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wintrwinchestr · 2 months

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strangers | part 1

summary: following in the footsteps of a girl you once knew, you decide to up and leave home one morning without looking back. when you find yourself to be tired, hungry, and alone in the middle of nowhere, you're thankful when a kind stranger offers you a ride, a warm meal, and a place to sleep for the night. he only tells you about himself in bits and pieces, but he seems trustworthy enough, and what you don't know can't hurt you, right?

!!PLEASE READ WARNINGS, THIS IS A VERY DARK FIC!!

I've tried to label this fic as detailed and as boldly as possible. I will not be held responsible or bullied off the internet if you choose to read this potentially upsetting/triggering work of fiction anyway.

warnings: joel miller x f!reader, 18+, smut, age gap (reader is college-aged, joel is mid-50s), no outbreak au, serial killer!joel, dark!joel, talk of death/murder and blood, mommy & daddy issues, brief talk of domestic violence, lying/gaslighting, manipulation, f-receiving non-con somnophilia (no sex, but groping, fingering, dry humping, kissing, and choking), degrading language toward victims, pet names (baby, darlin', sweetheart), some joel pov, no ellie/sarah but tommy has an unnamed daughter, somewhat inspired by "strangers" by ethel cain, takes place in illinois/ohio/indiana, vaguely set in the 70s/80s, this part is mostly introduction/storytelling/yapping, please respectfully let me know if i missed anything and i will rectify the tags

word count: 9.8k

a/n: i started this as a oneshot way back in november, and then it sat abandoned for a very long time. thank you to my lovely friends @polaroidpascal and @chippedowlmug for encouraging me to finish it, and also bestie kiers who never hesitates to match my freak. also thank you to the many writers who made me feel inspired to write something dark and not give a fuck what people think about it. i hope you enjoy this joel he's a freak and i love him and if you say anything mean about him i'll send him after you <3

divider by @saradika

series masterlist/moodboard

read this chapter on ao3

part 2

Ruby Carpenter.

You had spent all day trying to remember her name without really knowing why. Maybe it’s because as the sun sets on what would be the first day of your junior year at the nearby state school, you wonder if she ever made it to one of the fancy ivy leagues she had always aspired to attend. You wonder if she’s even still alive.

Ruby had disappeared a few years ago now, the summer after your senior year of high school. For nearly a year afterwards, her missing posters remained stapled onto every telephone pole and stuck onto every store window around town, until the paper began to disintegrate and the ink began to fade. In that time, you couldn’t even make a quick run to the grocery store without being confronted by dozens of replicas of her yearbook photo printed onto the sides of all the milk cartons. Despite all of the efforts to find her, including several search parties and a decent amount of statewide media coverage, everyone had just stopped looking for her, eventually. Even the police. Even her parents.

It was decided that she had probably just run away, and you can’t entirely blame her, but you can’t imagine why she would, either. You remember her perfect head of blonde ringlet curls that shone a yellow gold in the sun, and her bright blue eyes that turned fiery in her more passionate moments during classroom debates. She had every boy in your grade wrapped around her finger, was the teacher’s pet in every class, and it wasn’t even a question whether she would win prom queen your senior year. She was always sweet to you, always complimented your outfits or your makeup or your art projects with a genuine lilt in her voice and a kind smile, so you could never bring yourself to hate her even though it would’ve been so easy to. You figured she was going to cure cancer or become the president after you had all graduated, which is why you never really stopped wondering whatever happened to her that summer. She was beautiful, with boundless potential and a bright future ahead of her, why would she have just given it all up?

Everyone around town knew Ruby, or at least it seemed that way. But maybe nobody ever really knew her as well as they thought. Maybe she’d had a secret boyfriend all that time who whisked her away that summer, maybe she had decided to try drugs and fell down a rabbit hole that she couldn’t claw her way out of, maybe she had finally figured out that the only thing this town would ever be good for is holding people back. Maybe she did just wake up one day and decide to run without ever looking behind her.

