I'm right," he said lowly, massaging his thigh.

"House, let me look at your leg."

"My leg is fine!" After a moment, he dropped his head slightly. "Don't you think if I thought the treatment wasn't working that I'd do something to try to fix it?"

She sighed softly. "If it gets worse, call me." She knew she wasn't getting anywhere with him then, so pushing further was futile. He was still pissed at her for not telling him he was right. She was pissed at herself for going against her better judgement on this and actually listening to Wilson.

xxxxx

He hated that he'd had to grab his cane. He hated that he had taken the pills. He hated that he was now standing on her front porch, leaning against his cane, knocking on her door.

"Tell me the truth. Are you pregnant?"

She wasn't surprised to see him, not really. Not after the way they left things. She was, however, surprised to see him with his cane. "Why do you keep insisting I'm pregnant?" She moved to let him in.

"Why do you keep insisting you're not?" He studied her. That had, afterall, been the purpose of them sleeping together to begin with. She had been very actively trying to get pregnant. So why was she now suddenly opposed to taking a pregnancy test to try to confirm it when he suspected it?

"You're walking with your cane. That means the Ketamine wore off." Now she was deflecting.

"Or it just means I need my next fix. That's what you and Wilson expect of me anyway, right? No puzzle to take my mind off it. Time to give sex a whirl."

She crossed her arms. "That's why you're here?"

"Why not? You have been so eager to welcome me into your bed. Figure I'll get high on endorphins from mind blowing sex and walk out of here without my cane," he said sarcastically. He caught the hurt look on her face at his comment and looked away.

"Call one of your hookers if you want mind blowing sex. I'm not in the mood," she turned to walk away.

"Hookers can do the distraction. They can't do the mind blowing sex. They don't do what you do..." He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. He'd crossed a line with that last insult, and he knew it. He'd tried to hurt her with it... knew just what button to push to get the desired reaction. "I took the Vicodin. My leg hurts," he admitted quietly.

She took a step closer then, resting a hand on his arm. "We can figure something out."

He shook his head. "Nope. Tried Ketamine. It didn't work. House the cripple is back for good," he told her simply. He'd gotten a beautiful glimpse into a pain free life, had allowed himself to hope, only to have it yanked away. "Probably for the best. I do my best work this way. Less likely to screw up diagnosing patients when I'm in pain. More likely to be an insensitive ass, but less likely to miss something and screw up the medicine."

"House..."

"Are. You. Pregnant?" his voice low, his eyes dark as he closed down any chance of continuing to talk about himself.

"No," she pulled her hand away and crossed her arms once more.

"Take a test?"

"No. It's not time y..."

"Then how do you know?" He interrupted her, moving closer.

"It's too early to..."

"Better to have another go then. Just to make sure it takes," he murmured lowly, pulling her against him in a kiss then. He was ready to lose himself in her and the way she could make him forget everything else.

At first she was going to push him away, but after a moment, her body melted against his, not bothering to stop him as he pushed her shirt up and over her head. He was in pain. He needed the distraction. Maybe she did too. Maybe she needed the high of sex with him even more than he did. Biting his lower lip as she deepened the kiss, she shoved him back against the wall hard.

He growled when his back hit the wall, his eyes darkening with lust, fingers digging into her skin as he pulled her roughly against him. His mouth moved to her neck, biting her pulse point hard and causing her to hiss, before soothing the spot with his tongue. She'd have to cover that with makeup tomorrow.

Her hands started pulling at his clothes as they worked their way to her bedroom. He closed the door with her body, pushing her back against it as his hands slid to her thighs and lifted her up, using the door to support the added weight so it didn't mess with his leg.

xxxxx

They finally both fell into her bed, breathless and in better moods. "Does that count as makeup sex? Or is that still angry sex?" He asked a moment later.

She lifted her head and couldn't help but smile slightly. "Shut up, House."

"I just need to know if I'm going to be expected to go another round for makeup sex, or if that was already covered..."

She grabbed her pillow from where it had landed on the floor earlier and smacked him lightly with it before shifting to get more comfortable in bed. "Shut up, House." But she did giggle softly to take the bite out of her words. She wasn't mad anymore. He didn't seem to be either. "Go to sleep."

#house #house m.d.#house md #house fanfic #house x cuddy #greg house #lisa cuddy #huddy

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satonthelotuspier · 5 years

Note

I'm seeing prompts on your site and does that mean you are accepting them right now? I've never requested a prompt before and I don't know what to do? But if I'm doing it right I'd really like to see 13 for XueXiao from the bodyguard au prompt list? Fluffy or angsty, as you please. Am I doing this right?

OK so Im being obvious, but this contains XueXiao.

Modern Bodyguard AU so none of the complications of canon apply.

Now the disclaimers are out of the way, I have to apologise to the very patient @amaskinamirror bc this took so much longer to write than I expected. The reason being most of my prompt fics end up around the 1k-1.4k word mark and this kept going and kept going because there was a story there. It came in around the 4.5k work mark. Think of it as added value, unless you hate it in which case it’s not ;)

Pompts from this post here

Part 2 now available here

Xue Yang is the enfant terrible of the music world and his manager has pretty much had enough of his shitty behaviour. Features a thorny Xue Yang shaped by the worlds opinions of him, and a hardass yet caring Xiao Xingchen who maybe might just start to see beyond the lies.

Possible triggers/warnings: Also features swearing, man-handling, use of a date rape drug, minor injury and blood. Luckily XXC is there to save the day in all situations.

Xue Yang was woken up from a deep, no doubt alcohol-induced, sleep to the feeling of cold water being splashed in his face.

He shot upright coughing and spluttering and wiping water out of his eyes, trying to process what the hell had happened. The unconscious bodies around him all started to stir and groan back to lucidity.

Xue Yang followed the long line of the leg in front of him up to eventually meet a pair of dark eyes staring down at him without expression.

“What the fuck?” he demanded and tried to get up but someone he didn’t even remember the name of was laid across his legs.

It had been another party. One where they’d drunk hard and passed out before dawn some time; he didn’t know half the people here. That had never stopped him. Being the enfant terrible of the music industry took both time, effort and commitment.

The tall man bent down to extricate him, then yanked him to his feet.

“You have rehearsals in ninety minutes. Get showered, you smell like a brewery” a garment bag was pushed into his hands then he was waved in the direction of the hotel suite’s bathroom.

“Excuse me, but just who the fuck are you?” honestly his head felt a little woolly still from the after-effect of the alcohol he’d been drinking, but he was sure he didn’t know who this man was or what he was doing in his hotel suite.

“Your Fairy Godmother, Cinderella, now go get a shower, you’re wasting time”

Xue Yang grabbed hold of the collar of his jacket, “Don’t bullshit me”

The hand that clamped around his wrist was steel-like, “Your new security. Your manager sends his regards. I won’t tell you to go and shower again”

“Firstly, if you are security you are not my boss, so you can stop with the ordering me around like I’m your little bitch, secondly, you are my security? I’m sure if a duckling gets too close you’ll do a great job, otherwise…” he was going to push the other away, sure because of his willowy frame it would be easy. Quite how he ended up in an armlock and being dragged to the bathroom he didn’t know. He bit his tongue to stifle the cry of pain; no way would he utter the noise aloud. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he snarled as the other kept going into the bathroom.

“I’ve already explained. I’m not going to repeat myself” the man opened the shower door, pushed Xue Yang into the cubicle and pushed the on button.

Of course Xue Yang never learned his lesson; he launched himself at the other only to bounce off the cubicle door as the other shut it behind him, holding it closed.

“New world order, xiao-Xue, get used to being my little bitch” the other grinned as Xue Yang punched the glass then yelled at the pain in his hand, “Clean up, I don’t want to be forced to come in there and clean you up myself”

***

Xue Yang curled himself up as small as possible on the back seat of the car; he was in high sulk. After calling his manager to demand an explanation of what was going on Jin Guangyao had told him in no uncertain terms he’d better get used to the idea of Xiao Xingchen being around. His new security was not only there to provide for his personal safety after a spate of disturbing mail (more disturbing than the usual run of the mill threats at least), but to whip him into some kind of shape as Jin Guangyao was convinced his terrible behaviour, bad reputation and general personality was about to lose them some very large contracts.

Everyone loved a bad boy in theory, but when it began to affect his ability to make his management company money then they were definitely going to act to protect their asset.

And that had come in the form of Xiao Xingchen, who looked as gentle and fragile as an orchid but who had already handed Xue Yang his ass once today already.

“A-Qing, I need breakfast” Xue Yang whined at his assistant as his stomach rumbled for the fourth time.

“You shouldn’t have upset the new bodyguard then” she mocked him quietly, and he retreated even more, pulling the hood of his jacket up and wrapping his arms around his knees as A-Qing took pity on him and leaned forward to ask the driver to stop at a nearby coffee shop.

They did, and A-Qing and the driver returned with coffees for all and a bag full of muffins.

Lao-Xia, the driver, and A-Qing had been with Xue Yang long enough to not meet his gaze as they started on their own food; Xiao Xingchen had no such warning; he was too busy goggling at Xue Yang who had made his own muffin disappear like a magician with a rabbit.

“Are you going to eat that?” Xue Yang asked, pointing at the baked bun in Xiao Xingchen’s hand.

He simply offered it over; perhaps surprised at the demonstration of the speed at which a muffin could be demolished without trace.

