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siriannatan · 8 months ago

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Just Go With Your Feelings Chapter 2/4

I almost forgot to post updates today even though this one and the business one were done before I even started posting them... for once.

Scott looked far too happy as fWhip drove them to the police station. He was humming along to the radio, that he insisted fWhip turns on, and tapping away on his phone.

Outside the station, fWhip instantly grimaced at a loud noise. “My goodness Scott you said it was nothing big but you look like a nightmare,” a man in an orange sweatshirt instantly approached. Owen Orange, fWhip's freaking client. And he knew Scott.

“You two know each other?” fWhip asked, once again regretting quitting cigarettes.

“Yup, I'm Owen's alibi, or more precisely my bachelorette party is,” Scott nodded and waved his phone. It was decorated with all kinds of stickers and stuff hanging off of it. Loud like the owner. “I have about a million photos from that evening, Owen as my best friend should be in a lot,” he said and fWhip sighed.

As long as the case could progress smoother he was fine.

At the station Jimmy was already there and looked pissed. “Did you call Lizzie?” He instantly poked at fWhip with a finger.

“About what? You are not allowing me to investigate? Even if she's the only one who can do that? No,” fWhip shook his head, a nasty feeling building up in his stomach. He didn't even have Lizzie's private number and he doubted he'd reach her with the business one at the moment. “We found someone who can prove Mr Orange's alibi,” he rolled his eyes as Jimmy glared.

He never saw Jimmy's glare fall into a grimace this fast.

“Hello, I have photos?” Scott smiled, waving his phone. So loud, fWhip grimaced internally. There was something heavy hanging between Scott and Jimmy at the moment.

“Should we move on with the evidence process?” the cop next to Jimmy asked. fWhip recognised him as deputy Tango. Not too bad for a cop but easily distracted.

“Yes, please,” Jimmy said through gritted teeth. “Here's all the prosecution evidence,” he added, pushing a folder into fWhip's hands. There was no way a guy as stubborn as Jimmy had this ready ahead of time. Did Lizzie make him pull an all nighter for this? Wow. “And remember, we have a strong motive here. Have fun investigating,” he said with narrowed eyes and left.

After Scott went through everything to get his phone properly into the hands of the police they went to a nearby coffee shop. Scott insisted fWhip comes along. For breakfast.

“What about my debt now?” Owen whined once they ordered. “Jimmy's gonna hold it over my head for forever.”

“You don't owe that guy a penny though? I bought out your debt, I'll send you all the details later,” Scott hummed, pulling out a different phone. “Back up,” he explained.

“What debt?” fWhip asked, feeling a headache building up.

As it turns out his client owed the mob a significant sum. And the victim in the case was the loan shark he was dealing with. What a mess.

“Well, even if he doesn't owe them anything anymore, Jimmy will still be using it as a motive since he,” fWhip pointed at Owen with his fork. How was he convinced to get overly sweet pancakes? “Had no idea, so better hope you have photos around the exact time of death,” he finished the warning and his pancakes.

“Just because I was the last number he called?”

“Yup, Jimmy's ruthless,” Scott nodded before fWhip could respond.

“How do you know junior prosecutor Solidarity?” fWhip asked.

“He ditched me at the altar yesterday,” Scott hummed over his parfait. How much sugar can one guy handle? “Didn't message me until evening too,” he pouted.

fWhip took a deep breath. So he was defending Scott's friend in a case that was prosecuted by his almost husband? After accidentally hitting Scott with his car and offering him his guest bedroom?

What a freak-tastic coincidence.

“Well, I'm off to investigate and look through all this. You,” he pointed at Owen, “on your best behaviour, no trouble.”

At this point the headache set it for good.

Scott hummed as he watched fWhip leave. He looked really nice in a suit. His ass especially.

“Scott? Why did you buy out my debt? I thought you didn't want anything to do with your family?” Owen had to talk and break his happy thoughts.

“That's exactly why. You're my best friend, so you being hounded by them was bad for me,” Scott explained, waving his spoon around. “Don't worry as long as you pay any of it back in the month I'll be not mentioning it,” he smiled.

“O… okay. Thank you Scot,” Owen quickly nodded. What a good friend Scott thought.

“You still got your licence and car? I need to go to a few places because of Jimmy,” he asked and after getting an affirmation allowed Owen to finish eating.

fWhip was drained when he came home. Jimmy's file was a mess. The whole investigation was a mess. The force was of course in the mob's pockets and the mob wanted someone in jail. And of course, the investigation wouldn't be happening if the corpse wasn't found by freaking media and reported as soon as the cops arrived. With no approval.

And of course he couldn't just sit down and relax at home. Because of course as soon as he walked in the lights were dimmed and as he walked to the kitchen Scott greeted him with a wide smile.

“Hello fWhip, I hope you like sushi, I got some takeout to thank you,” he announced and fWhip felt the headache slowly returning.

fWhip happened to like sushi. And Scott happened to get takeout from his favourite, rare indulgence place. His life was just full of coincidences lately.

“Thank me for what?” fWhip asked after a deep sigh. He took his blazer off and sat down anyway.

“Being so nice? I know.you defending Owen is your job and all but he's still my oldest friend and… I just wanted to thank you in general, and apologise for yesterday, I overstepped and… It just felt right to do.

Scott's explanation was full of holes and so awkward fWhip had no choice but to doubt how honest it was. “Apology accepted,” he still said, on the off chance he was wrong.

The sushi, even as a takeout, was delicious. “I thought this place didn't do delivery,” he noted about halfway into the meal.

“I happen to know the manager there,” Scott shrugged with a grin that just asked fWhip to poke at it.

“It has nothing to do with your family?”

“Oh, you remember that? No worry, I got kicked out for dating a prosecutor, so no connection there,” Scott chuckled, hands raised.

“You remembered some dumb rumour about me didn't you?” He shrugged, carefully eyeing Scott's reaction.

“Fair enough,” Scott nodded and they returned to eating in silence.

It did have fWhip thinking. The victim was affiliated with Scott's family. Did they off him for contacting him? Why was there no record of him ever being in contact with Scott if Scott bought out Owen's debt?

Would Scott even know? Did fWhip want to know? All he had to do was prove Owen did it and leave the rest to Jimmy. He and Lizzie were hard to bribe so he could sleep soundly with them handling it.

So he just slipped the wine. Slowly, and watched Scott get more and more drunk. “I think you had enough,” until he felt it was better to stop him, that is.

“This was supposed to be our wedding wine, mine and Jimmy's,” Scott sighed, leaning back. “You're really hot, you know tah, right?” he grinned, head still tilted back, eyes half lidded.

fWhip's brain was conflicted between the urge to punch him and to kiss him. He chose neither. “You're drunk,” he states instead.

Drunk Scott giggled. “You should get drunk too. Relax for once,” he scoffed and devolved into a fit of giggles.

fWhip caught himself thinking Scott was cute like this. When he didn't look like he was planning something. Was it why Jimmy was willing, at one point, to marry him? What got Jimmy to abandon the wedding? Was it the new deputy Tango?

No way, Jimmy wasn't the cheating type though. But that could be why he didn't show up and just texted Scott. Cheated once, felt bad and didn't have it in him to break it off in person.

fWhip let his thoughts wander as Scott rambled about something.

“Say fWhip, would you sleep with me if you were drunk enough?” Scott suddenly asked.

“I'm not into guys, drop it,” fWhip sighed.

”Liaaar,” Scott giggled pressing a foot against fWhip's crotch.

“Stop it,” fWhip warned, pulling back with his chair. He didn't even realise when he got hard. Damn Scott and his tricks. “Just go to bed if you're done eating, I'll clean up,” he sighed as Scott looked at him with a dark expression. Was he as drunk as he seemed or was he acting.

“Carry me?” He asked with a smirk. “Wouldn't want me to slip and fall in your house, would you?”

fWhip groaned. He was fat too tired for Scott's antics. So he just went along with it. Scott was shockingly light, and even shut up as fWhip carried him to the guest bedroom.

Well, maybe Scott didn't shut up because of that. He simply fell asleep. As fWhip discovered after putting him in the bed.

With a sigh fWhip left him there and went to clean up. He was tempted to toss the wine bottle against a wall when he inspected the label. But he poured it into the sink instead and properly disposed of the bottle.

Scott woke up with a pounding headache and a nagging feeling he forgot something amazing. Oh well. There'll be more chances to poke at fWhip. For now he needed a shower and… pain killers that someone left on his nightstand. Along with a bottle of water.

“How can I not want to mess with you,” Scott chuckled before taking the meds.

He waited a bit for them to kick in before showering. fWhip was nowyto be seen. Likely already hard at work on Owen's case. If only he could give Scott that much attention. Maybe one day he could have fWhip's undivided attention on him.

Seeing the kitchen all nicely cleaned up made him feel a bit bad he left it all to fWhip. “Not like I could help much,” he shrugged and just ordered himself breakfast to be delivered. And spend a nice cosy day in watching TV and fantasizing about fWhip.

Who returned sooner than expected. “You're back early,” Scott yawned. At some point he fell asleep and fWhip had to wake him up.

“Owen's on the run, he left a message for you,” fWhip said, head hanging low, arms on his knees.

Scott cursed internally. He didn't expect this to happen to fast.

#my stuff #my stories #fanfiction #empires smp #empiresshipping #empires fwhip #empires scott

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monstergoblin · 2 years ago

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The Owl Pirates Chapter Seven

First Chapter Tumblr Link HERE Previous Chapter Tumblr Link HERE Posted First On A03 Here It’ll be updated on A03 first and might take me a bit to get to updating it here as I always seem to forget about my tumblr. <3

Trigger Warnings Always Read Safe: Depression, Suicidal thoughts, Pushing down feelings, Overworking self to ignore feelings, Child Abuse (Belos is a bitch okay), Gaslighting, Self Gaslighting, Manipulation, Injuries

Notes: Heyo as of posting this there are nine chapters up on A03. In case you didn't want to wait for the tumblr post <3 Chapter 7: A Welcoming Present

This place was crawling with pirates. The amount of stolen goods in this dock was insane and no one seemed to care about the amount of pirate ships in these docks. Hunter only spotted a navy ship and it was a small one that didn’t attempt any sort of law enforcement. The only sort of “law keepers” were criminals.

How has this place not been reported yet?

Hunter could only hope no one recognized him.

He couldn’t even use this opportunity to win Luz over because that stupid purple bitch used her favor to let her have Luz today. Of course Luz was happy to go with her, her little crush was obvious.

Now Hunter was stuck with Gus. Who was one of the best options out of his choices sure, but it felt like wasted time. Gus who was showing him around after insisting Hunter buy his own clothes, but Hunter was fine using Edrics hand-me downs.

All the clothes were probably stolen goods anyway.

“Now give me a twirl.” Gus insisted after practically forcing a shirt over Hunters head to try on.

“This is stupid.” Hunter complained but obeyed anyway.

“Well if I could trust you to try things on so we don’t waste Edas money.” Gus shrugged. “Then you can pick some out and use a changing room, like a normal human being, but I can't trust you. can I? ”

“Just hand me some clothes and I promise I'll try them on.” Hunter sighed.

Gus gave a smug smile before starting to pile a handful of shirts into Hunter's arms. “Don’t feel bad if it doesn't fit or you just don’t like it.” He added as he put a few pants on the pile as well. “Now you try them on.” He pushed Hunter towards a changing room.

“No one needs this many clothes.” Hunter stated.

“Of course not, you're just trying them.”

After trying on what had to be a good dozen outfits Hunter did end up with a few he was content with. It was odd to know he was spending Edas money on them, but she had insisted he earned it after this week and to treat himself. Gus took the liberty of making him a list of things he ‘needed’.

“Wow there’s actually a few in the keep pile.” Gus commented as Hunter came out of the room and hung the clothes he despised.

“Are we done then?” Hunter huffed.

“Sure, with clothes.” Gus chuckled. “We’ve barely started getting you all that you need.”

This day was going to last forever .

Hunter wanted nothing more than to be done so he could hide from the criminals of the criminal island.

Hunter was absolutely going to report this place once he got home.

It might take longer than he wanted.

“We can get you a chest first or we can get you a pillow.” Gus offered as he used Edas gold to pay for the clothing Hunter had picked out.

“I have a chest.”

“You have Edrics second chest.” Gus chuckled. “He’s gonna want it back, it's Edric.”

“Why does he need two chests?”

“Probably because Emira needed two chests.” Gus shrugged. “If it gets too crammed in the quarters we’ll make them both downsize.”

Gus led Hunter out carrying half of the clothes he bought. Gus didn’t buy himself any clothes and Hunter felt annoyed that the boy was bothering to waste his time shopping just for Hunter. At least get himself something too.

He could do this alone if he wasn’t supposed to have a babysitter.

But everyone was in pairs now, so he shouldn’t be complaining.

“I am now realizing we should have bought the clothes after the chest.” Gus chuckled. “We could've used it to carry them around.”

“You should've thought ahead.” Hunter responded.

“And why didn’t you point out my mistake then, Mr. Know-It-All.” Gus smirked.

“Well I- I” Hunter stuttered. “It’s not my job to plan things. I’m just the cabin boy!”

“That’s not really how our ship works. If someone makes a mistake you notice you should point it out. Especially if it means we’re going to end up getting all these clothes dirty if we’re not careful.” Gus held the pile closer to himself

“I can take more.” Hunter went to reach but Gus slapped his hand away.

“No this isn’t your job so I get to help with this.” Gus declared.

Hunter accepted defeat not wanting Gus to make a scene- because he has witnessed Gus and Matt do it on multiple occasions. They walked in silence for a bit as Gus struggled to hold his share of clothes, he had taken more than Hunter and was being stubborn at this point.

“So, are you staying?” Gus said it was if it wasn’t a question. As if the boy didn’t suspect a no.

Hunter shrugged.

“You have to make a decision. I’m loading you up with the essentials but I can’t get you a welcoming present if you’re not staying.” Gus smiled.

“Welcoming present?” Hunter scoffed.

“You know for official joining the crew.” Gus shrugged. “No pressure if you don’t want to. I’m struggling coming up with an idea anyway.” After a few moments he added.” Eda gave you more than enough money to buy your trip back to the mainland.”

“Eda wants me to leave?” Hunter could understand that. No one seemed to want him around. Not even Belos.

“Edas giving you options.” Gus explained. “It’s truly your decision.”

Never expected that from a pirate.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go.” Hunter answered, and it was true. For now .

Gus smiled at Hunter. “Well, then. I’ll have to figure out something for your present.”

“I don’t need-”

“It’ll be good I promise.”

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

Gus would be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted.

Something was off with the boy. Even after he decided to stay. He didn’t view himself as worthy of basic things. He would live out of a box if the crew allowed him to.

Gus was tempted to pry, to snoop, to view.

But that’s not what Hunter needed right now.

“You sure you like that one?” Gus questioned the basic chest Hunter had chosen. It was reasonably sized but it was so boring compared to everyone else’s on the ship. “Don’t you want one with more character?”

“It does it’s job.” Hunter stated, already putting his share of clothes in it and then snatching the stack Gus held to put inside as well. “There’s even extra room.”

He seemed happy with his choice, so who was Gus to stop him?

“Alright if you’re sure.” Gus counted out the gold from the pouch Eda had gifted Hunter. He didn’t fully trust Hunter not to get scammed out here.

“I’m sure.” Hunter decided, attempting to pick up the chest alone.

“Here.” Gus grabbed half of it and walked it and Hunter to the counter.

The pout Hunter had on his face said he wanted to complain but the boy didn’t aloud. He just watched as Gus talked to the merchant- who tried to pull a fast one because they’re children- and Gus had to pull the ‘Do you know whose ship I'm on? If you’re gonna scam me you gotta be better at it than my captain.’

It bugged Gus that Hunter didn’t have anything of his own that wasn’t important. The only thing he had that wasn’t necessary was Rulers Reach and he was borrowing that. He had to come up with something that the boy would actually care about.

But what would an ex-navy care about?

“What sort of hobbies did you have in the navy?” Gus asked.

“Reading.” Came the short answer.

Well Gus already knew that.

“Anything else?”

Hunter didn’t respond, only continued onward. Clearly he wasn’t going to talk. No, he only wanted to talk to Luz. Which was funny considering how annoyed he seemed to get with her.

“Oookay.” Gus dragged the word. “You’re not going to make this easy.”

Something was so clearly wrong with Hunter. Everyone on the ship was talking about it. When he had been brought on board a week ago everyone thought he wasn’t going to stop crying, now he didn’t cry, didn’t complain, obeyed like his life was on the line, but instead of leaving was deciding to stay.

Gus was tempted but he pushed down the thought.

Perhaps Gus needed a different approach.

“You know before we get your pillow- which we are getting don’t fight me on that.” Gus started. “How about we stop by a few places so I can get some things as well?”

“Okay.” Hunter didn’t argue, but did he ever?

It was a strange idea but Gus wanted something unique. Something Hunter would actually value. As much as he hated this shop he knew that there would be something good for Hunter here.

The Mud and Sundry was just around the corner anyway. A small stall set up in the mix of the marketplace. Gus didn’t need anything from the shop itself but it always had something fun in it. The only reason he didn’t shop here more was because of the owner Tibblet-Tibblie Grimm Hammer III. Who was just an overall asshole.

“Hello Tibbles.” Gus greeted as he rested the chest down near the stall. He of course was going to keep an eye on it. After all this was Tibbles stand.

The short man wearing a pig mask held a smile for a short bit before recognizing the boy. “Oh one of Clawthornes.” He scoffed. “I thought we agreed you’d not be shopping here.”

“Well I won't be, but my friend here-” Gus patted Hunter's back and he almost wanted to laugh at the angry scowl Hunter shot him. Oh the boy did not like being used. “So what’s new in shop?”

Gus could see the gears turning in Tibbles head. They both knew he did not want to deal with any more of Edas crew, if he could have his way he’d keep them all away from his shop, possibly kill them and sell their things. However, He was in Bump's territory and Bump would not allow him to keep his precious stand in the popular area if Tibbles stepped out of line. So he was forced to do what he didn’t want to.

“Well that depends on what you’re looking for, valued customer.” The fake smile returned as Tibbles focused on Hunter. “From cursed items, to strange treasures I’ve got so many things you might not have realized you needed.”

Hunter looked unimpressed, only glaring at Gus in a way that showed his annoyance.

“My friend here needs something exciting.” Gus shrugged. “Something useful but also fun.”

Gus could tell Tibbles was narrowing his eyes behind mask of his. It was probably the reason the man kept the mask on, because he simply couldn’t get along with anyone decent.

“Exciting, Useful, and fun.” Tibbles repeated with disgust hanging on every word. “Right.” He resumed his chipper appearance. “Well I have a few ideas wait right here.” And he disappeared behind his little door.

“Did you really only bring me here because you’re banned?” Hunter scolded.

Gus gave a wide grin. “I mean Tibbles can’t say no to you. You didn’t sign a contract.”

Hunter crossed his arms and his mouth was locked in a mix of a pout and a frown. Gus felt a little bad making Hunter even come here. Though it was kinda fun seeing him pout.

Tibbles returned with a small crate of things. He placed it up on the counter and started pulling out things.

“This dagger is from the old stash of captain Goldtooh.” Tibbles held up a dagger with gold and red edging. “It’s said to gain more power from the blood of its victims.”

“That’s probably a bit extreme.” Gus took a look at Hunter who did not seem to care about the thing. “Got anything less violent.” He would not hear the end of it from Eda if he gave the ex-navy a weapon.

“A pirate wants non-violent.” Tibbles snorted. “Well pigs must be flying somewhere.” He dug through the crate a bit before pulling out two objects. “This one.” He held up a bracelet with green gemstones. “is said to grant the wearer speedful healing.” He smirked. “Looks like the boy could use it.”

Gus would punch Tibbles for being so insensitive if he didn’t get a warning last time they made port here by Bump.

“And this one.” Tibbles held up a simple necklace with a circle pendant on the end. “ Has the ability to transform into a grande beast to protect it’s wearer from harm. Said to be the size of ships.”

Gus thought about the two options. Healing was absolutly something he could see Hunter using, but as Gus eyed the necklace and the pendent swung around to show a little imprint of a bird, he had a feeling.

He grabbed the pendant carefully inspecting it. Flashes of Hunter playing with a little red cardinal clouded his sight. He could see the ex-navy talking to the bird, reading his book to the bird, laughing with the bird, crying with the bird and then Gus’s sight returned to normal.

It made sense that this would be more valuable to Hunter.

Hunter needed a friend he trusted.

Mostly because he was still to stupid to trust pirates.

“How much?” Gus asked.

“Three hundred.” Tibbles' evil smile showed his teeth. Of course the pig of a man would try to get more out of this.

“Oh guards!” Gus called looking around to see if any of Bumps men were on duty around here. “Tibbles is threatening me! A poor innocent child.” He dramatically put his arm over his head.

“No! I mean- Everything's fine here!” Tibbles waved his hands to the two men eyeing his stand. “Fine, I’ll give it to you for a hundred.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Gus pulled out his own coin purse, He wasn’t about to make Hunter pay for his own present. “And next time, don’t exaggerate the properties, a small pet is well worth that price.”

Tibbles stuttered a moment but it was too late to get a reply in as Gus had already taken half the chest and led Hunter away.

“Did you just use your youth as leverage?” Hunter almost seemed amused.

“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you learn to use your abilities to your advantage.” Gus held out the necklace to Hunter. “For you, my good crewmate.” He gave a cheesy smile.

“How do you figure it’s not a big guardian?” Hunter asked, finding it difficult to slide the necklace over his head with one hand, so he opted to holding it.

“I know a great many things, angsty blond kid.” Gus smirked as Hunter's face twisted in annoyance at the nickname Hooty picked. “it’s best not to question my intelligence.”

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

They spent the rest of the day shopping. Gus had wanted to stay out as the sun started to go down but Hunter did not want to be on a pirate island at night- he couldn’t imagine how bad these criminals were at night he saw enough in the daylight- besides he wanted to read more. Gus agreed to call it early without much of a fight- it was strange but Hunter felt like the boy knew when he was serious about something and when he was just being stubborn.

Perry and Steve had stayed behind on the ship today. It was stupid to only have two people guarding this ship when they were docked in a pirate island- but Hunter knew better than to question the captain's orders. Besides Hunter and Gus it seemed only Camila and Lilith returned.

Gus left Hunter alone after they put his stuff into the crew's quarters and returned Edrics second chest to its rightful place. Hunter had to admit he was a little jealous the twins were allowed to pull such a thing. Back home Hunter was barely allowed the things in his room and then essentials on the ships. He had to wonder if the twins pulled off something special to be permitted two chests while everyone else had one.

