#we already postponed by three weeks

[shesnake]

Spider-Verse Artists Say Working on the Sequel Was ‘Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts’

Why don’t more animated movies look this good? According to people who worked on the sequel, Across the Spider-Verse, it’s because the working conditions required to produce such artistry are not sustainable.

Multiple Across the Spider-Verse crew members — ranging from artists to production executives who have worked anywhere from five to a dozen years in the animation business — describe the process of making the the $150 million Sony project as uniquely arduous, involving a relentless kind of revisionism that compelled approximately 100 artists to flee the movie before its completion.

While frequent major overhauls are standard operating procedure in animation (Pixar films can take between four and seven years to plot, animate, and render), those changes typically occur early on during development and storyboarding stages. But these Spider-Verse 2 crew members say they were asked to make alterations to already-approved animated sequences that created a backlog of work across multiple late-stage departments. Across the Spider-Verse was meant to debut in theaters in April of 2022, before it was postponed to October of that year and then June 2023 owing to what Entertainment Weekly reported as “pandemic-related delays.” However, the four crew members say animators who were hired in the spring of 2021 sat idle for anywhere from three to six months that year while Phil Lord tinkered with the movie in the layout stage, when the first 3-D representation of storyboards are created.

As a result, these individuals say, they were pushed to work more than 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for more than a year to make up for time lost and were forced back to the drawing board as many as five times to revise work during the final rendering stage.

"For animated movies, the majority of the trial-and-error process happens during writing and storyboarding. Not with fully completed animation. Phil’s mentality was, This change makes for a better movie, so why aren’t we doing it? It’s obviously been very expensive having to redo the same shot several times over and have every department touch it so many times. The changes in the writing would go through storyboarding. Then it gets to layout, then animation, then final layout, which is adjusting cameras and placements of things in the environment. Then there’s cloth and hair effects, which have to repeatedly be redone anytime there’s an animation change. The effects department also passes over the characters with ink lines and does all the crazy stuff like explosions, smoke, and water. And they work closely with lighting and compositing on all the color and visual treatments in this movie. Every pass is plugged into editing. Smaller changes tend to start with animation, and big story changes can involve more departments like visual development, modeling, rigging, and texture painting. These are a lot of artists affected by one change. Imagine an endless stream of them."

"Over 100 people left the project because they couldn’t take it anymore. But a lot stayed on just so they could make sure their work survived until the end — because if it gets changed, it’s no longer yours. I know people who were on the project for over a year who left, and now they have little to show for it because everything was changed. They went through the hell of the production and then got none of their work coming out the other side."

[yuoimia]

WELCOME TO MY HEART

summary: how has loving you changed him?

characters: neuvillette, alhaitham, diluc, xiao. (seperate)

notes: gn! reader, fluff, getting poetic in xiao, weird time skips. wc: 2k!

neuvillette

Hesitancy lingers like a translucent mist around Neuvillette. Thick, but also not thick enough to be indiscernible. As centuries tick by, soon enough, that protective mist wanes into nothing but a fragile facade that threatens to vaporise. That outcome is most unfavourable; simply visualising it already causes a spike in distress in his chest.

Fast forward a few 'scenic meetings’ later, Neuvillette wonders where that mist disappeared off to.

He needn’t put up a missing poster with a contact number because, shockingly, the Chief Justice no longer desired that prudential coverage.

You evaporated Neuvillette’s final layer of defence, stripped his rationality with unwavering strength of character, and erased any uneasiness within the language of love.

Throughout your shared timeline, every point marked with a memorable moment, there are many small aspects about each other that only the continuation of time can reveal. It’s as sweet as it sounds, unless, well, the other finds out about something you did try to conceal.

Sometimes you think to yourself: Who knew the Monsieur Neuvillette could be so…earnest in seeing you flustered?

Truly, there are only very few opportunities Neuvillette would starve himself from such delight. The other times, though, they consist of your rose-tinted cheeks and his charmed chuckle, florid promises ending with a trail of marks of his love down the slope of your neck.

Neuvillette is quite the bold one. Far too cheeky for his own good, really.

alhaitham

It was a warm memory. Still as vivid as ever, despite the years that have passed. A golden tattoo, activated whenever the dazzling drops of summer sunshine radiated down.

Three years ago, summer, the Akedemiya.

Heatwaves weren’t a rare occurrence in Sumeru. For weeks on end, the city of wisdom experienced boiling highs and dry, scorching winds. The streets were empty as shopkeepers resorted to staying under the cool of shaded roofs. That was the correct response, the only response to such situations.

Yet, there were still people willing to test your limited patience even more.

“We’re going to get a heatstroke,” you explained to each member of your darshan. “We can postpone the field trip to the desert some other day.”

“But this weather is indefinite, and knowing Sumeru, it is going to last a very long time. We can’t afford to waste time,” someone argued as nods of agreement travelled across the table.

Wow, you huffed to yourself, sitting yourself down. You were doing this for their own good, and partly yours.

“We should go ahead with the trip,” said the agitating, raucous noise again as a cacophony of voices arose in agreement. Maybe he should be in charge, then. As if you wanted to cancel this trip, you’ve spent endless nights planning the perfect itinerary! Also, the last time you remembered, you were appointed leader of this whole excursion.

“Facing the facts, there’s no traces of concrete evidence that our planned area holds the ruins,” you declared as the table fell silent. “Theoretically, we have more to lose than gain.”

“We’ve already decided,” came another voice. Archons, these people were going to be the end of you. “We’re still going to go next week.”

You came to the conclusion that, to knock some sense into their brains, you needed someone more intimating to interfere.

“…You want me to be pretend to collapse from a severe heatstroke?” the (acting!) grand sage repeated, not even attempting to conceal his bewilderment. “And, preferably, making it look as dramatic and exaggerated as possible?”

At the other end of his desk, you nodded with faux solemnity. “I’m afraid so.”

“Afraid so?” Alhaitham humours. “Everything from your…request to your actions betrays that.”

In the end, you didn’t manage to convince Alhaitham to put on a show showcasing the risks and dangers of heatwaves and heatstrokes, but he did agree to go out for lunch. To negotiate alternatives, of course.

After that lunch, he asked for your presence for dinner, and after dinner, you found yourself making breakfast at Alhaitham’s place.

“Since when did you come over so much?” you asked, sleep clearly clinging to your senses. “Last time I remember, I was waiting by your office door waiting to sneak in ten minutes of your time.”

The coffee he freshly brewed threatens to burst from the confinement of his mouth as he stares at you with a curious expression. “This is my house.”

The realisation spreads through your face like ink in water as you glance at the surroundings. “Oh yeah…that’s right.”

Alhaitham subtly rolls his eyes, letting out a lighthearted tsk as he disappears off into the kitchen. “Do you feel like going to Gandharva Ville in the evening?” he asks, the clatter of dishes echoing through the lounge. “You were groaning over how you hadn’t seen Collei and Tighnari in ages a few days ago.”

He remembered that?  You gawk to yourself, mouth and eyes wide open as you trod towards the sunshine of the kitchen . Moreover, he certainly wanted to go. Since when did Alhaitham suggest you leave the house for purposes such as catching up with friends?

“I’d love to,” you answer as you help him load the dishwasher. “You beat me to it.”

A soft smile imperceptibly brightens his face, casting you in slight awe. “What? You don’t think I disregard your desires just like that, do you?”

Alhaitham is the hopelessly romantic one. Those intricate plans he sets up for your happiness are nowhere as simple-minded as he plays them out to be.

diluc

There was always something peculiar about Diluc Ragnvindr. The snarky remarks about the Knights of Favonius’ poor service, which you found highly offensive in the presence of an employee (you), the genuine air of mystery he upheld, but the most interesting thing you were desperate to crack down on was his frosty distaste for the Cavalry Captain, your co-worker, Kaeya.

As far as you knew, Kaeya was a lovely co-worker. considerate, dedicated and reliable, he was an admirable worker. You didn’t understand why Diluc didn’t applaud him for his discipline renowned throughout the city, especially if he was continuously murmuring about the incompetence of the staff.

Amidst the possible explanations, you came to the conclusion that the unwelcoming atmosphere stemmed from something more personal. Jealously? Past disagreements? No, that couldn’t be. They didn’t appear the closest.

Little did you know that all you needed to do was ask. Not really, but you get the idea.

“You…want to talk to Diluc?” Kaeya spluttered, wide-eyed at your determined face, before moving his gaze towards Angel Share’s bartender with a smirk. “Ah, I see what’s going on.”

“You’re very far off, by the way,” you replied silkily, taking a sip of the apple juice. “I’m not interested in him romantically, if that’s what you were thinking.”

Kaeya raises an eyebrow. “If not romantically, then what could you possibly talk to him about?”

You shrug, making a beeline for the counter. “Thanks for the drink.”

Diluc had caught the words, ‘interested in him romantically.’

According to those four words he heard from you, the context of you and Kaeya’s conversation could already be visualised.

For someone who seemed to be interested in him, your choice of words regarding his interest in you were a little all over the place. So, he assisted you.

“How about we discuss this over dinner?”

Sometimes, you think to yourself, how did this ever happen?

For example, the weak beams of lighting from the east signify that it’s the birth of dawn, your neatly tucked in bed, except this bed isn’t actually yours.

The evidence lies with the person’s arms around your waist, tight and warm against the chills of early morning.

“Good morning,” a sleepy voice suddenly erupts from besides you. “Have I told you how even more striking you are in the sunlight?”

Diluc Ragnvindir is the passionate one—the one who would give you his heart if you asked. In some ways, he’s still as mysterious as the first time you laid eyes on him.

xiao

The moon is the muse for thousands of people. Whether it’s written in a rhyme, painted on a canvas, sung in a song or resonated with a soul, it has immersed itself in the complex depths of the sensitive human heart.

There’s a particular interpretation that has stuck with you since the first time you read it. A lyrical piece of literature from somewhere long lost. You were especially tired that night. A most unlucky dilemma, as it might’ve guaranteed to be one of the most critical and serendipitous nights of your life. Not that you knew at the time.

From that somewhere long lost, between the rolling tides of shadows, tucked away in the safety of peaking mountains, a mysterious figure observed with curiousity at your sentiment.

However, the discreetness of Xiao’s hiding spot was tested most instantaneously when you suddenly made a decision to look up. To the sky, or to him? Truthfully, you were actually aiming for the moon, but the pounding chambers of his chest crashed his steaming trains of thought.

He had to restrain himself from investigating further as your figure dissolved one by one into the night. Maybe you'll be there again tomorrow.

What started off as a little exchange of words soon blossomed into short conversations. Short conversations soon bloomed into a gap in time filled with occasional laughter and encouraging smiles. He learned your name, and you learned his secrets. Vicious, woeful secrets plaguing his dreams, or perhaps the title of nightmares suited it better.

On their own, the characteristics were incessant in disaster. Fusing those characteristics with centuries of solitude and emptiness, it assisted in further igniting the raging fire burning away his will.

The idea of somehow unravelling those years of pain seemed so clearly impossible, even if that person felt like they had a chance. Even if they felt just the tiniest bit more special than all the others.

“Some things are impossible,” Xiao had muttered as he watched you go through an assortment of books he lended from Verr Goldet, eyes flickering from your face to the yellowing pages. “It’s better to admit that than spend years searching for hope.”

Skimming through the columns of ancient literature, a strong feeling of suspicion arose as you distinctively felt like he'd seen you do this once before.

“But what if you find the hope?” you whispered gently, switching your attention to his avoidant gaze. “There’s always that outcome, too.”

That outcome. Of course he’s considered that conclusion, wished for it. But Xiao would never dare to believe that far.

“I read a poem a few nights ago,” you started again. “A comparison of us and the moon. Humans, just like the moon, need to wax and wane. We’ll grow and shine our beauty, but that can’t be achieved unless we remember to rest, to wane. After all, a full moon only lasts around three days out of a whole month.”

How can you just return to reading after you told him that?

That moon analogy was shared about a year ago.

It’s likely that you brushed it off, but for Xiao, it’s still freshly etched into the shelves of his mind. And it would be a lie if he said that he didn’t change in small, irrevocable ways because of it.

Particularly tonight.

An exhausted sigh escapes from your lips as you sink into bed. Lying like a starfish, a hollow expression is evident in your eyes alone.

“This project is never going to work,” you spoke, turning to stuff your face in a pillow. Adjacent to you, Xiao observed as you screamed, once again the same words into the fabric. Only this time, the words were separated by sharp heaves and quiet sniffs. Being a little inexperienced with scenarios such as this, Xiao could only reassure you with the same words and actions that you had endlessly showered him with in similar situations.

He knew you were listening, despite the softness of his voice, which was hardly detectable. He repeated the words you told him a year ago when he felt as if the world was about to end.

“Someone once told me humans and moons are alike,” he smiled as he saw your face lift just a bit, as if you couldn’t believe what he was saying. “We both need to wane before we can emit our light in full greatness.”

Xiao is the quiet one, whose love is often under-looked, but in truth, it’s expressed just as vividly, if not brighter.

[camellia-thea]

i know we talk a lot about the isolation of chronic illness and disability, but i really don't think ablebodied folk get it.

i have made one new friend in person since graduating highschool in 2020. she is my housemate's girlfriend. she stays over frequently, and the only reason we are friends is because she stays over and we have shared university papers. i would not have had the opportunity to befriend her otherwise. that is in the space of three years.

i don't go out much. i cannot guarantee that i will leave my house within any given week. technically i have class i need to go to twice a week for an hour, but those moments aren't time for friends, they're time for classwork and i don't interact with people in a social capacity there.

i simply do not get the opportunity to meet people.

i cannot go out with friends and meet new people that way, because my social circle is already so small, and i don't have the energy to go out half the time anyway. when i do, i suffer for it later.

i don't meet people on campus because i'm immuno-compromised, and ableds seem to have forgotten that we are still in a pandemic.

i don't go to clubs or go out for the sake of going out because i can't. i've grown agoraphobic, because i am so worried that something health related will happen and i'll get stuck somewhere alone. i hate leaving the house because of the guarantee of an anxiety attack which leaves my body more likely to flare. it's a vicious cycle of isolation.

i am not the only one who has experienced this -- i can still leave the house, i can still go and visit friends with assistance. i struggle, but at the end of the day, it's still an option. there are others who are completely isolated.

the worst of it is that people leave. people get tired of the 'i can't come, i'm sorry', of the 'hey, i'm sick, can we postpone?'. even people who you love and hold dearly will stop trying. and it's awful. you have to sit and watch these people who you love walk away because they can't deal with your disability. i don't have words to describe how much that hurts.

it really is impossible for ablebodied people to understand, because for the majority of us, this isn't temporary. this is just how we have to live. and your social circle can only really get smaller.

[bts-trans]

📅 240615 Weverse Translations

RM's Post ❇️

오랜만입니다. 얼마 전 11주년이었는데 정신없다는 핑계로 짧은 글 하나도 못 남겼네요. 허허허 한 달 전에 컴백투미, 3주 전에 RPWP가 나왔죠. 작년 4월에 호석이와 함께 입대하려던 계획을 미루고 미루다 동생들과 손잡고 나란히 들어가게 되었죠. 23년은 그렇게 술과 작업으로만 보냈��� 것 같아요. 친구의 병장 약장이 부럽지만.. 그래도 후회는 없답니다. (ㅎㅎ;) 제가 이런저런 소회를 직접 들려드리지 못한 첫 작업물이네요. 하고싶은 말들이 많지만 앨범에 모두 적혀있으므로.. 그저 오롯이 저 스스로 솔직하고자 발버둥친 앨범입니다. 오래오래 두고두고 읽어주시면 좋겠어요. 부디 3일 전에 진 형이 드디어 전역을 했죠. 저 재밌자고 색소폰도 가져와서 불었지만 실은 만감이 교차했습니다. 먼저 가서 많이 외롭고 힘들지 않았을까.. 어땠을까. 1년 6개월은 여기 누구에게나 공평하니까요. 저희는 지금 형의 과거를 살고 있는 중이겠지요. 오랜만에 나와보니 역시 바깥의 시간은 다르게 흐르는군요. 중력도 다르게 느껴지고.. 다들 내 부재와는 상관없이 잘 살아가고 있구나. 잘 흘러가고 있구나. ��소 헛헛한 기분도 들지만, 무엇보다 정말 오랜만에 멤버들이 모두 모여 한 잔 하며 허심탄회한 얘기들을 나눌 수 있어 좋았답니다(군대 얘기가 절반 이상이었지만..ㅋㅋ). 무려 근 열 달 만인 것 같아요. 왜이리 이 사람들이 보고싶었는지.. 저도 종종 전화해서 다짜고짜 안부나 묻곤 했었어요. 진 형이 늘 얘기하곤 했었어요. 멤버들 엄청 보고싶다고. 너희도 그럴 거라고. 뿔뿔이 흩어져 강원도 어딘가에 살아보니 사무치게 이해가 돼버려요. 막상 얼굴 보고 얘기하니 그래도 변하지 않는 것들, 내가 돌아와야 할 곳, 내가 어떤 사람이었는지도 다시 깨닫게 되고.. 우리 모두에게 의미있는 소중한 시간이었어요. 또 어디쯤 헤매고 있을까요? 내년 12주년에는 다들 어떤 얼굴을 하고 있을까요 그리워서 그리고 그려서 그리워요. 벌써 열 한 해입니다. 또 한 해를 손꼽는 일일 뿐이겠지요. 먼저 여러분의 품에 안긴, 안길 진 형과 홉이에게 뒷일을 부탁합니다. 아직 많은 분들이 저희를 잊지 않고 기다려주고 사랑해주신다는 것만 깨닫고 가요. 쏟아지는 사랑. 늘 그랬듯 그저 멤버들 여러분 생각하며 또 하루하루 잘 지내볼게요 사랑합니다. 고맙습니다 다음 초여름을 기약하며 남준

Hello, It’s been a while.

It was our 11th anniversary a while ago but, using the excuse that things have been really hectic, I wasn’t able to write even a small post. Hahaha

Come Back To Me came out a month ago, and 3 weeks ago, so did RPWP. Last year, after pushing and postponing my plans of enlisting with Hoseokie in April, I held hands with the younger members and we headed in together. And so 2023 went by, spent entirely with alcohol and work. I am jealous of my buddy’s sergeant patch but well.. I have no regrets. (hehe;)

I think this is the first time I’ve released something and not been able to talk about things directly with you. I have a lot to say but it’s all been written into the album so.. the album is purely the product of my fight with myself to become more honest. I hope that you keep reading it, over and over, for a long long time. It is a sincere, heartfelt wish.

Three days ago, Jin hyung was finally discharged. I brought along my saxophone and played it to be funny but honestly, I had a lot of complicated emotions running through me. Being the first to go was probably really lonely and difficult.. What was it like? That one year and six months treats everyone here equally. Now, we are probably living hyung’s past.

Out in the world for the first time in a while, I realised that time outside really does flow differently. Gravity feels different too.. everyone’s been living their lives regardless of my absence, doing well, flowing along nicely. I felt a little empty but, more than anything else, it felt great to get together with the members after a really long time and have a heart-to-heart over drinks (though more than half the conversation consisted of military stories.. haha). It had been nearly 10 whole months since we did something like this. Why did I miss these guys so much.. I did call them sometimes, randomly, asking them how they were doing.

Jin hyung did always tell us that he missed the other members a lot, that we were going to feel the same. Now scattered apart, living somewhere in Gangwondo, I understand it, it resonates so deeply. Actually talking face-to-face, I was reminded of the things that remain unchanging, the place that I have to return to, the person that I was.. it was a meaningful, precious time for all of us.

Where else will we be wandering? What expressions will we wear on our faces next year, on our twelfth anniversary? Missing you makes me picture you, and by picturing you I miss you more. We’re already in our eleventh year. All we have to do is just count one more. I entrust the future to Jin hyung and Hobi, who have been and will be the first to be embraced in your arms.

I’m taking back with me the realisation that there are still lots of people who haven’t forgotten about us, who are waiting for us. An outpouring of love. As always, I’ll try doing fine, day by day, thinking of you guys and the members

I love you. Thank you Until early summer next year, Namjoon

Trans cr; Aditi @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

[michelle-is-writing]

Wedding Mornings, Spencer Reid

Word Count: 2.2k~

As a child, I always wondered if I would ever find the right person for me. Having no luck to find such a person as a teenager, I ended up wondering if I would even find a husband, better yet, my soul mate. In years to come, I would start to believe that I would be alone forever.

However, once I moved to Washington DC and found a job at the Melvin Gelvin library, I soon befriended a man that visited there a lot. I had seen him in the research section before, but he never came up to my desk for help. I thought he was cute, in all honesty, but I didn't want to come off as too confident and go up to him to see if he needed help when I never did that with anyone else in the library.

So, the one day he did come up to me and ask me where to find a book I had seen him take out many times, I smiled and nodded before helping him find the book. He was nervous asking me his question, and I couldn't help but be a little nervous as well. Although, once we found the encyclopedia for Philosophy, he introduced himself as Spencer Reid, and I couldn't help but rejoice as my name fell from my lips in return. Finally, I got to learn the name of the man who I had shared glances with so many times, yet, we never interacted - up until then.

After that, it felt like a free-game. Anytime Spencer came into the library, he was asking me for books that I knew very well he was aware of where they would be. In spite of this, I always helped him, and after he checked out the third book I had seen him read many times before, Spencer finally asked me out for coffee.

Unfortunately, our date kept getting postponed because of Spencer's job. At first, I thought he was backing out in regret since it had already taken him so long to ask me out in first place. However, once we did go on that date, I discovered that that wasn't even a tiny fraction as to why he kept rescheduling. As soon as I found out that Spencer held such a huge responsibility with a job that relied on him to capture mass murderers and kidnappers, I found myself in complete admiration for him. Not to mention the fact that all of the science books he had been checking out weren't for class or education - he already earned his degrees in those fields beforehand.

Now that I have a dazzling ring on my finger, I'm even happier that I was patient in waiting for Spencer to finally make it to our date. I knew how long I waited for that coffee shop date he promised - six-whole-weeks. However, I never knew how long I was waiting for a man like Spencer to make his way into my life until I found out how much I truly loved him. Through saying those three words that are often said too much, I discovered that I had waited my entire life to find Spencer, and when he proposed to me in Rossi's garden one late night, I found out that Spencer truly felt the same way.

Soon enough, the months before our wedding slowly passed until the brightest week of our lives came up, and once that started, it was like everything was going at twice the speed it should have been going. All of my bridesmaids (JJ, Emily, (f/n), and Penelope) ran around like chickens with their heads cut off while Spencer's groomsmen (Derek, Aaron, and Rossi) did the same. Even during the morning of my wedding, everyone was running around to get things done while I just stayed in my bride's quarter's kitchen and did the same thing I did every other morning.

"I'm just saying," Penelope starts, watching as I pour freshly made coffee into a mug for Spencer. "It's bad luck for a groom to see the bride before the wedding!" She reminds me, causing me to smile.

"I thought that was only if the bride was wearing her dress," I point out, adding more sugar than actual coffee into the mug. "And, besides," I add, giving the coffee one last stir before placing the spoon down on the counter. I have no idea how Spencer can drink this stuff with nearly half of the mug filled with sugar.

Turning toward Penelope with the steaming mug in hand, my eyes quickly catch onto the expertly made bouquet in her hands, every flower I wanted beautifully bundled together with a gorgeous (f/c) bow wrapped around the stems. How is she so good at any creative thing she does?

"I've made Spencer his coffee every morning since our first day living together, Pen," I tell her, smiling as I think about the fond memory. Sometimes he'll make me a cup too if I haven't done so myself. "I don't want to miss a day because of some old, wise tale that's probably been taken out of its original context," I add, slightly smirking as I know that's the truth. Once the words leave my mouth, Penelope can't resist the smile the makes it's way onto her lips as she shakes her head.

"Well, I don't think anything I say is going to stop you," She notes, earning a head nod back from me. She's right. Nothing is going to make me halt in my actions of bringing Spencer his coffee - not even a silly little fairytale.

Heading out of the hotel room in only my silk pajamas that match the rest of the girls' clothes, I find myself walking across the hall with my heart pounding in my chest. It's strange to just now realize that today is the official start of my forever. It's a fantastic feeling, but at the same time, it's giving me a high that I feel like I can't come down from. It's a dangerous, yet blissful thing.

Just as I round the corner to walk to the other end of the hall, my eyes quickly catch onto a familiar figure leaving his hotel room. There's no way I could ever forget those brunet curls or the slender body of the man I love. Although, what is a bit odd is that he's currently carrying a coffee mug of his own. I guess he didn't think that I'd stick to what we've always done.

"Good morning, handsome," I greet Spencer, causing him to lightly jump before turning around and seeing me. Once his eyes land on my pajama covered figure, he visibly calms down with a small sigh and smile.

"I wanted to go and see you, but the guys wouldn't let me. So, I had to sneak out," Spencer explains with a shake of his head, making me laugh. Just as I do that, Spencer's whole demeanor changes as if he's softening up. His tense shoulders loosen while his posture relaxes a bit, another sigh leaving his slightly smiling lips as he does so. He looks calmer than any other time I can remember.

"You... you look amazing," he compliments me, causing me to blush with a wide smile. My hair is an absolute mess right now, a majority of it up in a clip as I haven't brushed it yet. Not to mention my face doesn't even have a touch of makeup on it and I'm still in pajamas - there's nothing about me that says "amazing" right now. I don't know how Spencer can say such things.

"Thank you, baby," I tell him, taking a few steps forward before planting a kiss to his cheek. Despite today being the day of our wedding, Spencer's cheeks turn to light pink in response to my lips touching them as they always do, and I can't help but smile as I see the rose color take over his skin. Despite what some people say, I truly believe there's a good chance it will always be this way.

"I made you coffee for this morning," I tell him, gesturing to the steaming mug in my hand. "But I didn't know you made your own already," I further add, watching as the corner of Spencer's lip quirks up. Is he surprised that I would do this?

"Actually," he starts, holding the cup out to me. "I made this for you - that's why I was heading out of the room so I could go and give it to you," Spencer explains, trading mugs with me as a bright smile takes over his face. "I'm glad that we both had the same idea."

Smiling back, I nod before taking a sip from the cup of coffee Spencer made me, Spencer following in suit with the cup that I made him. We both let out a small, satisfied groan as the taste of coffee reaches our lips.

"You always manage to make my coffee perfect," Spencer points out, making my heart clench. He's so adorable, and he doesn't even realize it.

