#watched brother bear with my friend last saturday

[thatonechocogirl]

duo dynamics that i think fit kenai and koda perfectly part once

[joelalorian]

Fall Into Me

dbf!Joel x f!reader

The first TLOU fic I ever read was a dbf!Joel story and it left an indelible mark on my soul. Unfortunately, I never bookmarked it so I have no idea which one it was. It's only natural that I had to try my hand at one at some point. So, here we are.

Summary: Joel is hanging on by a thread as a single father to a tenacious 10-year-old Sarah. Feeling like he's drowning, like the world is about to spit him out, he needs some help before he breaks in half. At your dad's insistence, you show up in his life and change everything.

Story is inspired by the song Fall Into Me by Forest Blakk. Chapter titles will be lyrics from the song.

Word Count: 4.1k

Series Warnings: Mature to start, but will ultimately be Explicit, under 18 take a hike. No outbreak AU. There will be angst, drama, fluff, humor, romance, smut... basically, the works. Age gap of about 9 years (Reader 24/25, Joel 33/34). No use of y/n. Reader has a nickname from her dad, which will be explained at some point.

Dividers by the wonderful @saradika-graphics

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Chapter One: The Day That I Met You

If you asked him over a decade ago where he’d be now, Joel Miller would not have placed himself as a single father to a tenacious pre-teen desperately trying to keep things afloat. He spent too many hours in the week working to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. He would be lost without the help of his brother and the few friends he had. He had no social life to speak of and could not for the life of him remember the last time he went on an actual date.

No, back then, Joel thought he’d be living the good life in ten years’ time – traveling, going out with the boys, maybe have a girlfriend or wife. Basically, just getting to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Don’t get him wrong, though. He was still living a good life; it just was a different sort of good than what he hoped for back in the day.

He loved his daughter with every fiber of his being. Sarah was the best damn thing that ever happened to him, his entire world, and he wouldn’t change the past ten years for anything. He bent over backwards doing whatever it took to make his little girl feel cared for, happy, and loved. He just wished there was a little energy left for something for himself at the end of the day.

Joel Miller was drained. Mentally, physically, and emotionally.

He awoke with a groan as the bright sunlight broke through the gap in his curtains. It was Saturday – his birthday – and he hoped to sleep in, at least a little. Between the brightness of the morning and the stifled sounds of clanging pans and voices carrying up the stairs from his kitchen, sleeping in was not happening.

He hauled himself out of bed with a groan worthy of a man twenty years his senior and stretched out his limbs to ease the achiness in his bare back and chest from too much manual labor. Throwing on a pair of well-worn sleep pants and a faded tee shirt, Joel slipped from his bedroom and down the stairs. He moved rather quietly for a man of his size, stealing a moment to lean against the entryway into the kitchen and watch as Sarah and Tommy worked together making breakfast.

The counters were a mess of spilled pancake mix, eggshells, and… was that coffee dripping over the edge and onto the floor? It was a toss-up on who made the bigger mess, his ten-year-old daughter, or his grown ass brother. Still, Joel could not stop the smile spreading across his face as he watched them laughing and teasing each other. That, right there, was the reason he worked so hard, why the loneliness was worth it.

When Tommy flipped the stovetop off, Sarah turned to find her dad smiling goofily at them. “Happy Birthday, Dad!” she exclaimed, launching herself at his chest. Her lanky arms wrapped around his neck as he lifted her off the ground in a big bear hug.

“Thanks, baby girl,” Joel replied, pressing his lips to her forehead in a quick kiss before he settled her feet on the ground.

“We made you breakfast!” Sarah declared, gesturing toward the disaster zone formerly known as his kitchen.

“I see that,” he chuckled, voice still slightly rough with sleep.

Tommy turned with a smirk, hands grasping two plates filled with bacon, eggs, and pancakes. “Take a seat, brother. Let us take care of you on your birthday.” Placing the food on the small dining table, Tommy roughly patted his brother’s shoulders. “Don’t worry ‘bout the mess, I’m on cleanup duty after we eat.”

“We expectin’ company? That’s a helluva lot of food,” Joel grumbled. He needed coffee, stat.

“Yeah, JB is comin’ over to see ya before heading to the airport. His daughter finished grad school over the summer and is moving back home.” Tommy set more food and a full mug of dark roast coffee in front of his brother. The scent alone made Joel perk up a little.

The Millers hadn’t met you yet, having only become friends with your dad through work after you’d already left for college on the east coast. Your dad had a good decade on Joel, but he and the Miller brothers got on like a forest fire from what he told you. With visits home always short and rushed, busy catching up with family and your own friends, there was never time for your dad to introduce you all. Now you were coming home for good and would have plentiful opportunities for spending time with your dad and his friends.

“Speak of the devil,” Tommy muttered as the doorbell rang. Sarah bounded to the door to greet your dad with a hug. In many ways, the girl reminded him of you when you were young, and it always brought a smile to his face.

“There he is! The man of the hour. Happy Birthday, buddy!” Your dad, John, or JB as the Millers called him, ruffled Joel’s already mussed hair, leaving a few locks standing straight up in further disarray. Pulling a 12-pack of beer from behind his back, your dad set it on the table in front of Joel, topped with a little red bow. “I gotcha a lil’ something to celebrate.”

“Good man,” Joel replied with a chuckle. “Have a seat and help me eat all this. Tommy just told me your lil’ girl is coming home, finally.”

Your dad’s face lit up even more at the mention of you coming home. “She’s not so little anymore, but I sure am glad she’s moving back here. Said she had enough of the east coast, but I think she just missed her ol’ man.” After wolfing down some food, he added, “Think we could host a small barbecue here this coming weekend to celebrate? Your backyard is way nicer than mine and you got the pool and all.”

“Not to mention that fancy ass grill,” Tommy chimed in.

Swallowing a long sip of his morning go juice, Joel nodded. “Of course. Invite whoever you want. I’m looking forward to finally meeting your daughter.”

“Me too!” Sarah added. She heard a lot about you from your dad and hoped you were as cool in person as he made you out to be.

Joel’s mind started spinning upon hearing his daughter’s excitement. With her school hours being so different from his typical work hours, he was spending a small fortune on after school care for Sarah. She was still too young for him to leave home alone, especially on those days where he’s stuck late at a job. He was barely scraping by as it was and couldn’t really afford the cost of after school programs. Perhaps…

“JB, ya think your daughter would mind watching Sarah during the week while she’s home. Drop off and pick up from school and keeping her company ‘til I get home from work? I could pay her – it wouldn’t be much, but better than nothin’, I imagine.” He watched Sarah’s eyes light up at the suggestion and knew it was a good choice.

“I’m sure she’d love to. She wasn’t planning on finding a real job until after the holidays, so I know she’ll be free during the day,” your dad replied. “I’ll talk to her about it on the ride back from the airport and let you know.”

Three suitcases and a carry-on bag. That’s all you had left from six and a half years of pursuing higher education in North Carolina. You sold or gave away anything that did not fit into your luggage or hold sentimental value of your time away. Now, you were moving back home to save some money before you had to start chipping away at the mountain of student loan debt you accrued.

You loved learning, always have, but you were relieved to be done with school. Equipped with a bachelor’s degree in earth sciences and a master’s in education, you felt like a real adult ready to take the world of middle school by storm… well, starting after the new year, maybe. For now, you needed several months of limited to no responsibility to recoup your mental and physical energy. That last couple years of school really burned you out. Not to mention the last-minute rejection of a teaching position you thought was in the bag…

Anyway, you were better off leaving North Carolina behind and returning to Austin. You missed your dad something fierce and his particular brand of caring for you was exactly what your weary soul needed. It was you and him against the world, just like when you were a kid.

You flight was smooth and uneventful, yet you were relieved to deboard the plane. Something about being stuck in a tin can at the mercy of someone else’s ability to keep the thing from plummeting to the ground really aggravated your anxiety. Flying was something you would never enjoy; it was merely a means to an end when you wanted to travel long distances.

The journey to baggage claim was a slog with the crowd of passengers all heading to the same place. You were wondering how you’d wrangle three large suitcases by yourself when you caught sight of your dad. His broad smile took over his face when he spotted you, rushing over to sweep you up in a big bear hug.

“Hey Spud, how was the flight?” he asked as you waited for the baggage carousel to begin moving. “Looks like it was a full plane.”

“It was, but the flight was good. I’m really glad to be home.”

“Me, too, kid.”

You settled into a comfortable silence, watching various pieces of luggage pass by on the carousel. Your bags were scattered, and you had to wait several cycles to get all of them. Your dad lugged the final suitcase over the carousel with a grunt. “Jesus, what you got in this one? Bricks? A body?”

“That one has my gaming system and half a closet full of clothes,” you replied with a laugh.

Before long, everything was loaded into your dad’s truck, and you were heading back towards town. The radio hummed at a low volume as you both chatted about everything and nothing all at once.

“Hey, so I know you said you weren’t looking for full-time work until after the new year, but I have a proposition for you.” Your dad’s eyes stayed focused on the road, and you merely quirked a brow waiting for him to continue. “My buddy Joel – you know the one I told you about? Well, his daughter is ten and he needs some help with the school run and after school care. Our work hours aren’t exactly the same as elementary school, you know?”

You nodded, remembering all the times your dad spoke to you about Joel, as well as his daughter and brother. Despite never meeting them, you felt like you already knew their whole life story. “So, he’s looking for a nanny or something? I could do that. It would keep me from getting lazy while I navigate getting my Texas teaching certificate.”

Your dad grinned, one hand patting your leg. “I was hoping you’d say that. Joel will pay you, of course, but just… don’t expect much. It ain’t easy for him being a single dad trying to keep everything afloat.”

Again, you nodded, a soft smile creasing your lips. You knew all too well how challenging it could be for single parents, having grown up with just you and your dad. Much like what your dad told you about Joel’s experience with the mother of his child, your mom split when you were barely a toddler. Things weren’t always sunshine and roses, but your dad sure did his best to make sure you had a great life. Honestly, you wouldn’t trade it for the world, that life with your dad. You had a feeling it was much the same for Joel and his daughter.

“I’m happy to help, even if he doesn’t pay me. I’m sure his daughter will enjoy having a female influence in her life if nothing else. What’s her name again? Sarah?”

Your dad’s eyes twinkled with pride. “Yup, that’s it. I’m proud of the woman you’ve become, Spud.”

A mist of tears prickled your eyes as you mumbled out a “Thanks, dad.” After a beat, you added, “Must you keep up with that nickname?”

“Of course. You’ll always be my little Spud,” he laughed as you rolled your eyes. “Oh, by the way, we’re going to the Millers on Saturday for your welcome home party.”

“What’s all this?” Joel questioned as Tommy and Sarah placed a heavy, wrapped package on the table before him along with a few smaller presents. The remains of a birthday cake sat nearby, having been delightfully devoured by the Millers while celebrating Joel’s birthday.

“Just a little somethin’ from me and Sarah,” Tommy replied, a boyish grin alighting his handsome features.

Joel gazed between them with curiosity. Not big on celebrating his own aging, he rarely got big gifts. “You wanna help me open this, nugget?” Sarah’s eyes lit up, small hands reaching to tear the wrapping paper into shreds. It only took a few moments for the contents to be revealed, leaving Joel confused at the modern contraption sitting in front of him. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You play video games on it, dumbass.” Tommy harumphed as he began a diatribe on the features of the gaming system – he had one just like it at his place and it provided hours of entertainment when he didn’t feel like going out. “I figured it would be a good hobby for you since you never want to join me in going out.”

“Huh,” Joel grunted in return, brows furrowed as he read the instructions on how to setup up the machine. His attention was diverted by Sarah shoving the smaller parcels into his lap.

“Here, dad! These go with it.” Together, they tore into the wrapping paper to find several video games, a few of which were family friendly. The final gift was a spare controller for the gaming system so he and Sarah could play together.

Despite still being unsure that the gift was a good fit for him, Joel was grateful to Tommy for the effort. “This is too much, man. You shouldn’t spend this kind of money on me, Tommy.”

His brother waved him off. “I found a great deal and you never get anything for yourself, brother. You deserve something to indulge in. Believe me, you’ll have fun with this.”

The rest of the evening was spent with Tommy setting up the system and showing the father-daughter duo how to play some of the games he picked out. The living room filled with lots of laughter and teasing, and Joel found himself really getting into the fun of the video games.

After tucking Sarah into bed, Tommy showed Joel a game that was too violent for the little girl but entertaining for the men. The game was set in Washington DC which had been ravaged by a brutal pandemic and the main character was part of a group of agents fighting off nefarious gangs trying to take over the city. Joel caught onto the gameplay quickly and the two men found themselves building the loadout for Joel’s character, taking out bad guys, and chatting well into the night.

At two in the morning, the pair looked at each other with bleary, red-rimmed eyes and finally called it a night. Joel directed Tommy to crash in the spare room as he shuffled off to bed upstairs.

It didn’t take you long to get settled into your dad’s house. It wasn’t the home you grew up in and you only visited a few times after he bought it. After years living away on your own, you thought it would be an adjustment being under his roof again, but it wasn’t. He understood the need for personal space and never hovered unless you were hurt or sick. He gave you the downstairs bedroom – it was the largest in the house, with an ensuite bath and huge walk-in closet.

“Dad, no! Why in the world is this not your room?” you questioned when he placed your bags on the brand-new, king size bed he had delivered the week prior.

“Hell no, Spud. What do I need all this space for? I like the upstairs rooms better – the light is all wrong in this one anyway.”

You looked around, holding in a giggle. The room faced south, giving you just the right amount of natural light all day. That’s what your dad didn’t like. He preferred to live like a bat in a cave with blackout curtains and limited lighting.

“Alright, well, I love it. The natural light is perfect for me. I can actually put some plants on the windowsills. Thank you!” You kissed his cheek as he left you to get settled.

You spent the week rearranging the bedroom how you wanted it, setting up your gaming system, and putting all your clothes into the walk-in closet. Your dad hadn’t done much with the room other than furnish it, so you made a few trips to the store to get a bathroom set, floor lamps, and wall décor to make the room your own.

Before you knew it, Saturday morning dawned bright and warm. The day of your welcome home gathering arrived, and you would finally get to meet the Millers. An excited energy had you moving about your space in a flurry, tidying up and getting ready early. You’d seen some photos of the Millers that your dad sent you – Sarah was adorable with her dark, springy curls, and Joel… Joel was handsome, in a broody, overworked kind of way, with dark, riotous curls and big, warm chocolate eyes. Kind eyes, you called them.

“Hey Spud, you ready?” your dad called from the kitchen as you put the finishing touches on your hair. It was pinned up, leaving the smooth skin of your neck bare. The sundress you picked hugged your curves in just the right way, falling just at your knees in a flow of lightweight material. In early October, Austin was still hot, and you hoped the Millers’ yard was shaded.

“Bring a swimsuit! They have a pool!” he yelled as you grabbed the last of your things. Turning back to your closet, you grabbed a dark green one-piece suitable for family-friendly swimming and tucked it into your bag.

“I’m ready!”

Your dad smiled at the sight of you. “Let’s go then. We’re heading over early so you can officially meet the Millers and we’ll help them setup before everyone else arrives.”

“Sounds good. Who all’s coming anyway?” Your eyes widened as your dad rattled off a list of people he invited, including his work buddies and some of his and Joel’s neighbors. He would have invited some of your old friends from high school, but you all lost touch over the years. The party was turning out bigger than you thought. Your heart swelled with how happy your dad was to have you home for good.

The Millers lived in the same neighborhood, only a few blocks away, so close you could have walked if not for the scorching sun. The drive took only a few minutes before your dad pulled into the driveway of a two-story home similar to your dad’s, with simple landscaping and two wooden rocking chairs on the wide porch. Lovely and quaint, the house made you more curious about the people who lived there.

“Dayum! Get a load a JB’s daughter, Joel,” Tommy called from the living room, leaning over the couch to look out the front window. “She’s smokin’ hot!”

“Dammit, Tommy. Stop spying on ‘em,” Joel growled, sneaking a peek over his brother’s shoulder to do a little hypocritical spying of his own. Breath caught in his throat at the sight of you and he couldn’t break his gaze away, even as JB led you toward the front door.

“What was that about spyin’, brother?” Tommy teased, practically dragging Joel away from the window as a knock sounded against the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”

Tommy opened the heavy wooden door revealing the pair of you standing there, matching bright eyes and wide grins greeting him. “Well, hello there, beautiful. I’m Tommy.” Reaching a hand toward you, Tommy completely ignored JB, who just scowled at him.

“Nice to meet you, Tommy,” you replied, offering him your hand and name in return. Joel’s scowl matched your dad’s expression as Tommy held your hand for several beats too long.

“Back off, Tommy,” your dad grunted, swatting at the younger Miller brother. “This here is Tommy’s brother, Joel. The one who actually owns this house and the better Miller, if you ask me.”

“Ain’t no one askin’ you, old man,” Tommy’s smart mouth shot back at your dad.

Joel ignored both men, eyes like dark pools as he gazed at you, awed at how small and delicate your hand felt in his. “Howdy, darlin’,” his voice rumbled from his chest. “Come on in. There’s someone else lookin’ forward to meeting you.”

Leading the way through the kitchen into the backyard, Joel felt the heat of your gaze burning his back. Were you checking him out? There was no way. You were beautiful and likely in your early twenties. He felt ancient, though he was only in his early thirties, the hard labor of construction work having taken its toll on him.

“Hi Dad!” a young, sweet voice called from a small swing set where a precious little girl entertained herself. “Who’s this?”

Joel introduced you to his daughter, leaving the two of you to get acquainted as your dad called him away.

“You were away at college?” Sarah questioned, motioning for you to take a seat on the swing next to hers.

“I was,” you replied. “But I’m back for good now.”

“That’s good. What grade did you get to? I’m in fourth grade.”

You thought about it a moment. “I guess it would be 18th grade. But you stop counting grade numbers after 12th and start using different words to describe what year you’re in during college.”

Sarah listened raptly while you explained the different terms, what you studied in school, and what kind of job you were hoping to get.

“You want to be a teacher?” she asked, awed.

“I do! I want to teach middle grade science.”

“I love science! Maybe you could be my teacher when I get to sixth grade!”

Joel returned with your dad and Tommy in tow to find you and Sarah having a blast. The little girl sat in your lap as you kicked your feet out, swinging as high as you could, singing some camp song you remembered from your youth.

“See? Told ya she’d love to spend time with Sarah,” your dad said to Joel. He couldn’t tear his gaze away, staring at the two of you with a glazed look in his dark eyes.

Shaking himself off, Joel turned to your dad. “Guess I better work out some details with her.” He stepped over to the swing set, taking a seat on the empty swing and hoping to the heavens above that it held his weight. He struggled internally on how to start the conversation and was just about to blurt something out when his amazing daughter saved the day.

“Dad! She wants to be a teacher! A science teacher! Isn’t that cool? Did you ask her about watching me yet? I think she’d love to.” Sarah rambled on excitedly, amusing you and Joel. Turning to you before Joel could chime in, Sarah turned to you with baby cow eyes, adding, “You would love to, right?”

How could you ever resist that look? No one could. Both you and Joel were powerless as you nodded, and the offer became official. Cell numbers were exchanged and before you knew it, you had a job starting Monday.

Hours later, slightly drunk on spiked fruit punch and buzzing with energy, you thanked Joel for hosting the barbecue and giving you a job. You kissed his stubbled cheek, forcing thoughts of how attractive he was as far down as they could go. You could not develop a crush on your boss. “I’ll see you Monday morning, bright and early!” you declared before following your dad through the front door.

TBC

[hoshinasblade]

second best |2| hoshina soshiro

PART 1 | PART 2 | BONUS: PART THREE

pairing: hoshina soshiro x f!reader genre: slight angst, comfort, childhood friends to lovers, a bit of that miscommunication trope snippet: hoshina soshiro always ranks second at everything in his life. god forbid he falls behind in the bid for your heart too. word count: 2.5K trigger warnings: author's note: hello, reposting the part 2 because of hiccups from saturday when i posted it first (tumblr blocked my blog lol). likes, reblogs, and replies are always appreciated but please do not copy or steal my works. in celebration of this blog reaching 100 followers recently, i have written a bonus part 3 which will be posted within this week. my taglist form is here, and feel free to let me know your thoughts by sending me an ask through here. using my degree correctly by writing hoshina fanfics yes

you aren't sure when things changed between you and hoshina soshiro.

when you were young, you would have understood that he didn't have the attention span to deal with you. he wasn't exactly shy, but you wouldn't call him friendly too - unlike you, who has taken it upon herself to be friends with all the children in the small neighbourhood. unfortunately for you, only the hoshina brothers are at the same age as you are, and at that time you thought that was a sign that fate was giving - you ought to be close to them.

you won't deny that you were fonder of the hoshina brothers than anyone when you started school. if you are being honest, you like them more than any of your expensive dolls or toys. being an only child, you thought it was only natural to want someone to be with - to want someone to share things with.

the brothers would have their endless training sessions every day, and though you did not know how to swing a sword then, you insisted to your parents - and theirs - that you must join them. sometimes you would be sitting on the floor just watching them, and frequently you would be the one keeping count of the score between soshiro and soichiro when they spar.

soshiro has never won a single match against his brother when they were kids.

but you didn't mind. you still preferred him over soichiro.

in fifth grade, you bought him the biggest cake your meagre savings could buy. it wasn't much really, but you won't forget how wide his eyes went when you lighted the candles and sang him the happy birthday song albeit out of tune. the next year, you gifted him a small keychain - a teddy bear in a purple kimono. you never saw him use it.

it wasn't until years after that you worked out what your feelings for him were. the girls from your class would make small talk and ask if you have a boyfriend now and then. you would say no all the time. at sixteen, you felt like you didn't need to be in a relationship - because you have soshiro, you said to yourself - and that was when it hit you.

every time soshiro would talk to you after that, you would peek in your little compact mirror, worried he had miraculously discovered your secret, afraid that maybe your face had given it away. he caught you doing that once, and he accused you of attempting to be pretty for him.

"is it me ye're trying to be cute for?" he volunteered to carry your bag on your way home but you declined. you didn't want to start assuming things; you knew he was just being nice.

"ya wish," you deflected effectively.

"well, whoever it is for, they're in for some trouble", he commented, and you chose not to read too much in his words. you realized how the walk to your house always seemed to be shorter when you were with soshiro.

when you turned eighteen, you asked your mom what it meant to be in love. she was the last person you had wanted to ask - your parents had broken their perfect marriage not long ago, your father choosing to abandon your mother and you. soshiro taught you the basics of kendo during those hard months. "i'll even let ya beat me", he said to you.

"it's when you care for them so much that you will go as far as to let them go because you wanted them to be happy," your mother answered.

soshiro did not have the decency to say goodbye when he left himeji. you wanted to celebrate with him, and it wasn't like you weren't familiar with his plans to move after graduation. you used to stay up late with him, and inevitably the conversation would steer to his dream of getting out of your town. he would say that it's to expand his horizons - for his growth - but you like to give yourself some credit because you know him too well to simply believe that. you can tell that he needs a place to stretch his wings and be the best - somewhere he can be better than his brother.

and maybe you are really your mother's daughter - you let hoshina soshiro go because you thought it would make him happy.

"vice-captain, platoon leader said ye're needed at operations." you saluted and walked inside his office. "get yer ass in there, were the exact words actually," you added, intending it to be a joke.

soshiro didn't even look up from the file he had been staring at since you came in. he's been like this for days after you were sworn in the defense force. you would bump into him in the hallways of the training building or sit at the same table with him for lunch, and he wouldn't speak to you at all. if you didn't know better, you would think that finally, after all these years, he is now aware of your feelings. but that would be impossible, because not only the other recruits would not dare to rat you out, but also because soshiro would not be acting this way if he knew.

"v-vice captain?" you repeated.

soshiro hummed. "i heard ya the first time, officer," he said, his glance on you so cold you felt it from where you stood. it wiped off the smile you were wearing that morning.

"ya can go," he said once more after he noticed you didn't move. "or d'ya need anything else from me?"

"no, vice-captain." you were almost out of the door when you remembered something else. "one more thing, hoshina-san," you faced him again, the way you said his last name soft against your own lips. "soichiro-kun will be visiting again tomorrow so we can go to himeji together -"

"do ya belong to the sixth division?" soshiro cut you off. "i didn't know ya transferred."

"i - i'm not -" you were still trying to look for the appropriate response when he interrupted you again.

"then why are ya spending so much time with him? d'ya wanna move to his jurisdiction?" soshiro is standing now, whatever he was reading earlier long forgotten.

it was difficult to reconcile this distant man in front of you with the boy you used to chase after during your childhood days. the one who would bring you an extra boxed lunch because you told him before that his bento tastes so much better than yours. the boy you fell in love with. you had both grown up, and taken different paths at a time, yes, but you did not expect to struggle so badly to find common ground with him. "im sorry, vice-captain, i'll be off now." it felt like a huge chasm had opened in the middle of the room that determined to keep the two of you worlds apart. you turned to leave, and you heard him mutter something.

"if ya wanted to keep going on dates with my brother, ya shouldn't have gone here."

there is only one thing sharper than his katana and it is hoshina soshiro's mouth.

pain swirled inside you, threatening to spill over. when you couldn’t keep the turmoil in any longer, you snapped.

"what is yer problem?!" your pitch reached a high octave that soshiro was shocked at the outburst. "did i do anything? cause yer being mean, soshiro," you pressed on, stepping closer to him. it didn't escape him how you dropped the title off his name, and the honorifics, too. he was about to respond, but you didn't give him the chance. "look, i know yer not on good terms with soichiro-kun, but he’s my friend."

"like i needed to be reminded." sarcasm coated his retort. "ya know what? ya can marry the guy and i won't even care. do whatever ya want", he said, dismissing you in a harsher tone

your forehead scrunched and your eyebrows met in confusion. "what are ya talkin' about? no one is getting married -"

soshiro's laugh was bitter. you recoiled at the offensive sound. "i'm not the one going around telling everyone she's in love with soichiro-kun.”

there was a loud ringing in your ears; you couldn’t believe what you were hearing, and you were suddenly afraid that this conversation is unfolding into something else entirely. “i never said that,” you protested. “i never told anyone i was in love with him. i don’t know where you’re getting this from.”

soshiro’s expression remained stoic and unreadable. “i heard you say it at the izakaya”, he murmured.

breath was knocked out of your lungs and panic started to rise within you. “i never told anyone i was in love with him”, you repeated. you tried to rewind every second of what happened in the party thrown for the new officers nearly a month ago. everyone was drinking and having a good time after the sworn-in ceremony. commander ashiro and the vice-captain had to leave ahead. your fellow newbies grilling you on your history with hoshina soshiro.

“save it.” hurt was evident in soshiro’s voice; his eyes glimpsed at you briefly, and you saw an emotion you couldn’t quite decipher flicker. soshiro’s expressionless mask faltered for a moment, revealing a glimpse of vulnerability. although you don’t have a clue how he would have heard it when he went with commander ashiro that night, the desire to straighten things out overtook you.

for a split second, the burden of the truth hangs heavily on your tongue. you gave in to the desperation.

“i never told anyone i was in love with him”, you reiterated, hoping he would understand this time. “because it’s you i’m in love with.”

there were multiple occasions in the past where you almost admitted what he meant to you; you had pictured a thousand scenarios in your head where you declared your love, but all of them did not include the part where soshiro would respond.

you thought confessing would ease the ache in your heart, but it was the opposite. "i didn't know how to tell ya, and that's my fault. but how could i? ya didn't even bother to say goodbye to me when ya left home." it was taking everything of you to hold your tears back, and ignoring the obvious tremble in your voice, you continued. "did ya know i taught myself how to pray after ya were gone? i thought it was the only thing i could do for ya."

"i didn't know", was all soshiro could say. he looks in distress, still grappling with your bold confession.

a loud knock on the door broke the tension. “vice-captain, they made me fetch you,” okonogi said from the hall.

“well, now ya do.” you turned away just when soshiro strode towards your direction, running after you. you were faster than him, and despite the possibility that you would be seen coming from the vice-captain’s office crying, you twisted the doorknob and ran.

it is still hot when you sit down on a bench at the rooftop of the third division's training building.  you welcomed the cool breeze, however, and you noted that at this altitude, everything from far away looks considerably smaller.

you missed two important briefings this afternoon already, and your team is most certainly searching frantically for you everywhere. you are definitely going to be scolded by your superior. yet you couldn’t bring yourself to discard the little comfort being alone had given to you, especially after such an emotional confrontation. you sighed, exhaustion slowly crawling all over you. lost in your thoughts, you did not notice the soft footsteps approaching until a familiar voice tore through the silence. the cold breeze blew, making you shiver a bit.

“hey,” soshiro called out. you freaked out, immediately looking for a space to hide at. “i already saw ya,” he let you know.

he held out a keychain in front of your face, a tiny bear in a faded purple kimono with the string attached to its head dangling from his forefinger. you recognized it instantly - you got it for him when he turned 12 years old. he sat beside you, not concerning himself with asking for your permission.