The second one followed the first in quick order and Xue Yang froze as the other reached over to brush the crumbs that had stuck to the corner of his mouth away with a thumb.

“You don’t want the Paparazzi to catch that” he said simply before turning in his seat to look out of the windscreen and sip at his coffee.

Xue Yang curled back in on himself and held his ridiculously sweet iced coffee to his chest.

“You eat too much sugar” Xiao Xingchen told him as Lao-Xia started the car and set off driving to the studio, “You need something to give you energy for the first meal of the day”

“Good luck with that, he functions on pure sugar and supplements” A-Qing mocked and Xue Yang shot her an annoyed look.

***

Xue Yang didn’t know why he was surprised the next morning when he was awoken by a solid shake to the shoulder.

He hadn’t been able to avoid the other to sneak off to party last night so he wasn’t hung over but that didn’t mean he was any more amenable to the idea of waking up.

“Come on Sleeping Beauty, you have to be at your first interview in an hour”

Interviews. His mortal enemy. The thing he hated most in the world. And he was still no better at dealing with them than he had been as a fresh face on the music scene, where the press had crucified him, thrown every painful fact of his past in his face and then painted him as a troubled bad boy with a temper; a role he’d eventually just given up fighting against and embraced.

He threw the blankets over his head; maybe if he just went back to sleep the interview would disappear.

The blankets were thrown back.

“Dude, what the fuck?” he demanded, was he allowed no privacy at all anymore?

“Get up” Xiao Xingchen jerked his head towards the bathroom.

“Fuck off. I’m not going” he reached out to push the other away.

It went about as well as yesterday had for him; he ended up face down on the bed with his arm locked up between his shoulder blades.

“Are you going to learn any time soon? I mean, kudos for persistence but lose points for stupidity. Now, last chance to get up on your own, otherwise I’ll throw you over my shoulder and you can go dressed like that”

Xue Yang wasn’t sure he believed the other was strong enough to actually carry him out of the hotel room, but he daren’t take the chance he might be dragged out kicking and screaming and dressed in his ratty old t-shirt and shorts.

“Fine, yes, I’m getting up. Let me go, please” as a street child he’d learned to beg prettily and it wasn’t a skill he was averse to using if he needed to, to survive. It didn’t need to be sincere, it just needed to sound it, to be calculated to pull on the other’s heart strings.

It didn’t seem to affect Xiao Xingchen, but he was released nonetheless.

***

Xue Yang of course arrived on time for his first interview, (there were three in total scheduled for today), as far as they went it wasn’t particularly gruelling for him, but he was fully aware he was a mess by the end of it; he’d probably come across like he was on drugs, but it wasn’t like that would be the first, second or third time the rumour would circulate in relation to him.

He knew Xiao Xingchen eyed him in consideration, but he ignored it; he didn’t have the presence of mind to survive the next two interviews and worry about what his new security agent was judging him for today.

He was much worse by the end of the second; he had been left alone a sitting room of the hotel the interview’s had been arranged at and he lowered his head into his hands, trying to even out his breathing and calm himself. His professionalism would be questioned even further if he failed to complete the last interview, or screwed up during it.

He felt the couch dip next to him, “Here” he looked up, poison on his tongue ready to be spit at Xiao Xingchen when he realised the other held out one of those large chocolate chip cookies in a napkin. There was also iced coffee sat on the table in front of him.

“Just relax, empty your head, and focus on the cookie” Xiao Xingchen informed him; raising an eyebrow as Xue Yang didn’t immediately accept the confectionery from him.

He took it with tentative thanks; and it vanished almost immediately once he’d decided to accept the gesture. Once he’d gotten the sugary coffee inside him too he felt much better.

***

Despite his trash reputation he wasn’t late for a single appointment over the next weeks; Jin Guangyao assured him it was perfectly alright to project the rebel for the masses but when you played the brat with the people in the business you’d soon be blacklisted; a risk he wasn’t willing to take with Xue Yang.

Xue Yang hadn’t managed to get near alcohol or a party in that time due to Xiao Xingchen’s hawk eyes and iron control.

Since the second morning though instead of being woken up with a bucket of water to the face or bickering the other had started showing up with a sweet pastry and a staggeringly sugary iced coffee which he traded off for Xue Yang eating better at other mealtimes.

Overall it didn’t seem Xue Yang had a moment of time where the other wasn’t somewhere close, controlling everything, keeping a watchful eye out.

And it bothered Xue Yang; he didn’t get used to the feeling of Xiao Xingchen being there like he’d been assured he would. He was still hyper aware of him, and he didn’t necessarily think it was because he was intimidated, despite the fact they’d had a few more altercations, none of which ended well for Xue Yang.

***

He tried to ditch his new security for his monthly visit to the orphanage his charity had built and ran; the less people who knew about it the better. Of course he couldn’t shake the other off so he had to attend followed by Xiao Xingchen, and explain to the children who the tall ge was. He was a great hit with them, and although Xue Yang pretended to be annoyed at Xiao Xingchen getting all the attention that the youngsters usually showered on him secretly he was entertained as he watched the other romp with the rough kids, or play softly with the quieter ones.

“This is the first time you’ve brought a bodyguard” he turned slightly at the sound of Tian Ying, the matron of the orphanage and the woman who’d helped bring him up in a similar institution when he had been a boy had come up beside him. “Are you in danger, xiao-Xue?”

“Of course not” he didn’t consider the crazy mail Jin Guangyao was filtering from him any more of a threat than any of the other mail he’d received in the last few years, and he definitely didn’t want her to worry about him, “They just decided I needed someone to carry my bags for me”

He didn’t have time to say much more as he was dragged into an impromptu game of football in the yard, where he and Xiao Xingchen were on opposite teams.

They played around half-heartedly until a Xiao Xingchen who was grace incarnate except apparently on a football pitch, stuck his foot out and took Xue Yang’s feet from under him and he tumbled. The fall itself wasn’t bad but he was a little grazed as they played on the yard and not grass.

Xiao Xingchen was unusually all apologies and personally saw to tending the grazes Xue Yang’s tumble had caused, despite his assurances he was absolutely fine. The touch of the other still made his pulse flutter in some odd emotion and the way Xiao Xingchen kept glancing up at him, like he’d discovered a rare and new species, was disconcerting. And pissed him off, because he could guess what it was about.

“Just don’t” he said through his teeth so no one around them could hear.

“Don’t what? Congratulate you on what you’ve built here? On what you’re doing for these kids?”

“Yes, don’t. I don’t want to hear it” he sucked a breath in at the sting of the antiseptic where Xiao Xingchen applied it to his grazes.

“Alright, whatever you want” Xiao Xingchen let it drop but he still looked at Xue Yang with something approaching admiration in his eyes.

And it was addictive, to have someone look at him like that, and not like he was trash. But then it had never bothered him before. Was it purely because it was Xiao Xingchen and he wanted to be more than trash in that man’s eyes?

“I guess you read too many gossip rags” Xue Yang sniped, “I’m not on drugs, in any weird cults, or a complete slut either”

Instead of bullshitting him and denying he’d thought anything of the kind Xiao Xingchen agreed instead, “I’m beginning to see that. Of course that doesn’t mean you don’t have a vile temper, that you don’t ever learn your lessons, or that you don’t sulk like a baby when I tell you no”

He was about to make one of his usual responses when the game of football moved closer and he clamped his lips closed on the curse.

There was a knowing, teasing look in the other’s eyes and as Xue Yang looked down into that finely-boned face he realised why the other’s good opinion had meant so much to him; why he was on tenterhooks whenever Xiao Xingchen was near, which was all the time at the moment, and why his pulse fluttered like his veins were full of butterflies whenever the other touched him. He was in love with Xiao Xingchen.

Well fuck.

***

Xue Yang paced around his hotel bedroom, feeling like a caged tiger. He wanted to destroy something. No, he really wanted a stiff drink.

Was he a masochist? What had made him fall in love with a man who knocked him around for fun? No of course that was unfair, Xiao Xingchen only ever restrained him and only when Xue Yang attacked first. Still, it must definitely be masochism.

Or Stockholm Syndrome; he had been at the mercy of the other, a virtual prisoner, for weeks now.

“I need a drink” he exclaimed aloud; and so he formulated a plan.

He took a quick shower and changed into something black and sexy and flashy, then he he called reception and asked for a taxi cab, and that they ring up to let him know when it had arrived.

He waited by his bedroom door, peeping through the tiniest opening for the phone to ring back; and as Xiao Xingchen got up from the couch to answer it he dashed out and past as silently as possible to give himself as much of a head-start as he could manage.

The doors of the elevator were closing just as he saw Xiao Xingchen enter the hallway and yell at him in rage.

He was in the taxi and away; his freedom all the sweeter for being carefully wrought.

***

Xue Yang was beginning to feel pleasantly buzzed and he was chatting quite happily with the guy who stood next to him at the bar of the VIP lounge. He’d been greeted by the usual crowd who hadn’t seen him around for the weeks he’d been kept prisoner, (OK maybe that was a little dramatic), but he’d never seen this guy before and new people were interesting.

Although he was beginning to get uncomfortable at how the other stared at him intently after he’d finished his drink.

He excused himself to “visit the bathroom” when life finally caught up with him. Life of course being Xiao Xingchen.

He pushed Xue Yang up against the wall of the corridor to the bathrooms, which was surprisingly currently empty.