"And I'll never forget it, love, not for a long time," I tell him, leaning closer to kiss his cheek. However, before I can do so, Spencer takes the chance to wrap his free arm around me and pull me against him. Now satisfied, Spencer gives off a small hum before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. In his arms, I feel the happiest I've felt this morning, and with the events of today being added in, I am more than ecstatic right now. Making coffee for Spencer every morning for the rest of my life is only a small fraction of what our marriage is going to be, and I can't help but look forward to doing it.

"I'm so glad we're doing this," Spencer confesses, pulling away from my lips to rest his nose against mine. Smiling, I gently sigh as I feel his hand on my waist sliding underneath my pajama top and onto my skin. His touch is so gentle that I could almost mistake it for a cloud touching me. "I've waited so long for this."

"I wish we would've done it sooner," I admit, nuzzling the side of my face into Spencer's soft sleep shirt. "Then I could've been Mrs. Reid for a long time now," I point out, turning my eyes up to the smiling man holding me.

"I do like the sound of that," Spencer murmurs, smirking as he leans farther down to press his lips to my neck. "Misses Reid," He slowly says my new title, each syllable rolling off his tongue smoothly. Even before we were engaged, he would jokingly call me that, but now that I'm actually Mrs. Reid, my love for the name has only grown.

With that, Spencer and I connect our lips in another sweet kiss while holding each other close. In his arms, I feel the warmest and happiest I have ever been. Nothing could ruin this moment between us. It's simply too perfect.

"Stop making out in the hallway! You'll be doing enough of that later!" A stern voice interrupts us, causing Spencer and me to look over to the hotel room door he stepped out of a few seconds ago. Hanging out of the empty doorway is Derek who's smirking with an accusing eyebrow. "Isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony?"

"Actually, Derek, it's only bad luck if-" Spencer argues Derek just as another voice cuts in.

"What are you two doing?!" A shout sounds throughout the hall, the tone full of Penelope Garcia's typical sassiness. Immediately, both of our heads shoot toward the end of the hall where the spunky blonde stomps toward us. "What have you two been doing?!"

"Derek, help us," I beg, turning my head back to Spencer's best man. Instead of doing what I actually asked, Derek laughs and shakes his head while holding his hands up.

"Oh no," he starts, "I'm not suffering at the hands of the woman behind you."

"Yeah," Penelope states, matter-of-factly. "I would be scared too if I were you, missy," just as soon as the words leave her lips, Penelope puts her hand on my arm and practically drags me out of Spencer's arms while Derek does the same to Spencer, both mindful of the mugs in our hands.

"You can see your beautiful bride in a couple of hours," Derek assures my soon-to-be-husband while he gives me one last kiss. As soon as his lips touch mine, I realize this is the last kiss before the one kiss we get to share that marks our forever with each other. Plus, I have no doubt that our friends will be cheering and teasing us as we do so - just like Derek and Penelope do right now. Just at the single thought, I can hardly wait.

[koolades-world]

Spellbound Secrets

prologue: calm before the storm

synopsis: The House of Lamentation caught fire one night, and you were the only one they recovered from the wreckage. The brothers were in the house as well when you went to bed that night, but they were nowhere to be found. The pact marks are faded, and seem to be getting more and more indefinite by the day. You and Solomon get to investigating but oddly enough, nobody can seem to remember the missing brothers. It’s up to you, with the help of Solomon, to find your beloved demons, lest you never see them again.

navigation: playlist | prologue (you are here!) | chapter one (coming next saturday)

authors note: this was postponed because a roach haha, but! it’s finally here and I’m excited to share the product of my hard work with you all! what do we think of the banner? made it myself! i think it’s nice but I’ll probably hate it in a couple of years haha. please do check out the playlist i made too. more explanation will be made on the post about it :) special thanks to @aaliyahxxvi and @rcbsbb for beta reading each and every chapter for me, as well as being awesome friends <3

While your several years of living in the Devildom came with its challenges, you wouldn't trade it for anything. It was hard to adjust to, and it felt like every day came with a new hurtle for you to overcome. From almost having your soul stolen, to almost failing several classes, to almost dying, you'd seen it all. But, every time, the key word was almost. You always made it out relatively unscathed, to the point where it was a running joke between you and the brothers, some more so than others. (Lucifer didn't find it very funny.)

You really couldn't ask for more. Despite how things seemed early on in your stay, you'd really begun to enjoy everything about the life you hadn't expected, no less asked for. There was so much about living you truly looked forward to now.

Every morning, you knew to expect Mammon either in your room already because he spent the night over, or barging in as soon as he was awake so you could get ready together. More often than not, in the middle of getting ready, Asmo would burst into the room and ask your opinion on what to wear that day. He and Mammon would bicker and if you didn't end the fighting, they'd disperse on their own once they realized you'd walked off. Lucifer wasn't a morning demon, which took you longer to learn that you'd thought, still took the time out of his morning to brew you a cup of coffee.

Every afternoon, you enjoyed a tea with Satan while you read or did some homework together. Sometimes, you didn't say a single word to each other, but just being together was comforting enough. Then, you'd spent a while with Levi, playing whatever game he'd selected for that day. If it was a game you couldn't play together, you'd happily talk about your day while the other played the game. Finally, once it started to get later in the day and the Devildom began to cool down, you accompanied Beel on his second workout of the day. After a long day, you snuggled with Belphie and unwound. As much as he protested about it, he made a great pillow.

You always had a movie night at least once a week which everyone was required to attend; the brothers didn't have it in them to say no. More often than not, the members of Purgatory Hall and the Demon Lord's Castle (if Barbatos permitted it) came over to join you. It was just a fun excuse to get together and enjoy each other's company.

The routine was comforting, to say the least. You'd all grown into it. You felt safe, and content.

That night had started and ended just like any other. It had been Asmo's turn to cook dinner, and as part of a deal the two of you had made together, he'd agreed to make your favorite. In exchange, he made you promise to reserve one evening just for him. Lingering in the kitchen while he cooked was one of your favorite pastimes.

That night, you were almost certain you feel asleep with three demons in your room. Mammon had claimed your right side, as he usually did, which left your other side up for grabs. Satan laid on your left with a book in hand, one you recognized as one you'd gotten together in the human world, and a little reading light. Levi was at the end of the bed, on his Devilswitch. You and Mammon had briefly argued over the remote, but in the end, you selected what you watched even though he had the remote. You chided Satan for having the light on, to which he apologized for and tried his best to keep it out of your eyes. He didn't move though, because he wasn't willing to give up his spot. Levi didn't cause too much of a disturbance, only the occasional exclamations about whatever he was playing.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary: how things should be. You looked forward to tomorrow. You could already picture what the next day held. You had plans with Satan to head to a new bookstore at the edge of town, and Beel wanted to go on an evening hike and picnic in a nearby park, to which you weren't going to refuse.

If only things were to play out as you imagined.

You weren't sure exactly what time it was when you woke up, but it was blistering, and you couldn't identify a reason why. Your sheets were dangling off the bed, likely the doing of Mammon. You fan was at the highest speed, but it actually only seemed to be making the heat worse. Even stranger was the fact that not a single one of the demons you'd fallen asleep with at your side was present. Not Satan, not Levi, and even not Mammon. In your sleepy stupor, you peeled off the fluffy jacket you were wearing in an attempt to cool off, leaving you in a thinner undershirt. As you plodded around the room, you saw they were nowhere in sight. Their belongings were scattered about, as if they were only going to be gone for a short amount of time and might be back any minute.

Perhaps you might've gone back to bed if you didn't hear the sound of a voice you thought you recognized through the door, accompanied by a muffled roaring. The doorknob burned to the touch, waking you up fully. You wrung out your hand and hissed, cradling it close to your body. It would surely result in a burn later, but for now, that was the least of your concern. The smell of smoke flooded your senses. The was a fire happening in the House of Lamentation, and you were trapped in your room with no way out.

You retreated back to your bed, ripping it apart in search of your D.D.D. Once you found it, you struggled to dial the Devildom equivalent of 911. Thankfully, the call went through and if nobody else had already made a call, they would be on their way.

"666, what is the address of your emergency?" The operator on the other end of the line spoke calmly and clearly.

"The House of Lamentation. The big, haunted creepy house. On Hollow Avenue. I think my house is on fire. I'm trapped in my bedroom." You kept your voice as even as you could so she could understand you.

"The fire department is on their way, sweetie. Are there any other exits?" You could hear the sound of the operator typing.

"No. The only way out is my door, and I burnt my hand on the doorknob. I know you're not supposed to open the door." You weren't sure when you had begun to shake, and struggled to hold the phone up to your ear.

"Alright, put a towel underneath the door to block smoke. Stay low to the ground if you can. What floor are you on?" You could hear the information you were giving to the operator being relayed to others. Doing as she asked, you threw open your closet door and shoved as many towels as you could between the door and the floor.

"First. I'm on the first floor. First floor. I'm not the only one who lives here though. They might be trapped too. I heard someone else before." You thought you heard someone yelling when you'd first approached the door, but you became quickly preoccupied with your own matters. You wished you hadn't.

"Don't panic. Someone is coming to rescue you. I'll stay on the line with you, alright?" She reassured you.

"Thank you." There was a slight pause in your conversation, so you continued to speak. "What's going to happen if they can't get to me in time?" A sort of morbid curiosity crossed your mind. You didn't want to find out, but the thought lingered.

"You're all going to be alright. Talk to me. What's your name?" You didn't know much about the tactics of dispatchers, but maybe she was trying to keep you calm.

"Mc. I'm Mc. I'm one of the human exchange students." You stumbled over your own name. You had no clue what to do besides answer her questions. You felt useless just standing in one spot, but were rooted there.

"How many other people are in the house?" She remained calm, and you took a deep breath, so you could continue to answer her questions. You could feel the panic creeping in and begin envelop you, not unlike the smoke you were trying to block out.

"There should be seven others. A family. I don't know where they are. They were in my room, but they're gone." She probably already knew who the brothers were, and who you were, but you couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of your mouth.

"What are you wearing?" She asked you.

"It's really hot in here, miss." You were quickly growing lightheaded, and drenched in sweat.

"I know. I'm sorry. What are you wearing?" She repeated herself.

"Um, a white tank top and some blue checkered pajama pants." Neither article of clothing belonged to you. The pants were Lucifer's and the tank top you'd stolen from Mammon. It was the one thing about the situation that managed to get you to think a little more positively.

"What's the charge on your device, Mc?" Her using your name shocked you a little. It took you a second to realize you'd just given her your name, which is how she knew.

"It's getting low." Because of the brothers staying over in your room, you never had the chance to plug it in before you went to sleep. Mammon had told you he would do it, but it seems you'd both forgotten.

"What percent?" She asked.

"Twenty-nine." You hoped the battery would last long enough.

"Don't hang up. Help will be there shortly." You tried to respond, but it felt as if all the breath had been knocked out of you. You felt as if your legs were going to give way, so you took a seat on the edge of your bed.

"Miss, I don't feel good." Sweat rolled down your forehead and would've gone into your eyes if you didn't swipe it away, which was growing more and more difficult by the second. The heat was agonizing and you almost felt like you were melting.

"Keep talking to me. How old are you?" When you didn't respond, the operator prompted you again. "Mc? Are you still there?"

You tried to continue to speak to her, but you couldn't form the words you wanted to. Nothing came out correctly. She continued to speak to you, but you just wanted to lay down. She grew quieter the more time passed. The room had started spinning at some point. The urge to close your eyes grew stronger and stronger, so you told yourself just a moment wouldn't hurt.

The next thing you remembered was waking up in what had to be a hospital room. You didn't recognize anything in the room, and everything was unusually bright. Whoever had last been in your room had tucked you in carefully in your hospital bed. You could see from your chest down, but your arms were sitting on to of the covers. An IV drip was in your left arm, and from the elbow down, your right arm was wrapped in bandages. The TV in the room was on to your favorite Devildom cooking channel. It was an episode you'd seen before, so you didn't bother to focus on it. Besides the sound of the television you could hear hushed whispering and shuffling from the hallway, and the constant beeping of the machine connected to you.

As you were taking in your surroundings, the door just out of your line of sight opened. You expected it to be one of the brothers, or a nurse maybe, but it was Solomon. It was nice to see a familiar face regardless of who it belonged to.

"Mc! You're awake. I'll call the nurse." With a smile befitting of the gods, he moved to leave the room again.

"Wait, please." He paused with his hand on the doorknob. "What happened?" Solomon backtracked and pulled up a chair to sit beside your bed. You stared at him expectantly, as he thought about, presumably, what to say next.

"The House of Lamentation caught on fire, but thankfully, you were alright. You got some burns but the doctor says it could've been much worse. You've been out for about a day now. How much do you remember?" He flexed his fingers.

"Not much, but I think that's a good thing. How are the brothers? I hope they're doing well." You expected Solomon to just answer the question, but instead, he cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" At first, you just assumed he was kidding, but this was an odd thing to be joking about.

"You know, the seven brothers? They're the avatars of sin? They should've been in the house. Are they fine or did they get hurt in the fire too?" When he only stared at you blankly, you didn't know how to react. "You're scaring me, Solomon. This isn't funny." You thought back over what you'd said. It all made sense in your head, but something just wasn't clicking for Solomon.

"Who are 'the brothers?'"

[fizzing-imagines]

Teen Pregnancy Series | Gareth Emerson x Cheerleader! Reader

Notes: I watched too much 16 and pregnant so here u go. This is very out of canon and storyline, but I like it regardless. Please read the note I made about the series

Warnings: Teen Pregnancy, labour scene at the end

Words: 3k

"We need to talk." You simply walked into his house, no care for the possibility of his family being around. Lucky him, they weren't. "Princess, what's wrong?", Gareth asked in a worried tone. The words 'We need to talk' were never good. He hurried after you as you made a beeline to his room upstairs. "Princess, come on." Once both of you were in his room, you closed the door and rummaged around in your bag. He got more nervous by the second, knowing you had a doctors appointment for your constant nausea and headaches. What if it was something serious and not just a stomach bug?

There sure was a bug in your stomach; you handed him a sonogram. He was confused as he tried to see something on the picture. No, not a chance. "What am I looking at?"

"Our babies"

His head shot up, eyes wide. "Our baby?", he asked to confirm. "No, babies. Plural." Gareth looked back at the picture in his hands. "I already told my parents that I'm keeping them, and they're on board with it." Your boyfriend sat down on his bed to take in the information, sonogram in hand. It wasn't until then that you realized how many facts you were dumping on him without giving him a chance to process them. "I think you need a minute...", you said before sitting down next to him. Gareth hummed in agreement. "Are you okay?"

"Where exactly do I see babies in this.", he asked, referring to the sonogram. It was a bit of a surprising question. "Well, you see that white bean-shaped thing? That's baby one.", you explained. "And there's baby two." You pointed at the other bean-shaped figure. He laughed a bit. "Two little beans.", Gareth mumbled. You looked at him with a small smile. "Our two little beans." His head turned to you, followed by a kiss on your cheek. "We'll do it together. Maybe a bit earlier than planned, but it's gonna be fine."

His parents were a bit mad at first, but came around soon enough. Family movie nights with both of your families became a weekly thing now. Both your parents loved to be around each other, and got more excited to be grandparents each day.

"Gare, I'm starting to show.", you said to your boyfriend as you got ready for bed. The twins were 16 weeks along and you were undoubtedly starting to grow a baby belly. He looked up from whatever he was fiddling with and immediately looked at your stomach. "I can see it.", he excitedly said as he walked over. Gareth crouched down in front of your body, taking the perfect height to look at your stomach. "You're growing so fast, my little beans.", he cooed at your stomach before giving it a kiss. You giggled at his antics. "Your mama is doing so great, isn't she?" Another kiss. Your hand stroked through his hair as he kept talking to and kissing your baby bump.

"Appointments next week. To find out the gender.", you said. He looked up at you. "We'll go together.", your boyfriend replied. "It's the same day as your campaign. I can tell you afterwards."

He'd be dammed if he wouldn't be there to find out your babies genders.

"Can we move the campaign?", Gareth asked shamelessly. There were shocked looks all around at his question. "Are you insane?", Jeff said, more to call him dumb than actually ask him. Eddie watched the three bicker about postponing before finally speaking up. "Gareth, we have rules here. We don't postpone.", he said very firmly. He let out an annoyed huff. "Then I can't be there, my girlfriend has a doctors appointment." Kevin and Jeff laughed. "What, she needs you to hold her hand?", Kevin mocked him.

Gareth hasn't told them you're pregnant yet, and you haven't told the cheer squad. You did tell them that you couldn't do it anymore, but blamed it on a knee injury. The relationship with Gareth already took a blow to your reputation, one you gladly took, but you didn't know how to announce the pregnancy without becoming the victim of bullying. But being pregnant with twins, there was very little time left until the oversized hoodies wouldn't cover your growing stomach anymore.

"Can I sit here?" Suddenly, you were standing behind Gareth. He gave you a confused look, but moved to make space for you. "Maybe she can tell us why Gareth suddenly doesn't have time anymore.", Kevin said in an annoyed tone. He never liked you and actually hoped you and Gareth would break up. "I can't deal with your shit right now, Kevin." You shot him a glare while sitting down. "Everything okay?", Gareth asked after giving you a kiss on your temple. "Don't feel like sitting with the others.", you said, referring to the cheerleaders and basketball players. Kevin scoffed, making you even more mad. "What's your problem?", you snapped at him. Gareth put his hand on your lower back in a failing attempt to calm you down. "You're my problem.", he replied. A scoff left your mouth, setting all the pregnant hormones into action.

"I have been nothing but nice to you, even before I was with Gareth! I'm sorry that my friends are mean to you, but that has nothing to do with me!", you yelled at him. The cheer squad and basketball team heard and watched as you got up from your seat to yell some more. "But no, it's all about you and what you think! Well, guess what, you can go fuck yourself. And I'm so sorry for interrupting your secret nerd meeting because I wanted to see my boyfriend. Fucking nerd asshole." You turned on your heel to walk away, only to be greeted by two of your friends. "There she is again.", they said happily as they took your hands and led you to their table.

"I really don't care if I was too mean.", you said to your father while the two of you sat on the couch. You were in low sweatpants and a croptop, letting your pregnancy belly fully hang out. At 18 weeks, there was no denying of the belly being there at this point. "Calling him a nerd is a bit too much, isn't it?", he asked you, trying to find reason. "Maybe. I don't know.", you admitted. There were footsteps behind you, but you assumed it was your mother. "But he's such a dick.", you continued.

"Sorry.", you heard a familiar voice behind you. As you looked behind you, you saw Gareth, Eddie, Jeff and Kevin. It was Kevin who let out the small apology. "Gareth, what the fuck?!", you yelled before covering your stomach with a pillow. "No need to hide it, I told them.", your boyfriend said. With a sigh, you got up from the couch. Both your parents left the room for privacy, leaving you to yourself. "What do you want?", you asked them in an annoyed tone. "We moved the campaign.", Eddie said. "It's a day earlier. Least we could do." It was honestly an unbelievable thing to you; they never re-schedule campaigns. "And we made this. As an apology." Kevin handed you two baby onesies, one white and one black, with the Corroded Coffin logo on it. "I didn't know which colour you'd like more.", Kevin admitted. As you looked at them, you got emotional. "I...wow...", you mumbled. Gareth took your hand and pulled you closer to him. "I only told them that you're pregnant. Not the other thing." You chuckled a bit. "Fitting that you made two onesies." The three looked very confused, although Eddie at least put the pieces together. "It's twins. Two little beans.", you said with a wide grin before looking at Kevin. "I'm sorry. You're an absolute cunt, but I shouldn't have called you a nerd." Laughter filled the room at your words. "I have been a dick, you're right.", he agreed. "I've never seen Gareth this happy. I'm sorry, I got too judgemental." You smiled at him and nodded a bit. "I'm gonna start showing off the bump. So if I could sit with you, that would be a start."

"We can do that."

"Gareth said you like eggs right now.", Kevin said as he handed you a ziploc bag with three boiled eggs in them. A wide grin spread across your face as you took the bag. "Thank you. I've been craving them all day." Happily, you started peeling the eggs. All three gave you an expectant look, waiting for you to tell the genders. You had your mouth full as you looked up.

"Girls. Both of them.", Gareth replied for you. He was grinning like a cheshire cat. You stopped wearing oversized clothes and got back into your pretty dresses to show off your bump. Most people took it surprisingly well, some of your friends even asked if they could touch your belly. Gareth had the privilege of being able to constantly touch your stomach, feeling the twins move around and kick.

"You know, Eda would be a great name for a girl.", Eddie said with a grin. You laughed a bit at the suggestion. "That's a great idea, but we have names picked out already.", Gareth said proudly. The three gave him another expectant look, but you dismissed them. "You'll find out once they're here.", you said with a smile.

They really didn't need to know that you picked the names after the movie they were conceived to. At least not know.

"Cribs go next to each other.", you said to Eddie as he finished building up the second one. Eddie volunteered to help Gareth move into your parents home and put up the nursery. Your boyfriend moving into your parents home was a given, considering he had two little sisters who caused mayhem and no rooms left. Your parents, on the other hand had a guest room that was unused, and your room was big enough for the both of you. At 24 weeks, with a now huge bump, Gareth didn't let you do any of the heavy lifting or building. The only thing he let you to was decorate the room and paint the walls. Against his best wishes, you gave the twins a princess themed nursery. Your only mistake was to put their names on the wall. Pink letters that read 'Maria & Frieda' greeted him once he arrived and spoiled the surprise of telling him when the twins were there.

"Twins of Evil?", Eddie asked with a grin once he put the crib into place, referring to the names. You nodded your head yes with a small laugh. "Seemed...fitting." There was some irony of getting pregnant with twin girls when they're conceived during Twins Of Evil. Gareth came into the room with parts of the bookshelf you picked for the nursery. "Babe, is everything you bought pink?", he asked as he looked at the parts. You laughed a bit at his question. "There's also two pink rocking chairs and a pink changing table." Gareth looked around the room, sighted and got onto building again. "I'll get the books and Hello Kitty plushies."

"The what now?"

"Did we really think this through?", you sobbed out while walking up and down the room you shared with Gareth. "I'll be walking the stage with a huge fucking belly. I'll look like a cowboy!"

You went dress shopping for your graduation today. Nothing you liked fit, and nothing that fit you liked. "I don't wanna wear a stupid suit. I've been dreaming of my graduation dress since I was six!" He listened to you talk and cry, seeing no way to calm you. "Why did you have to put these stupid babies in me!? It's ruining everything!" Finally, Gareth got up to pull you into a hug. "Hey, baby, I'm sorry." He didn't see this as entirely his fault, but disagreeing with you will make everything worse. "We'll find you a dress. I'll drive to Indianapolis with you, okay? Tomorrow, we'll go and get your favourite breakfast and we'll find you a beautiful dress." He whiped the tears from your eyes and placed a kiss on your forehead. "Okay...", you mumbled.

Next morning, the two of you got up bright and early to drive to Indianapolis. After a delicious breakfast, you started walking from store to store, looking at and trying on dresses. Four stores later, you finally found the one. A baby pink dress with a ruffled skirt, flounce sleeves and a sparkly top. It hugged your belly perfectly, and even the saleswoman was very kind, considering your situation. A few tears were shed once you tried on the dress. "You look amazing.", Gareth whispered into your ear as he held you through your tears. And you got even more lucky when you found the perfect shoes to go along with it. Overall, your day was more than perfect.

Until you were laying in bed and started wheeping again. "I called the babies stupid!", you cried out when Gareth asked you what was wrong.

Gareth and your family went to lunch together after the graduation ceremony. During lunch, Gareth took you outside to 'take a breather', but he had a bigger plan in mind. "I love you and our girls very much.", he said as he took his hands into yours. "And I'm so excited to spend my life with all three of you." He reached into his backpocket and pulled out a small velvet box. "It's really stereotypical, and I know we're still young, but if we're having babies together I might as well ask you, and-" You cut him off with a kiss. "I do.", you whispered against his lips. "I-I didn't even get to kneel.", he said. You giggled a bit. "No need to." He opened the box, revealing a beautiful rose quartz ring that he put on your finger.

"I love you.", he said before leaning into another kiss.

"Eddie, where the fuck is Gareth!?", you yelled through the house. It must've rung in his ear. The band was over for practice while you were napping on the couch, but you were awoken by very sudden and strong contractions. "They went to the store! What is it?!" He saw you hunched over the back of the couch and put two and two together. Eddie was the only one in the house, with your parents at work and Gareth now gone for snacks with the others. "Eddie, I have to go to the hospital right now.", you cried out in pain. "Please drive me, they're not gonna wait." He started panicking, but still grabbed his keys and somehow found your hospital bag in your closet. "Okay, come on...fuck, why me?"

He went well beyond the speed limit to get you into the hospital. Once you were with the doctors, Eddie called your landline until Gareth was finally back home and could pick up. You swore you heard him scream into the phone all the way down the hallway.

"They're not waiting, we have to get you in the delivery room now.", your nurse said as she checked you. "Is there anyone else you can take with you?" Your first and only throught was Eddie, but he was screaming for the entire car ride. "No, it's fine.", you groaned. "He'll make it."

Gareth came bursting through the door two minutes later, just as you were prepared for the delivery. "I'm so sorry baby, I was getting you twizzlers.", he apologised before giving you a kiss on the head.

"It's fine. But they're just as impatient as you are."

A few short hours later, Maria and Frieda were born. They were healthy, tiny and adorable. While you were taking a nap, Gareth had both girls sleeping in his arms, watching his kids closely. They definetly had some brown hair like him, but your nose. And they looked exactly the same. Gareth never felt as contempt as he did right now, and it was all thanks to you.

He put them back in their hospital beds so he could unpack your bag; the stuffed animal he gifted you on your first date, your favourite blanket, and he put the twizzlers on your nightstand.

An hour later, you woke up. He was right by your side, holding your hand and smiling. "Hey.", you mumbled in a sleepy tone. "Hi.", Gareth said back before giving you a kiss on the cheek. The first thing you did was look over at your girls, who were still sleeping. Both were tiny, but adorable with small buttons noses. One of the was snorring a bit as she slept. Tears dwelled in your eyes as you saw them. "They're so cute.", you said under tears. Gareth smiled at you while whiping the tears from your eyes.

Right now, everything was perfect.

