#we getting ready for season two lads
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hungryistrying · 25 days ago
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hella1975 · 10 months ago
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just think this time tomorrow ill be publicly indecent in a spoons somewhere. i am so strong
#ONE MORE EXAM. WE CAN DO THIS. I WILL BE DONE IN LITERALLY LESS THAN 24 HOURS NOW#AND THEN THE NEXT EXAM SEASON ISNT UNTIL MAY. COME ON GIRL#we have such a fun plan for tomorrow though bc the consensus has just been 'we need to get fucking mangled after this exam'#like i havent been out-out in WEEKS the closest i came was the end of december for a hometown house party of all things#i didnt even go out for nye. let's all take a moment and consider the implications for someone like me NOT GOING OUT ON NYE#so i am OVERDUE a good night out and then on top of that ive had exams be SO fr#and also this is the first year where my main friendship group (i.e not my housemates but my actual social circle)#are ALL econ students like there's about five of us and we all do econ and yeah two of them ive been mates with since first year#(the girl is my best mate at uni and is always who im on about if i talk about a 'girl on my course' and the lad is the one i lived with#in first year and have kind of got a thing with now?) BUT THE OTHERS ARE NEW ADDITIONS AND THAT'S SO FUN#so we're ALL gonna tip out of that exam and then me and her are gonna go back to mine to get ready bc am i fuck doing make-up#before that exam. the STATES i have shown up in these past few days i think the invigilators are worried about me#and then we're meeting the lads at the pub and starting there and THEN going spoons bc it's me and the girl's tradition#(calling her just 'the girl' is so funny. woman 🫵) after exams to buy each other mystery shots at spoons and we HAVE to drink them#and then one of the lads really wants to go to a karaoke bar for some reason?? so that might be in my future#AND THEN we're going clubbing. im so ready. take me home vodka shots. the end is near please please please#hella goes to uni
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endless-ineffabilities · 5 months ago
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chemical override
Ewan Mitchell x actress!reader
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a/n: i caved and did an actual Ewan fic! Given that the lad is more of a public persona nowadays, I reckon it's fine (?) This is pure self-indulgence for all my Ewan loves. May have a continuation but idk for now, enjoy!!
series masterlist ▪︎ main masterlist
The reader and Ewan are paired for press interviews. Despite barely having any scenes together and only knowing each other in passing on set, the chemistry they share cannot be denied...
Your first round of press takes place in a primped up hotel suite in Paris, thanks to the team at HBO.
You are an up and coming actress, much like some of your costars in the show, but the pressure is heavier on you because you were entering in season two, whereas everyone was already well-acquainted with one another.
Your few scenes were mostly with Jace and Baela, so you grew close to Harry and Bethany.
However, the media team decided to pair you up with Ewan for the day. A little fun initiative was set by the team that a character from the Blacks would be do press with a counterpart from the Greens - hence, yourself and Ewan.
You're nervous as you walk down the hallway, unable to fully pay attention to the instructions your lovely assistant gives you.
She tells you about the different interviewers for the day, bloggers and magazine writers from all over the world. She reminds you that each one will only be for a maximum of 5 minutes, so it shouldn't be too complicated. She smiles and eagerly says, "Take a deep breath, you got this!", as you reach the suite doors.
But in your mind, all you can recall is your first interaction with Ewan, almost a year ago right after the table read. You had nervously blurted out to him that Aemond is your favourite character, after he just asked, "How are you?". He laughed, said thank you, before he was pulled away in conversation by Tom.
You pray to the fictional Westerosi gods that things will fare better today. That you won't get all tongue-tied when those steel blue eyes land on you.
Upon entering the room, the team is quick to fuss over you. Sometimes you forget that you're actually an actress now. A celebrity, some might say. It all feels surreal and you have a inkling it won't ever stop being this way.
Ewan is already seated in front of the camera, and he stands to give you a hug as you finally walk over.
"Hey there, how are you?" he smiles widely, smelling like cigarettes and something muskier as he wraps his arms around you.
Unroll your tongue. Rework your brain. Calm down.
"Hey, Ewan!" you respond. "I'm doing great, happy to see you again."
"Well, I only wish we could have had more time together on set." Ever the gentleman, he gestures for you to take your seat before he does the same. "But next season perhaps? Who knows?"
"Oh, sure." You settle in, pleased by the fact that your chairs are only about a foot apart. "We can both look forward to my character giving Aemond the arse kicking he deserves."
He laughs, eyes glinting with mischief. "Come on now, I was thinking our characters are actually quite compatible, no?"
"Well, I sure wouldn't want to step on Alys' shoes. She'd probably curse my character all the way to Yi Ti."
"Hmm," he hums, biting his lip. You can't help but hear Aemond when he does that. "I say you can always count on Aemond and Vhagar to come to the rescue of a beautiful maiden such as yourself."
Well, you'll be damned. Ewan, while still an introvert of his own sort, is as charming as can be. If he's turning it on to get himself hyped for the press, it's working.
It's definitely working on you, to say the least.
The media manager gives the signal for the first interview to begin, and a reporter walks in, all ready with prepared script in hand.
"Here we go," you mutter, facing forward.
"Good luck," Ewan replies.
You both shake the reporter's hand, and he introduces himself as Jared.
"So guys," Jared begins. "Why don't we start with you telling me a little bit about what we can expect from your characters this season?"
The question is easy, and it doesn't take long for you and Ewan to think it through. Jared asks a few more basic questions, before drawing the attention more to you.
"When you watched season one, did you have a favourite character?" he asks you.
You smile, "Oh, I mean, I have to say - and Ewan already knows this, by the way - that Aemond was my favourite character."
"Was?" Ewan says, feigning shock. "Unacceptable."
"Was... Is... " you shrug, rolling your eyes playfully, earning a laugh from Jared. "I think I might be more a Daemon girl now."
"Oh!" Jared exclaims happily. "Does Matt know about this?"
"I'll be sure to tell him - "
Ewan interjects, shaking his head at you, "There's no need to tell him, because I'll convert her back to Team Aemond in no time, trust me."
"Daemon is awesome, though," you say to him, smiling.
"Sure." Ewan makes a face like that fact doesn't matter. Wasn't he the one who said that Daemon would be the character he would most like to play if not Aemond?
"And Caraxes is my favourite dragon." You share a look with Jared, hoping he would agree.
"Yes!" Jared says. "Caraxes is the best dragon in the show, in my opinion."
"Ah, you're both wrong," Ewan says. "My Vhagar is the oldest and baddest dragon in all of the land."
"My Vhagar, he says," you joke. "Seems like someone still hasn't shed Aemond for this press tour."
"And I never will, darling." His gaze is intense when he turns to you, and you clear your throat to fight the warmth rushing to your cheeks.
"Alright, they're giving me the wrap-up," Jared thankfully breaks the tension. "It was a pleasure talking to you guys, congratulations on the new season!"
One interview down, and your nerves have already considerably subsided. Ewan tapping your arm to start up a conversation once more surely helps in distracting you.
In the best damn way possible.
"How do you think we did? That wasn't too bad, was it?"
"I think we did quite well," you casually offer a high five, but your heart skips a beat when Ewan interlaces your suspended hands for just a moment.
"I'm glad they paired me with you," Ewan says, after releasing your hand. You hold on to the armrests to keep your fingers from twitching.
"I am, too," you admit. "I am a fan of you, after all, but I think you already know that."
He blushes, "Well, that's not a bad thing. I think you're a fantastic actress. I must have seen your first film a good ten times."
"You mean my first and only film," you add humbly. "But thank you."
"Only film for now," he affirms. "No doubt this is only the beginning for you, darling. With your talent and your charisma, I'm sure you have potential scripts piled up already."
"I could say the same for you! Have you seen what your fans say about you online? You're the internet's new boyfriend, Ewan Mitchell."
The media manager announces the next interview, but Ewan follows up with a response for you under his breath, "I have seen some things. But when I have a girlfriend, I'll make sure she won't have to share me at all."
Oh, so apparently he is single. But wait - why is he telling you this?
You don't get to mull over that thought. For the time being, the next interview starts and you make sure you do a good job at what you're paid to do - promoting the series.
Not daydreaming about getting with a costar, for heaven's sake. Stay professional.
▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎
You feel lightheaded after finishing the seventh - or had it been the eighth? - interview.
Your assistant delivers a coffee to you during the twenty-minute break. Ewan had stepped out to the balcony to have a smoke, leaving you alone with your thoughts.
He certainly is everything you expected him to be, and so much more. Insightful, cheeky, dedicated. An artist, through and through. He was in the business for all the right reasons, passion and respect for the craft.
If he had any flaws, you weren't privy to them yet. If there are any reasons for you not to be attracted to him, you didn't know what those were yet.
And with every flirtatious remark and pointed smile, you can't deny the hope blooming in you.
"Hey," he reappears, pulling you out of your musings. "I hope you don't mind that I smell of smoke."
No, you didn't, not when it's him.
"Don't worry about it," you reassure him. You tilt your head forward to take a sip of your coffee, but a lock of your hair falls in front of your face. Annoyed, you think to reach for it, but Ewan beats you to it, tucking it back in place.
"There you go, darling," he croons, gesturing for you to proceed in drinking.
"Th-thanks." His eyes don't leave yours as you take a slow sip.
"So," you say, desperate to break the silence, "which interview did you enjoy the most so far?"
"How can I possibly choose? I mean, I really liked the one with ComicSociety, the guy that said our characters have a lot of chemistry and should get together next season. He's right, I already told you!"
"Ohhh, sure, that will go down really well with the Blacks and Greens."
He smirks, "I don't see why not?"
"For one, Aemond is ensnared by Alys, and my character will never give up fighting for Rhaenyra. I just don't see it happening, Ewan."
"Right," he mutters thoughtfully, "there is still Alys in the picture."
"Still in the picture? With the amount of steamy scenes you two have lined up for season three, I'd say she will be Aemond's entire picture in and of herself."
"Hmm," he glances at you once, then looks down. Dare you think it, does he look disappointed?
"But hey," you add lightly, "maybe we can talk to Ryan and he can flip the entire script just for our characters."
"Yeah," his cheeky smile resurfaces, "maybe you can take Alys' place."
Take the place of Alys? Of Alys. Is he insinuating...
"Next round of interviews, guys!" The media manager announces to the room.
"Here we go again, darling," Ewan squeezes your hand once, before putting on his professional face once more.
▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎
By the end of it all, not even caffeine can perk you up. You were exhausted, you and Ewan having finished four full hours of press.
Your assistant comes to your aid, ready to direct you back to your own hotel room.
"This has been such a pleasure, Ewan, really." You stand, this time initiating the hug.
He squeezes you gently, humming in your ear. When you pull apart, he says, "I honestly wouldn't mind trudging through hours and hours of press with you."
That's sweet of him. You're too tired to mask the warmth that rises to your cheeks. "And I feel the same. Today couldn't have gone any better."
"Truly, and listen, maybe we could - "
"Ewan!" The manager approaches. "I'm so sorry to rush with this, but we need to film just a quick soundbite with you for Aemond. Just two to three questions for the Max Tiktok account?"
"Oh, okay - " Ewan is reluctant to turn away from you.
"Perfect! If you could just stand there by the windows please..." The manager already has him by the arm, directing where he has to go.
"We have to go," your assistant says. "Still have to prep for tomorrow."
"I'll see you soon, Ewan!" you call out to him. "Thanks again."
He gives a half-hearted wave, dejected as he watches you walk out of the room.
"That wasn't too bad," you share with your assistant as you enter the elevators. "Not bad at all, actually."
"Oh, you did so well," she compliments. "It definitely helps with the press that you and Mr. Mitchell have such insane natural chemistry."
▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎
In the calm of your hotel room, you get ready for bed.
Just when you're about to finish with your nightly routine, your phone rings from your bedside table. You're quick to rush over, thinking it could be your assistant or your manager, with an urgent update about work.
But no - it's an unknown number. A UK number, as it appears.
Confused, you click answer anyway, putting it to your ear with a tentative, "Hello, who is this?"
"Hi, darling."
"Ewan?"
"Yeah, uhm, I hope I didn't disturb you - "
"Not at all," your answer comes out in a rushed breath.
"I also hope you don't mind that I got my assistant to ask your assistant to give me your number? It's what I wanted to ask you before you left today."
"Oh." You feel fully awake now, by some miracle, butterflies finding home in your stomach. "I don't mind. I... I should have given you my number, anyway. I have most of the cast's, in case I need to get a hold of you guys."
"Hmm, right," he says from the other end. You hear him calmly breathing, the sound strangely comforting, and wonder if he can hear the same from you.
He says, "I just wanted to keep hearing your voice. Didn't get enough of it today," and your heart just about stops.
"Oh. Okay," is all you are able to respond with.
"What are you doing?"
"Just... just getting ready for bed." Phone pressed to your ear, you shuffle around the room, putting some things back in place.
He says nothing for a few seconds, but you still hear his breathing, and some shuffling in the background. It occurs to you that he might just be as nervous as you are now.
Maybe.
"Listen," he finally says, "do you want to hear my pitch to Ryan about why our characters should get together next season?"
A genuine laugh escapes you. He sure is persistent. Playful, sure, but you're definitely willing to play along.
"Let's hear it."
"First," he says, "you have to renounce Daemon as your favourite character - "
"Not a chance."
" - and swear your love for Aemond."
"Keep dreaming."
He laughs, and you can only picture the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"Aww darling," he teases, "don't you love me?"
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💌 part two - part three
The OGs will know that the final line is a nod to my first ever Aemond fic! 🖤
Did this slightly delay my series works? Yes, yes it did. Do I regret it? For Ewan frickin Mitchell, I would never ~
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f1byjessie · 9 months ago
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A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS ━━ LN4.
sometimes the right words are hard to come across, and sometimes everything you need to say can be captured in an image.
( lando norris x photographer!reader )
━━ part nine.
INSTAGRAM.
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tagged: yourusername
mclaren As we get closer and closer to the start of the 2024 season, we thought we’d take the time to introduce new fans to the team that works behind the scenes! Starting us off, we have Y/N L/N, our personal paddock photographer! Y/N has been here with us at McLaren since 2019, and is the genius mind behind many of the photos we’ve posted throughout the years. She’s an important part of our community and helps tremendously in not only capturing our drivers in action, but also in getting the other behind the scenes members of our team the recognition they deserve. We’re glad to have her back here with us in Bahrain, and we can’t wait to see what beautiful concoctions she comes up with this year! 🧡
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user if there is 100 y/n fans, i am one of them. if there is one y/n fan, it is me. if there are no y/n fans, i have died.
user love love LOVE that mclaren takes the time to recognize the hard work of everyone who supports the drivers
↳ user i feel like f1 promotes the racers, team principals, and pit crew so much and forgets about everyone else that makes sure these teams are able to function so seamlessly
user CAN WE GET A MEET THE ADMIN POST TOO??? 👀👀👀
user i bumped into y/n back in silverstone 2021, like literally bumped into her, and she was so sweet!!
user she’s my photography inspo 🤩
user her dedication to the mclaren team is so apparent when you think about the fact that she DOESN’T get the same recognition as the drivers, but she has chosen to work for them for what will be 6 years as of this season. she could have easily move to a different formula 1 team or even another sport entirely, but she still comes back and that’s a dedicated artist
↳ user the fact that she did a little stint over at manchester city fc and STILL chose to come back to mclaren even tho i imagine f1 has a much harsher and stricter schedule with the intercontinental travel than football does
user this is who we have to thank for all those beautiful shots of lando??? cuz if so, bless her omg 🙏🙏🙏
user in this household we appreciate the crew that works tirelessly to keep us entertained
user so tired of seeing ppl disregard her skill as a photographer just bc of who she’s dating
↳ user OMG SAME
yourusername glad to be here, can’t wait to travel the world with these amazing people 🧡
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tagged: mclaren
yourusername locked in and ready 😎
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oscarpiastri so glad you’ve gotten over your temporary obsession with blue 😁
↳ yourusername so glad you haven’t lost your ability to get on my last nerve 😁
↳ oscarpiastri so glad you’re still insufferable even on your best days 😁
↳ yourusername now that’s a comeback i can be proud of 🥹
user MISSED THESE LADS OH MY DAYS
user ONE DAY UNTIL TESTING GUYS
user oscar looking fine asf these days 😩 that winter break treated him well
mclaren The boys are back in town!
↳ yourusername dare i say my milkshake brought them to the yard?
↳ mclaren It certainly called us 😍
↳ yourusername you flatter me mclaren admin 😌
↳ mclaren Only the best for our best 😘
user that’s some pretty intense eye contact from lando in the last image…
↳ user he ain’t even looking at the camera
↳ user nah bruv is def looking at y/n 👀👀
↳ user I NEED THEM TO GET OVER WHATEVER HAPPENED AND GO BACK TO BEING FRIENDS CUZ I MISS THE BANTER IN THE COMMENTS
↳ user i think we should probably respect their privacy and understand that something happened (presumably in the off season) that we weren’t privy to. so long as they can both maintain professionalism around one another, they don’t have to do or “get over” anything. does it suck to see two very close friends no longer get along in the way they used to? absolutely. but we don’t know what happened or if anything even did happen. in the event that something did, we don’t know who’s involved or who, if anyone, is at fault. they’re both justified in choosing to end a friendship due to a falling out, or even if they just grew distant. but even as i say all of this, it’s still speculation.
↳ user we don’t actually know if they aren’t friends any longer or if they’ve just moved their friendship off of online platforms. it should be noted that y/n is very publicly dating someone, and idk about you, but i know firsthand how delusional fans can be. her bf’s fans could easily attack her over banter with another man, and lando’s fans could just as easily start reading into that same banter which runs the very real possibility of putting all three of them in an awkward situation where y/n is being shipped with a man that ISN’T her bf.
↳ user what about the banter she has with the mclaren admin? 🤔
↳ user context is super important here. the flirting between y/n and the mclaren admin is very obviously fake. it has been from the beginning, and when ppl “ship” the two of them together it’s for the bit and to play along with their fake bromance. lando and y/n have both been legitimately shipped together since they both started working with mclaren, which changes the undertone of the shipping comments bc ppl often genuinely misconstrue their banter as REAL flirting.
user why do comment sections related to y/n always turn into debate sessions
↳ user REAL like ain’t no way i’m reading all that
user oscar’s hair sticking up in every picture is my roman empire
user I’VE BEEN MISSING THE ORANGE I’M SO GLAD IT’S BACK 🧡🧡🧡
user wait i didn’t even realize until now that this is the first post in like a month that’s actually had public comments turned on
↳ user probably bc her bf’s loser fans have finally stopped harassing her
jackgrealish must be nice having all that sun 😒
↳ yourusername it really is, bet you’re jealous
Testing goes fine, until it doesn’t.
“A drain cover?” Lando’s voice echoes across the garage. “Another fucking drain cover?”
You purse your lips.
Yesterday, he’d been upset on Oscar’s behalf when they’d cancelled the remainder of the morning session after only a couple hours to solve the problem of the track’s dislodged pieces. He’d complained and cussed out the incompetence, and then reassured Oscar that things would be better for the third day.
But the third day is here now, and he’s even more upset now being told to pit after a measly thirty minutes for the same issue.
“This is the second fucking time━” he cuts himself off with an angry huff and runs his hands roughly through the curls of his hair, letting his fingers catch on the tangles and yanking through them in his frustration. Sweat glistens on his furrowed brow. His cheeks are still flushed from the heat of the car.
It’s the most emotion you’ve seen from him since you’ve come back.
The time you’ve already spent in Bahrain has been stilted at best. Lando continues to stick with his attempts at avoiding you, but it’s harder to do so here when your hotel rooms are on the same floor and you’re limited to the confines of the garage for most of the day. Even when he isn’t in the car, there’s not a lot to do wandering around the paddock and even if there was they’ve encouraged him to stay where he can easily be reached.
You’re trying not to be smug about it, but every time you glance over your shoulder and catch him watching you━ catch him quickly looking away when your eyes meet and he realizes he’s been caught━ you feel pleased.
If there’s one thing you’ve learned about Lando, it’s that he’s always got a limit.
If you wait long enough, stand your ground and prove that you really have no intentions whatsoever of giving in and breaking the ice between the two of you, eventually he’ll cave. When he realizes he won’t get what he wants, that he’ll have to actually put in the effort to repair what he’s broken rather than having it magically fix itself, he’ll have no other choice but to do so.
“They might not cancel the session,” Oscar chimes in, attempting to placate his aggravated teammate. “Since they already had to yesterday, I doubt they’ll do it again today.”
Unfortunately, that doesn’t actually calm Lando down at all. If anything, it just reminds him again of the fact that this is the second time this same complication has happened which has him huffing angrily again and running his hands through his tangled curls even rougher.
You wince at that.
Andrea, McLaren’s team principal, steps forward. “Take a breath,” he orders, resting a heavy hand on Lando’s shoulder. “Go walk a lap around the garage or something, whatever, but I need you to calm down.”
You’re prepared for that to be the end of it, but then Andrea looks over and catches your eye. “Y/N,” he says, nodding his head towards Lando. “You go with him. Keep him out of trouble.”
Well.
You like to think you do a much better job at keeping your emotions off of your face than Lando, which isn’t hard when his features scrunch up into a pained scowl at Andrea’s words, but you can feel the pinch of your own eyebrows furrowing and the smile you send towards the team principal probably looks more like a grimace if Oscar pursed lips in your peripherals is anything to go by.
Lando storms out and you follow reluctantly after him.
He can’t really go very far, not if he wants to be within a reasonable distance when━ if━ they call him back to continue the morning testing session. So he paces back and forth and back and forth just outside the garage’s exit out into the paddock.
Your phone tells you that ten minutes pass like this. It’s the longest you’ve been alone with him in a while and his distraction lets you focus on the finer details that you’ve missed when he’s going out of his way to avoid you.
There are deep, dark, bruise-like circles that hang heavily beneath his eyes. His skin is sun-kissed and tanned from his time out catching rays during his travels, but there’s a pale pallor beneath the added color that makes him look sick. Despite his current anger and the tension coiled in his muscles just waiting to lash out and strike, his shoulders seem to droop beneath the invisible weight of whatever he’s carrying with him.
He looks small.
Lando’s always been on the shorter side, but he’s never before looked small. Not like this. Never like this.
The longer you watch, the more the back and forth pacing starts to transform into the anxious stride of a cornered animal.
You aren’t arrogant enough to assume he’s like this because of you entirely, but it does occur to you that maybe he’s having just as rough of a time as you are with the newfound distance between yourselves.
You watch him silently, for a little while longer, observing the way his stride hitches every few steps and he just barely manages to stop himself from stumbling over his own feet. He’s still running his hands through his hair. By the seventh time he practically claws his fingers through his curls you heave a sigh.
“Quit that,” you snap.
“Quit what?” He fires back with just as much bite.
You roll your eyes. “You’re gonna rip your hair out if you keep pulling on it like that.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he stops in his tracks and turns on his heel to face you with a sneer. His words drip with sarcasm. “I forgot you must be used to Grealish now, right? And I bet he’s got at least a ten-step hair care routine. I wonder, does he use unicorn sweat and essence of rainbow to keep it that smooth and bright? There’s no other possible way!”
“You’re being an asshole, Lando.”
“My sincerest apologies,” he says. “How could I ever think Grealish would use unicorn sweat of all things? He uses pixies tears, my mistake.”