“the first few days were the hardest”, he began, and you listened. “i was too used to seeing ya every day, but when we were apart, i convinced myself i would forget how ya look like. i didn’t.” he offered the keychain to you and you took it - the bear’s fur worn out and old to your touch. “i hold that thing whenever i start to miss ya.”

shock was etched on your face and your gaze darted to him. “is it too late now to say that i love ya?” he whispered, his face mirroring the sincerity of his tone. sunlight bathed the rooftop as soshiro’s words hung in the air, leaving you breathless and stunned. you gasped. “maybe i should have told ya sooner. but i have been in love with ya for a while now.”

you leaned into his shoulder, and you quietly cried.

“i don’t think i have been anybody’s first choice in anything, so it didn’t enter my mind that ya would probably feel the same.” his hand found yours and you relished on the warmth.

“your brother advised that i tell ya, ya know?” you said between sniffles.

he chuckled. “he didn’t do an excellent job at that, did he now?”

silence ensued; his thumb tracing patterns on the back of your hand, your head on his shoulder still - your breathing still a mess from everything that has been said. “i’m sorry i hurt ya. let me spend my whole life making it up to ya,” he proposed. the promise made your heart skip a beat.

for the first time in a long time, you gave him a smile - the one you have reserved just for him, the one you made sure to convey everything you wanted to tell him. there are a lot of other things you feel the need to ask him, but this will suffice for now. this is more than you ever had in your whole life.

“i can’t believe we wasted so much time dancing around our feelings. that one time i wanted to hit one of our classmates because he was being pushy with ya, d’ya remember that?” he reminisced. “anyone can have everything in the world, and the only time i would crack is if it is ya being taken away from me.”

all your dreams pale in comparison to your reality now.

out of the blue, you heard soshiro giggle. “does this mean ya were telling the newbies that night that it was me ye’re into?” he stared at you, and you can’t help but see him as the little boy you grew up with. this is the man i love, you said to yourself. you squeezed his hand.

you didn’t respond. all you know is the color of your cheeks surely rivals the pink of the skies as the both of you watch the sun sets.

[spotsandsocks]

Inspiration Saturday 🐎

Going first this Saturday cos I’m feeling this one.

Highwayman fever has hit me … was already leaning that way and then I’ve started watching Renegade Nell (first 2 episodes so far) and I’m enjoying myself immensely. Ideas percolate. Madney and Buddie themes afoot and probably more fire family. I do tend to go overboard with an au and plot so bear with me…

It’s the tone of the cough that warns him exactly what Chim is going to ask. Eddie gives his answer in anticipation of the inevitable.

“I told you last time, no more.” He bangs the hammer down on the anvil for emphasis.

“You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to.”

Eddie sighs and wipes the sweat off his forehead without looking at his friend. “I have to think about Chris now.”

It’s the truth, now he’s on his own with Christopher he can’t be reckless with his own life anymore.

“We’ve been planning this one for so long but Bobby’s arm means…”

He trails off, Eddie knows very well what Bobby’s newly broken arm means. It means either Chim will go on his own or Bobby will ride with him regardless because there are people who depend on the money they bring in through unconventional means and neither of them will let those people down. Unless….

“Chim…” his regret is clear, it’s not that he doesn’t want to help, it’s just complicated now, before if anything went wrong Chris had Shannon, now she’s gone it’s just the two of them. Not that Bobby or Athena wouldn’t take him in, or Hen and Karen obviously but they all lead dangerous lives and he can’t anymore. Chim understands

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked but you know I can’t let Bobby come tonight so if anything goes wrong, you know where all my things are right? Give them to Hen, she’ll know what to do.”

“Chim just don’t go. It can wait.”

“It can’t, Hen’s got to fence the goods and we can’t change the date for that meeting. Also Lady Kendall’s carriage is traveling tonight. We have the plan. I’m going.”

Eddie sighs. “Fine, I’ll come, but this is the last time.” He holds up a finger in warning. “I mean it this time.”

Chim grins and rubs his hands together . “ you won’t regret it, this one will be easy, I can feel it.”

Eddie rolls his eyes and returns his metal to the forge.

He hopes so but either way it seems that tonight the Darling brothers will ride one more time even if their Captain won’t be joining them.

loveyourownsmiilee @monsterrae1 @shortsighted-owl @the-likesofus @hoodie-buck @loserdiaz @buddierights @fiona-fififi @rogerzsteven @bekkachaos @jobairdxx @thekristen999 @ronordmann @hippolotamus @spaceprincessem @disasterbuckdiaz @underwater-ninja-13 @wildlife4life @wikiangela @stagefoureddiediaz @thewolvesof1998 @exhuastedpigeon @weewootruck @giddyupbuck @honestlydarkprincess @pirrusstuff @elvensorceress @jesuisici33 @eddiebabygirldiaz @daffi-990 @diazsdimples @steadfastsaturnsrings @theplaceyoustillrememberdreaming @rainbow-nerdss @lover-of-mine @tizniz @fortheloveofbuddie @actualalligator @watchyourbuck @loveyouanyway @say-bi-for-me

[kuwdora]

Saturday Morning Vid Recs - Video Games

@poetikat ! So you like video games. WELL! I come bearing video game recs from around the Internet, deep into old vidshows of yester-vidding fandom-year, and my bookmarks and recs posts. There’s always way more video game vids out there, esp on AO3 - search for your video game fandom and the Fanvids tag and see what comes up in your results.

Some of these vids date back a decade or more and some are very recent. They’re all awesome and so interesting to watch.

Video Game Vids!

America by @beccatoria. Mass Affect: Andromeda. #colonialism

Hard Times by absternr. Portal. I laughed and cried. Gonna make you wonder why you even try.

Riverside by milly. Tomb Raider (2013). I see how everything is torn in the river deep", Lara PoV. Vid for the 2013 Tomb Raider game.

River by milly. Tomb Raider (2018) This is so fucking gorgeous. Stand and deliver. / Made for VividCon Challenge "Full Circle" in 2018, a sequel/parallel to "Riverside". Reverse Dance by @aurumcalendula. Dishonored. A great character vignette! Billie through the years.

Pop Galaxy by AbsoluteDestiny. Super Mario Galaxy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I’m really in love with the use of the camera angles from the game, and this pop medley is very much a banger of 2013. It’s so much fun.

Scream and Shout by @rhoboat77. Assassin’s Creed. I’m forever screaming about how awesome this vid is in my head but now I share it with everyone. Forever shouting because rhoboat captured all of the game footage!! To make THIS VID. The skill and talent and sheer fucking perseverance to perform some of these actions in the game specifically for this vid. Everything is permitted.

Pop That Lock by @kuwdora. Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Cloud/everyone. Final Fantasy + Adam Lambert = my groove. You got the key to your release, so pop that lock until you’re lighter than air.

D U S K by niyalune. Outer Wildes. This game is gorgeous and this vid is so fucking beautiful and full of wonder and heart "The universe is, and we are."

We’re Here Because We’re Here by violace. Journey 2012. We're here because we're here. Maybe it's really that simple.

Brother (Last Ride) by @kuwdora. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The wolves of Kaer Morhen. I captured all my own game footage for this vid! A first for me. We face the fire together, brothers 'til the end. Never Seen The Light of Day by violace. Bioshock Infinite. This character study really takes you on Elizabeth's journey! Amazing song choice and what a game. And the truth shall set you free. -- A tribute to Elizabeth.

Birds, Birds, Birds by bironic. Wingspan. Tabletop game play, video game, trailers. Bironic has done it again and created something so incredible and something I haven’t seen before and inspired me and struck everyone full of awe and love. I got birdies, dawg.

9 to 5 by @eruthros. Lego Star Wars. This is so damn cute! It's a tough life for a clone trooper or stormtrooper.

One Foot by @kuwdora. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Cal Kestis my beloved. Taking this one step at a time.

Start Wearing Purple by @findmeinthealps Mythic Quest. Not a video game per se but about the people who make them. Poppy Li and Iann Grimm. Hot messes who end up making some great and terrible choices along the way. All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish, I promise.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry by @marahsarie. Outer Wildes. This vid!! is so cute!! and wonderful!! All my friends and all the loose ends and this love of mine, 'cause I'm running out of time.

Anything For Love (Including That) by caramarie Mass Effect/Dragon Age. Thanks for the terrible romantic choices, Bioware.

For more video game vids:

Vidding community on dreamwidth - see the games tag: dishonored, carmen san diego,resident evil and more.

Vividcon Database: 2013 Video Games Vidshow

Spring Equinox 2013 theme: Game On! which includes video games (and sports game themes)

Vidding Discord: ask for recs from more vidders!

Previous Saturday Morning Vid Recs:

Women!

Space and Robots

Animals

Follow the tags to keep up with recs this summer:

#saturday morning vid recs

#kuwdora vid recs

#kuwdora recs

A helpful guide I wrote:

How to Leave Feedback on Fanvids

[gretavanfunk]

Fighting Fire (Series)

Chapter Eleven

Word Count: 8,843

Summary: Stevie and Sam never seemed to be what people refer to as "two peas in a pod" growing up. He got under her skin more times than she could count and Sam was desperate to be on a level playing field as his older brother and Stevie's best friend, Jake. One summer, Sam is forced to face his demons and in turn, Stevie is too.

Warnings: smut, 18+, minors dni, explicit content

This story is written and edited by me and it is my baby so I hope some people out there can enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it! If there are typos, bear with me lol

Chapter Eleven Playlist for the vibes!

It was bright and early on Saturday morning when Stevie found herself in the heaps of the dreaded task of cleaning out the garage storage. Last night, the group had taken the boat out and had a nice afternoon together on the water, but Sam suggested that they utilize the twins' help while they could.

Sam and Stevie were sitting at the bow of the boat, his arm firmly placed around her hips, holding her close to him. Jake was driving the boat back to the dock and Josh was sitting at the back, watching the ripples in the water behind them.

"We can get a lot of stuff done tomorrow with them here," Sam said and Stevie looked over at him, "Like what?"

"Well," he smiled, "I know you don't want to do the garage! We can make them do it."

Stevie laughed and shook her head, "We could ask them for help, sure."

Sam leaned forward on his elbow, turning to smile at her and instead of talking about it anymore, he pulled her into a kiss, earning some indistinct shouting from Jake behind them.

So, here they were. None of them had stayed up very late after making the plans for the morning. They got up around six and started working, deciding to combine the garage cleaning and the garage sale all in one.

Stevie had been dreading this only because of how much stuff she knew her dad kept in here. However, Sam might have had a point about the twins being helpful to them in this task because after about forty-five minutes of working, they had already made a pretty big dent in the items they were keeping and getting rid of.

Stevie was chucking some junk into a trash bag towards the back of the garage when she heard Sam gasp. She turned and found him ripping an old sheet off of her dad's piano.

"Oh man," Sam muttered and ran his hand along the old, damaged wood of her father's piano, "What a beauty!"

She smiled at him and turned back to what she was doing, but stopped again when he spoke, "I gotta get this fixed up!"

Stevie watched him and chuckled, "For what, Sam? That thing is a piece of junk."

Sam opened the piano up to look at the keys and smiled, shaking his head, "Yeah, but it's my piece of junk, Stevie. I'm calling dibs!"

He pressed on a few keys lightly and looked at her, "Besides, I know a guy."

"A guy out in Nashville?" Stevie pestered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sam nodded, "Mhmm, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind making a trip!"

"You really wanna keep that thing?" Stevie laughed and he looked at her with wide eyes, "Of course I do! I might even get a U-Haul to take it home! Or should I keep it here? What do you expect me to play when I'm here with you, Stephanie?"

The sentiment made her body tense, thinking about Sam coming back to visit her. Part of her was delighted by the possibility, and part of her was very unsure how to feel. It sounded as if they were exclusive and she didn't know what she thought about that. She was scared to get into a serious relationship, especially considering everything that happened the last few days.

She made a face and shook her head, "Maybe a piano that isn't falling apart?"

Sam scoffed, "Please! It's great! Don't even worry about it!"

Jake's voice behind her caused Stevie to jump, momentarily forgetting he was there too, "We will probably need a U-Haul or a trailer or something though! We can't fit all this stuff in the Jeep!"

"Jesus," Stevie clutched her chest, "I forgot you were here!"

"That'll happen sometimes with him," Sam chuckled and Josh chimed in too, "Too occupied with tunnel vision, hmm?"

"Gross and offensive," Jake muttered, "Focus, people! We have so much to do!"

Josh grabbed onto Stevie's arm, pulling her away from Sam and out of the garage to where he had been working on the set up for their garage sale.

"What do you think?" Josh asked and Stevie looked around, nodding.

There were a couple of tables with smaller items lined up in a very organized way. Josh had lined up some of the bigger items next to the tables and Stevie smiled at how much he focused on details.

"It looks great, Josh," she exclaimed, "Let's just hope people actually show up to this."

"Don't worry," he patted her back, "I've been listing everything on Facebook Marketplace as I've been setting them out."

"Oh," she looked at him with wide eyes, "Are you sure that's a good idea to do publicly since you postponed your tour?"

Josh shook his head and laughed, "Not on my profile, Stevie! On yours, of course!"

"Oh, okay," Stevie chuckled, "So you're just hacking me now."

"Better you than me," Josh smiled and pat her on the back.

Josh found his spot on a chair close by the tables and he kept his eye out for anyone who would stop to take a look at things while Stevie returned to her duties inside the garage with Jake and Sam. When she would say her dad had hundreds of things in the garage, she wasn't kidding. There were multiple shelves housing books on so many different topics: history, music, religion, philosophy, cars, sports, you name it.

She brought out boxes and boxes with all of his books, deciding against keeping any of them, and then she cleaned up the bookshelves and Jake helped her carry them out to the sale as well. Sam was now organizing all of the stuff they decided to keep which wasn't very much. Stevie was pretty impressed by her ability to let a lot of this stuff go, but she figured having the twins with her helped with that.

The canoes, the piano, all of the fishing and camping supplies, a tote full of photo albums and artwork and some back up supplies for the boat were the only things that Stevie was holding onto. Sam was rearranging where things went, minus the canoes that remained strapped to the wall. Stevie was wiping surfaces down when Sam smacked the tote down and popped it open. She watched him for a moment as he took a photo album out and opened it carefully.

She felt her cheeks flush when she watched him smile at it. It's not as if he hadn't seen whatever pictures were in there before, but the change in the context of their relationship made this scene a lot more emotionally loaded for her. She watched him as he took a sharp breath in through his nose, silently chuckling at a photo, but she kept cleaning and smiled to herself.

"Having fun over there?" she asked and he looked up at her, still smiling, "These pictures are adorable."

Stevie laughed, "Dad had my grandma's knack for photo albums."

She set the disinfecting wipes down and walked over to him, "Which one is that?"

"Hmm," Sam smirked, "Must be high school."

Stevie looked down at the album and saw the photo that Sam was chuckling at and her eyes widened at it. It was a photo of them. Just the two of them. It was puzzling for her to see it because there weren't very many times that Sam and Stevie hung out just the two of them back then.

However, in this photograph, their arms were over each other's shoulders, both making funny faces while their faces were painted and they were decked out in their high school colors, sitting in the stands at one of Jake's soccer games. Stevie was probably a freshman in this photo while Sam was in seventh grade. She laughed loudly at the sight of them, both looking ridiculously awkward with braces and weird haircuts.

"Oh my God," Stevie said and Sam laughed, "Yeah, kinda crazy!"

"What a rare piece of history," she snorted and he nodded, "Yeah, a picture of just you and me together? Pretty rare."

Stevie looked up at him and smiled, scrunching her nose a bit, "Well, that can change."

He looked at her with raised eyebrows and a small smile, "It better."

Stevie stood up on her toes and grabbed his arm, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on," she patted the photo album, "We can look at these later. Right now, we've gotta sweep this place out."

Sam rolled his eyes playfully, but he shut the book, tossing it back into the tote and closing it up before lifting it up onto a shelf. Stevie passed him a broom and she went back to where she was standing previously, grabbing the wipes and moving on.

Once Sam and Stevie were done with the cleaning, he went inside to wash up and make lunch and Stevie walked out to where the twins were, checking in on how everything was going. When she got there, she noticed Jake talking to one of the locals about one of the instruments that they weren't taking home with them.

"Hey man," Jake laughed, "You're not about to lowball me. This thing is one of a kind! The price is firm!"

She laughed at the sight of Jake trying to hustle this guy and she shook her head, walking over to them.

"Hey there," she said, "Jake, relax. I'll take twenty-five off of the price."

"Thank you," the man smiled, "I'll take it!"

Jake glared at her as she took the man's cash and he walked away with a mandolin.

"Stevie, what the hell?" Jake said, "I almost had him!"

She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Jake, I appreciate it, really. However, I'm trying to get this stuff out of here, so it's not a big deal."

He hummed and threw his hands up in defense, "Fine, fine! I hope that guy has a great day 'cause he just robbed you!"

Stevie laughed and shoved Jake lightly, "Go get some water, Jacob."

Jake stuck his tongue out at her and went inside the house. Stevie sat beside Josh, handing him the cash and Josh smiled, tucking it away into the cash box.

"You've already sold a few things on Facebook too," Josh said, "But, I told them they're gonna have to come pick the stuff up today so we'll see if that happens."

Over the next couple of hours, Sam brought out sandwiches for everyone and they all hung out, sitting around while people came and went. Sam had brought Rosie out with him and they ran around for a while too, Stevie enjoying the sight of him just having fun.

"You two are awfully coupley after not knowing what you are like what," Josh scratched his chin, "thirty-two hours ago?"

Stevie narrowed her eyes at him, hugging her legs to her chest, "Can I not just admire him without it meaning something?"

Jake laughed, almost choking on his sandwich, "No, you can't. It's Sam. Admiring him definitely means something."

Stevie rolled her eyes, mumbling something to herself and Jake stared at her for a second, waiting for her to stop acting like a teenager.

"Just date him for fuck's sake," Jake muttered, "What's the point in not telling him how you feel?"

"Well what if I don't know how I feel?" Stevie protested and Jake rolled his eyes, "Give me a fucking break, Stevie. You literally can't stop stealing glances at him anytime you can."

"Didn't you just punch him in the face for kissing me? Why are you suddenly pressuring me to label it?" Stevie glared and Jake smiled.

He gestured his hand to his younger brother who was now laying in the grass with his dog, "You're also the one who told me you wanted him. What are you waiting around for?"

Stevie sighed, not able to hold back a smile when she looked back at Sam and she took in a sharp breath.

Stevie tried to regulate her face before turning to Jake, "I'm just hesitant to dive right in, ya know? I want to hold on to what things are like right now before a label goes on to change it."

Jake stared at her blankly, physically revealing that he did not understand what she was saying.

Josh then chimed in, "That's fair. Sometimes labeling it can complicate things and I don't blame you for being hesitant."

Stevie clapped her hands together and gestured to Josh with a smile, "Thank you!"

"But, you do have to consider it," Josh continued with a small laugh, "Do you want whatever this is with Sam to just be a summer thing or not? He's going to go home and get back on the road at some point and you've gotta decide what that means for you, missy."

"God! Since when did you guys decide to fucking grill me all the time?" Stevie rested her chin on her hands and huffed in irritation.

"Since you started fucking our brother," Jake snapped back and Stevie gasped, hitting him lightly while Jake fought back a fit of laughter.

"Jesus Christ, Jake!"

"Just hoping you're thinking about this," Josh patted her back, "Cause you're really playing with fire when it comes to Sam's feelings, Stevie."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "I know that, Josh. I can really like him without making him my boyfriend though, can't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you can," Josh laughed, "I'm just picking your brain about it. Be careful."

"Seriously, Stevie," Jake sighed, "He's improved so much since the last time I saw him and I'm not saying that's all because of you, but if you rip his heart out, we will all be back to square one."

"I'm not a fucking monster," Stevie gasped, "I don't want to rip his heart out! I'm just proceeding with caution, that's all."

Stevie sat back in her chair and sighed aggressively, "Besides! A lot of his meltdown had to do with extreme burnout! Not me! And I have good reasons for hesitating, given my history."

Jake looked at her and grinned, "I know, Steve. Relax, I'm just messing with you."

"But seriously," Josh sighed, "The conversation about where you stand will come up and I just hope you'll be ready when it does."

"Jeez," Stevie laughed, slugging Josh in the arm playfully, "Why do you have to make it sound so eerie?"

Josh held his hands up but was laughing loudly and shrugged, "The dramatics, they never leave."

Stevie shook her head and stood up, deciding to go hang out with Sam and Rosie instead.

For not having advertised any of this beforehand, they sold almost everything. They were only left with the boxes of books and bookshelves by the time they decided to throw in the towel.

Jake and Sam carried the bookshelves into the garage while Stevie carried the boxes of books and Josh started to break down the tables.

Once everything was cleaned up, they all went inside and Sam sighed, flopping himself onto the couch.

"So," he proclaimed, "What do you guys wanna do with your last night here?"

"I'm fucking tired," Jake admitted with a yawn and Josh nodded, "Yeah, maybe something a little lowkey?"

"Movie night?" Stevie grinned wide and leaned forward in between the twins, looking back and forth at them excitedly.

Jake laughed, roughing up her hair with his hand and nodded, "Yeah, I'm down for that."

"Great! You guys pick," Stevie squeezed their shoulders and turned on her foot to the kitchen, getting ready to make some frozen pizzas and Sam popped in too.

"No," Stevie pointed to him and shook her head, "Do not try to help me, Sam. You already do everything around here."

"Oh, come on," Sam whined, "Let me help you!"

"I literally do not even need any help," Stevie laughed, "This is so simple, anyone can do it."

"Fine," Sam pouted and he scooted a chair out from the dining room table, "Then at least let me watch you."

"Freak," Stevie made a face and laughed. She walked over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him to stand up again.

"Actually, I do need you to do something," Stevie said and Sam raised his eyebrows in anticipation, "I need you to go claim the couch for us! I know Jake is gonna try to sit there cause he doesn't like the lounge chairs."

The most mischievous smile spread across Sam's face and he grabbed her face in his hands quickly, kissing her for a moment and chuckling when he pulled away, "Finally! My time has come!"

"Not if he's already sitting there," Stevie laughed and Sam let go of her, turning on his foot quickly and heading out to the living room again.

When he rounded the corner into the living room, Jake was on his way to the couch but Sam panicked, taking off in a sprint to beat him. Sam jumped onto the sofa spread eagle and almost knocked into his brother, causing Jake to widen his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jake asked and Sam was face down in a couch cushion mumbling back, "Reserving the couch."

"Come on," Jake huffed, "The chairs aren't as comfy, Sam."

Sam lifted his head and smiled at Jake, still catching his breath, "That's too fucking bad, isn't it?"

Jake rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, not swayed by Sam to sit somewhere else and Sam huffed, rolling his eyes too.

"Jake, there's a bean bag chair in the room Josh is staying in. Just use that!"

"Fine," Jake shook his head and turned around, walking upstairs.

Sam flipped himself over and laid very still, not trusting that Jake wouldn't try to weasel his way onto the couch once he came back. Once Stevie had put the pizzas in the oven, she found her way to him, chuckling at the sight of him laying so still.

"Why do you look terrified?" she questioned, causing him to jump at the sound of her voice.

"I was saving your spot," Sam sighed and sat up, giving her space to sit down.

"Okay, but you could breathe ya know," Stevie laughed, settling in beside him and looking over at Josh who was sat cross-legged, still flipping through the big binder her dad had full of movies. He didn't even bother looking up at them as he spoke.

"You should of seen him launch himself into the sofa, Stevie," Josh giggled, "It was like Mission Impossible."

Stevie smiled and looked over at Sam who bit his lip and shook his head, "Hey, maybe we should watch Mission Impossible!"

"Uh, no," Stevie interjected and Sam laid his head back against the sofa, leaning slightly to look at her, "Well, I'll tell ya what we aren't watching!"

Stevie hummed in response, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow to him.

"The fucking Hunger Games," Sam replied with a small smile on his lips.

Stevie scoffed, "Maybe we can start at the beginning so you'll know what the hell is going on!"

Josh shook his head and interrupted their banter, "Nope! Too sad!"

He pulled a disk out of the sleeve and held it up and smiled, "But this one is perfect!"

"What is it?" Sam asked and Stevie saw the writing on the disk that said "A River Runs Through It".

"Absolutely not," she protested, "That movie is so sad, Josh!"

Josh scoffed and shook his head, "It is not sad! It's a beautiful film about brotherhood and life!"

Stevie rolled her eyes, "No! If we're vetoing The Hunger Games, we're vetoing A River Runs Through It!"

"Haven't seen either one," Sam shrugged and chuckled at their bickering.

"Fine," Josh sighed and put the disk back but he was quick to pull out another one, "What about Dirty Dancing?"

"I can get behind Dirty Dancing," Stevie nodded and Sam groaned, "You guys like the stupidest movies."

"Dirty Dancing is a classic," Stevie elbowed him and he laughed, "Whatever."

"It's not like you're even gonna be focused on the movie anyway," Josh laughed, "You're too busy in la la land over there."

Sam flipped him off and before Stevie or Josh could further tease him, Jake came into the room holding a bean bag chair that was almost as big as he is. He threw it onto the floor with a huff and plopped down, settling into it.

"Did you pick a movie?" Jake asked and Stevie just laughed at how nonchalantly he entered the room.

Josh nodded, "Dirty Dancing."

"Nice," Jake muttered and Sam gasped, "What? Even you like this movie?"

Jake looked at Sam with a questioning look and he shrugged, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner, Sam."

Sam fluttered his eyes, gawking at Jake in shock and Stevie patted his shoulder, "You'll get it when the movie is over."

While Josh got up and was putting the movie in the DVD player, the timer on the oven went off and Stevie hopped up, prancing into the kitchen to take them out. She set them all on the stove top to cool and went into the fridge, gathering beers for everyone. Stevie fixed up everyone a plate and they all settled in with their pizza, beers and Josh started the movie.

Stevie took the rare occurrence of silence among the four of them to take in the moment. She smiled to herself glancing at each of them focusing on the screen and if her dad were here with them, it'd feel just like it did when they were all teenagers. Sam glanced at her and smiled when he saw her smile.

He tilted his head in confusion, "Everything okay over there?"

She looked at him quickly with tinted cheeks and she nodded, lightly laughing, "Never better."

After they were done with the pizza, Sam offered to take the plates into the kitchen but Stevie refused, mouthing off to him about how he had never seen this movie so he can't miss any of it. Josh ended up interjecting and cleaning up instead, so Sam laid back on the couch grabbing Stevie's waist as she was in the middle of protesting Josh's work and he pulled her back onto him, grabbing a blanket and tossing it over them haphazardly.

She laughed at his efforts and settled into him, curling up onto his chest and fixing the blanket over them. Sam's hands rest on her back and her arms wrapped around him. His skin was hot to the touch and he felt snuggly, instantly making Stevie smile softly. She listened with her ear pressed against his chest and his heart sounded as if it would beat out of his chest, causing her to smile wider.

Sam always made his flirting and affection towards Stevie look easy, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous as hell all the time. As much as he loved sneaking around with Stevie and the physicality of their relationship thus far, he was really relieved that it wasn't a secret anymore. That's why his heart was pounding, because here he was, with the person he truly believed he could love forever in his arms and his brothers just sitting there like it was any other day.

For years he had wished it could be just like this. Her head on his chest, Jake and Josh completely unbothered. Now that it was, Sam felt at ease. For the first time in a long time, everything in his mind completely stilled like the sun peeking through clouds after a storm. But, his heart was racing because he had never cared more about anything. If he made one wrong move, everything could change just as quickly as it all started.

Not that he ever even imagined doing anything to ruin this, but the thought made him extremely anxious anyway. On top of that, what if she ever changed her mind? While it helped that it was all out in the open, he still wasn't entirely sure how she felt. Besides saying she liked him. That could change in seconds too.

Stevie erupted in laughter at something in the movie and he felt her shaking against him. He smiled down at her and decided to let his stream of thought go, focusing on the moment they were in now. He might not have cared at all about this movie, but he wanted to pay attention to something that seemed to be something she liked. He rubbed her back lightly and his heart fluttered when her grip around him tightened.

As the movie went on, Sam noticed Stevie pressing into him a little bit more than before and he sat up a bit and looked down at her, noticing that she had fallen asleep. He smiled and swiped his hand over her forehead, pushing her hair out of her face. He wanted to keep her there and didn't want to disturb her. However, when the credits started rolling and the twins both stretched and got up out of their seats, he knew she would be upset if they didn't all say goodnight. Sam pressed a kiss on the top of Stevie's head and rubbed her back softly, trying in the nicest way possible to wake her up.

"Stevie," Sam whispered, "Wake up, babe."

Jake walked over and pretended to gag before he grabbed Stevie's shoulder and shook her, "Steve! Wake up!"

"Hey, asshole!" Sam chuckled and Jake flipped him off, "Oh please, she's obsessed with you already, Sam. No need to be Mr. Gentle all the time."

"Still! Don't scare her awake, you dick," Sam shook his head and Stevie yawned, opening her eyes and looking up at Jake.

"No," she whined, "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yes, you did," Jake laughed, "And now we're going to bed so I wanted to say goodnight."

"Boo!" Stevie frowned and stretched, getting up off of Sam, "But after we sleep then you have to leave!"

"It's probably better that we leave you two alone," Josh chuckled as he approached them and stood beside Jake, "You clearly have things to do."

Jake made a face and looked at Josh with a frown, "Don't be a fucking freak."

Stevie laughed and she stood up, giving each of them a hug.