"Here's Corroded Coffins youngest fans ever.", you said happily as you brought the girls downstairs to meet the boys. Frieda was wearing the white onesie Kevin gave you, Maria the black one. You've never seen them melt as fast as they did at that very moment. Jeff held Maria while Kevin held Frieda. Eddie seemed too nervous to hold them just yet. But he did say "They're so small." as he looked at Frieda in Jeff's arms. "Six pounds, 17 inches.", you said. Maria cooed in Kevin's arms and looked around the room. She didn't fuss once, in fact she seemed very happy in her position. "I think she likes you.", you said to Kevin as she held onto his shirt. Meanwhile, Frieda started crying in Jeff's arms. "Alright, that was that.", Gareth said as he recovered his daughter from Jeff. She calmed down immediately. "Maybe you just smell, dude.", Eddie said with a laugh. Jeff didn't seem too bothered, but also not too happy. "You hold her if you know so much.", he said to his friend. Gareth placed Frieda in Eddie's arms, where she not only remained calm but also fell asleep.

"It's like with cats. Now you gotta stay there until she wakes up."

[dulceackles]

Ambivalent Part three- The crime

Previous part: (x)

Pairing: Dean Winchester x fem!reader

Warnings: angst, strong language, sex, violence, enemies to lovers, alcohol, all that. Mention of dead body, a little bit of horror. English is not my first language, so sorry for typos. Also, it is a Y/N, but I've created a background story and a fictional place around it for creative and storytelling reasons. Will not be describing exterior characteristics, tho!

Summary: Dean used to be really important to Y/N but ever since he suddenly left her without telling her why, she's been avoiding even mentioning him. Now, after years, he's back in town, but not because of her. There's a case. The only things she's certain is that she doesn't like him being back.

Word count: 4.1k

Y/N had left her apartment about 5 minutes ago. Joselyn and she had decided to meet up in front of the bar. Luckily the bar wasn't too far from her apartment but then again, nothing in Dimdale was that far.

Y/N: gonna be there in 10 mins!

She texted her friend. It was mid-spring, but the weather had been freezing for the past two weeks. Y/N wrapped her jacket tighter around her as a breeze of wind ran through her hair.

The streetlights flickered once, then twice. The streetlights had not been fixed in years. They were old and rusty, and it was not one bit surprising they lived a life of their own when it came to nighttime. A few citizens had made complaints about them to the mayor, but the reply was always the same; The electricity crisis is the most real thread this town has. We have to keep that in mind. By saving electricity and redirecting our funds carefully, we assure to postpone the catastrophic effects the crisis as it worsts could provide. Every time, every election, and always the same mayor. If you asked Y/N, she thought it was all bullshit. The town was broke, it was obvious. Lost of all founds to keep even the streetlight in order and apart from couple new apartment buildings, public park and a shopping center, everything in Dimdale was rotting in place. It was like a ghost town, yet the townies kept it alive. And the moving out rate was surprisingly low, it was like something just kept them there. A love for a familiar hometown, perhaps.

The light flickered again, and then suddenly all the yellow streams of light disappeared. The lights went off.

"Damn it." Y/N went through her handbag to find her phone to check the time. 10:53pm. It isn't even midnight yet, why the lights go off already? Y/N thought while continuing to walk. Luckily she had lived Dimdale her whole life, and she knew the roads like her own pocket even in the dark. She hoped Joselyn didn't have to wait on her. Sure she wasn't late, but she hated it when she arrived last even if she wasn't late. She hated to be the one to make others wait. She made her way on a dark sidewalk until she heard a shrill rattle behind her. She turned around. Had she dropped something? She pointed a flashlight from her phone to a ground but saw nothing. She kept walking.

"He is drunk as a skunk! How are we going to get anything out of him." Sam studied the man sitting a few bar stools from him.

"Hey, it's not my fault, dude is lightweight;" Dean shrugged his shoulders and took a ship of his beer.

"I didn't say it was your fault, I'm just point out a fact," Sam said.

"Let's just try it out, work it or not. Nothing to lose here." Dean voiced his plan, already on his way towards the drunken shell of a man, Victor.

"Hey man! Having fun I see," Dean greeted Victor, taking the barstool next to him.

"Dë'éaån...! havEen't sEeN YuO in Agesss!" Victor launched himself to hug Dean like he was his life-long friend. Dean awkwardly hugged him back and waited for Victor to get back to his seat. Sam took a stand next to Dean, trying not to laugh at the sign of his brother and Victor reuniting.

Victor finally leaned back to his barstool, and only then he noticed Sam standing next to him.

"This is Sam, my brother." Dean introduced him.

"SäM! I'VE heard Of YoU!" Victor nearly giggled excitedly, "YeaHH DéaNie told ME a lot ábout you!"

"Oh Deanie? He has?" Sam looked at Dean amused. Dean gave him a look that clearly said, "shut up".

"So, Victor, How's it been?" Dean asked, smiling to Victor and leaning his elbow against the dirty bar counter.

Victor went on excitedly telling about his new job and new car and how they were expecting a second child with his wife, Hilda. He told them about his dump ass boss who thought he was a little bit more important than god himself and how he was planning on proposing to Hilda (Even tho they were already married. Dean knew it, but he had no heart to break it to Victor. That's how excited he was about proposing to her.) God, this dude had had about ten drinks too much.

"Hmm interesting. We heard about Sandra. Such a terrible thing." Dean shook his head.

"Yeah, must have been hard for you too, to be witnessing it." Sam added.

"Yup, I saw it with my own eyes too," Victors demeanor changed into a more serious one. It was clear the man was terrified of the memories he had.

"Saw what?" Dean asked, pretending not to know everything.

"The thing," Victors eyes locked with the wall in front of him. "It was not a human, I could tell, and no one, even the police, believed me. They said that maybe the killer had just dressed himself in a costume, but it was not a costume. It was floating, and it appeared out of nothing and disappeared into thin air."

"So Victor.. What did it do? Just came and left with Sandra?" Sam asked.

"No. I was walking behind her, not close to her, but the road was straight so I could see her all the time. I don't think she knew I was behind her. It was late...or early, a little bit before 4am. The streetlight were off, but the sun was just about to start rising so it wasn't pitch black, I swear. I SAW HER FINE." Victor started to yell suddenly and hit his fist into the bar counter.

"Woah, dude, we believe you." Dean tried to calm him down. Few people in the bar turned to look at them.

"Sorry it's just.. I saw it and no one believes me. The police claimed that I was drunk, and it was dark but...," Victor sighed. "She turned around, she was looking for something from her pockets, but she couldn't find it so she started to look from the ground and walk back. Towards me, she looked panicked even from far, and I was planning on asking from her if everything was fine once she came close enough but then.. Then the thing appeared. It was behind her, she never saw it, she was looking so closely to the ground. It reached out to touch her and then they both just disappeared. I called the police immediately, but they did nothing. They came and took me to jail for "prank calling". Then the next day Sandra's mom called about her being missing just as they were to let me go, they were about to take me as main suspect but then they took it back. I mean, for fuck's sake. And then her body was found."

"Hmm, That's something." Sam thought outloud.

"But there's something more weird." Victor looked betrified.

"And what's that?" Dean asked, taking a ship of his beer.

"Before the thing took Sandra, before it even appeared, the streeth lights... they all just blasted on, like fully on. The whole road was lit on like it was on fire." Victor said his voice shaking.

"The streetlights went on? Really? at night, aren't they supposed to be on?" Dean asked, a light amusement and disbelief in his voice.

"You don't get it, you outsider. They never ever put them on after 12am." He turned to look at Dean for the first time during their talk.

"Who's they?" Dean asked.

Victor was about to answer but then his eyes locked to the front door, right behind Dean. His face changed, it was like a new man morphied into him. This... a smile came to his face, like something super amusing was about to happen and he completely forgot the previous conversation that had brought this man into a state of true fear.

"Victor?" Dean asked, he was about to turn himself to check what had just walked through those doors but he didn't have to.

"Y/N, GIRLLL! Check who's hereee!" Victor yelled, he fully nearly screamed across the whole bar.

"God damn it, Victor." Dean

"Okay pal, It's your time to go home." A doorman walked over to Victor and grapped him by his upper arm.

"No please, we'll look after him, he'll behave." Sam tried to save Victor from being kicked out.

"Trust me, this one never does. I'm doing you a favor, you don't want to watch after him." The doorman laughed before escorting Victor out. Man he was drunk.

Dean's eyes locked with hers. She's so beautiful, He thought. She was wearing a black maxi dress, casual but sexy. Her hair was carefully done and she was wearing this...a god awful look on her face, like she had just withnessed something so disgusting it was classified as a crime. Oh, right, she had locked her eyes with Dean himself.

"Okay pall, it's your time to go home." A doorman came to stand next to Victor and grapped his upper arm.

"No, please. We'll look after him, he'll behave." Sam tried to save Victor from being kicked out.

"Trust me, he won't and you don't want to." The doorman said and escorted Victor out.

How dare he be here ruining the night? The one night I decide to go out and he's here, Y/N thought. She had been glaring the back of his head for 20 minutes now. He and Sam were still sitting in the same spot next to a bar counter they had been sitting since she and Joselyn arrived. They had took a table across the room but the bar was not big enough for Y/N to forget his presence.

"Like I will go get you some binoculars if you want me to." Joselyn commented. Joselyn had been sitting silently next to her friend.

"Sorry, I just... Why the fuck he needs to be here?" Y/N sighed, breaking her glare and turning to look at Joselyn.

"Free country I guess.. Anyways, I say we forget about him and have fun. Who's with me? I know I am." Joselyn grinned.

"suree," Y/N smiled. She promised she was going to try. She came to have a good night and one fuckboy wasn't going to stop that. besides, she know how annoying she was being and unfair to Joselyn. She too had had and experience of asking a friend out and then the friend is all obsessed over some and completely forgets her friend and original conversation subjects exist.

"I feel like im too old for this, sitting in a bar and beefing with a fuckboy. Like I didn't know fuckboys at this age existed anymore but apparently they do." Y/N shook his head.

"Trust me, they never go out of style. I bet there's a 87-year-old guy named Larry going around a nursing home breaking them old poor hearts." Joselyn giggled, "Let's go get drinks."

"No we can't" Y/N grapped Joselyns hand in panic, "He's literally right there next to a bar counter."

"I know and he's there for a purpose trying to pretend he didn't even see you but secretly waiting for you to go get a drink." Joselyn pointed out, "I'll go, you wait here."

"Okay but don't say anything to him." Y/N wasn't sure if she trusted her friend with this task.

"I would never!" Joselyn acted like she was hurt by her even thinking she'd do such a think and then winked at her and turned on her heels to trot to the bar counter.

Y/N pulled her phone from her handbag and started scrolling through it. She had no notifications, not a single text or anything but she still went through her phone, pretending she had like atleast thousand messages to reply. To her defence, feeling awkward when left alone at a bar was a really common feeling and distracting yourself with a weather app was a common response.

She had already checked next week's weather in Dimdale, Vancouver and Dallas when Joselyn finally came back with a tray with four drinks and four shots on it.

"Woah, what's all this?" Y/N looked at the tray in shock almost.

"Our drinks! Two drinks and two shots for you, same for me." Joselyn said and started to sort out the drinks on the table.

"Are we gonna like crawl back home from here?" Y/N giggled.

"No I was planning on passing out on the toilet and then taking a ambulance but you can take build-in the four-wheeler if you feel like it." Joselyn joked.

"truth or drink?" Joselyn asked, "But even if you pick truth you still have to drink tho."

"Okay, sure." Y/N was pretty sure she knew what was coming so she just picked up the first shot she got and downed it.

"What happened between you and Dean? You never talk about it and don't take this the wrong way but it was only like under a year old undefined long-distance relationship and you''ve been like shit about it for years after." Joselyn asked, she had always been curious.

"Well, I just.. It just sucked." Short but effective answer.

"Breakups usually do...And?" Joselyn didn't settle for that.

"I just really liked him. Like really, truly liked liked him.." Y/N continued

"Huge crush you had, I remember," Joselyn added. She knew Y/N maybe even had fallen in love but she knew better than poke at that. But two years crying over it was still a bit much she thought.

"Yeah, sure.," Y/N took her second shot and then drank little bit of her mixed drink to get the taste of alcohol out of her mouth, "He was the first guy I truly liked liked and I felt like it was mutual and I knew he had this job and all and he was away a lot and he never really even lived here but I feel like it was worth the wait and maybe even worth like you know.. eventually moving with him if it got that serious. And before he left me he gave me this ring.."

Joselyn gasped and took a sip of her drink. She was really into the story like she was watching a reality tv.

"Not a engagement ring you idiot!" Y/N laughed at her friends shocked expression, "It was just an old ring, he said it was special to him. It was really pretty tho. he said that he wanted me to have it. However, then two weeks later, he was supposed to be back in a week yet he calls me that he's not gonna come and that I should lose his number."

"No way!" Joselyn gasped again.

"Yeah, the way that he did it, like he couldn't even wait a week to get here and dump me face to face. I just know he lied about something and you know what I think it is?" Y/N turned to look check if Dean was still sitting where he had been. He was, he said something to Sam. "I think he lived a double live. I mean think of it."

"Yeah it does sound suspicios." Joselyn agreed.

"I tried to google this so called 'Family business' and nothing, not a single result nanywhere and his whole story was that the business was one of the fields best so kinda weird it's nowhere to be found.I think he had another woman, or like I was the another woman. And she must have found out and he panic because clearly he chose her." Y/N secretly wished she had third shot but she didn't.

"in that case not your lose girl, not your lose." Joselyn shook her head.

"I guess." She didn't see it as black and white, "Anyways, I think I know why he's now back. I think he wants to propose and needs the ring back."

"NO WAY" Joselyn yelped.

"shhhhhhh!" Y/N didn't dare to check who had turned around to look at them.

"Yup, I think he wants to propose with it and have it back but because he's such a dump ass liar he can't even be honest and ask it back but he has to put all of this show of being back in town with his brother. Sam even came talk to me and was like 'Idk what happened but I'm sorry blaahblaah' and trying to befriend me. I think Dean has put Sam in the business so he could ask the ring back because, i don't know, maybe they think i wouldn't give it back to him." Y/N said.

"Would you tho? Do you even have it anymore?" Joselyn knitted her eyebrows.

Y/N laughed a little bit, "Of course I have, I mean all of his other stuff he had left I threw away but I wouldn't throw away something he said was special to him. It's just a ring i mean, if he said it was special it had to have background story.."

"But don't you think it's bit weird he'd give the ring to you if he planned to propose with it one day?" The way Joselyn worded her gueston hurt Y/N feeling a little bit.

Truthfully, Y/N had felt her whole life that she was somewhat 'unloveable', like she just wasn't good enough for someone to love. And before Dean she had felt nearly invisiable and like she had to plant herself infront of people for them to even notice her and like beg for them to be with her and even then, if they happened to see her, they only wanted sex, sort time pleasure from her and nothing else. But with Dean, it had felt different. It had felt like she didn't have to try so hard to be loved and valued. She wasn't gonna admit it outloud but she thought she had loved him and that he loved her too but when it had begun clear that was not the case, it had broke her in ways she didn't even know her spirit could be broken. So for even Joselyn to guestion why he would give the ring to her made her feel stupid. Like had she fallen for a stupid lie? What it that transparent that he hadn't loved her,

"I don't know why he gave it to me. Maybe he was trying to keep the show on. I thought that maybe he lied and the ring was just a ring but why else would they be back? There's literally nothing else here for them exept the ring?" she replied, she felt herself getting drunk and she also felt a lump starting to form in her throat. Great.

She hated him, more than anything. She felt stupid, like she had walked around with rose pink glasses on thinking she had a love of her life next to her and he had let her believe that. And then she maybe was just a side chick. She couldn't proof it but she knew he had lied about something so if not that then what?.

"Yeah so that's that. That's his crime, that's what happened" Y/N leaned back in her seat. She wasn't feeling too well.

"I have to go to toilet," Y/N said and got up.

As she walked to the toilet she could feel her eyes watering and legs thumbling. She was more drunk than she thought she had been. But she was not going to cry in public, not over him.

But as she reached the bathroom and the door closed, she just felt tears escaping her eyes no matter how she tried to fight it.

"Stop it, you crybaby." She whispered to herself and she was going to insult herself more but she heard the door open. It was probably Joselyn, she probably noticed Y/N was crying.

"What happened?" concerned voice asked.

"I -" Y/n was about to start sobbing to her best friend but then she realized she was not in the room with her, "You nasty donkey what are you doing here? It's women's bathroom.

"Why are you crying?" Dean asked again, crossing his arms infront of her. Y/N tried to go around him and leave but he just stepped infront of her, blocking her exit.

"I'm not crying!" It came out in a full angry sob.

Dean trying to take a hold of her face and wipe her tears with his thumb but Y/N pushed his hands away.

"Don't touch me:" She hissed.

"Y/N please, I'm begging you. Don't be like this," Dean plead.

"Like what?" she asked him. Secretly she was glad she had done something that bothered him enough for him to ask her to stop.

"Don't be so angry and passive-agressive all the time and don't push me away constantly. Just tell me what happened?" He grapped her by her arms gently but firmly.

"I'm crying because..." Y/N started, "I just learned that when sloths mate the female sloth will climb up a tree and scream till a male finds her. And that just really moved me to tears."

"Very funny, very clever Y/N" Dean rolled his eyes.

"Isn't it." Y/N gave him a sarcastic smile and she could tell he was not happy at all about her behaviour. She thought that maybe he was getting a little bit angry too, "Would that work on you?" She asked.

"You can try." He looked her up and down.

"Do you want just like a full scream or would you prefer some pronunciation in there? Like maybe even a full phrase like ´somebody help me, There's a man in wome's bathroom!´ or something like that."

"You're in men's bathroom." Dean pointed out.

"No, i'm not."

"Yes, you are you sloppy drunk." Dean smiled a little bit but not in a malicious way. He thought it was cute how disoriented she was now that she was not fully crying anymore.

Y/N looked to her right, there indeed was a row of urinals that had not caught her attention earlier.

"So did you follow me here or did you just come here to have a shit?" Y/N asked and now she felt like crying again. She really thought he had came in for her.

"Maybe I came in to watch out for my fellow pals," He smirked, he had that smirk. Y/N stared at his lips. He noticed. She was going to tell him to go fuck himself just out of habbit at this point but then he pushed her against the bathroom wall and pressed his lips to hers.

She was going to push him away but her hands betrayed her, instead, they wrapped themselves around his neck. His skin was soft and his lips moved gently with hers. She could smell his musky aftershave. She tried to take a step and leave but her legs didn't listen to her either. Instead her right leg lifted itself up and pressed her thigh against the side of his hip. She could feel tingles at the bottom of her stomach. Dean grapped the back of her thighs and her legs, without a premision, wrapped themselves around him. Her hands wandered into his hair, pulling his soft hair a little bit. She could feel his tongue slid into her mouth and his stubble rubbed against her chin. she loved hated the taste of him so much. His fingers digged into the flesh of her thighs as he hold her body, pressing her more inbetween the wall and himself. she wanted him to kiss her deeply and tell her that whatever he had done before was a mistake and he loved her and wanted to be with her and he was ready to do what ever it took to proof to her that she was worthy of her trust and that there was no other woman and that she was everything to him fuck off, she wanted him to fuck off.

Someone moaned and Y/N realised it was her. Did I just fucking moan?? She thought, oh no.

He smiled into her lips, he had heard that. He was about to break the kiss and ask her if they should leave it for later and if she'd let him by her a drink (non-alcoholic because she had had enough) but she broke the kiss first.

"What do you think you're doing?" She sounded angry, again, per usual.

"Uhm.." Dean looked genuinedly suprised, and a little bit hurt. He put her down, carefully holding her till she found her balance.

"Y/N, I thought..." Dean started to apologize but what cut off.

"Don't think." She hissed and stormed out of the bathroom...

Next part (x)

// this chapter was literal hell to write. I lost it like 2 times because tumblr hates me and had to rewrite it so sorry if there's apnormal amount on typos, I tried to edit it the best I could.

[arcane-vagabond]

Meet Me at the Sea: Chapter Five

Meet Me at the Sea: Chapter Five

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Summary: Your best friend, Bob Floyd, had insisted you join him for the summer at his family's home along the Carolina coasts. You had been hesitant at first, but ultimately agreed to his request. Now, here you were in a new town with strange locals who spoke in hushed whispers and cryptic retellings about glistening scales, glowing eyes, and haunting songs that echoed from the sea. You didn't believe them at first, but when you wake up on the beach one morning after having fallen overboard the night before, you can't help but think that maybe you hadn't imagine the strong arms and deep, green eyes of the man that had saved you.

Trigger warnings: Language, Mean girl Mandy, Flirting, Alcohol, Siren call, Supernatural elements, Kind of suggestive/smutty but not really? idk

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: Alright, alright! The ball is starting to roll! We've got a lot going on now, I think. Can't wait to hear y'all's thoughts! Also, shoutout to @goldenseresinretriever for letting me bounce ideas off of her! You the real MVP!! If you're feeling kind/generous, please consider buying me a ko-fi! I will be referring to that Google form from now on! As always, reblogs, comments and likes are greatly appreciated! Asks/requests are always open! 18+ ONLY!! You can find me on AO3 under arcane_vagabond where I also post my updates!

Series Masterlist

“I thought the bonfires happened the other night?” You asked Bob as the two of you made your way down the practically deserted streets. It was late, and the only people out were the young adults still looking to have a good time. The family friendly activities had ended hours ago, and now it was time for the partying to start.

“They were supposed to,” he said, eyes scanning the dimly lit street, “but they got postponed because of all the rain the other week. This was the only night that worked for most everyone around town.”

“That works out for us, I guess,” you hummed, hearing the sound of crashing waves grow closer as you neared the beach.

“Hey, thing one and thing two!”

The two of you turned around to see a grinning Bradley jogging up behind you, and you turned with a smile to greet him.

“Hey, Bradley!” You chirped. “We thought you’d already be down at the beach with everyone else.”

“I was, but I forgot my phone at the house,” he said, waving his phone in his hand. “So I ran back to grab it. Everyone else should already be down there, though.”

“We better get a move on before all the drinks are gone,” Bob mused, already moving once again. Bradley fell into step alongside you, bumping your shoulder with his.

“Feel like I haven’t seen you in forever, Skipper,” he joked, casting a smirk down at you. “You been avoiding me?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” you giggled.

Bradley scoffed, giving you an offended look that was made less serious by the grin on his face. “Me? Avoid you? Don’t be ridiculous. Who in their right mind would avoid a sweet, little thing like you?”

“You must not really know her then,” Bob snorted. “She practically cut my hand off when I went for the last fry at lunch today.”

“That was entirely your fault,” you huffed, sticking your tongue out at him. “You know how much I love french fries.”

“Yeah, enough to cause grievous bodily injuries, apparently,” he smirked. You scowled at him before looking back at Bradley who was also smirking at you.

“He’s being dramatic,” you offered with a shrug.

“Barely.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” you griped as the three of you walked down the stairs and onto the beach. You could see the glow from the various fires flicker in the night, groups of different people huddled around each one. “I have to set an alarm every morning to wake up before he does if I want any bacon.”

“Oh, trust me,” Bradley laughed, steering you towards a fire on the edge of the grouping, Bob in tow. “I grew up with him. I know how much bacon he puts away.”

“I am not that bad,” Bob huffed, earning identical dubious looks from both you and Bradley. You giggled when Bradley quirked his eyebrow at you.

“Sure you aren’t, Bob,” you laughed, earning a scowl from your best friend.

“You made it!”

The three of you turned to see Nat waving at you, the rest of the squad already settled in on the towels surrounding the small fire. You felt a shiver run up your spine as you made eye contact with a pair of mossy green ones. You looked away as your cheeks warmed, letting Bradley guide you across the fire and down on a group of towels, Bob on your other side.

“So,” said the brunette sitting next to Jake, blue eyes calculating as she took you in. She was just as beautiful as the last time you saw her. Tan skin glowed in the light from the fire, body lithe and athletic. She looked like she walked off the cover of a fashion magazine, and her narrowed gaze was trained on you, lips curled into waht appeared to be a permanent sneer. “You must be the tagalong I’ve heard so much about. Skipper was it?”

You shifted uncomfortably, glancing over at Bradley as he stiffened next to you, a glare fixed on his face as he looked at her.

“Yeah,” you said, offering an anxious smile as you looked back at her. “That’s what they call me anyway.”

“It’s cute,” she said, tone indicating that she most certainly did not find it cute. “I’m Mandy. You’ve probably heard of me from the others.”

“Oh, yeah,” you smiled. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I’m not surprised,” she continued with a smirk. “I’ve known everyone here since we were in diapers. We go way back, you know. Don’t feel bad if you end up feeling left out in our conversations, okay?”

You shifted again, this time knocking your knee into your bag. The shells you carried with you jostled, clinking together, and you blushed when everyone looked at you.

“What was that?” Mickey asked, peering over to get a better look. You lifted your bag as you began to pull each shell out and placing it carefully on the towel.

“Oh, these are the shells and things I’ve been finding everywhere!” You smiled, running your fingers over the conch. “Aren’t they amazing? I’ve never seen so many beautiful shells in my life! And they’re all perfectly in tact, can you believe it? It’s like someone just plucked them up off the ocean floor and set them out for me to find!”

“That’s quite a collection,” Nat chuckled, shooting a smirk off to the side. You followed her line of sight, and your eyes made direct contact with the mossy green ones from earlier. Jake looked at you with an expression that could only be described as awe as he took you in, eyes peering down to where you cradled the conch gently in your hands before looking back up at you. His eyes shone in the firelight, a hint of a smile on his lips as he looked at you. You felt another blush creep up your neck, and you leaned forward to place the conch closer to the fire for everyone to see. You heard a sharp intake of breath, and you looked up to see Mandy with a look of rage and shock on her face as she stared at you. You realized quickly she wasn’t staring at your face, but rather down at the base of your neck. Her eyes darted up to meet yours and her expression shifted quickly into one of cold contempt.

“You actually carry those around with you?” She sneered, scoffing out a laugh. “What are you? Five?”

You frowned up at her, suddenly feeling self conscious as you glanced around the group. Their smiles had shifted into looks of irritation as they glared at the brunette.

“Oh, I just-”

“I mean,” she sniffed, cutting you off, “I suppose it’s fitting for someone who looks like you though, right? You’re not exactly dressed to impress or anything.”

You looked down at your clothes, a frown on your face. You weren’t normally self conscious. Sure, you didn’t look like a model like Mandy, but you didn’t think you were hard on the eyes. You had dressed for comfort though, and it was plain to see in your jean shorts, tank top, and white button up. Mandy wore a pair of cutoffs and a tight fitting tank top that showed off her figure, and her makeup was immaculate. You hadn’t seen the point in putting any on. Should you have?

“Mandy,” Bob growled, glaring in a warning.