“Hey” Xue Yang protested, although with alcohol relaxing his muscles it hadn’t really hurt as he hadn’t tensed for impact. Actually being pinned against the wall by the man you’d fallen in love with was quite nice. He had zero experience, bar some awkward kisses with a girl who’d known as little as him when he was younger, but apparently being manhandled was beginning to be something he enjoyed. Maybe because it was Xiao Xingchen though.

“I’d advise you to keep really quiet, I’m this close to spanking the living hell out of you” and really he’d never seen Xiao Xingchen’s deceptively delicate face so twisted in anger.

But of course alcohol impaired one’s judgement; to dangerous levels sometimes.

“Is that what you like?” he asked.

“What?” Xiao Xingchen was confused, his hand tightened on Xue Yang’s collar as if he suspected the other was planning something.

“Spanking, do you get off on it?”

“You really have no fucking self-preservation instincts do you?” Xiao Xingchen demanded and if Xue Yang hadn’t been so muddled due to the reaction of his body to the other, and the alcohol humming through his bloodstream he might have realised how much trouble he was in; he had never heard the other curse before in all their weeks together.

Instead he gave in to the urge pounding at the base of his brain, unable to control it anymore. He threw his arms around Xiao Xingchen’s neck and kissed him.

Well, it was clumsy and unskilled, but it probably still counted as a kiss.

He was pushed back against the wall unceremoniously, “What do you think you’re doing? You are my client. You are drunk. You are so out of line right now”

Of course he hadn’t really expected a different response. He somehow managed to pull himself free and stumbled back out into the VIP lounge.

Actually he seemed to be more drunk than he’d realised. He was suddenly barely able to control his body and he felt like his head was full of cotton wool. A hand touched his back, “Oh, you look terrible. Do you need to lie down? Should we get you out of here?” he was vaguely aware the voice wasn’t Xiao Xingchen’s, it belonged to the guy he’d been talking to at the bar, as he was guided towards the door but he really did need to lie down right now. He was about to nod his agreement when the supporting hand was violently removed.

“What the fuck did you give him?” that was Xiao Xingchen, although he couldn’t work out what the question meant. He felt the iron-grip of his security’s hand and he was pulled close to the other; he recognised the familiar scent of his aftershave and it set his mind at rest.

***

It had been days since the nightclub incident; and he’d managed to act completely clueless about the entire evening. In honesty there were huge swathes of Xue Yang’s memory that were completely blank, but he was cursed with vague recollection of him kissing Xiao Xingchen.

He wanted to die from embarrassment. He wanted to mope around at the rejection. He had to pretend like he was completely clueless about everything that happened though and let the other just write it off as a side effect of the Flunitrazepam the random guy at the nightclub had put in his drink.

He had been in touch with Jin Guangyao and begged the other to find him new security. He couldn’t carry on being around Xiao Xingchen all the time, feeling like he did, and scared to death he’d do something stupid to reveal his feelings in a way that couldn’t be pretended away like that stupid kiss.

He had faithfully promised he’d keep up the good behaviour Xiao Xingchen had bullied into him so long as Jin Guangyao replaced him with someone who wouldn’t cause Xue Yang such pain to have close.

His manager had promised to at least look into it.

Xue Yang didn’t realise he’d been wool-gathering in his head and managed to separate slightly from Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing until he saw a face in the crowd that made him uncomfortable.

He didn’t recognise the man but the fear that skittered down his spine was very real; he turned to try and get closer to Xiao Xingchen who called his name and dashed over; the flash he caught from the corner of his eye had him raising his arm in self-protection. He was dragged out of the way and thrown to the floor, catching nothing but a glancing blow as Xiao Xingchen took out the threat.

It was all very chaotic after that as the crowd helped keep the attacker captive until the police could arrive, and ambulance was also called as both he and Xiao Xingchen had taken knife wounds.

His was a cut to the arm that didn’t particularly bother him, it was the wound on Xiao Xingchen’s side that scared the life out of him. He used his folded jacket to keep pressure on the injury.

A-Qing fluttered around trying to get him to let someone else take over so they could do the same for his arm but he just waved her off; it was nothing.

“You really have no fucking self-preservation instincts” Xiao Xingchen told him in annoyance; luckily he seemed fully conscious at the moment.

“I know. I‘m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll be better from now on” he felt close to tears but fought them back brutally.

Xiao Xingchen nodded at what he said and looked into his eyes, “At least you’ll get your new bodyguard now, silver linings right?” he reached out with his left hand to thumb away one of the tears that Xue Yang hadn’t realised had escaped.

Fucking Jin Guangyao and his stupid big mouth.

“It’s for the best, xiao-Xue, in light of everything”

Which meant Xiao Xingchen was aware of his feelings and agreed the best way to deal with it was to move on. Well there went his dignity.

“You’re too precious for this cruel world in the limelight, anyway” Xue Yang tried to mock, his voice a little strangled.

“Which of us do you mean?” Xiao Xingchen asked and it was both an arrow to his heart and salve to his ego to hear such an opinion from the other.

He was glad when the paramedics had arrived and he was shuffled away to have his own wound dealt with so he could save some face. If the paramedic thought the tears were a reaction to the pain or shock of being attacked then good.

They were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated. Xue Yang’s cut needed a few stitches so he was ready to be sent away reasonably quickly, but he stayed in the waiting room until A-Qing came back to report Xiao Xingchen was fine, he’d be kept in for a few days as his would was deeper and nastier but he was stable and in no danger.

“Aren’t you going to visit before we go?” she asked, but he shook his head. And honestly she was smart enough that she probably knew what was going on and why he didn’t want to impose on the other. “Alright, lets get you back to the hotel. I think Jin Guangyao will be waiting, unfortunately, I can’t do anything to put him off this time”

Xue Yang sighed and accepted his fate.

One Month Later

The stage lights faded for the last time and he was finally able to slip offstage. He was lathered with sweat and completely exhausted. Xue Yang’s knife wound hadn’t been particularly deep or damaging but it was surprising how much it had knocked him down. He still tired out so much more easily than he was used to, but he hadn’t wanted to put this concert off, preferring to get it out of the way so he could take a holiday for a couple of weeks and use it to think about the next steps in his career, and indeed life, with nothing hanging over his head.

The man who had attacked them had been the same who had drugged his drink in the nightclub, although due to the effects Xue Yang couldn’t identify him; it had been lucky his subconscious had reacted to the man though, or it could have been so much worse.

He accepted the towel A-Qing held out for him as he met his entourage in the back stage passages and dried off, pulling on the coat she had also brought him.

There was an oddly smug look on her face and he questioned her.

“Nothing, just something funny is all” she refused to be drawn on what caused her to smile so.

They made it back to the dressing rooms and he was bundled inside.

He wondered, uncharitably, if she was on drugs.

“No rush, your car won’t be here for quite some time yet” A-Qing told him as she shut the door behind him and he turned to find his street clothes. Except he wasn’t alone.

Oh.

Suddenly he daren’t move from the doorway, not sure whether to tear it open and flee or move into the room and act like he wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

In the end he compromised, did nothing and stayed exactly where he was.

“Why are you here?” he tried to keep his voice steady, and luckily it didn’t shake too much.

“Why do you think?” Xiao Xingchen asked him.

#mdzs #mdzs fanfic #mdzs fic #xuexiao #xue yang #xiao xingchen #Modern AU #Bodyguard AU #Blood cw #injury cw #date-rape-drug cw #pining #one-sided feelings?

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jinxthequeergirl · 5 years

Text

In The Depths of your mind

Gabriel x winchester!reader

Summary: after your life spirled out of control after Gabriel's seeming death the boys take matters of erasing him from your memory, but of course he comes back and is still in love with you but can't do anything about it

Warning: swearing,angst, probably gets a little spicy towards the end?

This is just a guilty pleasure thing I did for myself, also Blame my friend for making me love this ass again