You’re not sure how a few words managed to turn into this━ you’d just wanted him to stop pulling at his hair. It looked painful and he’s always been a bit tender headed. Now, instead, you can feel the anger bubbling up inside you and it seems like Lando’s frustrations about the testing delay, and your friendship with Jack apparently, have made things worse.
Like throwing gasoline onto a flame.
You scowl, “Seriously. You’re being a fucking prick.”
He throws his arms up into the air, “Why not just run off to Grealish then? Since he seems to be your new best friend and you tell him everything.”
If your life were a movie, this is the moment in time when the stars would align and fate would force everything to position itself perfect in place. Like the pieces of a puzzle, it would all work out and you’d calmly explain to Lando what happened back in January with Garrett and Manchester City, and he’d understand immediately and apologize, and you’d hug it out and then both return to the garage just in time for them to announce the testing session would re-commence.
But your life isn’t a movie, and reality feels significantly different to the scripted perfection of fiction.
The precarious security of the perch you’ve settled yourself upon comes crashing down, and the tentative balance you’ve managed to maintain since the start of February when you were back in papaya again shatters with it. Something inside you snaps. The dam has burst and everything held back comes rushing to the front like a torrential wave.
“At least he was there for me when some prick blackmailed me into a relationship at the threat of my livelihood,” you snarl.
Lando pauses for a moment. He makes a couple different faces before settling on a mix between pissed off and confused, and his arms cross over his chest. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I didn’t want to be in a relationship with Garrett Ward, Lando!” You exclaim. “He threatened that if I didn’t pretend to be his girlfriend, he’d fake some misconduct rumor and ruin my career and I was too afraid to say no because this is all I have!”
This isn’t how you’d wanted it all to go down. You’d always imagined you’d get the satisfaction of an apology, and that Lando would get drunk on cheap wine with you like old times, and you’d explain what all happened with the confidence of being a little tipsy and you wouldn’t feel ashamed because Lando’s your best friend and he’d reassure you that you did what you had to, and then you’d listen to him shit talk Garrett for the rest of the night. In the morning, he’d have some idea of how to fix it all without ruining your career, and then you’d be able to put it all behind you and go back to how things were before the winter off-season ever started.
This is far from that, but there’s a sense of relief that comes nonetheless from getting it all off your chest to Lando━ to the person you’ve wanted to talk to from the very beginning
You feel tears burning your eyes, blurring your vision. “I can barely pay my rent as is, and I’m only actually living there for a few dumb months out of the year anyway. Do you know how much worse it would be if I got kicked from McLaren too? Nobody else in the country would hire me if he followed through with what he was threatening.”
“Well,” Lando shrugs his shoulders, looking properly chastised. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I fucking tried, you muppet!” You throw your arms up in exasperation and then wipe at your eyes in frustration when the tears start to roll down your cheeks. “I called you every day for a week and you ignored me! I sent you text after text after fucking text━” your voice breaks, “━and you didn’t even read them! Did you know I locked myself in the bathroom and cried every single day I had to work there?”
You glare at him.
“The only thing that made it better was Jack fucking Grealish coming into my office and telling me I could at least go to him if I ever needed anything,” you snap. “So fuck off with this whole holier than thou bullshit. You left me, and Jack took your place because I was drowning!”
“Y/N…”
Crying hadn’t been a part of your plan, but the tears won’t stop now that they’re going. It’s embarrassing. You’re already worried about just how many people heard you shouting, and now you’re even more worried about someone coming back to look for you both and finding you sobbing your eyes out.
“I’m sorry━”
Lando’s arms wrap around you, warm and strong and sure.
━━ tags: @maih23 @urfavnoirette @leclercsluv @f1luvur @formulaal @a-disturbing-self-reflection @starlightpierre @chezmardybum @marshmummy @405rry @sideboobrry11 @d3kstar @mcmuppet @happylittlereader @casperlikej @5starl1ght @bellezaycafe @whentheautumnleavesfall @mess-is-my-aesthetic @ssprayberrythings @landosgirlxoxo @lifelessfan @81ja @wcnorris @a-disturbing-self-reflection (CLOSED).
━━ a/n: and there we have it folks. lando is finally back in the picture! this part was a lot of fun to write, because i've been waiting for this moment since the initial fallout in the beginning. on that note, i finished getting it all whipped up this morning while watching the qualis, so if there are any mistakes that i haven't caught that's why. i was a bit distracted, so please pretend they aren't there haha!
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padfootagain · 1 month ago
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Love in Verses (XVIII)
Chapter 18 : ‘What the devil do I care what I know, and what I say?’
Hi! Here is new chapter! This is a very important chapter… I hope you like it!!!
I hope you like this chapter! Tell me what you think!
****
Pairing: Hozier x fem!reader (professor!AU)
Warnings: slow burn, angst, hurt, hurt/comfort, tooth-rotting fluff in later chapters, some scenes in later chapters will have heavy sexual themes even if it’s not explicit nsfw description, so minors here
Summary: Your life seems perfect. You're engaged, your career is thriving as you become an assistant professor at Trinity College, and this Andrew Hozier-Byrne you're sharing an office with seems to be a nice guy you hope to call a friend soon. Life seems to be smiling at you... until everything goes sour. When your fiancé breaks up with you, your perfect world shatters. And when your colleague also gets his heart broken soon after, your shared office seems to be a curse rather than a blessing. But Andrew seems determined to mend your broken hearts... Will things finally go according to plan?
Word Count: 3472
Masterlist for the series – Hozier’s masterlist – Main masterlist
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Wisdom
This I say, and this I know: Love has seen the last of me. Love's a trodden lane to woe, Love's a path to misery.
This I know, and knew before, This I tell you, of my years: Hide your heart, and lock your door. Hell's afloat in lovers' tears.
Give your heart, and toss and moan; What a pretty fool you look! I am sage, who sit alone; Here's my wool, and here's my book.
Look! A lad's a-waiting there, Tall he is and bold, and gay. What the devil do I care What I know, and what I say?
Dorothy Parker
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Classes for the first semester were over. The Christmas Holiday season had come to a close as well, leaving you buried under piles of articles and documents and books to help you get ready for the new classes that would start after the end of the exams.
It was snowing outside, a part of the Liffey had frozen during the night, apparently. Some idiot had tried walking on it, had fallen into the river, you had heard it on the news. He was equipped for a swim in cold waters, but still… how silly people could be…
You were in bed, you checked the time on the alarm clock on your bedside table. Almost midnight. You heaved a sigh. You ought to stop, catch a few hours of sleep before heading to work tomorrow. But you had a thousand things to do and to plan and… God, so many things still…
You were distracted by the vibration of your phone on the bed, looked for it in a hurry under the covers. You frowned as you read Frank’s name on your screen, picked up with a worried frown on your brow. Something ought to be wrong…
“Hello?”
“Y/N?”
You recognised the sound of his voice. He was drunk and had been crying. When the two of you were together, he was only in this state when you had a huge fight.
“You’re alright?” you asked him, knowing the answer.
“No, I’m not… God, I’m really not, Y/N. Can you… can you pick me up? I’m drunk, I can’t drive, I don’t know where to go… Christ, I’ve fucked up so bad tonight… please, help me…”
You looked at all the work you had left to do, looked at the time again, but heaved a sigh. Not accepting to help wasn’t even a possibility…
“I’ll come and pick you up. Where are you right now?” you asked him, and you heard the sigh of relief he heaved at your words.
“I’m downtown. At a pub… hang on, I’ll give you the address…”
“What happened? Where’s Samantha?”
He sniffed.
“We had a row.”
You nodded, not surprised.
“Like… a huge one. Our first row. I… I’ve fucked up. She’s home. I can’t go home, I don’t know where to go…”
“You can stay at my place for tonight,” you offered. “It’s alright, I’m on my way.”
“Thank you so much, Y/N… thank you,” he mumbled, the lilt of his accent more pronounced as his words were slurred by alcohol.
“Don’t mention it. I’m leaving now, stay where you are.”
You hurried out of bed, put on some clothes, grabbed your keys. You typed a text while you were in the lift.
Hi, Andy!
Just a warning: Sam and Frank had a row tonight, seems quite bad. Omw to get Frank from some bar downtown. He’ll stay at my place for tonight. Sam might call you too.
You were walking to your car when he answered.
Thanks for the warning. Sam has just texted me, I’ll go to hers.
Good luck with Frank.
You sat behind the wheel, locked your car before answering.
Good luck with Sam too!
You were about to put your phone away in your purse when it vibrated again.
Tell me when you’re home, okay? It’s late.
A tender smile softened your features.
Will do xx
You put your phone away, started driving. It took you a while to find the pub, but Frank was eager to leave, and you were relieved not to have to fight him for his car keys or something like that. Instead, he obediently entered your car. His eyes were red and puffy, he stunk of whiskey, cheap beer, and cigarettes.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, voice made deeper by the liquor, words slurred.
“No problem. Let’s go to my place.”
He nodded in silence, dried his eyes.
“What happened?” you asked as you drove, the streets empty at this hour, the lampposts the only sources of light in the sleeping city as clouds heavy with rain were hiding the moon and stars.
“Sam and I had a fight.”
You hummed.
“What was it about?”
“Something stupid. Fucking stupid.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, like… something about the wedding. About the guests we should put together, and I was like… like who cares? People can just… sit… wherever they like. But she was making plans, and I took the piss, and she got… so fucking mad and…”
He sniffed, looked by the window at the empty streets.
“Was fucking stupid.”
“You got angry?”
“Yeah.”
“And you said something stupid?”
“Yeah. How do you know?”
“You generally say stupid and hurtful things when you’re really angry.”
“I don’t mean them.”
“I know. It still hurts.”
He heaved a sigh, rested his forehead against the windowpane.
“I think it was a long-time coming though. We’ve been bickering a lot. I don’t know… it’s just been a lot of stress these past few weeks. I thought it would be better after the New Year’s Eve party, but it wasn’t.”
You slowly nodded.
“I mean… you’ve been moving very fast through this relationship. Maybe you’ve skipped a few steps along the way, and you’re feeling it now.”
He remained quiet for the rest of the drive. When you reached your apartment building, he stared at you, but said nothing.
You helped him through the elevator and hallways all the way to your flat. You texted Andrew that you were safely home while Frank was struggling with his shoes.
Andrew answered in seconds with a thumbs up.
“You think I’m making a mistake, don’t you?”
Frank’s voice brought you back to your apartment, made you put your phone away and turn to him instead.
You weren’t quite sure what to answer, even if this was the perfect moment to speak your mind. You were too taken aback for that.
“Everybody does,” Frank nodded. “Everybody thinks I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have… I don’t know anymore… Maybe… Maybe I’ve made a mistake, and I shouldn’t have left and… I don’t know… I don’t know…”
“I think you’re moving very fast. I think all this is going too fast,” you spoke with a gentle voice, moving closer to him. “I mean… you pushed back the engagement, then the wedding, when we were together. While this is so sudden… Everything about you and Sam seems sudden.”
Slowly, Frank nodded.
���I don’t know… I don’t know what to do, I… I want it to be fast though, I don’t want to think things through this time around. I don’t want to be cautious, the way we were, you and I, Y/N. I just… I want to live this fully.”
He rubbed at his tired eyes.
“I’m sorry, I don’t make any sense right now…”
“You should go to bed,” you gave him a sad smile, but he didn’t notice, he was too tired for that, or… you didn’t know why… but he didn’t notice.
You gave him a pillow and a blanket so he could settle on the couch, he thanked you, closed his eyes.
Before you could move away, he grabbed your hand in his, gave it a tight squeeze. You wanted to cry now.
And then, he surrendered to sleep, and he let go.
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Sam wasn’t crying anymore when Andrew arrived to her flat, but her eyes were red and puffy with tears that had already fallen. She let him inside, offered him something to drink while he took off his coat, gloves, beanie and scarf, but he declined. He turned to her with a tender smile, something full of compassion.
“You’re okay? How are you feeling?” he asked with a voice he made deeper than usual, knowing it calmed her down.
“Not great,” she admitted.
“You had a fight with Frank, then?”
“Yeah… we… I… It was pretty bad.”
“Bad?”
“It was a big row.”
“Was he mean to you?” Andrew’s voice shook, a frown digging a line between his eyebrows. “Did he threaten you?”
“What? No! Of course not! We just had a row.”
He visibly relaxed, took a step closer to her. They were standing in her living room, the night was quiet. He wanted to reach out, but he didn’t dare.
“What was it about? Do you want to talk about it?”
She shrugged, but took a step closer to him too, standing close, so close… He could have pulled her into an embrace so easily…
“We fought about the wedding. We… we don’t want the same thing.”
“About what?”
“Silly things. Unimportant details, to be honest. But I didn’t know how to react to it… like… I know you sigh a lot when you’re annoyed. I know your voice quietens first, and then you raise it. I know you get petty when you’re really angry. I know you need to spend time alone to cool down. I know you’ll want to have the last word no matter whether you’re right or wrong, but you’ll never admit it. I know that it’s useless to simply bury the hatchet, that you’ll bring it up again later if we don’t discuss it when the issue arises. I know you don’t talk about what you feel, that I should not be offended if you just lock yourself up in your office until you’re calmer and we can talk about it. I know it’s useless to make you acknowledge your feelings. I know you’re so fucking stubborn when you really want to be. I know… I know how to deal with you, even with your anger, even with the ugliest of your feelings. Cause I… I know you. But I didn’t know how to handle him. I got mad, and he got mad and I didn’t know what to do. And I made things worse. I don’t know what to do…”
She looked up at him with this specific gaze, and he knew what she needed. He knew it, because he knew her. And she had just told him what he was already painfully aware of, that she knew him like the back of her hand. And perhaps this was the part he missed the most now that he was alone. That he used to have someone who knew him so completely.
He wrapped his arms around her, because he knew she needed a hug. She needed to feel safe and warm, and indeed she rested her head on his shoulder easily.
He held her close, the way he had thousands of times before. He always found solace in it, something soothing, anchoring. When she rose to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, to thank him in a whisper for coming, his chest grew a little warm but he was surprised when his heart didn’t stumble. It didn’t rush, didn’t miss a few beats. It remained steady, although it was content. And the arms that used to soothe him were a nice embrace, a gentle shelter to rest, but they lacked something. Something… he wasn’t sure what it was. He knew that he didn’t feel the way he used to when they held on each other before. He knew he felt less than before.
They remained motionless, bathed in silence for a few minutes, the sound of their breathing the only sign of life in the room. His mind wandered off, instead of being anchored in the moment, unlike the way she used to force his brain to quieten down. Instead, he thought about the classes he had to prepare for the rest of the year, the exams coming up, he thought of Frank and was angry at him for hurting Sam, and he thought of you. He was suddenly worried about you, he hadn’t received any text from you yet, to tell him you were home. Were you alright? It was so late into the night and you were driving to a pub downtown, after all…
He felt his phone buzzing in the back pocket of his jeans, pulled away from the hug. He didn’t notice Sam’s puzzled expression.
“Andy?” she looked up at him with a questioning look.
He didn’t notice she was speaking. He heaved a relieved sigh instead.
I’m home. All good xx
He answered with a mere thumbs up.
“Andy?”
This time he looked up from his phone, put the device in his back pocket again.
“Yeah?”
“You’re okay?”
But he knew her. He knew her better than anyone else in this world. He knew this question meant ‘who is texting you at such an hour?’.
“Yeah… erm… It was Y/N. Frank called her to pick him up at a pub.”
“Did he?” she asked, clearly jealous.
Andrew hummed and nodded.
“He’ll stay at her place for the night.”
“Right…”
She seemed uneasy now. Worried.
“And why was she telling you this anyway?”
“Because you asked me to come here too,” he merely answered.
“So, she picked him up?”
“Yeah, they’re at her apartment.”
“Why is she telling you all this?”
“It’s late. I asked her to tell me when she’d be home, just to make sure she was safe.”
She stared at Andrew with an unreadable expression, one he didn’t know how to analyse, despite how well he knew her. Was it a new one? Did he simply… fail at reading her this time?
“Can you stay tonight?”
The question came out of the blue, took him aback.
Stay the night…
“I… don’t want to be alone,” she whispered.
And Andrew wasn’t sure what she meant. Probably for him to sleep on the sofa, but there was something in her eyes… No, she didn’t mean for him to sleep on the sofa…
It was his chance to get her back, and he knew it. He knew it. He could have her back, maybe, he could try, at least…
He thought about kissing her then, closing the distance between them, finding back what they had lost. But instead, he…
Instead, he thought of your lips on his, of your weight in his arms, of your kiss on his cheek while a new year was born.
He wanted to kiss you. He didn’t want to kiss Sam at all…
He didn’t want Frank to be with you now, in your apartment. He didn’t want you to kiss him, he didn’t want you to be with him, and God almighty, he could feel his heart racing at the thought that you could have sex with him…
Slowly, he shook his head.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” he mumbled, his voice not sounding like his own.
“But I…”
“I’m sorry… I… I should go. I should go…”
He hurried to her front door, while Sam remained standing in her living room, too stunned by Andrew’s actions to move or say anything. Before she could go back to her senses, Andrew had left.
He had left. When he sat down behind the wheel, he didn’t know what was happening, couldn’t understand his own actions. He could have tried to get Sam back, and instead… instead he had thought of you, he had… he had wished it was you who stood there before him, offering him a chance to kiss you…
Fucking hell… he bloody liked you. He liked you. He liked you enough to push Sam away…
Holy shit…
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Andrew was pacing before a tired Alex, who was sitting on his sofa.
Andrew was lucky his best friend was a night owl like him, but even if he naturally longed to go to bed at an unreasonable hour, Alex was still longing to bury himself under his warmest blanket and finally go to sleep now that it was almost four in the morning.
But Andrew was still pacing. He had called Alex after leaving Sam’s flat, panicked, talking too fast about ‘catching feelings’ and ‘being a fucking eejit’ and ‘ruining everything’. Alex invited him to come over, and now Andrew was burning holes in his carpet…
“This is so bad, Alex. So fucking bad…”
“Calm down, it’s alright. You have a crush on Y/N, so what?”
“SO WHAT?! SO WHAT?! I don’t want to have a crush on Y/N! I want to have Sam back!”
“Not anymore, apparently.”
Andrew threw his hands up in the air in frustration. He had a thousand things to say and couldn’t speak them out loud, he just couldn’t. He was never good at this, opening up about his feelings… He buried them instead, and let them gnaw at his heart. Was it healthy? No, but he couldn’t help it. And then he wrote about it, and he felt better, lighter, and things were alright again.
But right now, he was too much in a state to grab some paper and pen and put it all down.
“This can’t be happening, Alex” he shook his head. “I can’t be catching feelings on Y/N.”
“Why not? She sounds like an amazing woman!”
“She is! Don’t get me wrong, she’s… incredible! But I want Sam.”
“You don’t anymore.”
“Of course, I bloody do!”
“Why did you push her away tonight, then?”
But Andrew wasn’t ready to admit that.
“I don’t know… I don’t know…”
“You’re falling for Y/N.”
“She’s my colleague! We share an office! We’re friends! We’re trying to get back with our exes! She’s still in love with the guy!”
“Well, tell yourself those arguments, cause apparently they haven’t prevented you from falling for her…”
“I haven’t fallen, I just… I fancy her, ‘s all.”
“Yeah, of course. Of bloody course.”
“Alright, I need to think straight.”
“Why do you want to get back with Sam so badly anyway?”
“Because… Because I love her. Because she… I’m…”
“The honest answer,” Alex argued, staring mercilessly at his friend.
And Andrew hated him at that moment, for knowing him so fucking well, for not cutting him any slack, for pressing him on into acknowledging how he felt… even the ugly side of himself…
He stuttered, went silent, but Alex was there to push him again. Until Andrew turned to the window and stared at the inky sky where not a single light remained uncovered by heavy clouds. All darkness. The kind so absolute, one would not see a thing if they were lost in it.
He imagined your features on that darkness, painted it with the colour of your eyes, the softness of your skin, the warmth of your lips, built your image on the nothingness of the world.
He wanted Sam… he wanted…
“I want someone to know me,” he whispered, feeling the heaviness of the confession drain all his strengths out of his body, feeling empty as he let the words leave. “I want… I want to be known. I want companionship. I’m afraid to be alone. I’m scared. I’m scared no one else is ever going to know me the way Sam does, and love me anyway. After all, even she couldn’t…”
He fell silent, sniffed as tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.
“God, it’s so fucking hard to be unknown. To have no one like that anymore… It feels so fucking lonely…”
Alex had gotten up without a word nor sound, rested a hand on Andrew’s shoulder.
“Someone else can learn to know you that way again, Andy. You deserve it. You deserve to be loved for who you are. Maybe Y/N could…”
But Andrew shook his head, shook himself out of his friend’s grasp.
“No! No, this is ridiculous! I want Sam! I want Sam! I don’t want Y/N! It was just a flukes, just a glitch, just… I don’t know, a moment of madness! But I don’t want Y/N, I don’t like her, I want Sam…”
“Andy…”
“I want Sam. I must want Sam.”
Andrew rubbed at his forehead, tightly closing his eyes.
“And anyway… even if I don’t want Sam anymore, I can’t fall for Y/N. That’s just… that would just make everything so fucking complicated, and she’s so great, I can’t risk to lose her like that… That would be insane.”
“So… you could want someone else? I could introduce you to someone…”
“We’ll see… we’ll see… I… I don’t know.”
Andrew heaved a sigh, feeling the heaviness of sleep creep up his body. He looked at his watch.
“Christ, sorry, mate… it’s so fucking late… I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. You can sleep on the couch tonight, it’s too late for you to drive, and you’re too upset for that.”
“Thank you.”
“Anytime, mate.”
They exchanged a pair of tired smiles, and while Alex was gone looking for some spare blanket and pillow, Andrew was gathering his thoughts and feelings. Trying to calm down.
He wasn’t falling for you. He didn’t have a crush on you. He wanted Sam, he didn’t want you. He couldn’t want you.
Andrew didn’t like you… he couldn’t like you…
… right?
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loriannbowman · 4 months ago
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The Day Before We Parted Ways | Tragedy Boothill Smut Fic
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Notices: I can't find Boothill's given name, so I'm calling him Colt. It's said his name, in some language, translates to "Loaded Gun." Boothill POV
Song while writing:
youtube
Warnings: Tragedy, Sex, Strong Language, Fem!Reader, Biting, Death, Vaginal Sex, Consensual Sex, Fingering, Oral (Fem Receiving)
Minors DNI
I don't know if you wanna read this but @postmoe I love you bb
Get ready Ladies, Lads and Lassoes, prepare of one hell of a ride.
SAVE A HORSE-- *gets punched in the throat*
He knew he was in love the moment he laid his eyes upon her. Hair that blew in the wind as she stood there, holding her dress down, standing in the middle of a wheat field. Her back was facing him. The strong, insatiable urge to walk towards her was driving his footsteps forwards.
"Uh... Miss?"
She turned around, showing Colt her beautiful face. A cute nose, soft lips, bright eyes, pretty lashes. The way her hair framed her face. He could almost feel his heart stop in his chest.
"Yes? Can I help you, sir?"
Oh, god, her voice. It sounds like heaven to his ears. He knew someone out there would think otherwise, but not to him. She was beautiful, perfect. All he wanted to do was sweep her off her feet and carry her away. Colt was tongue tied. He couldn't figure out what words were at this moment.
"Sir?" she called again.