Hunter didn’t know where Gus went truthfully, he didn’t care either he was happy for the free time. He originally was going to just break out Rulers Reach and enjoy the setting of night, but he couldn’t waste an opportunity such as this. Only five crewmembers on the ship. He had to see if there was anything he could exploit.

Which is how he ended up sneaking around the deck in the cover of night. Only a few lanterns lit the ship and only two figures were on deck. Perry and Gus, who were on the upper level of the ship seemingly talking about something- or playing a game? Hunter couldn’t tell from this distance nor was it important.

His goal was Edas quarters. Which he made it too quite easily, it was simple work for the right hand of Belos himself. Even if he had screwed up a few to many times .

Hunter slid into the room without trouble and only froze when he spotted King who was sitting on the bed facing away from Hunter.

“The human girl screamed!” King was reading from a book on the bed to the little octopus doll. “ I didn’t mean to scare you .” His attempt at making his voice deeper was actually adorable.

There were six crewmembers on deck. Hunter had forgotten about the strange child.

He could lie to the kid and still go through Edas desk unbothered, but he had a feeling King would simply tell Eda whatever Hunter said. He needed a way to get the kid out of here without talking to him.

He slowly crept back out of the room, and knocked on the door from the outside.

A little Heh came from King. Hunter slunk into the shadows waiting for King to open it and once he did he tossed a piece of wood onto the opposite stairwell.

“W-Whose there?” King’s eyes shot open as he turned to the stairs.

Poor kid was almost cute when he was scared.

“E-E-Edas out.” King told whatever imagined monster he was talking to. “You can come back later.” He reasoned.

Hunter had never been so thankful for a gust of wind whooshing around making a sort of eerie creak.

“Aaaa!” King ran away for Edas quarters and up to where Gus and Perry were. “There’s a monster!” He screamed. “Protect your king!”

Hunter probably only had a couple seconds.

He dashed into the room pulling open drawers and scanning everything in the desk. Nothing seemed important and he just needed to find something.

Footsteps made him push the drawers close and bolt out of Edas quarters.

Right into Lilith.

“What were you doing in there?” She scolded looking down at the boy.

Fuck

“I-I-I” He cleared his throat. “I heard King yell about a monster.” He knew he was a terrible liar- this wasn’t a good plan.

Lilith's glare was exactly how Hunter remembered it. “Funny, Hooty said he saw you slithering around.”

He forgot about the damn owl.

There was seven crewmembers aboard tonight.

Perry, Steve, Gus, Camila, Lilith, King and Hooty were all on board tonight.

“I-” His voice was catching in his throat. He didn’t have any more chances. He had to have Lilith believe him now- but she wouldn’t believe him. She always disapproved of Hunter's very existence.

“You’re lucky I’m not captain.” Lilith snapped. “When Eda gets back she’ll decide what to do with you. Until then I’m having Hooty watch you and you are not to leave the deck. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Hunter nodded.

Lilith pulled Hunter by his arm- not as harshly as Belos gripped him- just enough to lead him away from Edas quarters. She looked up to the ropes where the brown owl perched cocking his head to look at them.

“Hootsifer, You are once again the only one I can trust to do your job.” She started releasing Hunter and crossing her arms. “Watch him, don’t let him leave or get into anything.”

“Aye Aye Lily!” Hooty flew down and landed on Hunter's head. “Guess you can say we’re friends now.” He smiled at Hunter.

Hunter could only stare back.

This was it then. He was going to die.

8TH Chapter Tumblr Link

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dickie-gayson · 8 years ago

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Mori Shej; The Song

Dick was able to convince Jason to stay the night, and things go surprisingly well.

Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson

Warning: Violence

Pairing: None

Genre: Uh...happiness? Fun? Platonic family fluff? Brotherly bonding time? I usually write angst and have no clue what to tag non-angsty stuff lmao

Words: 6k+

Other Parts: one, two

Also: I take prompts/requests

Notes: SORRY FOR THE WAIT! Things will be going non-canon for here on out timeline-wise. Also, this is just a little happy chapter before everything goes to shit.

It’s easier to read on FF or Ao3 tbh.

It hadn't taken much convincing on Dick's part to get Jason to stay the rest of the night. Truthfully, Jason didn't really want to leave. His anxiety and the lingering effects of the Pit, however, wanted him to hightail it out of there ASAP. It left the taste of ash on his tongue and his stomach twisting in knots. The desire for the comfort Dick offered warred with the completely rational (alright, maybe only slightly rational) fear that Bruce was going to kick the door in at any second. To be fair, Bruce had absolutely zero concept of privacy and personal boundaries when it came to others, particularly his 'children'.

That's how he found himself sprawled out on Dick's couch at five in the morning. He slept in fits and shifts. The nightmares chased away his rest and the unease at being in a place he wasn't absolutely sure was safe didn't help. By six, he was ready to leave. There was a stab of pain at the thought. He didn't want to leave, but he had to. He didn't want to be alone, but that was the only way he'd really feel safe, wasn't it? Damn, if that thought didn't hurt. That's who he is now, though. A broken and battered shell of a man, only comforted in his solitude but yearning for so much more. He battled back the thickness in his throat as he started to put on his boots. All he had to do was slip out the window, no need to wake Dick. For a moment, he wondered how Dick would react. Would he think this was all just a fever dream, a hallucination of what could be? Last night only proved that it wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened. Maybe he'd leave a note, just to reassure his brother.

As he searched for a blank sheet of paper and a pen in the mess that was Dick's table, Jaye started to wake up in the next room. He paused his rummaging once the sounds of her gurgling reached his ears. It only took a moment's contemplation to decide on going to get her. As much as staying made him nervous, he also wanted to take the chance to really see her. Plus, Dick needed this time to sleep. The guy looked like he was about to keel over from deprivation. So, he made his way to the room quietly. The site that greeted him was heartwarming, to say the least. Dick was passed out on his bed with Jaye sprawled across his chest. It seemed as if she wasn't awake just yet, only dreaming. He crinkled his nose at the sight of the puddle of drool forming on Dick's chest. Both of his hands cradled the baby as he slept soundly. She refused to let go of her father's shirt as she started to wriggle about. That seemed to wake Dick right up. He blinked dazedly while his hands automatically swept over Jaye, as if to make sure she was still there. Comforted by her presence, he sat up, still obviously tired, and prepared to start his morning routine.

Taking that as his cue, Jason stepped up and offered to watch her so Dick could get a little more sleep. Lord knows he needed it. It still completely baffled Jason how his brother was able to hold a full-time job as a cop, keep up his nighttime vigilante life, and take care of a baby. He would honestly start believing Dick was some sort of supernatural entity if it weren't for the fact that he could see the bags under the hero's eyes from across the room. If Dick didn't slow down, he was going to crash and that was going to be a monumental wreck that, surprisingly, Jason wasn't eager to witness. It took a bit of nagging to get his brother to actually hand her over and go back to sleep. Ordinarily, he'd have to get up for work in just a few short hours, but the unexpected arrival of his previously deceased brother was enough of an occasion to call off. That, in itself, was a miracle to Jason. Dick was only second behind Bruce in terms of being a workaholic. No doubt, the big man himself instilled those 'grind yourself into the dirt rather than take a break' work ethics into the vigilante. God, who let that man ever adopt a child to begin with?

Of course, Dick didn't fall back asleep before he absolutely overloaded Jason with every possible item the baby might ever need in the few hours they'd be separated, and then some. Jason almost physically wrestled the man back to his bed. Though, Dick's almost smothering paternal actions did bring a small grin to his lips once Dick closed his eyes. It was good to know the little girl had a father that really cared. Not that he doubted Dick's capacity to love or care for the child. He just knew how their particular lifestyle could be. Not to mention, Bruce wasn't exactly the best person to look to when it came to examples of paternal affection. Jason liked to assume Dick got it from Alfred. He wondered if they knew about the baby. She looked like a newborn, and given that she arrived in the week span Jason was gone, he wouldn't doubt that she was just over a month old. He frowned at the thought. If her mother was who he thought she was, then Jason was relatively certain Dick hadn't informed anyone of her existence, save the babysitter. He made a mental note to ask later. Then, he scrapped that note. It could be an emotional minefield and they were already dancing on thin ice to begin with.

Jason made his way back to the small living room and sat back down on the couch. All thoughts of escaping were gone as he held his niece carefully. She was so incredibly small in his arms. The scars crisscrossing his flesh made a stark, almost sickening contrast to her smooth, unmarred skin. There was an unfounded fear that he'd hurt her just by holding her. Jason knew he wouldn't, not on purpose. But that didn't stop the tendrils of doubt from curling their way through him. What if he lost control? What would he do? God, he didn't even want to imagine it.

He took a few deep breaths to steady himself and looked at Jaye. She blinked up at him with sleepy eyes. It was still so odd to him when he caught the baby's unmistakably Grayson eyes. No, not odd. Surreal was a better description. He was holding a mini-Dick Grayson. That's exactly how he'd describe the baby with absurdly blue eyes, deeply tanned skin, and curly black hair. The mother, and he's nearly positive it was Tarantula, deserved no connection to her. The date of Blockbusters murder, if he remembered correctly, corresponded eerily well with the time frame it'd take for the baby to be conceived. Once he was gone, he'd have to do a bit more research and pay her a very painful visit. If he was right, he would be hard pressed not to kill her. But, he wouldn't, only because Dick would blame himself. He knew Dick would blame himself and Jason was just not having that. He wouldn't be the one to add more trauma to the man's already fucked up psyche. However, he would absolutely drill it into her thick skull that she wouldn't ever come near Dick or Jaye again. Preferably with an actual drill. He'd have to see what he could get away with in the prison.

Jaye gurgled at him. Her pudgy little hands flailed a bit and hit him on his chest, breaking him from his reverie. It brought a smile to his lips. He cooed back at her, though he kept his voice low. Not only did he not want to disturb her father's sleep, but he really didn't want Dick hearing him doing baby talk. Jason wasn't embarrassed by his actions. It's just that he knew Dick would probably record it, send it to every hero in his contacts, which was every hero, and probably put it online to go viral. Okay, so he probably wouldn't go THAT far, given the general secrecy he seemed to have regarding the baby. Still, Dick was absurdly sentimental and would do probably start cooing at Jason himself or something equally dumb.

The small effort of her actions seemed to tire her out, which wasn't surprising, given her young age. She let out a quiet yawn and tried to squirm closer into his hold. He chuckled to himself and a foreign warmth filled his chest at the sight. This is his niece. Blood or not, it's his niece. And she didn't seem to hate him. It was an irrational fear of his, that she'd despise him even if she was too young to really form those sort of connections. But she wasn't screaming or fighting against his hold. If anything, she was fighting to get even closer to him. It was almost enough to make his heart skip a beat. He ran a finger over cheek softly and whispered to her.

"Mírate... "

If Jason was being perfectly honest, he was in total awe of the little girl. It still baffled him that she shared his name. Yeah, he went over it almost obsessively in his head. But could you blame him? This was the first real familial connection he could recall having. Willis, Catherine, Sheila, even Bruce...they all left aching, painful feelings in his chest. But Jaye? He felt a sort of pride, a happiness when he thought of her.

"Mi preciosa sobrinita."

If asked how long he watched the infant sleep, Jason wouldn't be able to even begin to guess. He never thought it'd be relaxing to watch a baby sleep, but it really was. It wasn't until the child started squirming and whining that he realized he also dozed off. Jason blinked away the grogginess as he made soft shushing noises to try and calm her. With a glance at the clock, he noticed he nodded off for about an hour. It frightened him to realize that. Any number of things could have happened as he slept. She could have easily fallen from his grip as he sat on the couch. Even the idea of dropping her had him tightening his hold on Jaye just a bit more.

Maybe he was overreacting a little, but he couldn't help it. So much had gone wrong in his life, well, lives, but this right here? This was good so far. It numbed some of the hurt that raged inside him; quieted the hissing of the Pit. It anchored him in the present and reminded him that maybe, just maybe, things didn't have to be so bad. So, he feared he'd lose it, lose her, and be left to fight the black of his own pain by himself. He was fucking terrified to be alone again, with the monster lurking beneath his skin. It almost felt inevitable. Fate had a way of being a total bitch to him, and he wasn't talking about Nabu.

He stood and made his way to the kitchen to make the little girl a bottle. It seemed about time for her to eat. Using only one hand to navigate the kitchen was a hassle, but it was one he could handle. Sure, he could put her in her bassinet or in the baby swing, but he didn't want to, as silly as that sounded. He liked holding her. Aside from just enjoying the feeling of being an uncle in general, she kept him tied to reality. Feeling her curled in his arms made it harder for the fog of the Pit to get a hold of him. The fear of losing control was very real. But the threat felt lesser with Jaye here to keep him grounded.

Jason hummed quietly as he made the bottle. His mind drifted to the man in the next room and a heavy feeling settled in his gut. It was only a matter of time before Dick wanted to talk about what happened to him. Jason wasn't sure how to address it. The wounds, while years old, still felt so fresh and raw. Then there was the matter of morality. There was no way in hell Dick would ever agree with his view on killing scumbags like Blockbuster and Tarantula. They'd be lucky to walk away from that conversation with minimal bruising. And then there was Bruce. Fuck, he didn't even know where to even begin with that. It all made him feel a bit sick. It felt like the sand in the hourglass was slipping by faster and faster. It was only a matter of time before this comfort he's found was torn away. He'd probably be the one ripping it to shreds because what else did he know to do but self-destruct? His heart clenched at the viperous imaginings racing through his head.

A heavy sigh left him as he tried to chase the invasive thoughts away. He gently held the bottle for Jaye to eat and just watched her for a moment. Then, he turned to look around the tiny kitchen in contemplation. One way he liked to keep his mind busy was keeping his hands busy. It just so happened that one of his favorite ways to do that was to cook. Jason had really gotten into the culinary arts when he lived at the manor with Alfred. He cut off that train of thought almost immediately. Alfie was one of the very few, if not the only person he truly missed. There was no green haze connected to the elderly man. But he hit his emotional quota for the week and really didn't want to get into any more breakdowns, if at all possible. Instead, he decided to busy himself with rifling through Dick's cabinets.

It was a bit awkward as he angled himself to keep the bottle propped with his chin to free a hand, but he managed. With each door opened and closed, Jason let out a disgruntled sound. How Dick was still alive with this sort of living, he wasn't entirely certain. Now, Jason wasn't a paragon of healthy eating himself. He loved chili dogs and greasy burgers just as much as the next guy and you'd have to fistfight him for the last six slices of pizza, but this was just appalling. Jason stared into the almost desolate fridge with a mixture of horror and sadness. It shouldn't be a surprise, given Dick's overall work schedule and all those takeout menus, but still. He let out a sigh as he shifted himself back to a comfortable posture. The cabinets were basically bare, save a few items. One cabinet was completely dedicated to baby food of various types and age ranges. That was the only thing he had a surplus of.

"Bebé pájaro, how is your dad still running around? Nobody can live off of forty-eight types of spices, a box of Crocky Crunch, and half a bottle of Sriracha. You need to tell him he's nuts. Just let him know it. Say, 'Papi, estás loco!' "

Jaye gave her uncle a sort of huff in response to his words. He smiled softly at the baby before he continued trying to figure out what the hell to do about food. There was a box of opened pancake mix that he was fairly certain was still good in one of the cabinets. That'd have to do for now. First and foremost, however, he'd have to get Jaye settled. She needed to be burped and her diaper changed. Then, he could focus on cooking. It didn't take much time to get that all done and without incident, thankfully. So far, she seemed like a pretty calm baby. Dick certainly lucked out in that department. Jason could remember the screams of colic babies and babies born with addictions from a careless parent all too well. Soon enough, people will learn they won't get away with that shit with the Red Hood around.

When Dick woke up, it was to a feeling of wrongness. His hands immediately sought out his daughter, who should be sleeping safely on his chest. He nearly had a heart attack when he realized she wasn't there. The memories of last night seemed more like a dream than anything. Dick leaped from his bed with wide, worried eyes. Then, the soft sound of music burrowed through his onsetting panic. Accompanying the sound was the scent of pancakes. He swallowed down his fear as well as his desire for those dreams to have been real. It could very well be Donna, who was the only one that knew about Jaye and had been coming by to help when she could. The lingering memories of his brother visiting him like the ghost of Christmas past still weighed heavy on his mind, daring him to get his hopes up. He crept toward the commotion with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety twisting in his gut. As much as he loved Donna, he would be crushed if it was her this time.

One thing Dick was not expecting to walk into was Jason in the kitchen, baby cradled in one arm and wielding a spatula in his free hand. Music could be heard emanating from somewhere near Jason. If Dick had to guess, he'd say it came from the man's phone. A grin was steadily creeping up his lips as he crept closer. Just over the music, Dick could hear Jason singing along.

"Que tengo que hacer? Pa que vuelvas conmigo. Vamos a dejar el pasado atrás."

If Dick's eyes weren't tricking him, then Jason was most definitely dancing in place as well. It took all his willpower not to start laughing at the sight. His heart felt ready to burst and tears pricked his eyes. The realization that this was actually happening, Jason was really back and here was nearly overwhelming. So much had gone wrong the past year. It almost made him want to give up time and time again, but he was glad he didn't. Otherwise, Dick would miss the sight of the little brother he was sure he lost forever dancing and singing to his daughter as he made breakfast. Dick took a moment to marvel at the fact that Jason was able to cook and flip the food with no trouble, despite the baby taking up an arm. After another moment of watching, he stepped closer.

"Here, let me take her off your hands."

Now, he was certain Jay would deny it until his second death, but Dick is absolutely positive he just let out a rather unmanly yelp. Jason shifted away from his grasp and whacked at his hands with the spatula.

"Nope. Shouldn't you be asleep for the next, oh I don't know, ten hours or so? You're sleep deprived."

Dick rolled his eyes, though he fought down a small grin.

"Dymaxion cycle, though I just fucked it up."

At that, Jason snorted and mimicked his eye roll. It wouldn't be too hard for Dick to fall back into his odd sleeping pattern, if one could truly call it that. It worked most effectively for his lifestyle, so he couldn't complain. Adopting sleep cycles other than the monophasic wasn't unusual for his family or other heroes for that matter. It just worked out better for them in the end, what with their hectic schedules and 'jobs'.

"What a surprise. And watch your mouth, virgin ears are present."

He quirked a brow at Jason with an amused look on his face. The affection for Jaye was just rolling off his brother in waves. It was heartwarming, really. If he had his phone on him, Dick would definitely be recording this, or taking pictures at least. He wanted a way to look back at this moment and know it wasn't all in his head. All those fever dreams and forays with scare gas have made it difficult to trust his own perception of reality. Not to mention his own fragile mental state from recent events didn't exactly give him confidence in himself. The thoughts were brushed away with a small grin

"Jaye's too young to remember any of this let alone comprehend what we're saying."

Jason gave him a flat, deadpan look at that.

"I was talking about me, pendejo."

Dick couldn't help but laugh. It was good to know he didn't lose his sense of humor after all this time.

"Oh, please, you've got like the third dirtiest mouth I've heard."

If there was one word to describe Jason's expression, it'd be affronted. He looked like Dick just personally insulted everything he held dear.

"Third dirtiest? Now that's just hurtful, Dickhead. I need to up my game."

Knowing Jason and his stubborn nature, he would absolutely start using much more colorful vocabulary, if for no other reason than to prove Dick wrong. He couldn't help but laugh under his breath at Jason's antics. It felt so good to just stand here, joking around like nothing changed even though everything had changed. They both knew it, could feel the fragile peace hanging by a thread. One wrong word would shatter it. So, Dick danced around his words carefully, not willing to be the one that drops the other shoe. If he had to play this balancing act to keep his brother here, then so be it.

"Pfft, I don't know Jay, an angry Roy is pretty mouthy. And have you met Rose? God, we could buy a new Batjet with the money from the swear jar from her alone."

He got a dry sort of scoff in response.

"Didn't get the pleasure of meeting her. I was a little busy taking a dirt nap."

Just like that, the fragile balance teetered off the side. Dick went quiet and the grin slipped from his face. The hero couldn't help but marvel at just how quickly he managed to fuck things up. One sentence. He couldn't make it one damn sentence without saying the wrong thing. He averted his gaze from Jason, who had gone almost eerily still. The tension in the atmosphere spiked as the two remained silent. The music continued to play in the background, an almost laughable contrast to the current ambiance.

It was as if neither of them knew how to handle the situation, which wasn't far from the truth. The reminder of Jason's death, even if only meant as a joke, still twisted something in Dick's heart. He clenched his fists in an effort to keep his tumultuous emotions in check. It seemed like everything left him raw and ready to shatter as of late. Dick hated that. He hated how deeply they left their claws in him. Hated how much they affected him, twisted and broke him. Just looking at Jason now felt like it made the cracks in his armor spiderweb.

He hadn't meant to bring it up. The conversation just got comfy and he got carried away with his words. How often did he let his emotions guide his mouth? Too much, he figured. It was something others mentioned to him; how his heart led him despite his best efforts to remain objective. Dick sighed and turned his gaze back to Jason, ready to apologize for the carelessness of his words. Before he could get a word in, Jason was handing the baby to him.

"Make yourself useful, Dickface. I need to finish these."

He took his daughter without hesitation, though the shame still weighed heavy on him. Fuck, he couldn't do anything right anymore, could he? Dick gave a soft, somber grin to the baby girl as he made his way to his small, shitty table.

"You have fun with tío, čhavi?"

What he got in response were a sleepy blink and a wide yawn. He chuckled quietly. Well, he got one thing right, so far. Jaye would never be a mistake to him, even if the memory of her mother made him feel queasy. The thought of Catalina made his stomach churn violently and lit his nerves on fire. The thought of that night, what she did, what he almost did under her manipulation, usually left him trembling on the verge of a panic attack. So much had gone wrong that night, so much, but God, if he wasn't grateful for his daughter. It still hurt to look at her sometimes, if he was being completely honest. That, in itself, was enough to drive home the self-loathing he felt. How could he see her and feel pain and terror? This is his daughter. He should never feel those things when looking at her.

"Stop it."

His attention was drawn back to Jason as a paper plate with about six pancakes on it was shoved toward him.

"Stop what?"

Dick was genuinely confused. Jason just shot him a look as he sat down heavily at the small table. He was a little surprised the chair didn't snap like a pile of twigs under Jason. His little brother wasn't so little anymore. The fact that he outgrew Dick by a few inches and easily a good amount of weight was almost startling. Last he remembered, Jason was just a small, scrappy kid with not enough meat on his bones. Now here he is, almost eye-level with Bruce and looking as if he crush someone underfoot. He made a vague hand gesture at Dick.

"That. The brooding and shit. I can feel you angsting from over here. Feels like I just walked into Hot Topic on a Friday afternoon."

That successfully drew a slightly startled laugh from Dick. Jaye squirmed at the sudden and unexpected movement. It took a few moments for Dick to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Jason just smirked smugly, pleased with having diffused the situation. After he calmed his breathing a bit, Dick looked over his brother with a growing grin.