Maybe you should do the same.

With your dad long gone now and your step-father doing a piss poor job of filling in the hole he left, following in Ruby’s footsteps has sounded like a better idea with each passing day. Rob isn’t even really your step-father, anyway, just your mom’s sorry fucking excuse for a boyfriend. The guy’s already been married upwards of three times before, why try for another one? He’s a lazy son of a bitch who can’t hold down a job at a fast food joint for more than a couple of weeks at a time, who sleeps every second of the day that he’s not chugging through a six pack, and who leaves marks on your mother uglier than his fucking face.

She doesn’t deserve to be treated that way, of course, but it’s not like she’s winning the “mom of the year” award any time soon, either. She’s never even been nominated. She’s forgotten just about every one of your birthdays, been the reason you’ve never had any friends come over, and in her most recent offense, blew all the savings you had put away for your last two years of college. Which is why you’re not spending tonight celebrating being one year closer to at least having an official-looking piece of paper to show for yourself. Instead, you’re using the rattling of your bedroom window unit and the booming bass of your radio to drown out yet another drunken screaming match between your mother and the guy she lets live in your house now, watching the world outside pass you by and knowing that if you don’t do anything about it now, you’ll never make it out of here. You’re thinking about Ruby Carpenter, hoping she found somewhere greener and more promising and was able to make something of herself, far away from here. And you’re thinking that this rusted orange sunset is the last one you’ll ever see from your bedroom window.

It’s decided, then. You’re leaving, first thing tomorrow.

—

You’ve only gotten a few hours of sleep by the time your alarm clock chimes to life at five o’clock on the dot. You’re quick to silence the shrill beeping with a swift swat of your hand, careful not to wake anyone else in the house. The sun has just barely begun to stream in through the blinds of your bedroom window, but it illuminates the room just enough for your eyes to land on the backpack you had stuffed full of a few changes of clothes last night, waiting for you by the door.

You don’t waste any time stripping off your pajamas and pulling on just about the only clothes left in your room that aren’t in your bag. You’ve got your teeth brushed, face washed, and hair tamed in all of about ten minutes, too anxious to spend even one more unnecessary second in this house. You swing your backpack over your shoulder, pull your bedroom door open at just the right speed so that the hinges don’t squeak too loud, and tiptoe delicately down the stairs, careful to avoid the creaky floorboards that you know like the back of your hand—the one three steps from the top, the one at the landing about halfway down, and the very bottom one.

You land softly when you leap over that tattletale bottom step, successful in the most difficult part of your escape plan so far. Rob is passed out on the living room couch in typical fashion, his mouth full of crooked teeth hanging open as his grating snores permeate the calm morning air. He’s still got a death grip around an empty beer can, even in his sleep, and your mother will likely be the one to toss it into the trash for him, useless fucker that he is. You aren’t going to miss either of them, and you imagine they’ll just skip trying to replicate the first half of the aftermath of Ruby’s disappearance altogether—no posters, no search parties, no police. You’ll just be gone, one less mouth for your mother to feed. Though, you’d been mostly feeding yourself since you were tall enough to slide a couple of bills across the counter at the corner store down the street, anyway. You’re ready to disappear, the same as candle wax when it burns, the same as the end of a rainbow, the same as Ruby Carpenter.

You don’t bother looking back when you shut the door behind you, content to leave it all behind just as the sun begins to rise and set the sky ablaze. By the time it sets again tonight, you hope to be in a different county, in a different state, anywhere that isn’t here. The rest, you’ll just have to figure out when you get there, wherever “there” may be.