Snapping himself out of his stare, how rude of him, he clears his throat before speaking.
"Uh... You seemed kinda lonesome, standin' there all by yerself. Is... uh- everythin' alright?"
The woman's eyes grow large before a smile presses upon her lips.
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm perfectly alright." She smiles.
"I haven't seen ya 'round here before. Ya' new here? Where ya' from?"
She lets out a soft chuckle.
Damn... her voice was so soft..
Colt could feel the palms of his hands and the back of his neck sweating from nerves... No... it was definitely just the noon day sunlight. He's perfectly fine.
"Yes, I'm new here. My family just came from the north east a few days ago. I just wanted to look around here. I assume you're a resident of this town?"
Colt puffs his chest, chin up.
"That's right, miss! Name's Colt. I've lived here fer all of my life, as far as I know..." he whispers the last part.
Another beautiful, heart stopping giggle escapes her lips, and a faint blush builds up on his face. He can't help but place his hand upon his heart.
"May I have yer name, miss?"
"Of course. My name's (Y/n)."
"Well, that's a beautiful name for a beautiful lady," Colt says, winking.
Colt tries his best to appear as strong and handsome as any woman would want.
The young woman shows a bashful expression, covering her face behind her hand.
"You're very kind sir, and not so bad lookin' yourself."
Colt really thinks he might have died and gone to heaven right on the spot. She was flirting back with him.
"W-Well, uh, fuck... I, uh... really like the compliment. Ahem, w-where do ya live? I'd like to get to know my neighbors."
Colt could feel his face become entirely red. The best he could do was cover his face with his hair and hat.
A smirking smile crosses (Y/n)'s lips. She snatches up Colt's hand in her's.
"Come on, cowboy, it's this way~"
***
Seasons seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Colt had already spent two years of his life with (Y/n) and one year with his baby girl, Laura.
Colt and (Y/n) were out walking when they found the poor babe abandoned in an old, rotting shack. They both agreed to adopt and take care of the sweet little thing together.
Within that year of Laura's adoption, Colt finally proposed to (Y/n), who luckily for him, said yes. The wedding was a beautiful thing, baby Laura was the flower girl, being held by her grandpa Graey, dressed in the cutest dress by her grandpa Nick. Once the vows were said, Colt couldn't hold back from a passionate kiss.
"I love you, so fuckin' much, baby~"
(Y/n) rests her head upon Colt's chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat.
"I love you too."
***
“Laura’s such a big girl. She’s already starting to walk,” (Y/n) sighs, leaning her head into Colt’s shoulder, wedding dress hiked up around her thighs.
"I know..." Colt says with a blush, running his fingers down the skin of his newly wedded wife's legs, feeling the soft skin against his. "I wonder how quickly she'll learn that little guitar I made her too."
"If it works," (Y/n) teases.
"Hey!"
A melodious laugh rings through the house as she snuggles deeper into her husband's warm body. She strokes her fingers down his exposed chest. The first thing Colt did when he brought her inside and laid her down was unbutton his annoying dress shirt.
"You know I love you," (Y/n) says with soft smile.
A blush overcomes Colt's face.
"Yeah... I do."
"Do you love me?"
"So fuckin' much."
"Then you should kiss me."
Colt looks at his wife with a smirk growing on his pale lips. He grabs her hand and kisses the back of it.
"With pleasure, my lady~"
He kiss her knuckles, then the back of her hand, then her wrist, and continues upwards until he reaches her collar bone. His tongue then gently laps at (Y/n)'s slightly sweaty skin, tasting her scent before biting down. It wasn't hard enough to hurt too badly, but strong enough to leave a mark that claimed this woman was his wife, his lover. He needed no one else but her, and Laura of course.
A soft whimper escapes his wife's throat, managing to cause a shock of excitement to shoot through his whole body, quickly targeting his loins.
Colt wraps his arms his wife, forcing her to come even closer to his body. He kisses deeper into her neck, causing bruises to form. Another soft moan escapes her lips before she forces her hands between the two of them.
"Colt..." she whispers out, "What about Laura?" We haven't put her to bed yet."
Colt lets his head lull forwards, cocking his head to the side and looking up at his wife through fluffy hair.
"Yer right, babe. I'll be quick as lightnin'."
Colt gives another kiss upon (Y/n)'s cheek before getting up. There, on the other set of cushioned chairs, their daughter rests, head lulled back, mouth open, drooling and snoring. Colt and (Y/n) can't help but chuckle and the former picks up the baby.
"I'll meet you in our room," (Y/n) says, also getting up and moving through the house like a ghost, all dressed in white with reddened lips.
Colt's heart can't help but beat faster in his chest as he holds Laura in his arms, the soft sound of her snoring the only thing overpowering his his own heart. He strokes her hair with his calloused fingers, feeling the fluff as silky as a cat's fur.
Opening Laura's room, Colt carries her over to her bed, tucking her in. He takes off her small, white shoes, and undoes her pink flower dress. Finally he pulls the blanket over her tiny body before pressing a kiss upon her forehead.
"Goodnight, sugar. Papa loves you so very much."
As silently as he can, Colt tiptoes out of the room and closes her door.
With a soft sigh, Colt makes his way down the hall to his now shared bedroom. Coming into the doorway, he see (Y/n) laying across the bed, hair spread around her, her dress already long gone.
"I've been waiting, cowboy~" she coos.
A flush washes over Colt's face. This was the first time since he met (Y/n) that he's blushed this hard. He coughs lightly to clear his throat.
"Pardon me, Ma'am, I didn't mean to keep a lady waitin'."
Colt steps through the door, closing it behind them while unfastening the last of his buttons. He carelessly tosses aside his shirt. His hands quickly dart to his belt, unbuckling it with a loud clinking sound. Unzip and unbutton before he lets his trousers fall to the ground. Nothing left but his knickers. Another wave of embarrassment washes over his body, causing not just his face, but his ears and shoulders to redden.
Gazing up, his eyes meet (Y/n)'s. Her eyes seem to sparkle in the dark light. She raises a seductive hand and beckons Colt over towards her. With faux confident strides, he approaches the woman who captured his heart.
"Now, where did I leave off," he mutters into her ears.
He nibbles at the lobe of her ear, causing a giggle to fill the room. Colt lowers his biting towards the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent.
"God, I love you."
"I love you too, Colt," she moans out, hands wrapping around her husband's neck once again.
One of her hands travels down the Colt's front, tracing over every muscle and every scar that litters his body.
"I married a good one," she says softly, a gentle smile on her lips.
"I can say the same thing sweetheart. Now, let me take care of you."
Colt pushes (Y/n) down onto the bed, entrapping her with his arms. Colt's hair falls around his face, causing a shadow to encapsule both of them together.
Colt presses his palms on the sides of (Y/n)'s hips, spreading warmth against her skin. He rubs them up and down gently, trying his best to get his wife as comfortable as he can. His message grows larger with every pulse, falling lower and lower every time while returning back straight to her hips.
(Y/n) lets out a soft sigh, feeling at ease with her husband's touch. She coos, trying to entice her husband to do more.
Finally, when his hands reach down far enough, down towards her ankles, Colt moves up her nightdress, lifting it in one quick motion over her body, leaving her completely baren to him. His face has never been so red and his eyes has never seen anything so beautiful.
"N-Now, babe... Just so ya know... This is my first time... S-So I don't really know what I'm doin'... Do tell me if I ever hurt you... 'kay?"
(Y/n) lets out a soft hum, a sweet smile on her face.
"Don't worry, this isn't just your first, it's our first."
Colt can't help but sweat slightly, more nervous than ever. This was his first. This was her first. This was their first... He had to do this right.
Colt, with a new found determination and motivation, regrabs her hips. This time, however, brings her closer to his body. Colt sits on his knees while (Y/n) lays on her back, her privets pressed firmly against his pelvis.
Colt places his palm against the flat of her chest before caressing his fingers down until he reaches her clit. He strokes it gently, causing a soft jolt to be sent through (Y/n)'s body. She gasps at the reaction that pulses through her.
"Y'all right?"
(Y/n) moans.
"More..."
Colt gasps a breath. Biting his lip, he touches his wife's bud once again, tickling the nerves inside. Another great moan escapes his wife's lips. These sounds only cause Colt to become excited. He feels himself growing aroused, anxious for what's to come.
The cowboy takes his other hand and drags it down, skipping past (Y/n)'s clit and instead, teasing the entrance of her vulva. His fingers trace around the lips like fingering around the rim of a cup. Colt's insides feel like their buzzing, the anxiety building up higher as his nerves grow.
Carefully, he pokes one finger inside, feeling the hot, velvety insides of his wife's pussy. His finger was instantly coated in a thin, clear liquid.
"A-Ah~!" she gasps.
He could feel fire building within both of them.
Colt ever so carefully, begins to pump his finger, grinding the pad against the wall, feeling the hot flesh squish underneath it. He can't help but gasp, quickly becoming addicted to the sensation.
Colt leans over, leaving his hands inside her and against her clit, and presses his chest against his wife's. His gently rubs the tip of his nose over his wife's in a sense of intimacy. Colt leans into a kiss, feeling the steaming saliva mix with his. He groans, feeling his member press against the plush of (Y/n)'s bottom. They're hot breath seem to become one as they press further into one another.
"I love you," Colt says through a mouth full of his lover's tongue.
His teeth lightly graze against the bumps of (Y/n)'s tongue, attempting to drink up her entirety.
(Y/n) can only moan out in a responds, feeling Colt add two more fingers into her, not giving her a chance to breathe.
Colt's fingers steadily grow faster, pressing deep into all the spongy innards. His fingers flex, spread and release in rapid succession that all his wife could do was wrap her arms around his back and dig into his muscle.
In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out faster and faster and faster.
His other hand presses harder into her clit, rubbing circles round and round, feeling the slick escaping (Y/n)'s pussy contaminating his other hand. The heated liquid only adding to his finger's rapid and messy movements.
"A-Ah~ AHHH~!" her voice was pitchy and broken.
(Y/n)'s legs cling around Colt's strong waist. She was feeling a heat that was so unfamiliar to her. Tears begin to spring form her eyes as she can do nothing but cry out her pleasure.
"C-COLT!" she cries out.
Colt presses his chest against hers, feeling her try to arch her back as her legs extent into a point, toes spreading. Her body quivers under his, hot, sticky sweat binding them together like melted wax. Colt can feel her breath against his ear, her chest rising and falling against his.
"C-Colt... Ahh~"
His fingers continued to pump in and out of her, but slower now, helping her through her orgasm. The sticky feeling against his fingers was slightly thicker now. His hot breath escapes his lips as he sits up once again, looking at the mess his darling wife made. He can't help but smile, mouth open as he tries to calm himself.
His fingers, barely left inside (Y/n)'s pussy, are now soaked in a creamy white substance, slightly tacky as he plays with it with his thumb.
"That's my good girl."
Something enters Colt's mind.
I wanna taste it.
Letting into those thoughts, he brings the cream to his tongue, having a first taste of what he might consider ambrosia. His eyes blow out wide at the taste. It's a mixture of her natural musk, a salty taste, and what he can only assume, is the natural taste of her slick filled cunt.
The buzzing sensation inside him only grows stronger, thoughts of her taste clouding his mind.
In a strike of lightning, his hands grasp the sides of her hips one against and drags her further up his chest, getting her dripping cunny closer to his face. He takes no hesitation into dragging his tongue along her plush vulva, the reddened lips covered in a rich slick.
Colt's eyes roll into the back of his head. Her scent and taste was overpowering all of his senses. His muscle tongued deeper into her her pussy. He licks and licks and licks and licks and licks and-
"A-Ah! C-Colt! P-PleASE!" (Y/n) cries out.
However, Colt can't hear her, not right now, when he's completely lost within her.
One of his hand goes back to her clit, beginning to reproduce those sweet sounds that little buttons makes.
Colt's mind is spinning so fast he might just pass out.
Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick
He puckers his lips, trying his best to slurp up her body. He nibbles on her vulva, drinking the slick, licking her walls. It was all so much. His hand that clings onto her hip digs deep into her flesh, probably hard enough to leave a bruise.
Colt lets out a groan that reverberates into her folds, his adam's apple bobbing against the seam of her neathers. Her bottom inwardly puckers, clinging around his face, nearly cutting off Colt's airway. Not that he currently cares about that.
The heat of his breath fans over (Y/n)'s lips, causing more heat, more moisture, more sex.
"Fuuuuuck," Colt curses into her body, only causing more vibrations, vibrations shooting up her pelvis and deep into her core.
"AGH-!" she chokes as she tries her best to keep her heart from exploding. "C-Olt! MmhH! M-MORE PLEASE!" she begs.
(Y/n)'s hot hands jump onto Colt's hair, gripping it tightly by the roots, trying to find anything to hold her here, in the conscious world.
Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick Lick
(Y/n) twists her ankles around themselves, making a tight link around Colt's head.
Colt's cock grows harder and warmer with every squeal from her throat, precum drenching his underwear, leaving dark stains dripping down the entirety of the thin fabric.
The pressure keeps pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and-
"AGH! AHHH~! AhhHHH~!"
(Y/n) squeezes the tightest she can against Colt's head, who can only respond with a grumble and moan as more of her cum drips into in longing mouth, coating his tongue in the thick essence.
(Y/n)'s body collapses, going completely relaxed. She's panting heavily, sweat stinking up her whole body. Colt's head rolls back, eyes looking even further back as he tries to catch his breath. His tongue has a mind of its own and continues to lick his lips, trying to taste every last drop.
Colt's eyes refocus themselves, staring up at the ceiling with heavy pants escaping his slick covered mouth. He then rolls his head forward, standing on his knees, looking down at her vulnerable body. Her hand gently placed against her heavily beating heart.
"Oh, babe... You... taste fuckin' good. But, I ain't done yet. I still need," he says between pants, "your body filled with my baby."
Colt collapses forwards, back into the starting position they were originally in. His arms around her head, the only thing supporting him from crushing her under his muscular weight. His drool drips down his chin as he breathes like a hungry deprived animal. In a split second, he lunges forwards, biting down on her already bruised neck, sucking and drinking up her sweat and scent and sex.
God, she tastes good.
Colt's erection couldn't possibly grow anymore painful. He lets her neck go before gritting his teeth, fishing his cock out from his underwear. It's soaked in its own precum, its almost as slippery as his wife's sweet cunt.
He looks one last time into (Y/n)'s dizzy eyes, sending a silent message, a silent question.
She nods.
An open mouth grin grows on his face as he aligns the tip of his cock against the entrance of her body. His face flinches, and his eyes dart to (Y/n)'s face. Her face is scrunched, trying to deal with the excess stimulation.
"Alright, baby... I'm goin' in three... two..."
He pushes himself all the way in.
"ONE! GAH! You're so fuckin' tight... I really did get a good woman, the best in the entire world," he grunts out, idly humping into her.
(Y/n) has a hand over her mouth, trying her best to suppress the screams she wishes to cry out. It hurt so much, but felt so so good.
"MMMhh... I'mma..." he pants, "start movin' now. 'Kay, babe?"
Through teary eyes, (Y/n) once again nods her head, wrapping her arms around her lover. Her nails dig into his flesh even deeper this time, probably going to leave shallow scars.
"Alright... Here we go..."
Colt slowly draw his member out until the very tip is left inside before slowly pushing back inside. He starts to repeat this motion over and over. His breathing becomes laboured slightly, but he doesn't care. His hips start to move faster without his thought or input. Faster and faster and faster.
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
A heavy knot begins to tie itself in the loins of Colt, feeling the need to tighten this knot as much as he can. He can't just stop here, not when he needs to satisfy his wife. What kind of man would he be then?
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
(Y/n) could feel herself growing tight and pinch once again. A strain passing through her body with laboured breaths. Her tongue lulls out of her mouth, panting like a dog in heat. She bucks her hips into Colt's deep thrust. She whimpers and squeaks at the feeling building up inside her once again.
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
Colt's breathing gets even faster, and his thrusts grow slopping, letting slick spill out of (Y/n)'s cunt. Sometimes his ruts are so messy, he falls out, having to quickly put himself back inside. Sweat drips down his forehead and onto the sheets beneath him. He presses his forehead against her, noses gently brushing against one another.
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
He opens his eyes, locking them with (Y/n)'s. A deep set connection, one not felt in their sex, but in their hearts, in their souls. Even with the thick and rough ruts, Colt presses the gentlest kiss upon his beautiful wife's lips.
"I love you," he whispers.
"Mm..." she moans out quietly, "I... I love you too."
With a deep yet gentle kiss-
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
Colt lets out a soft groan
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
Letting all the pressure that builds up inside him
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
In and out in and out in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and-
Release...
He cums. He cums as much as he can head leaning back as he bucks wildly. His cum fills up her body, filling her womb, her pussy, dripping out her folds.
In and out... in and out... in...
His high was short, but felt so good. His body quivers before collapsing. He makes sure to fall onto the side of his wife as to not crush her.
Through messy hair, he locks eyes with (Y/n), and a smile is all he can express, breathing heavily through his smile. (Y/n) rolls all the way over onto her side, staring lovingly into Colt's eyes. She smiles, tears running down her face as she can't help but let out nervous and giddy giggles escape her. Colt can't help but giggle like a child too. Tears. Big, fat, and glossy tears drip down the sides of both of their faces as they kiss once more.
Colt, finally feeling the exhaustion catching up with him, wraps his arm around (Y/n)'s waist, pulling her into him before closing his eyes.
"Goodnight, baby."
A sigh escapes both of them
"Goodnight, my beautiful cowboy."
***
He didn't know what was happening. All he knew was that his heart had stopped, tears of sadness rolling down his face. Fire and bombs rained down from the sky, leaving nothing but a burnt surface. By the time he made it out of the IPC ship, it was too late. All of them. All of them were gone. Dead.
He didn't know what would have been worse, not finding them... or what stand right before him.
Nearly incognizable was his wife, six months pregnant with their baby. Laura's skin was melted with (Y/n)'s as they were in their eternal final embrace as mother and daughter. Colt could only collapse to his knees, mouth agape, tears silently rolling down his face and onto the burnt corpses.
Then he felt it. His fist was in a tight clench and all he could do was-
"AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
-scream. He could only scream, tearing at his hair, his fingers digging deeper into his beating skull. He was so angry. No. Not angry. Not furious. He was in wrath. He swore he would destroy every single person who did this to his home, his friends, his family.
Colt looks up to the sky, the world now raining in its own mourning. In the distance he could still see those ships that those men in the black clothes arrived in. He glared at them, resented them with so much hatred that he could only feel his body burning up.
"I'll find you. And you'll be dead."
***
Boothill jumps awake, metallic hands gripping the seats of the Astral Express. He only wanted to take a little shut down nap to help recharge himself. Everyone else was in their own rooms and Pom Pom was busy cleaning the other cars, leaving Boothill all alone. Boothill touched his face. Tears. It had been a long long time since their deaths... So, why now? Boothill clutches his head before silently sobbing into the darkness...
~~4396 Words
64 notes · View notes
misshoneyimhome · 5 months ago
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Who'd you choose? I Jack Drury🖋️ 🌺⚡️
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Requested: yes/no
Summary; for jack : when they guys were asked who they would let date their sister most of them said jack. so can you do a fluff + soft smut with him. i just feel like he would be such a romantic. he gives such softie vibes. _
Other notes; Well hello my sweet Canes fan 🤍 I am so happy you've found your way to my blog and inbox, introducing me to this sweet cheek 🤗 So, this is a first for me on Jack Drury, but I must admit, he's a fucking cutie 😉 I hope you enjoy this 🌺
Tropes & Warnings; Jack Drury x reader, reader's Sebastian Aho's sister, sort of friends/sort of strangers to lovers; Soft smut 18+; fingering, protected sex (p in v); otherwise just fluff;
Word count; 3.9K
Taglist; @couldawouldashoulda50, @findapenny, @justwanderingbutneverlost, @cixrosie
_
That first night we were standin' at your door Fumblin' for your keys, then I kissed you Asked me if I wanna come inside 'Cause we didn't wanna end the night Then you took my hand and I followed you
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Jack Drury was always known for his gentlemanly ways. He was nothing but a friendly guy, a supportive teammate, and someone who always tried to see the best in people. Both on and off the ice, he put others before himself - perhaps except in terms of his career - and he was always ready to lend a helping hand and offer a shoulder to lean on to anyone who needed it. Truly, anyone.
You had known Jack ever since he joined the Carolina Hurricanes the first time around, and while you never had much time alone with him to get to know him better, you had still noticed his role on the team.
He seemed like a lovely lad, someone everyone liked, and no one could ever really dislike. But you also saw his struggles, fighting for more ice time and to showcase his talent to the hockey world. He was one of those players you couldn’t help but cheer for, hoping his hard work would be one day pay off and be recognised for what it was.
And saying you knew talent when you saw it wasn’t entirely off. You were the sister of one of the team’s star players, Sebastian Aho, born into the world of hockey in your home country Finland. And while you watched your brother skate gracefully, scoring goal after goal and making incredible assists, you couldn’t help but notice Jack striving to play at his level. And every time you saw how great a player Jack was becoming; you simply couldn’t help but smile.
But being the sister of an NHL player wasn’t always straightforward. While you frequently attended games and team events, supporting your brother as you sported his jersey number, you slowly became intertwined in the hectic life of the NHL; which you most certainly found enjoyable. The Hurricanes were a fantastic team to be part of, even as a family member. And having relocated to the US to pursue your own career dreams - unrelated to hockey, you seized every opportunity to network, even if it meant spending time at the training rink and PNC Arena.
The crucial aspect though was maintaining a balance between socialising with the team and their families. Spending considerable time together, navigating the challenges of the sport, experiencing both the lows and highs, naturally fostered relationships. And as a sister, you had to tread carefully—you wanted to display interest in the team and get to know the players, but not appear overly keen. While being a young, single woman, you were naturally attracted to successful, handsome men, and conversely, they were drawn to you.
Although Sebastian never explicitly instructed you to steer clear of romantic entanglements or getting involved sexually with anyone, you understood the implicit guideline. And as the younger sister of two older male hockey players, you were well aware of the warnings they had mentioned throughout your life about the reputation many hockey players carried.
_
However, on one particular evening, the dynamics had a chance to shift.
It was one of those typical post-season celebrations at the captain’s house, with just the players gathered without any family members or partners present. It was a time for unwinding and discussing anything but hockey before they all went their separate ways for the off-season, and during these nights, more personal conversations and questions often arose.
As most of the team congregated around the bonfire, holding beers, and sharing laughs over cheesy jokes and banter, the team’s joker, Seth Jarvis, posed a daring question.
“A’right! I’ve got a good one,” the Canadian forward grinned. “If you had to allow your sister to date someone on this team, who would you choose?”
“What if you don’t have a sister?” Brady asked.
“If you don’t have one, just imagine, a’right,” Jarvis quickly replied.
“Do they have to be single?” Jesperi chipped in.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jarvis grinned again. “Just picture it, having a sister, who would you let her date—single or not?”
The guys took a moment to ponder. It was a challenging question, given their familiarity with each other, not making it easy to envision any of them becoming involved with someone they cared about in that way. Sure, none of the guys were bad in any sense. In fact, most of them had such strong bonds, feeling akin to brothers with a close-knit relationship. Yet perhaps that closeness was precisely the issue. They all knew each other on such a profound level that the thought of someone becoming romantically involved with a sister was difficult to entertain.