"You'd know. You look like you could be the poster child for that place. I'm surprised they got clothes to fit you, Edge Lord."

Jason gave an exaggerated stretch to further show off his 'outfit', which was really just his Red Hood uniform sans the armored pieces. Then, he turned his attention to the cooling pancakes as he spoke.

"It was tricky. I had to cut some things up and sew them together, but that's fine. I make 'homeless zombie' look good. Even got the cashier's number."

Dick let out a breathy chuckle and shook his head slightly.

"You hear this, Jaye? Your uncle is so goofy. When did you get so funny, Little Wing?"

If only Dick knew how that old nickname affected Jason. It was there, in the slight twitch of his hand and the way he swallowed as if suddenly caught by a wave of emotion. He could see it, but he wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad reaction. That contemplation was pushed to the background once Jason flashed him a somewhat forced cheeky grin.

"Learned it from the Grim Reaper. Funny guy, though he's got terrible bedside manners, let me tell you."

There was a running theme in his commentary, Dick could tell. He let out a low, theatrical groan. He was fairly certain this was Jason's method of coping with the horrors he went through. If that was the case, then Dick could play along, even if it made him minutely uncomfortable to joke about. Whatever it took to help Jay and keep him close. Dick wasn't there for him before, this was the least he could do.

"Oh god, this is gonna be a thing with you now, isn't it? Death jokes for every situation."

That shit-eating grin only widened at Dick's reaction.

"Absolutely! It'll be like Hall Mark but morbid."

Dick snorted at the idea. He could really see Jason running with the idea. Now he was half-expecting to receive a 'Merry Deathday' card or something on April 27. If he really got such a thing, he wasn't entirely certain how he'd react. He sighed in a theatrical manner, as if put upon by the turn of conversation.

"I guess everybody needs a gimmick in this business."

His melodramatic words played into this little game Jason had going on. It earned him a somewhat pleased smirk.

"You got it, Dickface. Yours is shitty fashion choices and even worse puns. Mine's reminding everyone I died once through fantastic jokes and zippy one-liners. By the way, did you know I died once?"

If he groaned any harder, Dick was pretty sure his lungs would burst. No matter how many years passed, nobody would ever let him live down his 'Discowing' or 'mullet' faze.

"Jesus Christ, I haven't had enough coffee yet for this. Or whiskey. Whiskey sounds good right about now."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin today."

"My title as the Funny Robin is being threatened. I can't believe this."

"You're damn right Wing-Ding. Viva la revolución, bitch."

Try as he might, Dick could suppress the laughter that shook his body at that. Jason faired no better as he silently laughed behind his hand, as if embarrassed to be caught doing so. As the conversation petered out, their attention was turned to their food. The silence as they ate was much more amicable than before. The underlying current of unease was still there, but it was hidden behind the warmth of their banter. It wouldn't last, they both knew it. Peace never lasted with them. That didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the lingering happiness while it was there. They've learned to take what they could get while they could get it. Moments like this were fleeting and far between with their lifestyle and clashing personalities.

It wasn't until after Dick had settled Jaye into her swing and sat back down that the tentative calm was broken.

"So..."

The look on Jason's face was methodically blank, which was a giant warning sign that whatever he was about to bring up wasn't going to be good. Dick mentally prepared himself, though he had a gut feeling this was going to suck. Their family wasn't known for having the ability to handle emotions well. There were far too many of those popping up the past two days. It's what he got for bottling things up, he supposed. That didn't make talking about what was bothering him any easier. He gave Jason his attention with a similarly blank mask and waited for him to continue.

"Alright, shit, no good way to ask so I'm just gonna come out with it. Is Tarantula the mother?"

Even though Dick had been expecting the question at some point, it still left him feeling sort of nauseous. He attempted to keep just how much it affected him hidden. The slight narrowing of Jason's eyes let him know he wasn't entirely successful. He cleared his throat in an effort to rid himself of the slight choking sensation that kept his words captive. One slow breath later and Dick found himself ready to talk.

"Yeah, she...she's Jaye's mom."

That was the first time Dick ever admitted it out loud and it felt just as horrible as he expected. It felt wrong to say it. The distaste must have been evident on his face because Jason sneered slightly.

"No, she's her mother, her genetic donor. She ain't her mom. There's a big fuckin' difference. She'll never be Jaye's mom."

The words were more comforting than Dick would have thought possible. He closed his eyes for a moment and just breathed deeply. That was something he needed to hear but didn't realize it. Jason was right. She may have given birth to his daughter, but she would never be a part of her life. Not if he had any say in it.

"Right. You're right. Thanks."

He was glad Jason politely ignored the slight tremor in his voice. Dick couldn't wait for the day he could talk about her and this whole situation without feeling like he was cracking apart. The fact that he felt so damn weak, even after almost a year, grated on his nerves. He was drawn out of his inner turmoil by his brother's voice. The sharp look he was getting had Dick feeling as if Jason knew where his thoughts were heading. Ordinarily, he'd tease Dick about being right, but not this time.

"Nothin' to thank me for. Just stating the facts. "

Sometimes, in situations such as a this, Dick was reminded that Jason saw quite a lot on the streets and knew how to deal with certain victims, victims like him (and wasn't that something that pained him to admit), better than anyone else in the family.

"If she tries to come within a hundred yards of Jaye, I'll break her fucking legs."

And then at other times, he was reminded just how blunt his baby brother was. Dick gave him a small, somewhat amused grin. Sure, Dick might not condone excessive violence in every situation, but he found himself hard pressed to be upset by the mental imagery the words brought him. If such an opportunity arose, the hero couldn't say with any degree of confidence that he'd even try to stop Jason from doing exactly as he said. After all, they've done worse to lesser criminals.

"What do you know, it looks like I'll be out sick that day and won't be able to stop you. Crazy, huh?"

Jason gave a low, rough chuckle. There was a look, that look, in his eyes again. It was something less than stable and bordering on feral. Dick wasn't sure what it meant, but something in his gut told him that he wouldn't like it if he knew. It reminded Dick of the night Jason attacked him. Nothing good could come from that look. He saw the very same expression and light elsewhere. In the face of those he arrested. In the ones that crossed the line. Somewhere between death and the Lazarus Pit, Jason changed and Dick feared it was for the worse. It made him uneasy to see the look of a killer on the face of his little brother. Maybe it was foolishly naive to blatantly deny the obvious, especially after what Jason had done to him, but Dick refused to believe Jason could take a life.

While he was busy trying to analyze the shift in his brother's persona, Jason seemed to be struggling with some sort of internal battle. That vicious, shark-like expression looked as if it were being forcefully pushed down. He could see the younger man's grip tightening on the silverware. That unnatural green hue seemed stuck between flaring up and fading away. This must be what Jason meant about having Lazarus episodes. It was worrying. More than that, it was upsetting. Upsetting because Dick felt so helpless, so useless. He had no idea how to make it better. All he wanted to do was drive away that which tormented Jay, but he couldn't. So, since Dick couldn't beat the demons lurking Jason's brain away, he did the next best thing.

He flicked a bit of pancake at Jason's head. Because he was so caught up with his own issues, the morsel of food managed to nail him right between the eyes. Dick looked on in amusement as Jason blinked in surprise, successfully distracted from the mess in his head. Then, those blue-green eyes narrowed at the unspoken challenge.

"Sorry, little bro, you looked like you were thinking too hard. Didn't want you to hurt yourself."

He gave Jason a crooked grin as he spoke. It looked as if Jay were trying to fight down his own little smirk.

"Oh, it's so on Dickface."

He had to duck out of the way from a chunk of flying pancake, only to get hit by a follow-up piece. Dick had to give it to him, Jason had some great aim. Breakfast quickly devolved into the two adults flinging their food back and forth as if they were seven years old again. Their laughter grew louder as they got more extravagant in their maneuvers. Flipping about as they were was completely unnecessary in a food fight, but they were nothing if not competitive. Not only were they trying to land more hits than the other, but they were trying to do so in the most complicated and impressive manner possible.

Somehow, that ended up with them wrestling across the floor and knocking over what sparse possessions Dick owned. The old, battered table cracked and then collapsed after Jason tackled Dick through it. Jaye was startled awake by the loud 'BANG' and let out a wail of fear. The two men immediately ceased their rough-housing and rushed to calm the upset infant. Their overprotective natures were very obvious in the way they hovered and coddled her. Jason looked over the wreckage with an almost sheepish expression.

"Uh...sorry."

Dick just looked over the mess and snorted. He was far too happy at the moment to care about a broken table. Hell, this was the happiest he's been in months. Nothing short of a catastrophe was going to bring him down from here.

"It's fine Little Wing, I needed a new table anyway. Hold her while I clean it up?"

Though it was phrased as a question, he left little choice as he pushed Jaye into Jason's arms. His brother floundered for a moment, having wanted to decline and help fix the mess he made. Dick wanted him to hold his niece. Jason seemed happiest with the little girl in his arms. He'd do damn near anything to make sure Jason stayed happy.

His daughter remained crying and squirming while Jason did his best to soothe the frantic baby. His efforts were fruitless as she continued crying. She seemed set in her fit, now that she was startled awake. The slightly lost look on Jason's face as he dealt with the inconsolable child was priceless.

"Shh, shh it's okay Jaye. Daddy and tío are sorry. We didn't mean to scare you. Dick, what uh..what was that song you were singing to her before? She likes that, right?"

It was clear Jason was uncomfortable bringing up that night, but he was desperate to calm his niece down. Dick looked up and tried to smother his soft grin. Then, he momentarily abandoned his clean up duty to take a seat on the couch, making sure to grab her pacifier on the way, and motioned for Jason to do the same.

"Yep, she likes it. It's called Mori Shej, a Romani lullaby-"

Jason let out a disgruntled sound as took the pacifier and he rocked her gently.

"Yeah yeah, skip the history lesson. She's gonna scream her lungs out."

Dick's lips twitched slightly as he watched his brother try to calm his daughter. The sheer volume of joy and affection he felt threatened to overwhelm him.

"Alright, jeez. It starts out like this. Buter káj egy berseszki szán. Móri drágo piko séj..."

The way Jason stumbled over the foreign words as he tried to sing his niece to sleep was downright adorable, not that Dick would ever say that to his face. He liked his jaw unbroken, thank you very much. The little girl sniffled and tried to squirm her way closer to her uncle as his deep voice rumbled out her favored lullaby.

"Buter káj egy berseszki szán. Móri drágo piko séj..."

#Jason Todd #Jaybird #Red Hood #Dick Grayson #Dickiebird #Nightwing #Baby Jaye #Mori Shej verse #My writing #Fic #wow i took forever to update and this is what i have to offer #im so sorry

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sabo-has-my-heart · 2 years ago

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750 Followers Event

Wow, it’s been some time since I last did an event, hasn’t it?

Sabo: if you don’t count your 500 followers event, your last event was posted in May.

Wow, yeah, it’s been a while. Time flies. Anyways, we’re at 750 followers, so here’s my milestone event! So over the years, I’ve collected writing prompts, scenarios, dialogue, all sorts of things to give me ideas for writing. I’ve chosen 20 scenarios, each scenario can only be used twice, I’ll update the list as we go. So pick a character, pick a scenario, and pick a dialogue prompt, then pick a secondary scenario, character, and prompt just in case I can't write the first one, and send it in!

Scenarios

She stood on the end of the pier, took a deep breath, and jumped into the freezing ocean. She was going to get answers, no matter what it took. [Reiju]

During a game of hide and seek you hide in the toy chest in the basement. After what seems like forever, and no one finds you, you decide to get out. You find the basement drastically altered and a layer of dust over everything. [Zoro] [Baby!Ace]

The hero shows up at the villain’s doorstep one night. They’re shivering, bleeding, scared. There’s also a slightly dazed look in their eyes-- they were drugged. They look like they were assaulted. Looking up at the villain, swaying slightly as they’re close to passing out, the mumble “... didn’t know where else to go…” then collapse into the villain’s arms. (doesn’t have to be hero and villain, can just be 2 rivals/enemies)[Killer] [Sabo]

The remains of the human race live in a glass dome with no entrance or exit, which protects them from the wasteland on the outside. One morning a dusty handprint appears on the outside. [Killer]

You and your partner bought rings that let you feel each other’s heartbeats. You couldn’t bear to take yours off when they were buried, it has just started beating again. [Kid] [Ace]

A is a talented pianist who meets B and offers to teach them how to play, unaware that B is already an equally talented pianist themself. B accepts so they have an excuse to spend time with A but gets discovered one day when A walks in on B practicing some high-level music.[Izou] [Sabo]

A is involved in some sort of accident. B finds out and rushes to the scene, calling A frantically. A doesn’t pick up, so B leaves A a series of voicemails as the race to the scene of A’s accident. [Ace] [Crocodile (not guaranteed, will try)]

She heard his voice before she saw him and she recognized it instantly. She knew him. She knew him all too well for all the wrong reasons. [Sabo] [Luffy]

This was it. He knew it would happen but now that it did it still shocked him. His whole body felt numb and right now he couldn’t say if this was something he would ever recover from.[Killer]

Waiting together in a small shop for the horrible storm to calm down and the electricity to work again definitely brings people closer together.[Usopp] [Ace]

The setting sun bathed everything in blazing orange, making it look as if the city was already burning. [Lindbergh]

Someone finding their friend’s/roommate’s dream journal and see that they themself seem to be in a lot of their dreams [Ace] [Law]

Your immortality isn’t the result of any curse, or blessing, for that matter. No, it’s just that you pissed off the God of Death so much he can’t stand the sight of you. [Ace]

For some reason, you always suspected that your high school classmate can read minds. Determined to trip her, you keep cracking jokes in your mind, hoping to make her laugh, to no avail. One day, while idly thinking about how it would be to date her, you see her get flustered.[Sabo] [Ace]

walking on the beach at dawn, as remnants of a ship wreck wash onto the shore. Among the wreckage, A finds B [Killer]

A merperson who gets injured and washed up on the shore of a beach unconscious, and is found by B. [Sanji]

During the annual Familiar summoning course for first year students at the magic academy, some students end up with creatures like Beetles to bunnies to even a lion, you on the other hand wound up summoning an Arch-Dragon in his human form [Ace/Sabo] [Sabo]

A 17-year-old girl is suddenly taken to a magical world. There, she manages to slay a dragon, become a queen, get married, have kids, and eventually pass away decades later. Only to wake up in her high school young and in her uniform again, as if nothing happened. That is, until she notices that her wedding ring is still on her finger.

You’re vacationing in a city you’ve never been in before. When you suddenly find yourself in a place you’ve seen hundreds of times in your dreams. The person you always see in those dreams is there too. [Ace/Sabo]

With her whole body quivering in shock, she let the dagger drop from her hands.

Sanji: Astra-swaaaan! I have those dialogue prompts you asked for!

In that case, here are the dialogue prompts:

Multipurpose

“Keep your eyes open, look at me.”

“I don't understand, why’re you doing this?”

“Just thinking about anything happening to you…I-I just lose it”

“Don’t worry, baby. I’m here now. I’m going to save you!”

“Am I going to see you later?” “Yeah, Sure.”

“I’m glad that you’re happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you.”

“The world doesn’t need me.” “But maybe I do.”

“So you’re really leaving?” “Ask me to stay.” “What?” “Ask me to stay, and I will.”

"Do I make your heart jump?"

“Let me do this, please.”

Fluff

“I think I still love you”

“Just say the word, Y/n. you know I’d do anything for you.”

“Are you trying to flirt with me?” “Yes. Is it working?”

“I love you. It’s as simple and terrifying as that.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you, no matter how hard I try not to.”

“There isn’t a word in the dictionary that can explain your type of beauty.”

“I love you, and I pray to anyone that will listen that you feel the same way. Because I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if you don’t.”

“I’m never leaving. I promise.”

“Hey, I love you, don’t forget that”

“I think i’m falling for you”

“Just kiss me already”

“Sorry, I couldn’t take my eyes off you”

“I need you, I love you”

“Come, I’ll take you somewhere special”

“Would you stay with me forever?”

Angst

“I never stood a chance, did I?” “That’s the sad part, you did once.”

“The worst part is, you didn’t even notice”

“I’ve lost so many things, but i can’t lose you”

“I lost you once, i refuse to lose you again”

“Not any of your business. You made your choice. You choose you.”

“I’m going to break your arm like you broke my heart.”

“Just let go!” “You know I can’t.”

“You left.” “Which time?” “Exactly.”

“I have never felt more alone than when I was with you.”

“There is always a choice to make and it seems like you made yours.”

“I’ve only ever been in love with one person.” “Do they love you back?” “No. They love someone else.”

“When did you stop loving me?”

“I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts.”

“Why does it hurt so much? Why do I feel like she’s broken my soul?”

“You weren’t here when I needed you the most, why now?”

NSFW

“Try to stay quiet for me. Can you do that?”

“I want to ruin you.”

“God, you feel amazing.”

“I want to see you, want to watch you cum.”

“I want it. I want to taste you.”

“I want you so bad.”

“Be good for me and I’ll untie you.”

“You know, I could always get you off right here, right now.”

“I want more, please, give me more!”

“Can you feel how much I want you?”

“Stop looking at me like that or my knees won’t hold me any longer.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing to me”

"You know, you always look so much better when I mark you up."

“God, you love it like this, don’t you?”

“I had this dream and- fuck- you couldn’t keep your hands of me.”

As always, you are free to choose a polyamory, love triangle, or basically more than 1 character, you can choose 1 prompt or 2 prompts if you do so choose. You can also choose character x character and not just character x reader. If you have more than 1 character, you can have 1 extra prompt per character.

I’ll get the fics out as soon as I’m capable and I hope you enjoy this event as much as you have my previous ones.

#750 Followers #750 follower event #follower event

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orange-plum · 3 years ago

Note

What are the biggest changes that’ve happened in your life since the update where Nat entered hell?

OH WOW. OK there are a few that come to mind. She entered Hell in early 2017, where I was still living at my apartment. My lease was coming up in a few months, and I had no job and a kidney tumor. Some of this is not the lightest of topics, but I'm a very transparent person who isn't ashamed to tell people my experiences, so just know that going in reading this.

School refused to cancel my loans for the semester I had to drop out of and was going to send me to collections if I didn't pay 4k or something in 10 days. Angel sister was nice and surprised me with a youcaring fund and SaM followers paid it right before surgery so I didn't have to worry about the debt ; - ; I'm still in awe and so grateful for that

I underwent surgery for my kidney tumor April 28, 2017, a few months after that update.

Tapas offered me a contract job to do Beneath the Ark after my recovery from surgery, so it was nice to know I had a job waiting for me when I was done. (For reference, I hadn't been working since basically July 2016 because right after I moved into the apartment and started another semester of art school, I thought my appendix was bursting one morning and went to the ER. Turned out I had a small kidney stone, but on the X-ray they caught my tumor which was the size of a baseball roughly, by accident. It was actually such a rare case that my surgeon told me everyone in his department talked about me hhh) Anyway, I had to drop out of school and couldn't keep a job for health reasons up till my surgery, so Tapas offering me a job then was a lifesaver. I also developed shingles in response to the shock of having a tumor so that was fun lol

I had to get rid of my cat Wilson after surgery because I took her as a stray from the apartment, but she wasn't getting along with my parent's cat when I moved in with them for them to take care of me after surgery.

I went to Hawaii that July, still recovering from surgery. There, I had to work the entire time, and developed an infection from some antibiotics I was taking, so we have a joke that I've never been to Hawaii and would love to someday, because I didn't get to experience it.

The following 6 months I was in the ER for kidney related problems 6 times.

End of 2017 my group chat fell apart and stopped being friends in a really messy way, which threw me into a huge depression. I began therapy for the first time and stopped in January 2018 after being on antidepressants and getting better mental health.

Planned a trip with new group chat to go to Japan in August 2018. Started working out a lot, regained confidence.

Old bff Lemon was moving away with her fiancé and had me go out with her to a bar April 13, 2018. TMI but I got drugged and raped that night. I don't really like Lemon anymore, because after that, I got depressed again, got diagnosed with PTSD, put on anti anxiety meds, and she refused to help contact the taxi driver for testimony saying I wasn't with her. Eventually reported to the cops but ultimately didn't file because he said if it's proven false, I could get in trouble :P

Go to Japan with friends in August for a month and have an amazing time.

Come home to some more friend drama, lose some friends temporarily.

Grandpa dies Easter 2019. Can't attend funeral because I have to work.

Move to AZ with family in May 2019. New start, new beginning. Absolutely HATE it, but I'm still here lol

Early 2020 get diagnosed with multiple health conditions. I see a doctor every couple of months, I'm on a few daily meds as we speak.

March 2020-October 2020 attend physical therapy for bum hand. IMMENSE HELP. Gives me tools to keep hand healthy. I was about to retire drawing within a few months, so that saved me.

All of 2021 work with an editor on a book. Finish book. Pitching book to agents as we speak

Nov 2021 buy a car. Took forever to save up but have a 2016 Honda that I got for 14k it was a STEAL

Dec 2021 a good friend of mine moves away across the country suddenly. She'd moved from Boston to the Bay to be roomies in 2016, then followed to AZ with me. We had 6 years of being local, so it's an adjustment now.

Jan 10th 2022 destroy my foot. End up on crutches till April. The stress of not walking/not driving/having people make all my food and bring it to me/can't shower/etc causes so much stress, all my hair falls out. Grow extremely depressed. Get a month long period for the entire month of March. Develop mouth infection (that I currently still have I'm on day 12). Find out, all from stress from not walking for months. Now, things are clearing up because I can walk again as of the last maybe 2 weeks?

Grandma dies April 2022, partially due to covid. Bringing almost entire family together in Tahoe to spread ashes this coming June. Looking forward to seeing fam I haven't in over a decade.

Work my ass off since I can't go anywhere while on crutches. Patreon's doing the best it's ever done. Might be able to actually pay off student loans and move out now tbh. Waiting on sister to get a job after graduating where her and her hubby offered to rent me a room in the house they wanna buy. Things slowly but surely looking up.

As you can see, it's been quite the few years lol And she's only been in Hell canon time about a little over a month. Crazy how life is!

#personal #im happy rn tho if its any consolation #im doing better and regaining my life so its nice #tmi

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honeypiehotchner · 4 years ago

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intelligence & issues (Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- chapter twenty-two

I’m liking this two updates a week schedule because I hate leaving you guys hanging like that!! I hope this chapter makes it all better xx.