—

You had only realized about an hour ago that you’d forgotten your cheap digital watch in the drawer of your bedside table, where it’s laid unused for the past couple of months, because who needs to tell time during the summer? You never had anywhere to be, never had to get to class or turn in a paper by a certain time, so it’s just been collecting dust since you had unclipped it from your wrist on the last day of spring semester. It sure would have come in handy right about now, when you have no fucking clue what time it is. The sun had disappeared behind the hills several mile markers back, so it must be… eight o’clock? Ten o’clock? Fucking midnight? You have no idea. What you do know is that you’re exhausted, hungry, and your feet hurt like hell. You aren’t really sure what you expected, the reality only just now setting in that you don’t even have ten bucks to your name anymore, thanks to your narcissist of a mother. The crumpled up bills you do have in your pocket are hardly enough for a goddamn sandwich, let alone a motel room. The cool night breeze raises goosebumps on your skin, and you swear you can see your fucking breath, even in the middle of August. You wrap your arms around yourself just as tears begin to prick at your waterlines, and you let them fall as you collapse onto the scratchy patch of dead grass on the side of the freeway, not a park bench or a bus stop or even a gas station in sight for God knows how many more miles.

You sit cross-legged, elbows propped up on your knees so that your hands can support your weary head, the skin of your palms becoming slippery with salty tears as your crying just doesn’t seem to stop. The road you’ve found yourself on seems relatively low-trafficked, the heaving sounds of your sobs accompanied by more cricket chirps and rustling wheat than rumbling tires. But a few high beams do streak across your vision every once in a while, coloring the backs of your eyelids a flaming scarlet.

After several minutes, your tears seem to dry up on their own, your body likely too dehydrated now to produce any more. You wipe the moisture from under your eyes with the back of your hand, sniffling as you gnaw at the skin of your bottom lip and debate if you should just turn back now, give up on your stupid little plan (or lack thereof) and just call the whole thing a loss, pretend it never even happened. Your mother and Rob won’t have even noticed you’d left.

Just as you pull yourself back up to your feet, set on at least finding somewhere that isn’t the hard ground to sleep on tonight before you make your way back home tomorrow, the warm headlights of an old pickup truck are shining bright in your eyes. You put your arm up to block them as the truck slowly squeals to a halt in front of where you’re standing, and you squint your eyes at the driver as your vision adjusts.

“You need a ride, sweetheart?” A man asks in a gravelly voice, and you can still hardly make out what he looks like. Based on the southern accent you pick up on, he doesn’t sound like he’s from around here.

“N-no, thank you. I’m okay,” you respond shakily, taking a nervous step back from the stranger and his rusted pickup.

“You sure? Looked like you were cryin’ over here, like you might be lost or somethin’.”

“‘M not lost, I know where I’m going.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?”

Shit.

You take a guess.

“Um… the motel down the road,” you reply, tilting your head in the direction you had been walking in.

“There ain’t a motel down there, sweetheart. Ain’t nothin’ in either direction for miles, ‘s all just farmland out here. Reckon you’ve already figured that out, though.”

You pause, unsure of what your next move should be. He knows you’re lying, knows you’re alone with no fucking idea where you are or where you’re going. You could run, but even that shitty truck of his could catch up to you in a matter of seconds. You take another step back, swiveling your head around to look up and down the road as you try to figure your best way out of this.

“Just lemme give you a ride somewhere, darlin’. There’s a diner just off the exit, ‘bout twenty miles up ahead. Could take you that far, at least, get you somethin’ to eat,” he offers. A warm meal does sound pretty good right now, and you suppose you aren’t exactly in a position to refuse his help.

You think on it for a second. “What’s it called? The diner.”

The stranger huffs. “Moody’s.”

“What do they have?” you challenge.

He sighs. “It’s a fuckin’ diner off the side of the freeway, darlin’. They got greasy food and black coffee, ‘s about all you need.”

You don’t say anything.

Then, after a beat—“They got some kinda sloppy mess they call the Thunder Burger. ‘S got onion rings and shit on it. Ain’t half bad.”

You have to admit, he’s passing your pop quiz with flying colors. His answers have been too quick, too specific for him to be lying to you. There’s a pretty solid chance this diner does exist, and that he’s been there before. The man hasn’t said anything that’s indicated he wants more to do with you than to offer you a ride and some dinner. He’s probably just somebody’s harmless grandfather, anyway, judging by his motheaten flannel and gray-stricken beard you can see now that you’ve approached his truck a few paces closer.