“Oh, I know she’s your friend and all, Bobby,” Mandy continued, a viscious smirk poised on her lips. “But let’s be honest. I mean, we’re among friends, right? And friends should be honest with each other. You’d be lucky if anyone gave you the time of day looking like that. Nevermind the silly, little shells you’re carrying around everywhere. You really should have left those back at the house, you know. And tell me you brought something nice to where for the ocean dance festival. Can you imagine if you wore some frumpy shorts to something like tha-”

“Shut up.”

All eyes turned to Jake who was glaring into the fire, eyes cold as the water that lapped the shore behind you. Mandy narrowed her eyes at him, rage clouding her features.

“Excuse me?” She spat, turning to face him. His gaze shifted to her, jaw clenching.

“Was I not clear enough?” He said evenly. “I said ‘shut up.’”

You hadn’t even realized that tears had gathered in your eyes until Bob laid a gentle hand on your shoudler causing you to jump. You looked over at him, sniffling as he gave you a concerned look. You wiped at the corner of your eyes, scrambling to your feet. You felt everyone’s eyes on you as you shifted from one foot to the other, avoiding their gazes.

“I’m, uh,” you gulped, trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill over. “I’m gonna go get something to drink.”

“I’ll come with you,” Bradley said, moving to his feet and giving you a gentle smile. “I’m parched.”

You turned to Bob with a watery smile. “You want anything?”

He studied you for a second, eyes uncertain. You gave him a look that you hoped communicated your need to pretend like you were okay, and he pressed his lips together.

“Just a beer.”

“You got it!” You smiled, trying and failing to add your usual cheeriness to the statement. You gave a half smile that you were sure came off as more of a grimace as you made your way towards the line of coolers on the other side of the fires. Bradley followed you silently, and you kept your head down, feeling the tears start to stream down your cheeks.

You knew you were being silly. They were just words after all, and you were a grown woman. You shouldn’t be letting silly words get to you like this. But why did they hurt so bad? You knelt by one of the coolers, fishing out two beers and a coke. You handed one of the beers to Bradley, refusing to make eye contact with him as you pushed the lid to the cooler closed.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing onto your arm gently, pulling you so that you faced him.

You kept your head down, and Bradley let out a sigh.

“Listen,” he started, hesitating as if he were choosing his next words carefully. “You shouldn’t listen to Mandy, okay? She’s a stone cold bitch on the best of days, and, well, she’s never been told ‘no’ a day in her life. She’s always gotten what she wanted, when she wanted it.”

“What’s your point?” You muttered, glancing off to the side as you wrapped your arms around yourself. Bradley let out another sigh, taking his hand from your arm to run it through his hair.

“My point is that she’s taking her new experience with the word out on you, and it’s not fair. I know it’s hard, but just ignore her, okay? She’s just jealous.”

“Of me?” You scoffed, finally meeting his gaze. Bradley smirked down at you, casting you a wink.

“You’re pretty great, Skipper,” he hummed. “Anyone with eyes can see it. Now, come on. Let’s head back to the others, yeah?”

You nodded, and the two of you made your way back to the fire. As you approached, you noted that Jake was the only one still there, eyes trained on the flames in front of him, seemingly deep in thought. He jumped when Bradley plopped down next to him, leaving just enough room for you to slide in between them.

“Where’d the others go?” Bradley asked, twisting the top off his beer and taking a swig from the bottle. Jake grimaced, gesturing around towards the other fires.

“Take your pick.”

Bradley hummed, leaning back on the towel with his legs outstretched towards the fire. The three of you were silent for a moment, and you felt a tingling sensation on your left side. You turned to find Jake already looking at you, eyes soft as they took you in. Your breath caught in your throat, cheeks flushing. You thought you should have been been creeped out with how intensely he was staring at you, but you felt oddly comfortable under his gaze. In fact, you found yourelf sitting up a little straighter, almost preening under his gaze, and a small smile tugged on Jake’s lips as he took you in, eyes blazing as they reached your neck.

You jumped as Bradley suddenly leaned over in front of you, breaking the spell you found yourself under. A shit eating grin was etched onto his face as he looked at Jake.

“Did you know Skipper here always wanted to be a mermaid?”

You felt yourself begin to splutter as your cheeks warmed for a different reason, eyes growing wide as you peered between the two men. Bradley waggled his eyebrows as Jake’s own shot up on his forehead. A smirk graced his lips, giving him a devilish look to his already handsome features. He looked at you, smirk intensifying as he saw your flustered state. He leaned forward, smirk growing into a grin as you glanced away.

“Is that so?” He hummed, warm breath ghosting over your face.

“I will remind you that I was, like, five at the time,” you snapped, glaring at Bradley. He only chuckled, resting his chin on his hand as he smirked lazily up at you.

“I think you’d make a cute mermaid, don’t you agree, Jake?”

Jake nodded with another hum, eyes taking on a look you couldn’t place, but it made you squirm nonetheless.

“Just imagine her swimming around with all her little fishy sidekicks,” Bradley teased, eyes alight with mischief. You scoffed, turning to face him.

“As if,” you snarked, “my sidekick wouldn’t be a fish, it would be a stingray.”

Jake quirked an eyebrow. “Why a stingray?”

“Oh,” you blushed, your nerves kicking up again. “Because they’re my favorite.”

Jake nodded slowly, like he was trying to commit that fact to memory. Bradley snorted beside you, and the two of you looked over at where he was smirking, eyes peeking at Jake before looking back at you.

“How could I forget?” He drawled, taking another sip of his beer. “I met Rusty when you and I were snuggled in bed the other morning.”

“That’s not-”

You were cut off by a growl to your left. You turned to see Jake’s entire expression had changed. His jaw was clenched, eyes trained on Bradley as if he wanted to take his head off. His fists were clenched so tight, you wouldn’t be surprised if he was drawing blood from where his fingernails dug into his palms. He was almost too still as he glared at Bradley, the other man looking smug as he took in his friend’s appearance.

“Are you okay?” You asked the blond, and his eyes glanced over at you, gaze seeming to soften as he took in your concern.

“Bradshaw!” Reuben called from across the way. “Get your ass over here!”

Bradley heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet. “And that’s my cue,” he muttered.

You watched as he strutted over to where Reuben and Mickey were gathered with a group of people you didn’t know, leaving you alone with Jake.

“He’s such an ass sometimes,” he muttered, shaking his head.

“Isn’t he one of your best friends?” You asked him with a giggle. Jake’s demeanor seemed to relax at the sound.

“Unfortunately,” he grumbled, casting another glare over at where Bradley stood chatting and laughing.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” You frowned, noticing how tense he still seemed to be. He looked back at you, hesitating before letting out a sigh.

“Yeah, I guess I’m just feeling a little overheated or something,” he muttered, flexing his hands as he uncurled his fists. He moved to stand, and you followed suit.

“Think I’m going to go take a walk to cool off,” he mused, rolling his shoulders back. You frowned, rubbing a hand over your arm.

“Oh, okay,” you said, glancing at the ground, shifting your feet in the sand that covered the towel. Jake seemed to hesitate once more, chewing his bottom lip.

“Do you want to join me?” He asked you, his green eyes hopeful as you met his gaze. You felt a smile tug on your lips as you nodded.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” you murmured, moving to grab your bag. You stopped when you noticed it was placed neatly on top of the towel you had been sitting on previously, shells already back inside.

“I, uh,” Jake stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. “I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want anything to happen to them, so I put them back in your bag. I guess I should have asked first instead of just moving them. I’m sorry if I-”

“No,” you smiled, “it’s okay. Thank you.”

Jake gave you a nervous, tight lipped smile before nodding. “You can leave your bag here if you want. No one is going to take it.”

You returned his nod, gesturing for him to lead the way down the beach.

The two of you walked in silence for a few minutes, the ocean waves crashing off to your right, and the cool, night breeze ruffling your hair.

“Listen,” Jake started, stopping to turn to you, eyes earnest as they took you in. “I’m sorry about Mandy-”

“Oh, no, Jake,” you frowned, shaking your head. “You don’t have to apologize for her.”

“No, but I do,” he stated firmly, face serious as he looked at you. “It’s my fault she’s taking it out on you. She’s been so convinced that she and I are going to end up together, and now that she knows that’s not the case, she’s on the warpath.”

“Jake,” you sighed, “I understand feeling some kind of weird responsibility for her, but her actions are her own. You shouldn’t have to apologize on her behalf. She’s a big girl just like I am, right? We’re adults who are capable of making our own decisions and apologizing for the wrong we do. None of this is your fault.”

He didn’t look convinced, and you took his hand in yours to offer him some kind of reassurance. A bolt of electricity ran through you, causing you to let out a gasp, and a warmth rushed over you, causing you to squirm. You felt like a magnet, drawn to Jake in a way that you couldn’t even begin to understand. You wanted to feel more of him, to consume and be consumed by him. You had never felt anything like it in your life, and you looked up at him hazy eyes to find that he wasn’t any better off.

His own eyes had a haze to them, seeming to glow in the moonlight. His breathing came out labored, almost like he was fighting to maintain his composure. His eyes raked over you, a hand coming up to rest on your cheek, and you nuzzled into it without thinking.

“You’re so pretty,” he breathed, voice barely above a whisper as he inched closer to you.

“You’re just saying that,” you muttered, leaning into him.

“No,” he stated firmly, causing you to jump just a hair. His other hand came up to rest on your hip, pulling you closer so that you were practically molded against him.

“No,” he said again, gentler this time. “I mean it. You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

If it were possible, you were sure your skin would have heated up even more than it already was. As it stood, a pleasant warmth spread through you at his proximity, and the hand that was cradling your cheek slowly drifted down until it brushed the mark on your neck. You let out a wanton cry at the shock of pleasure that jolted through you at the simple touch, and Jake smirked down at you, stroking softly over the mark again and again as he drew more pleasured cries from you.

“It’s okay,” he cooed, leaning his forehead against yours, nuzzling his nose against the tip of yours. “I’ve got you.”

You couldn’t find it in you to feel embarrassed at the intense amount of pleasure you felt at the simplest of touches, too focused on the way his hands felt on you. You raised your own, one hand cradling his cheek as the other ran through his golden hair. He let out a groan as you tugged gently on the soft strands, and you couldn’t help the small smirk that spread across your face. Jake’s eyes met yours, the green of them so intense that it took your breath away. He glanced down at your lips, slowly leaning in-

“Jacob Seresin!”

You gasped, grasping at your ears at the almost inhuman shriek that pierced the night air. Jake pulled back, placing you almost protectively behind him. You peered around him to see Mandy glaring at him, blue eyes practically glowing with rage. Her gaze turned to you, and you shrank back slightly, hiding behind Jake a little more. This only served to make Mandy even more irate, and she snarled as she stomped closer to the two of you.

Jake bristled, standing taller as he continued to block you from Mandy’s warpath.

“How dare you,” she spat at him, lips pulled back into a sneer. “You’re mine.”

“No,” Jake growled, “I’m not.”

You shifted behind him, moving out from behind him slowly, and the pair turned to look at you. You gave them a sheepish smile, as you inched around Mandy, hands up in a form of surrender.

“I’m just going to head back so you two can talk in private,” you murmured. Jake looked like he wanted to argue, but Mandy’s glare had you moving before he could say anything.

You wrapped your arms around yourself as you walked back towards the bonfires, already missing Jake’s touch. You had never felt anything so intense in your entire life, and you wondered what had come over you to make you act so brazenly. You weren’t one for hookups, but you weren’t even sure that’s what that was going to be. He had held you so gently, like you might break or run away at any moment. You had been so ready to give him every part of you in that moment. You knew you should have been worried at that thought, but a large part of you thought that it felt right, that you should give yourself to him. The more you thought about it, the more you found yourself wanting to turn around and go back to him.

You were about halfway back down the beach when it started. It was quiet at first, distant. But then it grew louder, and you found yourself slowing to a stop, turning towards the crashing waves to your left.

The song was beautiful, melancholic. It was unlike the one you had heard before, this one sounding more animal like than human, but you still found yourself drawn to it. It called to you, begging you to listen, and you did, feeling the sound drift through your mind and pulling you in. You weren’t sure when you started walking, but you felt the sand shift beneath your feet as you slowly made your way towards the water. The fires faded from your sight, the churning waves beckoning to you like gentle hands that promised refuge. The song grew louder, all consuming, blocking everything else out but the need to answer. You felt the wind whip your hair around you, the cold sting kissing your cheeks as the crashing waves grew louder, the song more desperate. The sand beneath your feet grew cold as you ventured into a spot where the water met the shoreline. You’re almost there, the song called to you. You felt a relieved smile tug on your lips at the thought of finally reaching your goal and answering the song. You felt the water come just up to your toes before retreating back. You closed your eyes in anticipation. Just one more step.

You let out a cry as you were yanked away from the water, a strong hand on your upper arm. Your arms reached for the water, your mind still foggy as a loud, keening cry sounded from the water before disappearing entirely. You whirled around to see Javy staring at you with an intense worry, Nat just behind him, worry clear on her face.

“Wha-” you mumbled, pressing a hand to the side of your head as it began to pound. “What happened? Javy?”

“Hey, Skipper,” he murmured gently, pulling you closer, away from the water. “We’ve been calling you for a while now. You okay?”

“I…” you trailed off, glancing between him and the water. “I’m not sure.”

“How about we get you some water, yeah?” Nat suggested, wrapping her arms around you as she led you back to the bonfires. You nodded slowly.

“Yeah,” you muttered, glancing back at the ocean. “Yeah, okay.”

[azelmawrites]

FX-991 Love// CH. 5

Summary: While playing with your sister’s kids you suddenly remember you have an assignment due in less than 2 hours, and you’re in desperate need of a calculator so you borrow one from your sister’s hot neighbor. From there, unexpected romance blossoms.

Warnings: fem!reader, they/them pronouns for Hange, dirty talk, making out.

ch. 1 ch.2 ch.3 ch.4

Unfortunately you don’t see Hange on Thursday. So naturally your Friday doesn’t feel the best, besides the fact that you have a study group meeting as it was postponed at the start of the week. Annie and Historia both look like corpses by the time your two hour Physical Chemistry lecture 416 finishes. You know you look equally dead, if not more.

“Do we have time to get coffee before the meeting or no?” you ask, the running water from the faucet almost washing your voice out along with Historia loudly hustling her things inside her beige tote bag.

“Not really, Armin is already waiting there.” Annie answers, looking up from her phone then sighs exasperatedly at Historia. “What the hell are you looking for?”

“My phone!” Historia answers with a whine, “I completely forgot to tell Ymir we have a study group meeting, and very stupidly double booked myself.”

“It’s in your pocket.”

“Your pocket.”

You and Annie answer at the same time. Historia lets out a noise of recognition before she slips out her phone and unlocks it, the typing noise of her phone is louder when you turn off the faucet and snatch a few tissues to dry your hands.

“Oh right, any update with you and your hot neighbor?” Annie asks as you three leave the restroom. You sigh and shake your head, “I told them I can’t see them today, and I didn't see them yesterday either. But we’ve been texting a lot so that is good.”

Annie nods, “It’s okay, you will see them on the weekend.”

“I have to, I desperately need to. I miss them so much.” You say, holding tightly onto the strap of your black tote bag as you rush down the long stairs and finally exiting the chemistry department.

“I would say that you need to tone it down, and play some mind games and all. But, Hange seems like a nice person and their communication skills are top notch, so just tell them you miss them or something.” Annie advises, you grin at her as you link your arm with her.

“I agree with Annie, just let them know how you feel,” Historia says, “also can I just say your relationship is so refreshing? You and Hange are super cute.” she sing-songs the last two words as you feel your face turn hot.

“Wait, we’re meeting at the big library?” Historia suddenly asks, you and Annie hum in agreement at her question. “Let me tell Ymir so she can come, haven’t seen her all morning since I left.”

Once you three exit the science building, you look up at the setting sun and comment, “it’s the evening already? Jesus christ.”

Annie chuckles as Historia snorts. “We’ve been here since eight in the morning, and now in two hours it will officially be twelve hours we spent on campus.” Historia says, Annie opens her mouth to speak but your phone interrupts her, you unlink your arm from hers as you shuffle through your tote bag to find your phone.

When you take it out, both Historia and Annie look at the name flashing on your screen before they exchange looks and wiggle their eyebrows at you.

Your face heats up as you answer the call, and bring your phone to your ear.

“Hi baby,” you greet, feeling your lips stretch in a smile uncontrollably.

“Hi pretty, I missed you like crazy today.” Hange says. Historia leans her ear close to your phone so she can hear, while Annie is laughing and directing you two to the walk to the big library and making sure you don’t trip or bump into anyone.

“I missed you too, how was your day?”

“Like the usual, I’m just excited for tonight, I—”

“Hold on sweetie, the world’s noseiest girl is listening just let me—” then you stop talking to turn and push Historia that is laughing and giggling uncontrollably. You roll your eyes at her as you precede her and Annie to comfortably talk to Hange.

“You were saying?” you ask.

“My plans with Levi, I’m pretty excited about them. So far the plan is to go to a bar and meet up with a few old friends from college.”

“That seems fun, who’s going to be there?” you ask, knowing you are just going to stalk them all later when you go back home to make sure Hange doesn’t have any history with any of the women in the group, if there were to begin with.

“Levi, and his boyfriend Erwin, I told you about him,” you hum in agreement at Hange’s words, “yeah you did, who else?”

“A friend named Mike, he took most of Levi’s classes so that’s how I got to meet him. Moblit and Marlene, they were in my major. It’s been a while since I met them all.”

Your heart drops at the mention of a woman, and you try to play it casually despite your body temperature increasing despite walking into the main library's cold interior.

“Moblit and Marlene were in your major, tell me more about them.”

Annie gestures to the third floor, so you walk to the elevator and click on the button. Annie and Historia stare at your rigid features as you cross your arms over your chest.

“There really isn’t much to be said about them, we don’t even work in the same field. Moblit is a teacher and Marlene is a clinical physicist.” Hange says, when the elevator doors open you enter along with your friends as Annie clicks on the number three button.

“That seems pretty nice.” You answer.

Hange asks you a question, but it cuts as you’re in the elevator, though their voice comes back again when you reach the third floor, “-- so where are you right now and what are you planning to do later? I remember you told me you have a study group tonight.”

You hum in agreement, “well, me and the girls are in the big library to meet up with the rest of the group, it’s just two of our friends who study chemical engineering and we take almost the same subjects as them so…” you trail when you reach the booked meeting room. “It’s room three two five right?” you direct your question to Annie as you remove your phone away from your ear for a little.

“I feel like I should just go home, I’m seriously in desperate need of many things right now.”

Annie and Historia flash you smiles and enter first, you linger by the door to finish up your call with Hange.

“Okay, and what do you desperately need right now?” you laugh at Hange’s question as you look at the floor and stare at the untied shoelaces of your converse shoes.

“Coffee, with a triple shot of espresso and oat milk, oh and vanilla syrup oh and a jacket because I just know this library air conditioning is going to be the death of me, and food and you. I wanna see you so bad.”

“You will, sweetheart!”

“But seriously, don’t even think about me tonight, you enjoy your Friday to the fullest and then report back to me tomorrow morning how fun it was.”

“First I will not noth think about you tonight, it is literally impossible since I was thinking about you all day,” you feel your face growing hot at that, “and second, I will talk to you whenever I can, which is every hour or thirty minutes during the outing.”

When Jean angrily knocks on the glass of the door, you know you need to get inside the room. You wave at him to calm down, then tell Hange, “baby, I need to go, I will talk to you later.”

“Okay sweetie, see you later.”

You end the call and enter the meeting room, “hello Amin, hey Jean.” you greet, and place your things next to Annie.

“I hope I’m not the only one that completely felt like a dumbass in today’s physical chem lecture.” Jean says while Armin acknowledges you with a nod and a smile.

“No because me too, and the professor is so condescending too like when that girl asked him a question he keeps referring to physics one content—” she gets cut by Jean that slaps his palm on the table and complains, “I don’t fucking remember anything from physics one!”

“What about you Armin, did you think it was difficult?” you ask, taking out your laptop from your tote bag and pushing the screen open. The blond looks at Jean and Historia in worry before he answers with a mutter, “I actually quite enjoyed the lecture today—”

“Oh my god, there he goes!” Jean loudly interrupted. Historia only glared at Armin coldly then said, “you piss me off so much.”

“What did I do? The lecture was entertaining and the concepts were just things we learned in physics but are elevated.” Armin tries to defend himself. Jean and Historia just shake their heads at him.

“But when you think about it, Armin doesn’t really enjoy organic chem, he likes calculating and all that so.” You try to defend him back, Historia sighs and flips open her giant physical chemistry textbook.

“Thank you! Finally someone understands my dilemma!” Armin says while pointing at you.

“I actually don’t particularly understand you, what do you mean you don’t like organic? It’s literally the—”

“The easiest branch in chemistry.” Annie and Jean mock you as Historia giggles. You roll your eyes at them, and open your mouth to speak but you’re interrupted by the knocking on the door.

You are sat on a side that doesn’t allow you to see who’s behind the glass, neither is Annie but Historia can. Her face blanches as she turns to stare at you.

The questions you and Annie had for Historia are answered when Hitch walks into the meeting room. She doesn’t seem that much fazed by your presence as you are by hers, which truly bothers you.

“Hitch, you’re finally here.” Jean says, then he says to you all, “I’m sure you all already know who Hitch is, but she got a full mark on the last physical chem quiz so I invited her to teach us.”

“Us?” Annie repeats in surprise, “speak for yourself, sugar tits, I got a full mark too.”

“You and Armin piss me off, seriously.” Historia says as she frowns. Hitch grins and greets you all, “Hi everyone, I hope I’m not imposing.” Then her eyes land on you.

You’re broken out of your trance, and you truly have to remind yourself that you don’t care about her anymore or whatever happened between you two. It was ages ago, and before you met Hange who is truly the love of your life.

Now it may be quick to admit that, but Hange holds a special place in your life and heart.

“Hey Hitch, no you’re okay.” You tell as you smile, then you pull your black tote bag that managed to slip towards the middle and almost the far right of the table. She mutters a thank you, then starts taking out her things.

“So, it goes without a saying we’re gonna start with physical chem today.” Jean says, you and Annie exchange looks as you giggle.

With that, you all turn to stare at Hitch who walks to the rolling whiteboard and picks up a white board marker and turns to look at you all.

“Okay you idiots, first thing first we’re gonna go back to physics one basics and talk a little about the laws of thermodynamics.” As she says that you hear a sigh from Jean and Historia.

—

Not even an hour passes, but your brain is already fried from the amount of equations you had to solve. They humbled you truly, especially when you showed Annie your answer to a question and she had to sigh and point out that you forgot to put a few conversion factors in mind.

You’re not only tired, but you’re a little pissed at your lack of understanding physical chemistry.

Were you born stupid or did you not work hard enough for it? You had no idea, but a series of wrong answers got you holding your head and shivering in your seat despite wearing Annie’s thin cardigan.

“Can we please take a break? I cannot do this anymore, I seriously cannot.” Historia says, resting her head on the table then turning to hit her head on the wooden surface of the table.

“Hiso, don’t do this you’re just going to make yourself dumber than you are—”

“Jean I’m really not in the mood for your stupid jokes, I’m cold and I’m hungry and I need coffee and I want to see my girlfriend and I want to sleep for a million years, so, shut up!” she screams the last two words at Jean.

He raises his palms up defensively, “I was just saying!”

Annie leans across the table and slaps his head, “don’t piss her off, we’ve been here on campus since eight am.”

“Shit, and I just know you idiots were surviving on a cup of iced coffee and a croissant.” Jean says.

“How could you tell?” you ask, then pick up your phone and realize you have had it on Do Not Disturb for a while now.

Jean lays his head on his palm as he watches you. “Well, you three are easily irritable today. I could blame it on the fact that you’ve been here since eight in the morning but, I’ve seen you energetic when running on two hours of sleep.”

Completely ignoring the side conversations as you read the notifications on your phone. A few from your sister and brothers sharing pictures of the family gathering on the family group chat. Then to your sister privately texting you asking you if you took her new white shirt, as you were clad in said shirt.

Finally to a few missed calls of Hange. With a frown, you stand up and call them back as you leave the meeting room.

“Hi sweetie,” Hange greets.

“Hey, my phone was on silent but is everything okay? You called a few times.” You say, playing with the hem of Annie’s cardigan.

“Yeah baby everything is okay, I just wanted to ask you what room you are in the library.” Hange asked. You blinked in shock as you asked, “you’re here?”

“Well yes, I told you I was coming.” Hange answered like it was an obvious thing.

“You did?” you asked in shock, then headed to the metal railing as you stared down at the floors below hoping you would catch sight of Hange.

“Yes baby, I even asked you where you were and you told me the library.” Comes Hange’s answer.

Oh, right when their voices cut while you were in the elevator. “Am I coming at a bad time?” They ask again, unsure.

“No no no, absolutely not, I’m just surprised. That’s all. Oh right, where are you exactly?” you answer, feeling your heart fluttering with excitement at the thought of seeing Hange.

“Well, I remember you mentioned something about room three two five so I’m guessing it's the third floor.”

“Yeah, I’m actually right by the door of the room so—”

“Oh! I think I see you—” you turn around to your left at that, then to your right. Your heart soars with joy when you make eye contact with a smiling Hange. Without wasting a single second you run in their direction as you try your best to quieten your squeals.

You almost jump into their arms, but the sight of the coffee cups and bags they’re holding makes you slow down. Seeing you approaching, they set them on the floor so you run to their arms and embrace them tightly.

“I missed you so much!” you hiss into their ear, as Hange laughs.

Breaking the hug, and not really caring if there are students around, you press kisses all over their face.

“I missed you more, and you look so pretty, is that a new shirt?” Hange notes, holding into the fabric of your shirt. You giggle and admit, “it actually belongs to Fei, I stole it from her.”

“Well she should give it to you, it looks like it was made for you.” Hange says, leaning down and picking up the coffee cups they left on the floor, along with the plastic bags. Hange hands you a labeled coffee, “for you, pretty girl, exactly like how you like it.”

You take the warm coffee cup, then press another kiss to Hange’s cheek as you giggle, “thank you, baby, I appreciate it.”

“Is that your jacket? It’s pretty thin.” Hange comments. Shaking your head as you sip your coffee, “It’s Annie’s.”

“Well, I got you a hoodie because you said you were cold, and some food because you said you were hungry.” Hange says, then gives you the hoodie they were holding. You gladly take it, and kiss them again on their cheek. “You are perfect.” you whisper against their face, then pull away.

“Thanks baby, and just know that you are never going to see this hoodie ever again.” You say, giving Hange your cup to hold it as you take off Annie’s cardigan and slip on the thick black hoodie.

“You got extra coffee for who?” You ask, noting the extra cups.