Oh btw the title of this chapter and last chapter are lyrics from “Hold On” by Chord Overstreet! (Also I know the gif is irrelevant but the ~emotion~ of it is relevant)

ALSO (wow I have a lot I keep forgetting to add) I meant to @ her last chapter, but all of these medical scenes and things were 100% done with the help of @thedumpsterqueen because I know next to nothing about all this stuff and she was an angel and let me ask all the crazy questions <333 (P.S. she has a Hotch fic called Standards of Performance on her blog that you guys should alllll read if you haven’t already!! It’s SO good it’s one of my favorites)

Warnings: angst and sadness, but that’s pretty much it

Previous chapter || Fic Masterlist

Chapter Twenty-Two: I can’t imagine a world with you gone

Everything is a blur in Hotch’s mind before and after the first gunshot rings through the air. He didn’t need to hear the buzzing in his ear to know it had hit you.

He took off at a sprint, as did the rest of the team.

His ears are ringing. His thoughts are racing. He’s never been a man who talks frequently to God, but he’s praying. Hoping you’re alive. Begging you to not be dead.

Aaron would never forgive himself if you died. As it stands, though, he won’t ever forgive himself for this.

Prentiss, Reid, and Rossi take off in one direction. Hotch and Morgan take the other. Police officers fill the gaps and follow behind, everyone searching for you and Savannah.

Morgan is the first to stumble on the room. His throat aches when he screams for Hotch, keeping his weapon aimed at Savannah.

“Put the gun down!” Morgan yells.

Hotch comes skidding to a stop in the doorway a second later, weapon raised, but his eyes are focused on you. Savannah’s boot is pressing into your thigh, blood oozing from your wound, soaking your pants, spilling onto the concrete. Hotch’s heart drops at the sight. He’s seen enough bullet wounds to know how much blood should come from them. That is too much.

The bullet must’ve hit the major artery. And the thought terrifies him.

Morgan takes the shot when Savannah refuses to move. It hits her stomach and she stumbles for a moment before falling. Morgan yells for the paramedics again, distantly thinking they should be in here by now.

Hotch falls to the ground beside you, his hands cupping your face, not caring who sees. His thumbs tap your cheeks, willing you to open your eyes. You have a pulse, but it’s weak. Weaker than what it should be.

He presses hard over your wound, hoping to slow the bleeding, but there’s more surrounding your leg than he wants to see.

“Y/N?” He says, his eyes watching your eyelids for any movement. He lets out a momentary sigh of relief when your eyes open. “Y/N, please, can you hear me?”

You stare back at him, no signs of his words registering in your eyes. They’re empty. Haunted, again, but for a different reason this time. This time it’s different. “Aaron…”

“I’m here,” Hotch says gently, pressing his hand harder, his heart breaking when you groan in pain. “I know,” he says, shushing you.

Your eyes travel around the room then, and Aaron follows. Morgan is pressing his hand over Savannah’s wound, speaking into his wrist, asking the others where the hell the paramedics are at.

But Aaron doesn’t want you to see that, so he cups your jaw again, turning your eyes back on him. He smiles as best he can, the tears beginning to spill from his eyes as he takes in your face.

“There’s my girl,” he says softly. “Keep holding on. They’re almost here.”

“Aaron,” you try to say, your voice low and strained, and Aaron shakes his head, trying to get you to stop talking. “Aaron...I don’t wanna go without-- I need to tell you that I--”

“Shhh,” he tries again, not wanting you to waste any energy. “You don’t need to.”

“I love you,” you finally get it out. And he’s stunned to complete silence and tears. “I love you so...so much. It hurts.”

“Y/N,” he says, panicked. Your eyes are closing. “Y/N! Come back, Y/N, come back to me. Y/N. Y/N, please.”

Hotch is too caught up in holding your face and keeping pressure on your wound to notice the paramedics have arrived. One team goes to Savannah, relieving Morgan, while the other comes to you, trying to usher Hotch away, but he doesn’t budge.

“Hotch,” Morgan tugs on the unit chief, grabbing at his arms, his heart breaking for the both of you. “Hotch, you need to let them get to her.”

Reluctantly, Hotch backs up, clenching his bloodied fist, grimacing at the way your blood sticks his skin together.

Everything else is a blur.

What does it need to be clear for, anyway? If you’re not here?

+++

You’re still in surgery.

It’s been an hour. But it feels longer. It feels like it’s been an entire twenty-four hours.

The entire team has taken up camp in a waiting room at the hospital.

Reid is reading and rereading every magazine he can get his hands on to distract himself, never mind the fact that he reads them so fast that he rips a page on one from turning it so quickly. Morgan has Garcia on the phone and has left to get coffee at least three times, the first time returning with a tray of steaming cups and the next two times returning with only one, but two tearful eyes. Emily has been pacing and will wear a hole into the tile at this rate if she walks for another hour. JJ has been staring at the wall, chewing so hard on the inside of her cheek that she flinches when she draws blood.

Rossi has been staring at the wall, too, but mostly he’s been worrying about and watching Hotch.

Aaron has been biting his nails, tugging at his hair, angrily wiping away tears, and left once to go on a walk before returning two minutes later, asking if they had heard anything. Those two minutes had felt like two hours and he was worried sick for all 120 seconds that he missed something.

Dave hasn’t tried to say anything to Aaron, though he wants to. It’s heartbreaking to watch Aaron like this.

You’re going to pull through. Dave — and the rest of the team — can’t afford to think otherwise. And they refuse to think otherwise, unable to imagine what it would be like if you weren’t here.

But it seems like Aaron is thinking otherwise.

Truthfully, he is. But he’s thinking about so much more.

You love him. You love him. You love him.

And he was too stunned to say it back. The one chance he had, and it might be gone now. Ripped away. Forever.

He sent you in there. He did this to you. He had his reservations, but the call had already been made. You seemed so sure. You wanted to do this so badly. He didn’t want another fight about him not trusting you because it’s not about his trust for you, it’s about how terrified he was for you.

He’ll never forgive himself for this now. Not ever.

It’s a world he can’t even bear to imagine. One without you in it.

Yet here he is, grappling with the fact that he might not have to imagine it soon. He sent you in there. He knowingly put your life in danger. And now he’ll have to live with the consequences.

+++

Aaron is shaken from his trance by the doctor and a nurse coming in to inform the team that you’re out of surgery and that it went well.

But you’re in the ICU.

“She lost a great deal of blood,” the doctor says gravely. “But we think she’ll pull through. She just needs to be watched closely for the time being.”

Everyone nods silently, not sure of what else to say, other than feeling relief that you’re alive.

“Visiting hours are long over, so I recommend you all get some rest,” the nurse says. “She’s in good hands here.”

“Thank you,” Rossi replies.

The doctor excused himself, but the nurse stayed, offering to answer any extra questions. “Visiting hours start at seven a.m.,” she says first. “And in the ICU, only two visitors are allowed in her room at a time.” She doesn’t voice an apology, but one is in her tone as she glances between the six team members.

“Can I stay?” Hotch blurts out of nowhere. The team member’s heads all turn to look at him in surprise. “Can anyone stay the night, I mean.”

“Uh, yeah,” the nurse nods. “One person can.” Her eyebrows furrow sincerely. “Are you her dad?”

Morgan internalizes a snort.

“No,” Hotch replies kindly. “I’m not, but I’d like to stay. I’m her boss.”

Still the nurse looks skeptical. “Would she be okay with—”

“She’s his girlfriend,” Emily blurts out, tired of waiting. And when Hotch sends her a look, she says, “What? It would’ve taken you hours to say it.”

“Oh,” the nurse chuckles, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry. Yes, of course you can stay.”

Hotch lets a tiny smile shine through, but it’s not much. Truth is, he’s terrified to see you. But leaving you here alone – even if this is a hospital – terrifies him more.

The rest of the team says goodbye to head back to the hotel for some much-needed rest, if they can sleep at all. They know they’ll wake every couple hours to worry about you before sleep consumes them once more.

In the meantime, Hotch will be here to look after you for all of them. You’re like a little sister to the rest of them, even though Morgan is the only one to have voiced that. You’re loved here. Loved more than you’ll ever be able to comprehend.

You’re loved by Aaron much more than he’ll ever be able to articulate to you. But he’ll try. He’ll try to help you see.

+++

Hotch is finally walking to your room in the ICU after another half hour of waiting. The nurse said they had to get everything settled in your room before he could come back, which only made Hotch’s worry spike even more.

But eventually, he’s in your room with you. A pillow and blanket is in the chair by the window, but he’s not paying attention to it.

You. You’re asleep, of course, and probably will be for a few more hours. The nurse said you had already woken up once, but because of the pain medicine and the overall stress your body has been under in the past few hours, you fell back to sleep almost instantly.

Tears well in his eyes at the sight of you, laid up in the hospital bed, IVs and wires all over you. The beeping of the heart monitor is the only real sign to him that you’re even alive. Your chest is rising and falling, but it’s barely visible underneath the gown and blankets and wires.

You have one regular IV placed on the top of your left hand. Some other line is in your upper arm, and another in your wrist. He has no idea what they’re all for, he just knows he hates seeing you connected to so much.

Aaron wipes at his eyes angrily. Does he have a right to be this upset when he’s the one who sent you in there?

He turns and sets the pillow and blankets in the other chair, knowing he won’t sleep tonight even if he wanted to. Instead, he pulls the chair closer to your bed, where he can place his hand next to yours.

And, if you happen to wake up, you can reach for him if you need to.

+++

Three hours pass and you still haven’t woken up. Aaron knows. He’s been watching you the entire time.

The nurses have come to check on you a few times, assuring Aaron that it’s normal for you to be sleeping like this. But he just nods silently.

He wants you to wake up. Just for a minute. He needs you to just open your eyes and look at him, just once. That’s all he needs.

But it’s wishful thinking as the sky begins to lighten, showing the first signs of dawn.

Aaron links his pinky with yours, afraid to do much else and risk messing up your IV. Holding pinky fingers is enough right now. Or at least, it’ll have to be.

“I’m sorry,” he says out loud, to you, or really to no one at all, because he’s not even sure you can hear him. “I’m just so...sorry, Y/N.”

Stupid tears gather in his eyes again, clogging his throat, stopping his words.

But he keeps going.

“It’s my fault,” he says. “And I know you’ll try to convince me that it’s not, but Y/N, it is and I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I let this happen to you.”

He leans his head into the palm of his free hand, tightening his pinky finger’s grip on yours.

“I love you,” he blurts it out, tears warming his palm as they cascade down his cheeks. “I love you and I need you to wake up because I need you to hear it. I love you. I don’t think there’s ever been a day that I’ve known you that I haven’t loved you.”

He sniffles, loud and body-rattling, glad he’s alone in this room with you because he’d never let anyone else see him like this. No one but you.

“I tried to get it out before, but you were already gone, and I— You need to wake up. I need you to wake up. Please.”

Aaron keeps his eyes closed and head down for a few minutes longer. He doesn’t even see that you’ve opened your eyes.

Until your pinky finger gently squeezes his.

He lifts his head quickly, eyes wide and wild when he sees you’re looking back at him, eyes glassy with tears and exhaustion.

And just like that, just seeing your eyes open and looking right at him, the dam breaks once more. He’s a mess of tears when he leans his head down onto the bed. You lift your hand and thread your fingers through his hair, closing your eyes as more tears slip down your cheeks.

You scratch a soothing pattern on the base of his skull, moving your other hand over your body to hold onto his arm. He senses the movement and lifts his head, grabbing your hand and pressing it to his lips.

He’s not sure how long he stays there, all he knows is his back aches when he straightens up again, and you’ve fallen back asleep.

Next chapter

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liptonsbabe · 4 years ago

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Chains of a family [B.W]

Bill Weasley x Grant! reader

Chapter 1,

Chapter 2,

Chapter 3,

Chapter 4,

Chapter 5,

Chapter 6

Summary: The Weasley family have traditions about marriage and Bill has to respect them if he truly wants the reader become his wife. In the attempt to respect his family wishes the weasleys have to visit reader’s grandparent Tim Grant who has a lot of things to say

Word count: 5K TOO LONG I’M SO SORRY

Warnings: none(?

A/N: Hey! part 6 of this thing. I’m so sorry to update this late but it was a complicated chapter and the longest so far. I’ll try to make small chapters from now on and the wedding is aproching, you guys!! i’m sooo excited to publish that part but we have to wait a little more for that.

So, as i’ve said in the last chapter, i changed some things from de canon like Bill being attacked by Grayback and such. it’s just for the plot of this series ok? hope you don’t mind guys.

Anyways, like always, english not my mother language so pls let me know if somethings wrong. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Your life is not enough

You needed a couple of weeks to fully recover, even if it meant having Bill on your back every hour and taking you away from your duties with the Order. The mission that Remus Lupin gave you had to wait until further notice, all for William's excessive concern about your wounds

The task of keeping you away was complicated, more so when the Death Eater attacks had gained strength that no one expected. The members of the order spent twenty-four hours a day on watch with no time for breaks, even Bill went three days without sleep until you, still recovering , left the room and dragged him back with you regardless of his constant complaining. Molly supported you in the decision - thank god - telling her son not to worry that the rest of the Order would keep their eyes fully opened and he could rest comfortably next to you

The drastic change in Mrs. Weasley's behavior confused you because there was no reason for it, but the relief helped make your recovery quicker and less painful. The healer who you the morning after the accident with the Death Eaters took too long to close the wound as it was a curse wound and it needed a counter spell to heal properly, but not having one, he used other tactics and Dittany to help it heal. However, the help had come too late, and the scar was a throbbing fact that stung terribly when you made the slightest move. The healer said the burning and discomfort would go away with time, but the redness would stay forever. You thought that would be the last of your problems until you got your first glimpse of the result of the attack.

It was a disastrous thing, but it could have been much worse. You sighed as you looked at your disheveled image in the bathroom mirror. You had just taken a shower and Bill was still dressing in the bedroom. You took off the robe Ginny had given you a night before, watching the scar glisten across the valley of your breasts ending above your ribs. You sighed again, if you didn't consider yourself pretty before, at that moment you felt awful.

A new figure appeared in the reflection accompanied by a bright smile. William wore his white shirt tucked into his pants, his bow tie dangling from his collar and his suspenders placed perfectly flush against his shoulders. You smiled, looking at him through the mirror.

“Getting used to your dazzling new short hair?” You asked as you noticed Bill's nervous hand run over his head for the fifth time after the shower. Bill groaned, burying his face in your neck.

“I hate this style”

“And why did you cut it off, then?”

“Mom made me," he stated, tightening his hands around your waist, "She wants me to make a good impression, and for once I wanted to please her in something”

“Wow, your mom wanting to impress my family? That's new”

“Well, not every day you get to visit Lord Voldemort's brother," you gave him a bad look, smacking his hand, "Too soon for a joke, sorry”

You shook your head, escaping from Bill's embrace putting perfume behind your ear, on your wrists and neck. You gasped when a small drop of perfume touched your wound, reddening it. Your eyes lost in the scar again, knowing that even if your dress managed to cover most of it, the initial edges would be exposed like the body of a worm crawling through your clothes. Bill discovered your discontent. He hugged you again, running his fingertips over your sore skin as he kissed your bare shoulder. Maybe you couldn't see it, but for Bill you were perfect. Not just for the way you looked, but the beautiful heart that, even if he didn't deserve it, you had given him without any qualms. You deserved to be appreciated by the rest of the world, not just by him.

“I love you. You know that, don't you?”

“Even with the scar?”

“With the scar even more. It shows how brave you are and you should be proud of it. You saved Mad-Eye”

“The others will see it”

“It's their problem, not yours. You're still the most beautiful woman in this world.

You smiled, stroking the short hair of the man behind you.

“Not as much as that”

“You're right. I stand corrected. You are the most beautiful woman in both worlds”

“William...”

“I'll help you get dressed," he said, noticing that you were blushing up to your ears. William smiled without understanding why a sweet comment could make you blush, but not the fact that he was looking at you naked from the waist up. He picked up the dress hanging on the dresser reaching over to help it over your head pulling it down gently so as not to hurt you. Then, he zipped up your back leaving a wet kiss on your neck.

Bill's false calm didn't go unnoticed by you. As you smoothed the folds of your dress you noticed the trembling in his hands and the way his feet drummed on the floor. He was playing with the zipper of your dress pulling it up and down, trying to calm his nerves

“Bill, it's not necessary to do this”

“It is!” He replied looking up. You turned to him, crossing your arms around his neck, "I want to respect the traditions, to do things right. I want to show everyone that we mean business. It's just that...”

“My grandfather scares you?”

“What? No” You raised an eyebrow “Okay, maybe a little”

“You don't need to talk to him. He'll understand”

“I want to”

You gave in to Bill's pout. A few days ago, just after he asked you to marry him, Arthur Weasley spoke to his son asking him how he would go about keeping the traditions of the family. Bill didn't seem to understand what he was referring to when his father explained that the Weasleys used to always, always, visit the bride's parents' home right after the engagement to ask for their approval. Offerings were usually brought in a show of respect and the parents in question would respond by offering dinner for the guests. Bill's eyes widened, was that a real tradition?, he didn't know, “why didn't you ever tell me about it!” he questioned his father in a shout. Arthur knew about his son's untimely ignorance, returning the accusation, “Would that have made any difference on your desire to have her as your wife?” Bill didn't have to think too hard. “Of course not!” he shouted and his father laughed, patting him on the shoulder. His son was brave and would have asked for his bride's hand even from Voldemort himself. Bill was lucky tho cause he only had to talk to the old alchemist Tim Grant.

Your grandfather was the only one in the family who seemed to be neutral in the war caused by his brother, but above all he was the person who loved you most as you had both been banished from the Grants for standing up for your own convictions. Maybe Tim wasn’t an active member of either side, however, the blood connection with his brother Tom Riddle sent shivers down the spines of those around him. The man isolated himself in the Galapagos islands dangerously close to a volcano, where he was sure his brother wouldn’t dare to look for him. The Weasleys, hearing the story from your lips didn’t understand why.

You used a portkey to get to your grandfather's house. Arthur had communicated with Tim hours earlier and the two of them managed to establish a connection undetected for the ministry thanks to the old Grant's powerful magic and his skills as an alchemist. You couldn't hide your excitement at seeing your grandfather again, which encouraged Bill's eagerness to formally introduce himself to his next.... grandfather-in-law?

“Well then, but you don't have to worry. Grandpa is a very understanding man”

“Yeah, I'm sure he is”

“Bill Weasley, who knew talking to an old man would make you so nervous?”

“Very funny” he rolled his eyes, gluing his forehead to yours “I just want him to like me, (Y/N)”

“He likes everyone”

“That doesn't make me feel any better.”

“It will when you talk to him and see there's nothing to be afraid of” You stood on your tiptoes cause even with your high heels you couldn't reach his height. You kissed his cheek, snatching a warm smile from him “He's not like the rest of my family”

“I didn't mean to imply that, I'm sorry”

“It's all right, I know you didn't mean it. Now let's go downstairs, your mother must be going crazy”

“As if she wasn't already”

You slapped his arm as you descended the stairs. You didn't want Molly to hear them and relive her recently dissipated discontent with you

The rest of the family were already near the portkey with their arms full of baskets with offerings for your grandpa and the twins carrying some strange ornaments. Bill's sister Ginny greeted you with a smile, handing one of the baskets to her older brother. Molly and Arthur approached their children, both hanging on the opposite arm dressed in their best sunday clothes to make a good impression. You smiled without waiting for Bill's mother to smile back.

After the accident at Little Whinging Molly's rudeness disappeared. Not that she accepted you with open arms, but she stopped making bad comments and avoided looking at you in a bad way. Bill didn't know what Mad-Eye said to his mother that night when he told everyone how you had saved him knowing how much he owed you, but Bill didn't understand the size of the changing till he saw his mother offer you a piece of litchi pie the night after the attack when you were recovering from the wound. It was not that big of a deal really, but it had left you with a permanent smile on your face.

It was Molly herself who had taken the initiative to encourage Bill to fulfill the family tradition. If a Grant was going to come into their home as their son's wife then she should do it the way they knew. Her first piece of advice to her son was cutting his hair to a normal length. Bill was horrified by his mother's words cause he knew she was taking advantage of the moment to make him suffer with his precious mane. He did it anyway, because there wasn't anything in the world he wouldn't do for you

It was a drastic change, but it was worth it. Molly saw your eyes sparkle at the sight of her son so changed, with his hair cut short and his beard shaved. Your fingers danced over his face appreciating the effort Molly, not yet convinced of your influence at home, had made for you. Molly stifled a smile, unaware even to herself, that you were slowly beginning to win her heart.

You touched the shuttle at the same time falling precipitously in the sand and Harry helped you up with a smile. Then you walked straight appearing in front of a huge house that was sheltered by the foothills of the bubbling volcano on the other side of the island. The twins, like the rest of the family, let out an exclamation of astonishment as Ron, harried by the huge spiders hovering in the sand, ran for the door.

The smell of freshly cooked food escaped through the cracks in the door before it was opened. The twins' eyes widened as they recognized the delicious smell of cooked prawns and coconut sauce wafting over their heads. You knocked on the door three times, then stopped and resumed the knocking four more times. The Weasleys watched you, did you have a special code to communicate with each other?

"Come in" You gave way to them closing the door behind you and sealing it with an unknown spell. Bill waited for you at the threshold as his family was already making their way to the table where a very well dressed Tim Grant was waiting for them sitting in the main chair. Bill looked at him from his position, shaking “We still have time to run away” you joked “If you're not ready...”

“I am," he said confidently.

“Okay”

You both walked toward the dining room. Tim was greeting the rest of the family enthusiastically. Bill sighed. At least Tim seemed to get along with his parents, so that was good. They all filled a seat, with Tim occupying the head and Arthur the opposite end; Molly sat on Tim's right side and you sat on Mr. Weasley's right side. The twins, Ron, Harry and Ginny took the middle seats leaving Bill the only vacant spot on Tim's left side. Bill took a breath before taking the seat and receiving a curious look from the man.

“Ah, how wonderful is to have more people to fill the empty spaces! A table this big doesn't serve any purpose unless it's fully occupied, does it? That's what I always say!”

“Don't you usually get many visitors?” asked Molly, breaking the ice. Bill felt sweat trickle down his back. Tim guffawed, patting the back of Molly's hand on the table.

“I’m afraid so. I think that is cause I'm the only one crazy enough to live near an active volcano and my family's fame doesn't help me much either, I'm generally a lonely man. Most of the time it's frustrating, but I can deal with it. You are a big family from i can see, are they all yours, Arthur?”

“Only the redheads," he replied. You recognized in his tone of voice a slight pride “The other one is...”

“Harry Potter” Tim Grant's eyes sparkled with recognition. He looked at Harry with a smile, bowing his head to him in respect. Harry did the same “I know him. He's the guy who's been giving my brother headaches”

Tim's laughter echoed through the house being followed by the twins and you cleared your throat to get his attention. Tim spotted you from across the table waving his hand dismissively.