“Okay,” you concede, your stomach growling loudly as the man leans over the bench seat to pop open the passenger side door for you. You shrug off your backpack and climb into the cabin, clicking your seatbelt into place as you situate yourself on the cracked leather seat.

“All set?” the stranger asks.

“Mhm,” you hum, finally getting a better look at the man you might just owe the rest of your life to after tonight. For being somebody’s grandfather, he’s… kinda handsome. Really fucking handsome, actually, in a rugged sort of way. He’s got warm amber eyes that sparkle even in the dark of night, a kind smile that completely disarms you in an instant, and a splintering scar across the bridge of his nose that somehow only adds to his good looks. You try to suppress your own grin as you look away from him quickly, opting to focus on fidgeting with one of the fraying edges of your denim shorts instead. Even in your peripheral vision, you don’t miss how his eyes shift from your own to the exposed skin of your thighs. He doesn’t say anything, just clears his throat as he shifts gears and steers his truck back onto the road again.

He lets the next few minutes pass in comfortable silence before asking, “You got a name, sweetheart?”

You tell him, and he flashes another charming smile at you. “I like that, ‘s pretty… Well, I’m Joel. Sure you were wonderin’. Now you ain’t gettin’ a ride from a stranger no more, are ya?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m not,” you giggle, and you’re surprised at how comfortable you feel with him. “So… you’ve been to Moody’s before?”

“Handful of times, yeah. When I’m passin’ through.”

You nod. “So you come up here, like… for work or somethin’?”

Joel chuckles. “Or somethin’. You never even heard of the damn place, so… reckon you don’t find yourself out here very often, do ya?”

“No… ‘M not even really sure where ‘here’ is, to be honest. I just kinda… started walking.”

“Ah… a runaway, then, are ya?” Joel asks, with an appreciated amount of understanding in his tone rather than judgment. “‘M sure your folks are missin’ ya right about now, must have your boyfriend worried sick.”

You scoff at that. “Fuck no. They probably don’t even know I’m gone, won’t even bother trying to come look for me. And I don’t have a boyfriend, so…”

“Damn shame. ‘M sorry about that, sweetheart,” Joel comforts, placing a large calloused hand on your thigh. It makes your breath hitch, but his touch isn’t entirely unwelcome. You let him squeeze once at the plush of your leg before he replaces his hand on the wheel, and your cunt spasms out a little fluttering pulse against the seam of your shorts, despite yourself.

The rest of the drive to Moody’s is relatively quiet, save for the gentle crooning of an old country singer emanating from the cassette player on the dash. The soft singing and steady strumming of a banjo combined with the muffled chugging of the truck’s engine is enough to lull you to sleep, especially after the day you’ve had. You know that just about every mental alarm bell you have should be screaming at you to jump out of the car, to run, that sleeping alone in the dirt would’ve been a better decision than getting into this strange man’s—Joel’s—truck, but you’re too tired to hear them. He smells good, like woodsmoke and pine and cinnamon, and if he wanted to do something awful to you, he probably would’ve done it by now. So you trust him, for now at least, and let your lashes fan out against your cheeks as your head falls back against the cushioned headrest, coaxed into sleep by the lullaby of tires against pavement and fingertips against guitar strings.

—

You only rouse when you feel the truck come to a stop about half an hour or so later, slowly blinking your eyes open against the bright neon sign that reads “MOODY’S” in bold capital letters. Your jaw stretches wide as a yawn overtakes the muscles, and you hear Joel’s southern drawl replace the one from the cassette as he shuts the engine off.

“Mornin’, sleepyhead. Not too tired to eat somethin’ now, are ya?”