"Fine! Goodnight!" Stevie sighed and Jake rustled her hair, "Don't be sad! We'll have breakfast together tomorrow morning before we leave!"

He kissed the top of her head and Stevie nodded, "Okay, okay. Sweet dreams! I love you!"

"Love you," Jake smiled, letting her go and yawning before turning to go up stairs following Josh.

Stevie looked down at Sam and smiled, reaching her hand out to him, "Come on."

Sam smiled up at her and grabbed her hand but just as she began to pull him up, he yanked on her hand and pulled her back onto him. She grunted and hit his chest, "Sam! Come on, let's go to bed."

"Can we just stay here for a second?" Sam asked, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her closer to him, cuddling into her.

"Yeah, I guess so," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him again, "It's nice, isn't it?"

"So nice," Sam sighed, resting his cheek on her head softly, "I could stay here forever if it was socially acceptable."

Stevie smiled, but she didn't say anything further, leaving Sam questioning if she felt the same way he did, but she was still holding onto him and right now, that was enough for him. After a moment, Stevie lifted her head to look at him and she grinned, searching his face and taking a moment just to enjoy it.

"Ya know, if someone had told me that we'd be here like this a month ago," Stevie began and her smile widen, "I probably would've tried to punch them in the face."

Sam laughed loudly and nodded, "Which is reasonable."

"But, as surprising as it is," Stevie reached her hand up to his face, "I'm really glad that we are here."

Sam lowered his hands to the back of her thighs, pulling them forward and causing her to yelp with a string full of giggles. Sam sat up a bit, inching his face closer to hers and planting a kiss on her lips roughly. He didn't have words for the way it felt to hear her say something like that, but he figured kissing her was enough.

Stevie kissed him back and just as she was trying to pull away, Sam brought her back in, making her laugh and mumble against his mouth.

"Sam," She said and he hummed against her, continuing to kiss her and she pulled back. This time, he let her go.

"Let's go to bed, babe."

"But it's so far," Sam whined and Stevie chuckled, pushing her hands against his chest and lifting herself off of him and standing up.

"Suit yourself," Stevie shrugged, "But I know my bed is a lot comfier than the couch."

"Good luck sleeping without me next to you," Sam doubled down, turning over on his side and snuggling into the throw pillow.

She scoffed and crossed her arms, "Puh-lease! See you in five minutes."

She turned around and headed towards the stairs and Sam looked over his shoulder to see that she was actually leaving him there.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "Wait for me!"

Stevie heard Sam scramble to his feet and she chuckled, turning around to wait for him to catch up to her.

"I can't believe you were just gonna leave me on the couch by myself," Sam gasped when he reached her, grabbing at her waist and she laughed, "I can't believe you thought I would have any problem with just leaving your ass there."

He grinned and shrugged, "Good point."

He took her hand and lead her up the stairs to her bedroom, which was beginning to look more and more like her space after this weekend. Minus the very important decor upgrade it needed, of course. It was definitely beginning to smell less and less like her dad.

Stevie felt bad for thinking it, but with the full house and the twins here to help get so much of the work done, she didn't even really think about her dad for the last few days. Which overall was kind of a nice break from thinking about him constantly for months on end. Of course, there was the occasional sentimental moment that one of them would bring up when they found something in the house or in the garage, but it didn't feel the way it felt when she first arrived to the house.

It felt a lot more peaceful now.

Maybe she was too distracted by Sam and that was to blame. Or maybe she was forced to face his space and his stuff and she could actually be healing? Either way, she felt better so that's all that really mattered to her. Plus, with Sam's skin on her skin, it was hard to think about anything else.

Now, they were both perched on their knees on top of the bed, Sam's fingers lightly brushed her navel, gripping the hemline of her shirt, pushing it up and pulling it over her head as she smiled and lifted her arms for him to remove it. This was the first time that Sam wasn't so quick with his movements and the way he looked so focused at her made her think he was taking his time deliberately.

Sam was, in fact, taking his time. He never did complain about a steamy secret hookup, or a desperate exchange and he never would dare to. However, he didn't want to just fuck each other to sleep. He wanted to love her. He wanted something he could hold onto and remember in case this didn't last forever. It probably sounded stupid. Maybe even a little weird, but the way Stevie was smiling with her nose scrunched a little and her cheeks tinted pink, he knew she enjoyed the fullness of his attention.

It didn't take Stevie long to catch on to Sam's pacing and she was slow in her actions too, leaning forward slightly and touching the edge of his shirt, only letting her hands slide up underneath it and feel his skin. Sam let out a deep breath, only flinching slightly at her cold touch. Stevie's lips curved up at this but she didn't say anything, only scooting herself closer to him.  Sam swiftly grabbed at the back of his shirt, pulling his shirt over his head so they were even.

Stevie then popped off her bra and the two of them sat there, smiling softly. Sam took a moment to just look at her before he held her hips, pushing her back onto the bed. He looked down at her and smiled lovingly before kissing her gently. When he pulled away, Stevie's face was flushed and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"This is different," Stevie admitted and Sam hummed, "Just a little change of pace, baby. I'm multi-talented."

She snickered and wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, leading him back to her lips. He kissed her deeply, deeper than he ever had. Stevie was quickly lost in it. Anytime they were together, Stevie had a hard time focusing on anything else, but this kiss completely consumed her. It was gentle and soft, but was dripping with desperation. She had never been kissed like this.

His hands started on her hips but they were exploring every curve of her body, soft to the touch. He clutched her shorts, tugging them slightly and she lifted her hips to help him take them off. Sam backed away from her, tossing her shorts off of the bed and scooting back away from her. He hooked his arms under her legs and pulled her closer to him and her breath caught in her throat. When he lowered himself down and settled his head in between her legs, she gasped quietly and sat up quickly.

Stevie grabbed his face, lifting it to look at her, "Sam, wait! Are you sure you want to do that?"

Sam tilted his head, eyebrows knitted together and a small questioning smile on his lips, "Uh, Stevie? I've been pretty fucking sure of this for a long time."

She grinned, cheeks heating but worry washed over her features again and Sam lifted himself a little, still holding onto her legs, "You okay?"

"It's just uh," Stevie sighed, running her hand through her hair, "Nobody has ever..."

Sam's eyes widened and he sat up a little straighter, clearing his throat, "Um, I'm sorry. Nobody?"

Sam was more than surprised. He was actually very shocked. In his mind, Stevie always was a girl who could have anything she wanted, just with the bat of an eyelash. This was the first time he was seeing that maybe that was just because he was the one that would do anything she wanted. He had to admit, however, that seeing her so nervous made him feel like his heart was about to explode. It was cute. So ridiculously cute even, he almost forgot about how shocking this new development was.

She felt her face become aflame and she shook her head, "Um, no."

Sam couldn't help but chuckle slightly, stopping himself to avoid her feeling even more weird about it.

He shook his head, "You mean to tell me that you dated the same guy for six years and he never once went down on you?"

Stevie shrugged, "No, not even once."

Sam raised his eyebrows and laughed, "But you went down on him, right? 'Cause I know you've definitely done it before, from experience."

She laughed at him and shrugged again, "Yeah, I mean, of course I did."

"What a cunt," Sam rolled his eyes.

He rubbed her legs gently and softened his eyes, "Do you want me to?"

Stevie bit her lip, not sure on how to respond. The sight of him so eager between her legs made her feel so intensely that the answer was obviously yes, but she wasn't sure if she should just skip ahead.

Sam picked up on her nerves and continued, "Because personally, I really, really want to."

Stevie bit her lip and smiled, "Okay, yeah. I want you to."

Sam reached up and kissed her lips, pushing her onto her back again.

"Take a deep breath, honey," Sam whispered, "Just enjoy."

Sam resumed his previous position and Stevie adjusted herself against the pillow below her head, looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep breath. Physical intimacy never made her this nervous before, but this was uncharted territory and it felt so... personal.

She wasn't expecting the surprise that came over her when Sam's tongue lapped against her the first time. It was warm. Warmer than she imagined it would be and Sam was hesitant at first, trying to ease Stevie into it. He peppered kisses on her inner thighs and ran his tongue between her folds a few times, feeling her body relax after becoming used to having him there.

Then, he switched focuses onto her clit, wanting nothing more than to hear her angelic voice. He buried his face a little closer to her, flicking his tongue against her at a steady pace. She gasped at the feeling. It was unlike anything she ever felt before and she was a little too nervous to look down at him, but she did and she was glad. His eyes looked back at her, more intensely than they ever had and without thinking, her hands flew into his hair.

"Oh fuck," she whispered, "Keep going!"

He groaned against her in response and she moaned, overwhelmed by the feeling. Sam quickened his pace, switching between his tongue, and sucking on her and he smiled when Stevie started to wiggle against him, arching her back.

"Fuck, Sam," Stevie panted, "I'm gonna come!"

Sam held onto her tighter, and she tried scooting away, but he never lost contact. He was getting a little tired, but he had her right where he wanted her and he thought about it for a moment, before using a trick from Stevie.

He started humming a song while trying to keep an even rhythm with his tongue, which proved itself a little bit difficult. However, Stevie started to move her hips against him and he smiled, feeling her legs shake.

"Holy fucking shit," Stevie sighed, letting herself fuck Sam's face until she settled from her high, laying still and gasping for breath. Sam was wearing a whimsical grin when he got up, grabbing his t-shirt and wiping his face on it. Stevie opened her eyes and realized that she pretty much rode his face and she gasped, "Oh my god, I'm sorry."

"Ha!" Sam chuckled, "Do not apologize to me. That was the hottest thing I've ever seen."

She laughed and shook her head, "That was unlike anything I've ever felt in my life."

Sam laughed, crawling up to lay down beside her and pulling on her hips until they were in a spooning position, "You don't want to feed my ego too much."

She sighed, pushing herself against him and taking a deep breath, "Don't worry, I would never."

"Although, you don't really have to," Sam pressed a kiss into her shoulder blade, "You kind of stole the show with that."

Stevie felt Sam's erection pressed against the lower of her back and she smiled, wiggling her ass a bit against it, making him hiss.

"Babe," Sam muttered, "Please, this isn't about me."

"Oh, I think it is," Stevie snickered, "Wouldn't want to be selfish."

"No," Sam sighed, wrapping his arms around her tighter, "I just wanted to make you come tonight."

"And I want to make you come," Stevie protested, "Come on, baby, put it in."

Sam laughed lightly and Stevie felt his breath hot on her neck.

"Sam," Stevie whined, "We don't even have to move! Just fuck me like this."

"Awww," Sam teased, "You're tired, huh?"

She laughed and nodded, "Exhausted, but I'll still do some work, babe."

She reached her arm behind her, grabbing onto his thigh and feeling the fabric of his shorts, "Come on, take these off."

"Alright, alright!" Sam giggled, "Since you're fucking begging!"

"I am not," Stevie rolled her eyes, "You wanna hear begging?"

Sam stilled himself, raising an eyebrow and nervous to respond, "And if I do?"

"Hmmm," Stevie smiled, thrilled that Sam couldn't even see her face, "I'd probably say something like pretty please?"

Sam laughed, "You can do better than that."

Stevie immediately moved her hand farther down between them, grabbing his dick tightly and making him jump.

"Damn, doesn't that hurt your arm?" Sam jested and Stevie ignored him, "Sam, I need you inside me, now."

He laughed, "That's not really begging, is it? More like demanding."

She let go of him, bringing her arms forward and crossing them over her chest, "Fine, suit yourself. I'm going to sleep just fine."

"I will too, thank you very much," Sam muttered, snuggling into her and she rolled her eyes. Stevie made it a point to keep moving every few seconds, trying to create some friction against him and after about a minute of this, Sam groaned, "Jesus fucking Christ, Stevie!"

He loosened his grip around her, pushing her away from him and she grinned to herself when she heard him shuffling around, wiggling out of his shorts.

Without any warning, Sam grabbed her leg, pushing it up and spreading her just enough to push himself into her. She sighed, relieved that she had won. Their brief little power trip argument didn't steer Sam clear of his plan to be intentional with making love to her. He didn't move very aggressively, thrusting into her gently and slowly.

"Is that better, baby?" Sam whispered, "Want me to fuck you so lazily like this? Nice and slow?"

Stevie just hummed, too focused on what he was doing to speak and he kissed her neck with multiple small kisses.

"Hmm," Sam continued, "Cat's got your tongue all of a sudden?"

She groaned, "Shut up, Sam."

He laughed, and pulled her closer to him, reaching his arm around her to grab her chest, massaging her softly and keeping his pace, wanting to last longer than he had been recently. However, because he was taking his time so much this time around, it was hard not to notice how much more he could feel her. They both were hot to the touch and because of the events only moments before, she felt more wet than she ever had. Sam's breathing was heavy, trying not to make it so obvious by how quickly he was already unraveling.

But Stevie could sense this, in the way the pads of his fingers dug into her skin a little bit harder and the way she could feel the breath escape his nose at an unusual pace. So, she grabbed his wrist, moving her hips against his own movements.

"Come on, Sammy," Stevie sighed, "I wanna hear you, babe."

"Shit, Stevie," he groaned loudly, "You're so fucking wet, I can't focus."

"Mmm," Stevie whimpered a little, letting her own facade slip a little, "You feel so good, Sam. Like you were made for me."

"Fuck, Stevie," Sam panted, "You can't say shit like that."

She craned her neck to try and face him, although she wasn't very successful, "Even if it's true?"

"Oh God," Sam grunted, clutching onto her tighter and thrusting faster.

"Mmhmm," Stevie smiled, "You're perfect, Sammy baby."

Sam's hand reached up to her shoulder, holding onto her and pulling his dick out of her, moaning rather pathetically. Stevie smiled, imagining what he looked like behind her and she bit her lip as she listened to his breathing even out.

Then, Sam giggled and she giggled too. He let go of her and smacked his lips, "Well, I'll be right back."

Sam got off the bed and Stevie laughed, turning around and watching him scurry himself to the bathroom. When he shut the door, Stevie sighed and reached out to where his body was moments before. She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling whole and a bit embarrassed for how much she wanted him to come back so quickly.

Sam looked at himself in the mirror for a moment when he was done cleaning up and he couldn't even try to stop himself from smiling. Stevie's words replayed in his head. She said it was true, but she could've just been saying that in the heat of the moment. However, he thought about what came next.

"You're perfect"

Nothing had ever made him feel so validated and loved. Even with thousands of fans screaming at him at every show, he had never felt the way he felt right now. He was just standing here in the locked bathroom, smiling at himself like an idiot and feeling childishly giddy. He took a deep breath and rand his hands through his hair before leaving the bathroom and making his way back to the bed. He saw Stevie laying there with her eyes closed and a smile on her lips and he smiled too, laying his hand on top of hers gently.

She opened her eyes, taking in a sharp breath and she chuckled, "Oh, you're back!"

"I'm back," Sam winked, "Now let's go to sleep, darling."

Sam lifted her arm and took his place beside her, draping the covers over them softly. He held her hips, pulling her close to him and kissing her forehead, "Goodnight, baby. Sweet dreams."

She hummed, wrapping her arms around his torso and nuzzling her face into his chest, "Goodnight, my love."

The pet name made Sam's heart jump to his throat quickly. All she did was say the word. That's all she said. Well, two words. My. Love. People say it all the time when they're fooling around. God knows he's been given that name quite a few other times. But this time? From her? It meant something entirely different than it ever did before. Did she mean it the way he had hoped she meant it? Did she love him the way that he so consumingly loved her?

Sam let out an uneasy breath and after an amount of time that to him, felt like an eternity, he whispered, "I love you."

She didn't respond, she just laid against him, breathing deeply and Sam bit his lip as he nervously eyed her sleeping body. He kissed the top of her head and closed his own eyes, begging for sleep to come.

The next morning, Stevie woke up first, before the sun was even fully up. The sky outside was a soft shade of indigo, giving the room a blue tint. It was earlier than she was used to waking up, but that was probably due to the uneasy sleep she got after hearing what Sam confessed to her last night.

She didn't say anything in the moment and decided that fabricating sleep was the best way to go. Things just mellowed out! She didn't want to start any fights up again just because she was nervous about something that she already knew. It wasn't any surprise to her that Sam loved her. She knew that he did and technically, this wasn't even the first time he said it. He literally confessed to her that he had been head-over-heels in love with her for years. But, removed from the heat of the moment argument that they were in the first time he said it, it felt different. Now, she was sure that he meant it and the thought of that scared her.

She looked at his sleeping face and smiled nervously. She liked Sam. She really, really liked Sam, but she wasn't ready to confirm whether or not she loved him. Yes, while everything was settling down and working out, she still had a lot to figure out and so did he! He had only been going to therapy for a few weeks and both of them had a lot of work to do to the house and to themselves.

On the other hand, she couldn't lie and say that hearing him whisper it to her last night made her heart want to explode over and over again. She took a deep breath at the memory and she began to slowly roll herself away and out of Sam's grasp. She knew that Sam would cook them all breakfast again if she didn't beat him to it first and she knew she wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. Plus, she wanted to do something nice for everyone. While she has been here with Sam, she hasn't really had to do any actual work besides dusting her dad's old stuff and she was very grateful for that, all romantic feelings aside.

So, when she successful got out of bed without waking him up, she snuck into the closet and put on some clothes, tiptoeing through the room and slipping into the hallway carefully. When she got downstairs, she let out the breath she was holding in and she yawned, making her way to the kitchen and jumping out of fear to find Josh already there, sipping on tea at the dining room table.

"Fuck! You scared the shit out of me," Stevie breathed and Josh looked at her with surprise, "Woah! You're already awake? That's a first!"

She narrowed her eyes at him and started to put her hair up, walking to the sink and turning the water on to wash her hands, "Maybe I woke up early to make breakfast for everyone, did ya ever think about that?"

"No," Josh took a sip, "And I know that's not what got you up before seven, Stevie. Everything okay?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yes. Just couldn't sleep that well."

Josh watched as she opened the fridge, taking the eggs out and setting them on the counter. He knew she was leaving something out, but he also knew he wouldn't have to pry to get her to talk about it. She opened the egg carton and sighed deeply. Josh's lips curved into a smile as she looked up at him and opened her mouth.

"He said it," Stevie blurted, "Last night as we were going to sleep."

"Said it?" Josh questioned and his eyes widened after a second, "Like? The thing?"

She nodded, "He said love. He said he loves me, Josh."

Josh gasped, "I knew he would but I didn't think he'd say it now! What did you say?"

She looked back down at the eggs and bit her lip, earning more of a grilling tone from Josh.

"Stevie," Josh taunted, "You did respond, didn't you?"

She rubbed her jaw with her hand and sighed, "No! I pretended to be asleep!"

"Steve-"

She wagged her finger at him and frowned, "Don't even start lecturing me, Joshua! I panicked, okay? What was I supposed to do? Tell him I wasn't sure?"

Josh hissed and shook his head, "Eh, I guess not?"

"Exactly!" Stevie took a deep breath, "Besides, the dust from this weekend has just settled and I'm not ready for another thing."

Josh stared at her carefully and breathed deeply in through his nose, "Well, it's going to happen again, ya know. Probably more likely when you're awake. So, I guess you've got something to think about."

"God," Stevie cracked a few eggs into a big bowl, "It feels like all I ever do it think. I want to stop thinking!"

"Well," Josh chuckled, "I have something for that!"

"Josh," Stevie rolled her eyes, "No. I don't need any of your weed."

He shrugged and took another sip, "Whatever you say! I think both of you could chill the fuck out."

She laughed at Josh's knowing expression and continued to cook the house some omelets. When they were done, however, it was still rather early and she didn't really want to go bother Sam or Jake but Josh grabbed her shoulder and shook his head, "Jake needs to get his ass up anyway. I'm not trying to spend all day getting home."

She chuckled and Josh patted her cheek, "I'll go wake them both. Don't worry!"

She smiled, "You are a saint."

Once Josh finally got the two of them downstairs, Stevie had already been sitting there for a few minutes, with the table made and while Jake and Sam were groggy and a bit grumpy, they both wished her a good morning and sat at the table with smiles. Sam kissed her temple before taking his seat beside her. It only took them a little bit to wake up and the four of them ate breakfast together, cracking jokes and laughing loudly.

Stevie felt bittersweet about the twins leaving. While their visit was way more dramatic than anyone bargained for, she was overjoyed to have them all here with her again. While she was excited to be alone with Sam again and to hopefully figure some of this shit out, she couldn't wait for Jake and Josh to return again.

"We'll see you on the fourth!" Jake assured Stevie with a squeeze a few hours later when the Jeep was packed up and they were saying goodbyes, "And this time I won't just drop in unannounced."

She had already said her goodbyes to Josh and he was a bit more serious than his twin, reminding Stevie that she had to address what she truly felt about Sam. So, this jesting from Jake made her crack a smile.

Stevie laughed, squeezing him harder, "I love you. Thank you for everything you did for me this weekend and always."

They pulled apart from their hug and Jake smiled, "I love you too! It's my pleasure, of course! Who knows, maybe you'll be in Nashville too before you know it."

Stevie rolled her eyes, "Mmm, we'll see."

He winked at her and the twins got into the Jeep, waving excessively while backing out and down the road. Sam and Stevie stood side by side, waving obnoxiously at the twins and about halfway through them leaving the property, Sam grabbed her hand, linking his fingers with hers. While Stevie was so unsure about a stupid four-lettered word, she was sure of how comfortable it felt to be swinging her hand with his as they walked back up to the house.

[eggcompany]

Jaskier and his Snuggly Wuggly Killing Machines Part 15

Spin-off of our story- Jaskier and the snuggly wuggly killing machines!!!! Valdo is throwing Jaskier a "Back to stage" Party. Geralt and Eskel wish to attend. Jaskier didn't expect them to be so... easy about it. He really didn't expect them to find friends so quickly. Geralt gets fed by a drunk guitarist and Eskel gets dougheyed for a pretty lady next to him.

“Oh! Valdo is throwing me a “Back to Stage'' party! I told him I was going to release a new song when I was ready to get back to work. What do you think, boys? It’s in a week at the Rosy Apple. That’s a pretty lowkey bar so there probably won't be that many people. Maybe Aunty can come over and babysit, puppysit rather. Would you boys mind that? If I went out for the night?” Jaskier said as he went through his emails on his laptop in the living room. 

The spring rain had been keeping the boys inside lately. Vesemir hadn’t been over in a few days since the weather change caused his joints to creek and ache far too much to get around. Aiden had become a regular face around the Pankratz residence. He often spent Monday through Saturday at the large home and only went home on Sundays to check in with his owner. Today however it was just Jaskier and his babies. Aiden was at his own home doing chores, and Vesemir had a vet over to look at his joints. 

Geralt and Eskel were just watching a show about the Amazon rainforest while playing with some sensory clay and Lambert was coloring in his favorite coloring book (Animal Alphabet, it was called) while sitting on the floor next to Jaskier. 

“Valdo is the man who came to the house and Geralt tried to eat him.” Eskel said absentmindedly while still watching his show. 

“I didn’t try to eat him. I was ‘tecting daddy. Eating people is bad, icky probably.” Geralt said to his brother, who hummed and nodded in response. Lambert perked up and looked at Jaskier. 

“I think you should go! Only Aunty has come over. We got to have Aiden and Papa, you haven’t got to see none of your friends. Do your… Do your friends not like… witchers?” Lambert asked and said the last word as if it was a bad word. Jaskier felt touched by the kitty. Jaskier leaned down to be closer to Lambert’s ear. 

“I think my friends would love you guys, they’re just so nervous cause you’re so cute.” Jaskier whispered and Lambert looked down, blushing, his ears relaxed back a little bit. The other two boys turned so they were facing the human. 

“If they like us, why can’t we come? We’re good when you take us to the store and the park and the eating house.” Eskel says and Geralt nudges him. 

“Waffle house, Esk, Waffle house.” Geralt corrected him and Eskel nodded and looked at Jaskier. 

“We can just sit next to you. If we, if we meet your friends not in our space, maybe they can come in the house. Promise we’ll be good! Right, Bear?” Eskel said and pulled his pinky up to show Jaskier. Geralt was busy looking at his clay again. Eskel pulled the white haired cub’s hand up and Geralt caught on. 

“Yep! Promise. We can wear our pretty new shirts! The… the button ones. Um the button…” Geralt agreed and tried to think of what Jaskier had called the shirts. Then it clicked in his head. “Our new button ups!” Geralt smiled and Eskel nodded in agreement. 

Jaskier thought for a moment. He could do that. Let the boys get all dressed up in their new shirts and jeans and their nice shoes. They would have to wear their special bracelets though… Jaskier had recently bought them thick paracord bracelets with shiny brass tags that said their names, address, and Jaskier’s number. He also just bought them lovely flannel button ups. 

Jaskier was shaken by his thoughts by Lambert crudely poking his knee. Jaksier looked down at his pouting face. 

“I don’t wanna go meet people. I wanna stay home.” Lambert said plainly. Jaskier smiled and nodded, that’s understandable. 

“Okay how about this, Bear and Esk , you can come with me to the party. Lambert you can stay here with Aunty and we’ll ask if she can look after Aiden as well. Does that sound alright?” Jaskier asks and watches Eskel and Geralt smile and start wagging. Lambert nodded and went back to his coloring book. 

“Okay then! I’ll let everyone know and I’ll make sure to have everything we’ll need for a ‘Just-In-Case’ situation. Remember you can always change your mind if you want to.” Jaskier explained and the boys agreed and went back to their activities. 

_____________________________________________

“Valdo! You’re the only one who hasn't gotten back to me through email. Or text. Or call. I will march my fat ass up to your prissy little house and raise hell. Call me back.” Jaskier said into his phone. Again. The other singer hadn’t gotten back to him about bringing the babies. Well the big babies since they told him they didn’t want to be “pupped out” around anyone else yet. 

Jaskier pushed the cell phone back into the pocket of his shorts and leaned against the porch rail. The boys were whooping and hollering as they rolled and played in the mud. They were head to toe covered and Jaskier couldn’t help but laugh. They rastled and tackled each other in the thick substance. All the while Jaskier walked around the porch to check on his plants and talk with the elder witcher who was admiring the terrarium of lithops. 

“I might just hose them off out here. Would that be harsh? I mean I guess I could get gallons of warm water from the sinks to just rinse them off a bit before they come in the house. Little piggies.” Jaskier said as he neared Vesemir. Vesemir laughed from the wheelchair he had donned when the doctors had decided his knees needed a break sometimes. 

“They love the mud. I remember Geralt stripping down on the way to the springs. He would sit in the hot mud for hours. Said it felt nice on his neck! Silly pup, he was. Eskel rather preferred laying on warm rocks, he’d find a nice dry rock and lay out his boots and socks and under clothes. Naked as nature just laying out on the rocks. Lammy was too modest to strip and be with the other boys so he’d sneak an extra pair of under clothes and sit in the farthest and smallest pool. Now look at him! He’s gonna have mud packs in his tail!” Vesemir said and laughed as he watched the boys. Geralt and Eskel had tossed their own boxers off before diving into the rich dark mud but Lambert had kept on his briefs, which was much less than what Jaskier had thought he’d be wearing. Jaskier laughed too and leaned his hip against the rail. 

“Disasters. Absolute disasters. I’ll have to spend hours scrubbing them clean! Oh gods… Geralt’s hair! He is not going to be happy when I have to brush it out. He already is so… particular about his hair.” Jaskier said and groaned. Vesemir reached up and patted his back, laughing. 

“I’ll brush it. It’s the least I can do. I think we just ought to rinse them in the hose and then right into a hot bath. I’ll hose ‘em off and you go run a bath.” Vesemir said with a kind and tender voice. Jaskier relaxed and smiled as he hopped down to get the hose and toss it to Vesemir. The faucet was on the porch so the elder could get to it easily. Jaskier walked into the house with the sound of Vesemir whistling up the boys. 

_____________________________________________

“Alfredddddd~ you called me? Oh I’m so honored !” Came sarcastically through the cell phone speaker. Jaskier was elbow deep in mucky water attempting to unclog the bath drain. Jaskier sighed and rolled his eyes. The boys all tried to be quiet with their cackling because Daddy was getting even more soggy. 

“Valdo I am elbow deep in mud, you are on speaker. Keep it savory or I swear to...” Jaskier said as he yanked harder on the metal bit. If he could just pull the whole thing up he could rinse it. 

“Oh? Taking an afternoon swing in the mud? You dirty dog. I didn’t take you as an outdoor whor-” The other man said and Jaskier jumped to turn the speaker off. Successfully getting mud on his screen. Eskel handed him a towel but the other two just laughed harder. 

“I said keep it savory. I didn’t take a slog in the mud, the babies did. They’ve clogged the bath.” Jaskier said as he held the phone between his naked shoulder and ear. He stopped though to talk to the pups. “Did anyone have a rock? Did we get a rock stuck maybe? No? Alright, alright.” Jaskier said when everyone shook their heads. 

“Oh. Well whatever. Do they talk? I don’t think anyone would like it if they just chattered and grumbled the whole time. They’re big yeah, make sure to leash and muzzle them and make sure they have at least mits on. Clawing couture is like a felony ya know.” The snide man said. Jaskier had to take a breath before standing up and walking out the bathroom door. 