“Grandpa, please”

“A little joke to lighten the mood, my dear, oh, are these for me?” he questioned, bringing closer the baskets offered by the Weasleys resting on the table. Bill's basket was in front of him waiting to be properly delivered, so he stood up and did as he should. Tim Grant gladly received it, complimenting the selection they had made “What a cute boy, did you see him, dear,? he's gone red!”

You let out a chuckle, nodding at your grandfather's words. Bill's face was flushed as he returned to his spot and looked down at his hands. Tim guffawed again and banged the table.

“I appreciate the gifts, Arthur, I've never been part of a tradition like this before”

“It was important for my son and the rest of us to do it, to introduce ourselves properly”

“Sure! It's what a family with honor does. I'm not surprised. No, not at all. The Weasleys were in the book of the sacred twenty-eight for a long time until they were struck off the list. Tell me, that was quite a blow, wasn't it?”

“Not so much, my family has never cared about that sort of thing”

“Of course! It never did, I could see it up close. Did you know I was friends with your grandmother, Lysandra Yaxley?”

Arthur's eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Really. My family also once belonged to the most important pureblood families until I was born, of course. Lysandra and I became friends because her family also got kicked off the list when Cedrella, your mother, married your father Septimus Weasley. Even your grandfather Arcturus was removed from the Black family tree which was an embarrassment for him being that the ancestral Black family is too proud and such. Anyway, that's part of life, right? Creating new families, bringing people together...”

“Was your family always purebloods?” Fred asked. Tim shook his head

“It was. As I mentioned, before I made my appearance in this world”

“Why?”

Tim was suddenly silent. You scanned your grandfather's face waiting for an answer. Dinner plates flew in from the kitchen and positioned themselves at each guest's place setting while a huge chocolate fountain was set up in the center accompanied by a plate overflowing with assorted fruit. The baskets took a turn and took a place on your grandpa's shelves. Tim sighed, looking at the Weasleys asking to begin dinner.

“I’m the son of a witch, but not of a pure blood wizard”

“Don't you and Lord Voldemort share the same father?”

“Harry...”

”It's all right, Molly, I can answer that” Tim rubbed his chin, thinking “I understand your concern boy, being hide here doesn't make me ignorant to what's going on out there and I know better than anyone what you're going through. You need weapons against my brother and you do well. Tom is a big threat, a very big threat indeed. You're right, Tom and I don't share a father, but that doesn't make him any less my brother.

“I think we're straying from the subject that brought us here” mentioned Arthur feeling a sudden warmth. You supported him, but Tim continued to speak

“I was the son of Merope Gaunt and Aleister Grant. My father was a famous son, grandson and great-grandson of brilliant alchemists, and unsurprisingly he was one himself. Merope Gaunt was... a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin and a Parselmouth. She had a brother named Morfin and my grandfather was Sorvolo Gaunt. My parents met when the Gaunts had just moved to Little Hangleton after their exile and needed a place to stay. They became the owners of a squalor ridden shack on the edge of town and well, my father was a young alchemist who lived near the Gaunt abode”

You sipped from your wine glass as you listened to your grandfather speak. Never, even with the rest of the family, had he ever struck such a chord as he was doing with the Weasleys. The truth was that you didn't understand why he was telling them all that, however, you weren’t interested in interrupting the story as you knew your grandfather had a purpose with him.

“Those of us who are dedicated to alchemy have never enjoyed an enviable reputation because our transmutation abilities are mostly underestimated by the things that magic in general can produce and it makes a science like alchemy reserved for muggles in their attempt to approach the power that the wizards possess. Personally I think there is something right about that, precisely cause the transmutation in the Muggle world is divided into subjects they taught in schools like chemistry or physics, but alchemy goes beyond that, it’s a connection between the wizard and the spirituality that each one possesses...” the man's gaze was lost in a place at the table, pausing the story. Harry settled back on the seat waiting for him to continue “But it's very difficult to erase the deep-rooted ideas about it, so the best is ignore that and continue doing what we believe is right. Anyway, ah! I got off topic, didn't I? Okay, okay, well my parents ended up meeting and my father fell in love with my mother as fast as my socks get cold at night, but that infatuation wasn’t well regarded by my uncle and even less by my grandfather, of course, for the fame of the alchemists at the time”

“So what happened?” you asked. Tim smiled at you, taking a bite of the rye bread on his plate.

“My mother was treated worse than a house- elf by her father and Morfin, so she decided to run away with my father to France where he had several alchemist friends who could protect them. The Gaunts might have been exiled, but they were still dangerous and to be honest I think my father was terribly afraid of uncle Morfin. They eventually made it to France, but they encountered an infamous muggle who tried to hurt my mother”

Everyone stopped eating to pay attention to Tim as he drank his third glass of wine. You thought that your grandfather wouldn't even be able to stand up by the end of the night.

“He was known as Gilles De Rais. He was a sadistic muggle who tried to become a wizard even though he wasn't born a wizard and used my father to tell him secrets of alchemy. One night they were having a conversation when my father revealed him that there were certain amounts of gold in people's bodies. Gold is a very valuable component, as you already know, so the man's greed didn’t take long to show itself and he questioned my dad how it could be obtained. My father told him that the only way to obtain the gold was by draining the blood and dividing it with a very complicated procedure, however, the gold of an ordinary adult was quite scarce. The real wealth was in the blood of children of no more than ten years old because they possessed a great amount of gold and other components that could be transmuted into riches. The muggle did so, and when he learned that my mother was a real witch, he wanted to know if golden blood ran through her veins, which would make him richer than he already was. My father refused, and decided to leave the place before he hurt us, because they knew she was already pregnant. The muggle went mad and unleashed in him a fury that spread throughout France”

The Weasley twins chorused an astonished murmur as the others moved up to the table so as not to miss a word of the story. You sent a glance at Bill as he hadn't stopped sweating and going over his words all evening.

"They wanted to go back to Little Hangleton but my uncle and grandfather were still in a rage waiting to see them arrive, so my father sent my mother alone while he found another place to stay as he could not expose her to the cold streets of France while on standby, so they had no choice but to leave her with her family avoiding revealing my existence to them. Uncle Morfin didn’t want my mother back, but my grandfather convinced him because they needed someone to take care of the house and their needs. Time passed, my father didn’t come back and I was born in the garden of the house while my mother watered the plants”

“My birth was a surprise to everyone because my mother knew how to hide me well until my father's arrival but, as that didn't happen, I couldn't stand it any longer and made my triumphant appearance on my grandfather's favorite bushes. Uncle Morfin was furious and even tried to get rid of me immediately, but my mother clung to me like a lioness.

“Really?”

“Really," he replied with a broad smile, "I think a part of her was still holding on to my father showing up at some point and getting us out of there, but again that didn't happen. Mom had to endure her brother and father's abuse for me and that's a debt I can never repay”

The whole table fell silent, thinking. Dinner continued as a heavy thunderstorm rumbled overhead, accompanying old Tim Grant's story as if it were yesterday. The man paused to eat and the others did the same with no desire to miss a word. Harry's eyes sparkled in wonder and Mr. Weasley's strong hand on yours helped to soothe your fervent anguish.

“I guess that's what mothers do, isn't it? Anyway, the years passed and I had to live under uncle Morfin's shadow and at the mercy of his growing wrath. When I turned five I started helping the market men with their chores in exchange for a couple of pounds which we had to exchange later for galleons and sickles to survive for two weeks. Mom helped bring money into the house, but it wasn't enough. Then, at seven, the Dream Messengers showed up one night telling me I was required to study at the Uagadou magical college in Africa so I couldn't refuse”

“Wait, Uagadou takes students from the age of seven?”

“Oh I see," the man settled back in his chair, wiping the corners of his lips with a napkin as he stared at Ron, "I forgot that the rest of the magical schools aren't very well known around here, are they? Well, yes, some schools take in very young students as is the case with Uagadou or the Japanese school. It depends a lot on the traditions in each region i guess, because in the African school they select only descendants of alchemists or who have had at least someone in their bloodline whose spirituality helped them to become one. It wasn't all as easy as that, of course, because each student had to pass a test before having a permanent stay, but....

“What kind of test?” Harry questioned when dinner was over and they start dessert. The twins were the first to help themselves a piece of fruit, playing with the chocolate fountain in the center of the table.

“One that only wizards with alchemist ancestry could pass, Mr. Potter. I passed the test so I had no choice but to move to the castle immediately. I didn't want to leave my mother alone, but she convinced me to do it. Going to Uagadou was a great opportunity for me and for her cause it meant I could follow in my father's footsteps” Tim's face suddenly darkened as he pushed away the overflowing plate of fruit Molly offered him. He folded his hands on the table and thought for a long moment. The twins continued to play with the chocolate fountain but a fierce look from their mother made them stop. Then Tim Grant sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow with the handkerchief on his coat “I regret that decision to this day. I could have gone to Hogwarts like any other wizard, but I suppose my ambition got the better of me. Maybe... if I hadn't left Little Hangleton she never would have met Tom Riddle”

You tensed as you felt the pressure of Mr. Weasley's hand on yours a little too tightly. One glance at the others was enough to understand the dread the name struck their nerves. You even caught a glimpse of the hiss on Molly's lips and saw the sting in Harry's scar. Tim let out a chuckle, taking another drink from his wine glass.

“My brother’s father. I didn't hear from him until a couple of years later, when my mother wrote to me saying that uncle Morfin was in Azkaban and that my grandfather had died. She didn't give me many details, however, she did very vaguely mention the presence of a muggle who was quite striking to her. For better or worse, my mother was already forgetting my father, believing that he had abandoned her or, at worst, that he had dropped dead somewhere in France. I didn't believe the same, but it was logical that she got tired of waiting. I would never have grown tired, at least not having loved the way they did”

Your gaze rolled to meet Bill's eyes as he looked back at you. He smiled at you, causing you to blush. Then you both looked back at your grandpa who was sipping a new glass of wine.

“It was a couple more years before I stopped hearing from my family. Mom never wrote again and with uncle Morfin in Azkaban there was nothing that could be done. When I was eleven i returned to Little Hangleton only to find that my mother had married Tom Riddle, got pregnant and he had thrown her out on the street like a dog. She was left with nothing, unable to return to her father’s old house, and was forced to wander in the streets for months, until one rainy december night she went into labor in the middle of an alley. I helped her as much as I could, dragged her to the door of an orphanage where my mother no longer even had the strength to save the three of us. She had her wand in her hand, but she never used it. She gave up in front of me, the baby was born and asked me to name him after his father. She put him in my arms, the door of the orphanage opened, but mother had already died”

“Grandpa-”

“As you can understand, it's kind of hard for me to remember all that," Tim Grant's reddened eyes closed, choking back tears, "I was just a little kid taking care of a baby and I didn't do my best job of raising him. I was upset with my mother for a long time after she died, but I don't judge her now. After living an almost totally miserable life, my mother had no hope and not enough courage to make her want to keep trying, even for the sake of her newborn son. That decision had a considerably negative impact on Tom's psyche as he was growing up I suppose cause I had to go back to school and I couldn't take him with me, I would have! Of course I would have. I tried, but Tom wasn’t descended from any alchemist and there was nothing I could do about that. I tried, Merlin knows I did. I felt the need to leave him in that orphanage. I visited him whenever I could. For a year I went back and forth from continent to continent to see him, but that wasn't enough for Tom to grow up feeling loved. Orphanage life is hard, dear friends, we shouldn’t judge others too harshly, much less a lonely mother” Tim Grant's irritated eyes were fixed on Harry, reflecting deep pain “She was weakened by her long suffering and she never had Lily Evans’ courage. Everyone sacrifices for those they love in different ways, and my mother did it in her own way”

“Why didn't you ever talk about this?” you asked from across the table. Everyone looked at you “when dad asked you so-”

“Your father didn't need any more reasons to support Tom's follies” Tim shook his head “My brother is a very convincing person not only with his family members but with anyone who gets in the way of his plans. He has a very affiliated serpentine tongue, he inherited the gift of gab from our ancestors and your father grew up under his influence”

“We're very sorry for what you had to go through, Tim, but there's nothing that can be done about you-know-who and all that's left for us to do is to fight him”

“I understand, Arthur, but that doesn't stop me from blame myself. I did what I could, but an eleven-year-old can't take the place of his parents. When I graduated from school and wanted to take care of him Tom was already at Hogwarts and completely disappeared from everyone's eye," he lamented, scrunching his eyelids together, "That was the last time I saw him as the real Tom and not the ghastly grayish mass he is now”

The twins and Ron laughed at the comment and were immediately silenced by their father. Tim scrunched up his eyes, took a breath and let out a laugh looking around the room.

“Well, enough whining, that's not what you guys are here for, is it?” Bill, that had kept silent, denied when the man turned to see him, "What's done is done, and lamenting won't do any good, but I hope that what I've just told you will help you to see Tom's human side if he still has it, which I doubt it very much”

“Thank you, sir”

“You're welcome, Harry, dear, well? What was you wanted to tell me, my boy?”

Tim Grant turned his full body towards Bill, almost climbing up on the table fixing his huge opaque eyes on Bill's. Bill held his gaze noticing that the man was drunk since the beginning of the evening. He looked to you for help, but you were too busy watching Mrs. Weasley's reaction to hearing the reason for your visit.

“Come on, boy, don't be shy”

“I... well, I wanted to-”

“Oh, Arthur, your son is so cute!” he shouted as he squeezed Bill's cheeks. His brothers and Harry laughed and even Molly hid a mischievous smile by putting a piece of apricot in her mouth “Poor frightened boy. But, come on! I'm not going to make it harder for you, I know you're here to ask for my granddaughter's hand in marriage, aren't you?”

“Yes, that's right, sir”

“Well, that's a great gesture of you, but this is a job for (Y/N)’s parents”

“It is, but you understand that under such circumstances we couldn't pay a courtesy visit to the Death Eaters," Arthur interjected with an amused smile.

“Indeed”

“So...”.

“So..." repeated Tim. You sighed, "You love my granddaughter?

“Yes, sir”

“How much?”

“A lot”

“Are you going to protect her, take care of her, and love her?”

“With my life, sir”

“Your life is not enough for me, William” Tim smiled at him, tapping Bill's chin with one of his fingers “My granddaughter is still a Grant, descended from very powerful wizards. My hand will not tremble to revenge the suffering you put her through, am i being clear?”

“Y-yes, sir. Crystal clear”

“Good boy," he replied, patting his cheek. Then he turned to Molly, took her hand and kissed the back of it, giving her a beautiful smile. The woman blushed, but it didn't last long because the man turned to her husband and bowed his head in respect. Arthur pressed your hand on the table and also kissed the back of your hand, making a promise “Well, then. Arthur, your son has my blessing to marry my granddaughter”

Mr. Weasley raised his glass, offering it to Tim.

“Thank you, Tim. We promise to take care for (Y/N) as a member of our family”

“I hope so." The man rested his chin on his hands, watching the huge smile form on your lips and kissing Arthur's cheek. He turned to Molly lightly patting her shoulder offering her a sweet roll which she accepted with a giggle “It's nice to see you accepting my (Y/N) so well” Molly wrinkled her nose “Since who she is and coming from a family as complicated as ours...it was hard for me to believe that someone from the outside could fall in love with her someday. I always knew my little girl was different from everyone” Tim's brown irises clouded over. Molly fell silent “You could put her in a basket of rotten apples and she'd make them blossom, so I'm glad to hear you've taken her in as one of yours. Being a Grant is a very complicated task, i never had a problem with people speaking shit about me, i was never ashamed to be recognized as Lord Voldemort's brother, but my yoke should not fall on my granddaughter” Molly Weasley listened carefully “I have always been a faithful supporter of being judged individually and not by the others actions, that would be like punishing children for their parents mistakes, wouldn't it? That wouldn't be fair and it wouldn't make us any less guilty than my brother, isn't that what he’s doing? Punishing Muggle-born wizards just because they weren't born under Merlin's blessing? I like you, Molly, I know you understand.

A pain in her chest made her look down, embarrassed. But then Tim lifted her chin at just the right moment for her to catch the moment her son rose from his place to walk over to you and lock you in a breath-stealing hug. Arthur was at your side watching you and then his attention focused on his wife giving her a beaming smile, the kind she hadn't seen in a long time. Even the rest of their children had joined in the celebration and Harry rose to congratulate you while you and Bill happily sealed your engagement with a kiss. Tim moved Molly's chin towards him, their gazes colliding.

“Yes," Molly whispered, "I understand.

“Good” Tim let out a laugh, pulling away from Molly to toast. The woman watched you as she smiled thinly ”Then my story was useful somehow”

Tag list:

@purple-vodka-99

@vampirestrawberries

@accio-remus-lupin

@pennyllanne

#bill weasley #bill weasley imagine #bill weasley x reader #harry potter imagine #harry potter cast #Harry Potter imagines #fred weasley imagines #domhnall gleeson #domhnall gleeson x reader #domhnall gleeson imagine #hogwarts

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smol-and-grumpy · 4 years ago

Text

Legally Yours - Ch. 26

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Dean Winchester tops the list of hottest entrepreneurs 2020 and yet, there’s still something he wants but can’t have because, in order to get that, he would have to settle down and get married. She agrees too quickly because she wants to secure a more comfortable life for her and her daughter. Will she be able to help Dean get what he wants without losing herself in the fake story they spin up to deceive his father and the world?

Chapter Warnings: We’re still at the angst, because someone’s obviously still an idiot. We also might detect some jealousy.

WC: 4214

Beta’d by: @deanwanddamons <3

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Five days later, she’s sitting in her kitchen, job application website open on her laptop while Bobby’s at work and Olivia’s at school.

The first night was hard on the girl. Olivia crawled into bed with her, spinning up tales that she missed her toys they left at Dean’s but she is sure that a part of the little girl’s heart is aching for Dean because hers is too.

Y/N hasn’t heard from him and it took everything in her not to shoot him a message and ask him how he’s doing. She’s fairly certain that if she would choose to go down that road, she’ll get weak and that’s against the new rule that she’s set up for herself in order to protect herself and her family.

Donna sent her a text when she arrived back at her old apartment, asking how her honeymoon was going and when Y/N told her that she’s back, Donna offered to come over. They sat around the tiny kitchen table with boxed wine between them, drinking and talking. Yeah, boxed wine. Over are the days of cheap bottles. Well, she reckons she could afford it with the money from the marriage contract but she’d rather not as she has a future to think about.

She didn’t sulk, didn’t allow herself to. She needed to be strong for Olivia and keep it all together. Her friend parted with a promise to help her find a man who she deserved. She only smiled. Couldn’t find it in her heart to say that she’s not looking for a man, that she thinks that Dean’s ruined her for all other men, that she’s most likely destined to be alone forever. At least she has Liv, and honestly, that’s all that counts. God, she’s so glad to have that little girl. She would have been broken beyond repair if it wasn't for Liv.

While she touches up her CV at the kitchen table where she poured her heart out to Donna the evening before, her phone starts to buzz next to her. Her heart jumps. She hates the buzz of her phone because she’ll always think that it could be Dean and when it’s not him, she will always feel so deflated. Somehow, she’s okay with the situation but a little part of her still hopes that he would change his mind and come back to her.

This time it’s no different when she looks at her phone. If anything, it’s even worse. Sam’s calling.

She debates on not picking up but decides that she has to because he’s probably calling about the annulment. It’s really the only thing left that keeps her tied to Dean on a contractual level, and after she signs that, it’s like the marriage never existed.

“Sam?”

“Yeah, uh, hi, Y/N,” The man can be heard on the other end. A little breath leaves him, and she can imagine that he’s smiling. Ever the friendly Sam. She can’t lie, she misses him too.

“You’re calling about the annulment?” She gets straight to the point. There’s really no point in stretching this out unnecessarily.

“Um, actually no. Dean’s not really talkative and he’s not going to sign it.”

“What do you mean he’s not going to sign it?” She doesn’t understand, has a hard time wrapping her head around it. Why did Dean still want to be married to her when she walked away from him? There’s no point in pretending anymore and she has made up her mind. The only way she’s going is forward and not back. She wants to move on.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s only been back two days, I need time to talk him through it. We should have the annulment finalized by Monday, I promise.”

“I trust you,” She says into the receiver, because she does. If someone can talk sense into Dean, it will probably be Sam. “How is he?”

“Do you want to hear the truth or do you want me to lie to make you feel better?”

“Lie.”

“He’s doing great.”

“That’s good.”

Sam snorts, “Well, I knew you'd feel better if you knew that he’s doing okay without you.”

“You’re right. I don’t want him to feel bad but somehow I also want him to, you understand?”

A burst of laughter rumbles on the other end, “I know,” Sam replies, “He’s a gigantic dick, Y/N. I think he knows that and he’s beating himself up for it. He’s been back at work for two days and according to Rowena, it’s hell. He doesn’t talk to anyone and if he opens his mouth, it’s to shout at people.”

“Wow, he’s coping well.”

The man laughs again, “Dean’s never been good at taking rejections. He’ll get over it, eventually. Someday. Maybe. Well,” Sam pauses and exhales loudly, “Tell you the truth, I don’t think he’ll get over it. I’ve never seen him like this and it scares me, hence me calling you.”

Y/N feels sorry for him. And there she thought that she was miserable without him. Somehow it gives her a little satisfaction to know that he’s doing just as bad, if not worse. Can anyone blame her to feel like this?

“I’m not going to go back to him just so that he’ll stop being an ass to other people.”

“That’s not what I was going to ask you about.”

“Ah, why beat around the bush, Sam. What is it?”

Sam sighs, “Okay, as you might know, Dean hasn’t told anyone that you two broke up.”

“Why am I not surprised?” She hopes Sam can feel through the phone how hard she’s rolling her eyes right now.

“Shush,” Sam scolds and continues before she can say sorry for interrupting him, “He has a charity gala to attend tonight, and it would be great if you would accompany him.”

The bark of laughter that leaves her mouth is hard to hold back, “You what?”

Sam’s not laughing, “I mean it, Y/N. He’s not doing great and he has to attend. Technically you are still his wife and you have a contract, so..”

“Oh, please, don’t come at me with a contract, Sam. Dean told me that I’m allowed to walk away. He said that he doesn’t need me to get the shares. He wasn’t the one stopping me when I walked out on him, so tell me, why should I do this? Why should I pretend when I don’t have to anymore?”

“Because you still care about him,”

Sam’s answer is a hit to her heart. She does. She cares so fucking much but also, that means that she’s not going to give in because it’s time to put herself first. She can’t hold herself together for Olivia’s sake when there’s nobody backing her up. She won’t go through this again.

Of course Sam’s on Dean’s side. He’s friendly to her but if Sam would have to pick sides, it would always be Dean’s.

“I’m sorry,” She says, her voice shaking a little. No, she’s not going to cry. Not again. Not anymore.

“Okay,” Sam relents too easily, “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“No, I can’t. Dean’s lucky to have you as a friend.” She means it.