‘Hmm’s and ‘Oh’s murmured in the warm Raleigh summer night air as they pondered, scratching their beards and deep in thought. However, the goaltender Frederik Andersen, being the eldest of four siblings with his younger sister, Amalie, was the first to break the silence.
“Honestly… I’m not sure if I’d ever let my sister date any of you guys,” he chuckled deeply, glancing down at the bottle in his hands. “I mean—don’t get me wrong, I love all of you, but you guys don’t deserve her.” The boys nodded and chuckled in agreement, yet it seemed the goalie had more to say. “But… if I had to choose… I’d probably go with Jack here,” he said with a smile, turning his head to his right to glance at the much younger team player.
“What?” Jack chuckled in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah, I mean, come on—out of all these idiots, you’re probably the most… decent idiot,” Freddie chuckled lightly, taking a sip of his beer.
“Thanks, I guess,” Jack smiled, surprisingly proud of the goaltender’s words.
“You know, I think I’d actually say Jack too,” Andrei then added, smiling at his fellow teammate as well. “You’re a good guy, Jack, and I’m sure you could make a girl very happy, so… I’d go with you.”
More of the guys nodded in agreement, clinking their beer bottles together as they cheered and chuckled. They all concurred that Jack Drury was the most suitable option for a sister to date. Well, they emphasised that they HAD to choose—otherwise, none of the players would have selected anyone.
“To Jack,” Jarvis then spoke again, raising his beer up in front of him. “The player who’s the least of an idiot among us, and the one that could have a chance with a sister.”
“CHEERS!”
_
What began as a playful jest from Jarvis actually sowed a deeper seed within Jack than he had initially realised. After the conversation shifted away from the notion of dating a sister, he couldn’t shake the thought that there might be some truth to it all.
He was familiar with his teammates and understood that making any romantic advances towards someone of your status would be crossing a significant boundary. However, amidst the slightly tipsy confessions, a small glimmer of hope stirred within him.
Jack had to admit that he had taken notice of you. Every time he caught sight of your radiant smile, captivating eyes, and heard your melodic laughter, his heart skipped a beat. The subtle hint of a Finnish accent in your English, despite your fluent speaking, only added to your charm. And whenever you drew near for any reason, even just to pass him and embrace your brother, he couldn’t help but notice the delicate fragrance of your perfume.
Yet, Jack knew he would never act on his infatuation. He barely knew you, and he feared that the other players would perceive him as foolish for entertaining any romantic notions towards the Aho sister, particularly given that you had been a topic of discussion among the guys before.
It wasn’t anything inappropriate, just typical guy-talk on the tour bus about sisters, cousins, mothers on the team, where your name had cropped up several times, and Sebastian had swiftly shut down any compliments directed your way. Because that’s just how it went.
They discussed your sense of style, your remarkable appearances, and the way you always infused such energy into the crowd, even during training sessions. You were fantastic with the children, engaging in playful antics and unafraid to come off as silly as you rolled around on the floor to partake in mini stick games or Nerf gun battles. You were always ready to lend a hand if the team required assistance, collaborating with the wives and girlfriends, and offering support in the best way possible while still managing your own life and career.
In short, your name had been brought up on numerous occasions, and always in a positive light. And it was because of this that Jack had taken special notice of you. Noticed you, and never quite managed to forget about you.
So, spurred on by the indirect encouragement from the team, Jack resolved to act on his feelings. However, he still felt it necessary to run it by his teammate first, just to ensure that it wasn’t merely the result of the beer talking or the sentiments of the evening.
Fishy: “It’s alright Jackie 😉 Just keep in mind if you hurt her, I can’t promise how I’ll handle it”
Jack: “I won’t! 🤞🏼 But now I just need for her to say yes first…”
Fishy: “Good place to start 😉”
Jack felt a certain level of relief after Sebastian had given his approval. Yet now, the next difficult task was to actually ask you out – and he knew he had to act fast before you travelled home to Finland for the summer.
Realising he wouldn’t be seeing you around the rink anytime soon, he then thought of the most Gen Z way to ask someone out: through a message on Instagram.
“Hey y/n – how are you?” – no… too formal, Jack thought, and erased the message again.
“Hey, sup?” – come on, what are you, like 12?
“Hey, how are you doing?” – Jack took his palm to his forehead. Why was this so hard? He then took in a deep breath and tried one more time.
“Hey y/n 😊 I know it’s the off-season and you’re probably busy, but I was just thinking maybe you’d want to grab a coffee together sometime?”
Jack pondered. It wasn’t great, but it was his best idea right now. So, letting out a deep breath, he hit send and threw the phone on the bed next to him.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for you to reply.
“Hey Jack, 😊 Sure, I’ll be off from work around 4.30 today – want to meet somewhere Downtown?”
Jack felt a wave of relief wash over him as he read your reply. He almost couldn't believe his luck – the two of you had only exchanged short conversations throughout the past couple of years, and now you had agreed to meet up with him. It was finally happening.
Quickly composing himself, Jack typed out a response, trying to sound nonchalant despite the excitement bubbling inside him.
"Hey, that sounds great! How about we meet at Brew & Brew at 5? Looking forward to catching up with you 😊"
So, with a sense of anticipation, Jack hit send and waited anxiously for your reply. This was it – the beginning of something new and exciting, and he couldn't wait to see where it would lead.
_
As you and Jack settled into your seats at Brew & Brew, the initial nervousness melted away, replaced by an easy sense of camaraderie. The conversation flowed effortlessly, filled with laughter and genuine connection.
You found yourself drawn to his warmth and sincerity, his genuine interest in getting to know you shining through. And as you shared stories and anecdotes, you realised just how much you had in common, from your love of travel to your shared passion for trying new foods.
Surprisingly, hockey didn't dominate the conversation. Instead, you delved into topics ranging from your favourite books to your most memorable travel experiences. And when the topic of your brother came up, it was met with understanding and curiosity rather than any awkwardness.
As the evening wore on, you found yourself losing track of time, engrossed in each other's company. Neither of you really wanted it to end, but you also wanted to play this out right. When you were about to part ways to say your goodnights, you offered him a tender kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Jack,” you said with a sweet smile. “I’ve had an amazing time.”
It was no secret Jack felt the same, and just as you were about to walk away, he quickly stopped you.
“How about dinner? Before you go home,” he blurted out, his heartbeat quickening in his chest.
You nodded, letting out a deep breath as you smiled widely. “I’d love to. Tomorrow? Or would that be too soon?” You felt just as nervous, not wanting to come off too eager, but still wanting to show interest in this sweet guy.
“Tomorrow’s perfect,” Jack smiled in return.
It was the easiest experience you'd ever had scheduling a date with a guy. For the first time ever, you didn’t feel anxious or feared he was only using you for sex or other things. No, Jack was different. He showed genuine care and interest in you, seeming honest and true to his intentions.
Besides, knowing your brothers well, you knew Jack wouldn’t have asked you out unless he truly meant it and had most likely assured Sebastian he had no ulterior motives.
Alright, he might not have had any ulterior motives, at least not more than any guy going on a date with a beautiful girl. However, you probably had to admit that a small part of you had a wish for how the night should end. And it would not be with you alone in your bed.
Soon enough, the night turned to day, and you found yourself on your way to meet Jack outside the restaurant he had chosen for your rather spontaneous date.
“Wow, you look… stunning,” Jack let out a deep breath as he walked towards you on the pavement, the city lights flickering in the background.
You flashed him a timid smile, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear as you briefly looked down before meeting his blue eyes once more. A warmth flushed your cheeks, the thought of your simple summer dress making an impression causing your stomach to flutter.
“Thanks, so do you,” you smiled, eyeing Jack up and down in his casual summer attire.
“I think we can both agree that you’re the most beautiful one here—but I don’t mind,” he chuckled lightly. “How about we get some dinner.”
You nodded and let him guide you into the restaurant. And as you entered the small and cosy place, you couldn’t help but feel your shoulders suddenly relax, settling into the amazing and romantic atmosphere as Jack pulled out a chair for you, as gentlemanly as ever.
And just like your coffee date the day before, everything went smoothly. Any hints of nervousness quickly faded, and the conversation flowed effortlessly. No awkward silence of any sort. Everything with Jack seemed just perfect. So, as dinner ended and Jack naturally walked you home, you didn’t even hesitate by the door when you asked him to come up.
A part of Jack wanted to say no; wanting to show you that his intentions went beyond just physical attraction. However, he was also aware that you were going away for weeks, and he longed to have you close. He simply couldn't let this moment slip by—the chance to finally experience what he had desired for so long and to surrender to his deep-seated yearnings.
So, as Jack followed you up to your flat, the anticipation and excitement were palpable. The walk up the stairs seemed endless, with each step echoing your shared unspoken longing, and when you finally reached your door, your heart raced, and you could sense Jack's nervousness mirroring your own.
You fumbled with the keys for a moment before opening the door, stepping inside, and inviting Jack in with a warm smile. The cosy atmosphere of your flat enveloped you both, and as you turned to face him, you couldn't help but notice the yearning in his eyes.
"I've really enjoyed tonight," you said softly, stepping a little closer to him.
Jack nodded, his voice low and sincere. "Me too. More than I can say."
Then, spurred by a sudden confidence and without another word, you closed the distance between you, your lips meeting in a tender, electrifying kiss. It began gently, a soft exploration, but quickly deepened as your shared passion ignited. Jack's hands found their way to your waist, pulling you closer, and you responded by wrapping your arms around his neck, losing yourself in the moment.
The kiss grew more intense, and you both knew there was no turning back. Breaking apart just enough to catch your breath, you looked into Jack's eyes, seeing the same desire reflected in them.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked, his voice a mix of hope and vulnerability.
But you could only smile, your heart pounding with excitement. "Absolutely."
So, with that, you led him to your bedroom, the air thick with anticipation. The city lights outside your window cast a soft glow over the room, adding to the romantic ambiance. And as you stood together, you let your hands roam over each other's bodies, savouring the sensation of closeness.
Slowly and delicately, Jack let his hands slip underneath your summer dress, pulling it upwards, bit by bit exposing your lacy knickers, your stomach, and then your matching bra before he pulled it over your head completely.
You had to control your breath as you stood exposed to him in your underwear. And as he then began to slowly undress himself, your eyes followed his every move. He pulled his polo shirt over his head, exposing his toned and muscular torso, which elicited a light gasp from you.
He was absolutely gorgeous, and you couldn’t control your own actions as you instinctively reached out to touch his chest, feeling his skin beneath your palms, his warmth radiating. “Shit…” you muttered softly under your breath.
Jack couldn’t help but chuckle lightly as he moved to undo his loose shorts, letting them pool around his ankles before stepping out of them and moving even closer to you to kiss you deeply. His hands found the back of your hair as you both allowed each other to explore your mouths before gently leaning back onto your bed.
It was nothing but soft and gentle as Jack then removed your last pieces of clothing, exposing your true and naked form to him, before you helped him discard his boxers, allowing your bodies to touch completely.
Jack’s actions were filled with care as his hand wandered over your curves, his fingertips gracefully brushing against your skin as he slowly moved closer to your core. You let out small moans, light breaths escaping as you parted your lips slightly. And when he gently pushed a finger past your entrance and inside your moist core, massaging your walls with care before stretching you with two digits, you sank deeper into the mattress, allowing the pleasure to consume you.
“Mmm, yes Jack,” you whispered softly, feeling his fingers move in and out, stimulating your inside while you tilted your head back, your hands instinctively finding the back of his shoulders for support.
Jack couldn’t help but cherish the sight beneath him. You were incredibly beautiful, and in this very moment, he was the one causing you pleasure, making you moan and feel a rush washing over you. And as he felt your muscles tighten around his fingers, signalling a climax approaching, he felt his own member pulsating with a need for release.
“Oh Jack… Please… want you… inside me…” you managed to moan as you felt your orgasm building, needing more than his fingers to reach the high you were craving. And your wish was his command.
Gently pulling his fingers out, Jack looked at you with his ocean blue eyes, a look that had shifted from his usual soft gaze to a darker, more lustful expression.
“Do you have…?” he whispered softly.
You nodded, pointing to the drawer next to your bed where Jack then retrieved a small foil package, wrapped his erect member, and moved back into missionary position before gently allowing himself to enter you.
It felt almost magical as his thick member stretched your walls, stimulating them with every motion as he slowly began to rock his hips. Instinctively, you raised your hips slightly, lifting your legs to wrap around his lower body, providing better access for him to go deeper. And before long, Jack found a steady rhythm, allowing his length to glide effortlessly in and out of your wet heat.
“Oh yes… you feel so good,” he muttered under his breath, feeling his own climax build with every motion.
It was the perfect synchronisation of bodies moving together, a harmony of moans as you both neared the peak of pleasure, your minds completely consumed. And while Jack felt the peak approaching, he couldn’t hold back his desires and thrusted harder and faster, pushing you both closer to the edge.
The night unfolded with a mixture of tenderness and passion, both of you exploring and discovering each other in ways you had only dreamed of. Every touch, every kiss, every whispered word felt like a promise of something more, something deeper.
You could feel your orgasm approaching, muttering it to Jack as your walls clenched around his cock. And with every pound, you let out soft cries, the arousal taking over as you finally felt the wave release. Your mind went hazy, and Jack’s name escaped your lips in a louder moan. Followed by uncontrollable motions; your body arched, your eyes rolling back as you reached the blissful peak.
“Oh yes…”
And as Jack continued thrusting through your orgasm, he pushed himself over the edge as well, letting out a deep grunt as he released into the latex.
Breaths were heavy, the air thick as you both calmed from the rush of sweaty and passionate sex. Smiles adorned both your faces, and neither of you could contain the surge of happiness you felt in that very moment.
As the hours passed, you found yourselves lying entwined in each other's arms, the soft glow of dawn beginning to filter through the curtains. You felt a sense of contentment and connection you had never experienced before. Jack's arms around you were warm and reassuring, and you couldn't help but smile at the thought of what the future might hold.
"Thank you for tonight," Jack murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.
You snuggled closer, feeling safe and cherished. "Thank you, Jack. This has been perfect."
Jack smiled; it had indeed been perfect. Despite not wanting to ruin this moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle as he let out a teasing thought.
“Please don’t tell your brother I slept with you on our first date… pretty sure he’d kill me for that.”
You had to let out a soft giggle. In this romantic and tender moment, the first thing Jack thought about was what Sebastian would think of him. So, you naturally decided to play along. “Hmm, I won’t say anything, but… in case he finds out anyway, I’d probably have a plan B ready.”
It was another moment filled with heartfelt laughter, following an amazing evening and a wonderful date. And as you drifted off to sleep, you knew that this was just the beginning of a beautiful journey together, one filled with promise, excitement, and the kind of love you had always hoped to find.
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27potatochips · 9 months ago
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The Beginning (but fixed, hopefully)
Ghost rested at the bottom of the container, feeding time had been a while ago and Joseph was napping under his belly, so the only thing he could do now was doze and listen. The guard outside would walk around for a 107 steps, then stop and smoke a cigarette while walking around the container for 55 steps. After that he would continue walking around until shift changed
 Joseph stirred against his belly and Ghost was on guard immediately, the steps had changed. The guard stopped too early. Joseph whined, feeling the disturbance in the air. Ghost softly shushed him, stroking his scarred fingers through the pup’s blond hair and pulling him closer to his chest.
The guard slowly walked away from the container, the sound of a gun being readied accompanying the steps. Then all hell broke loose, yelling erupted as what sounded like a dozen humans flooded into the room. “Hands up! International Merfolk Protection Unit!” A voice barked. The guard cursed and a scuffle broke out.
Ghost pulled Joseph, who was beginning to get scared judging by the shaking and whimpers, closer to his chest and purred soothingly all the while preparing himself for a fight.
The container was opened and a flashlight was shined inside, Ghost gave a rattling hiss, the luminescent markings on his face lighting up. “Easy mate, not here to hurt you.” The flashlight clicked off, revealing the male human behind it, a gentle and concerned look on his bearded face. Ghost hissed again, pushing Joseph further under him.
The human made a strange noise and looked up. “Lads! We got a pup!”
Ghost growled and Joseph whined, his tiny claws hooking into Ghost’s skin. Then something was dropped in the tank and everything went dark.
Soap sighed, sulking in the den in the recovery tank. Had to get himself shot didn’t he? Gaz did say to keep away from the lakes, hunting season, he had said, and teenage boys drunkenly trying to prove themselves men usually didn’t check if the weird shadow in the lake was a lake monster or a protected species trying to mind his own business. He did hear they got a very hefty fine though, served them right, fucking eejits.
Then the doors opened, a whole team coming through. Soap swam up and poked his head out of the water, watching curiously. His interest increased when he saw what the team was transporting, two mer. One very big one (though still smaller than the Whaleshark nearby his normal tank.) and a much smaller one, a pup!
Soap didn’t get much interactions with pups except for the human pups, so this was exciting. He chittered excitedly at the team and tried to peer at what was happening. Gaz, his handler, hurried over and gently pushed him back into the water. “Sorry mate, need some peace to get them situated, found them in a bad situation.” The human said softly. Soap huffed, but stayed low, he wanted to see what was going on, but not if he could cause trouble for them.
Ghost woke with a fuzzy head and a snarl on his lips, where was Joseph? He swung his head around the new environment and was relieved to find the pup snoozing next to him. He moved to hover over the pup protectively as he inspected his new surroundings. They were in a rather big cave that had the look of a barebones den, nothing personal inside and no scent except the faint scent of cleaning materials.
He shook the fuzziness from his head and looked down at Joseph, checking him over. No new wounds or scrapes, and the ones not new were neatly bandaged. Strange. The jackasses that held them captive wouldn’t have bothered. When Ghost looked over his own body even he was taken care of, wounds bandaged.
Before he could ponder it any further, Joseph made a little noise that indicated he was waking up, one tiny eye opened, blinking sleepily. “Pa?” He whined. Ghost’s heart ached, the loss of Tommy and Beth was still so fresh. It hurt to take Tommy’s place, but Joseph needed a father, and Ghost already had experience.
“I’m here, Jo.” Ghost crooned softly, stroking his blond curls. Joseph settled down, nuzzling into Ghost’s scarred chest with a pleased purr. Joseph was safe. Ghost relaxed a little, nuzzling Joseph back with a responding purr. They were safe…
Soap has been trying to get his new neighbor’s attention for two days now, chirping and chittering at the still waters. He was about to sigh and give up for the day when he heard a small chirp respond. He immediately perked up, it was the pup! Only this time looking a lot more lively. The pup's big green eyes looked at him warily, but also curiously. Soap shrunk into himself a bit, trying to make himself look smaller. “Hello lil one! You doin’ better?” The pup was still for a few seconds before nodding. “Mhm, papa is still hurt though.” The pup said. Soap frowned. “Oh, that’s not good, where is papa hurt?”
The pup rose from the water a bit more, tiny claws hooking into the side of the tank they were in. “He’s sleeping a lot and he’s warmer than usual and he keeps making this weird bed in the den.” The pup sounded concerned, but Soap knew what it was.
“Sounds like your papa is going through heat, he has never done this before?” The pup shook his head. “No, is it dangerous?” The pup’s lips wobbled. Soap was quick to soothe. “Oh no, heat is something that all Mers go through, it can look different in different Mer, but its natural. Means he feels safe enough to be vulnerable.”
The pup nodded, but still didn’t seem reassured. “Okay, but… can you still check up on him..?” Those big emerald eyes made Soap melt, so despite it being a bit weird to check up on a Mer in heat that’s not family, he agreed. “Of course, I’ll be over in a minute. Call me Soap.”
Soap heaved himself out of the water, dragging himself over to the edge of the other tank so he could slide in. Once inside the water he could already taste the heat pheromones, but it was not the scent of a happy Mer.
The pup immediately attached himself to Soap’s side, those big eyes staring up at Soap. “I’m Joseph, mr Soap, can you help papa?” Soap hesitantly placed his hand on Joseph’s blond curls and ruffled the strands. “I’ll try my best, Joseph, now, where is your da?”
Joseph led him to a cave that functioned like a den, inside was a Mer, curled up in a nest and sleeping. Soap tasted the pheromones, the Mer was obviously uncomfortable, but Soap could pick up the subtle hints. Grief, relief, a need for their pup, and hunger, he could fix the last two. “Joseph, seems like your dad went into an emergency heat, it’s supposed to calm a Mer down so they don’t die from stress, but it looks like it gave him even more stress. He’s hungry most of all, so I will hunt for you." Soap told the pup, who whined. "I wanna help papa too..."
Shit yeah he should have seen that coming, "Uh, just snuggle up to him, that is the best you can do when he's like this." Soap told Joseph. The pup nodded and zipped to his father’s side, purring softly as he tried to help.
Soap quickly left to go get the pair some food, the caretakers often released fish inside the tanks the first few days to let the Mer’s acclimate and not overwhelm them with humans, but with his own wound he couldn’t really hunt, so he hoped whatever he caught would be enough.
Soap returned with an armful of prey to the sight of Joseph being thoroughly groomed and cuddled by the previously unconscious Mer. He stopped at the edge of the den, and let out an uncertain chirp, not knowing if he would be allowed to help.
The Mer whirled around with a snarl, the skeleton shaped luminescent markings on his body flaring up with light before Joseph wriggled in his arms. “Pa! That’s Soap, he’s helping!” The pup whined. The Mer looked down at his pup before letting out a huff and releasing the little one, pushing him back further into the den the Mer came closer towards Soap, who was getting a bit nervous. While Joseph was absolutely adorable, a full grown Shark Mer was a bit more intimidating.
The Mer’s gills flared as he took in Soap’s pheromones, analyzing them before relaxing a bit, chirping at the prey in Soap’s arms. Soap offered carefully offered one. “Here, for you and your pup.” He said, a bit awkwardly. The Mer glared at him for another few seconds before snatching the prey and inspecting it.
Soap felt himself push out his chest proudly a bit when the Mer let out a impressed chirp and turned to feed Joseph first, cooing over the pup who eagerly devoured it. The obviously wary Mer liked the prey I brought! He cheered inside his head.
Once Joseph was done with his prey the Mer turned back to Soap, who immediately handed the rest over, trying not to purr at the contact. Keep it together, John! He scolded himself. He’s obviously traumatized and grateful for the help with feeding his pup, it doesn't mean anything! The Mer didn’t even glance before scarfing most of it down like he was starved (which he probably was. Great, now Soap made himself sad.)
The Mer looked up from the prey, looking a bit guilty, and offered the rest back to Soap, who shook his head as he tried not to squeal. “No no, I can get my own.” He tried to refuse, but the Mer pouted (How can you get any more cute?! Soap thought) and offered it more insistently. “Hungry, hurt, eat.” The Mer grunted, voice rough. Soap felt his stomach rumble and reluctantly accepted, eating as the Mer looked on with satisfaction.
Only when Soap had eaten all of it did the Mer purr in satisfaction, grabbing Soap’s arm and dragging him inside the den. Soap let out a startled chirp as he pushed onto the nest next to Joseph. Joseph immediately snuggled up to the Seal Mer, making room for his father to lay down on the opposite side of him. “Whoa! At least tell me your name-“ The Mer grumbled. “Ghost. Sleep.” So Soap did, because you try arguing with an in heat Shark Mer.