“I will beat you into a puddle if you ever say something like that again. It’s my party. If my babies want to eat the fucking tables, they very well can. Everyone else already agreed that it would be okay if they came. Without leashes, muzzles, mittens, or otherwise. I’ll have you know that you are the only one they’ve been aggressive with. Maybe they have six senses for bastards who can’t sing. Eat shit, they’re coming and they’ll be seated in chairs at my sides. Goodbye Valdo.” Jaskier growled into the phone before hanging up and coming back to the bathroom.  

“He was going to say whore.” Lambert said the second Jaskier stepped inside. It caused the other boys to laugh and Jaskier snickered. 

“Yes he was. Now who’s big and strong enough to pull that blasted drain out?” Jaskier asked and they scrambled to pull the bit up. 

‘Lords, I hope this party is okay…’ Jaskier told himself. 

_____________________________________________

“So Aiden is probably going to um… ‘entertain’ Lambert tonight so just ignore them and leave them alone till morning once they wash up. They’ll probably get up late or shower again in the morning. There’s plenty of puddings and candy and just doordash them a pizza or burgers or whatever they want. Um… yeah they kinda seclude themselves away in Lambert’s room. Okay I love you so much for this, Lammy, be good, Aiden don’t bite Aunty again.” Jaskier said and he kissed Yennefer, Lambert, and Aiden’s cheeks. Aiden and Lambert were both blushing and looking down, they of course were hand in hand. 

“Of course! And oh~ Handsome boys, handsome handsome. Make sure to have fun and eat as much as you want. Stay close to daddy, watch out for people who drink too much, watch out for daddy when he drinks too much. Jaskier when you absolutely get closet pissing drunk I’m sure one of your strapping young boys would happily carry you to the car. Geralt sweety, there's a sweater in the blue duffel bag. I think we’ll get you a bigger size next time, that button is just gonna pop!” Yennefer said and scratched at Eskel’s ears. Geralt was wearing his pretty new blue flannel shirt and a pair of nice black jeans that he had recently grown very fond of. The shirt however was probably a size too small because the third button down was straining to keep the pale flesh covered. 

“I wanna match Esky! Can… Can bubba also wear a sweater? Cause I’m not too comfy.” Geralt said and looked over at Eskel who was wearing a matched outfit only his flannel was a dark shade of blue, and it was a size bigger and it actually fit him. Eskel was crosseyed from having his ears scratched, but he nodded anyway. 

“Okay then, hurry though. We need to head out in seven minutes. I’ll go get your sweaters. Black and red, yes? Yenn please help them with buttons. Lammy, Aiden, Fantastic Beasts is pulled up in the playroom.” Jaskier said and made his way up the stairs as the two youngests made their way to the basement. 

_____________________________________________

Soon the boys were seated in the third row of the suburban that Valdo had sent to pick Jaskier up and send him home. They were wiggling around and giggling. Jaskier chatted lightly with the driver as they made their way to the small upscale bar. 

Jaskier had Geralt’s hand in his right and Eskel’s in his left as he walked into the darkened double doors. Cheers and hooraas rang out as he smiled and walked to the seat at the front. A little more than a baker's dozen of his friends and companions sat around at the few wooden tables. Jaskier happily hopped up to the table on the stage. There were three seats pulled up. Eskel and Geralt waited until Jaskier sat down to take their own seats. There was a smaller woman with blue streaked hair next to Geralt and a strong looking woman next to Eskel. 

“Yes, yes, I’m back from the dead. For anyone who hadn’t heard, I took time off to situate my home with my new pets. Three witchers! Two accompany me tonight, you can wave if you want Geralt. This is my sweet honey pie Geralt, and this is the eldest Eskel! I’m sure most of you know that witchers have a bad reputation. Don’t be afraid of them, they’re not mean or viscous or anything else. If anything Eskel might cuddle you to death and Geralt licks. Be friendly with them, show kindness and compassion to those more fortunate than you! They get to see this sexy face 24/7!” Jaskier announced and sat back down into his chair laughing. The room erupted in applause and laughter. People around the table started speaking. 

“Jaskier, Jaskier, coming back already? I heard you were out for good! Valdo spreads rumors like butter!” Said a man across from Geralt. Jaskier turned and started chatting to them. 

_____________________________________________

“Hello Geralt. Want some wine? We have a few bottles for the table.” Said a woman with blue streaks in her hair that was sitting next to Geralt. The cub lowered his ears and shook his head. 

“No thank you. Alcohol is icky. Jask said that we can have it but I think it’s gross.” Geralt said politely. He then leaned closer and whispered to the tipsy lady who was lipping at her wine glass. “I really want some potatoes but they’re over there and I don’t wanna be rude interrupting.” Geralt said and eyed the fancy crystal bowl full of mashed potatoes. Many bowls and trays floated around the room. Jaskier had said there would be so much food. There were hams and chickens and vegetables and cut fruit and all the food you could ever ask for. 

The lady laughed and waved her hand. She asked loudly for the bowl which was passed over to her. Geralt smiled and wagged his tail where it was slid through a gap in the chair back. His ears stood up tall. He reached for the bowl but the lady shook her head. 

“Allow me, dear. I’m Gwen by the way. Guitarist and lyrical queen. Let’s plate you up plenty , Big boys need to eat.” She said and scooped out at least two and half cups of the pale mush onto Geralt’s plate. Geralt sat still with his eyebrows high on his forehead. When the lady, Gwen, pulled back and set the bowl back onto the table Geralt smiled widely at her. He took up a spoon to eat but he halted when he heard her gasp. With wide yellow eyes, he looked up at her in confusion. 

“Oh wow, your teeth! How can you fit those inside your mouth? Can I touch them? My my they’re huge! Ferocious lookin’” Gwen exclaimed and moved her hands toward Geralt’s face. The cub looked up at Jaskier for a moment, just to make sure he was still safe, before leaning over and opening his mouth. The nearly inch and a half inch top fangs caught light. Gwen leaned in and looked at them in drunken wonder. 

“Wow… You look like you suck your thumb… Your top teeth are kinda worn. Do you chew on things you shouldn’t?” Gwen said and took a closer look at Geralt’s teeth. The cub sat back and closed his mouth and looked down embarrassed. Gwen laughed and leaned forward to rest on her head on her wrist, her wine glass close to her forehead. 

“You do. You’re a silly puppy, aren’t you. Witcher though…” Gwen says and looks skeptical. Geralt feels nervous and scoots away so he’s touching thighs with Jaskier under the table. 

Jaskier turns and absentmindedly rubs at the bottom of Geralt’s ear. He’s happily talking to the people across the table about music and house renovations.  Gwen leaned back and waved him to calm. 

“No, no, sweety. Not like that. I heard Witcher’s grow new teeth if they lose them. Is that true? Or will those get loose when you wear them down more?” Gwen said and forked a piece of steak, popping it into her mouth while watching the witcher. 

“They come back. I got my big teeth busted all the time when I was a kid, they just come back. I guess I could pull them out. They come back in like… a week? Five days?” Geralt explained and ran his tongue over his front teeth. They did feel a little worn down. Probably from always sucking on popsicles all summer, chewing on the wooden blocks even though daddy told him not too, and biting sticks in the yard. Gwen smiled and stuck another piece of steak onto her fork. 

“Hmm… I’m sure you could. Although they are quite cute, all small. Here, eat.” Gwen said and waved her fork over to Geralt who happily took the meat and chewed it up. He was having a very nice time. 

Gwen fed him more and more. Steak, salad, fruit, lots of fruit, etc. Geralt was smiley and happy and Gwen had scooted them so she could curl and play with his long white hair. Geralt purred quietly a few times, causing Gwen to squeal and clap happily. 

_____________________________________________

While Geralt had his time with Gwen Eskel was also having a time. 

Eskel sat down and looked down for a little while but a deep gentle voice forced him to look up. 

“Darling, why aren’t you eating? Do you want something different? I’ll go get you something different if you’d like.” Said a lady Eskel didn’t really notice until now. 

Eskel raised his eyes up to meet the person sitting next to him. Eskel was going to brush them off but Eskel just became pie-eyed when he looked up. The lady, dressed in a fine wine colored floor length dress, was so… pretty. She had beautiful brown eyes, warm russet colored hair that floated around her head like a halo that was perfectly picked, and a warm chocolate toned lipstick. Eskel stared at her for probably a rude amount of time. He took in her features, her strong jawline, wide nose, her delicate pink painted nails, her hands that looked rough and strong yet so… gentle. Eskel just sat staring with his mouth slightly open with his amber eyes flashing around the woman. The way the warm toned dress complimented her own warm toned skin so well she looked like art. It took more than a minute for the lady to let out a laugh. 

“Do you want wine? Or a cookie, baby?” The woman says, pulling Eskel from his lovey glazed daze. He indeed quickly and shook his head, his face heating up into a tomato shade. 

“N-no thank you, ma’am.” Eskel said which caused another deep giggle. 

“Ma’am is only used for old people, dear. I’m Rose. Now, why aren’t you eating?” Rose said and Eskel couldn’t help but nod along. His heart was swirling in his chest. This lady… was so… perfect. The energy around her seemed to shine and sparkle. 

“I don’t wanna accidentally drop something or embarrass daddy. You all look so fancy. Especially you. You look very fancy and very pretty.” Eskel says in a light quiet voice. The woman smiled and reached out to touch his forearm. Heat and sparks and magic it felt like floated up from that hand up to wrap and squeeze at his heart. 

“That’s so nice! You look very nice too. That sweater looks so comfy, it feels very nice. How about this, you can scoot over here a little and I can cut up some of this turkey (I’ve already way too much of it!) and I’ll feed it to you. Do you want some help, little puppy?” Rose says and Eskel nods. She can tell by the pup's eyes and relaxed stature that he trusts her. Eskel turns and hooks his feet in the bottom rungs of the woman’s seat and drags her closer. Causing the women to jump and smile, laughing. 

“Okay Miss Rose. But… But I’m not a little puppy! I’m a big boy. Witchers aren’t just one thing you know.” Eskel says and watches happily as the woman cuts up a large slab of hot turkey breast. Rose hummed and smiled over at him. 

“Really? What do you mean, not just one thing? I see one thing, a cutie wootie fella.” Rose said and that makes Eskel grin dumbly and smile. His ears flip back and he blushes shyly. 

“I’m mostly wolf but they mix up our genetics. Bear, wolf, cat, badger, all sorts of stuff. Geralt’s lot’s of stuff. Lammy’s mostly cat. He’s our younger brother, he stayed home.” Eskel chatted lightly until Rose lifted a cut piece of meat up to Eskel’s mouth. Eskel wiggled in his seat and smiled. ‘ This is so nice. Pretty lady feeding me!’ Eskel thinks as he eats bite after bite. 

“Hmm… Eskel, darling, do you think it’s about time to have something sweeter. It’s getting late. I think they’ll be bringing out desserts soon. Oh silly boy, come here.” Rose says and Eskel wags and leans forward, eyes closed. The lady gently wipes at his mouth. She cradles his face for a moment before lifting him back up. 

“I like dessert. I like cream things like cold whip and condensed milk. We get it out of cans!” Eskel said excitedly. Rose laughed loudly at the way the pup phrased it. Her laugh was deep and rich and it shook Eskel’s bones in the best way. 

“Well I’ll make sure to get you an extra piece of cheesecake. I’m sure you’ll like it. You ate everything else so gently. You have such manners, I’m sure Jask appreciates it.” Rose said and brushed Eskel’s hair out of his face and rubbed at his ears. His eyes crossed and slumped towards her, smiling. His tail was thumping against a table leg and his ears moved around slightly when she scratched a sensitive spot. 

_____________________________________________

Jaskier had a wonderful time. He talked with his table for a while before deciding he could walk around once he saw that Eskel was all mushy with Rosemary, his manager, and Geralt was getting fed by a quite drunk Gwen. He made his way table to table, taking pictures, joking around, talking, taking congratulations and welcome backs. He ate and tried not to drink too much but by the time he rounded back to his table for dessert he was wobble on his feet. He sat down and laughed bubbly at the sight. Geralt was talking to Gwen and her partner Alfie. Gwen was busying herself looking at Geralt’s large padded palms. Eskel, holding his head up by his palms while his elbows rested on the table,  was purring and speaking to people around the table while Rosemary stroked his ears and head. Jaskier rubbed his hands over each boy’s back reassuringly. 

Soon each boy was getting fed desserts. Gwen had become too drunk so Alfie had laughed and offered Geralt pieces of candy and chocolates. The white haired pet moaned and groaned happily at the sweet rich flavor. He purred loudly and wagged strong, his ears were laid back in relaxation. Eskel was just about sitting in Rose’s lap by the time she brought a bit of the second slice of cheesecake up to him. He was smiling and talking to others between bites. His leg was squished against the lady’s and he felt so happy. His ears were up in an alert, happy way as he spoke. Everyone could hear his purr rumbling below his voice. Rose smiled and with one hand she rubbed at the base of one of his soft ears and brought spoonfuls of dessert up to Eskel’s mouth. 

This was one of the best nights. Ever probably. Lambert should come to the next one.

<- Last Chapter Next Chapter ->

[golbrocklovely]

since i was asked so nicely by a lovely anon...

here’s the first half of colby’s tweets from 2020.

i don’t have proof that these are his tweets, but believe me, they are his.

if it’s bold and italicized, it’s someone’s tweet to him.

if it’s in (), that’s just me commenting lol

added bonus: if they have a * next to them, that means it’s been deleted

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jan. 1 - being stuck in an elevator with 15 of your friends is the best way to start 2020

i kissed my hand this new years

ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space

Jan. 2 - thank you all i love you all

Jan. 7 - weird to think that about a year ago i was sitting in a cell in FL.. time flies

Jan. 11 - lmao i love you guys you get me

Jan. 13 - only fools rush in

Jan. 15 - you took the sun with you when you left -RK

the back of my mind has a constant itch for you

Jan. 16 - happy jail anniversary @/SamGolbach thanks for bailing me out

Jan. 19 - i promise you i’ll never act my age

Jan. 20 - real talk. should sam and i go on tour 2020?

(this makes really sad…)

Jan. 23 - there was an old man who kept coming to the 13th floor around 3am where our room was last night. i don’t like miami anymore i’m headed to orlando

Jan. 31 - looking for that deep connection with someone i'm tired of the superficial shit

Feb. 2 - IM DRUNK AT 3PM LETS GOOO CHIEFSSS

Feb. 4 - my couch is like a bed i could stay here forever

@/BigNik: Nobody cares about my well being but that’s ok

Feb. 5 - you should rap about this real shit bro that would change a lot. turn this emotion into art. i hope you know even if i’m busy i’m always still down to talk as well brother

(i don't like big nik, but this was such a sweet interaction &lt;3)

out of curiosity , would YOU ever spend the night in Queen Marys room B340 if you could ..?

Feb. 6 - imagine if we could all go explore some crazy haunted place one day … together. 🤔 i wonder if that’s even possible

if anyone is taking high school Chemistry right now , i’m so sorry

Feb. 7 - sometimes i can’t take a joke and it’s so annoying

Feb. 8 - i really don’t like myself when i party too hard but i got the best friends in the whole world

@/badboywolfy: This is Saturday afternoon regret hours

you feel me

Feb. 10 - valentine’s day is coming up soon i think i’m gunna throw up

Feb. 12 - sometimes my mind can turn into my worst enemy

Feb. 13 - cant stop thinking about living in another big house with all my boys.. life is about to be insane

keep on fighting and i will too

Feb. 14 - to whoever left a basket of chocolates and teddy bears at my door .. i <3 u

Feb. 15 - I MISS DUBAI

Feb. 16 - shadow man is watching

Feb. 17 - my pupils make me look like i’m rolling balls CONSTANTLY

Feb. 18 - still trying to process the psychic saying i was an old soul estimated to have lived a past 21 lives .. shit messes with your head

Feb. 20 - meeting you guys never gets old

Feb. 24 - missing the nights alone on my balcony

Feb. 25 - express your creativity

(i always wonder why he tweets shit like this out of no where lol)

Feb. 27 - blue haired Colbys makin a comeback

Feb. 29 - i'm always feeling like i'm in a dream

March 3 - need to watch the sunset more

March 5 - i don’t wanna tell my story i’d rather hear yours

March 8 - if this is all we know then we might as well run with it

March 9 - who’s down to have some deep conversations i’m tired of small talk

March 11 - just had my first sleep paralysis dream .. never experienced something so terrifying

praying for the world right now

(and here we go into the pandemic stuff……… great)

March 12 - you can have the prettiest face but i still won’t f w you if the personality isn’t there

March 13 - knowing that we all know nothing

March 15 - i haven’t stocked up on food or hygiene essentials does that mean i’m going to die ? am i making the wrong move here ?

March 16 - if postmates stops delivering i’m actually fucked

random fan: Just sit on your balcony, the stars will feed you

the balcony is the answer to all my internal worries/suffering

March 17 - day 3 of no food in the quarantine, not sure how much longer i can go with just a few almonds to spare. everything is spinning slowly.. i’ve been seeing silhouettes in my room dancing gracefully on the walls, i think my mind is leaving me. would you guys be mad if i ate Sam?

March 18 - time moves on, memories never fade

March 20 - the worst thing is never the last thing

March 22 - i think the only person i can really make crack up is myself

March 24 - it’s times like this i wish i had a little dog by my side who i could call my bestest friend..

@/amberscholl: here u go (pic of george)

can i borrow him? just for a week..? .. or maybe two?

@/amberscholl: (gif saying 'you want it? come and get it')

see you tonight

March 26 - guys i’m trying to learn how to dance but it’s gunna take some time i’m too awkward

March 29 - my last night on the balcony

March 30 - where the emo girls at

(i remember this tweet causing so much chaos in the fandom. everyone claiming they were emo… absolute madness lol)

March 31 - what can i say? me and the boys got gluteus to the MAXimus

(i take it back. THAT PHOTO OF THE BOYS NAKED AND THEIR BARE ASSES?!?!?! died right then and there.)

[chronicallyonlinecath]

Monday 6th February - doot. doot. doot. another one bites the dust

last week recap; (song basically sums how I feel rn)

Monday - Walked into English and had Ben and Cory, two of Wyvern's friends and cronies, creep up behind me and whisper "So how's Andrew?" And I instantly knew Wyvern had told everyone. Which he has, I can confirm. Monday was a blur of school and trying to avoid the judgmental-ass gazes of many people. Cory teased me throughout double English, and Ben teased me throughout double science. And then, it all added up in the grand finale of Maths, where the seating plan is a bit like; Wyvern - Andrew - Cory - Ben - Janek - Me

So Ben and Cory were turning around every second to sing "Cath and Andrew sitting in a tree-" While Wyvern turned around and gave me pointed looks. Andrew didn't look in my general direction at all, and I'm grateful. I don't think I would've been able to bear it, since they were teasing him as well as me. He already knew I liked him and didn't tell them himself, when he could've done. I was an absolute dumbass for telling Wyvern. But, I prayed everything would blow over eventually. And it has, it seems.

Tuesday - An average Tuesday, but I was relatively tired. I was trying to read my book and Sheldon wouldn't leave me alone, unfortunately. Everyone else seemed mildly peeved off with him as well. I'd tried setting boundaries with him, telling him t stop messaging me, to leave me alone, and he just didn't listen. I'd made it abundantly clear I wanted space.

He wouldn't give it.

Wednesday - I did my GCSE performance recordings for music; my solo took many attempts to get right, but my group didn't take long.

Sheldon still wouldn't leave me alone.

So, Harley, Matty, Bella, Harry, Peter, Reagan and I collectively planned to kick him out. To get rid of the overhanging ick that he brought with him. The guilty being that followed me everywhere.

Part 1 - I exploded at him on text. I admit, this wasn't originally the plan, but I simply couldn't deal with his whiny messages anymore. I exploded, told him to leave me alone, and blocked him.

Part 2 - Kick him out of the friend group entirely. There were many risks that came with this; he'd been kicked out of his old friend group and had threatened me in the past with. Well. Suicidal tendencies. Bella volunteered to kick him out, but Matty believed I should've done it. It's true, I should've done, but my soul lives in the music department.

Thursday - Part 2 was enacted at break, when I was with Alison being morale support for her GCSE performances. Harry told me about it;

The group moved from Sheldon, leaving him with Bella. Bella then told him, I'm not exactly how, to leave us alone. From what Harry said; me being uncomfy was used as a bit of a scapegoat. Which is a reasonable scapegoat, I must say. Sheldon's left me alone since then, and the group has been chaotically thriving.

I watched the school's production of Romeo and Juliet, and it was good, I enjoyed it. Before it though, I helped Alison and Andrew pack up training orchestra with all the young musicians. Andrew tried telling Alison's little brother how to commit arson, and I had to break the two apart.

Andrew and I then took a ton of cymbals back to the music department from the main hall, and we had a nice little convo. Twas nice, bearing in mind the entire school knows I like him thanks to Wyvern.

Friday - Chill, easy, kinda boring, basic. Lunch was funny tho; Harley and Matty stole my Romeo+Juliet programme I was getting signed and signed it themselves. It was... interesting. I also watched Little Women (2019) for the first time.

Saturday - Went to county band for the first time in about 2 months, and it was okay. Then I went and watched the new Puss in Boots movie with my parents and I adored it. Perrito is my favourite character, my dad thought he was called burrito until my mum and I corrected him.

Sunday - It was a Sunday. Need I say more? I went and sat in a tree with a monster and some eclairs tho and read a book in the afternoon which was very chill and very nice and i really enjoyed it.

Monday - A good day, calm, chill. Alison's birthday too, which was nice. Harley's been bullying me all evening into writing this, and within reason, it's been a long time since I did an update. I'll update again on Wednesday, and then again on Sunday.

~CM

[casspurrjoybell-27]

In a Heartbeat - Chapter 1 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Simon

I was standing outside my childhood home, a home I hadn't been near in nearly a decade.

My entire family and top pack Betas standing around me.

To my right, as expected, stood the Alpha, my mate, glaring at my family and myself.

My heart ached, I was having that dream again, more like a nightmare, really.

It was like no matter how hard I tried to scream and fight to wake myself up, the events that happened would replay vividly.

It always felt so real, as if I had been sucked back to my siteenth year, watching the murder and rejection happen all over again.

Except for this time, the events would happen slower, as if in slow motion, as I was hopeless to watch agonizingly as I couldn't do anything to change anything.

It was a memory, a terrible memory that couldn't be erased, no matter how much I tried.

The Alpha, Vince, stood in all his glory, as I had remembered.

He was twenty at the time but had already taken over his father's position, not even a year before.

He was cocky, arrogant and most people disliked his attitude but who could really blame him.

His father, the respected Alpha had perished during a routine morning run exercise and his mother was mourning the loss of her mate.

Vince had barely been eighteen when he took over, barely old enough to comprehend any of his father's duties.

He stood alongside his brother, Xavier and his childhood friends, Lucas, Craig and his cousin Dwaine, all of whom were training to be Betas.

All of them were intimidating, they had to be as future leaders of the pack.

They looked as frightening as ever, glaring at me with a hatred I've never seen before and I looked at my family.

All of them standing in our front yard, a mixture of confusion and fear on each of their faces.

Time seemed to slow almost to a stop, as I looked at every single person.

To Marcus, who recently turned fourteen, who loved to argue with me about silly little things.

He was still wearing his PJs and his hair was a mess, as he loved to sleep in and play video games on Saturday.

Mom had hated how lazy he was but he always made sure to include Austin in any video game.

To Austin, at ten, was pretty mature for his age.

He'd often help me watch the younger siblings, offering to fold laundry and take out the trash because he wanted to be as strong as our dad.

He and Marcus were like two peas in a pod, following each other around.

Out of the two of them, Austin was easily smarter, a bookworm by heart but didn't mind attempting to beat Marcus at his games and then there was Paige, the middle child between Marcus and Austin.

Paige adored our mom and loved to bake cookies and cakes with her.

Despite barely reaching the kitchen counter, she would be able to memorize recipes faster than her multiplication table.

She always hated being the middle child, wanting to grow up and catch up with the rest of her older siblings.

I looked to Monica who was clutching onto my older sister, Nicole's pants.

She was five, wearing her favorite dress Nicole had bought her last year.

She held onto her teddy bear to her chest, hiding her face in Nicole's pants.

She didn't like how scary the Betas were glaring at them.

I wanted to reach down and hug her.

Tell her everything was going to be okay, even though I knew it wasn't.

It was sad to see her like this.

She was confident, proud, even eager to attend her first day at school in a few months.

Here, she was petrified, unsure of what was going on.

I looked at my parents.

Huddled together, with the youngest in their arms, Stephen.

My mother was sobbing, her whole body shaking in fear as she clutched Stephen to her chest.

My father trying unsuccessfully to calm her nerves as he rubbed her back.  

He was glaring at Vince in confusion.

My father had been a loyal Delta, a runner for the hunting party.

The same guilt feeling pooled in my heart.

My father hadn't known.

He thought Vince was targeting our family because of him, not because of me.

Only Nicole and my mother had known about Vince being my mate.

None of my siblings had known.

They had no part in this.

The same question my father had was screaming at me too.

'Why.'

From confusion to anger, my father shouted at Vince and the Betas.

He was openly questioning their authority.

It was an offense but understandable.

They were threatening his family, his wife and kids were at stake but as my sister and mother warned, Vince saw no mercy.

Once his father died, he was angry, out for blood and vengeance.

His mother was dying from the loss of her mate, it was only fair Vince was angry but no one had expected this.

Instead of a simple rejection, Vince was out for blood and I had caused it and instead of painting him as an Alpha with a male mate, he pinned the murder of his father on my father.

'Treason,' he had called it and his solution, 'death' and like clockwork, the tears fell like waterfalls.

I looked at my sister, Nicole.

The first person I confided in about Vince.

The first person I could trust with my life.

We had kept it a secret for months, avoiding Vince.

She had her own secret mate as well, a Beta, who was a few days from being sixteen.

We had kept each other's secrets, hoping that her mate would accept her first before we even attempted to approach Vince.

She was looking at me, trying to reassure me, despite what was going to happen.

'It's okay, Simon,' she had mind linked me. 

'It's not your fault.'

My hands had clenched, knuckles turning white.

I wanted nothing more to say the things I couldn't say, to do the things I couldn't do.

Anything to prevent this from happening.

To wipe the look of hurt, confusion and fear from their faces.

Looking at all my siblings like this hurt.

I couldn't watch this again.

Whatever memory or nightmare this was, I couldn't watch this again.

I stared at my hands, now unclenched.

Staring at it long enough, I could see blood.

Smeared on my hands, coating my arms, clothes, everything.

Their blood, staining my hands.

I closed my eyes, flashes of their bodies on the ground.

Blood staining the grass of our front lawn.

The awful glow of Vince and the Beta's eyes as their bloodlust took over.

The shouts and cries for help flooding my ears.

I stared at my hands again, blood-free.

Clean, unmarred, as if their blood was never there.

'Of course, it's my fault,' I wanted to scream. 

'I had killed them.'

I wanted to punch something, fight something, anything to wipe that look of Vince and the Betas when they attacked them.

I wanted blood.

I wanted my vengeance too.

For each and every one of my siblings, my parents.

They didn't deserve to be murdered.

If anything, it should've been me.

My claws elongated as I stared at my blood-free arms.

I want blood and before I could talk myself out of it, my claws pierced my arms, blood coating them.

My dream had flickered and I no longer was I on the front lawn of my childhood home but inside the bathroom tub of the motel, I had been staying in.

Blood had dripped in rivulets, joining the pink water filling the tub.

No matter how much deeper my claws dug, I couldn't feel a thing.

Despite the heaviness and pain in my heart, it wasn't painful.

It was frustrating really.

All I wanted was to take away their pain, erase the suffering they endured but nothing I did, all the blood hadn't done a thing.

Only made me sleepy, which didn't make any sense, I was already asleep but the drowsiness soon consumed me, so I rested my head on the side of the tub, letting the soothing sound of running water lull me back into unconsciousness.

[hellfireclubofficial]

𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟

concept board | soundtrack

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 -> youre the only person who knows eddie's big secret- well, you, your little brother dustin, and all of his friends.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 -> 7.6k

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 -> eddie munson x henderson!reader, gender neutral!reader

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 -> werewolf au, starts angsty, gets fluffy, gets kinda smutty, gets angsty again, and the cycle repeats bc im unstoppable, lots of cursing, ex boyfriend!steve, secret relationship trope, weapons, lots of blood mentions, little bit of violence (?), unexplicit depictions of sex (id rate it like 17+), eddie being a little shit, henderson sibling dynamic for the win, robin and steve dicking around, let me know if i missed anything. i havent even read the full thing myself bc im scared

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 -> thank you all for being so patient with me while i pulled this out of my ass. love you guys for real <3 be sure to check out the concept board and playlist linked at the top too !! i think theyre cool and i have decent opinions

saturday

by the time you arrived, the group had already debriefed, and they looked at you with the same mixture of concern and confusion that ted and karen did when you knocked on their door.

the stairs creaked with every careful step you took. it was difficult to make a subtle entrance when you were possibly several hours late to a meeting that was, evidently, very urgent. the fear that pulsed through your body when your mother relayed a message to you from your brother, one that was A) not particularly kind and B) possibly dooming.

"you look like shit," dustin noted when he saw the smudges of dirt on your jeans, paired with the dried blood on your hands and the bits of twigs in your hair, "and way to be on time. does 'code red' mean nothing to you?"