“I’ll come to see you as soon as Dean signs the papers, Y/N.”

“Thank you.”

“Take care of yourself and Olivia, okay? And tell me if you need anything.”

“I will, Sam. Thanks.”

“Goodbye, Y/N.”

She hangs up before she can say goodbye. The phone drops onto the table and she’s back to burying her face into her arms as she sobs.

For the next five weeks, Y/N tries to avoid looking at tabloids pages, instead, concentrating on Olivia and helping to ease the little girl back into her old environment.

Of course there have been texts from Donna telling her that there’s no news from Dean, at least not with another woman. She knows that she shouldn’t care about it, because if he wants to date again, it’s his right, but somehow, she can’t help but feel the pinpricks in her heart. It’s not something bad but something good because it keeps her hopes alive for a while. After she was reluctant to answer Donna's text about Dean in the first two weeks, her friend has decided that she doesn’t want to update Y/N anymore. Which is also fine with her. The less she’s reminded of Dean, the quicker it will be to get over him.

She snorts out a laugh at that thought. Yeah, right.

Bobby has been weird the last two weeks too. He went out to meetings, saying it has something to do with his union but she knows that he doesn’t even have a union so she really doesn’t have any explanation for the two to three times the man went AWOL when he should be home but again, it’s nothing that should worry her. Bobby is still young enough to have his own life. She guesses that it has to do with a new lady friend maybe. Maybe Bobby’s being cautious too, maybe he doesn’t want her and Olivia to know when things aren’t steady with the two. She couldn’t blame him for thinking like that.

Tonight is the first time in over a month that she feels comfortable enough to leave the security of her own home. Perhaps Donna has something to do with it, begging her to finally go out and face the world, and Y/N can’t lie that Donna’s not right. It’s time to face it like a grown-up. She can’t be buried in her four walls forever. She eventually has to go out and socialize. She’s been going out a lot for interviews but that’s about it. No company has called her back yet, though. Thankfully, she still has more than enough money to get by.

As soon as she arrives at The Roadhouse and Donna sees her, the woman is quick to be by her side, “I have a surprise for you!”

“Oh no,” Y/N rolls her eyes, “I hate surprises.”

“It’s not bad, I just thought, you know,”

“Donna,” She warns her friend. Somehow, she doesn’t like where this discussion is going.

“There’s this guy, I invited him. He’s nice, so be nice, okay? He’s not going to be the love of your life, I know that too but you should put yourself out there, just a drink, okay? It will broaden up your horizon, maybe get your ex-husband out of your mind for a little bit.”

Jesus, Donna’s talking a mile a minute. She barely understands what the woman is raving on about.

“What?”

“There,” Donna pulls her close, points a finger to the booth where Garth is sitting with someone whose back is turned to her.

“Oh, Donna, no!”

“Why, Donna yes!” The blonde exclaims cheerily before placing her hands on Y/N shoulders and pushing her towards the booth. “His name is Cubbie.”

“Cub-what?”

“It’s a nickname, Y/N.”

“If that’s the nickname I don’t wanna know about his real name.”

“Cuthbert. Cuthbert Sinclair, if you wanna know. He’s a magician.”

“That’s great. Super.” Y/N groans and turns around towards the exit but Donna’s hand is firm around her shoulders, guiding her back to where Garth is already standing up to make room for her.

“Hey, Cubbie! This is Y/N, the woman I talked to you about.” Donna’s all smiles and somehow, Y/N’s hand itches to hurt her friend.

“I’m Y/N,” She says then. The only way is forward now.

Cubbie, still what a fucking weird name, stands up and his hands immediately go to her arms and pulls her closer to press a wet kiss on her cheek.

Ew. Oh no, this won’t end well.

Reluctantly she sits down, wonders how long she has to sit here until she can get up and leave without being too rude.

She lets him buy her a drink and he orders fries to share between them while they talk. It’s not exactly bad but they just share small talk about the weather and where they’re from.

“So, you’re a magician?” She tries to sound like she’s interested, wanting to get into the deeper conversational territory.

“Yeah,” Cubbie reaches over and strokes her hair behind her ear and when he sits back up, he shows her the coin that he apparently pulled out of her, a bright smile dotes his face. She does her best to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

“Good god,” She exclaims and the man laughs.

He goes on to tell her about magic, which she again, has no interest in listening to. Jesus, the man can talk. While she debates on maybe hurting herself with a toothpick to have a fucking reason to get out, Cubbie excuses himself to go to the bathroom but before he goes, he leans down next to her, “How about we’re doing a little disappearing act, huh?”

“Oh god,” She huffs out but Cubbie doesn’t get her blatant disinterest. He just smiles at her.

“Think about it, I’ll be right back.”

Good riddance, is what she wants to say but doesn’t. Instead, she smiles a faux smile.

While he’s gone, she takes out her phone, shooting Bobby a text that she’ll probably won’t be that long when he feels someone is taking a seat in the booth opposite of her.

“Back alread—”

The word won’t come out because it’s not Cubbie who’s sitting across from her but Dean.

He has a cap on his head, is dressed casually in a black t-shirt underneath a blue plaid shirt. There are faint black circles under his eyes. He has shaved off his beard but from the length of the stubble, she can tell that he’s in the process of growing it out again.

“C’mon, Y/N, seriously? That guy?” He asks, sounding offended, and honestly, it’s not what she really wants the first thing out his mouth to be after not being on speaking terms for over a month.

“It’s none of your business, Dean.” She snaps at him.

“You’re right. It isn’t.” He agrees, “What is he? An accountant?”

“He has a name and he’s a magician.”

Dean barks out a laugh and even though it’s mean, she can’t help but smirk with him.

“His name is Cubbie.” She adds, which earns another hearty laugh from Dean.

“Cubbie the magician?” He cocks an eyebrow.

“I don’t know if he has a stage name,” Y/N shrugs, “He asked me if I wanna do a disappearing act with him.”

“Oh, he will disappear, alright,” Dean growls angrily.

She can’t read him. Why is he here, why is he crashing her blind date? So she asks, “Dean, what is this? Why are you here?”

“I’m here every week to see if you’ll be here.”

“You know that there are phones, right?”

“Would you have answered the phone if I called?” He challenges her and she holds his gaze. He’s right, she probably wouldn’t, even if she was hoping that he’d call but she doesn’t think that she would have picked it up because she doesn’t know if her heart can take what he’s going to tell her over the phone. “Yeah, I thought so. How’s Olivia?”

“She’s good. She enjoys being back at school. She’s going on a field trip in two weeks and I think I’m going to go along to chaperone.”

Honestly, Y/N has no idea why she’s telling him that. Why she easily falls into a conversion with him about little things. But it feels easy, it feels like meeting an old friend. Someone where she can just pick up where they left off, even if they haven’t seen each other for a long time. Dean was her friend, she can’t deny that, and she guesses the reason why she feels at ease is that her heart can’t forget it either.

“I can do that, too,” Dean suggests without even thinking twice.

“Dean, she’s none of your concern, we’re fine without you.” Her words might be too harsh but he needs a reminder that not everything revolves around him.

“Great.” He mumbles as Cubbie comes back from the bathroom. The poor guy stands there and is a little irritated by Dean’s presence.

“You ready to leave?” Cubbie asks, straight up ignoring Dean’s presence and she has to give him that. It takes balls. Dean’s not someone who can be ignored. He’s tall and broad and yeah, awfully good looking.

She stands up, nodding her head. Even if she has no intention of going anywhere with Cubbie, she also knows that she can’t stay here with Dean.

When she walks away, Dean holds her back by her wrist. The touch of him is almost too much to bear and she stills, has to close her eyes as she tries to breathe evenly.

“You’re leaving with him? Seriously?”

Opening her eyes to look at the source of the voice, she can clearly see the irritation on Dean’s face.

Pulling her hand from his hold, she brings it close to her chest, fearing that she’d reach out if she let her heart decide over her mind, “It’s none of your business, Dean. You had your chance but you blew it. I’m trying to move on.”

Dean stands up too and he’s close. The warmth radiates from him. Her body betrays her a little, sways a little closer to him. Cubbie is a couple of steps ahead but he stalls and looks back, waiting for her to follow him out. She wants to, she really does, it’s just so hard to move when the magnetic pull of Dean wraps itself around her.

“Now, say it again a little more convincingly. Make me believe it.” Dean demands with a gruff voice while he crosses his arms over his chest, his palms nearly disappearing into his armpits, as if he too, has to resist reaching out to touch her again when it’s not what she wants.

How is it possible that he still can read her like a book? It’s not fucking fair.

She narrows her eyes, staring him down. “You’re an ass, Dean.” She hisses and pushes out of the door, past Cubbie. When she’s out, she flags down a cab and gets in. Only when the driver rounds the street of the first block does she realize that she left Cubbie at the bar. Great. Now the act with her leaving the bar with some date is even less convincing to Dean.

God, she’s a failure.

“You know he still cares deeply about you, right?” Donna flops down on Y/N’s worn out couch with a bottle of beer in hand and Y/N walks over to join her friend with her glass of red wine.

The incident at the bar in which Dean had held a metaphorical pissing competition against an oblivious Cubbie was four days ago. Almost a distant memory. She hasn’t heard from the magician, but also it’s not really surprising since they didn’t even exchange their numbers and Donna has not mentioned him again. At least there’s that.

She frowns for a moment, “Cubbie? He barely knows me.”

Her friend rolls her eyes to the back and takes a pull at the bottle, “Dean, dummy!”

“Yeah, well, he has a hell of a way of showing it.” She grumbles, burying her face into her goblet and tips it back to take a big gulp.

Donna admitted after the incident that she watched them with amusement. Poor Cubbie was standing there lost and sulked away on his own. Apparently, Dean grinned brightly, and god, just the image of him being so joyful and cocky about her misery makes her want to smack him across the face. But for that, she would have to see him again, which she won’t. Nope. Not going there. She can’t move on when he keeps popping up.

“You don’t see it, do you?” Donna tilts her head that’s resting on the back of the old faded sofa, cocking her eyebrow as she asks.

“See what?” Y/N eyebrows match her friend’s.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N!” Donna huffs out, followed by a giggle. Okay, the woman should definitely not drink any more beer, also since tomorrow is Monday and she has to work. Y/N for her part, is still struggling with finding a job that would keep her head above water. She’s debating on taking two lesser paid jobs but then again, there would be no time left to spend with Liv and since she’s making Liv her priority, she keeps on searching. The blonde lays her hand on Y/N’s thigh, squeezes it, “He’s so fucking in love.”

With knitted eyebrows, she glares at her friend. Dean? In love? Has that been obvious? She shakes her head, “That’s not what he told me,”

Her friend sits up straight and turns to her before taking a big swig of her beer and slams it onto the coffee table. Y/N gets irritated, shushes her friend with a nudge of her elbow. Liv is sleeping next door, and Donna usually knows that she has to be fucking quiet.

“Oops,” Donna says with a shrug, and they both freeze to listen if Liv has woken up because of the noise. When they don’t hear a sound, they both breathe out in relief. Yeah, there’s no chance Donna will get another beer from her tonight. The blonde grins at her. A grin that spells mischief, “Have you ever thought that Dean Winchester, a guy who’s never been in love might not know how it feels to be in love? Have you ever thought that he might be so fucking gone on you and tries to identify his feelings but he can’t because he doesn’t fucking knows what it is?”

God, Donna talks a mile a minute and Y/N’s brain is having trouble catching on and processing.

Her friend pauses to wriggle her eyebrows at her but otherwise, Donna doesn’t say anything because she waits until it settles.

Memories of the last day on the beach flashed in her mind. She recalls him asking her how she knows when you love someone and her answer was you just know.

Could it be that he was struggling then already? He probably was but she was too deep in her own mind that she didn’t really notice.

“No,” She answers.

“No, what?” Donna asks.

“No, I have never thought that he doesn’t know how it feels to be in love. But I mean, he’s loved his mother, right? He loves Sam to a certain extent. He’s a grown ass man. He should know how he fucking feels.”

“My god, your skull is thicker than I thought.” Donna rolls her eyes dramatically. “Loving a parent is not the same as loving a partner, duh! And with Sam. There’s the bro thing, I guess? They love each other but it’s just all caveman-esque grunting and a lot of back-slapping involved. It’s how I love you,”

“You love me while you grunt and slap my back?”

“Shut up!” Donna laughs, “Anyway, where was I...oh! Yes. Listen, Y/N, maybe you’ve been too harsh on him. I mean, yeah, of course, you have Liv to care about but don’t tell me that Liv was heartbroken when you brought her back to this place.”

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth in thought. When she snaps out of it, she tips her wine glass back and empties it in one go.

Her friend watches her, pauses to let the things she said sink in. God, she doesn’t know why Donna’s only talking about Dean now. It’s been what? Almost two months. Where was Donna when she needed that kinda talk at the beginning when she left Dean? Donna was always here, her mind says, you just didn’t want to burden anyone and you thought that you could manage everything on your own.

“Fact is, Y/N. I’ve never seen him like this. He barely goes out, even if he’s invited to events. The gossip sites avoid him because he became a grump while picking up fights with photographers, and don’t even get me started on the last TV appearance where he only gave short, snappish answers, making the stupidly hot interviewer very uncomfortable. A couple of months ago, he would have charmed the woman and they probably would have fucked when the producer yelled cut.”

“How do you know they didn’t?” She asks, and she doesn’t even know why she asks because the thought of him hooking up and going back to being his old self does make her feel a little uncomfortable and admittedly, jealous.

“Honestly? Maybe because the interviewer told a tabloid that she refuses to interview Dean again because he’s a dick.”

“Well, he is a dick, she’s right.” She says drily, and she’s standing behind her opinion, it’s just now that Donna has said all those things that it makes her really wonder if she’s been too harsh to Dean. Maybe he just needed more time to figure out what he was feeling. But again, it’s too late now, isn’t it?

Ch. 27

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

#legally yours #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x you #dean x reader #dean x you #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fan fic #dean winchester fan fiction #nathalie writes

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moonlit-imagines · 4 years ago

Text

Headcanons for being Tony Stark’s stepkid

Tony Stark x Potts!child!reader

warnings: alcohol mention

a/n: i rushed these so bad i just wanted to post dhhshsnsna

prompt: y/n is pepper’s kiddo!

it was just you and your mom for a long time

pepper and y/n potts

she couldn’t keep up with you sometimes, too busy dealing with the manchild that was mister anthony edward stark

speaking of—

“uh, who’s this?” -tony, pointing at you

“mr. stark, i am so sorry, the school closed because some kid set fire to the science lab and i didn’t have time to find a sitter—”

“no, it’s fine, no need to apologize. hey, kid, you wanna sit in the boss’s chair? i’ll let you run the company for the day!” *cue you nodding* “sweet, would you mind that, ms. potts?”

“oh? no, not at all” *mouthing* “thank you”

“so, uh, what’s your name? no, don’t tell me: ketchup.”

*giggling* “y/n”

“no way! that was my second guess!”

tony wasn’t used to being around kids

he had no idea that he was actually kind of good around them

despite a few minor hiccups

“you sit in my chair and im gonna spin you around, sound like fun?”

he spun you around WAY too fast and you were diiiiizzy, also you fell off the chair

“don’t tell your mom that we did that. she may be my assistant, but she scares the shit out of me. also, don’t say ‘shit’”

dude he just thought you were a cool kid!!!

“hey, you know, ms. potts, you dont really need to hire a babysitter anymore. y/n’s doing just fine hanging out here”

“how am i not surprised you befriended an actual child?”

she still took him up on his offer, you seemed pretty happy

when your mom worked late, you passed out in tonys office

tony and you had your own little secrets (like falling off the spinning chair), tony showed you around stark tower, and you practically lived there

“i got you a happy meal from mcdonalds!” -tony every day after your school

in all honesty, you weren’t the “popular” kid at school...not even close

but tony made up for it

“y/n! i found this old racecar toy in a box of old stuff, you wanna hold onto it for me?”

you kind of grew up in stark tower tbh? it was pretty cool

and as you grew up, you started to notice more

“mr. tony, do you have a crush on my mom?”

“do i what? no, no, i do—who the hell am i kidding? you caught me”

“called it!”

after that you did everything to try and get them together

when your mom was talking to tony, you would stand behind her and wiggle your eyebrows and just taunt tony endlessly

no! tony cannot remember your mom’s birthday for the life of him! you are his calendar now

“dude, why dont you just ask JARVIS to remind you?”

“i may be a genius, but that doesn’t mean i have common sense”

“wise words, sir” -JARVIS

when tony disappeared for 3 months you were so sad???? like you were not okay at all

and when he came back, he literally exited the plane saying “WHERE’S ‘T-POTT??’”

(your wonderful nickname. ‘t’ for ‘tony jr.’ and ‘pott’ for ‘potts’)

“my mom missed you”

“oh, i bet she did”

“you turned my child into you, tony. i will never forgive you for this”

“well, at least y/n was here to fill in for me, huh?”

tony wanted to show you the arc reactor but he was actually afraid of scarring you lmfaoooo

but he did let you in on the iron man secret (he knew you wouldn’t snitch)

and just to make sure:

“if you dont tell anyone, i’ll buy you a car when you turn 16”

“man, that’s like, forever away”

“good, maybe you’ll forget by then”

ur mom kinda maybe sorta found out abt iron man :/ she told you that tony was a bad influence

“mom! no, tony’s cool! he’s like a superhero”

“no, sweetie, he’s a rich guy with issues. we’re leaving”

that didn’t last long

not long at all

and soon they FINALLY got together

“jeez, i thought you two would never stop pining after each other”

“couldnt have done it without my wingman” -tony *fistbump*

“as thanks can i have my own iron man suit?”

“yes.” *pepper glaring at him* “no.”

sooner or later your mom and you moved into tony’s house and you got a really big room!!!!

it was completely decked out

king sized bed, flatscreen tv, mini-fridge, microwave, computer, your own bathroom with a smaller tv, a poster of tony??? (you vandalized it and put it in his workshop), and more!!!

okay you were spoiled

“do you like it here? are you sure i made the right choice?” -pepper

“are you kidding, mom? this is awesome! plus, you’re happy, i’m happy, tony’s happy, i think JARVIS is even happy!”

“i am, mx. potts. simply ecstatic” -JARVIS

pepper was really happy!! it was a pretty cool family

you started giving your school tony’s number if you ever got in trouble, you knew he’d cover for you

“mr. potts, is it?”

“sure”

“your child, y/n, punched another student in the face today. we’re very disappointed in their behavior”

“why’d they punch the kid?”

“well, the other student punched y/n first”

“HAH! thank you for wasting my time. send y/n back to class and call me back if something important comes up”

he literally gave you a high five when you got home

“i gave him a black eye!”

“i couldn’t be more proud. i mean, i dont condone violence, but self defense is a whole other story”

a little help in the workshop, tony asks you to hold the flashlight

“why don’t you get one of your robots to hold this for you?”

“are you kidding me, you’re complaining? we’re having stepdad/stepkid bonding time! and dum-e can’t do anything right, i dont trust him”

youve had a few theme park trips as a family ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also tony has 100% told you to wait in the car and then left you alone for 2+ hours

“i’m not like a regular dad, im a step-dad. want some beer? you can have a little sip. i’d rather you do it in the house”

your mother actually does love how he actually cares about you!

“y/n is 12% my responsibility” -tony

“tony, you are impossible” -pepper

no avengering for you! pepper said no!!!!!!

disappointed but not surprised

iron man 3: y/n potts is put through the wringer

Text Message to Mr. Tony: bro you better come get your girl, me and happy are watching this other guy flirting with her. he’s showing her pics of his ‘big brain’

Mr. Tony: HE WHAT

Text Message to Mr. Tony: Tony he looks creepy i don’t want him to be my new stepdad do something!!!

anyways ur house kinda blew up and ur mom and you kinda got kidnapped and u were right abt that guy being creepy and thankfully no experiments were done on you but like your mom kinda almost died and her and tony were fine!!! all good in the end

you met mr. col. james rhodes that day

“aw, you’re the kid ive heard so much about” -rhodey

“you mean the coolest kid in the world?check.”

“you cant tell me you aren’t tony’s biological child, good god”

you got to meet the avengers later on too! (you’d already met natasha tho, only briefly)

“i know it can be a little overwhelming, right? meeting all these heros, legends even—” -rhodey

“oh, my god, is that thor? thor!!” -you, leaving rhodey in the dust

literally why does pepper trust you around tony something always goes wrong there were literally robots attacking, you were only at avengers tower bc your mom was busy with the company and she thought you’d be safe with the avengers. the AVENGERS.

“please dont tell your mom that i created a bad robot that tried to kill us. the robot will be the least of our problems” -tony

he made happy pick you up and you had to miss out on FUN and it sucked a lot

“it’s okay, y/n! i’m fun, too!” -happy

then your mom and tony took a break and your life got mega-boring for a while, but they weren’t separated for that long. you try not to think about it. it was brutal

Mr. Tony: Does she miss me?

New Message to Mr. Tony: I think so. Either that or she’s crying and drinking wine in the dark for no reason.

Mr. Tony: Damn it, now I feel bad. I miss her a lot. Oh, also, the Avengers say ‘hi,’ I’m in Germany with some bad news, I’ll explain later if you don’t see it on TV first, and I found you the perfect friend! His name is Peter and I think you’d like the school he goes to, it’s in Midtown. Smart kid school.

New Message to Mr. Tony: I’ll look into it, thanks. Also, I don’t like how those all connect. Please update me asap

watching the news to see several avengers arrested, cap on the run, and more!

“maybe it was good i didn’t fall in with the avengers”

tony and pepper finally got back together and you actually transferred to midtown high! peter and his friend group accepted you quickly, it was great. you and flash unfortunately had the most in common

you’d literally text happy right next to peter and he’d immediately reply to you. it hurt peter’s feelings

Momma: Sweetie! I’m working in the office late, leftovers are in the fridge, hope you have a wonderful day at school! 💕

👉👈the vulture tried to kill you for being tony’s stepkid, tony made peter promise to protect you

“y/n, you gotta stay out of harm’s way. mr. stark gave me an actual mission and it’s terrifying, i have to make sure you stay safe”

legit why the fuck was this old man tryna kill you bro grow up

anyyyywayssss your mom and tony got engaged!!