Also this story? Long as all heck like, And sucks booty but ding dang im sorry.

~~~~~

"Stay still!" You yelled at the angle in front of you. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry!"

You grinned up at him and traced your finger across his palm, causing him to squirm again. "Gabriel!" You dropped his hand and fell back into your bed. "I'm sorry! I swear I won't squirm anymore!"

You laughed and pulled him down with you and kissed him. "You ruined the moment dumbass." you muttered before kissing him again. He frowned after pulling away and rested his chin on your chest.

"Sugar, please? I'm dying to know what my future holds!" You hummed in response and played with his hair. "You know what I think?"

He shifted on the bed next to you and rested his head on your shoulder. "What?"

"I think...the future can wait. It's a beautiful afternoon...and I could really use a nap...so why don't we just live in the moment?"

He smiled as you curled up next to him and shut your eyes. "In order to nap your eyes need to be closed, Angel cake." he chuckled and shut his eyes falling asleep with you.

It was weird that's instantly what he thought of after Sam and Dean told him that after he "died" they had castiel erasie him from your memories, meaning you wouldn't know who he was when you walked in through the door, you wouldn't remember the life he gave you for a little while, and he could do nothing about it.

But it pained him even more to hear about how bad your life had spiraled out after he did so. "Just remeber we don't know what could happen if you bring those memories up unexpectedly, so just be careful..."

He nodded slowly still processing everything.

"Boys I'm home!" you yelled from within the bunker. Gabriel perked up in his seat turning to the doorway where you appeared holding three bags, two bags from KFC and one from the grocery store.

Gabriel stopped when he noticed your hair wasn't it's natural color and it was only then he realiesed only part of what had happened to you after he left.

"You must be the person I spent an extra twenty bucks on." you joked as you set the bags down on the table he was still seated at.

"I'm y/n by the way." he stared up at you as you started unpacking the food. Dean came up behind him and hit him slightly shaking him from his gaze. "Gabriel, nice to...nice to meet you."

You looked at him with a smile. "Well Gabriel, dig in!"

You took a seat next to him grabbing some chickens and talking to Sam and Dean about the case You where currently working on.

Gabriel barrely moved the entire time you all sat there talking, he sat there ever so slightly eating the food and glancing at you.

"So what's your deal?" you asked him after you finished, Dean had already set to work on opening the grocery bag full of deserts you picked up.

"What do you mean?" you shrugged.

"Well I don't know You very well....or at all for that matter but the boys here do so?...."

He looked at Sam and Dean across the table as if they where holding poster borards with what to say up. But they gave him the same look.

"Hello?" Sam cleared his throat and began talking. "Gabriel here is...An old hunting buddy of ours and....and came here for a place to stay for a while." You looked at the three men suspiciously.

"Ok well how long-"

"Years...years and years almost too long if you ask me." Dean chimmed in. You looked at Gabriel who flashed you an unconvincing smile.

Yet it was a smile and it sparked something in you causing you to return the guesture. "So tell me about you!" Gabriel said quickly catching both sam, Dean and you off gauird.

"Uh ok? What do you wanna know?" you shrugged crossing your arms and and leaning back in your chair to face him.

"Your hair is interesting." You laughed.

"Strange choice of topic but ok, yea I was feeling bold....thought it was time for a change. So I got up one night ran to the closest convinence store and picked the first color I saw, I stayed up till four in the morning doing it." You laughed.

He laughed lightly with you, he knew that's not really what happened but it was pretty close to something you would do no matter the state.

And then suddenly you where both talking like nothing had changed, you told him about things you liked and did as hobnies, you told him about music you had gotten into and movies you started watching.

You even told him stories of hunts, some scared him and made him worry for you, others impressed him and at somepoints made him laugh when you brought up a funny memory.

And to him it really felt like he hadn't lied to you for year, like he hadn't put you through pain and angony and it felt just almost like you where sitting on the front pouch of the house he stole you away to and talked as the Sun set behind the ocean.

And it felt the same to you, talking to him felt familiar and comfortable, it was like talking to Sam and Dean but times a thousand.

"You alright?" you swallowed thickly and furrowed your brows realising you had infact gone scilent and stared blankly at the table in front of you. "Yea...wow I just...just got lost in thought for a second there." you chuckled.

"Hey you should probably get some sleep." you hummed in response finally noticing Sam and Dean where obviously way ahead of you.

"Yea...uh did they show you where your room is?" you asked while standing up. "Yea I got it." You smiled and headed across the room to find your bedroom.

"Goodnight gabriel, it was nice meeting you." he frowned slightly. "Right...yea nice meeting you too!..."

He stayed there at the table for some time, he let his mind drift from one thing about you to the next, Sam and Dean hadn't told him what exactly happened to you, what you did when he left so he thought about that. When that got to painful he thought back to the house on the beach.

Years and years ago you ran away with him, he promised you a life hunting and being a winchester could have never promised.

He made sure your life took place some where that made you happy and worked hard to make it perfect and as far as he knew it was exactly that to you.

It was a small and quaint little cabin right on the edge of the beach, the beach because he remembered you telling him that never in your life have you been, he included a garden in the back, and your own personal art studio where he remembered watching you sing at along to bon jovie at the top of your lungs while you painted.

And then out in the front of the house there was a hammock tied to the post of the front pouch and a tree and you two would lie there rocking back and fourth lightly during the late afternoon talking and listening to the ocean.

"I thought you said Sam and Dean showed you your room?" Gabriel jumped awake upon hearing your voice. You laughed seeing him do so. "Easy sleeping beauty."

"What time is it?" he asked groggily sitting up. "Eight thirty, thing one and thing two went on a coffee run...what happened to you?"

"I don't know I guess I fell asleep before I could get up."

"Oh really? Is that what happened? You asked sarcastically. You pushed yourself off of the table and headed into the kitchen. "You like sweet things, right?"

He nodded while standing up to strech, but then paused. "How'd you know that?"

You turned slightly stopping yourself. "Uh...you told me didn't you? Last night." he narrowed his eyes trying to think. Maybe he did and he just couldn't remeber.

"Yea..." you smiled and continued into the kitchen. You appeared from the kitchen just in time to see Sam and Dean return with the coffee.

"Welcome home!" you said carrying a dish. "Wha y/n you never cook...what is this?"

You shrugged setting it down. "Cinnamon rolls." you said with a smirk. It didn't take long for Sam and Dean to notice you where acting diffrent now that Gabriel was around you would bring up weird thing, you kept spacing out at times and everything about you had shifted.

And that's exactly what got you hurt on your last hunt with the three of them. So you stayed in the bunker doing reasearch for them while Gabriel stayed and watched over you.

"Hey, I brought something for you to eat." He said pushing open the door. You smiled and sat yourself up slowly, still wincing at the slight movement. You held your side and mustered a smile.

"Hey take it easy, sugar." he set the plate down on the bed stand beside you and looked around the room eyes landing on the small desk and the art that hung on the wall above it.

"How are you holding up?" he asked looking the art closely.

"Uh as good as a person with a cracked rib could be." You responded. He chuckled lightly.

"These...are...amazing!" he said looking at them closely. He took note of the facless figure's with wings who's faces where scribbled out, then the house.

Your house, the one on the beach. "What...What is this?" he asked pointing to it.

"Oh the dream house." You grinned.

"The what?"

"Well being a Winchester and hunting things for a living isn't exactly a dream life...So I've always dreamt of living on this perfect little beach in this cute little house."

He watched as you smiled dreamily and continued explaining exactly what you had, like it was burried deep inside your mind, yet right at the surface of it all.

"And I'd live there with the person I love and we would just spend every day together going to the market near by or laying in the hammock..." you chuckled ever so slightly at the thought.

"But I'm here instead living my best life..." everything was scilent between you for a few moments. Then you shifted on the bed clutching your side. "Hey come here." You said patting the bed in front of you.

He did so and you held your hand out expectantly. "Gimme your hand." He did so a started wriggiling under your touch as you traced the lines on his hand.

"What are-"

"Reading your palm, a friend taught me a while back, Now Sit still dipshit." You giggled. He stopped when you said that breathing out lightly.

"Well lucky you." you stated excitedly. "It looks like..." you started laughing catching him off gauird. "What? What is it?"

"Nothing! Nothing! It's just...I have no idea what I'm doing! I've forgotten what she taught!" you laughed loudly still holding his hand. He grinned and started laughing along with you.

Once you died down you looked at each other quietly for a moment. And then suddenly you had his face in your hands and kissed him deeply, your kissy was needy and despreat, like you where missing it.

He didn't stop you either, he wrapped his arms around your back and deepend the kiss. You discarded your sweater which stopped Gabriel momentarily as he looked at the bandaging around your torso.

"Hey..." you kissed him between your words. "I'm fine."

He gingerly moved his hands down your torso. "I love you." he muttered out against your lips. You hummed kissing him deeply. And suddenly there was a sharp pain in your head and you free back grimcing.

"Y/n?" You scooted back holding your head. "I'm..." you let out a pain filled yelp screwing your eyes shut tightly.

"Y/n what's wrong!?" he moved to touch your arm and as soon as he did your ears where ringing and it felt like someone was pushing your head into a wall slowly, you let out one more scream before Your vision went black.

"Gabe!" Dean grabbed you and pulled you back from the scene in front of you. Gabriel really did his hardest to take down Lucifer but it didn't look so good. Because he had an angel blade deep in the gut of the person you loved.

"Oh no...gabe look." he turned Gabriel around to face you as your brother held you from attacking Lucifer. Tears rimmed your eyes as you struggled to run over to him.

He swallowed thickly as he looked at you. "I'm...I'm...so sorry..." Lucifer pulled the blade from him and let him drop. "Oops."