And done! Phew, i swear this was a pain to post, thank you @azilver for telling me it went wrong! if you reblogged the previous version of this one, please delete it and reblog this version instead, this one is much better i promise <3
Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed. I'm personally very much liking this AU and it's nice to see you all enjoy it too.
Please tell me if you want to be added to the taglist and i will try my best!
Taglist: @queermentaldisaster, @forestshadow-wolf, @bringinsexybackk69, @meowmeowriley, @traumschwinge
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snowbellewells · 3 months ago
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Self Promo Sunday: @cssns19 MC "Face to Face in the Broad Daylight"
(This week in reruns celebrating previous @cssns works, we have a sequel to my werewolf, alternate season two and beyond fic from 2018’s @cssns offering. This one partially exists just because I wanted to revisit these couples and enjoy a bit more of their fluffy happily ever afters. However, they also get into some new surprises and challenges, and: is Rumplestiltskin still under control, or is he back to his usual scheming and plotting? If you weren't around back then, I hope you will give this a try and enjoy.  If you read it back then and choose to revisit it, I hope you'll enjoy the walk down memory lane!! Either way, I'd love to hear what you think!
Complete in 9 Parts
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(Thanks once again to @branlovestowrite for the stunningly lovely cover art she did for this story as well. I still absolutely love it!!)
Also available on AO3 if that's your preference...
Summary: After finding one another and triumphing against the machinations of the Evil Queen and the Queen of Hearts, Killian and Emma, and their friends and family are ready to enjoy the happiness they've earned. However, a new threat is about to rise that may put those happy beginnings in grave jeopardy.
by: @snowbellewells
~~ prologue: altogether in one place
As a cooling breeze blew in off the water of the harbor to combat the bright heat of an early May afternoon, Killian Jones smiled easily, enjoying the trace of air over his neck and ruffling his dark hair as he headed back up the street from the docks toward the center of town. It was a perfect day for the celebration he was on his way to attend, planning to meet Emma and Henry at the pretty little two bedroom cottage not far from the harbor that they moved into some weeks past, before the three of them walked the rest of the way to Granny’s together. The rest of their family and several friends were doubtless already gathering at the diner’s outdoor tables for the planned picnic. It was Mother’s Day, and the first which Emma would be able to spend with her mother, and with her boy as well. Killian smiled fondly at the tentative joy mixed with nervous anticipation on his love’s face as they’d spoken of it laying side-by-side that very morning. His heart had warmed right along with dawn’s first rays peeking through the curtains, glad that Emma could have her loved ones surrounding her, as she always should have. Though his own mother had been gone so long that he only retained the barest memories of a gentle voice singing to him and the twinkle in kind, loving eyes, he still felt not a fiber of his being to be jealous or begrudging of the wealth of love and belonging his lady had found. Emma deserved it all, and more besides.
It helped, he admitted to himself as he neared the front walk, their yard surrounded by white picket fence that he could now see Emma leaning on casually with Henry at her side, that he too had been welcomed into the fold gladly. With the wolf born inside him, his horribly checkered and painful history, and how long he had wandered alone in the world, Killian could never have imagined being accepted as a part of something so good, nor feeling that he mattered to others again. Despite his stunned disbelief, however, he could only continue to be grateful.
As he drew nearer, Henry caught sight of him and waved enthusiastically, a wide grin stretching across his face. “Hey, Killian!” the youth called out. “Are you ready for this?”
“Aye, lad, of course,” he answered with a chuckle, smiling to Emma as well, his heart swelling still further at the blush which rose on her cheeks as he waggled his eyebrows playfully. He turned his attention back to Henry quickly, not wanting the young man to feel dismissed, but instead leaning forward to whisper secretively to Henry, “We wouldn’t want to miss your grandma’s famed cherry chess pie, now would we?”
Henry agreed emphatically with Killian’s winking query, then scampered on ahead of them as Killian pulled Emma into a quick embrace while she stretched up to press a chaste kiss to his lips before they joined hands and followed her son the rest of the way to Granny’s before they were late.
Not many minutes later they were turning into the front seating area of the diner, entering under the arch and being greeted from all sides by family and friends. Ruby bounded over to gleefully wrap Emma in an exuberant hug, whispering in his love’s ear that she wanted to hear what they’d been up to at the new house in a blatant enough way to have the blond blushing once again. Killian followed Henry’s urging over to his grandparents’ table, shaking David’s hand and easing into conversation with Emma’s father thankfully.
He liked the people gathered around him very much, but so often in the past he had kept to the shadows, on the outskirts of society, either due to prejudice and ostracism or his own attempts to insure others’ safety from the beast within him. Having at last found his home in Storybrooke, and also a peace within himself that he had rarely known, Killian felt as stable as he had ever been in both parts of himself. His wolf had room and freedom to run, even a pack of sorts with Ruby and Graham nearby, and he rarely feared the howling need to break free he had sought to hide or contain in his youth and throughout his years of bitter, aimless wandering.  All that being true, he still sometimes preferred to ease into larger groups one person at a time. Once Emma’s slightly overprotective and traditional father had gotten to know him, Killian found the man quite easy to talk to and good company, so he naturally went to speak with him first.
Their friendship hadn’t taken long to develop once things had settled down around the holidays, some six months ago, after Regina, Cora, and Rumplestiltskin’s defeat. Both David and Killian served as reinforcements to the sheriff’s department when needed (though in sleepy, calm Storybrooke they rarely were) and so had spent many long afternoons when there were no calls sharing long chats, wadded up paper ball free throw contests in the desk trash cans, endless one-upping games of darts, and - if they grew truly desperate - filing of the somehow never ending stacks of paperwork. Their little town had been free of most trouble beyond cats in trees and neighboring fairy tale characters’ squabbles since Thanksgiving. None of them had forgotten that Gold was still simmering impotently in his shop (surely wanting revenge, but hands tied by the fact that his dagger forbade it, thanks to Emma’s brilliance).  In fact, the citizens were enjoying an everyday normality most of them had never been able to experience before - in either this realm or the Enchanted Forest.
So, though there was often hardly enough work to keep one person busy, Graham had remained Sheriff, and kept Emma on as his deputy. Killian’s eyes found his sandy-haired fellow wolf amidst the happy crowd of partygoers, attentively leaning to whisper something in Belle’s ear where she sat talking to Granny Lucas herself, along with Nova, Leroy, Bashful, and Doc. The Sheriff was clearly happy to watch over his girlfriend, glad just to see her in high spirits, having brought her a drink and standing behind her chair to listen and look on. Graham had always been a good and competent lawman, but now that he was completely free to act of his own will and as he saw fit, it became even more clear just how kind, compassionate, and worthy a man he was. He no longer had to glance over his shoulder at each turn, fearing retribution for his choices. The townspeople liked and trusted him even more than they had before, seeing how dedicated he was to their causes and thorough in handling problems immediately and lawfully for the good of all to the best of his ability.
Watching just a moment longer, Killian saw Belle pause in her conversation, looking up over her shoulder at Graham with an adoring expression in her eyes, resting her hand over his where he had placed it on her shoulder. Something passed between them wordlessly, so slight that it went unnoticed by most around them, but to Kilian’s honed and heightened senses, it sent almost a frisson of intense feeling all the way across the space to where he stood. He didn’t know what it meant, but he found himself more than a little curious, and happy for his friends whatever the cause of their joy.
His attention was drawn back to his own immediate circle when David threw his head back in a booming burst of laughter as Henry finished relating how Killian had recently taken he, his mom, and his friends Grace, Nicholas and Ava out fishing and swimming on the Jolly. It wasn’t the first time Killian had dropped anchor in the harbor where the preteens could dive off the bow and bob in the waves to cool off while he and Emma sat in the sun watching over them and talking, but what had gotten such a reaction from his grandpa was the mental image of Ava’s disastrous practice at casting and somehow catching her hook in Grace’s hair. The ensuing noisy melee had caused quite a commotion until they’d gotten Grace free from the painful tangle, reassured Ava that they all knew it was an accident and gotten back to catching fish rather than each other.
As the afternoon wore on, Killian relaxed into the atmosphere of easy camaraderie around him, graciously complimenting his hostess on the lightness of her dinner rolls and the fine quality of her rum - to which he earned a sniff of begrudging thanks but also a sidelong smile. He exchanged a few words with Belle on the last book she had recommended to him and what he thought of it so far, and though she carried an obvious glow of satisfaction and practically radiated good humor, he was no closer to the reason that it seemed so especially prominent today, even after conversing with her. He exchanged pleasantries with Graham, and let Henry drag him into a ridiculous game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey that Snow had organized to hilarious results with the assorted dwarves’ poor aim and inebriated states by that hour of the waning day.
Despite what else he was doing however, his eyes were continually drawn back to Emma wherever she was. There was the simple fact that he couldn’t help but marvel at her beauty, for one thing. Her golden hair stood out like a beacon in any gathering, this one no exception, and the very sight of those flowing waves cascading down her back against the red leather of her favorite jacket made his hand itch to brush through its silky softness.  Her long, lean form, her throaty chuckle, and the sparkle in her jade green eyes all made hunger rise in him that had him aching to pull her out of the party and into the first empty room he could find. A long life of practice made him able to rein in his desires, but it certainly didn’t slake them in the least.
He remembered too that it was nearing the full moon, which made all his more canine traits closer to the surface. As intensely protective as he would have been anyway, because he loved her, the animal instinct within demanded he be aware of his mate and her safety at all times. Especially when they were out in the open and not alone, whether or not those with them were friends and the gathering innocent. There was possessiveness as well that he could contain, but not vanquish completely. Between those two impulses warring inside his average human faćade, Killian was rather proud of himself for managing to eventually retreat to a corner table with his drink, lean back in a chair and observe the goings on around him with at least the air of calm.
Still, needless to say, he was relieved when the festivities did begin to break up an hour or so later. Many called out a friendly goodbye to him, and he waved back jovially to them.  Some, like David, came over to say ‘good night’ and make plans for when they’d get together next. When Emma finally came up to him with an easy smile and an outstretched hand, asking him if he was ready to head home for the night with a teasing tilt of her head and playful “Captain?” he was on his feet in a moment. With Henry in tow, they headed back toward their house on the shore as the stars came out above.
A deep sense of satisfaction warmed Killian once again at the very idea that this could be his life, while Emma leaned into his side as they walked and Henry pointed out the various constellations that he had learned to recognize through Killian’s tutelage. It was more happiness than he once could have imagined having in his life on a regular basis. In a few days he would need to prepare for shifting about three nights in a row, as was his monthly due, but for tonight, he could sense it was still safely far enough off to take his time seeing the two most important people in his life home safely and enjoy that they saw him as one of their own.
Once they reached the front gate, Henry hurried on up the walk and into the house with a “See you tomorrow!” for his mom’s boyfriend. Alone at long last, Emma turned to him, her face tilted up to his with a devious glimmer in her expression. Only moments ago, he wouldn’t have imagined things could get much better, but when she ran her hands up his torso to rest on his chest and whispered invitingly, “Wanna come in for a nightcap, Sailor?” she blew his mind all over again. 
A couple of drinks, an entire bowl of popcorn and a movie later, they were cuddled together on the couch in Emma’s living room, making out like two teenagers.  Killian didn’t leave his love’s arms again until the next day dawned. Slipping out to his boat before Henry could walk up and begin scavenging through the cupboards for his breakfast cereal, Killian stooped to place a kiss on Emma’s groggy forehead as she mumbled a sleepy farewell. No one else in the house was stirring as the former pirate headed away down the walk, and he was too cheerful and relaxed to be on his guard, so the eyes watching his every move from the shadows as he moved toward the docks, went unnoticed…
~~***~~***~~
Far removed from the cheerfulness and revelry of the rest of the town and their holiday celebrations, Mr. Gold was holed up in the dim, shrouded back room of his shop, scowling silently at a clouded orb with its contents swirling inside. He hadn’t bothered to unlock or open his shop doors today, not wanting to see the idiotic smiles of the townsfolk, nor to waste effort pasting on a smile and haggling to make sales that mattered little to him, all things considered. No, all that mattered now was possessing the one item which could free him of the Savior’s binding order stoppering his Dark One powers to set things right. He would be loosed of her interfering magical hold; it was merely a matter of tracing the artifact to its hiding place and summoning an accomplice he knew was powerful enough to aid him in the ritual needed to slip the noose of his Dagger’s control, and therefore Miss Swan’s meddling command.
All the pieces were in place; once the crystal showed him where his former compatriot could be found, he would set the ball rolling.  He would make Belle see sense, return her to her place by his side, where she clearly belonged. That Sheriff who had dared to try taking his place in Belle’s affections would rue ever having his heart put back in his chest. And that wretched cur ...that wolf he had nearly finished off before - and the woman who had prevented it, who had the audacity to tangle with him and think she could defeat the Dark One - both of them would pay, once and for all.
Tagging a few who might enjoy: @kmomof4 @searchingwardrobes @jennjenn615 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @laschatzi
@jrob64 @apiratewhopines @spartanguard @therooksshiningknight @xarandomdreamx
@motherkatereloyshipper @booksteaandtoomuchtv @anmylica @stahlop @myfearless-love
@teamhook @revanmeetra87 @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @darkcolinodonorgasm
@elizabeethan @donteattheappleshook @the-darkdragonfly @bluewildcatfanatic @xsajx
@undercaffinatednightmare @caught-in-the-filter @drowned-dreamer @jonesfandomfanatic @kday426
@lfh1226-linda @linda8084 @resident-of-storybrooke @optomisticgirl @tiganasummertree
@belovedcreation @eddisfargo @zaharadessert @laianely @goforlaunchcee
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valscodblog · 1 month ago
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"Trick Or Treat!" Simon Riley x Oc
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SO IT'S SPOOKY SEASON Y'ALL AND I LOVE ME SOME SPOOKY SEASON FUN SO HERE'S A HALLOWEEN FIC FOR Y'ALL!!
I SUMMON: @needa-sum-luvn @thebunnednun @skauni @staytrueblue (dk if you even want a tag on my fics that dont have price but oh well) @seconds-on-the-clock @writing-with-moss
Warnings: Maybe possibly ooc simon?..I just write him happier that he has a family-okay?!nothing else ,It's just some good ol' fluff bc they have kids here. SUCKY ASS ENDING BC I GOT TIRED AND I HAVN'T SLEPT IN LIKE-TWO DAYS OKAY??? IM SORRYYYYYY :(
"Mom! Get ready! We're all all ready!" James shouted, running into his mother's bedroom. Ruby and Simon were putting on each other's pumpkin heads and Ruby laughed. "We are getting ready, James. Calm down. Trick or treating starts in thirty minuets. We have time, Amor." Simon just chuckled and grabbed his pumpkin head. He put it on himself and smiled when it was on. "Damn...when was the last time i hid my face around the house, Lovie?" directing the question to Ruby, who sighed and shook her head. "Years...and this better be the last time!" "Yes ma'am."
Ruby nodded and said, "Jeez...how do you see out of these?" as she looked around in her pumpkin head. "I dunno, Ma," James said, shrugging. The ten year old then ran out of the room to see if his sisters were ready or not. "HEY! SISSIES! YOU READY-?"
"GET OU', JAMES!" "MUMMY! JAMES DIDN'T KNOCK!"
Oh dear lord....Ruby walked out of her room and sighed. "James..." "I said sorry, mom!" "Okay. Girls, he's said sorry. And are you two ready?" Both the girls nodded. "I'm mike!" "And I'm Sully!"
Simon poked his head into the rooms and his daughters screamed. "MOM-BEHIND YOU!" Ruby laughed and said, "It's your dad, kids. Calm down." Sapphire blinked and then asked, "Is it, Mum?" Ghost took of his mask and said, "Aye, Saphhie. Jus' me." Saphhire giggled and said, "Dad, mum said you were gonna be a ghost!" Simon huffed, "No-I'm the pumpkin king. Mum's the queen of the patch." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Oh, you kiss ass." "You love it." "Mhh, debatable." "How? I gave you three kids-four if you count me knowin' Jay since 'e was a lil' bloke." Ruby sighed softly and said, "Yeah..okay. You win, Mi Amor." and she went over and rubbed his left arm gently. Simon put his pumpkin head back on and said, "Now, if ya lot are ready, lessgo get sum candy, yeah?" and just then Jason waddled in and shouted, "Sugar!" with his hands up. He was in a matching air force costume with his older brother.
James ran over to him and said, "Hats on backwards, dude. Lemme help you, ha ha!" and he grabbed his brother's hat and put it on the right way. Jason laughed and said, "Mate, your fifteen. You should not be this excited over Halloween." James quirked a brow up. "Oh, no? Well too bad, little man. Unlike some of us I want to enjoy my youth." "Oh SHUT IT! Just because i wore ONE pair of air forces!" Daisy shouted, storming out of the room. James laughed and said, "That, Lad, is how you take the piss." Jason laughed too-before Ruby hit them both round the head. "GO! say your sorry, Ninos!"
James ran downstairs shouting out the words, "I'm sorry, Day! Please come out and gimme a hug so ma don't kill me!" Daisy shouted back, "DONT BRING MUM OVER HERE-" James found his sister eating the cupcakes that were meant for her and Sapphire's birthday party. "...If you let me have some of the frosting i won't say anything at all." "Oh, piss off!" "MMMHHH-" "Okay! Okay! Here!" Daisy shoved a cupcake towards him and he took it. "Thanks, sis." "Whatever, James." "Ey-no. That's a big no-no. I'm not James to you, Kid. I'm 'Jamie'." Daisy groaned. "Why are you like this?" "Cuase. I can be. Hey, don't get so worked up, yeah?" "...You sound like Tio Rudy." "Muy bueno. I admire Tio Rudy y Alejandro." "...Yo tambien." "So you do know Spanish?"
Daisy and James froze. Uh oh..."Heyyy, Mum! What brings you here, aye?" "Daisy. Kate. Riley." James paled along with his sister. "It was me, Mom. I told her she could have a few before we left." Ruby looked her son over and said, "Your a bad liar, Son. Never make it in the force like that." James sighed and said, "I don't wanna go into the Air Force, Ma! I wanna go into the SEALs." Ruby shook her head. "Diffrant names, same concept...You kow, I dont-" "Ma. Not now. You were about to give James the beating of his life."
Ruby turned around and saw Sapphire there, holding her dad's hand. He shrugged. "I dunno wot's goin' on but I wanna see," Simon said. Ruby slowly turned around and then she laughed. "Simon, baby...why the fuck-" Simon shut her up by throwing a bag full of fake cobwebs at her. "RUN KIDS-"
and cue the kids running out the back door and into the backyard. "QUICK-THE WOODS!" Jason shouted, running up and tree. James copied and helped the girls up into the thick oak tree's branches. Ruby ran out after her husband and he threw off his pumpkin head but tripped over his untied shoelace. "Fu-" "Gotcha!" Ruby shouted, trapping her husband under him. He took off her pumpkin head and kissed her. "Sorry?" Ruby gave him a once over and then broke out a smile. "...Fine. Your lucky I love you, Amor." "Very lucky otherwise I'd be six feet unda right about now, aye?" "Yeah."
and James gagged. "BLEUGH! Gross, you two! Hey-UNCLE ALEJANDRO!" James shouted, jumping down from his branch. He landed on his butt but recovered quickly and ran over to his uncle. Alejandro was dressed up as Dracula and his husband, Rudy was Frankenstein. "Hols, Tio!" "Eyy, Mi hombre! Que paso?" "Ehh, same old, same old." Ruby walked over and smiled. "Hola, Tio. Thanks for making it down for the girls' birthdays." "Ahh, no problem, Mi Corazon! I love my girls, just as much as they boys, don't worry, Jaunito." James groaned. "Tiooo, it's James, not Juanito!" "Your middle name is Juan, no?" "...damn it, Ma!" "Ale, Mi amor, dont provoke him."
So he talks. "Hello, Rudy," James said, not even looking at him. Rudy sighed. "I tell him one war story and he's salty three years later," Rudy mumbled. James turned and looked at Rudy dead in the eyes. "You betrayed Mi Mama...you think I'm going to forgive that, Pen-" "James Juan Alejandro Riley!" And James shut up. But he still glared at Rudy and Rudy looked at Ruby and asked, "You did for give me, right?" Ruby smiled and said, "Yes I did. There, you heard it James, and that was when I was known as Delta twelve. Long before I was Jewel."
James said, "But Ma, dad says-" "And your father wasn't even thought of, nor heard of, at this time James, so it doesn't matter. Besides! It taught my ass a lesson." James huffed and said, "Fine." Simon walked over and loomed over his son. James felt a shiver go down his spine and his heart picked up pace. "I-I uhm, I mean, yeah okay! It's forgiven!" Rudy looked at Simon and asked, "...Que paso con su esposo, Rubia?" Ruby's eye twitched. "Just because he's called Ghost don't mean you get to-" "Ey. answer me." "...Nada."
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"Trick or treat!" Jason held up his candy bag and Anna filled it, "Your brother's s'cute, Jay!" Anna said as she gave James a small kiss on the cheek-which he wiped off. "An!" James groaned through his teeth. She laughed and said, "Sorry. I'm French! It's custom!" James sighed and said, "It's fine just-my uncles are right there!" "Aww, Okay! Here, take an extra twix." James starred as she put in a party sized twix bar into his candy bag. "...How many kids?" Anna blinked, "Huh?" James grabbed her shoulders and grinned. "I swear im gonna marry you so long as you provide me with chocolate. So how many babies?" Anna blushed and said, "James!" He laughed and kissed her cheek.
"See ya 'round, Love!" Anna huffed, "this is why England and France went to war..." James just waved her goodbye and sped off to the next house. Jason's feet were getting tired and he was wondering where his mom and dad had gone off to. "Jay. Where's mum and pa?" James shrugged as they walked. "I think in the house, why?" "Cos..." "You miss 'em? Wanna find the girls and Rudy and go back?" "Yeah-I'm tired." James nodded. "Oye, Tio Ale! We're done here, bags are full and everything." Alejandro nodded. "To the jeep!"
Jason must've lied when he said he was tired because that boy took off towards the car. "Wha-Hey! You said you were tired, the hell, kid!?" James shouted as he ran after him, his long legs catching up to his brother easily. Jason giggled and touched the car first. "I win!" "No fair, you didn't call the race, boy!" "You didn't call it last time, so-" and Jason stuck out his tongue. James rolled his eyes. "Fine. You get front seat." Alejandro shook his head. "You kids are somthin' else...kinda like your mom and her siblings."
"...Mom has siblings?" Alejandro gulped. "Used to...one sister. and one step brother." "What happened?" "brother died and sister moved away and cut off coms-err connections with us." James sighed. "I miss auntie Reina." "I miss her too." and the Jeep started. They all drove in silence until they reached the house. The girls were on the porch, eating and talking with their friends. They waved to the boys walking up to them. "Party's starting now that your here, guys!"
Alejandro nodded and walked inside to allow the kids to talk. However, James didn't want to talk. After hearing about his aunt again, he felt...odd. Ah, it was his sisters birthdays! This was a worry for another day. He forced a smile onto his face and said, "Race you lot into the house!" and started running. His little sisters caught up fairly quickly, "Where to?" Daisy panted out, just like her father would've. "Kitchen counter-" and off she sped.
Daisy slapped the counted and then stood straight up. "Dang-I'm fast!" she shouted, throwing her arms up happily.
Ruby took a look at her kids and sighed softly, wearing her pumpkin head. "...I dont know what im going to do with you kids." Simon laughed silently and whispered, "Love them until we die?" Ruby shook her head, "Love them even after we die."