Another unpleasant-sounding rumble from your empty stomach answers for you, loud enough for both of you to hear this time. The air puffing out of the diner’s kitchen smells strongly of fatty bacon and rich coffee, just like Joel had promised you the place would offer. Although the digital clock on the dash read just after 10:30 before you fell asleep, you’ve never craved breakfast quite like you do right now. You absentmindedly lick your lips as you imagine the sweet and savory—and more importantly free—meal that could be waiting for you beyond that blinding beacon of a sign.

“Well, alright then. Let’s get some food in ya before you keel over, hm?” Joel says as he exits the truck, landing on his feet in the dirt parking lot with a soft groan. He waits by the hood for you to meet up with him, and you walk up the couple of steps to the entrance together. He holds the door open for you, and you offer him a shy ‘thank you’, to which he responds with a soft spoken ‘welcome, sweetheart’. You stand shyly behind his broad form as he asks the hostess for a table for two, and she leads you to a green leather booth tucked into the corner of the diner. She hands each of you a sticky laminated menu, the pages a charming mess of clashing colors and faded pictures and retro-looking fonts, then departs with a promise that your waitress will bring the two of you some water as you take your time deciding on what you might like.

You light up upon reading that Moody’s serves breakfast all day, and that they can make you exactly what you were hoping for—a stack of chocolate chip pancakes with sides of bacon and hashbrowns. You can’t help but smile to yourself as you wiggle in your seat, excitedly anticipating the waitress to come back around so you can order.

“Whatcha so excited about over there?” Joel asks, eyeing you from across the table as he glances up from his own menu.

“Nothin’, I was just hoping I could get some pancakes, and they have ‘em on the menu,” you explain giddily. “I’ll probably get some coffee, too, really complete the whole ‘breakfast for dinner’ thing.”

Joel huffs through his nose. “Decaf, I hope. ‘S the middle of the goddamn night, sweetheart. Gonna be bouncin’ off the walls in the room later, hardly get any sleep.”

He’s right, you suppose. But wait—“What room?”

Joel shrugs casually. “There’s a decent motel another exit or two down, figured they could probably get us a couple o’ beds for the night. But, ‘m sorry, shouldn’t have assumed—”

“No! No, it’s okay.”

Is it? You only met the man less than an hour ago, and you already agreed to let him give you a ride before you even knew his name. You suppose you hadn’t really thought about what would happen after he bought you dinner, but not thinking ahead seems to have been a theme today, hasn’t it? You remind yourself that he’s only been kind and respectful to you so far, save for that placement of his hand on your upper thigh soon after he picked you up. But that could’ve just been a friendly, paternal gesture, right? And he said a couple of beds, when he mentioned the motel, which seemed to imply that he plans on the two of you sleeping in separate beds, maybe even separate rooms. You’ve found yourself having to make yet another somewhat reckless decision tonight, but one that would be in your best interest to say ‘yes’ to, at this point. What other option would you have if you declined his offer?

“Don’t really have anywhere else to go, so… yeah, okay. Motel sounds good. And decaf it is, I guess.”

Joel’s apologetic expression quickly morphs into a satisfied smirk. “Good girl,” he praises. You like how the words sound coated in his thick drawl, even though you probably shouldn’t. You shift where you sit as that familiar fluttering sensation returns to the seat of your panties, just for a moment. You’re grateful that the waitress arrives at the booth not a second later, cheerily introducing herself as she sets down a glass of water for each of you. When she asks if you’re ready to order, Joel gestures to you as if to say ‘ladies first’, and you politely prattle off your request. You make sure to emphasize that you’d like your coffee decaf, and ask if she could please bring some more of the little cups of vanilla creamer to the table. “Not a problem, honey,” she replies, and Joel winks at you as she asks what she can get for him. He orders the Thunder Burger he had told you about earlier, and a black coffee, which he doesn’t request to be decaf. The waitress leaves the two of you alone again with an ‘I’ll have that right out for ya,’ and you let your eyes follow the calming baby blue color of her dress as she glides her way back to the kitchen. When she disappears around the corner of the bar, you take the opportunity to study Moody’s other patrons. There isn’t another young person in sight, mostly just men around Joel’s age with similarly heavy bags under their eyes, likely truck drivers indulging in their first hot meal of the day within the diner’s comforting wood-paneled walls. You wonder if that’s how Joel knows about this place, because he “passes through” this area on long hauls across the midwest. You open your mouth to ask him if your assumption is correct, but he cuts you off before you can say anything.