You let out an angry scream at him before he vanished. You kicked Deans leg hard causing him to loosen his grip.

You ran over to him stopping when you saw the black scorch marks of wings sit on the floor around him. "Fuck, Gabriel!?" you fell to your knees slowly touching him lightly. "Gabe?...Angel?...Angel cakes!? Please!" you shook him slightly hoping that would do it.

"Gabriel you ass! Don't you dare!" when he didn't move you sobbed into his chest. "Y/n...come on...we need to go.." you shook sam away from you. "NO! I should have fucking listened to him! And stayed at home! He gave me a home sam! And now...now he's dead and I...I can't...can't go back home!" they where scilent. "And he didn't say good bye He said I'm sorry....it wasn't his fault..."

Suddenly your eyes snapped open and it felt like the wind was knocked from you, tears slid down your face, and You breathed heavily looking up at the consirened Angel in front of you. "Y/n?" he asked carefully.

"What the hell..." You breathed finally. He furrowed his brows. "YOUR DEAD! YOUR FUCKING DEAD!" you yelled getting up quickly.

"Wait, y/n-"

"I...I went through hell and now your...your back!?" you grabbed your sweater pulling it on. You stumbled, your head was still burning and your side ached.

"Y/n stop let me explain-"

"Fuck you gabriel! I trusted you! I loved you and and you faked your death I assume...and What where you doing? Huh? Off with some slutty pornstars!?"

The angrier you got the more your head started reeling digging up memories you'd lost after that, putting the pieces together. "Get out."

"What?"

"GET OUT I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!" you yelled pinching the bridge of your noise holding back tears. "No we should talk-"

"Gabriel." you said flatly, glaring up at him. He looked down and quickly left the room. You followed slamming the door shut. He stood there for a little bit and soon enough heard you sobbing. "I'm sorry..." you heard him mumble. Outside the door. You stopped and just burried your head in your arms chocking on sobs trying to ignore the memories that where lost that started flooding your head.

When he got no response he sighed and took a seat outside your door hoping you would open it and let him explain or help.

#supernatural x reader #gabriel imagine #gabriel x reader

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jlpat82 · 6 years

Text

Not Our Home

Chapter 4

I sat at the cash register the next day, Elise was off and I had no one to talk to. So far I had managed to avoid the fat cat, which was a lot easier then I thought it would be. My cheek throbbed and my side was tender. I flipped through the newspaper, half reading, half daydreaming.

An article caught my attention, Two underlings found slain! I continued to read in horror. One of the men had his throat ripped out to point of partial decapitation. The second of the two, his lower half was found ten feet from his torso. They were found at six am in tube number 36. The police were searching for witnesses but were expecting grim results.

I hadn't taken the tubes this morning, I was running late and hopped a tunnel. I broke out in a cold sweat when remembered I left my work shoes in the tube, shit. This was getting worse.

It was then I looked up and saw two officers talking with my boss. I couldn't hear the conversation but his body language was clear as day. He was angry, his face was red and he shaking his head.

"Excuse me." A stern high pitched female voice snapped me back to my senses. "Is this lane open?"

"Yeah, sorry." I started to ring her items, I glanced over. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" She scoffed at me, her triangle was facing up, great an upper class. "Some low life goes and get himself killed and everything turns upside down. They should be praising the person that did it. Less scum breathing the air."

"Oh." I finished her order and sent her on her way. I looked over, the cops were gone and so was Robert.

"Julianne to the office please." The over head system shouted. I had a perfectly good phone at my station and he chose to over head me. I locked my till and started the slow trek to his office.

Opening his office door I was hit with a putrid smell of body odor and moldy cheese. I felt my stomach turn, papers stacked knee high in all corners of the room. Robert's desk was covered in porn magazines and crumbs of food.

"Sir?" I asked, wanting nothing more then to run away.

"So, you have yourself in a bit of a pickle." He grinned, his teeth were uneven and yellow. He licked his thin greasy lips, while running his hands over his bald crown.

"I don't understand." He arced a wiry eyebrow at me and ran his hand down the front of his rust colored polo. Crumbs rolled down his pot belly to the floor.

"Your work shoes were found in the side tube." He crossed his hands on the crest of his pudge. "Everyone here knows you walk that tube to work and you recently started walking home at night."

"Last I heard there wasn't anything illegal about walk the tubes. In fact it's highly encouraged because of absorbing vitamin d from the sun." I replied trying to sound cool, to be honest I was nearing panic.

"You're very correct, however, we have proof you left that way last night. Your shoes are found there and you come to work looking like you've been in a fight."

"Yes, someone jumped me and stole my shoes. A small fight broke out and managed to escape and make it home." I tried to spin it around.

"You could tell them that, or I could tell them I over heard you confess to filleting them." A wicked grin broke across his waxy ruddy face.

"What?!"

"Unless you do as I ask, that's what I'll tell them." He stood slowly and waddled toward me. Robert only stood to my chin, but out weighted me by almost two hundred pounds. He tottled around behind me, and slid a fat finger across my bare arm and traced it across my back. "I mean, the alternative is death. So, you do as I ask, every little flavor until I get bored."

I felt like I was to hurl, I needed a boiling hot shower. This disgusting thing was touching me again, I knew what he wanted in exchange for his silence. I'd rather die then let him come anywhere near me in that manner.

"I know how you feel about me, so I'll let think about it tonight and then you can come agree to my terms tomorrow." I didn't respond, I turned and left. I rushed out of the office and out through the tube door, I had to breathe.

I saw the left over blood in the tube. It looked like an attempted to clean it had happened but gave up half way through. The sun was starting to set, the sky had a green tinge to it. I watched as the sand blew across the ground, swirling and dancing.

"Miss, this tube is closed." A gruff voice startled me, I looked over my shoulder. He was standing next to door, arms crossed. His sandy blonde hair peaked out from under his police issued hat. "How'd you get in here?"

"Um, I walked in." I replied meekly, starting towards him and the door, back the direction I had just come. His posture told me he wasn't a happy camper with my response. He had a body builder frame and piercing blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you in here?" He voiced echoed off the walls.

"My boss, he made a pass at me. Told me he'd spread hold rumors if I didn't do what he said. I just ran, I need to breathe. I didn't think when I went out the door. No body was guarding it." I tried to pass him. He stood in my way, using his baton to push my face up. He looked at my swollen cheek.

"What happened?" His eyes narrowed.

"I was jumped last night." Here we go, might as get this out of the way.

"Where?" The tube was starting to darken, night was upon us and a sliver of moon peaked again.

"Five feet that way." I pointed down the tube toward my place. There was no way a cop was going to believe I had the strength to rip another person in half.

"Who else was with you?" His body moved in a defensive stance.

"I was by myself. I kicked one of them, it managed to distract the other one and I was able to get away. They were both breathing last I knew." I lied slightly, I didn't move. He had his hand on his belt.

"You're the reason he's dead." That's when it occurred to me, that maybe I wasn't even talking to a cop.

"Who are you?" I took a step back.

"My brother was the one you ripped the throat out of. You sick twisted bitch." He took a heavy step towards me. I took another back.

"I didn't do anything to your brother. He attacked me."

"You shouldn't have been prowling the tubes at night. It's not safe, everyone knows this." He sneered, as keep he walking toward me. "He was working on getting clean. But you had tricked him up here with the promise of a new drug."

Drug? What drug? I just stared at him in completely disbelief.

"Don't play dumb, I found this on him." He tossed the vial of soil at me. Relief washed through my body. He didn't know what he had. "I contemplated arresting you but you wouldn't get what you deserve that way. Hooking innocent people on that shit, turning them into a shell of what they were. Nah, you deserve to suffer."

He took his badge off and dropped it the ground. Well, guess my day was only going to get worse from here. He took off his police vest and hat, I kept backing away slowly, trying not bring any attention to the fact I was trying to put as much of distance between us.

"It's fitting really, destroying you in the same tunnel you murdered him." He calmly stated, looking back to me. That when he hurled is body in my direction, charging at me with large strides. Quickly I spun around and darting to the opposite end of the tube. He was faster then I was and was on me by the time I reached the door.

El buffo grabbed my head and slammed it into the steal door. An explosion in my brain told me it would be a while before I saw straight. I felt my body be thrown back the way we had just ran from. To be honest I don't remember feeling my body land or much of what happened after ward.

I came to in my room, surrounded by darkness. My head throbbed, my stomach was turning over and over again. The room felt like it was spinning, I rolled to my side wrapping my hands around my temples and whimpered.

"Kid, trouble seems to follow you." He whispered, I leaned over my bed and dry heaved towards the floor. I didn't need to ask, I knew he saved me again. My guardian in the darkness. I leaned over and opened my nightstand drawer, pulling a bottle of white pills out. I dry swallowed two more illegal items.

"He thought I killed his brother." My own words bounced around in my skull, I pulled myself into ball clutching my head. The pain was excruciating, thoughts of death clouded my mind.

"He won't be bothering you."

"What did you do to him?" I whimpered as my body reminded me talking was not a wise idea.

"Doesn't matter, he was a threat and that threat was eliminated." His tone was cold, I heard him move around the side of the bed. "I thought I told you to take it easy."

"I have been, what do you expect just to stop going to work?" The pain was starting ease, but I dared not to move.

"Call in sick." He knelt down in front of me.

"I don't know what you mean."

"When you don't feel good, you call into work saying you won't be there." He explained, his hand lightly brush my hair back.

"There is no such thing. You miss work you're sent to the factory, the only time you can miss work is if the doctors order you bed bound." Slowly I opened my eyes, his face was a mixture of confusion and concern.

"What has the world become?" He mumbled to himself.

"The world is ruled by people with money and power. We do what we can to survive, we find ways to cheat the system."

"How?"