“Your friends, food too.” They lift the plastic bags.

“Hange you are literally the best.” You say, wrapping your arm around their biceps and resting your head on their side arm. “Do I get a kiss for that too?” Hange asks.

You giggle, and lean to kiss Hange on their cheek once again. “Right, let’s drop off this coffee and food for them and then let’s take a walk together.” You say, then pull Hange to the designated room.

Historia, and Hitch are the first to notice you lingering with Hange by the glass panel on the door. Then you push the door open, “Hange got us coffee and food!”

Jean and Historia cheer in joy as Armin laughs. Annie grins and greets Hange, “Hi, Hange.”

“Hey Annie.” Hange greets back.

You quickly introduce everyone to Hange, and vice versa while distributing the coffee.

“This is Armin and Jean, they’re the ones who major in chemical engineering like I told you—”

Jean cuts you, “and also her friends.” You shrug your shoulders, “unfortunately we are friends.”

Then you hand Hitch her coffee, “this is Hitch, she was Annie’s roommate and she’s also in our major.” Hitch accepts the cup with a polite smile and a nod.

“Right, I think we deserve a break.” You tell everyone as Historia nods, “Yeah, and Ymir is coming in a few so we really do need a break.”

“Alright then, we continue studying after five minutes?” Jean asks, you roll your eyes as you scoff, “make it thirty, princess.”

Jean sighs and he opens his mouth to speak, possibly to argue but Armin motions for you to leave fast as he urges, “you go, we’ll regroup in thirty minutes—I want a break too, I’m sick and tired already.”

You giggle then pull Hange behind with you, but not without Historia shouting behind you, “and remember kids, the best make out spot is behind the dictionaries—” she is cut by a smack and you don’t have to look behind to know who it was, just knowing deep in your heart it is Annie.

When you exit the room, and walk down the hall, you tell Hange, “I’m sorry, they thrive on teasing me.”

“It’s fine,” Hange says with a chuckle, then intertwines their fingers with yours, “we should’ve stayed a bit longer to hear what spot she’s talking about.”

Unable to stop your giggle and your face turning hot, you glance at Hange to find them already looking at you. “That’s all you care about?”

“No, but it’s definitely something I want.”

“Whatever…” you say dragging your R’s and rolling your eyes, unable to find a witty response to Hange’s flirtation. They laugh, then bring your hand up to their lips to press a kiss on the back of your hand and wrist, a shiver runs down your spine as your heart accelerates.

“You are so cute, you know that?” is what they say.

Your heart can’t take it anymore, so you change the topic as your face grows unbearably hot. “Right, you told me you had plans with your friends—what happened to that?”

Hange allows you to steer the conversation, though their smirk at making you reach this stage of shyness exposes their giddiness.

“Levi is driving tonight—he doesn’t drink, so Erwin and I are meeting him up here because he finishes work pretty late. And I decided to just come here to see you, instead of waiting at home and having him pick me up.”

“Oh right, I think he has the general chemistry lab for first years, and it starts pretty late and that’s without counting the hour he has to stay after to help clean up and grade quizzes.” You say, bringing Hange outside to the third floor secret balcony.

Hange steps out after you, taking in the view and nodding appreciatively. “Wow, this is perfect. How did you find this place?”

“Boring story, but I was studying for my first midterm ever here and found it while I was walking around and looking for the vending machine.” You join them at the railing, and as the breeze rustles through your hair, you feel Hange’s arm slip around your waist. “You have no idea how much I missed you,” they murmur, turning their head to look at you.

You smile up at them, feeling the warmth of their body close to yours. “I missed you too.” Hange pulls you in a little closer, their knuckles brushing lightly over your cheek. “You know,” they begin, their voice soft and teasing, “I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on my plans tonight. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

You laugh lightly, leaning into their touch. “I don’t think I will be able to focus on studying either.” They grin, then pull you into a kiss, slow and gentle, the world fading away around you as the kiss deepens. The peaceful atmosphere of the balcony only makes the moment feel more intimate.

When the kiss breaks, Hange rests their forehead against yours and smiling softly.

“Right, when are you free for another date?” Hange asks, pulling you to sit on the metal bench, it’s cold against your thighs so you scoot impossibly close to Hange, while still holding onto their bicep and holding your coffee with your other hand and sipping on it, it does the job of warming you up perfectly.

“I definitely will make some time tomorrow, my sister is hosting lunch at her place in celebration of mom’s birthday,” you say and take another sip of your coffee, “so I can definitely sneak to you, or even tell them I have plans and just go to your place, or we can even go out,”

“Oh yeah, your nephew—the older one, told me about that.” Hange comments, you have to stop yourself from giggling as you shake your head, “Kai is really out here telling you things before I can, this is like the second time he did that.”

“Yeah,” Hange chuckles, bringing your free hand and kissing your wrist then resting it against their own to warm it. “He did tell me about you babysitting them last wednesday, and you not really being a good cook but still being a cool aunt.”

“Kai is out here to get me,” you say then sigh, you place your coffee on the bench and take out your phone from your pocket—refusing to let go of Hange’s hand. “Right, tonight they had a family dinner at my eldest brother’s home and they’re all sharing pictures.”

Hange leans close to see your phone clearer, it allows you to take whiffs of their delicious cologne along with their natural scent. The effect it has on you is visceral, and you embarrassingly find yourself growing wet.

“This is the oldest one right?” Hange points at someone on your screen, and it takes a second to load inside your head but you hum in agreement nonetheless. Too distracted by your desire to sit on their lap, rock your hips front and back as you kiss their neck and play with their hair.

When you look at who they’re pointing to, you are glad that the answer you gave wasn’t wrong despite your mind being too preoccupied. It doesn’t even help that flashbacks of that night with Hange keeps showing up in ultra quality at the front of your mind.

Hange is too busy swiping at the photos and commenting here and there, while you are basically eating them with your eyes. They look effortlessly good in a simple black on black outfit and a light unbuttoned denim flannel. You don’t know what it is, or if there’s even reasoning to this feral need you have for Hange but even the watch on their wrist, and their sitting position makes you unbelievably horny.

It’s not the time nor place for that, and you should feel ashamed but you don’t really find any care for now. Especially when you haven’t seen Hange in a while, and you know that it’s a secret place so not many people would stumble here.

Even if they did, you probably wouldn’t see them ever again.

Armored by bravery because of the last reasoning, you unlink your arm with hange and before they could protest you wrap your arms around their neck and bring them down to kiss you, as your legs dangle over their own.

Surprised, but not complaining they pull you to sit on their lap as your kisses travel down their neck, and their hands instinctively grip your waist, pulling you closer. You feel the warmth of their skin beneath your fingertips, and the faint scent of their cologne mixed with something uniquely them sends a shiver down your spine. Hange lets out a soft chuckle, a teasing edge in their voice.

“Well, aren’t you bold today?” they murmur, their breath warm against your ear, making your pulse race even faster. Their hands start to roam, fingers pressing into your sides, and you can feel their breath quickening as they respond to your touch.

You pull back slightly, enough to meet their gaze, eyes clouded with desire and mischief. “You can’t just show up looking like this and expect me to behave.” you say, your nails scratching their scalp and then pulling gently on their hair strands as your body temperature grows hotter.

“Oh yeah? I will look like this more then.”

Moving your hips against Hange’s as their right hand spreads out and travels down your back to take a handful of your ass against your flared jeans. They then pull your curls, making you let out a gasp as your head is pulled to the back and giving them good access to your neck.

Hange kisses your neck and whispers, “fuck I missed hearing you and tasting you.”

They kiss first, then suck and bite on the sensitive batches of your skin, and you can’t help but moan softly. The last thing on your mind is that the shirt you are wearing shows your neck, and you are doomed to get teased endlessly by your friends.

Nothing in this world could’ve pulled you away from each other, even when the distinctive creak of the balcony door opening you find your reactions slow and not really caring if anyone saw you two making out. Neither does Hange, seeing they’re still leaving strawberry kisses there.

You creak one eye open, then with all the strength and force you could muster you push Hange away as you look at who entered the balcony. Though by that time, the intruder had already left.

Knowing that the logical thing for now is to use the mild interruption as a way to stop making out, because if you don’t stop you are anxious that in the heat of your desire you might want to escalate things out in public. You pull away from Hange, as they whine in protest, “why?”

“We must, I have to study and you have plans and if we don’t stop now who knows what might happen,” you say with a sigh, also struggling hard to now continue back to what you started.

“You are a tease, you know that?”

“Baby, I don’t mean to be a tease,” you say, pressing a kiss to Hange’s lips and then standing up as you pull them up with you—and definitely not forgetting your coffee that is on the verge of turning lukewarm.

“I can cancel you know,” Hange suggests, but you shake your head. “No, honey. You haven’t seen your friends in a while, plus I gotta study anyways.”

Your ego is inflated as just a short make out session that you started has this effect on Hange. Willing to cancel a night out with their friends, and even wanting to come over to your place after a long day and a long night.

Pulling Hange towards the door, it creaks open again and you pull them inside to the brightly lit corridors of the library.

“But…I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” They ask, intertwining your fingers.

“Yeah baby, I’ll see you tomorrow, anything you feel like doing tomorrow?” you ask, walking down the many halls to reach the meeting room.

Hange’s voice is unwillingly loud in the middle of the quiet corridor, “besides fucking you? No, not really—” you turn to look at Hange with a scandalized stare, as their shoulders shake with a chuckle at your response.

You roll your eyes and shake your head, “whatever, you have fun on your night. Text me when you get home safe, okay?”

Hange obediently nods, “okay, sweetie.” Then cups your face with their free hand to kiss you just right when you reach the meeting room.

It’s a struggle to let go of their hand, and go back to studying. But when it happens you feel frustration growing in your chest, and just wished that you could spend the whole night with Hange instead of studying.

“See you tomorrow?” Hange affirms one last time, and you grin and nod, “see you tomorrow.” They wait for you to enter the meeting room, and when you do, you notice the eerie silence from all your friends.

Though the mischievous smiles from them kind of concern you. It was very easy to connect the dots, especially seeing Armin’s red ears and so you ask with a sigh, “so which one of you guys was the intruder?”

Ymir and Historia start, “(Y/N) and Hange sitting on a tree—” feeling your face growing unbearably hot, you don’t waste a second to toss Annie’s pencil case right at them to stop them.

[thejujvtsupost]

Smitten: The First Date

It’s been way too long since I’ve updated this series and I have so many ideas for them coming up. Lmk if you wanna be added to the series taglist!

Notes: F!reader, first official date, anxiety and jitters, fluff. Just really fluffy.

“Satoru you’re already running late, I’ll be okay here.”

“The kids will understand. Do you want another blanket?” Gojo’s class started three minutes ago and he refused to leave his office until he was sure you were set.

You’d been taking up the couch in his office during the day for the last few weeks, it soothed some of Gojo’s anxiety about leaving you alone now that his energy was rubbing off on you.

You nodded your head and Gojo draped another throw over your body. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much longer before your leg healed so you could freely walk; maybe then your boyfriend would relax. (Unlikely) “The kids rely on their teacher to be on time, but thank you. We should bring in a space heater tomorrow, how did you get by without having one in here so far?”

“You’re always cold, and it’s not that bad usually but I don’t spend much time in here; too lonely. You know I’m not far and text me if you need anything at all. I’ll see you for lunch?”

“Go be a teacher before Yaga decides to hire someone with better attendance please.”

“Kiss first!” He exclaimed and kissed your lips before pulling away with a ‘mwah!’ sound, leaving you laughing at his cartoonish display.

You just shook your head at him while reigning yourself in, “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“Are you sure about this, Kugisake? It looks like a lot with the flowers on the table too.”

“Girls love surprises, Sensei. Last time Fushiguro poked his head in she was asleep, this is literally the perfect time.” Nobara was putting the finishing touches on the makeshift dining table, while Yuuji and Megumi plated the food- something they took surprisingly seriously. Really they just wanted to impress you. “You should go get her before the food gets cold.”

Gojo followed the directions given to him by the 15 year old girl and took the short trip down the hall.

You were still sound asleep, and he heavily debated on postponing but the kids were indiscreetly spying on him. He couldn’t back out on it.

“Hey, baby, it’s time for lunch.” He knelt down to your level and rubbed your shoulder until you stirred- he hated waking you up. He hated it a little less when you gave him your half asleep smile.

“Lunch?” The coffee table was empty, usually he brought lunch with him.

“We’re actually going on a little mission, you and I. So up you go!”

“‘Toru! Crutches!” He had you in his arms and out of the room before you could even reach for them.

“Nope!” What did he mean no? How long was he going to carry you?

“Ta-da!” Apparently not long. Your boyfriend sat you in a chair and did jazz hands at the display in front of you- you put together then that it was a date. Your first date.

It was all arranged carefully and the food made your stomach grumble. “‘Toru this is wonderful! You didn’t have to do all this!”

“The kids helped, they’d kill me if I didn’t give partial credit.”

“I kinda figured since there’s three mysteriously floating heads spying on us in the doorway behind you.”

Gojo turned around, shooed them away with only some complaints, before closing the door and returned to your lunch date. “I know our relationship hasn’t evolved in the most traditional ways but I still wanted you to know that I care about the normal stuff too. A lot has been going on but I hadn’t even taken you out yet.”

“I wasn’t expecting anything-”

“I know,” Gojo sighed. “But I pulled you into a world you never knew existed and now you’re stuck with my baggage too. I think you’re doing great by the way, you haven’t even tried escaping.”

“Tried escaping- you’re ridiculous sometimes Satoru. Your world isn’t baggage, I know it can be cruel at times but it’s not all bad. It’s just a different experience, but I feel like I found my place with you all; I’ve never had that before…”

“You always have a place where I am, always.” His tone was serious enough to make your heart feel warm. Sometimes Gojo catches you off guard with how much he cares. His silliness is only one piece of the puzzle that is your boyfriend.

“Well I guess it’s good that I wanna be where you are, always.”

You both smiled at each other, and if you chose to ignore the sets of peeping eyes through the classroom window; then that was between you and the first years.

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[discount-shades]

Sleepy Baby Part 6

a/n: It’s a little less fluffy.

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin / Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1500 ish

Summary: Jake and Kisses talk about their pasts.

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Netflix’s ‘are you still watching’ screen had long since timed out and was now flashing through images of the various shows on the streaming service. Tucked under Jake’s arm and wedged between his body and the back of your couch you watch the changing light from the TV flicker across his face. He is gazing down at you as he runs his fingers up and down your back

“You know, I’ve been with you every evening for the last two weeks,” Jake said, breaking the silence. “When did you stop going to your therapy mandated one hour weekly bar socializing sessions?”

“When some weirdo I met at a bar three months ago tracked me down at work two weeks ago.” you grin up at him as his eyes light up. 

“He sounds like a creep, you should stay away from him.” 

“Yeah I should, but unfortunately he is really good looking so I went and gave him my number and my address.” You shrug, “I can’t get rid of him now.” 

“Good looks are a blessing and a curse.” Jake sighs dramatically and you lean up to kiss his chin. 

“It’s ok that you stopped, though, right?” Jake looks down at you, “I don’t want to… I don’t know, impede your progress, or something.”

“It’s ok, she wanted me to go out and meet someone.” You grin up at him, “When I see her tomorrow she will probably be more excited than you were when I gave you my number.” 

“Not possible.” he declares. “That was the best day of my life.” You snort at his response.

“Do you want to know why?” You shift so you can rest your chin on his chest. “You can ask, you know.” 

“You’ll tell me when you are ready.” Jake shrugs, “I’m in no rush and you’re worth waiting for.” He goes back to running his fingers up and down you back. 

“I want you to know. Long story long?” You ask, “or long story short?”

“Long story long,” he replies. You take a deep breath. You want Jake to know, but sharing always gives you a weird feeling, like you are looking for pity. Part of you wants to just info-dump the story and move past it. You are also unsure of how he will respond. 

“I started dating my high school boyfriend, Ian, at seventeen,” you tell him on your exhale. “We lived outside Seattle and almost our whole friend group ended up moving there for university.” His eyes are searching yours and you turn your head so your ear is pressed against his chest. The steady beat of his heart is soothing and it is easier to talk without looking at him.

“We got engaged at twenty-three and had the whole wedding planned for when I was twenty-five.” Your breath is shaky as you inhale again. “My mother got really sick about four months before the wedding.” You blink and a tear hits Jake's shirt. “Breast cancer, it was already Stage 4 when they found it and she died about two months later.” You sniff and wipe your eyes. “My father was devastated. He had a heart attack and died about a month after my mom.”

“Oh, Kisses,” Jake wraps both arms more firmly around you and holds you close. “I’m so sorry.” 

You relax into his arms, allowing yourself to be held. “They were pretty good parents as far as parents go.” you look up at him. “They had rules and all, but everything was done with humor.” You smile in memory. “Every rule had some kind of dire and completely unrealistic consequence if it wasn't followed. They would tell me to wear my coat in the winter or I would freeze solid and they would turn me into a Christmas lawn ornament and leave me out there until spring, stuff like that. There was a lot of laughter growing up.”

“Must be where you get it from," he says. 

“Yeah,” you say sadly. “Not gonna lie, you brought some of that back.” You put your head back on his chest. “We postponed the wedding for a year. The vendors were surprisingly good about it.” 

“Ian and Beth, my best friend since the second grade, got me through their deaths.” You laugh humorlessly. “I remember feeling so lucky that my fiancé and my BFF got along so well.” I started seeing Jenn, my therapist, and I was doing a lot better. 

“A month before the second wedding date Ian and Beth were killed by a drunk driver when Ian was driving her home one night.”

“Oh, Kisses–” Jake goes to speak but you cut him off.

“That's not the best part.”

“The best part?” 

“I mean you could also call it the worst part,” you sit up and look at Jake. “She was giving him a blow job when they were hit.” Jake’s jaw drops and he is staring at you with a horrified expression. “Yeah,” you say wryly. “It turns out they had a little thing going on since high school. All our friends knew but no one told me; I don’t talk to anyone from home anymore.”

“How did you find out?” Jake sits up too, arm resting on the back of the couch.

“The police told me. I was with his parents when I found out and I just started laughing hysterically. They were so mad at me for laughing. I just stood up and walked out of their house. Didn’t help cover the funeral or anything, just left and cut contact.”

“Is that when you moved here?” Jake's eyes are searching your face. 

“No, I stayed in Seattle for about a year.” You tell him. “The really funny thing is that it turns out I was the sole beneficiary for one hell of a comprehensive accidental death insurance policy, and since the other driver was speeding and three times over the legal limit when his truck hit their car it paid out in full.”

Jake whistles under his breath. “At least you got something out of it.”

“That’s the way I choose to see it. His parents were upset that kept it all, but I feel like I've earned it.” You shrug, “Money doesn't buy happiness but it did make me feel a little better, it paid for lots of therapy in any case.”

“So after a year of me complaining about Seattle, Jenn asked me why I didn't just move. So I applied for every library position I could find in the country and got hired here and moved to San Diego. We do video call sessions now.”

“For what it is worth, I am so happy you ended up here.” Jake takes your hand in his, kissing your palm. 

“Me too,” you grin shyly at him. “I was here for four months before Jenn talked me into going out to bars to socialize. I had been going every week for about two months when I met you. And I played our song.”

Jake makes a face. “In the Navy is not our song, we can’t dance to In the Navy at our wedding.”

“Wow….  You are jumping the gun a bit there with your wedding talk, but we can dance to any song we want at our wedding, if you are not a coward.” You tell him with a grin. 

“I’ll find a better song for us,” Jake assures you. 

“What kind of experience do you have picking out songs for your relationships? I want to make sure I am trusting an expert.” You tell him.

“I’ll have you know I picked Taylor Swift's Our Song for me and my high school girlfriend.” Jake says smugly. “I’m practically the authority on relationship songs.”

“That song’s a little on the nose. How did that relationship end?” You ask, “Did the song play a role in the downfall?”

“No, with Stacy and I, it was very amicable.” Jake smiles fondly. “She was my neighbor and we started dating when we were like fourteen. We broke up after graduation when we realized that what we wanted from our future careers would not fit together. She is a professional barrel racer now and happily married to a team roper.” 

“Did you grow up on a farm, Jake Seresin?” You're grinning ear to ear, trying to picture him in a cowboy hat. Maybe holding a calf.

“No, we lived next door to Stacy's parents' horse ranch.” He says, “Our families are pretty close. I even went to her wedding where we danced to Our Song for old times sake, proving that I pick good songs.”

“Then I shall leave our song choice to the professional,” you tell him dramatically.

You stretch and check your watch, it reads 2:30AM. “It’s too late to drive,” you tell him. “Do you wanna stay the night?” He looks up at you in surprise, it's the first time you have invited him to stay over. 

“Yeah,” his voice sounds hoarse and he clears it. “Yes, I do.”

“Then come on,” You take his hand and lead him to your bedroom. You try to hide how fast your heart is beating, but when his fingers shift over the pulse in your wrist and stay there you are sure he knows.

“Do I get to finally see those PJs you described to me the other day?”

You laugh, “No, I’ll save that mystery for another day, you will get to see the sloth PJs. though.”

[bellaireland1981]

Starting Over | 9

Summary: You come home to work to find your husband of three years in bed with your supposed best friend. It’s the wake up call you finally needed to take your two year old daughter and get the hell out of Texas. With nowhere to go you head to your big brother in San Diego. The Dagger squad takes you under their wings, and shows you what having a family means. You get a fresh start… will you find your happily ever after?

Characters: Jake “hangman” Seresin x Sister! Reader, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Seresin! Reader (Eventually), Hangman x Phoenix , Adorable OC Gracie!   The Dagger squad

Word Count: 10454

Warnings: Angst, fighting, cheating husband, emotional abuse, eventual fluff, SMUT, Sweet uncle Jake, Adorable Rooster with a toddler… if I miss any please let me know. MINORS DNI

A/N: I don’t own the characters or storyline for Top Gun Maverick. All OC’s are mine. I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR ANYONE TO COPY OR REPOST MY WORK TO ANY OTHER PLATFORM! DON’T STEAL! Reblogs, likes and comments ALWAYS welcomed. THANK YOU @waywardodysseys​ and  @beyondthesefourwalls​ as always for reading over my work and helping me flush out ideas!!

Taglist is open! If I missed anyone who asked to be tagged, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM  to be added. It’s getting to hard to keep track of asks.

CH 1  CH 2  CH 3  Ch 4  Ch 5  Ch 6  Ch 7 Ch 8

You’d fallen into a new normal fairly easily. Gracie was loving daycare and the friends she’d made. You’d even managed to set up some playdates for her outside of daycare. You were developing a routine at the Hard Deck, setting up your own system for doing the inventory and falling seamlessly into the work there. You actually really enjoyed it too.

It’d been almost a month since your divorce. Things with Bradley were perfect. You knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was your forever love. He stayed over at the house with you and Gracie often, other nights you’d stay at his house. Neither of you liked sleeping apart.

Trent’s initial court appearance for the violation of the order of protection had been pushed back at the request of his lawyer. You’re not sure what the endgame was, he’d broken the order twice, he was only postponing the inevitable. Your lawyer assured you that you had nothing to worry about. The hearing for custody was scheduled for the following week on Thursday... It had taken longer than you thought to be scheduled, but you tried to stay positive. Gracie’s third birthday was two days later on Saturday and you were already busy planning a party. Jake insisted she needed a huge princess party. Bradley had agreed wholeheartedly, as had the entire Dagger squad.

“Sweetheart, I think we need a castle bounce house.” Bradley said, scrolling through inflatable rentals for the area on his phone.

“Where exactly do you think we’re putting this bounce house, Babe?” You asked, “The backyard is decent sized, but not bounce house sized.”

“You’re right.” He agreed, “We need a bigger venue.”

“You and Jake are out of control.” You laughed, “She’s 3.”

“I know, but this is the first birthday she’s had all of us.” He reasoned, wrapping his arms around you, “And it’s our first birthday with her as a family.”

“You make a good argument, Lieutenant.” You smiled, your arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him down to claim his lips. “I love our little family… and I love our big extended chaotic family.”

“I love YOU.” He said, smiling against your lips, “And our family.”

“I love you too, Brad.” You replied, kissing him once more before pulling back, “Ok, we’ll find a bigger venue…and get the castle bounce house.”

“We can see if Mav and Penny would let us use their yard?” Bradley suggested, “Or Mav’s hangar?”

“I don’t want to impose on anyone.” You said.

“Sweetheart, I promise they’d jump at the chance.” He assured you. “I’ll ask Mav tomorrow at work.”

Obviously, they’d been more than happy to host the party. Bradley called on his lunch break to let you know. It was your off day from the Hard Deck so you’d taken Gracie to go play at the park and run some errands. You were just getting ready to take her home for a nap when he’d called.

“Hey, Sweetheart, how are my girls?” He asked when you answered the phone on speaker. “We’re just heading home so Gracie can nap.”

“Daddy WOOSTA!” Gracie yelled from the backseat, “Mommy, can we pwease go see Daddy?”

“Hi, Princess,” Bradley replied to her, “Daddy has to go up in his jet in a little bit, Baby Girl. I promise, I’ll come see you tonight when I get done with work, ok?”

“OK, Daddy.” She said, “Wuv you!”

“I love you too, Princess.” He replied.

“Mav and Penny are happy to have her party at their house so we can finish planning with the bigger space in mind.” Bradley said, “There was zero hesitation too, Mav was like a kid at Christmas when I asked.”

“You should have seen Jake’s face last night when I told him there was a possibility of inflatables.” You laughed, “He’s a big kid.”

“We were picking out the perfect one before I called you actually.” He laughed, “Him and Phoenix just ran to grab a quick lunch together. They’re on the ground this afternoon so they get to eat a bigger lunch.”

“Come over tonight when you’re done, I’ll make sure you have a nice big dinner to make up for it.” You promised.

“And cuddles with my girls after?” He asked.

“Definitely.” You agreed.

“I’ll see you after work, Sweetheart.” He said, “Love you.”

“Love you too,” You replied, “Fly safe, Bradley.”

“Always.” He promised.

Party planning continued to go smoothly, although with Jake and Bradley helping, you found yourself having to reign them in constantly. You’d already had to veto the live ponies dressed as unicorns, which you learned later had been Mav’s suggestion.

“Penny, he’s as bad as Jake and Bradley!” You laughed, while unboxing an order of alcohol and stocking it on the shelves in back. “He suggested ponies dressed as unicorns!”

“You should have seen him in the Disney Store the other day when we went to get Gracie’s presents.” Penny replied, shaking her head smiling, “Between him and Amelia, I’m amazed we made it out of there without buying out the entire store.”