“wow, i thought the day would never come!!” -you

ppl told you tony isnt your stepdad bc ur mom and him werent married but who tf asked

why is the earth always in fucking danger

you and peter were just vibing on the field trip bus and all the sudden: space donut

“go! i’ll cover for you...FRIDAY, call tony”

“...hi there, little one”

“what the fuck”

“oh, so you see the aliens, too? well, at least im not crazy”

tony stark has left the atmosphere

you and your mom were kinda......not chillin tho

she and you didn’t sleep for a few nights, then ppl just straight up disappeared

plot twist: you survived the snap and your family was lucky to be alive, you even got a little sister who became a big handful!

only bad thing was all your friends dusted and you were pretty lonely

but watching morgan grow up kept you busy

“ahhh, shes so big!”

happy times in bad times

bad times!!!!! bc after five years thanos came back as thanos from like ten years ago. outdated thanos. obsolete thanos.

but you made your first and only appearance in the suit tony actually designed for you many years ago

you should have just stayed home tho bc that fight didnt pass the vibe check

“please dont tell me he...no, no, no, no, no”

you and your mom latched onto each other in tears, tony was one of the best people in your life, he made you and your mom two of the happiest people on earth

best stepdad a kid could ever ask for

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedgiantfavs // @emygirl // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm // @ofthedewthesunlight //

863 notes · View notes

obsidiancreates · 3 years ago

Text

The Wrong Realization (But A Welcome One)

4,012 words long

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

Jonah wakes up with a headache like he’s got a hangover. He groans, putting his arm over his eyes as the dim light of his bedroom tries to burn out his retinas. Even with all of his thickest curtains closed and fastened together, the sunlight is still too harsh. Must be the way it’s reflecting off the snow.

He falls out of bed more so than gets out of bed, and lays on the floor for a moment. He reaches up to his nightstand and manages to pull down his phone, which bonks him on the temple on it’s way down. That gets him to wake up, with a shout and a dash of fight-or-flight response.

He sighs, rubbing his eyes. He doesn’t even feel very rested! Granted, he did stay up most of the night listening to a new podcast he discovered... fascinating stuff, wonderful deep-dives into mythologies and legends from all over the world. Something a little lighter to relax to than his usual political commentary go-tos.

He stands up, and scrolls through his playlist until he finds a good morning podcast. He heads into the bathroom, ready to grapple with his hair to get it nice and presentable-

He looks into the mirror and freezes up. His hair is perfect. Exactly how he always strives to get it to look, and always falls just one stray strand short of. But now? Not a flyaway in sight.

“I could have sworn I took a shower,” he mumbles to himself. Maybe he just forgot to use shampoo? No, he would never. Maybe too much conditioner, then. But he’s always so careful not to overuse...

“I guess it saves time,” he says aloud. “No looking a gift horse in the mouth.” He picks up his toothbrush and gets to scrubbing, but pauses when he feels something stringy in his mouth.

He spits out the toothpaste foam, expecting a hair.

Instead, it’s a scraping of plastic from his toothbrush, and several bristles.

He stares for a moment, and then opens his mouth. Does he have something completely alarming stuck in his teeth? Did he somehow eat something metal?

... No, not as far as he can see. Nothing is out of the ordinary. Absolutely nothing. Completely fine.

On an unrelated note, the two little cuts in his lower lip that are perfectly aligned with his canines are starting to sting from the mint, so he hurries up and finishes brushing his teeth.

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The sun blinds him as he drives to work, and he has to manage mostly by listening to the traffic around him (which is absurdly loud today, he can hear it with his windows rolled up).

And the sunlight is harsh on his skin, too. Does he need to invest in better sunscreen? Maybe he should revisit that article he read about SPF effectiveness and how to choose the best one...

He gets into the parking lot and parks his car. He opens the door, and promptly slams it shut again with a yelp. His hands didn’t just feel burnt, it did burn!

Definitely needs to up his SPF! And research sudden sunlight sensitivity... his hand is bright pink.

He sits in the car for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. And then there’s a knock on his window. He startles, but relaxes when he sees it’s just Glenn. He rolls his window down just a bit. “Um, hi. Good-good morning, I mean.”

“Heyyyy, Jonah,” Glenn says with a smile. “So, um, I noticed you’re stuck in your car?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, no, I just um. Well you see I-I, um-”

“Need a hand?” Glenn’s smile is a bit strained, for some reason. “Because of the sun?”

“... Well I mean if-if you’re offering then it would be... rude to say no...”

Glenn opens up an umbrella, making Jonah shout in surprise. “Where did that-”

“Come on in under the shade!”

Jonah hesitates a moment, put off by Glenn’s... odd, energy. But he can’t stay in his car forever, so he gets out and walks in with Glenn under the safety of the umbrella.

“Thanks,” he says when they get inside. “I just um, I need to update my sunscreen, you know? And I just didn’t want to risk... my skin...”

“No, no, I completely get it,” Glenn assures. “The warm, life-giving rays of the sun can be very harsh sometimes!”

“... Y-yeah. Yeah.”

“Hey, um, Jerusha and I got you a gift, actually. She was so upset by the whole attack thing yesterday-”

“Oh, you guys didn't have to get me something-”

“Well, we wanted to, so um, here!”

Glenn hands Jonah a very, very wide-brimmed hat. There’s a little bat needle-pointed onto the sides.

“Oh! Wow! Um, it’s... so big!”

“Maybe it’ll help until you update your sunscreen?” Glenn sounds hopeful. Too hopeful for Jonah to turn down. And... it would be functional, at least...

“Yes! Yes, I think this’ll be great for that, um, thank you! Thank you both, send Jerusha my-my thanks. For this. I can um, see she put some effort into customizing it! Just-just out of curiosity... why a bat?”

“Oh, well um, because of your situation.”

“... Situation, I don’t-”

“You know. The reason you burned?”

“... I still don’t understand-”

“HEYYYY, GUYS!” Amy butts in quite enthusiastically. “How’s it going this morning?”

“Oh, good!” Glenn says with a smile and a nod. “I was just giving Jonah this hat Jerusha made for him, because of his whole condition about being a vam-”

“OH HEY, Glenn, I actually really need your help with something!”

“Really?”

“Yes! Come over here, with me, to... softlines!”

“Oh, okay. I’ll talk with you later, Jonah!”

“Okay! Buh-”

Amy drags Glenn away, leaving Jonah with his hand up in an unfinished wave.

“... Bye. I-I was saying... bye.”

Jonah looks at the hat, and heads off to the breakroom.

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

“So does Jonah have them?” Cheyenne is saying when Jonah enters the room.

“I mean, he looked like he did when he was chasing that lady-”

“Do I have what?”

Mateo and Cheyenne startle. “Oh, Jonah! We didn’t see you there! You were like... really, quiet,” Cheyenne says with a slightly strained smile.

“Yeah. So... sneaky.” Mateo looks similarly stressed.

“Well I, I did just get new ultra-soft shoes, very comfortable but I’m not sure about the long-term arch support... but um, what do I have?”

“Um... standards, for your fashion. Sometimes you have them, sometimes you don’t... usually only when you’re chasing, after... someone to flirt with.”

“Oh. ... You-you thought I was trying to flirt with that woman, last night?”

Cheyenne shrugs. “You did literally chase her into the parking lot.”

“I-I guess I did. But I wasn’t attracted to her I mean, I wasn’t attracted to any customers yesterday, even though there were a few good looking ones, that made me laugh... but-but I’m not- I mean, I wasn’t flirting with anyone-”

Jonah babbles on for a good five minutes before Glenn finally comes in and starts the meeting.

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

Jonah sighs and rubs his eyes as he mops up a puddle of... it’s either slushie vomit or watered-down blood (though he’s leaning towards slushie vomit, something in him just says it definitely isn’t blood).

He leans against the mop and closes his eyes for a moment. So tired... he felt okay this morning, but as the day creeps on he feels less and less awake...

“Excuse me?”

Jonah startles, yelping and dropping the mop. The customer jumps back as the mop drops.

“I am so sorry!” Jonah exclaims. “I um, I-I think I feel asleep, um, how can I-”

Jonah pauses, at a loss for words.

The customer, a man around Jonah’s age, looks concerned. “You alright, man?”

“Huh?” Jonah’s face feels hot (the first bit of warmth he’s felt in two days). “Oh, um, I-I just, that was very unprofessional of me.”

The customer shrugs. “It’s a Cloud 9, professional isn’t really expected.”

Jonah chuckles. He clears his throat. “So, um, how can-can I help you?”

“I was looking for the recycled paper towels?”

“Oh, yeah, um... let me help you find those. They’re only half recycled, though.”

“I know. But you do what you can on a budget, right?”

“Right, yeah,” Jonah laughs. He can’t stop looking at the guy’s face... why does he feel all jittery?

“Um, here we are. The closest Cloud 9 gets to activism.” Jonah sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks on his heels. His mouth feels dry. Why is his mouth so dry? He licks his lips quickly while the customer isn’t looking.

“Better than I’ve been doing lately. Haven’t done a protest in months.”

“What kind of protests do you go to?” Why did he say that? He’s going to embarrass himself, oh no-

“Mostly wage labor ones, workers rights kind of things. Trying to get a union going at my job.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, well, I know unions don’t have a great reputation in a lot of places but-”

“No! I mean uh, I love unions! I-I’ve been wanting one here since I started working! Just uh, don’t tell my boss that, hah.”

The customer smiles at Jonah, and Jonah wonders if the floor actually fell out from under him or if that’s all in his head.

“Well, thanks for helping me find this. Maybe we can talk about helping each other’s unions efforts if I see you again.”

“Yeah!” Jonah flashes a bright smile. “Sure! Sounds-sounds great! Um was really nice to meet you!”

The customer smiles again and walks away, and Jonah needs to lean against the isle.

He lets out a heavy breath, wondering what the hell is going on and what he is feeling. He looks down the isle to see if anyone is watching him.

Mateo, Cheyenne, Marcus, and Dina are all staring.

Jonah quickly walks away, shame burning his cheeks. So they noticed something, too.

“-looked like he was about to eat him alive-”

He’s too busy being completely embarrassed by hearing them whisper that to wonder how he just heard it from three isles away.

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

Jonah wakes up with a start as a cart rolls right over his leg. He shouts in pain and surprise, and then sighs at himself.

He peels the glue trap off of his face with a grimace. Cleaning the rat traps is a terrible time for his sudden and new case of what seems to be narcolepsy to strike. He sits up and rolls up his pant leg, expecting something nasty to greet him based on the crack he heard.

... Nothing. He frowns, and touches his leg. It doesn’t even sting.

“How did-”

“Jonah?”

Jonah looks up at Amy’s voice. She’s standing over him with a clipboard. “Oh, um... hi.”

“Hey. ... Why are you on the floor?”

“I was uh, cleaning the rat traps. And I... maybe fell asleep.”

“In the middle of the day?”

“... Yes...”

“Okay then. ... So um, I just... wanted to check in, for a minute. How’s it been going with customers?”

“What do you mean?”

“I just mean, have there been any... notable interactions, maybe, to throw an idea out there,” Amy says in her ‘I’m-hiding-the-real-reason-for-asking-this’ voice.

Jonah’s cheeks burn, and he’s sure he’s blushing. “They told you about that?”

“I... might’ve heard some gossip.”

“It-it was nothing, Amy. Really.”

“Are you sure? They said you keep looking at his neck-”

"Well I mean, he had a nice neck I-I guess but I was more looking at his face-”

“And that you licked your lips at him?”

“That-! My mouth was dry, and-and you know I hate chapped lips!”

“... And the hovering over him?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say hovering, more like just watching and... admiring... but that-that’s normal! I’ve been doing that since high school! A good ally normalizes these things, and-and when straight men, yeah, can admire other men in a-a completely! Normal way! Then it um, it helps... break down! The stereotypes!”

Amy looks... perplexed. She shakes her head. “Wait, what are we-”

“I mean, everyone does it, too! Like-like you! I’m sure you’ve looked at-at other woman, and admired their appearance, without feeling feelings for them, right?”

“Well, I guess, but- wait, Jonah, did you-”

“I mean we all wonder in college, right? But I don’t like, I mean there’s nothing wrong with liking both I just- I don’t, I wondered but I never-”

“Okay, um, this isn’t what I came over here to talk to you about-”

“Maybe there was a moment or two where I thought it might’ve been a thing but I-I never acted and if I did like both I would have acted on that, I think-”

“Okay! Um, you’re working through something right now, that is, not what I thought you were working through, so um, I’ll just check up on you later...”

Amy backs away as Jonah keeps recounting half-baked thoughts and unfinished sentences about his time in college and his roommates one friend who maybe had the best hair Jonah’s ever seen but their friendly hair-war was not flirting he swears...

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

Jonah doesn’t chew the carrot, just rolls it in his teeth as he stares at the wall, lost in thought.

“... Not hungry for you lunch?” Sandra asks tentatively.

Jonah shakes his head, only half-hearing her.

“... Are you hungry for something else? Like... a customer?”

Jonah stops, and pulls the carrot out of his mouth. “You heard about that too?”

Sandra’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head.

“You did! Did- does everyone know about that?”

“Well, it-it’s been sort of, floating around-”

Jonah groans, putting his head in his hands.

“... So um... are you?”

“What? No! No, I am not hungry for him, that’s objectifying. Not that I- I mean, I’m a straight man, I can’t, objectify another man, because that implies attraction. ... Unless I’m playing into toxic masculinity stereotypes by believing that...”

“I don’t think you have to worry about falling into masculinity stereotypes,” Carol pipes up from another table.

Jonah looks at her, annoyed. Her eyes widen and she looks away.

Jonah puts his head back into his hands. “This is a nightmare...”

“For all of us,” Sandra whispers.

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

Jonah sighs, slumping over onto the customer service counter. Garrett just looks at him, waiting for whatever Jonah has in store.

“... It normal for straight guys to admire other straight guys appearances, right?”

Garrett blinks. “Wow, just some casual conversation, huh?”

“Just- I mean, I know people are talking about-”

“You eyeing up that dude earlier like he was a steak?”

“... Yeah. That.”

“Dude, I don’t think this is the issue you should be focused on right now.”

“I know, I know! I’m in my thirties, I should have this figured out and be focusing on more important things-”

“Not what I meant, actually, I meant the superpowers-”

“-but I don’t know, I’ve never really had anyone point it out before! And-and now I can’t stop thinking like, am I? Attracted?”

“You know there’s nothing wrong if you are, right?”

“Yes, I do, I’ve been to a bunch of rallies and stuff.”

“Did you oogle dudes at those rallies?”

“NO! ... I mean I guess I observed and-and appreciated-”

“Yeah, you might just be on the gay spectrum, dude. I don’t know what else to tell you. Except that, uh, you just accidentally slapped my shoulder and you’re as cold as a bag of ice, so maybe that should be your crisis of the day.”

Jonah is staring off into space, rubbing his arm. It doesn’t seem like he heard Garrett at all. Garrett just sighs, and rolls away.

Jonah stays there, contemplating, for quite a while.

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

“Okay, no more dancing around it.”

Jonah jerks awake. Again. God, why can’t he stay awake? ... Probably because he stayed up all night.

“No, Cheyenne.”

Jonah looks around. He peeks into the next isle, and then the next.

... Where the hell are Cheyenne and Amy? He can hear them so clearly...

“He’s like, totally oblivious to it!”

“He’ll realize it eventually, okay? It’s not some truth bomb we can just drop on him.”

“My friends drop truth bombs on me all the time, and it just brings us closer. Best bitches don’t lie to their best bitches.”

“... Right. But, it’s kind of something for him to take the time to process.”

“What if he doesn’t? He’s just gonna like, wander around forever making excuses and being all nervous and confused.”

“Well... then we’ll give him a push. But for now let’s just... give him some space. Let him come to terms with it on his own.”

Jonah is startled out of his accidental eavesdropping by hearing himself sniffle. He quickly wipes his eyes, sticks his hands in his pockets, and hurries away. He still doesn’t know how he heard them, maybe some kind of really weird echo or sound tunnel. So he goes to the other side of the store entirely and finds the chattiest customer he can.

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He can feel Dina and Mateo staring at him as he restocks softlines. They whisper to each other, and he sighs and hangs his head. “You know, it makes it worse when you talk behind my back.”

Mateo yelps a little. He clears his throat and quickly composes himself. “Sorry. Uh, we were just talking about-”

“Yeah, no, I know. I’m... aware, okay? And I just would like to stop hearing about it for now, please.”

Mateo looks taken aback by the tiredness in Jonah’s voice, the... weary tone. Dina, however...

“Yeah, well, not exactly something to brush under the rug.”

“Why do you even care? It’s a me problem, okay?”

“Really? You think this doesn’t impact everyone?”

“How! Would it even do that?!”

“Well, let’s see! It made Mateo afraid, it made Amy all somber and worried about you, it made Glenn cry even more than usual-”

“It did?”

“He started a trust fund for your soul.”

“... Oh.”

Dina stops, her frown slowly becoming more confused. “You... didn’t realize that would happen?”

“... I don’t know, I guess I thought... thought he’d be more open-minded.”

“Glenn?”

Jonah takes a deep breath. Ugh, why’d it make his chest hurt? Why do his lungs feel like they don’t want the air?

The next thing he knows he’s done with softlines (it felt like he got done in the blink of an eye) and walking away. He swallows down the lump in his throat, and the urge to comfort eat. God, he’s craving a snack now. Well, he has all day, but he’s been... a little distracted.

“Excuse me? Hello? Hey!”

Jonah looks up at the customer, still feeling drained and empty.

“Finally, god. How useless do they let you people be around here? I’m looking for the shock collars, my dog keeps licking me when I tell him not to.”

“... That’s a really, really shitty thing to do to your dog.” Jonah doesn’t really mean to say it, but he’s just sort of on autopilot now.

For some reason, the customer doesn’t reply. Just stiffens.

“Follow me. I’ll sort you right out.” Jonah thinks he smiles at them. But he can’t be sure, because at that moment he blacks out.

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Jonah shrugs his coat on, not looking anyone else in the eye as they all file out to clock out.

He waits until the very end, and clocks out last. Maybe he can avoid them all by waiting long enough?

Ugh, he can’t. He feels restless. Looking like another sleepless night already. Two in a row, great. Maybe that’s why he had that blackout. He still isn’t sure where the customer went, nor how he ended up in the No-Go zone of the Gardening Section...

Whatever. They were a jerk, anyway. Maybe he talked some sense into them? He did that during a blackout yesterday. Maybe it’s stress, then?

He keeps his head down as he thinks about it (trying to avoid some other, more introspective thoughts) and walks out.

He lifts his head as he exits the breakroom to find everyone standing in a group, smiling softly.

“Um... what’s going on?” He claps his hands behind his back. Please don’t let this be more teas-

“We know we’ve made you uncomfortable today,” Mateo pipes up. “And after talking to Garrett about your guys’s conversation, we realized we had the totally wrong idea about everything.”

Glenn steps forward and hugs Jonah. “I accept you no matter what,” he says firmly. “I would never start a fund to save your soul for being gay, that was a complete misunderstanding! You like whoever you like, Jonah!”

“And I didn’t mean to badger you,” Dina admits with her shoulder a little sunk. “I didn’t quite understand what you were going through in your head, and I made some assumptions. Wrong ones.”

“We all care about you, Jonah,” Amy says, prying Glenn off of the poor man. “Okay? We just want you to know that. Today we were being really, really shitty. But it won’t happen again.”

For the second time today, Jonah isn’t aware he’s crying until he hears himself sniffle.

“I just- I feel really, really stupid,” he admits, wiping his eyes with his palms. He laughs, not quite bitterly, but not happy. “I mean, I’m in my thirties. I-I had... so many obvious moments where I should have realized! How... oblivious, am I?”

There’s a bit of an awkward air to the group after that comment. But Amy hugs Jonah, and he feels a little... spark, in his chest. It’s nice.

His chest has felt pretty heavy and empty all day.

“Everyone comes to terms with stuff at their own pace,” Amy says. “I lived in an unhappy marriage for years because I couldn’t accept the obvious. What matters is that you got to this point of realization, okay?”

Jonah hugs back. He thinks he feels Amy shiver, but he brushes past it. They pull apart, and Jonah sniffs and wipes his eyes again.

“And I um. I-I don’t think I’m... fully, gay,” he says slowly. He hesitates, mouth open, the words stuck. “I think... I think I’m Bi.”

There’s a moment of silence. He smiles a little, and stands a bit straighter. That feels... really right. “I think I’m Bi,” he repeats.

Sandra claps for a second, but no-one joins in. She lowers her hands slowly.

“Wow! Hah! That feels- wow! God, that feels good! Um,, what-what now, though?”

Garrett shrugs. “Flirt with some dudes? Some people in-between dudes and chicks? I don’t know, man, it’s your life.”

“Your long, long life,” Dina mutters to herself.

“Right! Oh, yeah, uh... that guy! From earlier! I-I think I want to see him again. Okay, uh, I’m going to go home, and-and maybe research some local protests he might be at-”

Everyone groans a little.

“Protester Jonah is the preachiest Jonah,” Garrett says, shaking his head.

“Can he still be preachy? Wouldn’t that hurt?” Cheyenne whispers to Glenn.

Glenn shrugs. “I’ll ask Pastor Craig,” he whispers back.

Jonah doesn’t even notice. “Okay! I’m going to head home! I kinda feel like, I don’t know, like this is a whole new chapter in my life! Um, how do we- I mean how do- do we do a group hug, or-or maybe a high-five-”

“Or we just head home.”

“Yeah, no, Garrett’s right, head home. Let’s all head home!”

They all head out to their cars. Jonah gets into his, plops down into the drivers seat, and grins.

What a freeing realization! He doesn’t know how he missed it, it was all so obvious!

Well, as far as he knows, there’s no other huge life-revelations waiting for him. He’s figured it all out, finally.

He starts driving home, humming along with the radio as the car next to him keeps pace, despite being in the faster lane. He never understands why people do that when the roads are empty. He chuckles to himself. Maybe he’ll realize that Life Mystery tomorrow.

What he doesn’t realize, neither when he gets home nor when he wakes the next morning, is that he never turned his own radio on.

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nyan-koii · 3 years ago

Text

Hashira ft. Sabito as genshin impact players

aunotes : Bad grammar ahead! I didnt proofread it so be aware of brain damage. plus i initially wrote it at the 1.6 update

PART 1 : T.Muichiro, R.Kyojuro, K.Shinobu, S.Sanemi, U.Tengen

Muichiro : he probably would be uninterested at first. He's more to first person shooting game or anything other than this concept of farming or investing. So that's why when he saw yuichirou banging his fist on his desk, trying to get his fav character, he would simply just watch

"Fck this game, i've had enough,"

"But you havent finish your wishing things yet,"

Stares. "How about you give it a try mui. You might get the character i want,"

"You sure about that? You might get angry at me," "better than nothing. Now go go, get em you donkey,"

His first ten pulls on the game brings out a light we all want to see

"Eh is tha-" "AAAA A FUCKING 5 STAR FCK FCKFCK,"

Apparently, it was one of the luckiest wish yuichiro had ever seen so far

"OHMYFUCK, you GOT A GODDAMN KLEE, QIQI AND SUCROSE WTFF???"

"I think i get your fav character?"