"i dont carry a walkie with me everywhere, dustin," you narrowed your eyes at him, an action to which he responded with a middle finger, "i actually have a life."

"is that why you look like you slept in a cave?" dustin smiled proudly at his taunt, but he made a fair point. suddenly, you became extra aware of just how disheveled your hair was, and you tried to dust some of the mud from your pants.

if it were just dustin, youd have left him thinking that, yeah, you did sleep in a cave, but everyone was there: lucas, max, nancy, robin, and even steve, whom you hadnt really spoken to all that much since things went south between the two of you. in all fairness, he didn't look too pleased to be there, either, nor did he look like he was going to put up with your bullshit. his arms were permanently crossed as he loomed in the corner, leaning on the arm of the couch and as far from you as he could get.

"im sorry that im late, guys, really, but-"

"but nothing," steve interjected, "no offense, y/n, but we have bigger problems than your midnight scavenger hunt or whatever the hell you were doing."

"i dont think thats true, but okay," you breathed a laugh before realizing that everyone was staring you down, and not in a haha-y/n-is-making-a-joke way- they were burning holes in you. your laugh got caught in your throat, "wait, bigger how?"

nancy scooted her chair at the small table over to make room for you, and, as you stepped down off the stairs, the items on the table became clearer: a bear trap, a torch, a shotgun, and a new can of farah fawcett spray.

"the demogorgon is back," max sighed, not breaking eye contact with you, no matter how many times your eyes flickered from hers to the weapons on the table, "i heard it last night near my place, and mike and nancy said they heard it here, as well."

"it was loud," nancy piped up after you looked to her for confirmation, "scratching around, but it was different somehow."

"we think, maybe, one got left behind when joyce closed the gate and, i dont know, adapted to hawkins," robin lifted and dropped her palms onto the tabletop in confusion.

you were confused, too. you watched all the creatures from the upside down shrivel up and turn to dust as soon as the gate began to close, so it didnt make sense for one to somehow adapt. slowly, you began to put the pieces together, weaving flashes from the previous night together to realize what was actually going on. it frightened you to your core.

before you could open your mouth to speak, steve reached for the can of hairspray, shaking it vigorously back and forth, just how it says to in the directions printed on the back, "maybe the son of a bitch hibernated. now its hungry, and im not gonna wait around for it to eat."

talk erupted of plans to set up a trap in both locations, stakeouts, buying ammunition, getting gasoline for the fire trails- you tried to interject, but kept getting talked over.

"i say we go to max's tonight, since she heard it first," lucas added.

"guys-"

"yeah, this demogorgon is going down," dustin chimed in, handing lucas his trusty slingshot from the table, "for real this time."

"hold on, guys-"

"were gonna need bait," robin said, more like asked, cocking her head towards steve who replied with a series of small nods and a snap in her direction, "oh, yep! were gonna need a shit ton of raw meat."

"that wasnt a demogorgon," you finally croaked, loud enough to shut everyone up. it helped that you also moved from your place at the table and back to the stairs, blocking steve from his impromptu grocery run. the step gave you the height advantage over him, "that was something else, someone."

silence is hard to read. did they believe you? did they think you were messing with them? you liked to have fun, but not during a code red. that meant nothing to them. being late erased any form of reliability you had left, and everyone was too serious to give you the benefit of the doubt. especially steve.

"thats very funny, y/n," he gave you a fake smile, gentle eyes squinted and determined. you knew if you didnt move, hed move you, pick you up by your shoulders and slide right by you.

"im not joking, steve," you said, squaring , "i usually am, but not this time."

it was never easy keeping secrets, let alone secrets about secrets.

"what do you mean, 'someone?'" asked nancy, her brows furrowed, and rightfully so with all the nonsense you just spilled in front of her, in front of everyone.

"the sound you guys heard last night wasnt a demogorgon," you restated, taking a deep breath before finishing, "it was eddie."

voices in unison exclaimed, confused, "munson?"

it was important to note the way steves jaw tensed at the mere mention of his name. he had always been the jealous type, and its exactly why you broke up with him. sweet little steve turned into a major pain in your ass. maybe it was because he liked you, or maybe it was because he just hated everyone else. you liked him better as a friend anyhow.

and it was good, too, since you two had a common factor: dustin. your little brother was also one of his closest friends, in the least weird way. it was how you met steve, through dustin, but it was also how you met eddie.

steve breathed a laugh, almost a scoff, and turned his back to you, a reaction you would have never predicted. he threw his hands up in defeat, landing them on his hips, "alright."

your face contorted with confusion, "really?"

"no, y/n," steve turned back around to you, briefly startling you and, clearly, everyone else in the room. the air became a little thicker, like fog as you held your breath. he laughed again, "hell no."

"you honestly want me to believe that eddie 'the freak' munson is running around on all fours in the goddamn woods growling and shit like a demogorgon?" steve asked, nearly choking on a laugh in the middle of his sentence. his hands waved when he talked, motioning towards the window before they found themselves back on his waist.

every eye in the room was either widened as far as it could stretch or covered with a disappointed palm. they thought you were lying, your friends. you were never one to lie, ever. a fib here or there for comedic effect, maybe, but a bold faced lie was not on your list of tricks. all you could do was dig.

"more like a, uh," you gulped, "demo-dog."

"jesus christ," steve mumbled and rubbed his temples.

the room filled with sighs and similar muttered exclamations of irritation as it typically did when you suggested a theory. in all fairness, you werent always right on the money, but this was different. you didnt blame them for not believing you, though.

"y/n, im going to need you to be a little bit clearer," robin sat up straight in her chair, giving you her best comforting and patient smile, "about the dog part, i mean."

"yeah, a lot clearer," steve added, "because i dont think i like what im thinking."

you crossed your arms over your chest under all the scrutiny, "steve, i know it sounds crazy, but-"

"crazy?," steve laughed, running a hand through his hair, one of his more admirable habits, "no, crazy doesnt cut it. honestly, the image of him doing that for fun is not that outlandish, but if youre trying to tell me eddie munson is a werewolf, y/n, youre out of your mind."

it was a tense moment, then and there, with steve teetering even closer to hating your guts and everyone else terrified of possibly feeling the same. all you could do was shrug, uncrossing your arms, wiping your sweaty palms on your pants, and striping the dried mud with new moisture. you sighed,

"then i guess im out of my mind, harrington."

friday

youd never been to the hideout before. social gatherings of any kind werent really your scene unless they had to be. in fact, the smell of the hideout alone was enough to keep you away, a thick fog of sweat, booze, and smoke. it crawled under the door as you pulled it open and stepped inside.

it was small, intimate, despite the weekend drinkers that packed in like sardines. there was quite a bigger crowd than the usual five that hung around on tuesdays, or so youd been told. the soft hum of conversations floated over of the sound of microphone feedback as you wove your way closer to the front of the room.

showing up was a last minute decision. your friday nights are best spent in your bed, alone, and in something much more comfortable than the clothes you were wearing. you pinched yourself every time you picked up an item of clothing and thought about whether or not eddie would like it, as if he didnt drool over you regardless. still, you dressed to impress, and it worked.

"holy shit," eddie deadpanned as he stepped off the shallow drop from the stage onto the main floor, his hair bouncing off his sweat soaked shoulders as he trotted to you, "look who finally decided to show. you missed, like, most of the set by the way."

"wait, actually," his eyes lit up as he raised a finger into the air in faux contemplation, dismissing the thoughts just as fast as they arrived, "you know what- i dont even care. just glad youre here."

that was a bit of an exaggeration- you were only twenty minutes late. when you made it to the front, eddie was lost in his own version of reality, fingers dancing on wires. thats how you knew he didnt notice the exact time you arrived. when he played, he ditched the old picture-everyone-in-their-underwear stagefright trick and opt for something a little bit stranger, as expected. he told you about it once, and you tried to forget. but, alas, something that absurd was permanently seared into your mind.

it made it kind of difficult to support him from the front row when you knew he was picturing you as a centaur.

"i didnt want you to mentally horse-ify my bottom half," you protested. eddie gasped, clutching his chest dramatically.

"ill have you know, y/n, i dont do that anymore," he said, "ive matured. grown, as a person."

he leaned a little closer to you, his stray curls tickling your skin at such proximity, sending goosebumps down your arms. "i've moved onto minotaurs."

you smacked his arm, and he stuck his tongue out at you before rustling the top of your hair with his hand. he quickly flipped his wrists towards you, flashing you two middle fingers as he backed toward the stage again. you shot him one of your own in return.

he was truly in his element up there, no denying it. his passion was so evident in the way he moved that you could hardly pull your eyes from him, no one could. it was entirely possible you were eyeing him a little more intently than the old drunk guys next to you. maybe just a little, though.

you waited outside after the show. it rained while you were inside, so there was hardly any relief when you exited one humid space to another. the parking lot was riddled with pothole puddles and oil slick rainbows under the street lamps. the clouds were thick in the sky, so much that it almost scared you. the moon was lost, the only indicator of her a shallow ring of white seeping through the slate of grey. you busied yourself kicking rocks in the parking space next to eddies van until the moment he was within view.

as he got closer, you could see his forehead was damp with sweat, his curls sticking to the sides of his face. with his guitar case draped over his shoulder, he waved his arm in your direction despite being only a couple feet from you.

"you guys were amazing," you beamed, closing the distance between the two of you and following him the rest of the way to the van.

"you think so?" eddie smirked. he opened the sliding door of the van and placed his guitar gently in the back, clearing the empty cups, papers, and ashes on the floor to make room.

you hummed in response, "mhm."

"well," he said in harmony with the clicking of the door back into place and grabbed you by your hips, gently backing you against the side of the vehicle, "you looked amazing. look... look amazing."

you could feel the mix of rain droplets and dew that remained on the side of the van through the back of your shirt, but the heat beneath eddies fingers distracted you from the chill that managed to cling to everything in the humid, post-rain air. your arms snaked up and around the back of his neck, your fingers threading into the mess of his hair. you struggled to maintain eye contact with him for several reasons, but mainly because his lips were so inviting. plump, dark pink, and a little swollen from being tucked between his teeth all evening.

his eyes never left yours, though, even when they abandoned his face entirely to scan the activity in the parking lot. he knew what you were doing, and he sighed, shaking the hair from his view before softly clearing his throat.

"y/n," he brought a hand to your cheek, his rings soothing against your flushed skin, "you know what im going to say."

this thumb dragged gently across your cheek, ghosting your lip.

"im just checking," you said, your voice higher in defense, "can never be too careful."

"you can and you are," he mimicked your defensive tone and brought his other hand from your waist to the other side of your face, now cupping your cheeks, "just once, i want to kiss you in semi-public, preferably in daylight but im not picky, without you thinking about steve. youre going to summon him."

"i just worry," you placed your hands over eddies wrists, "about you. about him. about everything, really."

his lips turned up, ever so slightly, at your sentiment, his eyes glossed over and shining like syrup in the orange hued lights. eddie took a step closer to you, pressing your body against his, and he craned his neck, hovering his lips above yours. he let your lips brush over his, smirking when he pulled back and brought you with him, chasing them.

"i love that you care about my wellbeing, y/n," eddie muttered, his breath a phantom on your tongue with how close he was to your mouth, "but i am going to kiss you, right here, right now... and i dont even care if harrington kicks my ass."

youd never imagined that you would be making out with eddie munson, pressed up against his shitty van, let alone writhing under his touch, enjoying it. he let his hands fall from your face, one of them resting on the side of your neck and the other providing him with some leverage against the metal siding of his van.

he told you once about how you make him weak in the knees, but you didnt realize how literal he was being until you grazed his bottom lip with your teeth and felt him tremble against you.

"you," eddie breathed, pressing a heavy and needy kiss to your lips, one you thought would bruise if it had been any longer, "you drive me fucking crazy."

hastily, he placed another kiss on your lips, nearly missing them. you couldnt help but smile into it, smile at how he was kissing you like youd melt away in his hands. maybe youd evaporate and turn into a cloud, or hed kiss you so hard youd seep into the side of his van and hed have no choice but to wash it more than once a year to keep you sparkling.

"how about you," you wrapped your arms around eddies neck, pulling yourself up to his ear and whispering, "drive us to your place."

letting eddie drive you anywhere under normal circumstances was a death wish in itself since he was notorious for basically breaking all traffic laws at least once a week, sometimes for fun. youd never seen him drive so fast. never before had you felt the need to use the little handle above the window, but your knuckles were white around both the handle and eddies hand as he turned too wide around curves and crossed solid lines and whipped it into his driveway with such an abrupt stop that the screech of his tires woke the neighbors dog.

"ah, shut up," he shouted over his shoulder and across the road, pushing the door open and stepping out of the way, "after you."

you stepped through his doorway for what felt like the hundredth time. youd only grown close to eddie within the last few months, and youd been romantic with him for even less. dustin was the one to introduce you after eddie had bugged him about you one too many times. youd noticed him before that, though, sneaking glances at you when youd pick dustin up from hellfire and hiding his blush under a strand of hair hed pull across his face.

the last thing you expected eddie munson to be was shy, but he was putty in your hands.

he was nothing like everyone made him out to be, including steve who had deemed him "the freak." steve wasnt a bad guy by any means. he rebounded onto you after things went south between him and nancy, and you knew it wouldnt last. it was possible that his only flaw was his jealousy. you couldnt talk to anyone without him feeling a little insecure. thats all he did, though, was feel insecure and make you miserable for it, and you didnt want eddie to face the consequences of your actions, no matter how out of character those consequences would be for steve harrington.

eddies uncles mug collection rattled against the wooden shelf when he pulled the door to behind him, rubbing his hands together mischievously as he scooted his feet towards you. an evil smile tugged at his lips when he moved swiftly past you, ignoring your outstretched arms and continuing his scoot to the fridge.

"check this out, babe," his voice was muffled from inside the appliance, buried under the rustling of items and the clinking of glass bottles, "actually, no. close your eyes first."

it could have been anything. youd have been lying if youd said you weren't mildly terrified of what he was pulling from his fridge. your arms fell limp at your sides, fists clenched to conceal the sweat that was glistening on your palms. with your eyes squeezed shut, you could only hear the door rattle as it fell closed closed.

anytime eddie had you close your eyes to build suspense, he would check to see if you were peeking, catching glimpses through your lashes.

"how many fingers am i holding up?" eddie asked after waving an open hand over your closed eyes, the air dusting over your cheeks.

"one."

"fuck you," eddie spat, "are you cheating right now?"

you laughed at how genuinely offended he was that you guessed it right. although, it was impossible to get wrong. "its always one, eddie. literally always."

if you knew that if you had opened your eyes, you would have seen him standing, mystery object tucked under his arm with all his weight on one leg and a grand gesture on display in front of your face: his middle finger.

"yeah, okay," he sighed in defeat, "just open your eyes, cheater."

this might have been the first time youd opened your eyes and been actually surprised. usually it was a freshly rolled blunt or something you left behind that you asked him to return to you-- things you expected. this time, it was different, and a smile found itself on every corner of your face.

eddie held a glass bottle by the cap with one hand, the other gesturing beneath it like a shelf, metal clad fingers wiggling in sync with his eyebrows. his smile was tucked between his teeth.

"picked it up just for you, sweetheart," he said before ceasing all animation, deadpanning when you didnt immediately say something, "it is your favorite, right? i didnt... make that up or something?"

"no, it is," you smiled, gently taking the bottle of soda from his hands and flashing him softened eyes, "thanks."

"i couldnt finish mine," eddie confessed, rocking on his heels as you twisted the metal cap away, letting an exaggerated shiver rack his shoulders.

"didnt like it?" you wiped your lips on the back of your hand.

"shits disgusting, y/n," he held back a fake gag, "tastes like fizzy piss."

you raised your eyebrows at him, "and youd know?"

"id know."

the liquid in the bottom half of your bottle sloshed around as you followed eddie down the hallway, watching the bounce of his hair dwindle to nothing when he reached the door. everything seemed to make noise over there, the floors squeaked, the lights buzzed. it didnt help that eddie mimicked every sound he heard, a high pitched voice ringing with the creak of his bedroom door as he pushed it open.

you werent sure that he even had a lightbuld in the ceiling light. his room was always dark, always still. the blinds in his window were broken, though, so the yellow glow from the street lamps bled through.

"oh, wow, munson," you smirked at him, picking up a pair of dirty underwear from the foot of his bed, "did you clean up for me?"

he was quick to snatch it from between your pinched fingers and stuff it in his closet, kicking the pile of laundry he scrambled to hide from you before you noticed it back into the small space.

"for sure, babe," he breathed a laugh, shrugging, "yeah, i cleaned... mopped and shit."

you raised your eyebrows, glancing down at his carpeted floors, "mhm."

eddies room was usually messy, but you could hardly tell unless you took careful notice of the clothes in the floor. his walls were cluttered with posters and random paper clippings, like a collage of his personality: movie tickets, parking tickets, and every test he got an F on, which, honestly, was most of them. honorable mentions include his guitar hanging from the mirror and a paper desk calendar duct taped to the wall beside his headboard, detailing the global holidays and farmers almanac harvesting and planting times.

"could you be anymore obvious, eds?" you breathed a laugh, tracing the scribbles on the calendar with the tip of your finger.

"what," eddie said rather quickly, like you startled him. he looked up from the floor where he was still trying to force clothes into the closet.

"phases of the moon," you smirked, feeling the ridges of the sketches before whispering, "real subtle."

eddie pulled the accordian style closet doors closed as you continued behind him, standing up and turning to face you with his hands strategically placed on his hips, "should i write a reminder for your grooming appointment next week? behavioral training?"

"honestly, y/n," he motioned towards himself, from his head to his toes, "do i look like i need either of those?"

you closed the gap between the two of you, stepping over the bits of laundry he missed in his last minute cleaning frenzy, and raked your fingers through the sides of his hair, smoothing out the curls that were sticking out. you whispered, "i dont think i should answer that."

"youre mean," eddies lips were turned downward in a slight pout before his gentle expression dissolved entirely, "wipe that shit-eating grin off your face."

your eyes held onto his, "why dont you?"

you pulled that confidence directly out of your ass. shaking hands became steadied by his shoulders as his lips melted onto yours. you would have never admitted how badly you wanted eddie munson, but here you were, settled on his lap, pulling his tshirt over his head and bursting at the seams to feel his lips on your skin. you smoothed your fingers over the black lines on his chest and arms, even one you discovered on his hip. he hissed through his teeth as you pressed your lips to the ink on his forearm, up his bicep, his shoulder, and trailed up his neck. lips parted, breath growing heavier.

his fingertips dug into your thighs on either side of him, pulling you closer to him. as if it were even possible, as if your chests werent adhered with sweat. he looked so beautiful like this, a mess. his hair was plastered to his forehead and his chest heaved, shining even in the dull overhead of his room. he seemed to glow when he would sweat, something that you strived to see every time you ended up like this. it was the only benefit of his room having zero air flow.

one thing about eddie munson: he was a biter. oral fixation for days. hed bite your neck, licking stripes over the red trails his teeth left, bite your wrists to taste the bitter sting of your perfume. hed bite your lips. that was your guilty pleasure with him, going so slow when youd kiss him that hed take control. he couldnt stand it.

you decided, this time, to try it on him instead. you wrapped the hair at the base of his neck around your fingers and tilted his head back, exposing his pretty neck.

"h-holy fucking shit," eddie managed to breathe out when he felt your teeth scrape down the side of his neck. his grip on you tightened, hips bucking up for any friction he could get, "please, do that again."

you dragged your tongue up the length of his neck, placing tiny kisses along his jaw and up to his lips, where he was eager to taste you, resisting the hold you had on his hair to chase your lips. you caved; you had to. eddie moaned softly into your mouth when he felt your teeth sting at his lip, soothing the area with your tongue.

what happened next was unexpected, but not the strangest thing that could have happened. especially given what youd witnessed the past couple of years. in fact, you should have been more concerned when you felt a sharp pain in your legs, like knives were pricking your flesh. you gasped against eddies mouth and pulled back, breaking a kiss that left a trail of bright red spit from his lips to yours. blood. your blood, and it was pooling in your gums, gushing from two minor gashes in your bottom lip.

you covered your mouth with your free hand, releasing eddies hair when you glanced down at how much blood had actually been drawn. no big deal, you thought, this is fine.

and it was. until you looked down even further and saw the curved, thick nails that adorned the tips of eddies fingers, the nails that were partially sunken into your flesh. having your lips bitten off was a risk you took every time you kissed eddie, but the sight of his claws in your thighs set you off just a teensy bit.

slowly, you raised your head, breath trembling to match your shaking hands, and met his gaze where he was staring at you with unadulterated horror. his usual dark eyes were glowing a dim amber, and they were glossed over with tears.

"i...," eddies voice was soft and wavering as he gulped, "im sorry."

saturday

"no way you did the devils tango with eddie," dustin deadpanned, his hands clasped over his mouth in disgust. similar reactions plagued the table of people surrounding you, with lucas pretending to retch behind him and mike plugging his ears with his fingers. they all sat and listened contently to a certain point. apparently, you were a pacer, so you moved over every available inch of the wheelers basement while you recounted the previous nights events.

everyone was more shocked by the fact that you were hooking up with eddie munson and less shocked that he was a fucking werewolf.

"im gonna be sick," max buried her head in the bend of her arm.

"when i said to tell us everything," robins hands were scrunched in her hair while her elbows rested on the table, "i didnt mean... everything."

you shrugged, "im thorough."

"thats a word for it," steve rolled his eyes, "what happened next?"

"of course youd want to know," dustin snickered, and steve smacked the bill of his hat. steve looked to you for clarity.

"i just mean," he ran a hand through his hair, "somehow eddie ended up in the woods and y/n looks like shit."

"wow thanks," you snarled your nose at him, but he was right. youd never tell him, though, "it gets a little blurry here."

you explained it to them, and it sounded even more absurd the second time around. eddie was just as freaked out about the whole thing as you, maybe even more.

"he cleaned me up," you said, "you know, gave me bandaids and shit for my legs. ive known about it for a while, but he said that his lycanthropy had been dormant way past the time it should have activated. he just assumed it skipped him, which made sense to me. you know, like, how diseases skip a generation, but this disease has no cure and it makes you, like, a dog."

"oh yeah, y/n," max laughed, throwing her hands in the air in defeat, "total sense."

"he thinks it only got activated because he was... excited," everyone gagged, covering their faces to sheild you from their obvious disgust, "can you guys be mature, please?"

"the adrenaline," nancy chimed in over top of the younger kids snickering, "it could have triggered his fight or flight or something."

lucas leaned into the huddle of boys, "more like fight or bite," and max smacked the back of his head.

"i think its the drugs," steve rested his weight on the stair railing beside of you, "dudes always stoned. or drunk. could have altered the way his brain received the triggers or whatever."

it wasnt a bad idea, and there werent exactly scientific studies on the adverse effects of substances on lycanthropy. steve harringtons shot in the dark was the best you had to go on.

"wait, so, where is eddie right now?" dustin asked, smacking lucas's arm after he said something else. you couldnt hear it, but it was probably stupid.

youd wondered the same thing as you were trekking through the flora and fauna of hawkins in the wee hours of the night. you knew all of eddies favorite spots, but none of them were necessarily great hiding spots. you werent even sure if thats what he was doing, hiding.

"i was hoping maybe you all could help me find out."

"did you check his place?" dustin immediately followed your proposition with the most obvious solution.

"did i check his place," you restated the question, blinking at dustin dumfoundedly. he threw his hands up, mumbling sarcastic apologies as you spat, "yeah, dustin, i checked his place."

actually, you wished it had been that simple. after the... incident, you were both shaken up. it was a risk you had known about, the werewolf thing, but you knew he wouldnt hurt you on purpose. mainly because he was too gentle. youd assumed that any increase in intensity would just make him an average amount of dangerous. did that make you naive? maybe.

eddies shaking hands smoothed the final bandaid over your thigh, lining it up next to the other four. his brows were drawn close in a combination of guilt and concentration, making sure you were alright and that the bandages would stick. you were sitting on his bathroom counter, back pressed against the barren drywall where a mirror once was.

you lowered your head, tilting it to meet his eyes. eddies gaze flickered to yours and back to your lap, a deep sigh forcing itself out of his lungs and through his nose. "hey," you whispered, raking your fingers up his forearms, "we're okay."

you knew as soon as he looked up that all he could see was the two gashes on your lip, barely scabbing and glistening, and the hickies bruising at the bottom of your neck beginning to look more and more like injuries than a mark of passion. he was afraid to touch you, but you needed him to feel that you were still there.

"can you say something, eddie," you pushed the hair from his face, gently, his eyes still fixed anywhere but on you, "anything?"

"please leave."

he mumbled the words, almost like he was hoping you wouldnt hear them, that youd ask him to repeat them and he could say something else. you squeezed from between his body and the counter and gave him one final glance before doing what he asked.

of course, you forgot in the midst of your grand exit that your car was still at the hideout. thanks, munson, for the ride.

"there was a half hour period last night where i was doing the walk of shame home. not my proudest moment," you shrugged that bit off, "but i went back for him..."

"and he was gone," nancy finished your sentence for you, nodding to herself and sorting out the details.

"we have to find him," dustin added, "at least before someone else does."

steve, taking initiative, took large strides towards the table full of demogorgon repellent. "lets go, then," he announced, grabbed the shotgun, and held it up to the light before everyone shouted in confusion, layered insults and exclamations dissolving the tense air.

"what the hell, steve?"

"hang on, harrington-"

"what, are you gonna shoot him?"

youd never seen steve look so taken aback, surprisingly. he was either one step ahead or ten steps behind. he looked at you, mouth agape, "is this guy not a giant, burly, flesh eating dog right now?"

"no, steve," you dragged, "have you never seen teen wolf?"

the previous evenings rain was still lingering in damp patches on the sidewalks and in the air, thick as smog as you walked down the sidewalk in a cluster. you had all piled in karens car and went to every place you figured eddie would go, starting with the hellfire room at the high school and, consequently, some minor breaking and entering. you dragged them to the hideout, reefer ricks, and even the factory his uncle worked at.

"i didnt think he would be in there, but theres no harm in checking," you sighed into the brisk atmosphere, a cloud forming on the cusp of your lips as you shoved your hands into your pockets. you just snooped around a little bit at the factory, afraid of getting into too much trouble. how would you look for eddie if you got arrested for trespassing?

dustin placed a hand on your shoulder as everyone made their way back into the car, "is there anywhere else hed have gone? somewhere unexpected?"

you hated to admit that youd never thought to check somewhere he wouldn't typically go. why would he go somewhere youd be able to find him if he was hiding?

you hoped he was hiding, at least, and not mounted on someones wall or laying in the road like a stray cat.

"not to be that guy again, but," steve poked his head out of the passenger side window, "munson has to be the biggest virgin ive ever seen. dudes probably never even seen skull rock."

nancy smacked his arm, and he mumbled a hurried, "im just sayin'!" but he was right. you werent even sure if eddie knew how to get there, but there were no downsides to checking. steve made sure to add that, if eddie were to be a giant, burly, flesh-eating dog, skull rock would be an all-you-can-eat buffet on a friday night.

steve graduated the year prior, which made him essentially ancient on the hip spots to hang out in hawkins. no one went to skull rock anymore, especially since a group of people got busted there a few months ago, so you didnt have to worry about eddie possibly eating a horny teenager or two. you didnt tell steve, though. you couldnt break the news to him like that. robin could, though.

"no one hooks up at that stupid rock anymore, dingus," she slapped the side of his head from the backseat as nancy pulled onto the main road. they bickered the entire drive to the edge of town, and dustin, lucas, and mike snickered in the back about steves virgin comment. but you tuned them all out, watching the trees bleed into one another through the fogged window as the pop songs from the radio crackled between shards of broken static.

the sun had set by the time nancy pulled onto the shoulder of the road, nothing suspicious about that. nothing suspicious about the bag of bear traps that steve slung over his shoulder, either. "can never be too safe," he said. there was especially nothing suspicious about the trail of raw meat chunks that lucas and mike dropped behind them as the seven of you navigated your way through the woods. in front of them was nancy and max monitoring police radio interference, in front of them was steve and robin with a compass, and in front of them was you, shoulder to shoulder with your little brother.

dustin flickered his flashlight on either side of the uneven pathway as the two of you walked. it was silent aside from the crunching of leaves and twigs against the soles of your shoes, thick silence that was only broken by dustin quietly murmuring to you. he said, "steve was jealous when i started hanging out with eddie, too."

"i feel like its a little bit different for me," you breathed a laugh.

"meh," he shrugged, and the shallow beam of light moved with him, "kind of, but not really. cant help it that we hendersons are harrington magnets."

"what are you saying about me, henderson?" steve questioned from behind the two of you, kicking a rock into your path.

both you and dustin answered, "nothing," and exchanged knowing grins. yours was small and sly, but dustins was full and bright.

moments like this with dustin were rare for you, and it ached a little to say that the only thing that brought the two of you together was steve. it helped having a mutual friend and, even more so, friend group. youd always felt a little distant from dustin, so any time he willingly hung out with you felt paper thin, like if you stepped too hard youd fall right back to where you started.

so you looked at every gap in the stones before you stepped along the beaten path. the chatter of the group bounced from tree to tree behind you, dissipating into a muffled mess under the sounds of everyones shoes crushing dried leaves. behind you, every sound ceased except for robins voice calling, "i think we need to go right!"

of course, steve chimed in to correct her, "no, robin, i told you we need to go left."