“I gotta admit, sweetheart, I’m curious… The hell was a pretty thing like you doin’ out in the middle of goddamn nowhere tonight? I mean, I know you’re a runaway ‘n all, but… shouldn’t you be one o’ those college party girls or somethin’? ‘M sure you got plenty of friends wonderin’ where you are.”

You sigh, shaking your head as you distractedly pick at a splintered piece of wood at the edge of the table.

“I was in college. Was supposed to be going back again this year, but… my mom spent all the fucking savings I had left for the rest of it on fixing up her dumb boyfriend’s car. It’s just been sitting in the fucking lawn all summer, sure as hell not being used for something useful like going to the job he doesn’t have. That bastard…” You say the last part under your breath through gritted teeth.

“Shit… Tha’s a tough deal, baby, ‘m real sorry to hear that,” Joel comforts. “But y’know, everybody’s got mommy ‘n daddy issues, don’t mean you just up and start walkin’ all by your lonesome, not even have any idea where you’re goin’.”

“Well, it wasn’t just that. There was… nevermind, it’s stupid.” You slump into the cushioned booth, silently cursing yourself for even bringing it up.

“What is it?” Joel pushes, sitting up straighter to show you that he wants to listen, wants to get to know you. And God dammit, he might be the first person you’ve met in a long time who actually seems to care about what you have to say, as strange as it is. You flick your eyes up to his face, and he’s wearing a sincere gaze that convinces you to continue.

“There was this girl I went to high school with. She disappeared a couple of years ago, nobody ever found out what happened to her. People figured she probably just ran away, and I thought… I dunno. That maybe she had the right idea, leaving that place behind. I always held onto this hope that maybe she was still out there somewhere actually doing something with her life, that maybe she just changed her name or something and disappeared on purpose.” You pause. “I guess I just thought I might be able to do the same, if I left.”

“I see…” Joel muses sympathetically. “Maybe I oughta give you a lil’ more credit, then. Must’a been tough losin’ a friend like that, not knowin’ where she ended up.”

“I mean, Ruby wasn’t really my friend. She just—”

“Hang on. Ruby, you said?” Joel interrupts, his eyes suddenly looking a little wild.

“...Yeah. Her name was Ruby. Ruby Carpenter.”

—

Fuck.

Joel has to adjust himself under the table, his dick now hardening uncomfortably in his jeans at just the mention of her name. He remembers Ruby, remembers chuckling to himself when he realized the irony of her name matching the color of her blood, remembers watching the news coverage of her disappearance in this very same diner, those handful of years ago. She was a sweet thing, he remembers this, too. It was a shame she had ended up being such a fighter, that she had to get put down the way she did. But she shouldn’t have thrown that fucking rock at his face, called him a sick fuck and a freak as she made her pitiful little escape attempt. Joel is lucky that all he came away from it with is that ugly little scar that mars the bridge of his nose. He can’t say the same for her.

“Why? You heard her name before?” You ask him, an unfortunate little twinkle of hope in your eyes.

“Maybe.” Yes. “Sounds a lil’ familiar, might remember hearin’ about it on the news or somethin’.”

That goddamn news coverage sure as hell taught him a lesson. Joel had spent months trying to keep the cops off his fucking tail after he had dumped her body on some forgettable patch of land behind an old decaying barn. He had even gotten pulled in for a fucking interview at the station in what he now presumes to be your hometown, where they had questioned him for an hour or so about her disappearance. He still isn’t sure how he talked his way out of that one. Ruby might not have been good for much else, other than pissing him the hell off with all of her pathetic crying and begging to just please, please let me go back home, but she did help him perfect his craft, he can give her that much. It’s because of her that Joel makes certain now that any girl he picks up doesn’t have anybody who will miss her or plaster her face on every local channel or send out goddamn search parties to find her. Girls like you.