"Yeahh!! More than that to be honest. I want klee but you brought me two more person," sniffles and cries "you're really lucky mui. You should try and play the game,"

"It's probably the system. I doubt im that lucky tho,"

Nah, he really is lucky. Apparently he wished for his friends and got what they all really wanted for so long

"Thank you for getting me the aquila favonia, muichiro,"

"It's nothing really. I just simply press the button. It might be the system that's giving you the thing you want when i wish,"

"But still, even if i were to wish, i can get really scared and paranoid over it,"

"That's bad. You shouldnt invest yourself that much in the game tanjiro. It's just a game,"

"Ehehehe, i guess so. But you're really good at it muichiro! If you download it, we can play together :D!"

!!!!

It took the word "play together" to get muichiro down on his knee for that game. Usually the idea of playing with your friends is not that interesting. So when tanjiro said that, you bet he's going to play it

Type of player

Extremely lucky it's not even real. He got a five star on the beginner's banner

Fast farming. He probably will complete all the quest and become an endgame player within one month

"I just wanted to play with tanjiro..." bashfully

He's really good with whatever he's doing. Attack combo, dodging, elemental reaction and all sorts of stuff. If he invest more of his time on artifacts, he would probably even one shot it!!

He's very lucky. Very

Kyojuro : he wouldnt even know the existence of this game. Well, he took a glimpse of it one day and boom, heart stolen. Maybe it was the fiery burning passion in bennett that made him play the game.

'oh wow!! What a determined young boy! Even though he has a very bad luck he still keep pushing forward! Amazing!!'

'I want to be like him'

Kyojuro's the type of player to read and pay attention to every single lore of his fav character. Bennett, oh my how he wish he could've had bennett in his team. Every wishes he made would make him a c6 bennett main if only barbara wont stop coming home

"I really like you barbara but i dont want you!! Thank you for the c6 though!! I promise to use you in the future but just-" he prepares to wish

"not NOW!!" Clicks

The highest con of bennett he had ever gotten is probably c1. One day the paimon's bargain shop offered bennett as their monthly character. Kyojuro had never been so excited over a game before. He usually perks up over academics and not this kind of thing. But it's bennett, the character he admires the most.

Unfortunately he couldnt get it due to low currency. He had never feel so sad in his life.

"I shall not give up. Dont worry, i will be a c6 bennett main!!!"

He will be a c6 bennett haver!!

Type of player :

Carefully reads every stories and listens to their lines attentively. He finds it amazing how the company spent their everything on this game. It amazes him. From the stories, lores and lines, he truly appreciates it.

Balance his team pretty well. He mains bennett so he doesnt need that much of a healer in his team.

Enjoys bennett's hangout very much!! He tried to not get him killed by the dungeon's trap but ended up having to sacrifice him which ultimately ends the route. He had never felt so down and guilty before.

Not much of a damage dealer. He prefers to play it in normal mode and doesnt care that much about one shotting monster.

He feeds his character three meals a day!! If only there's a sleep option, he would be sending bennett to sleep first before the rest.

Everyone loves his teapot

Shinobu : found the game while she's scrolling through the app store out of boredom. Initially she played it on her phone but due to the fps and a really bad ping, so bad that douma wouldnt find her interesting anymore, she finally downloaded the game on her pc where things has starting to get real

"Ara, shinobu chan, it's lunch time already. Come downstairs please,"

"Sis give me five more minutes, JUST FIVE PLEASE I NEED TO KICK CHILDE's ASS,"

"he's not going anywhere sweetie,"

"yEAHH BUT MY BP IS,"

'Bp?'

"DIE DIE DIE!!" Aggresive clicking intensifies

"Shinobu chan dont hurt the keyboard that much!!"

She got lucky on the beginner's banner too and pulled a 5 star along with bennett and noelle. Who's the 5 star? Diluc Ragnvindr in all of his glory. Shinobu benched him sadly. She prefers sword over any other weapon

"I mean he's cool i guess but i just really dont get that 'WOAHHH COOL' vibe from him you know?"

"then give your diluc to me! I really want him so bad shinobu chan!"

Deep sighs "yeah sure. You can have my c2 diluc mitsuri..."

Loses 50/50 to diluc everytime everyone would think she either is lucky or cursed by the amount of that man greeting him on the screen. She still bench him though, sadly

"Im begging you, give me jEANN THE GRANDMASTER I NEED HEALER iN MY PARTY TO DO ABYSS

Type of player :

Suffers a lot in the abyss because she just want the primos which is a valid reason to do because that's the only thing that keeps her going

She's a sword character main. She'll properly build every character as either support or dps. The support would be kaeya and bennett, and her main dps ayaka

Ayaka main btw

Honestly at some point she wanted to quit the game because of how tiring it is but then inazuma came out

Fragile resin = 0

Resin = 160/160 happens once in a blue moon

"i should probably control myself with the amount of resin i've used,"

"But i cant,"

Hates domain but always can be seen playing in there

Only coops if mitsuri is there

"So that someone can calm me down,"

"That's not a really good reason shinobu chan,"

Sanemi : dude probably know the game through obanai. He watched the latter play and finds it interesting on how high the numbers he dealt. He loves challenges so a game like genshin impact would probably satisfy his need.

"Obanai, are you hearing this shit?"

"What is it sanemi, im busy doing this event,"

"That loser giyuu is also playing the game,"

"Oh yeah i know,"

"YOU KNOW? WHY YOU DIDNT TELL ME??"

"i just know right after you told me,"

"...."

Sanemi's a meta but a mediocre one. He's meta but he doesnt show it that much. Probably buys welkin once in every three months or when he really needs it same goes with battle pass too. Honestly, he really just use his money when he really needs something

"Donno if my allowance can buy me a welkin so i'll probably skip,"

"But the next banner is zhongli's,"

"....."

"Ah fuck it," buys

My man cant dodge after he got zhongli. Its very painful because he used to studies the enemies movement in the early game so that he can utilizes it on the team but zhongli's shield is so tank he forgot that dodging exists

"Im gonna kill you and you and you hhahaahhaah just you wait im gonna shred all of yo- oh shit zhongli's shield. puT IT BACK PUT IT BACK ON,"

That one event where zhongli's shield plays an important role in the domain? Yeah, he felt like a god at that time. Even got his c2 on his rerun. Sanemi just really like zhongli because it kinda reminds him of himejima. Calm and wise and strong too. He looks up on that kind of person

"Zhongli sama, im in debt for all of your hard work protecting my team," bows and wipes tears

Type of player :

Spends a little money on the game to get what he wants

Zhongli main

Is that one player that has hoards of food but doesnt even use it

"Why need healer when you have zhongli's shield,"

Compare to kyojuro, he doesnt even touch the teapot because he finds it ridiculous and bothersome to create and design everything in it

Loves one shotting bosses and compares it to giyuu. He ask for advices from obanai regarding team build supports and stuffs

Doesnt do character's story quest. The key is full every single time. He unlocks it but leaves the quest like that.

"Ah shit, i accidentally activate the quest,"

His friend list only has obanai in it. Whenever people sent him friend request, he wouldnt hesitate, more like wouldnt care to accept it

They either have to coop in obanai's world or his world and after that, unfriend immediately

Says thank you after coop because he has manners and then completely disappears

"Zhongli main forever,"

Tengen : played since 1.0 this madlad has been staying loyal to the game ever since. Quite huge amount of money he spend on this game to be honest but he never gets broke by it. You can see his regular donation to the game by purchasing welkin and battle pass and some genesis crystal too. He's loaded with money, he didnt know what to do with it.

Uzui also plays honkai impact and guns girl Z so when he saw the unknown god at the intro , he was not surprised.

"Oh we have to pick between the siblings? Cool cool co- oh hi kiana,"

"Thats so herrscher of void hahahahah,"

Although he is a loyal fan to MihoYo games, he lost his composure when he saw the 1st genshin anniversary reward because what was that. Imagine getting billions of money and they give us this? Tengen cant believe this shit

"Oh god wtf was that reward, i have to draw to get a welkin and some primos?? aND I ALSO HAVE TO BE LUCKY? WHAT-"

"WHERE'S MY FREE MONA,"

In need of mona. He needs mona so bad he literally spent his money on standard banner to get mona but always ends up with qiqi. Not that he's complaining but he just wants the astrologist to complete the support team

"GOD QIQI YOU AGAIN? WTF WFF WTF-" converts genesis crystal to primigems

"Tengen, you should control yourself!"

"SHUT UP KYOJURO, IM GONNA WASTE MY MONEY TILL I GET HER,"

"yeah but my f2p ass is hurting with how many bennett cons you got," droops

Tengen sees potential in every character. Everyone has their weakness and strength so when kokomi comes out, he diss her at first but then realize maybe its a new way for a character. Adds the uniqueness if he may say so.

"Meh i dont care honestly. You guys should pull whoever you find nice or beautiful. Like me ;)"

"Who do you main uzui?"

"Beidou,"

Type of player

Spoils the storylines, lores, leaks A LOT THE REST HAVE TO BLOCK HIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Speed runs the game and has become an endgame player ever since but he still does his daily commission and helps people with domains and stuffs

R5 every battle pass weapon

Fights azhdaha for fun and to test out his characters rather than ruin guards and stuff

Mona wanter

Puts traveller as the pfp and doesnt display any showcase of his characters and namecards. You can only see his achievements and spiral abyss ( 12-3 ). Says its for fun and mystery

Throws a lot of pickup lines and roleplays a lot. Spams your chatbox messages with stickers and censored stuffs

Probably steals your ores and exotic things like violetgrass, qingxin and silk flowers

Screams in the chatbox whenever he saw Mona until Kyojuro had to calm him down

Changes signature every single time and sometimes put spoilers in it

In every survey he would complain "MihoYo where the fuck is my Mona,"

Doesnt heals his characters

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer hashira #kny hashira #tokitō muichirō #shinazugawa sanemi #shinobu kochou #uzui tengen #rengoku kyojuro #kamado tanjiro #kochou kanae #iguro obanai #demon slayer headcanons #kimetsu no yaiba headcanons #hashira headcanons

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jamie-leah · 4 years ago

Text

War of Wolves (19)

Season 1

Episode 19 - The Search Begins

Bucky x Reader

Summary: You have been on the streets for the past two years, ever since your accident that left you with the ability to tell if someone is lying. You work as an informant for the white wolf and his mob but you had never met him…until you overhear a phone call that leads you to saving his life. Now he wants you to work for him. Its an offer you couldn’t refuse…right?

Word Count: 2530

Warnings: Violence, injuries, manhandling, medical talk, swearing, POV Changes

A/N: Here's another! Late as usual I know, but my life has taken an unexpected turn. However, lets hope these updates will not be more regular. There will be POV changes and I know Bucky's part is third person but I call it Bucky's POV because it's easier for everyone to follow! Enjoy Lovelies! Feedback is always encouraged!

<---Previous Episode Next Episode--->

WoW Masterlist Series Masterist Oneshot Masterlist

BUCKY’S POV

There’s a pounding in his head that hasn’t stopped since the crash. As his senses start to come back Bucky notices, he’s lying on concrete, the cold seeping into his bones.

About the same time, he realises he’s on the floor he remembers what happened. Bucky shoots up from the floor, causing dizziness but he didn’t care. The only thought he had was you.

As Bucky looks around, he sees the chair you were in empty and the room also empty. Morning had started to break, and he curses himself for losing precious hours.

As Bucky starts to make his way out of the building his body aches as his head keeps pounding in time with his heart.

He finally finds an exit and walks until he comes to a main road. Bucky looks around and breathes a sigh of relief that he knows where he is. With no phone or anything to communicate with anyone, Bucky walks.

He follows the main road as his thoughts race. He can’t help picturing you with Isaac and it makes him sick. The worry for you and the anger at himself and Isaac is almost enough to bring him to his knees, but he said he would find you and he would. He would die before he ever stopped looking.

Bucky felt like he had been walking forever but it was probably only about twenty-five minutes. The older building coming into view. He picks up the pace until he comes to the gates.

Bucky walks right in catching the eye of two men. They look at each other alarmed by the way he looks but Bucky simply says, “go get him”.

The one runs off as the other stays by the gate. Bucky keeps walking afraid that if he stops, he won’t be able to get back up.

As Bucky reaches the door Darren steps out looking concerned. Bucky clenches his jaw before saying, “I need your help”.

YOUR POV

You’re cold. You smell damp. You hear murmuring.

You shift and groan as your eyes protest being opened. You feel what must be springs digging into your back as you make sense of what you’re seeing.

Its quite a dark room, the ceiling old brick and as you follow it the walls are brick too. You sit up fast and groan. You notice you’re sitting on a mattress and metal frame.

You stand up and gasp as your bare feet touch stone. When you get over the shock you notice metal bars covering an archway, the only exit to this room.

It took you a while to comprehend what you were seeing but you finally realised that you were in a dungeon. You’re incredibly confused as voices get louder.

You walk closer to the bars, your feet becoming numb due to the cold until two figures step into view. It doesn’t take you long to see that its Harry and Isaac.

You look at the both of them, “where the hell am I?”.

Harry’s British accent comes out loud in the small space, “This is an estate of mine. I had a lot of extra room here, so I let Isaac renovate a few of his labs here”.

You screw up your face, “am I in a dungeon?”.

Harry chuckles, “my estate is essentially a castle, this place has many hidden places, this small dungeon being one”.

Isaac speaks next, watching you carefully, “no one knows you’re here. It’s just me, Harry and one of my men. The rest of the men don’t know you’re here, so Bucky definitely doesn’t know you’re here. Don’t cause me any trouble”.

You hold his gaze lifting your chin, “he’ll find me”.

Isaac smirks, “no. He won’t”. That’s when he pushes some type of clothing through the bars, “wear that. I have some initial tests I want to run as soon as possible. If you don’t have it on by the time my man comes to get you, he’ll put it on you himself”.

Without another word from either of them they leave. You pick up the clothing and see that it’s a hospital gown.

Its freezing in the room due to the stone so you don’t really want to put it on, but you don’t want to risk anyone else putting it on for you. You strip and quickly put the gown on. You sit on the edge of the bed and wait.

BUCKY’S POV

Darren didn’t even blink when he agreed to help in any way he could. The first thing that Bucky did was call Steve.

“Hello?”, Steve’s voice sounded tired, strained.

Bucky was just relieved to hear his voice, “Steve, its Bucky-“.

Steve interrupts him, “Bucky?! Where are you?! Are you hurt? I saw the car-“.

Bucky just manages to get out, “Steve, he took her”.

There was a heavy silence for a few moments, “where are you?”.

Bucky’s head was still hurting, “Darren’s”.

“Me and Sam will be there as soon as we can”, Steve waits a second before hanging up.

Darren comes back with a woman with a full looking rack. Bucky just sits there on Darren expensive looking sofa.

She comes over without a word and starts attending to the cut on Bucky’s head. Darren sits opposite Bucky and waits for the woman to finish. Before she leaves, she hands Bucky some tablets and water.

As Bucky takes them, Darren asks, “What happened Buck?”.

Bucky stares into space picturing the events as he tells Darren, “Isaac ambushed me and Y/N. I didn’t even see it coming. Rammed straight into us. I held em’ off as much as I could but there were too many of them and Y/N refused to run”.

Darren’s eyebrows raise, “brave woman”.

Bucky’s mouth twitches despite the circumstances, “stubborn woman…He took us to a warehouse about half hour from here. He was gonna kill me, but Y/N convinced him not to. He knocked me out and took her”.

Darren’s jaw clenched, “what do you need from me?”.

YOUR POV

It took about twenty minutes for you to hear footsteps and for another figure to come up to the bars. You can’t make much out other than he’s blonde and tall.

He opens the bar door and his gruff voice comes out, “move”.

“Where’s my please?”, you don’t know if its you being brave, stubborn, or stupid, but the comment comes out just the same.

The guy comes marching in and grabs your arm. He yanks so hard that your cry echoes in the room and you’re afraid he’ll rip it out of the socket.

You fight against him, fear of what Isaac has in store finally kicking in. But it doesn’t matter, you can’t get a grip with your bare feet and your punches bounce off him.

He leads you down narrow corridors and you lose track until he stops abruptly at a wooden door. He opens it one handed and drags you in.

Its like you stepped into a different reality. The room was white, and the floor was tiled. It was like you had entered a hospital. It made the knot in your stomach tighten painfully.

Isaac was sitting at a desk in a white coat. Your eyes slide from him to the glass window in front of him that looked into a room with an MRI machine.

Isaac talks with his back still to you, “put her on the table”.

The man starts backing you up, but you keep resisting. You manage to clip the guy in the face, his grip loosening enough to break free for only a second. Before you can get very far, he pulls you by your hair and throws you into the table.

Your stomach collides with the edge of the table and knocks the wind right out of your lungs. You double over and end up falling to the floor trying to suck in air.

Isaac doesn’t even care. He just walks over calmly as you struggle to breathe and injects something into your arm. You don’t remember anything after that.

BUCKY’S POV

The pounding in his head hadn’t stopped. The dizziness was still there, but Bucky couldn’t keep still. He was pacing in front of Darren worrying about you and wondering how he was going to find you.

There was a knock on the door that made Bucky turn around in his pacing. One of Darren’s workers had guided Steve and Sam to the room.

Steve took big strides over to Bucky, pulling him into a hug, closely followed by Sam. When Sam steps back he says, “we’re gonna get her back”.

Steve nods before asking, “what happened?”.

So, Bucky tells them everything. Once Bucky finishes Steve asks, “you got people on the inside, right? You planted people in Isaac’s organisation a while ago?”.

Bucky nods, “I’ll reach out to them, ask if they’ve seen her or heard anything about where he’s got her. There were also cameras at the warehouse he took us to, pull the footage and see if it tells us something”.

Sam holds his hand up, “we’ll do all of that and whatever else you need us to do, but we need to take you back and get you some medical attention”.

Bucky starts to shake his head, but Steve talks next, “Sam’s right. You can reach out to your informants in the car on the way back home, but you need to get your head checked out. You’re no good to Y/N if you’re injured”.

Bucky nods frustrated with how right they were and how much time its going to waste, “okay, lets get moving then”.

Bucky starts moving towards the door and everyone follows. Steve and Sam get in the car and Bucky follows. Before he closes the door, Darren says, “I’ve got a few people I can reach out to. I’ll let you know if I hear anything”.

Bucky nods, grateful, before slamming the door. Sam hands him a phone to start making calls as Steve speeds back home.

YOUR POV

It was like you were repeating history. You wake up groggy again and you shift as springs dig into your back.

You take in your cell and start to get up before the world tilts causing you to crash back onto the bed. That’s when Isaac speaks, making your heart race, “you’re going to feel dizzy and you’ll probably throw up soon. I need you to rest because I’ll need to take a few more tests in a few hours”.

You manage to murmur, “fuck you”.

Isaac chuckles, “the harder you fight the more I’m going to enjoy breaking your spirit. There’s a bucket in the corner of the room for when you throw up”.

You listen to his footsteps walking away, loud to the throbbing of your head. You try focusing on your breathing, but it wasn’t long before you felt saliva flood your mouth and your stomach clench.

You stumble out of bed and towards the corner. You nearly fall two times before making it to the bucket and heaving. Not much comes out as you stay hunched over the bucket for about half an hour just heaving.

By the time it stops your body is shaking and you have to crawl back over to the bed. You get back on and curl in on yourself, falling asleep to forget.

BUCKY’S POV

By the time they get back to the house Bucky has got in touch with everyone that he can think of, but it still doesn’t feel like enough.

He gets out the car more frustrated than ever and once inside he makes a beeline for the office. That is until Steve blocks his path, “I don’t think so. Med wing. Now”.

Bucky doesn’t fight as Steve escorts him towards the medical wing. He asks softly, “how is Peggy doing? I can’t believe I missed everything”.

Steve smiles, “she’s doing great. She’s at the safe house with the kids thinking of a name for our boy as we speak”.

Bucky nods, lost in thoughts, “good, that’s good”.

Steve looks over concerned, “Buck…”.

Bucky reaches for the med wing doors, “go and get the footage from the warehouse and get in contact with anyone I missed in the car while I get my head sorted”. Bucky didn’t give Steve a chance to say or ask whatever he was going to say as he lets the doors close.

YOUR POV

You wake to the noise of the barred door scrapping against the stone floor. You don’t move from your foetal position on the bed.

It’s the blonde guy again, “move”.

Your body still feels weak and shaky. When your voice comes out you don’t recognise it, “go fuck yourself”.

You hear his heavy steps approaching and you brace yourself. Again, he yanks your arm and pulls you off the bed. You don’t expect it and can’t catch yourself in time before your hip and knee collide with the stone floor.

You yelp as pain radiates along your leg. As you try breathing through the pain, he takes advantage and manages to carry you most of the way without much fight from you.

He drops you on the table in the room and Isaac is waiting with another syringe. He wastes no time in using it as you feel the sting in your arm.

They both step back and you start to get off the table, but your limbs don’t listen. You try moving your legs, but you go nowhere. You try moving your arms but still you’re staring at the white ceiling.

Panic starts clawing in your chest as your eyes dart around the room as much as they can. You can feel the cool table underneath you but despite all your strength you can’t even make your fingers twitch.

You even go to ask Isaac what he did but your mouth wouldn’t open. Fear was gripping your racing heart as you hear your blood in your ears like the sea raging on the shore.

Isaac comes into view with a smile, “try not to panic, it wouldn’t do me any favours if you died. I needed to do an MRI with you awake, but I imagined you wouldn’t lay still for me, so I thought I’d make you”.

He nods to the blonde guy and he picks you up. He takes you into the next room and places you on the machine.

During the entire process you try to move, but nothing worked. The loss of control and feeling of helplessness made breathing difficult.

You decided to just close your eyes and picture Bucky. You picture him healthy and in one of his black suits. You try and imagine what he would say to you now. He’d probably cup your face and make your eyes look at his and say, “you’re strong, smart, and stubborn. I know you can do this until I get there, you just need to breathe Doll. Just breathe for me. I will find you”.

It was only when you opened your eyes that you realised a tear had escaped down the side of your cheek and into your hair.

WoW Taglist: @a-really-bi-girl @crazyblonde124 @summerwelsh @scuzmunkie @loving-life-my-way @pequenaguaxinim @paranoid-borderline-insane @lilsonbucky @somanyfandomsblog @broco8 @inquisitor-selvala @mad-red @k-n-e @rinkashirikitateku @duhh-danielly @boundtomyfate @kalesrebellion @booktease21 @whatinthyworld @flyingbabyunicornnamedangel @asapkyndall @yaszx @amoredashley @aveatquevale- @putinovertime @melimelbean @valsworldofcreativity @lokilokilokilokilokilokilo-blog1 @vesper852 @littlenerdgirl16

#bucky #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #bucky fandom #bucky series #bucky fic #bucky x y/n #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #mob!bucky #mob!au

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