"which means we should go right!" she retorted, and bickering ensued. you rolled your eyes, turning on your heels to face everyone.

"left or right," you asked, planting your arms at your side in defeat, "cut the shit, guys. we have to find eddie."

"find me for what?"

dustin screamed, causing you to scream, overlapping the staggering shouts from steve, robin, and nancy who were climbing into each others arms and covering the frightened curses the kids were spewing, clutching their chests at the back of the line. the voice came from the greenery, from steve and robins right for the record, and was comfortingly familiar once you came down from the initial scare.

"holy shit, eddie," you sighed, scrambling over the fallen tree along the side of the path to get to him. your hands basically melted onto his shoulders when they touched his skin, his warmth as present as ever as you fell into him. you couldnt care about the leaves in your eyes or the sticks prodding your hair, "youre okay, yeah?"

"well, im in a bush," eddie laughed, his hand cupping the back of your head as he stepped out into the pathway with you still wrapped tightly around him, "but, uh, yeah... yeah, im okay."

when you finally looked at him, you could tell he was tired. there was a weight beneath his eyes, sunken and dark, and he had bruises along his arms and cuts on his fingers and dirt streaked everywhere you could see. he gave you a smile, anyway. "hi," he whispered, just to you, tracing the slope of your jaw with the backs of his calloused fingers. you returned his kind eyes, muttering, "hi," through your smile.

"uh, hi," steve greeted, waving his hand a mere three feet from the two of you, "remember us?"

"oh, harrington, hey," eddie straightened up. you could tell he was immediately intimidated, his demeanor hardening as he cleared his throat, "nice to see you."

you snicked to yourself remembering not 24 hours ago, when eddie said with utmost confidence that he "didnt care if harrington kicked his ass," now weak in the knees at the sight of steve carrying around a sack of dangerous items.

eddie took a step back, "is that a gun?"

steve looked over his shoulder and spun around, grabbing it from behind him, "oh, yeah. sorry, i was prepared to shoot you, man."

"what the hell," eddie clasped his hands over the top of his head, visibly at a loss for words, "dude, have you never seen teen wolf?"

under different circumstances, you would have loved to see steve and eddie laughing together, getting along, but not in the woods in the middle of the night after youd spent the entire day searching for him. he didnt seem too shaken up about anything, so you were confused as to why he was out here.

nancy spoke for you, "eddie, is there a reason youre creeping around out here?"

he pressed his lips into a line, rocking on his heels and smacking the sides of his legs as he began to speak, "well, wheeler, if youre so curious, i was looking for y/n. im gonna assume youve been filled in on everything up to this point, and hendersons very thorough, so im also gonna assume it was unnecessarily detailed and vivid," everyone hummed in agreement, "great- so, imagine me, but cleaner and a little more upset than i currently am, wandering the streets of hawkins, a little tipsy because apparently alcohol is the only thing that keeps me from fucking biting people. im walking, trying to find the henderson residence, but ive only been there once so its hard, and my senses are off the walls heightened. its insane how much i can smell- cant lie, that shit's kind of awesome-"

dustin interrupted him, "eddie, did you kill someone or not?"

"kill someone?" eddies mouth hung open at the question, his eyes glancing around to gauge everyones reaction to the question, which was a unanimous answer-the-kid-or-steves-gonna-shoot-you, "uh, no, dustin, i didnt kill someone. im not a monster."

"well, then, why are you hiding away in the woods like a serial killer on the run?" lucas leaned up against a tree with his chin raised high, "seems kind of suspicious to me."

eddie sighed, swallowing audibly before answering, his voice lowered, hushed, "i wasnt hiding from you."

as if on command, an eerily familiar growl filled the distant silence like static, gutteral, and close. eddie flinched, almost habitually jumping back into the shrub you found him in, but reaching for your hand instead. steve immediately handed the shotgun to his left, planting it in nancys grip.

she raised her eyebrows, drilling holes into the side of your head with her glare. "told you," she muttered, holding out a fist towards max, who quickly reciprocated the gesture. a celebratory fist-bump for being stuck in the woods with a werewolf and a demogorgon.

"does, uh," steve started, his voice hushed and his grip tightened around his trusty baseball bat that he had shoved in the bag. he motioned between you and eddie, specifically, and asked,

"does teen wolf say anything about fighting demogorgons?"

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[study-coffee-chicago]

Seasons of PD: Season 7: Don’t You Ever Do That Again, You Hear Me? (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)

A/N: There are mentions of B1ack Liv3s M4tter (apparently this ended up in that tag, so I changed the wording, so hopefully it’s not there anymore) in regards to peaceful protests in this. And there are mentions of counter-protesters causing riots. I tried my best to portray this as professionally as possible with Y/N's views, Kevin's views, and Jay's views. I did not try to offend anyone at all and I'm very sorry if I did.

Also, I don't know if one part counts as threat of sexual coercion, but I'm fairly certain that's what it's called, so trigger warning for that.

Your age: 18

Jay's age: 32

Will's age: 34

"I get that it's important to you, but I'm not letting you go!" Jay argued as you stood across from him in a screaming match.

"Why? Because You don't believe the same things as me because you haven't met a bad cop? Because you fought for this country and know people who died for it?" you yelled back.

"Yes, me being a cop and a soldier obviously has something to do with this! But I'm also trying to keep you safe! They turn into riots!"

"You do know that's not the Black Lives Matter protesters who start them, right? They're peaceful. Counter-protesting assholes come and start things to give peaceful protesters a bad image!"

"I don't want you to get hurt if something happens! Tear gas hurts, kid. I don't want you to come home with burning eyes and the possibility of going blind and tell me I'm right. I'm trying to prevent that!"

"I know you are, Jay! I just want you to let me have my own damn opinions and do what I want for once!"

"Has a cop ever hurt you in some way? Pulled you over illegally?" Jay roared.

You wanted to tell him your story about something like that that had happened five weeks ago, two weeks after the infection scare across the entire city, but you couldn't because you knew he'd do something stupid and you didn't want that. "No, but--"

His phone rang, cutting you off. "I'll be there," Jay said quickly. Then, he turned back to you. "I gotta go, caught a case. I'll see you later and we can talk about this. Calmly."

"So, you're saying there's a chance you'll let me go?"

"There's maybe a .001% chance, but sure, believe what you want."

You rolled your eyes and he left. But, as he shut and locked the apartment door, he stopped. "Love you," he whispered. Because, with what he did on the job, he knew that there was the possibility every day of him not coming home to you.

***

When you woke up, you were shocked not to see a text from Jay between 3 and 5 am saying that he wouldn't make it home tonight. He usually made it a priority when on a case to tell you that he wouldn't be coming home so that you wouldn't worry.

But, there was a voicemail from him around 11 pm last night and it was currently 9 am.

You put your phone on speaker and played it.

"Hey, Y/N, I'm sorry about arguing. If you really want to go, I think Kevin has his RDO tomorrow so I can see if he's going if you-- OW!" Then, the line just continued playing, and dragging noises were heard until there was a crash and the line went dead.

"Jay? Jay?" What the hell had happened? You quickly replayed the message to make sure it wasn't an issue with your phone, but when you heard the same exact thing again, you knew something had gone terribly wrong.

You went to dial Hailey's number to ask if she had seen Jay when there was a loud knock on your door. You quickly ran across the apartment and looked out the peephole. You saw Hailey and Adam and quickly flung open the door.

"Hey, Y/N," Adam said as he entered.

"Have you guys seen Jay?" you asked.

You saw Hailey visibly swallow. "Listen," she started, but you cut her off.

"What happened? What's going on? He usually texts me if he's going to be working until the morning and I didn't get a text and I got a voicemail and--" You took a deep, gasping breath.

"What voicemail?" Hailey asked as she placed a hand on your shoulder.

"I- It cut off partway through and he yelled and-- wait, he wasn't with you?"

"No," Hailey answered. "He said he had some personal stuff to take care of when we were at a scene and then took off. Then, he never came back, so we decided to check here to see if he just came home or something happened."

"He never came home." Your eyes widened, finally processing what it meant if he wasn't here and Intelligence couldn't find him. "You're telling me he's missing? Again? Oh, no. This can't be happening, not again. Not after our fight last night. I didn't even tell him what happened or that I loved him or--"

"Y/N, I need you to take a deep breath," Hailey told you and you tried to match her breathing. "His radio might just be dead or something like that." She knew that she was lying, but she was trying to stop you from freaking out. "Can you give me your phone so Adam and I can listen to the voicemail?"

You nodded and handed Adam your phone. He pressed play and you watched as his jaw clenched as he was listening to it.

"Shit," he muttered once he was done. "We need you to come to the district with us. Just for safety."

"Can you give me a minute?" you asked. "I- I'm in my pajamas and I haven't brushed my teeth and--"

"We'll leave in half an hour, okay?" Hailey asked and you nodded. "While you're getting ready, we'll send the voicemail over to Kim and Kev. Jay's gonna be okay."

"How do you know that?" you almost whispered.

"Because Jay's one of the strongest people I know," she answered. But, in reality, she wasn't sure about that. They had no idea where he was and according to the timestamp on that voicemail, it had been a little over ten hours since he sent it. For all they knew, Jay could be out of Chicago right now. Scratch that, he could be out of Illinois.

***

"When did you get this voicemail?" Hank asked as everyone in Intelligence, minus Jay but including you, were in the bullpen and trying to trace where the call came from.

"Around 11 last night, Boss," Adam answered for you.

"Okay. So it's been almost 11 hours," Voight said.

"I need a break, excuse me," you said and quickly excused yourself to the locker room.

You made your way to the locker room and sat down and leaned against the wall. This couldn't be happening again, not after that crazy borderline sociopathic drug dealer kidnapped Jay a few years ago and Erin went in and saved him. This could not be happening again.

You thought back to the fight last night and something your mom would always say when she was in a fight with one of the boys or when you had thrown a temper tantrum and then had to go to bed.

I'll always tell you I love you because when you walk out that door or go to bed, I'll never know if that was the last chance I had to tell you I love you.

God, if you hadn't argued with Jay, maybe you wouldn't be feeling this way. Obviously, you'd be feeling scared and upset because Jay was missing and no one had any idea where he was, but at least you wouldn't feel guilty like you currently did.

You felt guilty about starting that fight in the first place by bringing it up even though you knew what his answer was going to be. You felt guilty about yelling. But most of all, you felt guilty and you regretted not saying love you when he left...because that might've been the last time you'd have been able to tell that to your big brother who had always been there for you...even when he really didn't want to.

Jay's Nokia flip phone buzzed as he walked out of school. It was his mom.

"Hey, Mom," he greeted.

"Jay Halstead, if you answered your phone while you're driving..." she trailed off, trying to think of a good threat.

"Mom, I didn't. I was talking to some friends about going for tacos tonight, so I just walked out of school a minute ago."

"Oh," she said.

"What oh?" Jay asked. "That sounded like a bad oh, Mom."

"Well, I wish I would've known that before a professor called in sick to give an exam to his students and I agreed to pick up the extra hours."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't bring Y/N to the dentist. And I thought since you weren't busy, you could. I also may or not have promised her that she could go to Build-A-Bear after to get a new outfit for Beary because she's so scared."

"Mom," Jay groaned.

"I know, I'm sorry. But, how about this: you do this for me, and I'll extend your curfew by two hours on Friday and Saturday."

"Three," Jay countered.

"Two." Amelia Halstead stood strong.

"Three."

"Two and a half."

"Deal," Jay agreed.

"Thank you. I'll see you tonight. Love you."

"Love you, too."

***

"No," you whined as Jay told you that you had to leave after he walked you home from school later. "I don't wanna go to the dentist. They scary."

"No, they're not," Jay told you. The doctor was what was scary for him with all the needles for the shots. But, the dentist had never bothered him, even when he was a little kid it had never bothered him.

"No!"

"What if I let you bring Beary into the dentist, would you go then?" Jay practically pleaded.

"And you give me chocolate before we leave?"

"If you promise to grab your toothbrush and brush your teeth in the bathroom at the dentist, then yes, I'll give you some chocolate to eat on the way there." Jay was desperate at this point. He knew he shouldn't be giving you everything you wanted, but what were big brothers with a giant age gap for anyway if not to try and spoil his little sister?

"Okay!" You ran off to go grab Beary and your toothbrush and toothpaste while Jay made his way to a high cabinet in the kitchen and grabbed five squares of Dove milk chocolate, three for you and two for him.

In the car, Jay handed you the cholates and you started eating them while you held Beary close to you, trying to gain some comfort out of your favorite stuffed animal.

***

You gripped Jay's hand as you sat and waited for your name to be called. Beary was held in your other hand and you were squeezing him tight against your chest. You had just brushed your teeth like you promised Jay that you would, but you were still utterly terrified.

"Y/N Halstead?" a dental hygienist came out and asked.

You didn't say a word, just held Jay's hand tighter.

"That's you," Jay said gently and with a smile on his face, trying to make you feel less scared.

"No, not me," you told him as you frantically shook your head.

The dental hygienist squatted down in front of you. "Are you Y/N?" You didn't do anything, but Jay must've nodded to confirm that it was indeed you. "And who's this?" she asked as she shook Beary's paw.

"Beary," you said shyly.

"Well, I'm fairly certain that Beary will be with you the entire time. We even have little sunglasses you and he can wear when we shine the really bright light on you to protect both your little eyes. Does that sound good?"

You turned to Jay. "Me and Beary get sunglasses, Jay Jay!"

"I heard! Do you want me to come back with you?"

You thought for a second. "Please come."

Jay laughed. "Okay." He turned to the dental hygienist. "Is that okay?"

"Perfectly fine."

You stood up and held Jay's hand as you walked back into the dentist to get your six-month check-up on your baby teeth.

***

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Jay asked as the two of you walked out to his car after you finished.

"No!" you said as you shook your head. "I even got a pretty bracelet with Belle on it, see?" you exclaimed as you held your hand out to him to show off your yellow bracelet with a charm that had Belle from Beauty and the Beast on it.

Jay acted all surprised and said it was pretty even though he watched as you had picked it out while he had explained to the secretary how your mom would call to schedule your next appointment in six months.

Jay opened his car and made sure you were buckled in and then got in himself and started driving.

"Do you know where we're going?"

You gasped. You had forgotten you got to go to Build-A-Bear after!

"Build-A-Bear!" you yelled. The volume of that yell would've made Jay wince had he not been driving.

"Yup, that's where we're going."

"I think I'm gonna get Beary some new pajamas," you decided.

"What color?"

You held Beary out in front of you. "What color pjs do you want, Beary?" You brought him up to your ear and nodded as he "told" you what color pajamas he wants. "He said blue!"

"Blue pajamas. I'm pretty sure we can find those."

***

Jay and you walked into Build-A-Bear Workshop at the mall and you were met with children running around. To Jay, this was the definition of hell. Except for you, he was fine with you running around, but he really didn't like all the other kids that he had to be careful not to bump into.

"C'mon, Jay Jay!" you told him as you tugged him along to the pajama section.

He allowed himself to be tugged along by you and then you held up almost every single pair of blue pajamas to Beary to see which one was his favorite. He had decided on a pair of light blue pajamas with stars all over them. There was even a cute little hat with a pom-pom on top to go with the pajamas.

Jay paid and then you left with Beary and his brand-new pajamas. You had plans to have him sleep in those pajamas tonight, too.

Unbeknownst to you, Jay hadn't even really wanted to come. The only reason he brought you was that he got his curfew extended. But to you, it was just another fun afternoon with your big brother.

You were startled out of your daydream when you felt a hand on your shoulder. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Kevin.

"It's fine. I'm fine," you said quickly.

"No, you're not. And that's okay. Hailey and Voight went to see if Jay's where his phone pinged at."

"We fought," you told him.

"You fought?" Kevin asked as he slid down the wall to sit next to you.

"It was stupid. I should've just agreed with him and maybe I wouldn't be feeling like this."

"Like what?"

"Like utter shit." You sighed and ran a hand through your hair. "We were arguing about the BLM protests that were happening tonight. I wanted to go, but he wouldn't let me. The last thing I did was roll my eyes at him, Kev."

The two of you sat in silence for a few moments while Kevin figured out how to comfort you.

"Maybe talking about it will help. What'd you argue about?"

"Just that I wanted to go and he wouldn't let me because he thinks riots will break out. And you and I both know that's not the BLM protesters, that's the counter-protesters. But, he thinks I'll get hurt. I also think it's because he's a cop, so he feels like I'm protesting him, but I'm not. I'm protesting the system."

Kevin nodded. "I get it. Believe me, I do. I live it every day."

"How do you do it?" you asked. "Be an activist and a cop at the same time?"

"Just try and do the right thing with the information you have. And, explain that you're protesting the system and the bad apples, not the police force as a whole."

"I tried. But Jay doesn't think I have a right to protest because I've never had a bad experience with a cop." Which was a lie, but you weren't ready to talk about that just yet.

"Did he say that exactly?" Kevin asked.

"No, but, he asked me if a cop has ever illegally pulled me over."

Kevin nodded. "I know Jay and I know he would never say that you didn't have the right protest. He fought for that right. He mention anything else?"

"That tear gas hurts."

"I think he just wanted to keep you safe, same thing I'd do for Jordan and Vanessa."

"He sounded like he changed his mind on his voicemail, though. He thought that maybe if you were going, then he'd let me go...at least, that's what it sounded like."

Kevin nodded. "All I can say is that until we found Jay, I'm not going to one. Getting your brother is my first priority and it's the first priority of everyone in this unit."

"My first priority, too."

"Kev!" Adam yelled as he banged on the door. "You in there?"

"Yeah, bro! What's up?" Kevin asked.

"We need you to meet with someone!"

***

The hours passed and with each of them that did, you got more and more nervous for Jay's safety. You guessed that this is how he felt when you asked if you could go to the protest, knowing that he'd constantly be worrying about you until you came home safely.

"Y/N, we gotta go," Trudy said as she entered the bullpen around 9:30 pm that night.

"Why? What's going on?" you asked as you grabbed your phone and started following her.

"They found Jay."

"Is he okay?" you asked quickly.

"Y/N..."

"No! He can't be dead, Trudy! He can't!" you wailed.

"He's not. But, he has been shot."

You froze. Shot. Jay had been shot.

"He's en route to Chicago Med right now."

"Can you- can you bring me there?"

"That's where we're going right now."

***

"Will!" you yelled as you ran into the ED and saw your oldest brother.

You ran right up to him and hugged him, not caring that he almost dropped his iPad he had been using to chart.

"Whoa, Y/N." He set the iPad down. "Hey, I know. But Crockett's operating on him right now and he's one of the best surgeons in the hospital."

"I thought you were better than him. You need to do the surgery, Will. you need to save Jay!"

"Y/N, I know it sucks, but I'm family. As much as I want to operate on him, I can't legally do that."

You paused and looked up at him. His eyes were slightly red, but he hadn't been bawling the way that you had been.

"Dr. Halstead! Incoming!" Maggie yelled.

"What does she mean?" you asked, still hanging onto him. "You're still working?"

"There's been a ten-car pile-up on the highway. I have to. It's my job."

"But Jay's in surgery!" you yelled as you pulled away from him. "These people are more important to you than your own brother?"

"They aren't but--"

"But you're working anyway instead of waiting to find out what happens to him?"

"I can't do anything to help Jay right now. But I can help all these people who are pouring in."

"Dr. Halstead!" Maggie shouted again.

"I'll be up in a few hours, I promise," Will told you.

***

A few hours had passed and it was now past midnight. Jay was still in surgery. Will was sitting next to you, in a spare pair of clothes he had packed instead of his scrubs that were covered in blood, and you were leaning your head on his shoulder, close to being asleep.

That was until Crockett came out and Will jumped up, causing your head to hit the back of the chair.

"Ow," you mumbled.

"Sorry," Will apologized and then turned back to Crockett. "What's the verdict?"

"He lost a lot of blood," Crockett told the two of you.

"But he's gonna pull through, right?" Will asked what the two of you were both thinking.

"We'll be out of blood soon."

"What do you mean out of blood?" Will asked, taking a step toward the surgeon. "There's no way you can be out of blood!"

"With that pile-up, we can. I'd recommend you go and say your goodbyes and pray for a miracle."

Will put his hands on the back of his head and started pacing the room. Your breath caught in your throat. This could not be happening. Jay couldn't die, he just couldn't.

Crockett started to walk back towards the operating room.

"Wait!" you yelled. You didn't know what had taken over you, but at this moment, you'd do anything to save your brother. You rolled up your sleeve. "Take my blood."

"Y/N," was all Will could manage to get out.

"I'm sorry, Y/N, but there's protocol for that. I'd love to let you do it, but--"

"Fuck protocol!" you yelled, all the anger and sadness and anxiety that had built up over the past fifteen hours exploding at this very moment. "Rush my labs. Or don't even get my labs done at all. I haven't had sex, so I don't have any STDs. I don't have any diseases or deficiencies since I moved in with Jay years ago. My blood type's O-neg, so I'm a universal donor. Take my goddamn blood, Crockett!" You didn't care that all that information was out in the open because you were barely processing what you were saying. The only thing you cared about was making sure that your brother was okay.

"Y/N," Will said as he walked up to you and placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Don't touch me! And you sure as hell don't want to tell me to calm down!"

"Y/N," Will started again as he took his hand off your shoulder. "What Crockett's saying is that it's not ethical for him to do this. He could get fired."

"Where's the paperwork?" you asked as you turned back to Crockett. "I'll sign whatever I have to sign to make sure you aren't liable at all, that I'm donating this of my own free will. You can even take double the amount of blood that you normally do since I'm a universal donor. Just get me the paperwork."

Crockett and Will shared a look.

"I'll go get a nurse to get you the paperwork."

"Wait, no, no, no," Will said as he walked closer to Crockett. "You can't be serious about this!"

"She said she'll sign it."

"But, I have to co-sign it since she's a minor. So, no, you are not donating blood, Y/N. You almost passed out when I drew vials of your blood years ago. You know what's gonna happen if we take two units of blood? You are gonna feel like utter shit."

"Last I checked, I'm 18, so I can sign my own paperwork! God, I'm not a fucking child anymore, Will! I can make my own decisions!" you yelled back. "And if I don't do this, Jay will die. He'll die, Will. So, I'm giving him my blood with or without your support."

***

You sat in a chair, the ones that Will had told you about years ago with the big padded bar thing that came down in front of you in case you passed out. Typically, they'd just have you lay down in a bed, but since they were short on beds and Will told them that you had a history of getting dizzy and nauseous during simple blood draws, they had decided to put you here instead.

"Last chance to back out," Will told you as the nurse tied off your arm with a blue rubber tie and started to rub your arm to get the big vein in your left forearm to show.

"Jay's dying. No way in hell am I backing out."

Will sighed. He knew you were doing the right thing, but he also knew that you were going to feel terrible after, and he hated seeing you like that. "Okay," he said. "I'll stay here until they get the needle in you and then I'll get you some juice and cookies."

"Ready?" Monique asked.

"Ready," you confirmed. You turned to Will and squeezed your eyes shut as the needle pierced your vein. You heard the sound of the machine and knew your blood was going in there, but you didn't want to look. Getting your blood drawn, you could watch. But this, this was just too much blood to see, so you looked at Will.

"Doing okay?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah," you answered because that was the absolute truth: you were feeling just fine.

"Okay, I'm gonna go get you some cookies and juice. I'll get an update on Jay while I'm out there, too."

You nodded and he left the room.

This wasn't so bad.

***

Okay, so you were lying to yourself. You were currently in hell. Giving the blood hadn't been an issue, it was how you felt after you were done giving blood.

You were currently sitting in that same chair, drinking some juice that Will had brought you. He told you that there was still no update on Jay, but that they were sending the blood back to him right now. (They had rushed labs on a small vial of blood that Monique took before you started the donation. The results came back while you were giving blood, and since your blood was clean, you could give it to Jay.) But, God, but you felt absolutely awful.

"You doing okay?" Will asked.

You shook your head and then stopped because it made you dizzy and put your head in your hands. "No," you groaned.

He handed you a glass of water. "Drink a bit of this too and then I'll open your pack of cookies."

"Why do you want me to drink water and not juice?" you asked as you closed your eyes and tried to stop the spinning in your head.

"Because, you're sweating, Short Stack. Need you to stay hydrated."

You took a few sips of water and then went back to your juice. Will handed you your pack of chocolate chip cookies and you started to eat them.

"Mhm," you groaned and laid your head down on the padded bar thing in front of you that kept you from falling out of the chair. "I don't feel so good."

You felt hot and cold at the same time and the world seemed to spin every time you lifted your head up. And, those cookies did not sit well with you.

"How do you feel? What hurts?" Will asked, jumping into doctor mode since Monique wasn't around. Will assured her that he could look after you while you recovered from your blood being donated at twice the normal amount.

"I just feel like shit," you told him, not picking up your head.

"You gotta give me some symptoms. Give me some symptoms and then I can help."

"Mhm, fine." You looked up at him and blinked slowly. "I feel hot and cold and sweaty. And I feel dizzy and nauseous."

"Okay. That's either a vasovagal reaction or from your blood pressure being low or from your  heart rate being slowed down."

"What's that reaction thingy?"

"You don't like blood in general, so a nervous system response can happen, which could explain your reactions. But, your BP could also be low, which could explain all this too. And, it's one in the morning and you haven't slept yet, so tiredness could also be a factor."

"Great," you said sarcastically as you remembered the last time your blood pressure was low.

You had taken some of Jay's medication that he had to ward off his PTSD-induced nightmares after you were involved in a shooting at a house party. The one time you took them without sleeping directly after, you felt almost exactly like this...except without the sweatiness. You just mostly felt dizzy. You had called Will, he came over, and then you ended passing out and he had to get you to Med. Then you were admitted and they got your pressure back up. You were also prescribed sleeping pills which had helped immensely.

Will grabbed a blood pressure cuff from a drawer. "Arm," he told you. You held out your arm and he wrapped the cuff around it and pumped the end of it.

You waited as he looked at the gauge on the blood pressure cuff. Will said one number over another number, which meant nothing to you, but must've meant something to him. You raised your eyebrows, hoping he was going to tell you what those numbers meant in non-medical English terms.

"BP's low, which explains most of the symptoms," he told you.

You took another bite of your cookie and washed it down with some juice, but then immediately after started dry heaving.

Will rushed around and then thrust a pink basin under your mouth.

You took a deep breath after you finally stopped dry heaving about thirty seconds later.

"Better?" Will asked. You shook your head. "I'm going to get you an IV of anti-nausea medication."

You were going to argue with him about how he wasn't working, so he probably couldn't get you that. And, you were fairly certain he couldn't prescribe things to family. But, you felt terrible, so you really don't care if Will was being reckless and borderline unethical/illegal right now.

You nodded and then laid your head back down.

When Will came back, he thought you were asleep, but when you heard footsteps, you looked up.

"Alright," he began as he assembled the IV. "Last poke of the day, I promise."

"After this can I take a nap in the on-call room?" you asked as you held your arm out to him once again.

"You know I can't let you do that." Will tied a blue band around your arm and started rubbing it to get a vein in the inside of your elbow. Then, he noticed your pale and sweaty face. "Fine. Hopefully, Goodwin won't fire me after this. But I have a good reason. Turn so you don't see the needle."

You did and closed your eyes. You felt the poke and squeezed your eyes shut, but then it subsided and you felt that weird feeling of the medicine going straight into your veins. God, you hoped this worked.

You hoped Jay would survive because you didn't just go through all that for nothing.

***

You slowly opened your eyes as you felt someone shaking your shoulder. "No," you groaned as you turned to face the other side of the bed.

But then you remembered where you were: the doctors on-call room because Jay had been shot. Maybe it was Will waking you up to tell you--

"Short Stack, wake up. Jay's awake."

That got you wide awake.

You snapped your eyes open, rolled over, and jumped out of bed.

"I take it you're feeling better?" Will asked.

"Sleep helps. Let's go!"

Will quickly led you out of the room and through some hallways and up a few flights of stairs to Jay's recovery room.

He was currently talking to Hailey.

"Jay!" you exclaimed as you burst into the room to see him with a sling and see Hailey helping him with his jacket.

"Hey, Short Stack," he greeted and then turned his attention back to Hailey. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Uh, just that I'm glad you're back," she told him. "I'll give you some time with your siblings." She turned her attention to Will. "Oh, and the things you told me to tell Kim to get are in that corner." She pointed to the left front corner of the room. "Bye, guys." She waved and then left.

You gave Jay a huge hug and tried to avoid his arm that was in a sling. "Don't you ever do that again, you hear me?" you told him seriously and then looked up at him with tears in your eyes.

Jay chuckled. "I'll try not to."

"You better do more than try." You went back to leaning your head against his chest as tears soaked his t-shirt.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," he soothed. "I'm okay. I'm fine, Y/N."

"I was so scared. The last thing we would've done was argue. I'm so sorry. I should never have asked to go to those protests. I know you were just trying to protect me--"

"Hey, it's okay for you to have your own opinions and views. It's just gonna take me a while to get used to you being an adult now and not that little sister who would always hold my hand and beg to go to Build-A-Bear."