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stevie-petey · 2 months ago
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GOD the last chapter was so so heartbreaking to read :( bug just wants steve to live his own life without dragging him with her to college in fear of it being the cause of their relationships downfall in the future UGHH and max and bugs sisterhood will never not make me cry they’re just so alike that it actually scares me bc they’re both willing to do anything to protect those around them (and are both stubborn about it!!) i don’t even know where to begin with dustins crying 😭😭 he’s forever bugs baby brother!! i love how even if they’re going thru a rough patch as siblings they still care for eachother just as much if not more now that they’re aware of what’s happening in hawkins <3 robin is still hawkins #1 bae like if no one’s gonna take her out Ik here im ready please give me a chance!! sorry vickie! (sorry i just had to share my thoughts about rob) AND IM WISHING EDDIE STRENGTH FOR WHATS ABOUT TO COME oh btw nance and bug?? i love these two so much!! and i love how instead of creating a big fight over jealousy between the two girls we got them as supportive gfs who literally praises eachother everytime <3 my adhd is so bad excuse this very very long anon letter
but yeah jonathan..ily but not on my watch….you leave bug and steve alone okay? please and ty <3 btw i hope school is going okay for u!! sending love  x 
-a very very stressed anon (leaving this strawberry & star cuz ik i’ll send more rants soon! 🌟🍓)
every time i watch season 4 im just like damn rip eddie u didnt stand a chance. poor lad.
but YES bug n max <333 theyve always had a cute lil connection so them fighting literal demons together seemed very fitting. same for nance and bug, i see them all on the same wavelength of "we all mutually respect each other even though we are lowkey too similar to get along"
now max and bug both willing to die for their loved ones ,,,, oh just u wait <3
steve and bug :(( their first real fight and its about literally spending the rest of their lives together. very typical of them tbh. sucks that trauma is preventing this from happening rip.
and DUSTIN !!! man i love complex sibling relations ugh when theyre flawed its so <333 like yes !! be human !! hurt each other !!
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amuseoffyre · 9 months ago
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One day I will run out of stuff to write about this show. Not today, but one day. But specifically, was watching the Jackie and Ed scenes in 2x07 and went oooooo again.
When we start episode 5 with Ed on probation, he's awkwardly trying to make amends on the ship, but clearly has zero experience of doing it and tells Stede he never apologised for anything. It takes Fang teaching Ed how to sit with himself and think about the stuff he's done. Ed realises the impact of his actions and genuinely apologises for the first time for his past behaviour.
This also leads to him realising he needs to take some time, which is when he tells Stede he wants to take things slow. It's something new for him and he's trying hard to make a change in his patterns of behaviour, the so-called whim-prone tendencies. There's also one of his many metaphors: you can't catch a fish unless it wants to be caught. He's not quite ready to be where they are yet and expresses it instead of just diving in head first.
Thanks to the speed-run of the season, we cut to the next day at the beginning of episode 6: Ed is sitting with himself and thinking about the big things that he feels remorse about.
His dad, the storm incident, cutting off Izzy's toes, killing people during the raid spree, shooting Izzy, the storm incident again and driving his employees to kill him.
He also apologises directly for the second time in his career. Not the greatest apology in the world, it must be said, but a definite leap ahead from the awkward ukelele apology Stede wrote for him the day before. And, let's be honest, also probably the only kind of apology Izzy would tolerate from anyone, prickly little cactus man that he is :D
It's such a tiny moment, but the set up of "there's a storm coming, I just can't see it" is aaaaa.
In the basket, Hornighost said "you move on or you blow your brains out". Ed's been living on the run from his memories his whole life. He's never consciously sat with them before, not until Stede and all the bleak stuff bubbled up from under the surface when he was pushed to kill someone he cared about. And after that's when he tried the blow-your-brains-out approach by proxy. (He always outsources the big job, after all)
This is first time trying something that isn't either of those two things. As Buttons said, it's about change and now, with the experience of the basket behind him, he is trying to do things differently. To give himself proverbial soup as well - taking care of himself. Getting some nutrients into him, even though it feels like poison.
He's trying to process all this guilt and decades of trauma by himself and, just as before, he falls back into water metaphors. The storm isn't about the sea. The storm isn't about the weather. The storm is about him and his emotions. Sunshine one minutes, cataracts the next. The panic and anxiety is there bubbling away like an emotional storm front moving in.
He's already got this going on when the Ned stuff happens and then he has the equivalent of Stede's conversation with Chauncey: Jackie pointing out that Stede is now successful and "the fucking man" and basically is emulating and apparently enjoying the life and lifestyle Ed has come to hate and it happened because of Ed. If Ed hadn't goaded Ned by beating his record, Ned would never have come after them and if he hadn't come after them, Stede would never have killed him. ("You're a monster, a plague, you defile beautiful things")
The emotional storm has hit and he's not handling, to the point that he's withdrawing more and more from everything and everyone, sitting quietly out of sight. And like Stede did in 1x09, he decides leaving is the best option.
Our lads are both messy disasters, but they're both trying to do so much work on themselves, trying to figure themselves out. I wanna see an S3 where they get to do some more.
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kloppinthekop · 9 months ago
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꧁ hello! ꧂
amy ᝰ ❧ scorpio sun and moon, she/they, grey-ace, 30s
i support liverpool f.c. (epl) and mclaren (f1). faves include: dominik szoboszlai, lando norris, oscar piastri, and carlos sainz jr.
→ formula 1 sideblog: carlandoscars ←
i have a ph.d. in english literature, specializing in science fiction, but i really only write for fun these days.
other interests include: kate bush (queen of my heart), goth and post punk music/subculture, horror and sci-fi films, jane austen, mary shelley (i am always ready to bring frankenstein into any conversation), orphan black, star trek, studio ghibli, and more.
a masterlist of my fics and other scribblings are below the cut! a gentle reminder that i do not take requests for fics; however, headcanons are welcome and my askbox is open!
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you can find most of my fics on archive of our own (ao3). some may be archive-locked (only viewable to users who are logged in on ao3). fics are sorted by type, ship/pairing, and then alphabetically listed within each category (for the most part). ratings are indicated in parentheses next to each title. if you are under the age of 18, please do not interact with any mature/explicit fics. full list of tags and any potential content warnings are available on ao3. masterlist to be updated periodically.
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꧁DOMITRENT꧂ (dominik szoboszlai/trent alexander arnold)
dream come true (M, eventually E) 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔰 ➾ [work in progress]
→ Dominik, whose dreams of becoming a professional football player ended years ago due to injury, has dedicated himself to a new passion: physiotherapy. After moving to Liverpool to complete his studies, he meets Trent, a local lad whose dream of playing in the first team is about to come true. But what if, in meeting one another, their dreams become intertwined?
⟡ by chapter: chapter one: skull and bones | chapter two: skeletons and secrets | chapter three: start of something | chapter four: sweet as sugar | chapter five: stay with me | chapter six: stuck on you | chapter seven: suddenly everything changes
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꧁HENDOLLANA꧂ (jordan henderson/adam lallana)
borne in red (E; dubcon) → In a world where men have been discovered to be infertile, the few men who are not sterile are forced into service of Captains and their Wives. Adam Lallana is one of these "studs," also known as Reds. He is also, dangerously, in love with men. Over a course of Ceremonies, he discovers that his Captain has a secret, and that his proclivities may be indeed similar to Adam's own desires…
A Hendollana AU based on Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale.
⟡ by chapter: chapter one: waiting | chapter two: discovering | chapter three: being | chapter four: waiting | chapter five: coda
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꧁DOMITRENT꧂ (dominik szoboszlai/trent alexander arnold)
we lit the fire and it's burning bright (E) → After the Liverpool vs Manchester City game (where Trent scores the equaliser), Dom takes Trent back to his apartment and proceeds to take him apart with his hands and lips.
working on the riddle of your heart (E) → Dominik can’t stop thinking about Trent. Ever since pre-season training, he has been obsessed. God, Dominik wants to be possessed by Trent.
you're out there killing the game (E) → Trent gets his arse out for all to see, but Dom wants it to be just his.
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꧁CARRAVILLE꧂ (jamie carragher/gary neville)
gary knows; or, gary the fool in liverpool (T) → Liverpool’s lost the league, and Gary’s lost his damn mind.
a christmas carraville (merry crimbo, ye big lug) (G) → God I love him, but my husband is an idiot, Jamie thinks. In which Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher are married, but Gary doesn't know it yet.
champagne supernova (happy new year, ye tosser) (T) → It's New Year's Eve, and all Carra can think about is whether a certain Manc will kiss him at midnight. Maybe a little liquid courage will help light the way.
package deal (it's valentine's day, ye dimwit) (E) → Gary's got a Valentine’s date with an idiot.
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꧁GERLONSO꧂ (steven gerrard/xabi alonso)
days of legends past (G) → "When you left, it broke my heart." Three vignettes related to various and sundry myths and legends.
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꧁HENDOLLANA꧂ (jordan henderson/adam lallana)
fools in love (G; archive-locked) → aka, five times that other people noticed Jordan and Adam were dating before they did, and one time they finally realize that they’ve been a couple all along.
hounds of love (G; archive-locked) → Jordan's not sure what his soulmark will be yet, but what he does know is that he's terrified. A slow-burn soulmate AU.
merry to go 'round (G; archive-locked) → The lads buy a house together at the end of the 2026 World Cup campaign, and not a single one of their teammates (former teammates now) are surprised.
soft lad (E; archive-locked) → Five-hundred twenty-five thousand six-hundred minutes… it took a span of two pre-seasons for Hendo to realize that he was in love.
vignettes: tickertape (G; archive-locked) → After the trophy lift, Hendo searches for a tangible piece of memory…
vignettes: turf (G; archive-locked) → Lallana leaving LFC, but choosing a certain squad number for familiarity…
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꧁OTHER SHIPS꧂
put myself on a pedestal - virgil van dijk/jarell quansah (E) → After the Union Saint-Gilloise match, Jarell says some things to the press that perhaps ought not to have been said. It's Virgil's job to educate him. But perhaps there are things that Virgil also ought not to say out loud… Then, Jarell comes over to his house one night after training, and Virgil finds a more effective way to stop Jarell from saying stupid things.
eu sou... - eric dier/dele alli (G; archive-locked) → Dele is um idiota but so is Eric. Pining ensues. footballers watch: eurovision 2019 - multi-ship (G; archive-locked) → What it says on the tin. [Pairings include: Carraville, Hendollana, Gerlonso, Deledier, and other random cameos.]
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꧁GEN FICS꧂
klopp in the kop, forever - jürgen klopp (G) → Jürgen Klopp, the normal one, is about to live a normal life, for the first time in his life.
vignettes: takumi (G; archive-locked) → Second day at Anfield • Daemon!fic aka His Dark Materials/Football RPF
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⟡ domitrent headcanon - who's naughtier, domi or trent?
⟡ domitrent headcanon - valentine's day
⟡ domitrent headcanon - who fell first
⟡ domitrent headcanon - dealing with injuries
⟡ domitrent headcanon - sex positions
⟡ domi and trent headcanons - fashion styles, shopping habits
⟡ domi, trent and jude headcanons - jealousy
⟡ trent and jude headcanons - food habits, sweet tooth
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⟡ cheeky - domitrent
⟡ the prince and the scouser - domitrent
⟡ queen's gambit AU - domitrent
⟡ anfield is a cauldron - gen!fic
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dividers created by @cafekitsune | other graphics resources
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thegladelf · 2 years ago
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An Open Heart is An Open Wound 13/?
Guess who's back! *nervous laugh emoji*
I know it's been a while. Life got busy and writing got hard, but uh, we've gone down another Captain Swan rabbit hole and that led to old fanfic and that led to me realizing that I still had at least a couple of chapters outlined. So I dunno if I have it in me to finish this fic, but I'm going to get y'all as far as I can. I've forgotten a lot of what I originally had planned, but luckily I have notes for some of it and the show for the rest. There's at least one more chapter coming after this and I know it's going to make a lot of people happy. (No beta to credit this time, we die like Liam Jones now)
Last Chapter | From Beginning | AO3
Summary: Killian was sent to our world to find a cursed town called Storybrooke, but his quest was derailed when he met Emma Swan. Drawn together by a past that is more similar than either of them realize. For a time, they were family. Then things changed and Killian left to complete his mission. Now, ten years later, Emma has come to Storybrooke and it’s Killian must decide whether he should pick up the pieces. (Alternate universe retelling of Season One.)
Word count: 10.8k
# # #
“Whatcha reading?”
“The Hulk versus Wolverine.”
Killian didn’t recognize the first voice at the end of the aisle, but the second was one he knew well. Not wanting to startle the lad, he ceased his perusal of the baking goods—he knows there are ready made breakfast foods, but he prefers making things from scratch and free of all those words he doesn’t know—peering over the shelf tops to find his son holding up a colorfully illustrated book for the inspection of a girl not too much older. She stood a bit taller than Henry, her hair cascading over her shoulders in golden waves. Her clothes echoed his school uniform, which made sense he supposed, as there was only one school that he knew of in this town and it got out a few minutes ago.
“I’m Ava,” the girl supplied.
As she spoke, someone brushed past Killian drawing his attention. Another child in a school uniform, this one a dark-haired boy with his arms full of toiletries. He strode casually past, seemingly unaware of Killian's presence. Killian noted the care in his step, his suspicion confirmed as the lad crouched down at the end of the aisle, quietly reaching for Henry’s backpack on the floor.
“I think I’ve seen you around school,” Ava continued as her accomplice slipped his items inside Henry’s backpack. “You’re in Miss Blanchard’s class, right?”
The second lad stood quickly, stepping forward. “Almost ready, Ava?”
A flicker of unease flashed across Ava’s face as she acknowledged the new boy. “This is my brother, Nicholas.”
Indecision stayed Killian’s hand for only a moment. He and Emma had used similar tactics on more than one occasion, and from the look of these children, they needed the items. But they were involving Henry in their actions and that he couldn’t let slide, no matter that he had been in their position on many occasions. Hadn’t he often nicked things while good, polished Liam distracted the cart owners?
“Hi,” Nicholas said, touching his sister’s arm. “Come on – let’s go.”
The girl smiled at Henry. “You want to come hang out?”
Henry’s bright reply stabbed at Killian’s emotions as he stepped forward, but the shop’s proprietor was eyeing the threesome with narrowed eyes—though that might just be the continual cold the balding man seemed to suffer from.
“Hold up just a minute there, mate,” Killian said, resting his hand on Henry’s shoulders. With his hook, he caught one of the many loops on Henry’s rucksack, sliding the zipper open to reveal the stolen goods. “I don’t think you want to be going anywhere with these two until they’ve returned these things.”
Ava stared up at Killian, like a rat caught in a trap, her fists balled at her sides. The boy — already halfway to the door — bolted the rest of the distance. His sneakers skidded against the tile floor as nasally challenged Clark slapped his hand over the door.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded of Nicholas. He sneezed and dabbed at his nose with a crumpled handkerchief. “Don’t think I didn’t see you rob me.”
Henry’s lip trembled as he looked at the pair of siblings and despite Killian’s common experience with these waifs, he felt the flare of anger at how they had taken advantage of such a good heart as Henry’s.
“That’s why you were talking to me,” his son accused. “So your brother could put that stuff in there.”
Ava bowed her head, at least having the decency to be ashamed. Her brother glared at Clark, but remained silent.
Clark grabbed the boy by his arm, roughly pushing his toward the counter and his register. “I don’t know who you two think you are—don’t you go anywhere missy, you come right over here with your brother.”
He glared until she obeyed, though it wasn’t surprising, she didn’t seem keen to leave her brother. A trait she shared with Liam, he truly hadn’t known when to let Killian go either.
Clark grabbed a phone just to the side of the register. “I’m calling your parents—all of your parents,” he said, with a look at Henry. “And then I’m calling the sheriff.”
“Surely that’s not necessary,” Killian said. “It’s toilet paper and food stuffs. Certainly you can let it slide so long as the children put it back and promise not to engage in such activities again.”
“Certainly I will not,” Clark shot back. “I won’t stand for thieves in my store.” He schlumped around the counter, yanking the bag from Killian’s grasp. He threw it on the counter with a thunk. Carefully, he unpacked the bag, sneering at Henry’s school books as he called Emma and then attempted to call the children’s parents. From Killian’s side of the conversation, the former appeared more fruitful than the latter. The man tried to dismiss Killian, but as he showed no sign of releasing Henry as well Killian opted to stay.
Besides, he recognized the look in the children’s eyes. They might need a champion to plead their case.
Emma and Regina must have both been in their offices, for they arrived at nearly the same time. Regina’s black sedan whipping into a spot behind the curb, she was up and out of the vehicle, slamming the door behind her, as Emma’s cruiser pulled into the space behind her. Killian bit back a smile at the sight of her rolling her eyes as Regina stormed through the door.
“What’s all this about?” the mayor demanded.
The clerk pulled himself up to his full height, which was still several inches shorter than the mayor. “Well, I’m sorry, Madam Mayor, but your son was shoplifting.”
“That’s a lie,” Killian said. “I saw the whole thing myself. Henry had no idea.”
“See?” Regina said. She grabbed the olive bag, zipping it closed with finality. “We’re going.”
Emma breezed through the door in time to halt Regina’s progress out of the shop. She paused, her eyes sliding over the scene, taking in each person. Her jacket rode up on her shoulders as she propped her hands on her hips, finally zeroing in on their son.
“Henry.” She sounded surprised. “What happened?”
Regina sighed. “Miss Swan, must I remind you that genetics mean nothing.” She spoke forcefully, her arm curling around Henry’s shoulders and drawing him closer. “You’re not his mother and it’s all taken care of.”
Her words made Killian’s blood boil, but Emma didn’t even flinch. Her calm demeanor reminded him of their bargain. Though he wanted to, giving Regina the dressing down she deserved would only strain things between the two and they had Henry to think of. For his sake, there needed to be peace between his mother’s.
“I’m here because I’m the Sheriff,” Emma said, with a sarcastic tilt of her head.
“Oh, that’s right.” Sounding disappointed rather than humbled, Regina stepped back, nodding at the boy and girl. “Go on, do your job. Take care of those miscreants.”
Emma sighed, but said nothing else to Regina as she and Henry left to the chiming of the bell. Ava and Nicholas eyed Emma’s badge warily. Killian found he wanted to comfort them, offer some assurances that Emma would set things right. He kept silent though, it was not his place to make promises for her.
“Did you call their parents?” she asked Clark, fiddling with her keys.
“Uh, the number they gave me was disconnected,” Clark said. With an exasperated huff, he circled back around the counter and started packing the items into a little, blue shopping basket. Though he kept his head down, the tilt of his head made it clear he followed every word of the interrogation.
“Did you guys give Mr. Clark a fake number?”
The children shook their heads.
“Then why’s it disconnected?”
The boy hung his head and tears sprung into the girl’s eyes.
“Cause our parents couldn’t pay the bill,” Ava said, soft and broken.
Emma picked up the nearest item, a tube of toothpaste. She gave the small box far more scrutiny than it deserved. Remembering her own childhood, no doubt.
Emma met his gaze when she looked up, but focused on the children once again. “And you guys are just trying to help out, huh?”
“Please,” Ava whispered. “Please don’t arrest us. It will just make things worse for our parents.”
Clark sighed, setting the basket down on the counter with a thud. He leveled a disapproving glare at Emma.
“The items never left the store, Mr. Clark,” Emma said. “I think you can let it go this once.”
“And what about the next time?” the man asked in his nasal whine.
Killian shook his head. Henry hadn’t found the time to acquaint him with every character in the book—though he suspected that the lad had at last figured out who Mr. Gold was—but they had found a few stolen moments here and there for Henry to acquaint Killian with the people most pivotal with his grandparents' story. He couldn’t imagine anyone putting up with Clark for very long, let alone as long as Snow White and the other dwarves had.
“There won’t be a next time,” Emma said, fixing a stern look on the cowed children.
“And you’ll be compensated for the items,” Killian put in. He fished his wallet out of his jacket pocket, laying out the money that would have paid for the few items he needed. He could manage one more morning of only citrus for breakfast and come back tomorrow. “Ring them up.”
“Hook…” Emma said.
“No, I insist.” He smiled at the children. “I’ve been there a time or two myself. Their intentions are good, even if their methods are suspect.”
Emma smiled at that. “Can’t argue with that.”
“Fine,” Clark said and then sneezed.
The children glanced at each other, their mouths hanging open.
“Thank you, Mister,” Ava finally said. “We promise it won’t happen again.”
With a smile, Killian wondered if she meant they wouldn’t steal again or simply that they wouldn’t get caught.
# # #
“I could’ve taken care of all that,” Emma said as she watched Ava and Nicholas trot merrily up to her squad car.
Killian shrugged, letting the door swing closed behind him and cut out the jingling bell above it.
“My brother and I were very much like them, once upon a time. Though we didn’t have parents to go home to.” He grimaced, closing his eyes like he wanted to shut out a particularly painful memory. It was one of the most concrete details he had ever shared with her about his past. With a scratch behind his ear, he continued, “The kindness of a stranger could have changed both of our lives.”
Emma pressed her lips together. “Yeah, too bad there aren’t more strangers like you out there.”
He snorted. “That’s probably a good thing, Swan.” He threw a flourishing gesture toward the kids leaning against the car. “Would you like some help transporting them back home?”
“I’ll add that one to the list,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“What list?” Killian asked, brow furrowing.
“The list of people you think I can’t handle,” she replied, sticking her hands in her back pockets. Her eyes strayed down the street, eyeing the pawnbroker’s sign swaying in the wind. “Should I put preteens before or after middle-aged men who use a cane?”
Killian tensed. “That is hardly something to joke about.”
“Lighten up, Hook. I know you don’t like the guy, but I think I could take him in a fight.”
Killian grunted, staring so hard at the kids she thought he might burn a hole through Nicholas’ head.
“Hey,” she said. “I don’t like him either. And I don’t plan on looking for trouble. Though if he keeps showing up at work…”
“What?” Killian snapped, tearing his gaze from the children. “When?”
Emma held her hands up, more to tell him to chill out than to push him away. “Whoa. He was there the day after the election is all. Wanted to give me Graham’s jacket.”
“And you’re just mentioning this now?” he demanded. “What did he do? Did he threaten you?”
“Stop it,” she said, aware of the two kids watching not far away. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him a little further down the street, turning him so those flashing blue eyes wouldn’t get the kids all worried. She sighed. “He wanted to congratulate me or whatever. Apparently, my standing up to him was all part of some master plan to get me elected.”
She suppressed a shudder, remembering the silent way Gold appeared at her office door two weeks ago. She hadn’t even known he was there until he spoke and nearly scared her out of her skin.
“Emma,” Killian pleaded, “I need to know things like this.”
“No,” she snapped. “You don’t. Look, your problems with Gold are not my problems with Gold. I don’t know what happened between you two, but until you care to tell me what he did that was so awful, I’m going to handle him based on my own experience. Got it?”
Killian pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, but he didn’t say anything.
“I’ll see you around,” she said, pushing past him.
The kids slid inside the car as soon as she popped the locks, setting the white plastic bag with the groceries Killian had purchased between them. Ava rattled off an address with a speed that stoked the burning suspicion already coiling in her gut.