“I have to admit though,” You said, pausing from stocking the shelves, “I love seeing how much Bradley loves her, Pen. The amount of excitement he has over making this birthday so special for her, absolutely melts my heart.”

“One thing you will never have to doubt, Sweetie, is how much that man loves and adores that little girl.” She said, “In his eyes, Gracie is already one hundred percent his little girl and it doesn’t matter if there is a piece of paper that declares it, or DNA that proves it. He’s her daddy.”

“I love him so much it sometimes scares me.” You admitted, “I’m almost afraid I’ll wake up and this will all have been just a wonderful dream and I’ll be back in that nightmare of a marriage.”

“That part takes time, Y/N.” Penny said, “But I assure you, this is absolutely real. You’re free of him. Next week, I’m confident the courts will free Gracie from him. Trust that this is now your life and it’s not going anywhere.”

“Thank you, Penny.” You said, smiling, “For everything. You’ve been absolutely amazing.”

“You’re welcome, Sweetie.” She replied, “We’re family. I know you’ve heard it a lot since moving out here, but I’ll keep reminding you. This is just what you do for family.”

Once you finished work that day you picked Gracie up from daycare and headed home. Jake’s truck was already in the driveway when you got there.

“Looks like Uncle Jakey beat us home.” You said, pulling in next to him and turning the car off. You got Gracie out of her carseat and you made your way inside

“We’re home!” You called, walking in. You set your keys in the bowl next to the door and kicked your shoes off, before taking Gracie’s backpack and hanging it on the hook.

Jake came out of the kitchen, still in his flight suit but the top part off, tied around his waist. He must have just gotten home ahead of you.

“There’s my Princess G.” He said, holding his arms out for Gracie. She went straight to him to be hoisted up into a tight hug. You could tell he must have had a rough day.

“Hey, you OK, Jakey?” You asked, concern etched on your face.

“Yeah, I’m ok, Tulip.” He replied, offering a small smile. “Just a long, frustrating day where nothing went right.”

“That why you’re home early?” You asked.

“Yeah.” He sighed, “My plane’s grounded for repairs for a few days. I had a close call in the air today. It shook me.”

You stepped forward wrapping your arms around your brother and daughter as best as you could.

“I’m glad you’re OK, Jakey.” You said, “We’d be lost without you. We love our Jakey.”

“We wuv Unco Jakey.” Gracie agreed.

“I love you girls too.” He said, hugging you both tightly. “Life kinda sucked before y’all showed up on my doorstep. I’m really glad you’re here.”

“We’re really glad we’re here too.” You agreed.

A few hours later, Bradley and Phoenix showed up, both concerned about Jake. Phoenix had been in the air with Jake when he’d ran into problems, her heart in her throat until he’d been safe on the ground. Bradley had been listening from inside his plane, waiting to go up.

“I’m glad you’re OK, man.” Bradley said, “Scared the shit outta us. Thought you’d have to punch out there for a minute.”

“Me too.” He said, “I’m lucky I was able to get the engine to refire so I could save it.”

“Now I know how you felt when I had the bird strike.” Phoenix admitted. “It’s not a great feeling.”

“Darlin’, watching you punch out and your plane actually crash about killed me that day.” Jake said, pulling her into his arms. “I couldn’t get to you fast enough. Then it killed me not to be able to hug the shit out of you and reassure myself you really were OK.”

“New rule.” You said, knowing it wouldn't be enforceable, but needing to say it nonetheless, “No punching out, no crashing, no getting hurt. If you take a plane into the air, you land that plane safely on the ground or carrier you took off from.”

“We’ll do our best, Sweetheart.” Bradley smiled, pulling you against him, kissing the top of your head. “None of us want to punch out or crash. It kinda sucks.”

“It doesn't feel great.” Phoenix confirms. “Even when it’s textbook, that shit hurts.”

Jake and Phoenix ended up heading over to her place that night. Jake knew he’d be in for a rough night and he didn’t want Gracie to see him upset.

After dinner, Bradley and Gacie were playing in the living room while you finished getting the kitchen cleaned up after dinner.

“What are you building, Princess?” Bradley asked her while they built with her legos.

“I making a big big castle.” She replied, “Fow you, mommy and me. So we wiv togever! And Unco Jakey and Aunty Nix too.”

“That is a big big castle.” He smiled, his heart melting. “You’d like it if you, mommy and I all lived together?”

“Yes, Daddy!” She beamed, excitedly at him, before continuing to build.

“Princess, Daddy would love that too.” He replied, his voice thick with emotion. He’d already been thinking about asking you to move in with him. Truth be told, he really wanted to marry you, but he knows you just got out of a really bad marriage and you might not be in a hurry to jump into another marriage. He made a mental note to talk to Jake tomorrow though, he wanted to get his blessing to proceed, knowing it would be important to you.

Later that night long after Gracie was tucked into bed you and Bradley were laying in bed cuddling before going to sleep. You were tucked into his side, your arm draped over his middle, fingers tracing patterns over his chest.

“Have you noticed that lately Gracie has started to drop the Woosta and just call you Daddy?” You asked, tipping your head up to look at him.

“I have.” He replied, a smile playing on his lips, “I’ll admit, as much as I loved hearing her say ‘Woosta’ and being ‘Daddy Woosta’, just being ‘Daddy’ is a whole new and amazing feeling, Sweetheart.”

“I know it happened really fast and we didn’t really talk about it in depth…” You said, “You’re really OK with her calling you Daddy? I just don’t want you to ever feel like you were forced into that role…”

“Sweetheart.” He said, stopping you. He pulled you up and flipped you both so you were lying eye to eye on the bed. “I am one hundred percent on board here. Being Gracie’s Daddy is an honor that I am so grateful you’re trusting me with. From now until forever, that little girl is my little Princess. I’m her Daddy.”

“I love you Bradley Bradshaw.” You whispered, tears falling down your cheeks.

“I love you too, Y/N Seresin.” He replied, gently wiping the tears away and leaning in to kiss you. “From now until forever.”

Bradley’s POV

The next day at work, he went to find Jake in one of the classrooms before he had to go up in the air to fly maneuvers.  He’d already talked to Phoenix earlier that morning, needing her take on the situation before tackling the conversation with Jake. She assured him that it wasn’t crazy to be thinking about moving in or marriage this soon, that sometimes the right people meet at the right time and it’s just meant to be. She also said that he had nothing to worry about with Jake.

“Hey, you have a minute?” Bradley asked, walking into the classroom Jake was using that day.

“I’ve got nothing but minutes until my plane’s fixed.” He replied, “What’s up?”

Bradley made his way in and hopped up on one of the tables at the front, fidgeting nervously.

“Rooster.” Jake laughed, “What’s up, man? Why are you acting so damn flighty?”

“I was playing legos with Gracie last night.” He said, deciding to start with the easier of the two questions. “I asked her what she was building and she said it was a ‘big big castle’ so that her, Y/N and I can all live together. With room for Unco Jakey and Aunty Nix of course… that might be negotiable though.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure with that one.” Jake said laughing, “Princess G is a determined little one and would find a way to make it all happen. What did you tell her?”

“I just told her it’s something I’d really like too.” He replied, “I didn’t want to make any promises I couldn’t deliver. She’s started to call me Daddy though more and more instead of Daddy Woosta… and I REALLY like that.”

“Have you talked to Tulip?” Jake asked, “What’s her take?”

“On the title or living arrangements”? He asked.

“Both.” Jake clarified, “I’d say both are pretty big.”

“She’s the one who asked if I’d noticed the change in my title with Gracie last night, and asked if I was really Ok with her calling me Daddy.” He said, “I definitely reassured her that I’m more than happy that Gracie calls me Daddy because as far as I’m concerned she IS my little girl.”

“Ok, so that’s good.” Jake shrugged, “And did you talk to her about moving in?”

“That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about today.” Bradley admitted. “Seemed like something I should run by you… both because you’ve become my best friend and because you’re the most important person in Y/N’s life.”

“Bradley, I’d have already run ya off if I had a problem with you being with my sister.” Jake said, smiling, “You’re probably the only one I WOULD trust with her heart and with Gracie. I pretty much knew from the beginning that they were going to steal your heart and that you’d be the one to claim Tulip’s. Moving in together is the logical next step. As much as I love them being with me, at least I’ll know that with you they’re both happy and safe…and in the same damn town.”

“Thanks, Jake.” Bradley said, “That means a lot. Honestly, it was game over for me the first day when Gracie threw her arms around me and called me ‘Woosta’. I’d have given that girl anything she wanted that day.”

“Remember that when she’s a teenager, sneaking in after curfew and trying to use those big eyes and dimples against you.” Jake laughed.

“Oh Shit” Bradley groaned, “I’m never letting her leave the house. I know what teenage boys are like. They can’t go near her.”

“Good luck with that.” Jake said, “Give me a call though, I’ll be backup. What was the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?”

“It’s more of a asking now for later kinda thing.” Bradley said. “I don’t know if or when Y/N would be ready to even think about marrying again… but if she’s ever on board to give it another shot… would you be OK with  me asking your sister to marry me?”

“Of course I am.” Jake said, standing and yanking Bradley off the table into a rough hug, clapping him on the back before stepping back, smiling widely. “She might surprise you, Man. You probably won’t have to wait as long as you think until she’s ready. You may want to start thinking about rings. I see the way my sister looks at you…it’s the same way I look at Nat. Between you and me and the walls… I’ve been thinking along those lines myself lately.”

“No shit!” Bradley exclaimed, “Proposing or moving in? Both?”

“Both.” Jake said, “It’s been on constant repeat since yesterday with the not so nice reminder that with this job we never know what the next day will bring. I just don’t know if it’s too soon. I don’t want to spook her.”

“I acutally was talking to her this morning before I came to talk to you.” Bradley said, “Kinda needed reassurance that I wasn’t about to die for one, and that I wasn’t rushing things. She told me not to buy into the whole social norm timeline for relationships bullshit. Two people meet or come together when they’re supposed to and it doesn't matter what the timeline is. Plus, let’s be honest, the two of you have been flirting with the idea of being together long before you made the move to BE together so that counts towards the bogus timeline right?”

“So… ring shopping this weekend?” Jake asked, chuckling, “To be prepared…”

“I have my mom’s ring that I was planning on giving Y/N, but I will absolutely go with you.” Bradley said. “How do you think Gracie will take the news that we won’t have a castle for all of us to live together?”

“We promise her Disneyland.” Jake said, “And weekend sleepovers with her favorite Uncle and Aunty Nix.”

“So…bribery?” Bradley clarified.

“Yup!” Jake laughed.

Your POV

By the time the weekend rolled around, you knew that Jake and Bradley were definitely plotting something. There’d been a lot of hushed conversations and text messages back and forth. Friday you and Phoenix had enlisted Bob’s help at the weekly dinner to try to ferret out information without any luck. You’d even contemplated using your own daughter.

“Those two plotting together makes me nervous.” Phoenix admitted while you were cleaning up the kitchen together after dinner on Friday night.

“EXACTLY!” You exclaimed, “Whatever it is, probably means trouble. I think I saw them bringing Mav into the mix too.”

“We may need to ask Penny to see if she can put out feelers.” Phoenix suggested, “If anyone can reign in Mav and the boys in it’ll be her.”

“Or at least find out what’s going in.” You reasoned.

“If nothing else, I’ll work on Jake tomorrow night while we’re hanging with Gracie.” Phoenix said

“Am I being kicked out for a super fun fort night again?” You asked, confused. Before she could respond Bradley and Jake came in carrying the rest of the dishes.

“Not being kicked out.” Jake laughed, “So dramatic, Tulip.”

“I asked if Jake and Phoenix had plans, and if they minded if I stole you for a date night ahead the upcoming week.” Bradley said, wrapping his arms around you from behind and resting his chin on the top of your head. “I know this week is going to be a rollercoaster, so before it gets crazy, I wanted to carve out some time for the two of us.”

“And it’s a win-win, because we get time with Princess G.” Jake said.

“Speaking of…”Phoenix said, “Where is the little nugget?”

“With Mav.” Bradley chuckled. You turned in his arms so you were facing him, wrapping your own arms around his neck and stealing a quick kiss.

“I’d love time for just the two of us tomorrow night.” You told him, “I’m really hoping that by this time next week everything will be settled and we won’t have anything left to worry about.”

“You and me both, Baby.” He replied, kissing you softly.

The next morning Jake and Bradley disappeared for several hours. You definitely made a mental note to ask Penny if she knew what the two were plotting. You decided to call Phoenix to see if she wanted to go shopping for some birthday party supplies.

“Since our men are off on a top secret mission, do you want to go get some party supplies for Gracie’s birthday with me?” You asked her.

“Absolutely!” She agreed, “Give me like twenty minutes and I’ll head over.”

“We can pick you up.” You suggested, “Save you a trip.”

“I’ll need my car tomorrow anyway, this way I’ll already be there when it’s time for you and Bradley to go out.” She said.

“Makes sense.” You agreed, “Maybe we just need one giant house at this point instead of three separate dwellings.”

“You might be onto something.” She laughed.

Once Phoenix had arrived you all headed out to the party store. You put Gracie in the cart and headed straight to the Princess aisle, gathering up plates, cups, napkins and other decorations you’d need. Phoenix insisted on a helium tank and enough balloons to float the house. By the time you left the store your trunk was loaded with supplies.

“How about we run to the Disney store and let Gracie pick out a princess dress to wear to her party?” Phoenix said. “We’ve got time before the boys are done on their mission I’m sure.”

“Those dresses are super expensive.” You said, “Any luck getting info from Jake on that?”

“It’ll be my treat for her. She needs a princess dress for a princess party.” Phoenix insisted. “And nope, he kept changing the subject then distracted me.”

“Bradley did the same thing.” You laughed. “And, are you sure? We can find a princess dress cheaper I’m sure…”

“Y/N, Disney Store. NOW.” She replied, playfully glaring at you, before turning to look at Gracie in the back, “Sweet girl, do you want to go pick out a Princess dress from the Disney Store for your birthday party with Aunty Nix?”

“YES!” Gracie exclaimed, “I wuv you Aunty Nix!”

“I love you too, Gracie!” Phoenix said, turning back to smile widely at you. “See? My girl wants a princess dress.”

“When she’s a teenager and still expecting the princess treatment, I’m sending her to you and Jake.” You laughed.

“We’ll take her.” She agreed, getting a soft dreamy look on her face. “Honestly, I love the idea of still being with Jake when Gracie is a teenager.”

“I have no doubts that you will be.” You assured her. “My brother is absolutely in love with you, Nat. I’ve never seen him as happy as he is with you, nor have I ever seen him as content. He’s himself with you, he lets his guard down and is the most at peace around you. He’s never been that way with anyone else before.”

“I love him too.” She said, “Completely in love with him. Not going to lie… it scared the crap out of me at first. I started to see cracks in the cocky Hangman exterior after that last mission, but it was when you and Gracie got here that I really got to see the softer side of him. You say it’s me that brings it out in him, but I think it’s you and Gracie that brought that out in him.”

“So we call it a group effort.” You compromised, chuckling. “The point is… He’s not going anywhere. His heart belongs to you, Nat.”

“That’s good because mine belongs to him too.” She smiled.

Jake’s POV

They’d left that morning once the jewelers had opened. Phoenix had gone back to her apartment late the night before, saying she needed to get some laundry and stuff done there. It made it easier only having to get past Tulip. He knew she was suspicious, but hopefully she’d just think they were plotting something for Gracie’s birthday.

“How can I help you gentlemen this morning?” An older man asked, greeting them from behind the glass counter filled with rings. He was smiling at them as they stepped closer to the cases.

“We’re shopping for engagement rings.” Jake replied, already starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer options.

“Well congratulations.” He said, looking at Bradley, “What do you have in mind”

“Not me!” Bradley laughed, “I’m here for moral support.”

“My apologies, Sir.” The man said, turning red. Jake looked over at Bradley laughing, relaxing immediately.

“It’s fine.” Bradley said, “That’s definitely going into the best man speech!”

“Of course it is.” Jake chucked, shaking his head. “Nat’s gotta say ‘yes’ first though.”

“She will.” Bradley said confidently, his eyes wandering over all of the options. “What are you thinking for her?”

“She’s not really into flashy jewelry.” Jake said, “I’ve never really seen her wear anything more than earrings and occasionally a simple necklace when we go out.”

“And she’s not going to want anything that’ll get in the way when we’re flying.” Bradley pointed out. “If she decides to wear it while flying. She may opt to put it on dog tags or leave it on the ground.”

“Maybe we should have let Tulip in on this mission and brought her along.” Jake groaned. “What does your mom’s ring look like? Maybe that’ll give me a starting point?”

“It’s a solitaire set in a gold band.” He replied, “It’s pretty simple, but it meant the world to her. I’m actually thinking I’ll bring Y/N in and we can get wedding bands to match it, that way she still gets something new.”

“Rooster, you know she won’t care about it not being new right?” Jake asked, “The fact that it was your moms and has meaning to you will make it the most precious thing in the world to her.”

“I know.” He shrugged, “I just figured that after everything she’s been through, she deserves a little bit of new and spoiling.”

“I have no doubt that she and Gracie will be plenty spoiled.” Jake said, “OK, so let’s start with solitaires.”

“Those are over here.” The man behind the counter said, directing them over to the case with all of the solitaire sets. “We have several options to choose from, as well as matching wedding bands.”

“Shit there are a lot of choices.” Jake sighed, “Ok, so set or solitaire and band? What’s the difference?”

“The set can be welded together so it would become one ring after the wedding.” The man replied, “Some prefer that as opposed to having two separate rings.”

“Ok, that makes sense.” Jake replied, “I think she’d probably rather have that.”

“I think so too.” Bradley agreed. “Less to keep track of.”

“Perfect. Set it is.” Jake said, “That narrows it down some.”

“Does she wear more gold or silver jewelry?” Bradley asked, “I never really pay attention.”

“I think gold.” Jake replied. “I know the necklace she normally wears is a gold pendant.”

“Ok, I’d go with a gold band then.” Bradley suggested, scanning the case of rings.

They both looked over the solitaire case but nothing really jumped out at either one of them.

“Perhaps, something a little more detailed than a solitaire set but not overly showy will be more to her taste?” The man suggested, “We have some lovely sets over here that showcase a larger center stone with smaller stones to the sides that also have matching wedding bands. They’re simple, elegant, and quite stunning.”

He directed them to a case further down the row with rings that were a little more elaborate than the solitaire sets yet still not overly flashy, just as he’d described.

Jake let his gaze wander over the options trying to picture them on Nat’s finger before falling on that looked perfect.

“That one!” He exclaimed, pointing to the set closest to him in the front. “May I see that one, please?”

“Certainly.” The man smiled, pulling the set from the case and gently setting it in front of Jake. It was a yellow gold set, the engagement ring had a larger center diamond just like the man had said then tiny diamonds making up the band about ¾ away around the band. The wedding band was contoured to fit with the engagement band and had tiny diamonds paved into ¾ of the band as well. It was beautiful and elegant without being gaudy and overly flashy. It was simple but not plain. It was perfect.

“This is the one.” Jake said. “I’ll take it.”

“Umm, shouldn’t you maybe find out a price on that first?” Bradley asked, chuckling.

“Doesn't matter.” Jake said, shrugging, “She’s worth it.”

The man went to start the paperwork and process the sale. Jake felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. It felt like his body was on fire and breathing was becoming very difficult.

“Jake.” Bradley said firmly, seeing the change in him. He turned to the salesman, “Do you have a bottle of water at all?”

“Yes.” He said, hurrying to the back room and returning quickly with a bottle of water in hand.

“Jake, take a drink man,” Bradley ordered, “Slow deep breaths and concentrate on taking a few sips of water.”

Jake took the bottle, sipping slowly, trying to stay focused on just taking oxygen into his lungs and slowing his heart rate.

“If you’re not ready for this, we can totally come back another day.” Bradley assured him, “You don’t have to jump into anything. There is absolutely no rush.”

“It’s not that.” Jake whispered, “I am ready. I love her. I want to marry her… it just… it got real… and every time I’ve ever gotten really close to actual happiness or my life being really good… it’s all gotten yanked from under me. I guess… I just… panicked.”

“I get that.” Bradley said, putting his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “It’s easy to panic when things go well and everything falls into place when you’re so used to it all going to hell or the floor dropping out from under you when you think you’re on solid ground. But one thing I’ve managed to learn since coming back to Top Gun and even more recently since meeting your sister… is sometimes… it’s ok to trust the good stuff. Life doesn’t always have to suck. People don’t always leave. It’s ok to let others in.”

“The world won’t come crashing down?” Jake asked, a small smile finally making its way to his lips as he glanced over to Bradley.

“Nope.” Bradley replied, returning the smile, “The world just gets bigger and brighter. It gives you even more reason to come home. Hell, man it makes this life MORE worth living. Because let’s face it, were we REALLY living before we let those women in? Honestly?”

“I’d call it more existing.” He agreed. “Ok… this is me… trusting that the universe is not going to turn against me here. I’m going to buy the ring, and when the moment is right, I’m asking Nat to marry me.”

“And we’ll all be there to celebrate the two of you  when she says ‘yes’.” Bradley said, clapping him on the back. “Come on, it’s time to go drain your bank account.”

“Worse case scenario, we find that really big house that Gracie wants and we all live together to help cut down on other expenses.” Jake teased, walking over to the counter. “Sorry about that, Sir. What’s the damage?”

“Nothing I’ve not seen before, I assure you.” He smiled gently, before giving him the total. It wasn’t nearly as bad as either of them imagined. Needless to say Jake would not need to empty any accounts. He did however decide to use his credit card because while it wasn’t an exorbitant amount of money, it wasn’t chump change either. Growing up the way they had, he never felt comfortable running his accounts too low now.

Once the ring had been paid for, the salesman polished the rings and placed them both in separate ring boxes then into a small bag. After thanking him for this help, Jake and Bradley headed out of the store and towards Jake’s truck.

“Alright, now I have to hide this until the right moment…” Jake said, “And try not to panic and word vomit the second I see her.”

“That would not make for a very romantic proposal story for your children one day.” Bradley laughed. “I word vomited after buying Mommy a ring…”

“I think that’s why I love when we get to keep Gracie for Tulip when y’all have date nights.” Jake admitted, “I love watching Nat with her… it’s easy to imagine how it’ll be with our own kids one day.”

“I get it.” Bradley smiled, “I get the same feeling when I’m with Y/N and Gracie. I’d love to have more kids with her too.”

“Gracie needs a baby brother.” Jake agreed, smirking, “Maybe name him Bradford Bradley Bradshaw?”

“You know, I’m really happy nobody suggested that to my parents when they were naming me.” Bradley said, glaring at Jake. “We will not be continuing that trend…I won’t do that to my kid.”

Your POV

After the trek to the Disney store, where Gracie had indeed found the perfect dress and matching accessories (Nat had insisted they were needed), you all stopped for lunch before heading back to the house. You ended up pulling into the driveway at the same time as Jake and Bradley.

“Where did you lovely ladies adventure to?” Jaked asked, getting out of the truck.

“Unco Jakey!”  Gracie called from the backseat, “Out! Out! Pwease!”

“You’re being paged, Uncle Jakey.” You laughed, as you got out and went around to the trunk. “We went to get party supplies for Gracie’s party and then Aunty Nix insisted on a trip to the Disney Store for Gracie Girl’s outfit for the party.”

“Let me grab the bags, Sweetheart.” Bradley said, coming over and stealing a kiss, “Missed you this morning.”

“Missed you too,” You smiled, kissing him back. “Did you and Jake have fun?”

“Yeah, it was good.” He replied, smirking, “We accomplished our mission.”

“You’re not gonna tell me what it was are you?” You asked, laughing.

“Nope.” He confirmed, “Not happening, Baby.”

“Worth a shot.” You shrugged, smiling, “Come on, let’s get this inside. Gracie needs to go down for a nap.”

Phoenix came around and helped the two of you carry all of the bags inside while Jake carried Gracie into the house. You put all the bags with supplies in the laundry room for the time being so they were out of the way.

“Gracie, it's time for your nap, sweet girl.” You said, finding her sitting on Jake’s lap on the couch, telling him all about the Disney Store.

“You can show me your dress when you wake up my sweet Princess G.” Jake promised.  

“Ok, Unco Jakey.” She agreed. “Daddy, you take me nite nite?”

“I sure will, Princess.” Bradley smiled at her, walking over to scoop her up into his arms. “Give Mommy hugs and kisses first.”

“Sweet dreams, Gracie girl.” You said, hugging and kissing your daughter. “Love you.”

“Wuv you too Mommy.” She replied, hugging you back. “Wuv you Aunty Nix and Unco Jakey.”

“We love you too.” They replied as Bradley carried her off to bed.

Bradley left after Gracie woke up to go get ready for your date. He hadn’t wanted to leave while she was sleeping and risk upsetting her. As promised she immediately demanded to show off her new princess dress and accessories to Jake as soon as she’d woken up. You and Phoenix helped her into the outfit and she paraded into the living room to show her uncle. You knew right away you’d have your hands full once she hit the teenage years.

“Wow, Princess G.” Jake exclaimed, “You look absolutely beautiful, sweetheart! Just like a real life princess!”

Gracie beamed at the praise, twirling in the living room to show off the dress, full of giggles. All three of you had your phones out snapping pictures and taking video.

“You’re going to be the prettiest princess in all the land and especially the prettiest at your party, Sweet Girl.” You told her. “Let’s take it off though for now so it doesn't get ruined before your party ok? Do you want to put on one of your costume Disney dresses?”

“Yes pwease!” She exclaimed, not quite ready to be done with dress up, but not wanting to ruin her new dress either.

A while later, Jake and Phoenix send you off to go get ready for your date, taking over with Gracie. You’re not exactly sure what Bradley has planned but you know it doesn’t involve blanket forts this time. You took a quick shower and freshened up, opting to not wash your hair as that would take too much time to style afterwards.

You went through your closet, not really sure what to wear. You really needed to think about expanding your wardrobe, but really hated to shop for yourself.

“Nat!” You called out from your open door, a towel wrapped around you, “I’m having a wardrobe crisis!”

“On my way!” She yelled from the kitchen where she was helping Jake cook. A minute later she slipped into the room, “Alright, what do we have to work with?”

“Not much.” You sighed, “I don’t know where we’re going or what we’re doing and I don’t have a whole lot of options.”

“Ok, no worries.” She assured you, “We’ll find something. You’ve got some pretty dresses, we can glam up or make them casual depending on what we need. Want to text Rooster to find out what the evening calls for?”

“Good idea.” You replied, “I’ll just call him though. It’s faster.”  You grab your phone from the bed and call Bradley.