"Speaking of Build-A-Bear," Will started and then walked over to the corner of the room and picked up two boxes. They were white boxes with dark blue designs on them. You knew those boxes: they were what the workers put new bears in when a kid came and bought one. You let go of Jay. Will peeked into one of the holes. "This one's for you." He handed Jay a box. "And this one's for you." He handed you the other box.

"You got us Build-A-Bears?" you asked as you raised an eyebrow.

"Just open the boxes."

You did and laughed when you saw Beary in the box, dressed in a hospital gown and white little bunny slippers. Your brothers were not kidding when they said they'd get one for you.

Jay laughed as he opened his. His Build-A-Bear was a light blue color and it also had on a hospital gown as well as a sling on one arm. The bear also had on a policeman cap. "Oh, man," Jay said as he continued laughing.

"Press the right paw," Will told him and he did, causing Ruzek's voice to float through the room.

Stop getting kidnapped. Glad you're okay, though.

You started laughing hysterically at this point.

"One more thing," Will said as he walked over to the counter and pulled out a marker and two hospital bracelets. On one he wrote Beary Halstead. "Jay, what are you naming your bear?" Will asked.

"I gotta name it?"

"Um, it's not an it. It's a he or a she...could be a they, too," you said.

"Fine. I gotta name him?"

"Yes," Will told him.

Jay groaned. "Fine. Blue."

"Boo! That's boring," you said.

He groaned again. "Detective Blue. There. Better?"

"Better," you confirmed.

Will wrote Det. Blue Halstead on the other hospital band. Then, he handed Beary's to you and Detective Blue's to Jay.

"I cannot believe you," Jay said.

"I can," Will laughed. "Now put it on him. Just like Y/N's doing with Beary."

Jay reluctantly put it on Detective Blue's arm. But then he realized something. "Wait, why does Beary have a hospital gown if Y/N wasn't in the hospital?"

"Yeah, about that..." you trailed off.

Jay cocked his head to the side. "What did you do this time?"

"Other than save your life, I got nauseous and Will had to give me anti-nausea medication," you explained.

"Wait, back up. You saved my life? How?" Jay asked as he looked between you and Will.

"She essentially cussed at Crockett until she got what she wanted," Will said nonchalantly.

"Which was...?" Jay pried.

"Giving you blood because the hospital was out because of a car accident. If she wouldn't have given you blood..." Will trailed off, not wanting to say the words.

"I'd be dead," Jay practically whispered.

"Yeah," Will confirmed, his voice at about the same volume as Jay's.

Jay felt himself getting choked up as he pulled you in for another hug. "Thank you."

"I know you'd do the same for me."

"In a heartbeat, Short Stack. In a heartbeat."

You stayed like that until Will went ahead and broke the comfortable silence that had fallen over the three of you.

"I hate to break this up, but there's something else I need to tell you guys," Will said.

You and Jay both turned to him and you let yourself out of Jay's embrace. "Which is?" you asked.

"Voight gave Jay two weeks furlough to recover and I talked Goodwin into giving me two weeks vacation--"

"How in the hell did you do that?" Jay asked.

"Let's just say I'm going to be working Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. But that's beside the point. We have two weeks of vacation time."

"You do know I work right?" you asked.

"At a coffee shop, not at a big kid job," Will said. "And, I had Kim and Adam stop in there on their way to get the bears. They explained the situation and your work gave you two weeks off. Adam said he may have had to flash his badge, but that's beside the point."

"And you took vacation because...?" you asked.

"We need to make sure Jay relaxes and there's so many protests-turned-riots happening right now that we should probably get out of here."

"You do know it's not the peaceful protesters starting those, right? It's counter-protesters and other people who are racist bigots and people who decided they have no other choice but to be violent," you said, making your views known once again.

"I'm very much aware, Y/N. But, no matter who started it, people were running from tear gas and burning buildings last night."

"Alright, back on topic," Jay started, not wanting to have another argument like he had two days ago with you. "Where are we going?"

"I figured Wisconsin would be a good choice."

***

"It's my turn to pick the music," you whined as Will looked for another song on your long drive to Wisconsin.

"I'm the oldest, so I get control of it," Will argued.

"No, you've controlled it for the last three hours. I've had to listen to nineties hip-hop for that long. My eardrums are gonna bleed. Please make him give the aux, Jay."

"Dude, just give her the aux, and then she'll be quiet. Remember, she likes early 2000s pop-punk and 2000s stuff in general. We'll probably know most of it."

Will reluctantly handed you the aux. "Thank you. And, just to remind you two, I'm a big fan of Taylor Swift's first few albums and 5 Seconds of Summer."

You clicked play on Take What You Want by One OK Rock featuring 5 Seconds of Summer. You queued up some more songs by 5 Seconds of Summer and two by Taylor Swift, just to mess with your brothers, and then you added songs they would know like All the Small Things by Blink-182, Check Yes, Juliet by We The Kings, Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low, and Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard.

By the time Dear Maria, Count Me In started playing, all three of you were jamming out, which caused Jay to forget to put his blinker on when he changed lanes...and there was a cop right there in the emergency turnaround.

Jay heard and saw the sirens behind him and slowed down. He knew the drill from pulling people over on his days on patrol. Now that he was in Intelligence, he practically just ripped the criminals out of their cars and handcuffed them against the side of their (usually stolen) car.

He got out his license and registration, along with his badge because he did have his service weapon with him. He'd be damned not bringing it with him in this day and age...and sometimes there were coyotes and he and Will didn't know if the old hunting rifle at the cabin that your grandpa used to use even had ammunition in and if there was even any ammunition at the cabin.

Jay rolled down his window as the officer walked up to him.

Your hands started to sweat and your heart started to race as you remembered your last encounter with an officer that you didn't know.

You were driving home from the library late at night after studying for a biology exam. And no, the library wasn't an excuse for going out and partying. You genuinely had gone to the library and had had a great and very focused study session for a few hours.

All of a sudden, you saw flashing lights and heard sirens. You turned down your music. You looked in your rear-view mirror and saw that the cop was right on your tail. He turned off his sirens and then turned them on and off quickly.

You were the one getting pulled over.

You pulled off to the side of the road and then rolled down your window.

"License and registration," the officer told you. He looked young, maybe a rookie.

"What's the problem officer?" you asked. Jay always told you that you had a right to know why you had been pulled over.

"You were going three miles over the speed limit, did you know that?"

"I don't recall how fast I was driving." Jay always told you never to admit to speeding because then you could fight the ticket if you ended up getting one.

"License and registration, please," he repeated.

"Reaching into my glove compartment and moving some CDs to get my registration," you narrated and then handed the registration to the officer. "Reaching over to my passenger seat to grab my purse which has my license in it...unzipping my purse...reaching in for my license." You handed him your license.

He ran your information and then came back to the window. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I have to give you a ticket."

You furrowed your eyebrows. For three miles over the speed limit? No fucking way was this happening.

"Uh," was all you could say.

"But, there is something you can do to get out of this ticket. You help me out, I help you out."

"I- I don't understand," you stuttered.

He looked down and you followed where he was looking and cupping himself with the hand that wasn't holding your license and registration.

"I- I..."

"Or I can just up this speeding ticket to going twenty miles over it. Say there was an open container in the car, too," he said.

You had no idea what to say. You couldn't risk getting your insurance upped and getting a minor in possession charge. You'd never be allowed to drive again!

But, there's no way you'd do this. You couldn't. But he was so much bigger than you that he could hold you down with one hand tied behind his back.

He placed his hand on the door handle. "You have three seconds to make your decision. One...Two..."

"My brother's Jay Halstead! Badge number 51163! His Sergeant's Hank Voight!" Your voice trembled as you yelled that and you were close to tears.

He looked back down at your license. It did say Y/N Halstead on it. He handed you back your license and registration. "Have a nice night."

Then, he walked back to his patrol car, got in, turned off the sirens, and drove off. You were so scared that you didn't even look to see what his last name or badge number was.

Once you had stayed pulled over for a good couple of minutes to make sure that the cop was nowhere in sight, you started driving again. You stopped at a drive-thru and got yourself a chocolate flurry with Oreos. Then, you sat in the parking lot with your hands still shaking and your heart still racing as you ate and started to cry. You cried for almost half an hour and waited there for another fifteen minutes so your eyes wouldn't be as puffy when you got home because you didn't want Jay asking questions.

"Y/N, you good?" Jay asked, taking you out of your thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah," you said quickly...almost too quickly. "Why?"

"Will just asked if you wanted to go back because we missed a song and you didn't answer."

"Yeah, I can do that." You quickly went back to the previous song and tried to sing with as much happiness as you did previously. But, you didn't get the image of that night or the feeling of dread out of your stomach for another hour.

***

You woke up the next morning very well-rested. The boys had taken the loft and the two twin beds that were up there and you got to take your mom and dad's old room because you were the only girl, so they said it was only fair that you got the bedroom.

You heard the dripping of water and got out of bed and then padded down the hall and to the kitchen. Jay was standing there in pajama pants and a t-shirt. (Thank God he wasn't shirtless for once in the morning. Your brothers really needed to learn how to put shirts on when they walked out of their rooms in the morning...and maybe by you telling them to put a shirt on all the time, you training them had finally paid off.) He drummed his fingers on the counter while he waited for the coffee to be done.

"Morning," you said.

He turned around. "Good morning. Shocked you're awake. It's only 8 am."

"And I'm shocked you haven't been up for two hours," you retorted.

"Oh, I've been up for an hour, just been reading upstairs. Will's not up yet, though."

"He always sleeps late when he doesn't have to work though, doesn't he?"

"Pretty much. We've made breakfast plans before and he's missed them because he was sleeping."

The timer went off on the coffee pot, alerting you that it was finished. Jay started to pour his in a tumbler. He held out a tumbler to you. You raised an eyebrow, silently wondering why he wasn't pouring it into a mug.

"I was gonna go for a morning canoe ride. You can come along if you want. Wouldn't want hot coffee spilling all over us," he told you.

"Did you bring creamer?" you asked.

"Irish cream creamer, just for you."

You reached into the fridge and grabbed the creamer.

"So, canoe ride?" Jay asked.

"Sure."

He poured coffee into a tumbler for you and then slid it to you to put your desired amount of creamer in.

***

Twenty minutes later, you were starting out in the canoe. You told Jay there was no way in hell that you'd be doing the rowing. He told you that he could only row with one arm because of his sling, so you'd have to do the other side. Skeptically, you started rowing. Jay told you that you'd be fine, just to follow his instructions.

Fifteen minutes later, when you were out in the middle of the lake, facing the forests of Wisconsin, he stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" you asked.

He picked up his tumbler of coffee off the floor of the canoe. "We need to talk."

"About what?" you asked as you picked up yours as well and held it with both hands.

"About your reaction last night when I got pulled over. You freaked. I need to know why."

"I- I didn't freak. I was just tired," you lied.

"You had quite the amount of energy right before that," he quipped.

"It's nothing."

"Y/N, I'm not letting this go. Is it because of the protests and riots and because of all the media coverage and those few bad apple cops and, I guess the system, that you're seeing that's making you nervous?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"You're not going to let this go are you?" you asked.

"I will stay in this canoe in the middle of the lake until you tell me what is going on, Y/N Halstead."

"You wouldn't."

Jay shrugged with the arm that wasn't currently in a sling. "Try me."

You sighed. "Just don't be mad that I didn't tell you sooner, okay?"

"I won't. You have my word on that."

"So, a little over a month ago I was driving home from the library..."

***

When you finished, you were in tears. "Did you get a last name? Badge number?" Jay asked as he rubbed circles on your back with his good hand.

You sniffled. "N- No. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing at all."

"If I wouldn't have said- said your name...He had his hand on my door handle! And he was so much bigger than me. I'm sorry!"

You turned and buried your face in his chest. "Y/N, you have nothing to be sorry for."

"I should've told you right away, though! But you just had that really rough case and I didn't want to put too much on your shoulders and--"

"Y/N, I need you to take a deep breath. You need to breathe. This was not your fault. None of it was."

You calmed your breathing and just sat there, silent tears streaming down your face.

"That's why I wanted to go to the protests," you said after a few minutes. "Because I've actually had a bad experience with a cop."

"Which should've never happened in the first place."

"I was so scared," you whispered.

Jay just hugged you tighter as he thought about how strong his little sister was. You had given blood to save his life even though you knew you'd feel terrible after and you hadn't told him about this horrible cop--which he would kick this cop's ass the minute the got back to Chicago--because you didn't want him to have too much on his plate after that terrible case where he put an innocent man in jail and got him killed...which was the main reason he had been shot.

"When we get back to the cabin, I'll try and call Voight. I don't know if I'll have service, though."

"Why?" you asked.

"I'm gonna have him look up who was on their beat near you that night so he can go interrogate people on my behalf. Probably best he does it and not me." Because Jay knew that the minute he saw that cop, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

You nodded.

"Hey, cheer up, kid. We're here for two weeks, away from everything. Away from the city and everything that goes on there. And I can promise you that that cop will get what's coming to him, whether that be losing his job or going to jail or prison."

"Do I have to tell Will? Or can you tell him? I really don't want to talk about this again."

"I can do it," Jay answered. "Speaking of Will, if he's not up when we get back, what do we say we wake him up with some cold lake water?"

"Like dump it on him?" you asked as you widened your eyes. Jay nodded. "No, that's mean. Then he'll have to wait for his sheets to dry out and they'll smell the entire time."

"We have spare sheets and blankets in the closet."

"Fine, let's do it. But just so you know, I'm telling him that it was your idea and I also have a lock on my bedroom door here, which will make it harder for him to sneak in and dump water on me."

"I will be sleeping in your room tonight," Jay joked.

"Nope. It was your idea, so you're gonna have to live with Will's payback."

Those two weeks were filled with laughter, pranks, board games, corn hole, swimming, fishing (well, you read either in the canoe or on the dock while the boys fished), and just spending time with each other. You were glad that Will had the bright idea to take two weeks up here...even though he got drenched in cold lake water the first morning by you and Jay.

A/N: I got a request from @ La_lectrice_33 on wattpad for Y/N going to the dentist, so I hope you liked that little scene! I also got a request from an anon on here about Jay and Will's reactions to her growing up, so I put that in here, too. Thank you for over 23k reads! I won't be posting until this Sunday (August 1) when I start posting AUs for AU-gust. Please remember to like/reblog and comment because I love seeing those like/reblog notifications pop up and love reading your comments and asks! As always, if you would like to be added to my tag list, just tell me and I’ll add you! Finally, like my imagines? Buy me a coffee (only $1 through Paypal and other currencies can be used) here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Kayela

taglist:  @theambracer88  @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27  @anotherfan07  @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things  @herecomesthewriterwitch  @liampayne88

[midnightswithdearkatytspb]

VelvetCardiganBucky’s Recommendations 2021: Week 16 | April 11th – April 17th

Welcome to week 16 of my recommendations, if you would like to be featured on a future list, I follow the hashtag #VelvetCardiganBucky, message me, tag me in your future works, or reblog this post and link to your story, one-shot, Masterlist, writing challenge, etc.

Be aware some if not most stories and writers on this list are meant to be consumed by an audience of those 18+. My blog is also an 18+ blog.

✨Page breaks are made @firefly-graphics✨

«Last Week

Week 17»

My Masterlist

My Fic Rec List of Mafia/Mob Bucky/Sebastian & Steve/Chris/Andy

Stuff I Posted This Week:

Lee Bodecker

One-Shots:

Rough Love by @ladyfallonavenger » Lee Bodecker x Reader — Lee wakes to his wife getting ready for the day. This work is inspired by the song Poker Face by Lady Gaga. | So very hot. 🥵

I Can’t Wait To Meet You by @not-a-great-writer » Lee Bodecker x Pregnant!Reader — Request: Lee doesn’t want to leave his pregnant wife’s side. | I summarized the requested one-shot up. It’s very fluffy and domestic and sweet. I say we petition for the user name to be changed not a great writer to a fantastic writer!

(Mini) Series:

*Give In 🎡 Pt.21 🎡 Pt.22 by @not-a-great-writer » Soft!Dark!Lee Bodecker x Shy!Reader — She didn’t think she was anything special. So when the intimidating Sheriff takes an interest in her, she can’t help but feel a little unsettled. Her boring life is about to get a little interesting. | Can I just say this story is just *chefs kiss*? Lee Bodecker? *chefs kiss* Reader? *chefs kiss* It’s just all so perfect and so is the smut.

Bucky Barnes

One-Shots:

I’m In The Water by @nsfwsebbie » Dark!Winter Soldier x Reader — He’s in the wind, and you’re in the water. Nobody’s son, nobody’s daughter. | Read the tags, this is extremely dirty as well as dark, but I honestly enjoyed it. Sabrina really blew my mind with this one.

Show A Little Gratitude by @thicccsimp » Bucky Barnes x Reader — You discover a new kink with Bucky after making a bad call during a mission. | Hot, Hot, Hot 🥵

Just Wondering by @infernal-fire » soft!dark!Buck Barnes x Reader — Reader is pregnant and has some mixed feelings. | This is sort of adorable, and pregnancy hormones really come out in this.

Sunday Kinda’ Love by @msmarvelwrites » Bucky Barnes x Reader — You weren’t sure when it happened, falling in love with Bucky Barnes. | Brontë is such an amazing writer who wrote something that made my heart squeal while the rest of me just thought it was really hot.

Don’t You by @pagesoflauren » Bucky Barnes x Reader — Bucky sees you for the first time after breaking up with you. | Taylor Swift and Bucky Barnes what more could you ask for in life?

(Mini) Series:

Just Like Dad 💋 Pt.2 by @ladyfallonavenger » Bucky Barnes x Reader — The Reader loses Bucky in the snap and life presents a whole new challenge. | It’s got your angst and your fluff, everything you need for a perfect one-shot.

Sweet Dreams Pt.3 ✨ Pt.1 ✨ Pt.2 by @jedimastermelkor » Bucky Barnes x Reader; Mystery Avenger x Reader — Your daily routine involves waking up in the morning, going to work and sulking at night. But then you meet the man you’ve fantasized about for your entire life, Bucky Barnes. At the same time, you’ve caught someone else’s eye and his first step in winning you over is to cook you breakfast. But will you be welcoming of that person’s affections? | You can tell Bucky really likes the reader in this and the reader has a crush on Bucky. Now you add Peter who you know has a crush on the reader. It's sort of adorable. I highly recommend it. It will keep you at the edge of your seat and your jaw hitting the floor a couple of times along the way.

Stucky

(Mini) Series:

The Miracle Pt.3 ✨ Pt.1 ✨Pt.2 by @heavenhatesme » Soft!Dark!Stucky x Reader — When infertility threatens mankind with extinction and there hasn’t been a baby for almost 18 years, what happens when two certain super soldiers fall for the same woman and accidentally impregnate her? | Heed the tags folks. I want to call them soft!dark, but they are pretty dark, but it’s up to you the reader to decide. The smut in this is great, and the storyline just as good, it also pulls on your heartstrings.

Vampires Will Never Hurt You by @missgraceomalley » Steve Rogers x Darcy Lewis; Bucky Barnes x Darcy Lewis; Steve Rogers x Darcy Lewis x Bucky Barnes — Darcy's been hiding something and Steve can't pin what it is. Can the serum help him? Or will he be compelled away? (AO3)| I love stories that take you on twist and turns, I also love vampires, add in Damon Salvatore plus the two Super Soldiers? You make me very happy!

*Brooklyn Wars by @world-of-aus » Mob!Steve x Reader, Mob!Bucky x Reader / Eventual Mob!Stucky x Reader — Childhood friends pulled apart by a move and a rivalry between families, will a shared promise of ‘till the end of the line’ be enough to keep them together. Or will a deal struck up gone wrong, and an indecisiveness to choose who your heart loves be the ‘end of the line.’ | I spent my Saturday morning re-reading this and loving every part and wishing for more. @world-of-aus is such a fantastic writer that doesn’t get enough recognition in my list.

Steve Rogers

(Mini) Series:

*His Koala Bear by @kinanabinks » Dark!Steve Rogers x Innocent!Reader — You and steve have been best friends since you were 5. for the longest time, he has wanted so much more from you. and it’s getting harder for him to stop himself from taking it. | Prepare for the emotional roller coaster this story is going to take you on and to change your underwear or perhaps to take a cold shower, maybe both.

*Lipstick and Crayons 🖍 Pt.5 by @oneoftheprettynerds » Dark!Mob!Steve Rogers x Single Mom!Reader — Steve can’t ever repay you for what you did. After meeting you, Steve believes his broken family is the missing piece in the puzzle of your own wrecked one. Indebting the crime lord to you has been the biggest mistake of your life, cause now you can’t get rid of him, no matter what. Loyalty and favours go a long way in the mob. | This story makes you feel like you are watching a Dark!Mob Romantic movie staring Steve Rogers. It’s just that good and I love it.

Ransom Drysdale

One-Shots:

Sugar by @chrissquares » Ransom Drysdale x Reader — Reader sees Ransom in his glasses for the first time. | Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing Ransom in his glasses more often, especially if he looked like that.

(Mini) Series:

Stolen What’s Mine Pt.1 by @wanderinglunarnights » Ransom Drysdale x OFC!Charlotte Callahan — Charlotte and Ransom are up for the same promotion at the publishing house. She hates his handsome ass, especially when he steals the job as editor in chief out from under her nose. | Charlotte is sassy and she isn’t going to take any of Ransom’s nonsense, I love it! You can tell it’s going to be a good one!

Andy Barber

One-Shots:

I’ll Be Here by @candlefics » Andy Barber x Reader — Jacob grew up with you around. What happens when he’s convicted of murder, and his family falls apart? What will your relationship with Andy turn into? | I like this take on a show I have still yet to watch. It was sweet and emotional, a must read in my book.

(Mini) Series:

*Moment’s Silence Pt.3 🥞 Pt.1 🥞 Pt.2 by @syntheticavenger » Frank Adler x Reader; Andy Barber x Reader — The tumultuous relationship between twin brothers Frank and Andy takes a turn for the worse when Andy offers to wipe out Frank’s debt by asking for the one thing Andy wants that Frank has. | This story has me wanting to bite my nails in anticipation even though I can’t. So freaking good!

Misc.

Drabbles:

Good Behavior by @syntheticavenger » Dark!Andy Barber x Reader; Soft Dark!Steve Rogers x Reader — Andy’s special delivery arrives with a familiar face. | This is hot in a way you wouldn’t expect it to be, and I’m sort of wishing for a part 2.

One-Shots:

*Distractions by @rebelwrites » Jax Teller x Reader — I requested “Can you please put a shirt on?” | Let me just say this prompt was just so well written and it put a smile on my face. I would welcome Jax as a distraction any day, as long as he threw one of his signature panty dropping smiles my way.

Seal Team

One-Shot:

I’m Not Good Enough by @rebelwrites » Sonny Quinn x Reader — “So, we’re just going to ignore the fact that you drunk-dialed me to tell me you love me?” | This broke my heart than it fixed it. 💗

No Damsel In Distress by @rebelwrites » Clay Spenser x Reader — #3 and #13 for Clay Spenser. “Even when we were kids, i always kicked your ass!” And “How is my wife more badass than me?” | So hilarious and badass.

You Aren’t Allowed To Be Sick by @rebelwrites » Clay Spenser x Reader — “What do you mean you’re sick?! You’re my partner in crime!” | Clay can buy me flowers and take care of me any day.

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here! / Part 11 Here! / Part 12 Here! / Part 13 Here! / Part 14 Here! / Part 15 Here! / Part 16 Here! / < This is Part 17!>

Donate to Move to Higher Ground HERE!

Song for this Chapter - (X)

A/N: Soooo I might not update Saturday this week because I’ve been pretty slammed at work this week. If anyone would like to Beta read the next two parts of this series (Especially if you’re BIPOC) pls DM me. The next part I’m not so concerned about, but the part after. (Also need Beta readers for my original pieces!) 

* Your legs dangle beneath you as you continuously bump your head against the tree trunk hoping the contact will knock some sense into you

* It doesn’t even hurt, barley a tickle.

* You decided that the safest, and least embarrassing, place for you right now was up a 100 foot tall tree.

* You came here for some peace and quiet, to get away from everyone and sort out your thoughts

* Not that it matters since half the coven has been up here to talk to you

* Carlisle came first, though you’re betting he pulled the “dad” card so he could go first.

* “Lovely view.”

* “Hmm” you mumble

* He lets out a deep sigh, and you hate yourself for not making this easier for him.

* “So I heard that you and Edward had a .... romantic encounter.”

* You laugh

* “A romantic encounter,” you repeat, you look at Carlisle who mirrors your smile.

* “Edward does that too” He mumbles. Carlisle doesn’t miss the way you stiffen at the mention of his name.

* A long, deep sigh escapes him

* “I just want you to know that it’s fine,” He’s sitting far away from you on the branch, partially because of your powers and partially because he understands you want space.

* “You’re two healthy vampires and I understand you have needs-“

* “Oh my god Carlisle please don’t tell me you’re giving me “the talk” right now on a tree branch” you’re mortified but you’re laughing

* “I just want you to know that however you choose to proceed, I love and support you.”

* And then Carlisle does something he hasn’t done in a decade,

* he inches closer, breaking into your personal bubble and gives you a kiss on the forehead and a pat on your shoulder

* You smile after he leaps down and runs back to the house

* He hasn’t done something like that since he found you in Volterra, newly turned and asking to die.

* Truly a compassionate man.

* Rosalie’s the next one, she actually calls your attention from the ground

* “I brought you some blood in case you’re hungry” she shouts, holding up a thermos with what you assume is blood.

* You sigh, it looks like you won’t be getting much space

* She leaves just as much space as Carlisle when she sits by you on the branch

* “Nice view up here huh?” She even cups a hand over her eyes to see further

* This family and small talk

* “Do you want to talk about it?” She finally asks after a long moment of silence.

* You shake your head

* “Not really” she nods, lacing her fingers together on her lap. There’s another long moment of silence

* “Does everyone know?” She raises an eyebrow and you clarify 

*“That Edward felt that way I mean.”

* Rosalie gives you a smirk that basically says, ‘I thought you didn’t want to talk about it’, but she doesn’t tease you any further. 

*She lets out a long sigh and looks down to her hands

* “Remember that time you came to our house for the first time to play monopoly?” 

*You nod. 

*“Most of us pieced it together back then”

* You sigh, all the way since back then?

* It’s been over a decade.

* “Mostly because we usually don’t have board game nights, and Edward asked if we could so he could have an excuse to bring you over”

* That dork. 

*You can’t help but smile.

* Of course Edward saw how lonely you were in that house and decided to find an excuse to get you five other friends.

* Another long moment of silence passes

* “Look I- I know Edward is my brother and I would be thrilled if you guys got together-“ 

*she places her hand on top of yours.

* “But I want you to know that I love you, and if you decide that’s not what you want, then that’s okay.”

* Her eyes are so kind, she gives you a gentle smile.

* “No matter what you decide, I’ll still love you, you’re still my best friend-my (sister/brother).”

* You feel your eyes sting and you nod, you give her a weak smile and she sighs wrapping you in a hug.

* “I’ll come back later with more blood” she caresses your face before jumping down, running back to the house

* As soon as she’s out of sight you feel your branch bend down

* “Great view, you see any bears yet?” Emmett asks and you sigh, swirling the cap of your thermos off

* “Care for a drink Emmett?”

* “Well don’t mind if I do”

* Out of all of them, you think you like Emmett’s interaction the best

* He doesn’t talk about Edward, just makes conversation with you like nothing is wrong, like you’re staying up this tree like a stranded cat because it’s fun

* “I heard you kissed a bunch of people at the party” you groan and put your face in your hands

* “I was drinking, I guess I drank too much, and made some questionable decision.”

* He grins and pats your shoulder

* “It’s not that big of a deal, we’ve all been there. Besides I thought it was pretty bad ass.”

* You smile, of course he would.

* Emmett doesn’t sit far away from you like the others, he sits beside you and swings his arm over your shoulder bringing you into a hug.

* “Don’t stress out about things too much up here, and when you’re ready don’t be embarrassed to come home.” He plants a kiss in your hair before swooping down

* That’s your big brother for you

* It’s not more than ten minutes until you feel the branch away again

* “Oh my god, can’t I have just a minute-“ the words die in your throat when you turn to see who’s sitting next to you.

* “Oh, hey Edward.”

* He’s sitting just as far as Carlisle and Rosalie were, if not further, he offers you a brief smile.

* A long moment of silence fills the air and you gulp

* “It’s a real nice view huh?” You say,

* oh geez now you’re the one talking about the view

* “Yeah it’s beautiful.” Edward’s not looking at the view, he’s looking at you, and the implication makes you even more flustered than you are.

* You watch Edward, he’s so happy he’s glowing. Every few seconds a smile will creep onto his face only for him to force it into a frown, only for it to twitch back into a smile again. 

* You laugh.

* “You’re doing that thing where you can’t hide how happy you are.” 

* Edward openly grins once you say that.

* “You’re happy too, I can feel it all the way from here.” He says holding a hand out.

* Ah your powers are leaking through

* Looks Rosalie and Carlisle just wanted to look serious when they were here

* “Of course I’m happy” 

* He told you he loved you, how could you not be happy?

* He basically confirmed your wildest wishes and hopes.