"The underground. Some of us do illegal work to find ways to bring ourselves happiness, whether it's reading something other then books they allow or watching movies that are a hundred years old. It make life more tolerable." I sighed the pain was near gone, I rolled onto my back. He looked at me with sadness in his amber eyes." You want to see what I go through? You want to know how I keep from going crazy?"

"Show me." His reply was simple and I rolled off the bed, my vision swarmed and danced. I felt his hand on my elbow steadying me.

"Come with me." I grabbed a small brown leather satchel. My life line when it came to the underground. It contained more pepper spray, loose money, fictional pamphlets, and other random items to trade.

He followed me as we left the darkened apartment. We walked down the empty hall to the rickety elevator. I pushed the call button, I had never taken anyone to the underground with me before.

Dulo's, the underground people, didn't take kindly to strangers. I had had my rear end handed to me many times before they accepted the fact that I wasn't there to bust them. The easiest way to be accepted is befriend one of these people, someone other dulo's trust. For me that was Holy Man, he preached an old book and never came topside. He was the one who gave me pepper spray after the fifth time I was jumped. I haven't seen in months, I fear the worst of him.

The elevator dinged and the doors slowly rolled open. We stepped in, the lighting low and yellow. It reeked of urine and stale alcohol, Reaper looked around the small enclosed room and took a deep breath.

"Fourteen floors? The building is only four high?"

"Four above, ten below." I looked at him and pressed the U button. "And the underground."

"Why not called it fifteen?" The elevator car started to shake as it descended.

"Originally the underground was created to be a storage area. To save items that society wouldn't need for years to come. The Dulo's and Underlings found them and criminal activity flourished." I explained, the ride was slow going.

"Dulo's, underlings, what does all of that mean?" His eyes fixated on me.

"Okay, so you have elitist, people with money and power. They have their own breaks down I'm sure but I don't know those. Then you have the lower class, which is everyone beneath them. There are Yulo's, top siders. People that work just to get by, they are straight laced and never visit the underground. Then there are Lulo's, people like me. I'm a topsider that dabbles in the underground network. Dulo's, they live and breathe the underground network. Then there are underlings, they are criminals. They will do anything for a buck, mainly to supply their habits." I watch the floor count as continued the descent down.

"How often do you visit the underground?"

"More then I care to admit." The doors pinged and slowly rolled open.

Permanent tag-

@kitkatkl

Not our home tag-

@devilbat t @tarithenurse @radicalesbians @lilmissravingwriter @no-fuhking-idea

Let me know if you want tagged.

#dystopia #dystopien #government break down #soceity breakdown #slowburn #violence #1st person #not our home

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dovechim · 7 years

Note

After a hectic week I can finally sit down and dedicate the next hour or so to continue my story because I really want to get to the part which I'd like to hear your opinion - and everyone else's - about!! ☆ Long Story Anon

So we kept messaging for the following days, both busy with our respective classes; but before I knew it and I can't say I was surprised, he invited me to do something again less than a week later. We're from a considerably small city, there isn't much to do around here, so we had a hard time coming up with an idea. Well, he suggested to pick me up and we'd go back to his house to eat something, to which I agreed. I was with my friend and we were both jumping around from excitement ☆ 1

Needless to say my friends all loved him; they were happy that after such a long time and with such bad luck in love I finally found what seemed to be the last guy on earth who was worth more than two seconds of my life. I knew going to his house implied something more serious than making out could happen, but honestly I didn't mind if it did. In context, he lived with his little brother and parents; where we're from it's common at our age to still live at home since we've not graduated yet ☆2

But he'd mentioned during the first date that his parents were away for an anniversary holiday and his little brother was staying with the oldest one who lived in his own apartment with his fiance; meaning we had the house for ourselves. As planned he picked me up and took me there, had some food delivered and we watched terrible horror films on netflix. He'd cheesily try to put his arm around me on the couch and I'd move closer, ending up snuggled together with my heart about to burst ☆ 3

At one point both brothers and the fiance show up with some food, for some reason and that's when I knew half his family on the second date lol. But they moved upstairs quite quickly after eating and left us alone to watch the movies. Eventually he'd kiss my cheek, not-so-subtly letting me know he wanted to KISS-kiss me, but me being the nervous little shit I am didn't really know what to do. It'd been two whole years since I even attempted to make out with someone!! ☆ 4

So he had to move even closer and he said, which I'll never forget: "you're so shy", which I wasn't surprised about, it's not common for a 22 year old to be that reserved, I guess, but with a little bit of patience that single moment turned into the best first kiss I've ever had. I was so scared he'd be a terrible kisser, like I'd experienced before bc that's just a deal breaker for me and everything else about him was so perfect; but boy...was I wrong. We ended up making out for so long that ☆5

Our lips hurt, and he didn't even try to go too far, already noticing that I wasn't the kind of girl to tear off our clothes and start fucking (not that I didn't wish I were lol), so he just held me tight and took me home eventually. God, the memory of his kisses will never leave my mind. To this day I still get butterflies because it was the kind of kiss that makes you feel like your bodies fit together and makes your toes curl :') ☆ 6

im so soft for you and him already :”)))) it’s so sweet that he wasn't afraid of scaring you off and still went for it!! a lot of guys i know are hesitant about dating an inexperienced girl bc they’re scared they will scare her off, and once my friend asked me how he should chase after a girl who has never dated. i literally got so pissed lmao i just said “just fucking treat her like a fucking normal person!!! what are you intending to do that might scare her off???”

We had a third date after that, about a week later. We went out to eat and it was the day he started posting instagram stories with me and tbh I was surprised. In our generation it takes more than just a couple of dates for a guy to 'announce' he's not 'single' anymore. You know, like if he had intention of seeing other girls at the same time he wouldn't be parading me around for everyone to see, which only fed my hopes of him being 'the one' even more ☆ 7

omg yes :/ the dating culture is so complicated lmao like ppl can be going out with different people at the same time and there’s a certain time after which you’re considered exclusive... it’s so tiring tbh

Another week passed and out of the blue he was asking me to meet his parents. He was very lowkey about it; he said he missed me, mentioning they'd returned from NY and asking if we could meet again that night, but "my parents would be there too, is that a problem?" lol. So I said no, obviously, even though I was shitting my pants, I'd never met a boy's parents in that context before but he seemed excited. He picked me up and we drove back to his place where they were waiting for me ☆ 8

I decided I didn't want to read too much into it back then, but still couldn't help but notice that the older borther+fiance had dropped plans to go to dinner with us so 'the whole family would be there to meet me'. Did that mean him bringing a girl home wasn't that common? Was I actually that special? As if I didn't notice myself falling fast and hard for me enough, his whole family welcomed me with huge open arms. His little brother, extroverted as they come at the age of 10 did everything ☆9

To include me in the conversations; the older brother would tell embarrassing stories. The parents, both doctors, both dating since college and pretty much the whole family (fiancee included) were some of the most welcoming people I'd ever met. They treated me like a family member from the very beginning and noticing how nervous I was they would try to make the dinner as easy going as they could. The guy in question, let's call him Jed? Would hold my hand under the table to calm me down ☆ 10

Or rub soothing circles over my the fabric of my jeans to distract me when a family member would embarrass him. I fell in love with his family as fast as I fell in love with him and I just couldn't believe I'd found someone so perfect. We'd make out until our lips were sore and he'd drop me off at home always leaving me with a feeling of sadness that I had to say goodbye. He made me so happy that I started to go out more, meeting my friends I was just in such a good mood because of him ☆ 11

no you must have been so nervous!!!!! i mean i get that he was low key but still... parents are a big deal. i hope his intentions were rly pure and that he was that into you!! but im glad they were nice :”)

I'd even dare to say he made me a better person in ways only I can understand. He'd text me what he was doing or who he was with every day, all the time, even if I didn't ask -which I never did. Sure, he wasn't perfect; sometimes he'd forget we had plans. I have a feeling he lied to me a couple of times but about nothing really major; sometimes he'd be in a bad mood and be sarcastic and annoying af but honestly nothing too bad. All in all I had absolutely nothing to complain about him☆ 12

It wasn't until around a month and a half into the 'relationship' that we went out for drinks and then back to his place that he tried to have sex with me (he'd waited to bring it up more than any other guy I'd ever met lol). I didn't directly tell him I was a virgin, he kinda guessed, and he was more than okay with it, even saying 'I'll wait as long as you want to'; and damn I didn't really want to wait that long, it was just that the time was never right! ☆ 13

At this point we'd both had dinner with his parents several times already. They told me in that household they'd set the habit of having dinner together every night, and were more than happy to let me into their little tradition. At more casual nights we'd sit down and watch some film on netflix, the parents and little brother always moving upstairs at the end and leaving us both alone to make out some more lol. I was even invited to his dad's birthday dinner at a fancy ass restaurant ☆ 14

this is so cute 😭 im just very ugh whenever a guy kinda hints at sex bc dude u gotta make me WANT it not just ask for it :/ but it sounds like he was super respectful!! and tbh im just very bad with other ppl’s parents, but his sounds rly perfect 😭 do such ppl even exist??? i cant even remember the last time i ate w my family :/

So by the third month I already felt part of that family tbh. I'd cooked alongside the mother like lifelong friends, and sat down for coffee after dinner to talk about how fast technology is moving with his dad. His little brother would tell jokes or ask me to teach him some guitar and I think they began to love me as much and as fast as I loved them, honestly. I was even invited to the dog's birthday part lmfao I was just unable to attend but was kindly provided with video memories ☆ 15