“Hey, Sweetheart,” He answered, “Everything ok?”

“No.” You replied, sighing “I have no idea what to wear because I don’t know where we’re going and I’m currently hating my closet.”

“Ok, well that’s an easy fix.” He laughed, “I’m sorry you’re hating your closet, Sweetheart. We can go shopping and find clothes you don’t hate. I’ll even happily carry all your bags and will make sure you have an unlimited supply of iced coffees while we shop.”

“I love you.” You replied, smiling, all of the anxiety that had been building suddenly melted away, “I’m sorry for the mini freak out.”

“I love you too.” He replied, “And you’re allowed any sized freak out whenever. You don’t have to apologize for that. As for the date tonight… I’m picking up take out and we’re having a picnic on the beach. Then coming home to get comfy and cuddle in bed and watch a movie and eat snacks. Does that help?”

“Yes.” You replied, “It helps a lot. And it sounds absolutely perfect.”

“I’ll pick you up in a little bit, Sweetheart.” He promised, “I love you.”

“I’ll be ready.” You replied, “Love you too.”

After hanging up you took a deep cleansing breath then turned to Phoenix.

“Ok, we need something for a beach picnic.” You said, “Then we’re going back to his house and watching a movie and eating snacks, so I’ll just steal one of his tshirts at that point. The man is literally perfect.”

“He definitely knows how to read you.” She smiled, “Last night he was trying to decide between a big fancy dinner date or a more low key just the two of you no pressure kinda date. I’m guessing the phone call just now may have tipped the scales.”

“Oh God, you mean he may have had reservations somewhere and just completely threw his plan out the window because I’m a basketcase?” You said, on the verge of another freak out.

“And even if he did,” Phoenix assured you, “He would be absolutely fine in canceling it and changing it last minute if it meant making you happy. That man will do literally anything in his power if it puts a smile on your face. But more importantly, that’s what we do for those we love… we adjust as the situation calls for it. Jake and I would do the same for one another. It’s normal, Y/N.”

“I’ve never had ‘normal’” You admitted, “But, I would do the same for him.”

“See? Perfectly normal and healthy relationship.” She smiled, “Now, come on, let’s get you ready and on your way to your perfect date.”

Twenty minutes later you were dressed in a simple maxi skirt with a tshirt knotted at the waist and a pair of sandals. You were alerted to Bradley’s arrival by Gracie’s squeal of delight at her Daddy walking in the front door..

You made your way out to the living room to find Bradley already on the floor playing with Gracie. Jake and Phoenix were in the kitchen finishing up getting dinner ready for the three of them.

“You look beautiful, Sweetheart.” Bradley said looking up and smiling from his spot on the floor.

“Thank you.” You replied, smiling back at him, “You’re looking pretty handsome yourself.”

“Princess G, dinner’s ready.” Jake said coming out of the kitchen, looking over at you he smiled, “You look beautiful, Tulip.”

“Thanks Jakey.” You smiled back, “And thank you again for keeping Gracie tonight.”

“No thanks needed for that!” Jake replied, “I never turn down time with my favorite Princess.”

Bradley stood up and scooped Gacie up with him, hugging her and giving her lots of kisses making her giggle.

“Daddy!” She exclaimed, “That tickles!”

“Just getting all the kisses to power me up!” He reasoned, chuckling.

“Come give Mommy hugs and kisses, Gracie.” You said, holding your hands out to her and taking her from Bradley. “I love you, Sweet girl. Be good for Uncle Jakey and Aunty Nix and Mommy will see you tomorrow, ok?”

“Ok, Mommy.” She said, hugging you back, “I wuv you too!”

You set her down and she ran off to the kitchen.

“Have fun you two.” Jake said, winking, “See you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, man,” Bradley said, “Ready to go, Sweetheart?”

“I am,” You replied, “Let me grab my bag quickly.”

Bradley drove you to a semi private beach and pulled the Bronco into a parking spot. He came around to open your door and help you down from the passenger seat before reaching into the back to grab a blanket and a picnic basket before taking your hand and leading you down to the beach.

“Where did you find an actual picnic basket?” You asked him, as you walked to a secluded part on the beach.

“I borrowed it from Penny.” He replied, setting the basket down to spread the blanket out on the sand. You helped him to smooth out the corners, slipping your shoes off to set at the edge.

“Did you change plans last minute because I was freaking out?” You asked, wanting to confirm Phoenix’s theory.

“I decided in the moment that this would be more in line with what you needed is all.” He replied, smiling softly, “I know this week is going to be a lot for you and the last thing I wanted was to add to the stress and anxiety. This way it’s just the two of us, no stress or pressure.”

“I love you so much, Bradley.” You beamed, leaning over towards where he was seated and softly kissing him, “You’re so good to me, I’m so lucky to have you.”

“I love you too, Sweetheart.” He replied, kissing you back, “And I am the lucky one. You’ve literally given me a family, Baby… so much more than I ever thought I’d have in my life.”

“We’re not going anywhere.” You smiled. “Gracie and I are all yours.”

Bradley pulled out the food from the basket along with glasses and a bottle of wine. He’d picked up Italian take out from the restaurant you’d gone to on your first date.

“Recreating our first date?” You asked, smiling.

“The good parts.” He replied, filling your glass of wine. “Let’s change the ending though.”

“I’ll drink to that.” You laughed. “I’d say your odds of getting me in bed tonight are VERY good, Lieutenant.”

“I can work with those odds.” He smirked, “That would make for a much better ending than the first date for sure.”

“It would indeed.” You agreed. “Although, technically you got me in bed that night too.”

The two of you ate your dinner, talking, laughing and flirting with one another. You only drank a couple glasses of the wine, Bradley only drinking one because he was driving. You put the cork back into the bottle to save it for later.

“Want to go for a walk before we head back to the house?” Bradley asked, once you’d both finished eating.

“That sounds perfect.” You replied.

He stood up and reached his hand down to help you up. You both left your shoes on the blanket, walking barefoot in the sand along the water.  You walked hand in hand just enjoying the beautiful evening. The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky, casting a pinkish glow to the horizon.

“The other day, when Gracie and I were playing, I asked her what she was building…” Bradley said, stopping and pulling you around to face him. “She told me she was building a big castle for you, me and her to live in… and Uncle Jake and Aunty Nix.”

“That would need to be a pretty big castle.” You smiled.

“I don’t think we’ll find any big castles in southern California near the naval base.” Bradley said, “But… I would really love for you and Gracie to move in with me…or for us to find a place closer to Jake if need be for Gracie…I just really want to live with my girls. Will you and Gracie live with me, Sweetheart?”

“We absolutely will!” You smiled widely, wrapping your arms around his neck, your fingers threading into his hair, “Your house is already perfect, Bradley. There’s no need to find anything new. We just want to be with you too.”

“I talked to Jake about it already,” He admitted, “I wasn’t sure how Gracie would do with being separated from him again. We came up with a plan… it involves occasional sleepovers at Uncle Jake’s on the weekends and a trip to Disneyland to soften the blow.”

“So bribery?” You laughed.

“Yup!” Bradey agreed, “Also, I figured we’d recreate her Princess room for her at our house… so it’ll be a win-win for her.”

“I think the fact that she’ll be living with YOU full time will be enough of an enticement.” You smiled, “I like the sound of that though, ‘our house’.”

“As of right now Sweetheart, that’s exactly what it is.” He said.

“In that case,” You said, “How about we go collect our stuff and go home, Lieutenant?”

“That’s a fantastic idea.” He agreed, leaning down to capture your lips before spinning you both around and heading back down the beach towards your stuff.

Bradley pulled the Bronco into the driveway, shutting off the ignition and getting out to come around to help you out. Instead of helping you down from the Bronco, he swept you up into his arms, carrying you bridal style towards the house.

“Bradley!” You exclaimed, laughing, “What are you doing?”

“I’m carrying you over the threshold into our home.” He replied, winking at you as he carefully maneuvered to unlock the door without dropping you. “It’s tradition.”

“I don’t think that applies to moving in together.” You answered, smiling at him, “That’s marriage.”

“Well, we’re making our own rules here.” He said, stepping into the house and kicking the door closed with his foot. “Welcome home, Sweetheart.”

“I love you,” You said, pulling his head down to kiss him gently.

“I love you too.” He replied against your lips, “I can’t wait to move you and Gracie in here” He let you slide down so you were standing in front of him, but kept you wrapped in his arms. Leaning down again to place gentle kisses along your jawline, moving to your ear and down your neck.

“And when do you think you’re wanting that to happen?” You ask, your fingers threading into his hair, your head tipping to the slide to allow him easier access to your neck.

“Tomorrow too soon?” He asked, nipping at your ear, causing a shiver to run down your body.

“We might need more than a day to get things ready and to make that happen.” You replied, your voice shaky, “But we’ll go with soon.”

“ASAP.” He said, kissing his way back up before claiming your lips, his tongue slipping into your mouth meeting your own. His hands moved down over the curve of your hips, around to your butt, pulling you tighter into him.

Your hands wandered down to the buttons on his shirt, undoing them one by one until you could slide the shirt off his shoulders, letting it pool on the floor at his feet. He was left in a white fitted tank top that you quickly pulled from where it was tucked into his jeans and pushed it up and off of him with his help, throwing it to land with his other shirt.  You let your fingers wander over his broad shoulders, gently tracing a scar on his left shoulder…moving up on your tiptoes to gently trail kisses where your fingers had been, drawing a soft moan from Bradley. His hands are resting on your hips, giving you free reign at the moment. You continue to trail soft kisses over his chest, sternum, and collarbone, moving up to your tiptoes to kiss along the scar on his neck , letting your tongue lick along the raised edge.

“Shit, Baby, you’re driving me crazy.” He groaned, his voice thick with need, “You’re so fucking hot.”

“You’re pretty damn hot yourself, Roo.” You said, nipping at the sensitive skin on his neck by his ear. “Feel like moving this to our bedroom?”

“Jesus, Sweetheart.” He rasped, lifting you off the ground, causing you to laugh and wrap your legs around him as best as you could with your skirt in the way. He hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom, not stopping until he was in the room and falling with you onto the bed, causing you both to erupt into a fit of giggles.

“Hi.” You whispered, once you’d both stopped giggling. You were lying under him on the bed, he was bracing himself on his arms to keep the majority of his weight off of you.

“Hi, Baby.” He replied, leaning down to peck your lips in a soft gentle kiss, before moving down to slowly trail kisses to your neck and the shell of your ear, whispering “I think you’re wearing too many clothes.”

“What do you plan to do about it.” You asked, squirming against him, trying to gain friction where you needed it the most.

In reply, he sat back up, pulling you with him. He continued to kiss over your neck as he hands ran over sides, to the knot at the front of your tshirt undoing it and pulling it up over your head. He tossed the shirt off to the side, not caring where it landed.

“You’re so damn beautiful, Sweetheart.” He said, his eyes roaming over the skin he’d exposed. His hands ghosted over your  breasts, moving to your shoulders, bending his head to allow his mouth to follow the path of his hands. He reached around to undo the clasp of your bra, before gently peeling it away from your body and tossing it to join your shirt on the floor. “Lay back, Baby.”

You laid back against the pillow, giving him easy viewing access to your now half naked self.

“Bradley” You moaned, “Please… I need you…” You could feel an ache building deep inside that only Bradley would be able to satiate.  

“What do you need, Sweetheart?” He asked, leaning down to plant kisses over your collarbone, moving down towards the tops of your breasts. His hand moves to your right breast, gently squeezing before his thumb rubs over the sensitive nipple.

“Need you to touch me” You begged, your hands threading into his hair.

“I am touching you.” He teased, chuckling. He dipped his head down, his hot tongue licking over your nipple before taking the whole thing into his mouth, sucking hard and effectively stopping any train of thought you were capable of. You gasped, moaning his name, your fingers tightening in his hair.

“Brad…” You cry out, releasing your fingers from his hair and moving your hands down over his shoulders to his back, fingers digging into him wherever you can reach. “Fuck… feels so good.”

He moved his hands down to the waistband of your skirt, his mouth following over your skin, trailing kisses down your torso before he’s sitting up, and tugging off your skirt and panties in one motion. You let out a breathy giggle at his sudden impatience to have you completely naked.

“Now you’re the one wearing too many clothes, Lieutenant.” You teased, sitting up. You move your hands to the button of his jeans, undoing it and slowly lowering the zipper, your hands brushing against his arousal in the process. With the newly found access, you run your  hand over his hardened cock now only covered by his boxers, wrapping your fingers around as best as you can, stroking him with his pants still around his hips.

“Baby, as fucking amazing as that feels,” He moaned, “I have other plans that don’t include me coming in my boxers with you stroking me off.”

“Hmm and what do these plans include then?” You asked, smiling at him innocently, continuing to apply pressure but moving lower on his shaft.

“You’re a minx.” He growled, grabbing your hands and pinning you back against the bed, his lips capturing yours in a heated kiss, his tongue pushing into your mouth to dance over your own. After a moment he pulled away so you could both catch your breath while he took the time to finally divest himself of his jeans and boxers before moving back up over you. “My turn, Sweetheart.” he said, sliding his hands up your thighs, his thumbs moving to your inner thighs, pulling your legs apart to expose your already wet center.

“All this for me, Baby?” He asked, running one hand over through slick folds, drawing a moan from your lips. He maneuvered himself down onto the bed so he was now lying between your thighs, his broad shoulders now keeping you spread open, his arms coming around to brace himself and cradle your sides.  You nearly jolted off the bed at the first swipe of his tongue through your folds, the only thing keeping you secured to the bed was his body. “Fuck you taste good, Sweetheart.”

“Brad…” You whimpered, arching towards him, needing him to sooth the deep ache he’d created in your core. Your hands fisted in the sheets at your sides, desperately trying to anchor yourself to something. “Please…”

“I’ve got you, Baby.” He promised, dipping his head again and licking a stripe through your wet folds once more before latching his mouth to your clit and sucking, causing you to cry out his name. He continued to run his tongue over your pussy and clit, alternating between licking and sucking, driving your pleasure higher and higher. Your hands moved from the deathgrip they had on the sheets, to your fingernails scraping over his shoulders, to finally threading your fingers into his hair, holding his head to you.

“So close…” You gasped, “Bradley…. Gonna cum.” You panted, trying to suck in oxygen, the band of pleasure tightening in your belly, each swipe of his tongue driving you impossibly higher.

“Let go for me, Baby.” He said, looking up at you. He latched his mouth onto your clit, sucking hard as he thrust his ring and middle fingers into your pussy, curling them in a ‘come here’ motion, hitting your g spot. It was enough to snap the band and send you soaring over the ledge into an intense orgasm, your inner walls clenching down around his fingers.

“Bradley!” You cried out, “Oh fuck!” He continued to slowly move his fingers in and out of your pussy while you rode out the orgasm, waiting for you to come down, kissing your inner thigh and whispering words of praise.

“You doing, OK, Sweetheart?” He asked, smirking up at you from his position.

“Up here… now.” You replied, reaching for him. He happily complied, moving so he was once more leaning over you, his lips coming down to claim yours. You let one hand move to wander over his back, the other moving between you to stroke over his now very hard cock, precum leaking from the tip. “I need you inside me… want you to fill me up, Bradley.”

“Fuck, Sweetheart.” He growled, attacking your lips in a fiery messy kiss, tongues battling for dominance, teeth nipping at your lower lip, before he pulled back to gasp, “Guide me home, Baby.”  He returned to kissing you fiercely, bringing his hand up to thread into your hair, his other arm supporting his weight so as not to crush you. You stroked his shaft from base to tip twice before lining him up with your entrance, his tip slipping into your folds, gathering your slickness before he pushed in further. You brought your arm around so both hands were now moving over his back, fingers digging in. You wrapped your legs around his waist, opening up and allowing him more access.

“Don’t tease, Bradley.” You whined, when he still hadn’t pushed all the way in. “Need you, please!” you started to beg.

Unable to deny you, he thrust fully into you, his hips slamming against your own as he fully seated himself inside of you, the tip of his cock hitting your cervix. The movement caused you both to let out a deep moan, clinging to one another in desperate need.  He gave you a moment to adjust to his size, even though you’d been sleeping together now since your divorce was finalized, Bradley was still well endowed and you needed a moment to adjust each time.

“I’m good.” You gasped, letting him know he could move now, arching up into him and clenching your inner muscles.

“Oh, shit you feel so damn good, Sweetheart.” He groaned, “Taking me so well…” He started to pull back until he was almost all of the way out and then slammed back down, pushing all of the way in again. He set a  steady pace, moving in and out, driving you both closer and closer to a mind shattering orgasm.

“Don’t stop….” You begged, your nails digging into his back, surely leaving crescent shaped marks for later. “So close…please.”

“Not stoppin’, Baby.” He promised, slightly out of breath from the exertion, “You feel so fucking amazing… can’t get enough.”  He continued his brutal pace, slamming into you, his cock hitting your g spot with every thrust. He reached between your bodies to rub his thumb over your clit, “Give it to me, Honey, cum on my cock…let me feel it.”

The combination of him hitting so deep, his thumb relentless on your clit and his words, pushed you over the edge. You felt your walls clench down around his cock, trying to lock him inside of you, every muscle in your body tensing up as pleasure washed over your whole body.

“Mmm, shit, Bradley!” You gasped, the pleasure of the second orgasm overwhelming you, this one more intense than the first one, “Fuck… love you… so… much.”  

“Jesus you’re squeezing me so tight…” He moaned, close to his own orgasm. His rhythm becoming more erratic, “Love you so fucking much Sweetheart…. So close….. Fuck…. Cumming…”  he brought his mouth to yours, capturing your lips in a desperate kiss as ropes of his hot cum painted your inside walls, filling you impossibly full.

Once spent, he collapsed onto you, careful not to crush you. You wrapped your arms around him holding him tightly to you, enjoying the feeling of being connected as you both returned to Earth. After a few moments, he rolled over, taking you with him, so you were now lying on top of him, your head resting on his chest, content to listen to his heartbeat.

“We need to get cleaned up, Sweetheart.” Bradley said quietly after a few minutes, “I should probably get the leftovers out of the Bronco too.”

“I don’t wanna move.” You complained, snuggling in closer to him, causing him to chuckle.

“How about we grab a quick shower, I get the leftovers dealt with, then we cuddle in bed the rest of the night.” He suggested, holding you tighter, “And every night after that… because you and our baby girl are moving in!”

“We are…” You tip your head to look at him smiling brightly, “I can’t wait. I’ll get to go to bed with you and wake up with you every single night…except when you deploy…those nights will suck.”

“Those will be few and far between, Sweetheart.” He said, “We won’t worry about those just yet.”

“Ok.” You agreed, not wanting to focus on anything depressing. “How about tomorrow we talk to Gracie about moving in… maybe we can start looking at some bedroom furniture for her and make a plan on when we can make it official.”

“Sounds perfect.” He said, “Let’s take her to pick out her new bedroom decorations and we can start decorating her room. The sooner that’s ready to go, the sooner I get my girls home.”

“Someone’s impatient.” You teased, turning your head to kiss his chest. “But I get it. I’m ready too. I love you Bradley Bradshaw.”

“I love you too, Y/N Seresin.” He replied, tipping your face up to his and leaning down to gently kiss you, “You’re my whole world, Sweetheart.”

A/N: Sorry this one took so long to get out! Next chapter we return to court! It’s time to free GRACIE!  Let me know what you thought of this one! We had a lot of new developments in here <3 

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[pink-sparkly-witch]

The One That Got Away - Chapter Sixteen

Warnings: language, angst.

Pairing: Firefighter!Dean Winchester x Female Reader

Word count: 2.2k

A/N: I didn’t have a beta for this, so all mistakes are mine.

You can catch up here!

 My Masterlist AO3    Ko-Fi

Another three weeks had passed, and Y/N willed their bad luck wouldn’t strike again tonight. Their last attempt at a second date saw her bedridden with the flu and doubly miserable at another failed attempt to rekindle a relationship with Dean. He had been understanding and told her to rest and drink plenty of fluids, but she knew he must be just as frustrated as she was that Lady Luck seemed to have abandoned all hope on their second chance.

Today though, Y/N felt fit and healthy, Dean wasn’t on shift, and she was spending hers in an empty office catching up on paperwork and overtime claims. She’d instructed her staff to only disturb her if it was absolutely necessary. If things finally went their way, neither should be stuck or injured at work this time, and that thought gave her hope that this would finally be it.

Dean was full of nervous energy and decided the best way to use it up was to give Baby a long overdue tune-up, clean and polish. It was perfect timing, too, because then she would be looking her best when he took Y/N out to the fanciest restaurant Lawrence had to offer, and by the time he was finished, he’d be a few hours closer to his date with Y/N; it was a win-win.

He wasn’t surprised she’d gotten sick and had to cancel last time. The whole day fate hadn’t been working in his favour, so when her text came through, it was the cherry on top of what had been a really fucking shitty day. When he called her later to see how she was, she sounded dreadful, and he’d immediately offered to come over and look after her. Y/N declined, saying all that would achieve was him getting sick too, and then their date would have to be postponed for even longer.

Knowing Y/N was working today made him a little apprehensive that something would crop up at the last second and force another rain check. Still, he was trying to keep that niggling thought buried. And so, with a coffee-filled travel mug, Dean made his way outside with his tools and got to work sprucing up his second best girl.

Her message came in at 4pm.

Y/NCheck the news. I’m so sorry, De xx

Dean closed his eyes in frustration and huffed loudly at their atrocious luck. Turning on the news, he watched the aftermath of an overturned lorry on the freeway, blocking the road in both directions and multiple vehicles colliding with it or other vehicles.

“So far,” the news anchor reported, “there have been five fatalities and over twenty people with injuries of varying severity, and several people are still trapped in their vehicles. Emergency workers are doing all they can to free them, with relief crews being called in to assist.

“Meanwhile, Lawrence Memorial Hospital is nearing its emergency patient capacity and has set up an outdoor triage area for the walking wounded, keeping the hospital building free for those with more serious injuries that need attending to.”

His cell rang shortly after, and Dean was only briefly disappointed that it wasn’t Y/N. He knew she’d be swamped, and he probably wouldn’t hear from her until everyone from the accident had been treated. Still, he had a sliver of hope that it might’ve been her.

“Bobby, I just saw the news,” Dean answered the call.

“So you know why I’m calling?” Bobby said, his question rhetorical. “I’m sorry to ask you to work when you’re supposed to have plans tonight…”

“It’s fine. Y/N’s on shift and already sent me a text cancelling. It’ll be all hands on deck at the hospital, so I might as well come in. At least it’ll stop me from drowning my sorrows,” Dean chuckled sadly.

“I’m sorry, Dean. I’m sure you’ll get that date soon,” Bobby replied, but right now, that wasn’t much comfort to the younger man.

“I’m starting to think we should just cut our losses. Maybe something’s trying to tell us something,” Dean scoffed.

“Dean-”

“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten,” Dean cut in, not feeling in the mood to hear another person say how perfect they were for each other when the simple task of going on a date seemed impossible.

It would be a long night, but at least he’d have work to keep him from spiralling down the self-depreciation hole he usually did when Y/N had to cancel plans.

With all trapped persons rescued and the accident site secured by police and awaiting cleanup, Dean’s Firehouse had been posted to the triage area at the hospital to help wherever possible. They were giving first aid, handing out food and water, and checking up on patients in the hospital on behalf of concerned family and friends who were outside waiting for news of their loved ones.

He’d even got to speak to Y/N briefly a few times, and those little moments of light in what was otherwise a dark situation had kept his spirits up. And now that the last few patients were being treated, he finally felt he could breathe easier. Maybe, he’d even be able to convince Y/N to go for a bite to eat before they both went home and slept.

Trawling through the hospital’s hallways, Dean’s only focus was finding the nurse who was slowly taking hold of his heart again and taking up most of his thoughts since coming back to town. He almost missed her as he turned another corner and walked down another corridor.

Stepping back to the room he’d just passed, Dean paused at the window, praying he was wrong and that the woman sitting on the floor, arms crossed over her legs and head on her knees, wasn’t Y/N. Opening the door and quietly stepping into the room, his heart ached at the realisation that it was her and that the usually strong and kept-together nurse was in tears.

“Hey, Princess, what’s the matter?” Dean asked, making his way over and crouching in front of her. Y/N looked at him, eyes red and puffy, her cheeks wet with tears, and he threw all caution to the wind as he sat beside her, pulled her into his lap, and wrapped his arms around her.

They remained embraced on the floor for a while before Y/N’s tears stopped, and she’d stopped gasping in shallow breaths between her heartwrenching sobs. Dean was at a loss on what to do at first, but then he remembered that this was Y/N. His Y/N. And though she was stronger than she looked and more capable than people gave her credit for, sometimes the only way she could process her emotions was to cry.

“Sorry, I needed that,” Y/N eventually spoke and wiped at her eyes. “Days like this, when we lose so many people, never get easier to process. Sometimes I just need a little time to cry it all out.”

“No need to explain to me, Princess. I’ve known you my whole life, and I know that if you don’t let it out now, it’ll eat away at you and eventually consume you. I’ll always be here to ground you whenever you feel like that, alright?”

“Thank, De,” she sniffled and smiled softly at him. “I suppose we should get back out there, huh?”

“In a few minutes. The last patients are being treated, and Ellen, Jody, and Bobby have called a staff briefing at 5am. We’ve got a little time to calm you down some more,” Dean kissed her forehead and smiled, wrapping his arms around her a little tighter and pulling her into his body a little closer.

After urging everyone who’d gathered for the briefing in the hospital canteen to have something to eat before they went home, Dr Ellen Harvelle, Charge Nurse Rowena Macleod, Sheriff Jody Mills, and Fire Chief Bobby Singer thanked their staff for the exceptional job they’d all done in the face of such tragedy and dismissed them from their duties. Reserve police officers and firefighters had started their shifts early to allow those who’d worked all night to go home and rest.

The doctors, nurses and hospital staff who’d been on shift when the accident happened or been called in as backup would be relieved by those who’d either volunteered to stay and work a double shift or agreed to come in on a rest day.

Dean got to have breakfast with Y/N after all, but they were joined by Benny, Bobby, and Jody. He couldn’t complain, though, as he saw the smile come back to Y/N’s face as she talked to Jody and playfully rolled her eyes at Benny’s southern charm and blatant flirting. Dean didn’t rise to the Cajun’s bait, knowing that was exactly what he wanted.

“Now, I know you’re a workaholic, Y/N, but please tell me you didn’t volunteer to stay on?” Uncle Bobby asked with the stern look that never made her listen to him when she was a child and certainly wouldn’t make her listen to him now.