* This is the happiest you’ve ever been

* “I don’t understand why you’re sitting up here honestly,” he shakes his head boyish smile curling onto his face as his eyes stay focused on the horizon. “I know you feel the same way as I do”

* He’s right, you do feel the same as him.

* Maybe for just as long as he has, you’ve just been holding yourself back because you thought he would never have those feelings for you

* Because you’re not the one who’s going to make him the happiest he could possibly be

* “Look Edward, I think you could do so much-“

* “Is this about Bella?” He interrupts, a bitter laugh when you remain silent. “Why do you think I would ever love her?”

* “The way you look at her-“

* “I don’t get that either, you talked about that last night too, I’m not sure what you’re seeing but the look I give her is of minimal tolerance.”

* ...

* Wait

* What

* “Oh cut the crap Edward, I saw the way you guys looked at each other on the stairway”

* “What stairway?” 

*Is he trying to play dumb? Because honestly- you’re a little convinced with that confused puppy look he’s giving you

* “At Conner’s party, you guys were talking at the stairwell, you looked at her like she was telling you all of the universe’s secrets.”

* He looks embarrassed, a hand tangling in his hair. 

* “Um- about that-”

* You caught the criminal red handed. He might like you, but he likes her too doesn’t he. Well he’s probably entranced by that scent of hers, no doubt he’ll forget all about you-

* “We were talking about you.” 

* ....

* (Y/N). Exe is broken

*  “While you were gone, we both came to an agreement to set our differences aside for you-”

* Why would they go that far for you, it’s not like you care-

* You remember the vitamins

* Going out of your way to include her in things, 

* Driving her home even when any normal person would have just ignored the whole thing

* Oh my god, you’re Bella’s best friend

* And even worse, everyone probably thinks she’s your best friend too. 

* (Y/N). Exe is broken

* “Don’t misunderstand for a second, I still find her absolutely repulsive, and whatever haze she’s got over the school is absolutely perplexing-”

* “But what about the carnation?” you interrupt.

* She’s the only one he bought a carnation for.

* “What carnation?”

* “The carnation you bought her on Valentine’s Day!” 

* Sure one carnation isn’t anything compared to the bouquet he bought you, but it had to mean something

* “I didn’t buy anyone any carnations.” He tells you, his eyebrows threading together

* Oh f*ck

* f*ck *f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck *f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck *f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck

* You bought Bella that carnation.

* You bought all of your friends carnations, light red ones for friendship

* “Were you jealous because you thought I bought her flowers and not you?” 

*A mischievous grin arch’s onto his mouth and you hide your face in your hands 

*“You were, weren’t you? That’s adorable.”

* The criminal is teasing you, only this time you can’t complain because it’s rightly deserved

* “But- then what were you talking at the lockers about?”

* Edward’s face pinches into a look of disgust.

* “She came by to rub in my face how you had given us both the same colored carnations”

* “Wait-Bella knows you felt this way about me?”

* He laughs

* “(Y/N/N), I’m pretty sure everyone knows I love you.”

* Everyone but you apparently

* Was it really all in your head?

* Edward has loved you this entire time and you just...never noticed?

* “Honestly, I love you (Y/N), but sometimes you get fixated on these ideas for no logical reason-“

* Oh there’s a logical reason alright

* “-like what possible reason could there be for me to love a human like Bella? It’s just comple-“

* “Because you’re supposed to Edward!” 

* It’s the straw that finally broke the camels back.

* You tell him everything, about everything that happened in the books.

* Him falling in love with Bella, killing James, leaving her in new moon, the werewolves, the newborn army led by Victoria, their marriage and Bella’s pregnancy

* You frame it like you had a prophetic dream the night you turned, which is probably the closest way you can explain what happened without looking insane.

* Not that Edward would mind, he would probably get the best recommendation from Carlisle for a mental health institute and happily visit you three times a week with flowers and other gifts. 

* You both sit in silence after you finish telling him everything, the only sound the gentle whistle of the wind.

* “So what?”

* He asks, shrugging his shoulders and looking at you like you just told him a tv show he doesn’t like is getting cancelled

* You scoff in disbelief

* “ So what? Edward she’s your soul mate!”

* “You’re my soul mate” he says plainly, he’s inched closer to you this entire time, and now his thigh is only a flew inches away from your own.

* You feel embarrassed at his words, how can he say that so easily? 

*You’re still not even sure soul mates exist.

* Noticing you embarrassment he places his hand on top of yours, intertwining your fingers

* The contact makes butterflies erupt in your stomach.

* “I understand that you think that story is the one I want,” he says it slowly. 

* “But there’s already so many thing that are different.”

* He’s right things have changed, you know that.

* “Besides I don’t think I’m the one Bella has a crush on” he gives you a meaningful look and your eyebrows thread together.

* Wait what’s that supposed to mean

* “This world is different than the one you saw.” He squeezes your hand, and you sigh, 

* It’s different because of you.

* He should have had all those things. If it weren’t for you he would have had all those things

* “Edward she can give you a baby, a real baby that’s yours!”

* There’s only one common thread for all the vampires you’ve seen that still hunger for their humanity

* They all want a child.

* What Edward is getting, it’s a miracle. A Hail Mary. The odds of something like this happening are one in one billion at best.

* He gets to have a baby, and the woman he loves. It’s a win-win.

* He sighs and squeezes your hand.

* “But I don’t want that.” He says it so bluntly, like it’s the simplest thing on earth. 

*Your brain stops working.

* Well that can’t be right

* “We’ve never talked about it, but I’ve never wanted children, not even when I was a boy and still human.”

* Wait Edward doesn’t want kids? 

* Your head snaps up to meet his eyes

* “I think to want to bring children into the world you have to be at peace with the world and with yourself. And I’ve never been able to have either of those things.” He shrugs, his legs swinging under him.

* “What you saw- I was probably just going along with whatever Bella wanted, but I don’t think I would genuinely want to raise a child in this world, especially not when I look like I’m seventeen for the rest of my life”

* That makes sense. 

*Edward’s always been sensitive about his age. He looks older than 17, probably because of the venom. 

*But he’s the youngest of all his siblings, you know deep down he can handle the vampirism,

* But he can’t handle being a child for all of eternity.

* “But even if I did want kids, I want an eternity with you even more.”

* He squeezes your hand and you squeeze back, gulping the burning in your throat

* Whether it’s from thirst or the overwhelming emotions you’re not sure

* “Okay.” You finally say after several long moment of silence 

* “Okay, you’ll be mine for eternity or...” 

* You slap him lightly on the chest and he barks laughing

* “Okay...we can... date.” You say it haltingly, carefully even.

* “Like humans” you add for good measure

* You expect a bit of protest from Edward, he’s been waiting for you for over a decade now, you can’t think of a man alive who would be alright with just dating.

* But Edward smiles like you just agreed to marry him. He puts a hand on your face, and caresses your cheek with his thumb.

* “Alright, we’ll date like humans do.”

* You’re still a little worried but you find yourself smiling when Edward presses his forehead against your own. 

* His lips meeting yours.

* “(Y/N) and Edward sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” You tease when he pulls away and he laughs again

* “You’re the worst you know that?”

* “Yet you still love me,” you tease “you loooooove me, you waanaaaa spend eeeeternity with meeee.” You sing and he laughs.

* “Suddenly I’m regretting my decision to court you.” 

* You sit in silence for a second, enjoying his scent. 

* It feels safe here

* It feels like home

* “Are you ready to go inside?”

* You should, you feel a lot better now, but-

* You groan and bury your face in his shoulder.

* “It’s going to be so embarrassing, everyone’s going to know what happened and Emmett is never going to stop with the sex jokes”

* Edward just grins, he can’t believe after waiting for so long, you’re his now.

* It feels like a dream

* You’re right though, it’s is going to be super embarrassing going back home after this.

* He gets why you chose to wait it out in a tree

* “Yeah, let’s stay out here for a while longer.” He says wrapping his arms around you.

BONUS:

* Rosalie is peering out the window with gold opera glasses to her hand

* “Oh! He leaned in closer! I think he’s holding their hand”

* Alice groans beside her

* “No they’re just talking, they’re going to be doing that a lot”

* “What else do you see Alice?” Jasper asks from behind her, watching the tree you and Edward are sitting on intently

* “I’m not sure...it’s all changing really fast, in one they make up and go back to being friends,”

* Emmett groans from behind her, he can’t handle anymore yearning or weird sex talks with his brother

* “In another they push Edward of the branch and say: “oh why don’t you just go back to Bella you human lover””

* Rosalie shudders, well that’s not good

* Honestly she should have just told you Bella and Edward had come to an agreement to be civil around one another for your benefit while you were gone

* They basically bonded over how much they like you

* The carnation was probably just a sign of that truce, if it was even from him

* She’s got a feeling it was probably from you and you just forgot, but she didn’t want to embarrass you 

* Besides she figured it might be the final push you need to admit your feelings to him

* “They’re kissing! You guys they’re kissing!” Alice shrieks, and all of them turn their attention back to you

* Ah so you are

* “And so end the brooding chronicles” Jasper whispers and Rosalie hides a laugh

* “I would call them the yearning chronicles” Alice adds

* “Have you considered that maybe the reason they’re out there is because they want privacy?” Carlisle says without looking up from his open newspaper.

* The four of them shuffle awkwardly before walking away from the large window

* “You too Esme” Carlisle says

* Esme sighs, tucking her black opera glasses into her apron

* “Don’t blame me when we don’t have anything to say at the wedding when it comes time for a toast” she mumbles, walking back to the kitchen to finish her cookies

* “A wedding?”

* Queue Carlisle half sobbing half wheezing into his newspaper

* “Not one, but two kids leaving the family?”

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[featherfur]

I’m going to try and make sense with this so bear with me: I think a lot of untapped angst potential in fic is the reality of Jiang Cheng being the older one now and visibly more mature because Wei Wuxian died at 20? 19? And he wasn’t exactly maturing in the ghost realm during that considering he doesn’t remember it. Now he’s definitely matured via trauma but that’s not the same thing. And now they’re 16x on the wrong wave length.

Under the read more because uh, I go into detail

Now put Jiang Cheng in the same room as Wei Wuxian and they’re both 12, atleast in the beginning. But Jiang Cheng had his previously homicidal insane brother show up right next to his nephew after insulting his mom (who’s death he inadvertently led too) so JC (for me atleast) can be forgiven a bit for not being happy and wanting to kick his ass and thinking he may still be insane because an Okay Wei Wuxian Would Not Insult Shijie or His Nephew. Especially since JC not only didn’t tell the entire world that his brother was back, left him with Jin Ling, only yelled at him a bit and scared him via dog and— (I’m going to shut up here because that isn’t my point but man I could go on). JC had a lot of issues and he yells at Wei Wuxian to the point one wants to offer him a cough drop.

But post Temple JC? Who watched him walk away sadly and knows that Wei Wuxian is no longer unstable and thinks he doesn’t want to be his brother anymore? That’s so much wonderful angst because that means Wei Wuxian will not be greeted by Jiang Cheng his Shidi anymore.

He will be met with Sect Leader Jiang who clawed his way up from nothing but a baby in his right, a stack of spreadsheets on his left and the most feral disciples around that he has to protect. This Sect Leader who doesn’t have time to go around hunting Wei Wuxian down to harass him. Sect Leader Jiang who barely even greets Wei Wuxian when he visits because he has shit to do. He has audits and taxes and those damn merchants are complaining, he has to up the wages of the seamstresses that make the robes of his sect with so many protection talismans and find a way to convince Sect Leader Ouyang to stop fine-ing the caravans that deliver the goods. He has to organize the celebrations and make sure everyone’s safe during flooding season. That’s not even counting how he has to train and monitor his disciples and night hunts and the political hellscape!

But Wei Wuxian!! He doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know everything that Jiang Cheng has been taking care of or that he’s just seriously that busy. He thinks he’s being ignored and pushed away and mocked when Jiang Cheng walks by with a quick “Master Wei” and runs off! Because how could Jiang Cheng treat him like that when Wei Wuxian is clearly trying to reconnect. Every offer of night hunting his declined unless it was planned then already and when they do get together Jiang Cheng ignores him! Why is Wei Wuxian even trying!? What’s the point of Jiang Cheng can’t stand him but why can’t he stop trying either??

Meanwhile during those hunts Jiang Cheng is trying to keep an eye on his brother, his twelve disciples, Jin Ling and his entourage, Wei Wuxian’s Lan ducklings, that random Ouyang kid who apparently imprinted on Jin Ling, figure out what they’re hunting, mentally running the math for the cost of the inns for all of them, going through each of the attending Jiang disciples’ personal likes and deciding on whether to buy their favorite snacks or something else as a ‘thank you for not dying’ as has become accidental custom, trying to figure out if it’s weird to get Jin Ling and his friends something nice (CLEARLY he has to get the Ouyang kid something, he apparently has no other friends considering how often he’s just hanging around Lotus pier whenever Jin Ling swings by), and trying to think of he has any other disciples night hunting within a 50 mile radius he should fly out to check on before he sleeps!

Clearly Wei Wuxian just doesn’t care about the Jiang sect and wants to just be annoying but Jiang Cheng is busy! Cant he see that Jiang Cheng is only available on Mondays and Tuesdays during the odd months and Wednesday through Saturday on the even? It’s very clear when Jiang Cheng has time! Why can’t his brother just respect that not everyone has the free time to do whatever the hell they want? Is he flaunting it?!? How dare he!

It’s a giant mess and it only gets worse because Jiang Cheng is diplomatic, he knows how to bow his head when he’s overpowered (though he rarely is nowadays) or when the outcome isn’t worth it. So he doesn’t want to start a fight with Lan Wangji and from there the entire Lan Sect! He’s been holding his tongue for years he can keep doing it, especially if his brother’s happiness is on the line. He can ignore Lan Wangji being rude, he can ignore the dark looks, hell if he thinks Wei Wuxian’s position is threatened at the LAN’s he’ll even play real fucking nice so that Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen won’t do anything to his brother. He did it for Yanli he’ll do it now. (Also added bonus of now Sizhui has started to warm up to him and so he has to be extra polite so his new nephew doesn’t hate him and his free nephew [Jingyi] doesn’t light a building on fire in revenge for someone looking at Hanguang-Jun wrong). He might have snapped at Hanguang-Jun when shit was going down but now Lan Xichen is in seclusion and Jiang Cheng can’t piss odd Lan Wangji no matter how much he wants to chuck a beehive at his head

But Wei Wuxian doesn’t it take it that way! He just sees his brother suddenly calling him Master Wei and won’t interact with him during meetings or before or after and he’s acting so cold towards Lan Zhan! He’s staring right through his brother in law and keeps acting like he doesn’t exist and the only time in the last month Jiang Cheng sought him out was!! To ask!! If he!! COULD HIRE WEI WUXIAN?!? NOT EVEN TO SAY HI OR CHECK ON HIM OR FINALLY ANSWER HIS LETTERS BUT TO ASK HIM TO CREATE TALISMANS FOR THEIR CLOTHES! (Of course he said yes though because hey money and it’s actually fun chatting with the seamstresses) but that’s all his shidi cares about?? What Wei Wuxian can do for him? He doesn’t care about Wei Wuxian at all! Why does Jiang Cheng keep hating him, he thought they were atleast neutral but he keeps going further and further away!!! Wei Wuxian is hurting and his little brother wants nothing to do with him!

Neither of them are IN the wrong but they’re both wrong.

It takes until someone, probably Lan Xichen or Nie Huiasang, points out that “Wei Wuxian… He’s not your shidi anymore, he’s your Sect Leader well a Sect Leader… he’s a Sect Leader to one of the biggest Sects, he’s busy it’s tax season. I wouldn’t want to interact with anyone either.”

Meanwhile Jin Ling or a random slightly more insane then the rest Jiang disciple interrupts Jiang Cheng’s lunch to go “Okay you’re making this worse on literally everyone, Wei Wuxian is clearly trying to make this work why are you being mean? He’s trying!” (Or much more polite for the disciple)

They have to meet up and actually talk things through and honestly *that* only works because Lan Xichen grabs them both by their metaphorical ears and sits them down because “I would like my brother in law, both of them, to stop crying to me because they can’t talk. So now we’re going to learn to communicate and if either of you makes this weird I WILL just start fluting my way out of it and you’ll feel bad.” (Actually he just sits them down together while and he and Jiang Cheng have to go over payments for the next batch of trades and Wei Wuxian passes out on Jiang Cheng halfway through and when he wakes up he swears to never bother him on a work day because that was the worst moment of his life and they end up repairing enough to start the trek to being brothers again

[comfortwriting]

Best Friends Brother Part 3 - G.W

Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Writing Prompt Masterlist

This is part 3 of ‘Best Friends Brother’ please read part 1 and part 2, want to be tagged? let me know! 

George Weasley x Fem Reader slow burn

Warnings: mention of food and eating, swearing, 

The moment your lips touched, fireworks went off around you, George wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close to him - all of your worries withering away, all you could feel was happiness and pure bliss.

George pulled away from the kiss and slowly opened his eyes, you were in shocked and couldn’t believe who’s lips had collided with yours moments before.

Opening your eyes slowly, you stared into George’s brown ones, his gentle hands holding yours and squeezing them softly.

“T-Thank you for tonight” you blushed, letting go of one of his hands, tucking a stray hair behind your ear nervously “It’s been wonderful.”

George smiled softly and nodded “it has” he paused for a moment, his thumb tracing circles into your palm “same time next week?” he asked, sounding quite nervous.

You squeezed his hand back in excitement and nodded “I would love to” you beamed.

Your three month anniversary was hanging around the corner, you had planned a whole day out on Saturday once George finished Quidditch practice, your heart fluttering in excitement and skipping beats, causing you to squirm in your seat - giggling out and squealing, confusing those around you, especially Ron who thought you were going barmy.

Despite seeing each other every day, the two of you were keeping things secret, you weren't ready for anyone to know - George knew his little brother all too well and so did you, Ron would be far from happy.

“George didn’t say anything to you after he, you know?” Ron asked, acting quite shifty in his chair.

“No he didn’t” you replied, “he’s not interested in me Ron, he just hates creeps.”

“Where were you last night?” Ron asked over breakfast, staring at you questioningly.

Shit! Think of something! I totally wasn’t kissing your brother, no, not at all.

“I went for a walk” you lied “I just had so much energy and needed to get out, I found an injured little owlet and was up all night nursing it, he’s helping me get over Penny.”

Ron believed you and nodded slowly “are you sure you’re ready for another owl?” he asked, trying to sound as caring as he could.

You sighed “I think it’s about time, yeah” you replied “It’s been almost over a year so I figured why not.”

So instead, you wrote to each other a few times a week, you had to admit, you quite liked the schedule; Wednesdays and Sundays nights were for the love letters, Saturdays were for dates unless he couldn’t skip Quidditch and the rest of the week you barely spoke and only engaged in eye contact if you were in the company of others - if not, you would hold hands and kiss in empty broom closets or even in the astronomy tower, but it was rare as Fred was never far behind from his twin.

Dearest Y/N,

Although we see each other every day and go on dates most weekends (when Ron isn’t on your back, or when I’m in detention like now) writing to you feels just as good as the real thing - but still bloody ridiculous.

Fred keeps asking what I’ve spent my Galleons on, told him it was for an experiment to do with our products we’re testing - he’s suspicious but believes me after I made myself sick to get out of Quidditch, oh the things I do for you, Y/N.

I think Gideon is the perfect name for the Owlet, mum will be so heart warmed and honoured when she finds out - but don’t bring the galleons into it of course, not until the joke shop is up and running with great success!

Seeing you last night up in the Astronomy tower was nothing short of the highlight of my day, I wish we could do it more often, but not to worry - one day we won’t need to meet up in private at all.

Anyway, I better get back to some homework before the greaseball comes over and reads this - detention with him always drags.

The next one will be longer, I promise, love.

Lots of love,

Georgie.

Dear George,

You should be focusing, get your head down and do your homework if you can bear it, I swear George, the day I receive a letter from you that wasn’t written in detention will be the day I wink at Snape - it’s silly I’m even asking you knowing that it’s never going to happen.

Your letters always cheer me up, Georgie, I can hear your voice as I read, feels like you’re sitting next to me and it’s good enough for me at the time being, I’m so thankful that we aren’t hundreds of miles away from each other.

Hey! You can’t be skipping Quidditch for me, you plonker! Gryffindor team need you and you’re a bloody good Beater - unbeatable in fact but stop skipping! we can make up for a lost date another time, I’ll try not to miss you too much I swear.

Thank you for gifting me Gideon, he is the sweetest little owlet and I cannot wait to watch him grow and to teach him like I did Penny - if his mother will let me that is. I won’t say a word to anyone, no one will know that you did such a thing although I want nothing more than to tell everyone, your kind-heartedness should never go unnoticed.

The joke shop will sweep you up off your feet and I can’t wait to see Weasley wizard Wheezes everywhere I go.

Thank you so much for last night, please don’t forget to send me your Christmas list - please don’t get me anything - Gideon is enough.

Focus on your bloody homework!

Speak soon and lots of love,

Y/N.

Looking over and your Owl, now named Gideon who had grown so much he was no longer a tiny owlet, you stroked his head and giggled at him as he nibbled on your finger.

“Alright, alright, but don’t be out too long” you whispered, opening your bedroom window, Gideon flapping his wings, leaping out and soaring into the night sky.

You beamed at your treasure, flying away to get some food for the evening, climbing into your bed as quietly as you could, hoping you wouldn’t wake up Hermione or your other roommates. Sliding your hand under your pillow, you patted around for the love letters from George you were hiding from everyone.

Your fingers grazed the corners of the crinkled parchment, lifting up your pillow you retrieved his most recent letter, taking it with you as you dive under your covers, shielding you from your roommates and giving you some privacy.

“Lumos!” You whispered, a beam of light stretching out from the tip of your wand, your cheeks flushing again upon seeing George’s handwriting.

Dearest Y/N,

Thank you for the heads-up, saved me and Freddie a lot of trouble, I swear one day Mr Filch and that bloody cat won’t know what’s hit them - if it wasn’t for you, we would’ve lost all of our plans and The Marauders Map, so thank you again for saving us all that trouble.

These three months have flown by so fast, I can’t believe it, I know this seems rather daft - a tall prankster being all lovey-dovey like this, but you really make me happy and I can’t wait to spend more time with you.

If you ever want to test any puking pastilles or fainting fancies, let me know and I’ll be able to look after you, love.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday so we can actually speak face to face - if Ron asks, you already know what to say.

Wrap up warm, it’ll be quite cold in Hogsmeade.

Looking forward to seeing you,

lots of love,

Georgie.

“Where are you off to so early? We never see you anymore over the weekend!” Ron complained, a mouthful of bacon.

“Oh get some manners, Ronald!” Hermione hissed, knitting her eyebrows together and grimacing.

You stood on the spot and stared at Ron, trying to plaster the most obvious expression on your face to make him feel stupid. “I’m off to spend some quality time with Gideon, he’s only a few months old and I want to make sure he’s as stable as Penny was at her age - I won’t be able to trust him to send letters long distances otherwise.” you lied.

But in all honesty, you weren’t really lying completely, next weekend was the end of term and the start of the Christmas Holidays - you wanted to make sure Gideon could deliver George’s letters to the burrow, you wouldn’t be able to hide them around for him to stumble across and pick up any more, and the two of you already discussed the problems of trying to use a device which muggles called a telephone.

“I’ll write you letters every week” George whispered, standing next to you in the corridors swarming with busy students, Fred chasing after Angelina outside “look in the middle of your textbooks, I’ll slide them in the middle of the pages.”

Opening up your book, a piece of folded parchment slid down and fell into your lap, you quickly stuffed it into your pocket, looking around to see if Ron noticed - luckily for you who he was copying Hermione’s classwork.

Ron looked lost for words, swallowing his bacon and thinking about your owl and how much you truly loved them “Alright then, well, see you later.” he replied,

You raised your eyebrows and smiled, waving goodbye to him, Harry and Hermione, walking out of the Great Hall and getting ready to meet George in Hogsmeade.

“She spends too much time with that bloody owl if you ask me” Ron muttered, stabbing some peas with his fork.

Hermione sighed “I think it’s quite sweet actually, she’s quite similar to Hagrid.”

Harry grinned and started to laugh, Ron rolled his eyes.

“Except the fact that she’s not a giant and she only flocks to birds of prey, not dragons or creatures that could kill us!”

“Well, at least you know where she’s going” Fred called out, walking past his brother “George never tells me where he’s off to and what he’s up to on a Saturday, he’s skiving Quidditch practice again and I get in bothered for it - I can’t check either because he’s got that sodding map with him!”

George wasn’t wrong, this time of year, Hogsmeade was freezing - your fingers changed colour and you could feel the ache and tingle against the freezing air that nibbled on your exposed skin.

You embraced yourself in one of the jumpers he had given you, one you were wearing under your fluffy winter coat which matched the colour of the snow. Looking around the small Village, you noticed George waiting outside The Three Broomsticks, looking slightly nervous as he scratched the back of his head.

You walked up to him, as you got closer you couldn’t help but blush at his red nose that had been attacked from the harsh winter air “Hello, George” you smiled softly, pulling him into a hug after clearing the coast of possible students.

George held you in his arms for a moment, taking in your scent and the feeling of your face against his chest, your hair under his chin as it rested on your head. “shall we get a drink, love?” he asked softly.

Following him inside and getting sat down in a quieter area of the pub, George ordered you and him a butterbeer and held your hand over the table, casually checking the map every now and then, checking on his brothers.

“It’s so good to see your face” he smiled, his starry eyes getting lost in yours.

You blushed and smiled widely, your drinks being placed down on your table, “It’s so good to see you too, can’t believe it’s been three months already!”

George took a sip of his butterbeer, the butterscotch warming up his tummy, you mirrored him, leaving behind a white foamy moustache. George smirked and leaned over the table, carefully avoiding spilling his drink as he wiped away the foam sitting on your top lip with his thumb, his index finger lifting up your chin.

The two of you exchanged a quick, risky kiss, remembering you needed to tone things down despite how hard the temptation was to snog him. George leaned back in his chair, sucking the foam off his thumb.

“I’ve been training Gideon” you beamed, the butterbeer warming you up “he’s finally got the hang of flying long distances and coming back in one piece.”

Meeting George in the small and squashed broom closet, he examined your tired features, looking slightly concerned, his hand resting against your face.

“Are you alright love?” he asked, “you look exhausted.”

You nodded and replied “I’m fine” suppressing a yawn “been up all night with Gideon, he’s growing so fast and he won’t allow me to baby him forever - he’ll be big enough to deliver letters soon.”

George felt a part of him fall in love with you all over again, the picture of you and Gideon in his mind made his insides got all warm and fuzzy - more so than his drink.

“So now he’ll be delivering you letters over Christmas!”

George went quiet and scratched behind his head like he did when he stood outside the pub, he paused for a moment and pursed his lips, licking them. “About that..” he trailed off, staring at his now half-full glass of butterbeer.

Your insides started to sink suddenly but your hopes were lifting, trying to figure out what he was going to say.

Is he staying at Hogwarts for Christmas with me whilst everyone else goes home? Am I unable to send him letters over Christmas if he goes back home?

“What is it?” you asked, both curiously and nervously.

George broke out into a smile, quickly glancing at the map again, then looking back into his favourite pair of eyes.

“Well, I was wondering...” he paused again “if you would like to stay at the burrow over Christmas, with me, everyone else of course but-”

“Yes!” you squealed, getting excited “oh George I would love to!”

George broke out into a grin, so relieved you were willing to come and spend some more time with him, a chance for the two of you to try and get some private time together, in the comfort of his own home.

“I had to ask mum ‘on behalf of Ron’ so if she says anything, just go through with it” George said quietly “Ron wouldn’t remember asking me to do such a thing anyway - his head is that clouded with Hermione.”

You swallowed down the rest of your drink, remembering to wipe away your foamy moustache this time “This is going to be wonderful, George” you smiled, squeezing his hand over to the table “Two whole weeks that we can just.. just be ourselves together!”

George smiled but remembered to remind you “We still need to keep everything on the down-low, it will be a full house and if we disappear it will be obvious we’re together - we’ll just need to wait for everyone to go to bed or go for a walk when they’re too busy to notice.”

You nodded your head, remembering that you would now be under not just Ron’s watch, but every Weasley who wouldn’t approve of your budding relationship.

George kissed your hand and looked down at the map once more, his smile dropping.

“Shit!” he panicked, getting up out of his seat.

“What is it?” you panicked, following him to the back doors in the pub.

He stared down at the map, his eyes following the group of feet storming into Hogsmeade “Fred, Ron, Harry - everyone’s heading this way - to this bloody pub!”

You swallowed hard, the butterbeer churning in your stomach, George’s drink rising up into his throat.

“When we can get away I’ll head to the owlery!” you put your coat back on, pulling the zip up quickly “you go hurry to Honey Dukes or Zonko’s when you get the chance, you’ll find your letter folded in your Quidditch jersey!”

George nodded, looking up from the map and quickly kissing you on the lips, the look in his eyes expressing the most sympathy you had ever seen.

Keeping things a secret would only get harder, harder than you and George were expecting.

Tag list: @amourtentiaa @reeophidian @inglourious-imagines @alwaysnforeverfangirl @horrorxweasley @sebby-staan @xmalfoyweasleyx​