Everything was going so perfect, I think we could've lasted so much longer but maybe just the timing wasn't right. I still remember him dearly though, but back then I had my heart broken so bad that I simply wish I'd never met him. What hurt the most was growing so attached to his family and then out of the blue, and without a single chance to say goodbye I never saw any of them again. I should've known life isn't a movie or a book and nothing that starts so well can end just as happily ☆ 16

WHY ARE YOU USING PAST TENSE?????????? NO!!!!!!!!!!! IM SO SHAKEN RIGHT NOW bc this feels like that part in a book where the author’s just leading u towards that horribly devastating ending and that’s exactly what ur doing 😭

The last night I went to his house - btw we never visited MY house because MY family as much as I love them to death aren't as welcoming as his was with me, so until I knew FOR SURE this guy and I were serious, I decided to suggest activities that required not being at my place lol - the whole evening started weirdly. He'd been taking longer than usual to text me, and it was getting too late so I though we just weren't doing anything but he insisted he wanted to see me ☆ 17

And fuck, I wanted to see him to, once or twice a week just wasn't enough anymore and I missed his touch so badly. So I agreed for him to pick me up, even though he kind of strung me along for a few hours. By the time he picked me up I hadn't eaten, not knowing wth we were going to do but he said he'd had dinner before picking me up. Why would he though? He knew we had plans, which usually involved dinner, why not wait for me for eating? Either way, I'd missed him, I wasn't about to fight ☆ 18

We reached his place and his mom was already going upstairs for sleeping along with the little brother; the father was performing a surgery so we were alone at the living room together. He was a little tense and I didn't understand why, he said he was tired because he'd had class up until late and I asked if he just wanted me to leave but he asked me not to; he wanted to see me, he wanted me to stay. We cuddled on the couch and I had to wake him back up several times, growing annoyed ☆ 19

And when the dad got home he quickly got up and pretended to do something in the kitchen. The man had to eat and we had to wait for him to leave to sit back together, the whole situation was awkward af. I was wondering if I should just call a cab and leave, but he insisted not to. At around 2am (it was a friday) while making out he asked if I wanted to go up to his room, to which I said yes. He knew what that meant, so he was excited about it, going upstairs to check if his room was clear ☆ 20

Damn, I hit ask limit again :'( I'll have to leave it here right now but I swear I'll get to the point eventually lol I'm sorry!! also thank you for giving me your patience and space to tell this story, I feel like this way I can tell it without filters about what really happened or how I felt and actually receive honest unbiased opinions

omg i literally cannot believe u ended right there??????? i hate tumblr’s ask limit. im on the edge of my seat right now!!! thank you for taking the time to send me these, im so invested in ur story now its insane!!

come back whenever you have time bb

#answered #long story anon #Anonymous

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pilgrimguyanne · 4 years

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The slowest pilgrim rides home from work.

I decided to cycle home from work. Part of this was vanity. My colleague told me I looked like I'd lost weight and, since I don't own a scale, the only way to make this true was to keep active. Part of this was Corona related, since the rush hour trains the last time I was in office were too full for comfort. Part of this was because I needed to clear my head. A dear uncle of mine passed away yesterday, and grieving from a distance is hard. All of this was a bad idea.

It started off as a good idea, because there's a bike rental spot right outside my office door. Google maps promised me it would take 1 hour 21 mins to cycle the 21 km, longer if I took the 25 or 37km route. I had had a sandwich and some tea for lunch, not a lot, but enough to get me 21 km mostly downhill or flat. I still had some water left, again, enough to get me 21 km downhill or on a flat.

The first challenge arose leaving the campus. It was neither downhill nor flat. But once I'd exited, it was fine, and it was a refreshing ride to the centre of the city. All good. I should have called it quits. Taken the train, been content with the 7 km or so behind me. But no. I went on.

Through the city, taking detours at building cites and going, the sun shining on my arms, the wind on my back. I saw a familiar yellow shell! The Jakobsweg! Everything would be fine. The first sign leading to Essen said 11 km. Easy. I would make it. I cycled up ( in a denim skirt, the most flexible piece of clothing) and got to see some beautiful views. Then it should be smooth sailing. Except the next sign gave two options, 15 km or 13 km. How could it be more? I obviously took the shorter route. This was clearly the wrong choice, or else why would I be writing this?

The route I took took me through all of Bochum, Wattenscheid, Kray, often uphill in 30 Celsius in a denim skirt with no water. On one hand, it was good to see Bochum. I've worked here nearly 4 years but, since when I relocated in 2015 it was for a job in Essen, and since I hate moving, I commute and don't really know the town. I got to see the different Stadteile, which was cool, if unintended. But somewhere, I got seriously lost. I'd hoped to eventually end up on the famous Ruhr Rad weg, the bike Highway, since I once walked along it and ended up in Bochum. This did not happen.

After two hours, home was still 10 km away. With every Kilometer I went, it moved further. My water was down to the last drops and my lips were turning white. There were no supermarkets in sight. Luckily, my phone rang. I stopped to take a rest and two calls. Then onward ho!

I hadn't seen any more shells, but I did see one of the pink signs from the Bistum Essen Pilgrim route. My pilgrim heartwas content, and I kept going until I saw a big bluesigb pointing to Essen. FYI: cyclist signs are red. Blue signs lead to the Autobahn. That's right, those crazy speed limits be damned stretches where Benzes exercise their horsepower. Turn around.

Soon, I was at Wattenscheid main station. I could have stopped here. But I didn't see a bike depot, and every time I ride past on the train there is a stretch that looks beautiful that I promise myself I want to see. Besides, the numbers had gone down, just 7.8km now. Up. Freaking. Hill. Now I was really thirsty. Fortunately, I was coning up to a gas station with supermarket, where I bought an apple, a bar called a pick up bar and a bottle of water. Lies. I bought a coke zero because I was fantasising about coke. Coke zerois vile and super sweet and I don't know why I ever liked that drink. To top it off, the grocery had a special and the cashier pointed out I could get another drink for like 1€ more. But I was like no thanks, one is enough. I wish she had told me lady you are sweating and on bike in 30degrees with no clouds, one is not enough. And I didn't even remember my loyalty points.

Some flat riding. 6km to go. Then uphill. I am tempted to get out and push again but there's an old couple in front of me and they are doing it. They are also not in a denim straight skirt. Then 6.8. Then 7.0. Am I lost? Why is it getting longer? I go down the wrong road, well up, because the signage is poor but I realise in time and the cycle down is a nice break.

I finally arrive in Kray. Again, I should take the train. But now I am so close. 4.5 km. Except if you go the wrong way and have to turn around. Except if the town keeps moving. I am famished and realise my FITBIT IS DYING!! No, you modern technology. You will record every painful pedal. Every step. This journey will be added to my Virtual Camino and count as my 3rd of 5 workouts this week. I need your silly you're in it to win it.

I get to a familiar junction AND get confused. Now, instead of 2.9km away from the station, I am 6 km away from home. But home is good. I can follow the route the bus takes, since this bus takes me to my house. But I am so thirsty and hungry. I can't. I decide to check the nearest location I can drop off a bike. 4.5 km away. Might as well cycle home.

In the distance I see a kiosk. I buy a water and a blue drink. The drinks quench my thirst, but make me acutely aware of my hunger. I forge ahead. I know where I am. The lying signs cannot deceive me anymore. I see the station. I decide to cut my losses and park the bike. I am hungry and thirsty and my peddaling is getting wobbly. Besides, it's now 4 hours since I rented the bike. 4. Hours. This means I have avoided rush hour, I can take a tram.

I sit in the station and wait on my tram, and once on board I order a pizza. The tram ends two stops before my usual stopm and the bus replacement is not there, but walking the final 900 km is good, and brings me to my 10,000 steps.

In the shower, the water burns my eyes as though I have opened my eyes in the Dead Sea, but I let the cool water run over me, and vow to have better supplies for the next time I cycle home from work. Walk good.

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spicycreativity · 3 years

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A Place Where I Can Breathe - Ch 4

Chapter: 4/7 Additional Notes: See Ch 1 for more information. Read on AO3 under "WizardGlick." Any formatting/italics errors are holdovers from AO3 that I was too lazy to fix. Chapter Content Warnings: N/A; ask to tag Excerpt: Poor Roman. He made it so easy. Janus leaned in a little, not so much that he was intruding on Roman's personal space, and touched his knuckles to his chin. "Bore me? You're Creativity. What makes you think you could ever be boring?" He cocked his head and looked at Roman with expectation, inviting him to read between the lines. Who told Roman he was boring? Who made him feel like a burden?

The plan went into motion the following evening. Roman kept inconsistent hours and worked in inconsistent locations, and Janus had accordingly predicted long hours spent listening at the basement door for a chance at catching Roman alone. He was already working on a plan to lure Roman down, but it was difficult when his knowledge was barely surface-level. He didn't know in detail what Roman liked. But the wheels of fate turned and Roman bade his friends goodnight and announced that he would be staying up late to work on a project.

"That's lucky," Remus said when Janus informed him of the news.

Janus smiled at him. "Where reason fails, the Devil helps." He fussed with his gloves and straightened his capelet. "It's showtime."

"Beetlejuice is my thing," Remus said as Janus sank out.

He couldn't help the pang of loathing that pierced his heart at the sight of Roman scribbling away in a notebook. Remus had never been afforded the luxury of creative freedom, and it felt so obscene to stand here and watch Roman revel in it.

Willing his face into a more polite expression, Janus sat down by Roman and waited to be acknowledged.