Emma expected yellowed, peeling paint and maybe a boarded up window, but the house she ended up at was a calming blue and looked well maintained. The yard neatly cut and the steps leading up to the door swept clean. It was in better shaped than Ava in her ratty sweater and Nicholas with his shaggy haircut.
“This it?” she asked, throwing the gear into park. At the kids nod, she unhooked her seatbelt.
“Please, no,” Ava said, sinking into the backseat. Her fingers tightened around the belt buckle. “If our parents see you, they’ll be so embarrassed.”
Emma twisted, her jacket squeaking against the leather seat as she faced the kids fully. “Did Henry tell you about my superpower?”
Ava shook her head. “We just met him.”
“I have the ability to tell when anyone is lying.” Emma softened her voice, trying not to sound too harsh as she met first Nicholas and then Eva’s eyes. “Tell me the truth, money problems aside, is everything okay at home?”
They both nodded too vigorously.
“Yeah, we’re great,” Ava answered, but her words sounded hollow. Rehearsed. “Can we go?”
Emma contemplated calling them out, but thought better of it. Something was off for sure, but she needed to know more before she could decide what to do. “Alright.” She inclined her head toward the door.
Both of them flashed her relieved smiles as they piled out of the car, the bags in their hands. The sun caught Ava’s messy waves as they bounced against her back. The girl turned and waved to Emma from the top step, her smile bright and very, very fake. With a nod, Emma shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. The kids watched her in the rearview mirror, so Emma kept going until she rounded the corner of the street and couldn’t see them anymore.
She parked against the curb and jumped out. Brittle, winter grass crunched under her boots as she crept through a yard, peeking around a bush just in time to see the kids disappear around the side of the house. Emma took off after them, careful to stay just far enough behind that they wouldn’t catch her lurking.
The pelted across a deserted street, leading her through an overgrown yard and past useless, rusting trucks. Finally, Nicholas tossed the bags to Ava and used a trash can to scramble over a fence. The girl did the same. Emma almost went after them, but decided against it, noting instead the dilapidated, white house that appeared to be their true home.
She circled around. The house was old and obviously abandoned. She wondered why it hadn’t been listed in the paper all those weeks back when she had been looking for a home. She probably could have afforded this one too, she thought and immediately scoffed at the idea. Emma Swan was not the type to own a house. Renting worked just fine for her, thank you very much.
Every window on this house was boarded up, but the front door had a simple lock. Biting back a smile, Emma knelt, making quick work of the lock. Dust littered the air when she entered and she suppressed a sneeze. Light filtered in through the old boards, landing on a trap door that led into the basement and the floor creaked loud enough to provide sound effects for the movie Twister. Emma paused, stepping down on the board that protested so loudly, making groan again.
That should do it, she thought.
Quickly, she ducked down a hallway and waited to see who would be the first up from the basement.
Before long, Ava and Nicholas came tiptoeing through the house, Nicholas holding on tightly to his sister’s hand. They missed Emma in her little corner, peering instead into the kitchen.
“Why’d you guys lie to me?” Emma asked, stepping out of the shadows. “Where are your parents?”
The kids spun toward her, eyes wide. Nicholas pressed his mouth shut tight, but Ava lifted her head, a hint of a challenge in her posture as she said, “We don’t have any.”
She knew she had recognized the look in their eyes. Now the questions was, what could she do about it?
# # #
After she escorted them down into the basement—which was in even worse shape than upstairs, despite the furniture crowded together in an attempt to create a home—Emma had the kids gather up all their things and marched them back down the road to her squad car. They went without complaint, both eyeing her warily, but seeming to accept the inevitable.
She knew what she should do. Cases like this were social services business not hers, but every time she looked in the rearview mirror and saw their dejected faces, it reminded her of what would happen to them if she made that call.
“What happened to your parents?” she asked.
“Our mom died a couple of years ago,” Ava, the appointed spokesperson for the pair, said. She fiddled with her hair, wrapping and unwrapping a strand around her finger with frenetic energy. Gone was the calm, cool exterior.
“And your dad?”
Ave just shrugged.
She knew what she should do, but that was exactly what had been done with her, wasn’t it? The people who had handed her from home to home were just doing their jobs. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, what was it Killian had said about the kindness of strangers? Her life could have been so different if even one person had truly cared about her.
So she decided she would care about these kids. She was going to do her best to make sure they didn't get separated. Maybe she lacked any real idea of what to do exactly, but there had to be something.
“Hey, I need to stop by the station real quick to pick up some stuff,” she said, glancing up at them through the mirror. “But you’re not in trouble, okay? I’m going to take you to my house and get you some real food and then we’ll figure out what to do.”
Ava sighed, groping for her brother’s hand. “Thank you,” she whispered.
They opted to wait in the squad car, so she left the keys in the ignition and hopped inside for a few minutes as she searched through the records for anything related to them or their mom. She found a file, an autopsy report, with the name Ava had given her for their mother, but not much else.
The car was still there when she came back out and only then did it occur to her that they could have stolen it. Emma shook her head. Intentions aside, she needed to be a little more careful with these two.
Twenty minutes later found them back at the loft, a pot full of mac and cheese on the stove as Emma and the kids ate. Both children had tucked into their food with relish, shoveling it into their mouths like it might disappear.
“Hey,” she said, waiting for them both to pause and look up at her. “There’s as much of that as you want. I’ll even make another box if you’re still hungry, just don’t make yourselves sick.”
Nicholas swallowed, nodding. They both continued with a little more patience this time. Ava’s fork scraped the bottom of her bowl just as the apartment door opened and Mary Margaret walked in.
“So I hear that—” Mary Margaret froze, gaping at the two kids now sitting at her kitchen table.
Emma’s chair squealed against the floor as she pushed it back. “Guys, this is my roommate Mary Margaret. I need to talk with her for a minute.” She jerked a thumb back at the kitchen. “I won’t eat more than this, so you can have the rest if you want.”
Both kids jumped to their feet, bowls clutched in their hands.
Mary Margaret couldn’t seem to decide where to look. Finally, she said, “Uh, what did you need to talk about?”
Emma pulled her back into the bedroom, the file weighing heavily against her conscience. She knew how many rules she was breaking.
“They need a place to stay for a couple of nights,” Emma said.
“What? Why?” Mary Margaret hissed. “What happened to their parents?”
Quickly, Emma spilled the details of their little adventure at Clark’s store. Her roommate pressed a hand to her mouth as she listened to Emma’s description of the house they had been living in.
“They’re wearing the uniforms from your school,” Emma finished. “Do you know them?”
“I’ve seen them, but…: She shook her head. “I had no idea. None of us did.”
Emma sighed, a small part of her relieved that Mary Margaret hadn’t been close to these two. She didn’t know what she would have done if her roommate had had suspicions about the kids’ home life and said nothing.
“Ava and Nicholas Zimmer.” Emma opened the autopsy file again, her eyes scanning the documents. She saw no mention of the kids, just like she hadn’t found anything about them the first time she read through it. Mom had apparently passed from some form of cancer. “They said their mother was a woman named Dorrie Zimmer. She died a few years ago.”
Mary Margaret fiddled with one of the buttons on her blouse. “And the father?��
“There isn’t one. At least not one that they know.”
“What does, uh… What does social services say?” Mary Margaret asked. She took a step forward when Emma stayed silent. “You didn’t report them.”
Emma leaned in, lowering her voice even more. “I report them, I can’t help them. They go into the system.”
“The system that’s supposed to help,” her roommate countered.
“Yeah, says the woman who wasn’t in it for sixteen years,” Emma snapped in a hushed voice.
Mary Margaret stepped back, swallowing nervously.
Emma pushed on. “Do you know what happens? They get thrown into homes where they are a meal ticket, nothing more.” She peeked behind her again, glad to see the kids settled with their second bowls of cheesy goodness. She caught Mary Margaret watching too. “These families get paid for these kids and as soon as they’re too much work, they get tossed out and it all starts over again.”
“But they’re not all like that.” Mary Margaret shook her head.
“All the ones I was in.”
Pity filled Mary Margaret’s eyes, but not for the kids, this time she directed it at Emma. “What? We’re just going to adopt them?”
And there was the crux of the matter. There wasn’t room here, neither of them were exactly in the position to take on two kids. Emma had no delusions on that hand, she wasn’t even equipped to handle Henry. And Mary Margaret…well, she’d want kids of her own someday, there was no home for them with her. Maybe a few weeks ago she would have given up and consigned them to the system with a heavy heart, but standing in the kitchen she had remembered her argument with Killian. It took him only a few minutes to accept Henry as his son, only a few minutes to demonstrate just how wrong keeping it from him had been. What if Dorrie Zimmer had made the same mistake all those years ago?
“I want to look for their father,” she said. “They don’t know him. He may not know they exist.”
Mary Margaret’s eyebrows shot up. “And you think if he knows, he’ll want them?”
Emma wanted the answer to be yes. But she wasn’t, she couldn’t. Maybe Killian had proved her wrong—and the jury was still out on that one, because he could up and leave at any time—but she didn���t even know if she had ever met this other guy.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. Emma wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to think of cold hands and clothes that smelled like trash bag. “But what I do know is it’s hard enough finding foster families to take one kid that isn’t theirs, let alone two. It’s their best shot, or—”
A soft gasp burst out behind her. “We’re going to be separated?” Ava stared at them, her face red and tears in her eyes. Her exclamation had drawn her brother’s attention, he paused, spoon halfway to his mouth, eyes going wide.
“No,” Emma said, too quickly to think about what she was saying. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Please…” Ava’s lip trembled. “Please don’t let it.”
“Emma’s going to do her best, sweetie,” Mary Margaret said, with a hard look at Emma. “Now, as good as that dinner looks, I think it’s missing some dessert. Why don’t you help me bake some cookies while Emma tries to figure this out.”
Ava swallowed, but nodded despite tears still in her eyes.
The kids were reserved the rest of the night. Nodding and answering in monosyllables when they could. Despite all of Emma’s patience, they didn’t know any more about their dad than they told her in the squad car.
She let them take her bed, volunteering to sleep on the couch. Mary Margaret offered the other half of her bed, but that felt too…cozy for Emma. Too much like it meant something, like they were best friends who braided each other’s hair and swapped stories about boys. That made Emma feel guilty, because if it weren’t for Henry she would leave Storybrooke behind and never look back.
The kids didn’t have any real pajamas, they just apparently slept in their clothes and changed the next day, so Mary Margaret unearthed a couple of t-shirts and some sweatpants for them to sleep in. They disappeared upstairs with soft good nights after changing into the new clothes and handing over their old uniforms to be thrown in the washer with all their dirty clothes.
That would be a plus, at least, Emma thought as she tried for the third time to get comfortable on the couch. She remembered many, many days wishing she could do more than air her few outfits. Every now and then, she’d save up enough for a corner laundromat, but clean clothes were a luxury when you had to steal to eat.
Emma wanted to do better for them though. Better than a couple of meals and clean clothes and a night in a warm house. She pulled the blanket a little closer. She knew exactly what nights in that old house must have been like.
She would do better for them. They’re birth certificates had to be at city hall. She could start there. Maybe there would be something on their birth certificate or in the hospital records.
Yeah, there had to be something. She smiled. It sounded like something Henry would say.
She drifted off, thinking maybe, just maybe she could be the kind of stranger Killian mentioned earlier that day.
# # #
Ava nearly cried when Mary Margaret handed her a uniform smelling of Downy. Even Nicholas ducked away when he thought they weren’t looking and swiped at his eyes.
It was odd, having two near teenagers to get up and fed and ready for school all of a sudden and she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have Henry sitting around the table with them. To be handing him a clean sweater and telling him to hurry up in the bathroom. Both children tried to take their time in the shower, but Mary Margaret hurried them along with promises of letting them shower later that evening until the hot water ran out.
They went to school with her, while Emma headed over to City Hall, ready to brave the musty archives and hoping she might find something — anything — to give these kids a chance.
In a rather stereotypical fashion, the Office of Records was in the basement, tucked away down a practical labyrinth. Emma wandered into three other offices before she finally got directions to the right one.
A huge, oak counter stood between her and the rest of the room. Behind it was set after set of library style filing bins, all of them in the same matching wood. Every flat surface was covered in files and binders and odd papers. A man sat amidst the chaos, his attention on a computer that could probably give life advice to the ones at the sheriff’s station. Half bald, with a beer belly and a rumpled button-down shirt, he was oblivious to Emma’s arrival until she called out.
“Excuse me. Mr…” She examined the nameplate and made her best guess. “Krzyszkowski?”
The man let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yeah, it’s Krzyszkowski.” Pronouncing it like there was a ‘v’ at the end, though, there wasn’t. Emma checked. He stood, weaving around a table to get to the counter. “Everyone calls me K.”
“Mr. K,” she repeated, relieved to have a name she would be less likely to embarrass herself saying. “I am Sheriff Swan. I’m hoping to look at the birth certificates of Ava and Nicholas Zimmer.”
He reminded her a bit of a rat, with his beady, dark eyes. If Emma expected some curiosity or blustering, she would have been disappointed. Krzyszkowski reached for one of the papers behind the counter immediately and pulled up a handful.
“Alright, just, uh, fill out this form.” He slapped the papers onto the wooden surface, killing the small, foolish part of Emma that had hoped for just a moment it would be that easy. He lifted an industrial stamper, big enough to be a serious contender in a game of Clue and stomped it down on all three pages. “In triplicate.”
Emma blinked, surprised that it was that easy, despite her crushed—but unrealistic—hopes. The form only wanted basic information, record keeping for who saw what records she assumed, no signing over your firstborn or requests for certification.
“Okay.” She plucked up the first form. The desk had one of those ball-and-chain pens, the swinging chain causing her handwriting to wobble slightly.
“I’m so sorry,” the man said from his spot halfway across the room. He stood at one of the filing cabinets, his fingers still shoved inside a file holder. “Those documents have been recently removed.”
“By who?” Emma asked.
Somehow she already knew the answer.
“By the mayor,” he replied. He examined the one piece of paper that was in that file. “Just this morning actually.”
Of course.
Of course, Regina dug her fingers into this already. It was so like her, to want to meddle in something that had nothing to do with her whatsoever and step in to do Emma’s job when she was already doing it. Sort of.
“Thanks,” Emma said. “I guess I’ll just go see her about those then.” She left the forms sitting on the counter, one of them only half completed.
How had Regina known who to look for? Had she gotten their names before she left Clark’s shop yesterday? Maybe she’d been so offended that the kids tried to involve Henry she meant to give the parents a piece of her mind, or whatever it was suburban soccer mom types gave when they felt miffed.
Maybe Regina had planned to show up on their doorstep with a basket of apples.
Emma snorted at that, but reeled herself in quickly. Laughing would not get her into Regina’s good graces, and she needed to do that if she planned to help these kids.
The receptionist stopped her as she entered. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No,” Emma said, “but I need to talk with her about the Zimmer case. Tell her that.”
The receptionist stared for a moment, but when Emma didn’t budge, she got up and shuffled into Regina’s office, closing the door firmly behind her. Emma crossed her arms and resisted the urge to tap her foot. The woman returned shortly, the open door she left behind her the only sign that Emma had permission to enter. With a deep breath, she walked into the office, hands stuffed into her back pockets.
Regina shuffled papers on her desk, barely glancing at Emma as she entered. “Don’t worry, Miss Swan. You can relax,” she said, her hand resting on the file Emma needed. “I’ve contacted social services. Turns out these kids are on their own.” She grimaced, as though the thought pained her, though whether that was genuine or an act was hard to tell. “They need help.”
“Which is exactly what I’m trying to do,” Emma said. If they had an equal goal, maybe Regina could be reasoned with. After all, she had no connection to these kids other than their brief contact with Henry.
What did it matter to her what happened to them? “I’m trying to find their father.”
Regina sighed, handing over the file. “Well, he doesn’t exist.”
Emma took the file with a roll of her eyes. “He has to.”
“Well, of course, biologically he exists,” Regina said. “But there’s no record of him.”
Sure enough, where they would have put the father’s name, only the word “Unknown” was written. Disappointment hit Emma solid and low, but she tried not to react. Not in front of Regina.
The other woman fiddled with a pen. “Which means we have no choice.These children need a home, so they will be put into the foster system.”
Any part of Emma that thought Regina’s concern might be genuine vanished at the look of smug satisfaction on Regina’s face. Of course. If Emma was invested in this, Regina wanted to thwart it. And Regina had the law on her side too.
“Storybrooke has a foster system?” Emma waited, already knowing what Regina’s answer would be.
“No, but I’ve contacted the state.” Regina moved around the desk with more ease than anyone wearing a pencil skirt had a right to, speaking in flat, clinical tones. She lifted a pitcher of orange juice — probably hand-squeezed and organic if she was as strict with what she ate as she was with Henry — pouring herself a glass as she explained, “Maine’s group homes, unfortunately, are filled. But they put us in touch with two homes in Boston – a boy’s home and a girl’s.”
The steady thrum of unease that started with the mention of group homes exploded into full-blown dread.
“They’re separating them?” she gasped.
“I don’t like it, either,” Regina said, though her tone was hard to read. “But we’ve got no choice. You need to have them in Boston tonight.”
Emma’s stomach sank to her knees. “Me?”
Regina turned on her, sipping at her glass before speaking. “Well, you wanted to be Sheriff. This is what sheriffs do. Yes, you’re taking them.”
“No,” Emma said with full knowledge that she was being childish. Maybe she couldn’t stop them from being separated, but she would not be the one that delivered them to those homes. She never wanted to be within a mile of another group home for as long as she lived. “I promised them they wouldn’t be separated.”
“Well then, perhaps you should stop making promises you can’t keep.” Regina waited for a moment, her face softening as she approached Emma. “These children need a home. I’m just trying to find the best one.”
“So am I,” Emma retorted.
Regina shrugged. “He left them once. Even if you did find him, that’s not guarantee he’ll want them.” She set her glass down. “I see the appeal of the idea, Miss Swan, really I do. But better a sure home than letting them depend on a man we already know they can’t trust, don’t you think?”
Emma’s grip on the folder tightened. “Fine. I’ll do it. But they get to finish the school day first.”
“A wise decision,” Regina said, smiling coldly. “Best not to make a scene.”
“Madam Mayor.” Emma nodded and headed for the door, the file still clutched in her hand. Her spine crawled. Every step she was sure Regina would call for her to bring the file back, but no such call came. She got out the door and down the stairs and back to the station before she took a full breath, but no one stopped her. No one called her out for a liar.
Not that she had lied. School ran until two, so she had until then to figure something out.
# # #
“Any luck?” Henry walked into Emma’s office and her heart sank.
An odd feeling to associate with Henry. Until now, she hadn’t realized that seeing him usually made her day brighter. His arrival, however, signaled the end of the school day and — since Emma still had no plan — the end of her window to find Ava and Nicholas’ father.
“No,” she said, closing the file she was sifting through. She had all the records from the year Ava and Nicholas were born, searching through for any mention of Dorrie and her possible baby daddy.
Henry dumped his bag and set the storybook down with a thunk, heedless of the mess on Emma’s desk. “I know who they are. They’re brother and sister. Lost. No parents. Hansel and Gretel.”
For just a brief moment, her spirits lifted, until she realized just how ridiculous that was. Henry spoke of fairytale characters and they needed a real life, flesh and blood person. Still, he was trying to help.
“Anything in there about the dad?” she asked, more out of habit than hope.
Henry shook his head. “Just that he abandoned them.”
“Great.” Emma flipped his storybook closed, picking up her last file and heading to stash it back in the filing cabinet. A big bunch of dead ends. That’s all any of this was. “Sounds like a familiar story. Whoever this guy is, he could be in Laos by now.”
Henry followed her into the next room. “No, he’s here.”
Emma scoffed, her natural cynicism apparently untamable today. “Just how do you know that?”
“Cause no one leaves Storybrooke.” He leaned against a desk, tapping his fingers across the dark surface. “No one comes here, no one goes. It’s just the way it is.”
“I came here,” she tossed over her shoulder.
Your dad came here, she almost added, before she remembered she hadn’t told him about Killian yet. That idea made her insides twist. She was okay with Killian knowing about Henry and hanging out with Henry at this point, but every time he even hinted at spilling this secret, ice cold dread seeped into her bones. Sure, Killian was all fatherly and cool with it now, but what happened when he got bored and tired of having a kid hanging around him all the time? Right now, Henry would lose a friend  and nothing more.
“Because you’re special,” Henry said. “You’re the first stranger here. Ever.”
“Right, I forgot.” Emma shrugged it off. He might not remember any strangers coming to Storybrooke, but clearly that wasn’t true. She ran her fingers over the files, wishing she knew them as well as Henry apparently knew his book. The cool metal felt brittle as she slid the drawer closed.
For a brief moment, she wondered if there had ever been someone who felt this way about her. One of her case workers, maybe? Someone determined to help, but with their hands tied by laws meant to “protect” her. She wanted to keep looking, but she was out of time and out of ideas.
Henry came around the desk, hopping up to sit on it like he owned it. “Can you tell me about him?”
“Uh.” Emma blinked. “I haven’t found anything about him.”
“Not their father. Mine.”
He stared up at her with wide-eyed innocence, feet banging against the desk as he waited, completely oblivious to the way Emma’s stomach lurched down to her toes. The silence stretched.
“I told you about your parents,” he added, sensing her hesitation. “And now you’re even living with your mom.”
“Mary Margaret isn’t… She’s… Never mind.” Emma sank into the nearest chair, gathering her thoughts. What did she tell him? How much did she tell him? How did she avoid this subject completely? Killian wouldn’t leave him, a small voice said. But she had been so sure about Killian all those years ago and he left her then. He’d promised never to leave her and then he did.
“Please?” Henry begged.
Emma couldn’t say no.
“I was pretty young.” She sat back, pushing her hair away from her face as she thought. “I’d been dodging social services for a year and…” Emma paused, unsure of how much was too much. Henry already knew about her past, did he really need to know about Killian’s? “To be honest, your dad and I weren’t always on the right side of the law. I met him stealing the beetle.”
Henry’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”
Emma grimaced, maybe she shouldn’t have told him that. “Yeah.”
“Cool.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, well, don’t tell Regina you think that.”
Henry leaned forward. “What happened after that?”
“We were…family for a while after that,” Emma said with a shrug. It was true on her part at least. “And good for each other, I guess.” She watched the way Henry’s face lit up, the way his fingernails dug into the cuffs of his sweater, and she couldn’t tell him the truth. Even if she wanted to—she just couldn’t.
“We got real jobs, tried to put down roots. Mine was at this crappy twenty-four hour diner. And your dad, he got a job at the… docks. Long, hard days, but he’d always come in after work to sit with me until I got off.” She swallowed. That part, at least, was true. There had been a few odd jobs and Killian had hung around a couple of those places while waiting for her shift to end. “He’d order coffee and sit at the counter and complain about how we didn’t have pumpkin pie.”
“Did you get married?”
Emma tried not to blush. “No, we just…” Emma had no idea how much Henry knew about sex. He was nine. Was nine too young? Did it even need to be explained for this story anyways? “Uh, we watched each other’s backs for a while and…” She shrugged. “Eventually we grew apart. Life happened. His got better and mine got worse and…”
“And you met that other guy,” Henry said. “The one that got you sent to jail.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Emma said. She closed her eyes against that particular set of memories, breathing deep. More things he did not need to know. More things she did not need to think about. “Before I went, I… I found out I was pregnant with you. And I tried to contact him, and I found out that he’d joined the…army.” The idea of Killian in the military was laughable, but this was a way to kill two birds with one stone. She gave him a sad smile. “He died during the war, saving a wounded soldier. So, you think I’m a savior, Henry? He was.”