“No, I didn’t. I’ve been working for…” Y/N glanced at the fob watch attached to her scrub top pocket, “twenty-three and half hours. If I stay any longer, I would be endangering the patients, particularly because I haven’t had a break, let alone any sleep.”

“Good. You look like death warmed up,” Bobby stated before shovelling a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

“Yeah…” Y/N sighed and rubbed a hand down her face. “I feel like it too.”

“Go home, honey, before you fall asleep at the table!” Jody chuckled, and Y/N responded with a lopsided smile before grabbing the empty plate and used cutlery and standing from her seat.

“Alright, I’m going! Uncle Bobby, Jody, I’ll see you Sunday. Benny, it was nice to see you again,” she smiled tiredly at the blue-eyed man.

“You too, cher. Take care of yourself, you hear?” Benny winked at her before digging back into his breakfast.

Dean stood and lifted his used dishes and walked with her to place them on the counter, which was home to all the used crockery. “You doing okay, Y/N?”

“Yeah, nothing a hot shower and a decent sleep won’t fix,” she smiled.

“Alright. Call me later, once you’ve had some sleep?” Dean asked with a raised brow.

“Of course,” she smiled. “I hope you’re going home to get some sleep too?”

“Yeah, we’ll probably have another debrief back at the firehouse, then, I am going home and crawling straight into bed,” he chuckled at her smile of approval and with a final farewell, Y/N left the hospital canteen, grabbed her purse from her locker and went home to sleep.

Waking up hours later when the sun had gone down, Y/N lay in bed trying to process everything that had happened the past few days. It was always tragic when they lost a patient, and serious incidents like yesterday were awful and never got easier to deal with. In moments like this, it was easier to think of the tens of patients they saved than the six they had lost.

The next thing to cross her mind was Dean. Y/N had been glad he was posted at the hospital because she was really starting to miss him. The first couple of times they couldn’t go on their date, she’d still been able to see him, but she hadn’t seen him in twelve days because she’d been so ill with flu, and she didn’t want Dean to see her like that. Sure, it might have been extremely vain of her to think that way, but she felt it was too soon to be at her absolute worst with him.

Y/N was also disappointed that things kept coming up. Granted, neither of them had chosen what happened to stall progress on their budding relationship. No one could’ve predicted her father would die right after their first date and put any thought of another date onto the back burner for weeks.

Neither of them could’ve guessed that Jess would need to finish work early and Y/N would need to be the one to take her shift, nor could Dean or her have done anything to stop Cas from getting injured on a call. And there was no way either could have foreseen what happened yesterday, resulting in them having to work.

Suddenly, she had an overwhelming pang in her chest and a strong urge to be with him, to say to hell with the fates, dates, plans, and schedules. She just needed to be with him. Needed him.

Knowing Dean wouldn’t be working after pulling an all-night shift, Y/N threw the bed covers off her body and showered. She was going to go over. Who needed a date anyway? She and Dean had been on hundreds of those and, she hoped, would go on hundreds more.

This was no longer about want for Y/N. It was about need.

Next Chapter >>

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[neewtmas]

12 days of Christmas // A Lockwood & Co Advent Calendar

DAY 6

Welcome back! It's currently 01:16 am on the 13th, which means I'm technically a day late but we'll just ignore that bc I gave my absolute best to get this finished in time and it simply got out of hand.

After the Lucy x reader I wrote for day 2 thought that I couldn't possibly forget about the Lockwood girlies, and since we're at the halfway point I wanted to do something extra nice, so here is a very long (4.2k??) Lockwood x reader with a some enemies to lover-ish dynamics and reader as Kipps' little sister. Hope you enjoy!

A Mission For Two

pairing: anthony lockwood x Kipps!fem!reader

wordcount: 4.2k

masterlist

advent calendar tags: @givemea-dam-break @wellgoslowly @maraschinomerry @losticaruss @oblivious-idiot @uku-lelevillain @avdiobliss @strawberryloveyyy @strawberrycowgirly @demigoddess-of-ghosts @thefriendlyneighborhoodmomfriend @boookfreeak

day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5

"4 pm, my office. There's no excuses, I know you don't have anything else to do." Lockwood grumbled a half-hearted yes into the telephone, before slamming it down, harder than necessary. He walked back into the kitchen, where Lucy and George sat with a cup of tea each. His tea was probably cold by now. Lucy furrowed her brows. "Who's calling?" "Barnes, who else", Lockwood replied, snatching his cup of tea and emptying it in the sink before pouring fresh hot water from the kettle. "Says he has a job for us." "That's good", George remarked. "Business has been a little slow." Lockwood crossed his arms and huffed. Unfortunately, George was right. Business had been slow the past few weeks. What irked him most though, was that Barnes seemed to know all about it.

A little before 4 pm they entered the DEPRAC building, an ugly structure in the middle of London, with a hideous interior to match. No wonder all DEPRAC agents they came across at their jobs seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood. The route to Barnes' office was well known to them, as it wasn't the first time by any means they had been called in. Lockwood adjusted his tie and coat before knocking on the door twice. Barnes' assistant opened the door seconds later, and the three of them stepped in. But almost immediately, Lockwood froze on the spot, causing George to run into him.

"What are they doing here?", Lockwood inquired, gesturing to the group of people already seated in front of Barnes' desk.

The person closest to Barnes' desk turned around. "Tony. Great to see you around here. Business is going well, I hear?" Lockwood narrowed his eyes at Kipps, hand already on his rapier. "Just sit down", Barnes said sharply. "We have more important things to talk about." Lucy and George could tell that Lockwood was of a different opinion, but a rather forceful push from Lucy caused him to take a seat and postpone the inevitable fight, at least until they were out of there.

When they were finally all seated and quiet, Barnes leaned forward, his hands clasped together. "I want to be here just as much as you are", he began. "If it were up to me, this wouldn't be happening. But unfortunately, it's out of my control." He leaned back in his seat, nodding at his assistant. She stepped out of her corner and placed a print-out of a newspaper site on the desk. "Are you familiar with the Wentworth family?"

"Don't they host these ridiculously fancy balls? What do we have to do with this?", Kipps asked. Barnes sighed, and it was obvious that he had already spent much more time than he wanted on this. "The next one is supposed to be held at Wycliffe Hall Estate." Silence. "Haven't there been ghost sightings?", George asked, pushing his glasses up and leaning forward to grab the article copy. "Yes." Barnes sounded tired. "I have tried everything to mitigate this, but to no avail. They have been adamant that it has to be there. Lady Wentworth's daughter - or was it her niece? - is engaged to Wycliffe's son. And the possibility of a ghost adds the certain 'flair' they are looking for."

Lockwood and George shared a look. Lucy scoffed. "Rich people", she mumbled under her breath and Barnes sent her a reprimanding look but it was not hard to see that he thought just the same. "And what are we here for?", Kipps asked, sounding somewhat impatient. "DEPRAC tasked me with providing agents to mingle among the crowd and keep their eyes out for any disturbances." He gave Kipps and Lockwood a pointed look. "Don't think for a moment that you are my first choice for this. But we are understaffed and I need someone."

He pulled his chair closer to his desk and leaned forward again. "I need you - together - to go to this ball. You will form pairs - couples if you will - and mingle. I and a few other colleagues will be present as well. If anything happens, if anyone gets hurt - I will lose my job. So don't mess it up." He took his time to look at each one of them. "You're dismissed, he finally said.

The two groups walked in silence until they stepped through the huge glass entry doors. "Tony -" Kipps began and Lockwood's hand flew to the hilt of his rapier. Kipps raised his hands. "Don't be so defensive. Let's just get this over with, alright? Everyone does their research and at the event, we work separately." He offered his hand to Lockwood, who didn't take it immediately. Kipps being so good-natured was out of character - maybe Barnes had had a word with him on his own. Lucy nudged Lockwood and he slowly let go of his rapier to take the hand Kipps offered him.

The next two weeks were spent with unspectacular - exceptionally boring really - cases every few nights. There hadn't been any more communication with Kipps and his team, something neither Lockwood, Lucy or George had any issues with. Three days before the big event, Barnes called 35 Portland Row to give further information on the dress code. "This whole endeavour is just ridiculous", Lockwood said as he recounted the talk with Barnes to George and Lucy. "We are allowed to carry our rapiers, but only minimal other equipment. Can't have us ruining the aesthetic, he says." George shook his head. "This is a suicide mission. For the adult attendees at least. Why would you ever willingly spend a night somewhere that has reported and confirmed ghost sightings?"

"They are bored. They live their whole lives locked up in their mansions, so that's a night of freedom. They have no idea that a few agents won't do much if a ghost is gonna make its appearance", Lockwood replied. "Also the Wentworths are known for their elaborate parties and events. A ball in a haunted mansion is the perfect way to stand out." Lucy raised her eyebrows. "So you know the Wentworths?" Lockwood grinned at her. "They are regularly on the cover of my gossip magazines. If you read them, you'd know them." Lucy grimaced. "No thank you. I'd rather not."

Three days later, on the morning of the ball, Lockwood and George sat in the kitchen, already two toasts deep into breakfast, when Lucy staggered into the room. She was pale, wrapped in two sweaters and a scarf and still wearing her pyjama bottoms. "You look like death", George said dryly as Lucy flopped down on a chair. She wanted to say something, but instead, she was caught in a coughing fit that shook her entire body. Lockwood watched her with furrowed brows. "Guess it's just us tonight, George", he said, pushing a cup of tea in front of Lucy. She grabbed it and took several sips, before clearing her throat. "I don't know where this is coming from", she said with a hoarse voice. "But Lady Wentworth would probably kill me if I were to cough around her esteemed guests." "Barnes would do that before she even had a chance to see you", George remarked while buttering his third toast. "Can you cough on me? Maybe I'll get sick before tonight as well."

George did not get sick, and so he and Lockwood sat alone in the cab that would take them out of London to the Wycliffe Hall Estate. They were both wearing a suit - usual for Lockwood, very unusual for George. All available pockets were filled to the brim with salt bombs and silver nets, which made them both look a little less elegant. When the cab pulled up to the front of the estate, Kipps' team as well as Barnes already stood by the stairs to the entrance, waiting for them. The gravel crunched under the soles of their shoes as they made their way over. Barnes looked them up and down with a less than favourable expression, but they seemed to pass his expectations, because he didn't say anything about their appearance. Instead, he asked: "Where's Miss Carlyle?"

"She came down with a bad cold."

"Unfortunate", Barnes said. "Really unfortunate. That doesn't make this easier. Mr Karim - you're going with Mr Vernon and Mr Shaw." All three opened their mouth to protest, but Barnes wasn't having it. "I don't care, whatever you have to say. None of you could be a very convincing couple. That's why you'll pose as waiters. Ms Channing will show you the basics."

All three of them were less than excited about the prospect of handing out champagne to the elite of London, and George mumbled something rather rude under his breath that Barnes either didn't hear or chose to ignore. The three boys were led away by a young woman in her early thirties.

"Alright." Barnes eyed the four agents in front of him. "Mr Kipps, you'll go with Miss Godwin. Mr Lockwood, you'll pair up with Miss Kipps." "No way he's going with my sister!" "Mr Kipps, we talked about this", Barnes said sternly, his patience wearing thin. "You'll do as I say, or you'll deal with the consequences. But I promise you, they'll be worse."

Kipps was red in the face, huffing and puffing, but he didn't say anything else. Lockwood suddenly wished that Lucy's cold had befallen him instead. (name) Kipps was almost as bad as her brother, and he could not stand her. Since she became part of her brother's team, they had crossed paths a little too often for Lockwood's taste. And every time everything she did only aggravated him. Tonight (name) was wearing a dark red, almost floor-length dress that swished around her legs as she walked over to Lockwood, following Barnes' instructions. She didn't look at Lockwood, and he did his best to train his eyes on Barnes instead of her neck and shoulders that were exposed by the neckline of her sleeveless dress. Leave it up to her to dress entirely distracting and inappropriately. Who could fight ghosts in this?

"I need you to blend in seamlessly. I have arranged to fill the room with as many iron decorations as possible, to hopefully seal it off to any supernatural disturbances that might occur. Lady Wentworth was very clear to me about the fact that she doesn't want you to look like agents to the other attendees, she wants you to look like guests. That means I expect you to dance and at least act like you want to be there." Barnes looked more tired than he did two weeks ago. No one said anything, so he took a deep breath and turned around. "Don't disappoint me", he said over his shoulder.

They watched him disappear behind the imposing door wing. While they had been talking, the first guests had started to arrive. Every car was fancier than the last, the men that emerged wearing expensive suits and the ladies draped in luxurious gowns and glittering diamonds. Kipps offered Kat his arm, following the example of the couples ascending the stairs. Lockwood went to follow them, but (name) didn't move and instead cleared her throat. "Don't you have any manners, Mr Lockwood?" Her mocking tone was already working to raise his blood pressure. The way she said his name was almost worse than Kipps calling him Tony. He bit his tongue to not say something he would regret in the first five minutes of them working together and turned around to offer her his arm. He didn't look at her as she looped her arm around his and they walked up the stairs together. The other attendees either ignored them or looked at them with something akin to disdain - this was an exclusive circle they were not part of.

It was quite early, so any disturbances would take a while to occur. Lockwood dreaded what that meant. Kipps and Kat were already on the dancefloor, and Barnes stood at the side, next to a tall blond woman in an emerald green gown. Lockwood immediately recognized her at Lady Wentworth. She turned to whisper something to the man on her other side and Barnes took the opportunity to wave at Lockwood, gesturing down to the dancefloor. He rolled his eyes and tugged on (name)'s arm, and together they descended the stairs. They reached the very edge of the dancing crowd and Lockwood stopped. "What? You don't know how to dance?" Again that mocking tone.

The ballroom was bigger than expected, with high ceilings and a row of huge windows on one side. It was already bustling with people, some dancing, some in conversation. Lockwood and (name) stood atop some stairs that led down to the dancefloor. Kipps and Kat were gone, but as Lockwood let his eyes wander over the crowd, he spotted George. He had to bite back a laugh at the sight of George with a tray of champagne flutes and a scowl on his face that deterred anyone he walked past from taking something off his tray.

Lockwood grabbed her hand and placed the other one on her waist. As they started dancing, rather slow and awkward, Lockwood again wished that the illness that had befallen Lucy had chosen him instead. He did his best to not look at (name), or think about her hand on his shoulder, or her hand that laid in his. This was the worst. "Is this all you have to offer?" "We're dancing", he said curtly, still avoiding eye contact. "What else do you want?" She giggled, and a shiver ran down his back. That was new. "Well for starters, we need to be closer together. Much closer." Her next step wasn't to the side, but instead towards him, which caught him off guard. He almost stumbled over his own feet, but her hand gripped his shoulder and she continued the sequence of steps so that he could get back into it. "Also, you are supposed to lead me."

He made the mistake of looking at her. She was much closer than he anticipated, which made him lose his footing again. Only briefly though, because for whatever reason she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. And probably made him look like a fool. He wanted to scream. What was she doing to him? How could a person make him so angry and flustered at the same time? "If you fence how you dance, I have no idea how you ever beat Quill." He just huffed. No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of anything clever to say that would shut her up - and that just wasn't something that happened to him. Ever.

A few hours later, they stood with Kipps and Kat on the side of the dance floor. The room had filled up even more, and no one seemed to be concerned that the clock was nearing midnight. Out of nowhere, George appeared next to Lockwood. "This has been the worst night of my life", he breathed out, looking around restlessly. "I dumped the champagne into one of the flower pots and have been hiding from Barnes ever since", he whispered to Lockwood. "How are you holding up?" Lockwood looked over to (name), who was talking animatedly with Kat and her brother. "She's driving me up the wall", he said. "Somehow she manages to push buttons I didn't even know I had." He missed George's knowing grin as he looked around the room. "Have you noticed anything else?"

"The corners got progressively colder as the evening went on. I checked the temperature every now and then. I bet if there weren't so many people in here, we would feel it even more. But all the iron is probably holding it off so far."

It didn't take long for Barnes to appear and hurry them back onto the dance floor to 'keep up their cover' - not that this was working that great to begin with. They looked too young, their dancing was too awkward and the rapiers at their side didn't help either. Lockwood and (name) were standing close to the walls, far away from Barnes. They had parted as soon as he was gone. (name) had complained about her feet for the past hour, and Lockwood just about had enough. The whole thing gave him a headache and he wanted to get far away from her as soon as possible. Especially because with time, dancing closely with her had turned out to be not that bad. He didn't like that at all.

He was picking on a stray thread on his sleeve when suddenly a cold feeling washed over him. He jumped when (name) roughly grabbed his arm. "Do you hear that?" she hissed and he tried for a moment to shut out the sounds of conversation and heels on hardwood floor from the crowd and just listen. Nothing. "I'm not a good listener," he said quietly to not alert the few people standing closest to them. It irked him to have to admit this to (name). She stood there with her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side. For the first time this evening, Lockwood could take a closer look at her, even though part of him violently fought against it. Her hair was pulled back, away from her face. She was wearing a thin necklace with a pendant that laid a few inches above her dress's neckline. He briefly wondered if it was a gift from someone, but immediately shut that thought down. This was ridiculous.

Suddenly she opened her eyes again. "I can't describe it. It's like a whisper… and a scream… all at once." She took a look at her watch. "It's almost midnight", she said quietly. Lockwood patted over his pockets. "I don't have a thermometer with me. That's George's job usually. But don't you think it's gotten really cold just now?" She nodded, and he noticed her slightly shivering. Taking a look around, no one besides them seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. Lockwood took a few strides to the set of doors closest to them. When he touched the handle, he almost pulled his hand back immediately. The metal was ice-cold to the touch. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked, and he looked around once before opening it carefully and peeking around. The corridor that laid in front of him was almost entirely dark, only illuminated by the streak of light let in from the open door. The air that hit his face was dry and much too cold. (name) appeared next to him. "Let's go", she said. "Let's get it over with." Lockwood thought for a moment that maybe it was better to get the rest of the agents, but then again, what could go wrong? If George's research was correct, there should only be one ghost. They just had to find the source. And this corridor seemed promising.

The two of them slipped through and Lockwood closed the door. Immediately they were enveloped by complete darkness, and now that the door separated them from the warmth and the light and the perceived safety of the ballroom, Lockwood could feel the malaise creeping up on him. He fumbled with his jacket to pull out the flashlight he had stuffed into one of the pockets inside. He switched it on on the lowest setting, and when his eyes had adjusted to the light, he started to move it around to get an idea of their surroundings. (name)'s dress almost looked like blood in the dim light, and as they slowly moved down the hallway, she reached into a fold of the skirt and swiftly pulled out a rapier. "Hidden pocket", she said as she noticed Lockwood's stare. Something about the way she had just pulled that out of nowhere - his brain felt jumbled.

The temperature was dropping rapidly now. (name) was now really shivering, and Lockwood felt the urge to offer her his jacket. But no, that was a stupid idea. He'd make a fool out of himself. They were walking close together now, arms brushing against each other as she tugged at his sleeve. "Can you turn off the light for a second", she whispered. "I think I heard something." It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the dark. "There it is again. Do you really hear nothing?" Lockwood noticed that her tone was normal - she wasn't trying to mock him anymore. He closed his eyes well. There, far in the distance, he heard something. But nothing he could put a finger on. "There was a door right there, right? I wanna see what's behind it."

"Do you need the light?", he asked. "It should be fine. His stomach did a little flip as he suddenly felt her hand slip into his. "Just so we don't lose each other in the dark", she whispered as she pulled him forward. The door creaked as (name) found the handle and pushed against it, her rapier scratching against the wood. The air that came out was even colder. The room could almost be described as well-lit in comparison to the hallway, a big window opposite the door letting in the cold blue light of the moon. They stepped inside. Lockwood did not close the door. While taking a look around, he noticed that (name) had not let go of his hand - even though now there was no risk of getting lost in the dark. Then something in the corner caught his eye. "A deathglow", he whispered, pointing over. "Right above the bed. About the size of a small child." "That checks out. I think one of the nannies - " "- murdered the child", finished Lockwood. "Looks like we read the same articles." She smiled at him, and he realised it was the first genuine smile she had ever shown him. He was reminded of the fact that they were also still holding hands.

"What do you think the source could be?", she asked. He looked around the room, all senses heightened. Until now, nothing had materialised. "It was a small child, right? There's a stuffed teddy sitting next to the pillow. Maybe…" As if the ghost had heard him, the atmosphere got heavier. It was like the air itself got denser and heavier, weighing on him and making it harder to breathe. "I think that might be it. Are you feeling it?" (name) just nodded. Her hand slipped in the front of her dress and Lockwood quickly averted his eyes. "I have a silver net", she whispered. "Give me cover and I'll throw it. If we're lucky, that's it." Lockwood did not argue with her. A pulsating headache had started in the back of his head. He drew his rapier and watched as (name) crept slowly towards the bed, silver net at the ready in one hand, rapier in the other. Basked in the pale light of the moon, with the gleaming rapier and the red dress that flowed around her, she looked like a vengeful ghost herself, and Lockwood had to remind himself to stay aware of his surroundings.

Then, everything happened all at once. (name) threw the silver net, and in the same moment, the supernatural scream that Lockwood had only heard at the very edge of his perception swelled to a volume that pierced through his head like a dagger, and a gigantic blast of wind threw (name) back, catapulting her through the air before she crashed into Lockwood with full force. His rapier was blown out of his hand and out of reflex he wrapped his arms around (name) as they both hit the ground.

It took a moment for Lockwood to gather himself. His ears were ringing and all of the whirled-up dust made it harder to breathe. (name) was lying half on top of him, her hair covering her face. "Are you okay?", Lockwood croaked out. For a moment she didn't move, and he already started to feel panic creeping up on him, but then she coughed and slowly pushed herself up in a sitting position. She raised her hand to her forehead, only to gasp at the blood on her fingertips as she lowered it again. "Is it bad?" "It looks small." He managed to stand up slowly, extending his hand to her. She took it without hesitation. "And pretty cool, might I add", he said as she stood next to him, making no moves to let go of his hand.

Suddenly, the door that the blast of wind had thrown shut burst open again. In the doorframe stood Kipps, followed by George and Kat. He looked at Lockwood and (name), then at the bloody wound on his sister's head, and finally to her hand that was still holding Lockwood's hand. And he looked ready to explode.

thank you for reading, feedback is appreciated :)

[risustravelogue]

Valentine's Period Pains

Summary:

Bedridden on what was supposed to be a special date. How fun. So he came to visit you instead.

Featuring:

Boyfriend!Alhaitham

Tone:

Fluff! Hopefully it soothes the pain a bit (it kind of worked on me).

Note:

Happy Valentine's Day! 💚 I didn't plan on posting anything, but since I already started a period-related headcanon-turned-fic fluff anyway (because I'm having my period… ugh… the PAIN), I decided to finish it up and post it today. (There's a headcanon-format fic for the selfship collab I reblogged last week that's still in progress. I'll post it later today or tomorrow.) Enjoy~ 💚

🔗 AO3 | masterlist 🔗

Your first period after becoming Alhaitham’s girlfriend came on what was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day date night.

He had visited your office to pick you up and hurried to your place after your coworker told him you didn’t show up for work. Your landlady, who opened the front door, told him that you’re having your monthly guest and showed him to your room.

“Your boyfriend’s here to see you, honey,” she called. You wordlessly opened the door for him and staggered back into bed. After thanking your landlady, he followed you inside, quietly observing your room. He sat beside you on the bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Period cramps suck,” you replied, your face buried into your pillow.

He caressed your arm. “Have you eaten anything today?” he asked. You shook your head.

“Do you want anything in particular? I can go and buy it,” he offered.

“Mmm… a big roll of lamb kebab would be nice,” you mumbled.

He thought of giving you an “I’ll be back” kiss on your lips, but decided against it and placed it on your temple instead. You were being too cute and vulnerable for your own good, and he was afraid he couldn’t hold back. He returned half an hour later with three rolls of lamb kebab and a mug of hot cocoa.

“Your favorite,” he smiled. “Two standard rolls are more than one big roll. The other one’s for me.”

You gave him a weak sheepish smile. He took out a roll, unwrapped it, and handed it over to you.

“I’ve read some books about periods,” he says while unwrapping his kebab, his verdant eyes twinkling with curiosity. “I’m wondering about how the cramps actually feel.”

You think for a while. “Well,” you begin, “for me, it’s like my insides are being ripped into shreds, then twisted beyond recognition. Sometimes not in that order.”

He winced. “And you have to go through that every month?”

“Pretty much,” you said. “I get lucky sometimes, though.”

His expression turned into one of deep thought. “So you have to endure both the pain and the bleeding.”

“Yep.”

“No wonder you have days when you always look like you’re almost fainting.”

“Uh-huh.”

“That… explains your postponing our plans once a month or so when we were working on that assignment together.”

“Yeah.”

You chewed on your kebab. A few seconds passed before your eyes widened upon fully realizing the implication of what he had said.

“Haitham?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Hmm? What is it?”

“How do you even still remember that?”

“Oh, that,” he chuckled. “My memory’s always been good,” he said, shifting closer to you. His free hand cupped your cheek, wiping away the sauce at the corner of your lips. “But it’s always the best when it comes to you.”

You felt your face going hotter and hotter. “Oh, shut up,” you mumbled.

He pushed away your kebab-holding hand and leaned in to kiss your cheek. “I will, once you tell me if there’s anything more you’d like.”

The first thought you had was please cuddle me, but then you remembered the way he jerked away his arm when you tried to physically flirt with him a few days ago. A milder option would be…

“Is it okay if I sleep on your lap?” you said, a shy smile on your lips.

He squeezed your free hand. “Of course, after we’re done eating.”

You spent the rest of the day just eating and reading books in bed. His fingers found their way to your head once you snuggle into his lap. The feeling of them running through your hair and massaging your scalp sent shivers all over your skin—the good kind. Needless to say, you slept very well that night.

—

You woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside your window.

You were a bit disappointed that Alhaitham was nowhere to be found, but you tried to shrug it off. It had only been a few weeks since your confession, after all. It was too soon for him to stay the night with you. Then you noticed that there’s a bar of your favorite brand of chocolate on top of a handwritten note on your bedside table. You couldn’t help but let out a squeal after reading it:

Good morning. I hope you’re feeling better. I’m sorry for not staying for long. I’m afraid I’ll end up unwittingly taking advantage of your vulnerable state the longer I spend the night alone with you. Leaving you without saying goodbye was a tough decision, but you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t have the heart to wake you. Still… I might have stolen a kiss or two. Sorry about that. Rest well. I’ll see you tomorrow, my love. –H

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