Roman caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, but was too busy writing to spare the processing power it would take to identify his visitor. Whoever it was, they knew better than to interrupt him while he was preoccupied. He finished up his thought, jotted down one final note in the margin, and turned to address his guest. "H--Uh-- Deceit!" He jerked backward in surprise, slamming his notebook shut. "I wasn't expecting you." Despite his best efforts not to stare, his gaze kept falling on Janus' scales, his slit-pupiled snake eye. Roman tried not to shudder.

Janus cursed himself for not anticipating this. He should have sat on Roman's left side. Ah, well. Nothing to do for it now but apply extra charm. "Good evening, Roman," he purred, turning his head a little beyond what was comfortable so Roman could see more of his human side. "Did you know that you bite your lip when you concentrate? It's cute."

"Oh, um." Roman touched his fingertips to his lower lip, equal parts flattered and confused. "Thank you?" The overhead lights caught on Janus' cheekbone, giving him a soft glow. He gazed at Roman with gentle anticipation. Roman looked into the rich brown of his human eye. "I was just working on a story about, um, well… Oh, I won't bore you with the details."

Poor Roman. He made it so easy. Janus leaned in a little, not so much that he was intruding on Roman's personal space, and touched his knuckles to his chin. "Bore me? You're Creativity. What makes you think you could ever be boring?" He cocked his head and looked at Roman with expectation, inviting him to read between the lines. Who told Roman he was boring? Who made him feel like a burden?

"The, uh, the others," Roman stammered, not wanting to talk badly about his friends.

To his surprise, Janus flashed him an almost guilty smile before hiding it behind one gloved hand. "The others don't understand your creative vision, do they? I always wondered how you put up with them trying to shut you down."

"I don't know that they shut me down, exactly," Roman said, making one last effort to be charitable before sliding over the brink. He lowered his voice to a whisper, "But they never seem to want to listen. Logan is always poking holes in my plots and asking boring questions about the worldbuilding, and Patton always spaces out and asks me to repeat myself, like he can't even be bothered to listen to what I'm saying! And he always says the same thing whenever I ask for feedback. It's like, I don't need criticism, but I'd appreciate something a little more in-depth than 'oh, it's fine,' you know?" Janus nodded. Roman took a breath. "And Anxiety. I don't even want to think about what he'd say. He's always trying to shut me down before I even start: 'What if someone has done this before? What if nobody likes it? What if you're not good enough?'"

Janus raised his eyebrows and looked away. Some of that certainly sounded like Virgil, but he had a strong suspicion that most of Roman's insecurities originated from within himself. "I agree, he's not good for you."

"Oh!" Roman ran a hand through his hair and looked away. "I don't- I didn't mean.. "

"You said it yourself," Janus said, preemptive triumph blazing beautiful and cruel in his chest, "he sabotages your function." He pictured Roman alone in his room, hunched over a notebook and scribbling furiously with a pen that would not and could not write. Or better yet, Roman with a functioning pen staring paralyzed at the blank page before him, his own insecurities stilling his hand. "He's bad for you."

"Hold on a second," Roman said, putting up a hand to stop Janus. How did they get here? He'd just been venting, and now suddenly Virgil was to blame for all his problems? He nearly smacked his own forehead when it clicked just who he was talking to. "I didn't mean that!"

"But you said it," Janus said, feigning misunderstanding. "So you lied to me?"

"No, no, that was true."

"Then we're in agreement. Anxiety is bad for you."

Roman shook his head emphatically. "It was true. Anxiety was bad for me. He's changed."

Janus couldn't help himself; he rolled his eyes. "He's Anxiety! It's literally his job to shoot you down."

"I used to think that," Roman said, anger spilling into his cheeks and turning his face red. "But I know better now. Anxiety isn't like you and my brother; he has a place with us and he helps us make Thomas the best possible version of himself. And if you don't understand that, then I don't think I have anything more to say to you. And don't even think about coming anywhere near Anxiety ever again. I won't allow it."

Janus took in a shaky breath, finally letting his hatred, his frustration, his despair show on his face. And he struck, envenomating the weapon Roman had unwittingly handed him: "Very well, Roman. But let me leave you with this: Anxiety has nothing to do with your inability to perform. You're only half a function, and nothing you make will ever stand up as long as you remain afraid of your own potential. You're just as inadequate as you think you are, and it's nobody's fault but your own."

And, still shaking with rage, he sank out.

"Shit!" Janus slammed his open palm into the wall and pressed into it, forcing himself to take deep breaths.

There was no reply but the scratching of pen on paper. Janus whipped his head around and the anger drained from him at the sight of Remus scribbling away in a notebook. At least some good had come out of his little confrontation.

"Well, I'm not sure what you did to my brother," Remus said, not looking up, "but he's definitely distracted."

"I may…" Janus said delicately, rubbing the heel of his hand with his opposing thumb, "have failed to account for certain unexpected variables." He sat down next to Remus, careful not to jostle him, and grit his teeth.

"Mm?" Remus said, turning a page.

"Such as your brother being too thick-headed and stubborn to listen when someone's trying to manipulate him." Janus scoffed.

"Mm," said Remus, still writing.

Janus glanced over at him. Just as Roman had been doing earlier, Remus was chewing at his lower lip while he wrote, his brow creased. Janus tapped his fingertips against his own lips. He shouldn't have called Roman 'half a function,' and not just because it implied that Remus was as well. He knew from experience that lashing out only ever made things harder for himself. Now a whole new barrier towered before him and it was nobody's fault but his own. Janus laughed humorlessly, not missing the irony. He would blame Roman, though. It hurt less that way.

"I suppose it's too much to ask," Janus mused out loud, "that things could just be easy for once."

Remus stopped writing, ignoring the pang of regret, and scooted over so he could put his arm around Janus. It was undeniably painful to throw away an opportunity to make his voice heard, but Janus needed him now. He never admitted when he wanted comfort, so Remus had become adept at picking up on unvoiced desires over the years. "Yeah, probably."

"Please do stop writing; that won't make me feel guilty at all."

"I was pretty much done anyway," Remus said. "There's only so much debauchery and vomit you can fit into one story."

It was an obvious lie, but Janus let it go. He leaned into Remus' shoulder despite the way it knocked his hat askew and tried not to think about Virgil. "I don't even miss him," he said, the lie ringing hollow even in his own ears. "We just can't let him start working against us."

"We won't," Remus promised. "He'll come back. We can be his favorites again." After all, they had been friends before. Whatever Roman and the others had done to charm Virgil could be undone. He would remember his friends again. "And besides, we have Plan B for Butthole!"

Janus laughed despite himself and let Remus pull him in closer. "Maybe let's wait to implement that one."

Roman couldn't breathe properly; something was wrong with his lungs. Every inhale hitched in his throat and his mouth ached like he was about to cry.

But he dismissed that ridiculous thought with a firm shake of his head. He was the guardian prince, the hero! Heroes never wept for themselves.

He swallowed down the ache and got to his feet so he could find Virgil and let him know what had happened.

If a few wayward tears slipped down Roman's cheeks as he ascended the staircase, he wiped them away without giving them a second thought. The jaunt up the stairs did nothing to help his erratic breathing, and he was almost winded by the time he got to Virgil's door.

He had to knock for a long time before Virgil finally answered. He had been listening to his music as loud as he could tolerate it, and had only noticed Roman's knocking during a transition between songs.

Virgil's sarcastic greeting died on his lips at the sight of Roman panting in the doorway. His lower lip trembled and his eyes were suspiciously shiny, but his voice was steady as ever when he spoke. "Anxiety! I need to speak with you."

"Dude, are you okay?" Virgil asked, letting the walls of his brooding facade fall away in the face of his concern for his friend.

"Never better!" Roman declared. He was determined not to let Virgil see just how deep Janus' words had cut him. "May I come in?"

"Uh, sure, I guess." Virgil stepped aside, trying not to feel too self-conscious about his unmade bed.

Roman didn't comment on it, just followed Virgil's lead and sat down on the floor with his back against the foot of the bed. Despite the persistent ache in his chest, he fought for bravado. "I've just faced off against a fiendish foe!"

Virgil's heart dropped into his stomach. "Oh, yeah?"

"Indeed. I went toe-to-toe with a certain sneaky snake and scared him silly!"

"What did he say to you?" Virgil demanded. Everything slotted into place in an instant, Roman's shaky demeanor and false confidence.

Roman waved a hand, annoyed to notice it was shaking. "Nothing of import. You don't have to worry about me, Anxiety, I can handle myself in these matters."

Virgil supposed he should have seen this coming. "So let me guess. You're worried about me ."

"Of course I'm not worried about you!" Roman said, puffing out his chest. "You have the best protector in the world."

"You?"

"Me!"

"So why did you need to come see me?" Virgil asked. Whatever Janus had said to Roman obviously hadn't altered Roman's opinion of Virgil any.

"Exactly that," Roman said. "That you need not worry. I banished the snake back to the basement where he belongs! And I told him that I would not allow him to see you ever again."

Virgil couldn't stop the look of horror that crossed his face. He pressed his hand to his forehead, trying to calm his own breathing. "What?"

"I stood up to that fork-tongued fiend and told him to leave you alone forever," Roman said, a little less self-assured this time. He knew better than to expect a wondrous display of gratitude from Virgil, but he had been expecting some sort of thanks.

"That's great," Virgil said weakly. He knew he wasn't selling it, but was too overwhelmed to really care. "Thanks."

Roman nodded. "Well, I suppose l'll, ah. I'll just go, then." He hadn't realized how badly he'd wanted to stay until he was faced with the idea of leaving. But Virgil just nodded, his eyes empty, so Roman saw himself out.

Virgil immediately started to chew on his thumbnail, mind racing. He knew should have asked for more details from Roman but panic had a way of demanding attention, choking out rationality. He was thinking clearly now, though. He had failed. Whatever Janus had said had obviously hurt Roman badly, and Virgil hadn't been a good enough friend to try to fix it, and he hadn't been a good enough protector to prevent it. The only thing he could do now was try to stop it from happening again.

Virgil sighed and let his head fall back against the edge of his bed. He was absolutely certain that Janus would be out for blood now.

#spicywrites #spicywrites a place where i can breathe

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