Emma leaned forward, taking his hand in hers. She was going to rot in hell for doing this, she knew. But she’d made her decision. This was safer for her son.
“Your father was a real hero.” She didn’t think she had ever told a more blatant lie.
Henry didn’t give her any time to worry about whether he had inherited her superpower. “Do you have anything of his? Something you can remember him by. Something I could see.”
Without thought, her hand went to her chest, habit taking over before she remembered Killian had the necklace now. Emma sighed, feeling a little less for its loss, even with the memories attached to it.
“I… I don’t…” She sat up, the chair creaking underneath her and startling her beautiful, brilliant, ingenious son. Emma smiled. “Henry, I’m sorry. I gotta go. I may know how to find this guy.”
The wheels of her chair scraped against the floor as Emma rolled away from her desk and headed for her office and her keys. It felt like electricity shot through her veins. This would work, she knew it. Her fingers itched to turn on the siren when she slid into the squad car, but that would draw attention and attention probably meant Regina. And Regina would cut this idea off before Emma could even say the word ‘plan’. Besides, it was only two blocks away.
Ava and Nicholas jumped as Emma burst into the apartment. Ava had one of last night’s cookies in her hand and a guilty look on her face as she whirled to face Emma. Both children wore regular clothes. Emma didn’t blame them for wanting out of those uniforms as soon as possible.
“Stay right there,” Emma said. “I have an idea.”
Nicholas blinked at her, then turned around, reaching for the cookies as Emma dashed upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. Two seconds later, she clattered back down the stairs, her old cardboard box in her arms.
Emma set the box on the counter, reaching inside without taking her eyes off the kids. “I want to show you guys something.”
Her fingers brushed soft wool like she knew they would. The blanket made a poor substitute for parents, but some part of her still relaxed a little.
Nicholas sat forward, his stool teetering on two legs. “What’s that?”
“It’s my baby blanket,” Emma answered, holding the small blanket to her chest. “It’s something I’ve held onto my whole life. That’s the only thing that I have from…” The words caught in her throat, for just a second. “From my parents. I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of kids in your situation, and all of them…” Again, it was painful to admit. Even if they didn’t know her story, that she hadn’t been enough for her parents, she felt like they would see the truth written across her face, like countless children had done every day of her growing up. But she pushed on, because Ava and Nicholas weren’t in this situation because they were unwanted. They were here because their parents hadn’t had a choice. That was all she wanted, to give them a choice. “All of us. We held onto stuff.”
Ava’s eyes were glued on Emma, her eyes wide and lips slightly parted in a look of wary comprehension. She had them. If there was one thing Emma had noticed, it was that where Ava went, her brother was sure to follow.
“I want to find your father,” Emma said, setting the blanket down. She met first Nicholas and then Ava’s gaze. “But I need your help. Is there anything of his you’ve held onto?”
“I might have something.” Ava swallowed, her hand going to her pocket. She stared at Emma, clenched hand still hidden from view. “But if I give it to you, you’ll make sure we stay together, right?”
“Right,” Emma promised without thought. All she needed was a clue. If she had that, she could find their father. And if she found their father, she could keep them from growing up like she did. She could make sure their story was different from hers.
Metal clinked as Ava withdrew her hand. Shiny, dark metal peeked through her fingers, followed by a chain sliding from the pocket.
“A compass?” It didn’t look expensive, the metal a dull gold that barely reflected the light. It was heavier than it looked though. Emma examined it, noticing that the little needle was stuck.
“Our mom kept it,” Ava explained, her voice raspy. “She said it was our dad’s.”
“Thank you.”
She flipped the compass over, searching for some sign of the previous owner. No such luck. Biting her lip, she racked her brain for any other ideas. This was the key. This would lead her to their dad. She could feel it. She just…
Ava interrupted her thoughts. “Did you find them?”
Emma jerked her head up. “Who?”
“Your parents.”
“Not yet,” she said, because a flat out denial felt too harsh for this moment. “But I’m going to find yours.”
The kids watched silently as she examined the compass, trying to think if she knew anyone in town that might know about such things. She traced the outer edge with a finger, following the path of her thoughts.
Mary Margaret came out of her room, tucking the hem of her shirt into a pair of jeans. “Oh, Emma, I thought I heard you.” She smiled. “Are you done for the day or…”
“No,” Emma said, shoving the compass into her pocket. “I had a couple of questions for Ava and Nicholas.”
“Oh,” Mary Margaret sighed. “Well, Henry will be disappointed, he was planning to come hang out while he waited for Regina to get off work.”
“He knows this is important,” Emma said, hand on the doorknob. “Tell him I’ll see him later.”
The door swung open with a slight creak and Emma could practically hear her roommate adding WD-40 to her mental shopping list, but she didn’t stop to think. She let it latch behind her, pounding down the stairs and onto the street. The squad car’s engine revved to life and she was halfway down the street before she realized where she had decided to find her answers.
If she had been less desperate she might have turned around and figured out another option, but she needed someone who knew this town better than she did and a nine-year-old with a storybook just wasn’t going to cut it.
Few people roamed the streets at this hour. A couple of kids walking home from school, a bike messenger, an elderly couple out for a walk. When she got to the docks, it grew a little more crowded. The harbormaster stood outside his shack, debating hotly with someone. Several bundled up fishermen unloaded crates from a trawler. She pulled up to the curb near where Killian had indicated his ship was...parked? Anchored? Moored? She wasn’t entirely sure what the word was. The fishers paused, glancing over as she got out of the car and slammed the door behind her.
“Afternoon, sheriff,” one of them called.
Emma waved, feeling self-conscious and scanned the boats.
“You in the market for a boat?” he asked, grinning. “Looking to expand the sheriff’s department to the high seas now?”
“No,” she answered. “Just need to talk with a friend.”
“Odd place to look, considering none of those have been away from the docks in years. Nobody owns them far as I know.”
Emma turned to him, a cold fear coiling in her gut. “Really? My friend said he lived on one of these. The, uh, Miss Guided.” 
She almost winced at the name. Almost. But she was too busy worrying over whether Killian had lied to her. A cold sweat broke out over her skin, despite the stiff breeze blowing in from the ocean. She never had accepted his offer to visit his boat, so she had no proof. He could have made the whole thing up and be living on the street for all she knew.
“The Miss Guided?” The fisher got a strange look in his eyes, like he was trying to read fine print, but his eyes refused to focus. He bowed his head. Then his gaze snapped back up to Emma’s, his pleasant smile returning. “Ah, yes, Hook’s little boat. I’d forgotten he moved her so he could keep up with these poor unfortunate souls.” He gestured to the many boats with sails furled and gear packed away, looking forlorn. “That’s her right there.”
For a minute, Emma expected to find Killian standing where the man pointed, but the deck of the ship he indicated stood empty. There on the side curled the words Miss Guided. Clearly, she and this fisher had different definitions of the word little, because Killian’s boat measured at least thirty or forty feet. Despite her complete lack of knowledge about most things seafaring (Killian had talked about a thing or two, once upon a time, but she remembered very little of that), she could see the difference between this boat and the others.
Killian’s boat gleamed, the railing reflecting the sun and the deck a pristine white. The sails weren’t edged in gray or yellowed by the sun. And while the deck was tidy, it was in a thoughtful, useful way that gave the boat character instead of an air of abandonment.
Knees shaking, she approached. She didn’t like this, going to him in his territory, no matter that she had a gun. Killian wasn’t a physical threat to her, she couldn’t ever see how he would be. But she still remembered the way her heart sped into overdrive when Henry asked about him and the way she chickened out instead of telling her son the truth. Killian’s hold on her emotions, even after all these years, scared her far more than any other threat he could ever present.
She could shoot him. She couldn’t shoot her feelings.
“Hello,” she called out. “Hook?” Her feet faltered. A little dock extended away from the main dock down the side of the boat, providing access to a set of somethings that couldn’t decide whether they were steps or a ladder. Emma eyed the boat. Could she board without permission? The expanse of water between that little dock and the side of the boat looked awfully wide. “Hook?”
“Swan?” came a muffled reply. A moment later, Killian’s head popped up from under the deck, startling Emma. He quickly scaled the rest of the way up to the deck, concern clouding his features. “Is everything alright? Is it Henry?”
“No,” Emma said quickly, pushing down the guilt that flared inside her. “I just needed your help with something.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. Killian smirked, leaning up against the side.
“And what,” he asked, consonants snapping, “might the lady be needing help with?”
“Stop it.” She glared at him, though if she was mad at him for coming on to her, she couldn’t feel guilty so maybe she shouldn’t complain. “Look, I’d rather not shout it at you so either you come down here or…give me permission to come over or whatever you nautical types do.”
Killian chuckled. “Oh, things aren’t so formal on this little thing.” He gestured for Emma to make her way down the finger dock. “Though ‘permission to come aboard’ is the typical greeting. Keeps the jumpy ones from running you through with a sword. Here, grab this.” He leaned down, indicating a steel cable stretching taut above them. The metal bit coldly into Emma’s palm. “Yes. Now just step onto the gunwale. One foot and then the other right there.”
Emma did as he said, taking the hand he offered as she stepped off the dock. Killian smiled.
“Good then. Now you can step over,” he said, indicating the cord that ran the length of both sides. “We’ll make a sailor out of you yet.”
“Maybe some other time,” she said. “Look, you remember those kids from yesterday?”
Killian nodded, eyes dark. “Aye.”
“They’ve got no one.”
“I thought that might be the case,” he murmured. “You said you needed my help? How?”
“Is there somewhere we can talk?”
Emma expected Killian to lead her to a bench or something, but instead he led her to the back of the boat and down a cramped set of stairs. It opened up just a little once they were below deck. Enough that Killian could stand without hunching at least. The living quarters too were neat and tidy. No choice really, with the limited space beneath. There was a small kitchen along one wall and a set of cushioned seats along the other. All the way at the front was a triangular little bed, just big enough for one, maybe two people if neither of them were Vikings.
It was nice. Cozy.
Killian shifted nervously. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea?”
Emma shrugged. “Coffee, I guess.”
She glanced around, absorbing the small details. He had been reading, if the book lying face down on the bed was any indication. Not much lay out and about, but neat as Killian was, some of his personality shone through. The tiny pictures on the wall above the couches. The dark, earthy color of his blankets. A towel hanging on the outside of a door near the stairs. The bathroom she supposed.
Killian puttered around, pulling out an old kettle and turning on the stove. The rotten egg scent of propane clouded the air.
“Afraid making coffee is a bit more complicated here than at Granny’s,” he said.
“Well, it’s a step up from the bug,” Emma replied. “At least this place has a stove.”
“Stinks to high heavens though,” he grumbled.
“But at least you’ll know if there’s a leak.”
Killian turned to the cabinet, pulling out two mugs, one at a time. “There is that.” He leaned against the small counter next to the sink, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Now, what’s this about Ava and Nicholas?”
Emma brought him up to speed, detailing everything that had happened since she drove off yesterday. Well, not everything. Clearly he wasn’t interested in the odd little details, like her sleeping on the couch or what she wore to bed. On second thought, he was probably interested in that last one. Killian listened thoughtfully, nodding every now and then without interrupting. By that time the coffee had finished brewing.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said when she finished. “I fail to see how I can help.” He handed her a mug. “Afraid I don’t have any cream.”
“Sugar?” she asked.
In answer, he flipped open another cabinet and handed her a little ceramic jug.
“Thanks,” she said, dumping a few spoonfuls into her coffee as Killian shook his head.
“It’s not meant to be drunk that way,” he grumbled.
“What are you? A Starbucks barista?” Emma retorted.
“A what?”
“You know, Starbucks. Coffee? I know we’ve been to a few…” She shrugged.
“Ah, yes.” He scratched behind his ear. “I suppose I’ve been here so long I’ve forgotten there are places other than Granny’s to get sustenance.”
Emma nodded. “She does make a mean grilled cheese.”
“Now, what assistance were you counting on, Swan.” He cast his eyes around the small hold. “I’m afraid I haven’t much room to harbor a couple of strays, but I suppose…”
“No, nothing like that.” Emma wrapped both hands around the mug, glad of the warmth. She had no idea how Killian stood sleeping in this place. Even with his mound of blankets. They were gloriously messy, as though he had been cocooned in them before she intruded on his afternoon. “I’m trying to find their dad. From what Ava’s told me, he probably doesn’t know they exist.”
Understanding dawned on his face. “And this…father...you think he might take them in?”
Emma shrugged. “I hope so.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, his tone low. “For all you know, they were simply too young to remember him running out on them.”
“No,” she replied. “But it’s worth a shot. I mean, I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to want to be involved either and you surprised me. I figured if you regretted running off…”
“Maybe he would too.” Killian swirled his drink, seemingly lost in the dark liquid. He took a sip, swallowing it with some difficulty. “How can I help?”
Emma pulled out the compass. “This is all they have of their father.”
With one reach Killian set his mug down on the little counter and took the compass in his hand. He turned it over, just as Emma had, caressing the smooth back with his thumb.
“A bit banged up,” he said. “But good workmanship.” He tapped a fingernail on the front. “Crystal. Jeweled setting. Quite the detail. Not your ordinary compass.”
Emma sat forward, hands clutching her coffee. “Is there anything else you can tell me about it?”
Killian shook his head. “I’m no expert. I simply know how to use the device…or I would were it working. Perhaps if you tracked the maker or the man who sold it they could tell you more.”
“Well, unless you see something I missed, I think finding whoever made this is a bust,” Emma said, taking the compass back from him. She pressed her lips together, noting how he fidgeted only slightly—his fingers tapping against his thumb while the rest of him stood stock still. She knew the answer to her next question before she even opened her mouth, but she asked it anyway. “Do you have any idea who might sell something like this?”
“You mean who might buy family heirlooms for pennies and then charge through the nose at resale?” he ground out. “Aye. Unless these children had a compass maker as an ancestor, this likely passed through Gold’s hands.”
Emma stood to leave, but found she wasn’t exactly sure what to do with her coffee. She wasn’t entirely sure she could just dump it down the drain in the sink. That felt a little rude anyways, considering she still had half a cup full.
Killian sighed, lifting the mug out of her hand. “I take it we’re paying a visit to the Crocodile.”
“The what?”
He snapped his mouth shut, eyes widening. “Nothing. Let me grab my jacket.”
“Oh no.” Emma held her hands up, the chain slapping dully against her wrist, halting him in his tracks. “I’m sheriff, this is my job.”
“And I’m a concerned citizen,” Killian shot back. “Mostly about you and the number of deals you’ve struck with Gold.”
“I can take care of myself, Killian,” she said. Tucking the compass into her pocket, she got her foot on the first step before Killian’s hand closed around her elbow. Gentle, but insistent.
“Please, Emma,” he said. “You don’t know him like I do. At least let me come for that, I might catch something you don’t.”
Emma sighed, but she couldn’t deny the very real fear in his eyes. There was a darkness to that fear, but it was true fear. Part of her should have been worried about what would happen if Killian and Gold ended up in the same room with only her to stop them, but she couldn’t dismiss the way anxiety coiled in her gut. Gold had been willing to risk injuring her and Regina to get what he wanted. Maybe Killian’s fear was justified.
“Fine,” she said. “But whatever issues you have with Gold, leave them at the door, okay? I won’t let you mess this up for these kids.”
He rocked back on his heels, his face thoughtful. Then he nodded and plucked his jacket up from among the blankets on the bed. Emma didn’t look behind her as she ascended, but she stopped short as she realized she wasn’t entirely sure how to get off the boat without ending up on her ass.
Killian chuckled as he passed her and it irked her how well he still read her. He winked. “Same as getting on, only in reverse.”
Easy as you please, he took hold of that same cable, quickly stepping over the line running down the side, and stepped down onto the little dock. He turned to her with twinkling eyes and held out his hand.
Emma gritted her teeth and followed him, doing exactly as he had done and stubbornly refusing to take the offered hand.
“See,” he said, apparently unflustered by her rebuff. “Nothing to it.”
“Come on,” she said, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “We’ve got work to do.”
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purpleandstarlight · 1 year ago
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Continuing on with part two... @hateweasel tagging u in case u don't see this on your dash
I'll be tagging these DLTD Thoughts in case anyone wants to search for them or block them?
-(Sent this one as an anon ask to Hate back then so you may remember):
Me, at chapter 149: We're getting ready for a fashion show now.
My friend: ...Good? Now we're at The Devil Wears Prada.
-DLTD: Lawrence was the host
Me, who has an awful memory with names: ...Who the fuck is Lawr- OH WAIT.
(To be fair Lawrence barely appears...he do be kinda useless, as me and my bestie bullied him about)
-Me: Okay so I finished the fashion show and we have two (2) possibilities: Either it starts a serious arc full of action and death...or it's another chapter of them doing some random ass shit, you never know with DLTD.
-I apparently at the time remembered that Pluto was a thing in the anime filler and the thought that DLTD!Ciel had to deal with him in the past broke my heart in sympathy? Now i know he thankfully wasn't a thing in the DLTD canon at least.
-Me discovering there was a DLTD discord server at some point?? wich I genuinely forgot about until now.
-Starting chapter 175, while Johnathan (did i get it right?)'s Dad points a gun at Alois, i realized his name was Victor. Wich is also the name of my best friend's sorta villain in an original trilogy she's writing, a character I costantly shitpost about bc I love to hate him. So you see why it was funny to us. After that, this conversation happened:
Me: Yeah but this guy was a good person, he didn't deserve to share a name with your Victor...
My friend: That's fair- no wait...didn't he point a gun to Alois?
Me: Well, yeah...and he also shot him in the head...and he was a criminal...BUT HE WAS GOOD-
My friend: ...sure
-Me, during the Alois Hellsing training camp arc: There's a kid named Irons and it was SO FAMILIAR to me but I didn't know why? Turns out he's the son of the professor. That's why I remembered his name.
-For 196 chapters, I always read Westley correctly. Then DLTD said " "I solemnly swear!" replied the Westley lad" and my brain misread it as Weasley...that's an ironic line to mess up on...
-My gaydar never alerting me about Daniel until the ferris wheel chapter? For some reason?? Wich I know now that you didn't intend for him to be gay at the start but honestly, with how much he talked about Cielois' endeavors??? There were signs.
- I didn't know that the "Yes, your highness'' thing started up with Luka in the anime, not Claude, bc I never rewatched season 2 since i was a kid so i picked most things up from the DLTD context? And. Yeah I didn't connect it to Luka I connected it to Claude. And I was scared until they revealed it was Luka.
-I suspected that Hellsing would be losing her mind laughing (mentally. But she would still roast him slightly for it) at Ciel's simping when he called like "Hey so...my boyfriend's brother is kinda back from the dead but I gotta do this extremely expensive ritual to help him stay alive so that my bf wont be sad...can I?" but you never showed that call and I was heartbroken over it.
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tsuki-sennin · 2 years ago
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"ppl who celebrate character birthdays are annoying pass it on"
FUCK this post, and Happy Birthday Neon Kurama~! ...right, so you know it's all gonna go horribly wrong, but she's our friend! We support her!
Spoilers, I guess...
-What a massive L the Jyamato have taken.
-Garden Grandpa has become Construction Grandpa!
-OOOOOOOH
-Oh hey Daichi. Just sorta hangin' around, huh?
-I don't blame you tbh, I'd be sitting on my ass too.
-April 4th! That's two days from now!
-:)
-Happy Basuday~!
-...:(
-They kidnapped the poor girl on her birthday.
-"What do you even get the Celebrity 'It' Girl who has everything? ...aside from loving parents, treatment like a normal human being, a boyfriend who isn't over twice her age, and a break from creepy weirdos on the internet?"
-...three, five, and seven, huh?
-Keiwa's just totally numb to all of Ace's... Ace-iness.
-Toro, toro!
-It's a Toreador! Just like the ones referenced in that indie horror game from 2014! Octodad: Dadliest Catch!
-...is this just the Seito/Touto proxy battle arena from Build? I think it is, at least, I'm probably wrong.
-Beroba continues to Bull-y Michinaga for her entertainment.
-Fight!
-I swear, by my sword and capote, that I will once again prove victorious!
-Bullfight!
-Rook! Bishop! Buffa! All the most powerful chess pieces!
-Shut the fuck up Chirami, you ain't doing shit.
-"Happy Birthday :)"
-Na-Go Stans are wildin'
-We win, we party!
-Hot damn, Keiwa!
-Oooooh, disarming yourself for a shot? Clever.
-Oh, whoops! Bero be cheatin', who coulda guessed!
-"You cheated. You didn't learn, you didn't improve."
-Oh God, Beroba's gonna leak her DMs.
-Gotta win!
-Oh hello, Kyuun.
-"A present! For me~?"
-"No! >:( ...Maybe :("
-You're so full of crap, man.
-Free Boost~!
-Sweet and salty! Just like sea-salt ice cream!
-Word of advice lads, be honest.
-OH FUCK, IT'S DAD
-...I think I forgot his name, I'm just gonna call him Papa Naoto until I remember it.
-You're only like... marginally better a parent than your wife, man. And that's only because you don't hit her or constantly try restraining her.
-...man, I just realized, Neon suffers trauma from being kidnapped at a young age and her mother just... holds her captive. Irony at its most fucked up.
-To be quite honest, I don't think Kyuun'd be much better company than Jeff Pesos or whoever Izumi had in mind.
-Man, these supporter plotlines are so interesting, holy shit.
-Ah, yep. There's Ace. Looking into it.
-"Geats. How unexpected."
-...Waaaait...
-"I've had quite enough of family matters from last season, thank you very much."
-KOUSEI, THAT'S HIS NAME
-Ace, you don't just walk up to a girl and lay her backstory out like that.
-I'll give Kousei credit, he at least seems legitimately worried.
-Doesn't even seem to have a scratch on her. Seems a little at odds with the depiction of the kidnapping itself, huh?
-Man... Can't even cake.
-Time for the mountain lion to descend upon the bull.
-...shit, that was lame. Pretend you never noticed that.
-OH?
-Okay, it's Ace time!
-Beroba's such a scrublord. Or uh... scrublady, as the case may be.
-Ooooooh, boy!
-Set!
-Dual On! Ninja! Magnum!
-Ready, Fight!
-Get splashed, idiot!
-"Two, huh?"
-Set!
-Ooooooh, he's not going into Laser Boost, okay!
-That's neat! They kept that suit around!
-PNGTuber Beroba.
-Ohhhhhh noooo
-You're an absolutely horrendous excuse of human being, Beroba.
-Great job Takahashi, banger villain. Especially you Namika-san, you're putting in a fantastic performance <3
-Ohhh, Ace is MAD mad.
-Everybody loves Na-Go-san!
-...holy shit, that is so cruel. They just
-Instantly went on a targeted harassment campaign.
-AKARI?
-Ohhhh
-...that's
-That's depressing as fuck.
-...that goes a long way to explain why Izumi was so controlling and Kousei dumped all his money into... I'm gonna be completely honest, what's basically a snuff film ring.
-Why would he let Giroli pick Neon to play then?
-"She was lying" SHUT THE FUCK UP
-Completely ruined my homegirl's life.
-Fucking MURDER that thing, Ace.
-Oh shit, Kyuun! My dude!
-Next episode.
-#NaGoSweep!
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