You’re just so perfect, it would be so fucking easy for him to make you disappear for good, it’s almost comical. It had hardly taken any convincing at all to get you to climb into his truck, had taken even less to get you to agree to go to some seedy ass motel with him that might not even exist, for all you know. It does, but you didn’t even try to test him about it this time, just put all of your trust in him like a stray puppy would to the first person to pick it up off the street. That is just about what you are, he supposes. So far, you seem like the perfect candidate to become his little captive pet. If you keep it up, maybe you won’t meet the same fate as the rest of them. He’d told himself he’d be done after the last one, anyway, his body too old and achy and slow now to chase after the ones who put up a little more fight, like she had. She’d nearly escaped, made it a decent way through the woods and almost reached the main road before tripping on an exposed root and snapping her ankle. He remembers how weak and scared she’d looked before he’d used his knife to put her out of her misery, and it makes his dick twitch. Joel doesn’t plan on snuffing you out, not right now at least, since you haven’t given him a reason to. But his fingers still twitch where they rest on the table, moving out of instinct as he can’t help but imagine what they’d look like wrapped so tightly around your little throat. Would you cry? Would you beg? Would you pray? Would he have to glide his blade across your vocal chords just to get you to stop screaming so fucking loud? He wonders.

“Oh… Was that one of the times you were just ‘passin’ through’ for whatever reason you haven’t told me yet?”

Joel hadn’t realized that his eyes had been unfocused for so long, or that he’d been holding his breath, or that his hand had been squeezing his glass of water so hard he’s glad it hadn’t shattered. The airy sound of your voice brings him back to reality, and he huffs a light chuckle as he fixes his face into a more pleasant expression.

“Yeah, ‘spose it was.”

You roll your eyes at him playfully. “Come on, Joel. I just told you, like, my whole sob story. I feel like I deserve to know at least one thing about you now.”

You have a point.

He gives in. “Fine. I got a brother, used to come through this area when I’d pay him a visit. That good enough for ya?”

You cross your arms. “No. What’s his name?”

“Tommy.”

“What’s he look like?”

“Like me. Little younger. Little uglier.”

You laugh at that.

It makes Joel smile.

Maybe you could be the one he’s been looking for all this time. Too bad he had to waste so many others before he finally got to you.

—

The waitress comes back to your table soon after that, with your steaming plates of delicious-smelling food and hot mugs of coffee balanced expertly on a large plastic tray. She sets them down in front of the pair of you with a cheery smile, and you thank her happily when she doesn’t forget the extra sickeningly sweet cups of creamer you had requested. Joel doesn’t take his eyes off you once during the interaction, not even to feast his eyes upon the monstrous burger now sitting before him, not even as he thanks the waitress for delivering it to him. His lingering gaze makes you feel a little warm, but it could just be from the heat radiating off of your plates.

“What? You’re not getting a bite of mine, if that’s why you’re looking at me,” you tease, already getting to work putting the sugary creamer to good use.

Joel just shakes his head, his caramel colored eyes still never leaving you as your coffee begins to resemble their hue. “No, ‘s not why.”

“Whatever,” you reply through a giggle, making a poor attempt to hide your girlish grin behind the lip of your white ceramic mug.

The two of you eat your meals in relative silence, mostly enjoying each other’s company and basking in the relaxing ambience created by silverware tapping against porcelain, hushed conversations, and the local country station playing through the old radio sitting on the counter. The reception is a little spotty way out here in wherever the hell you are, so you can’t quite tell what song it is. But Joel seems to know, judging by the rhythmic bouncing of his knee under the table that creates little circular ripples in your coffee. Maybe you’ll ask him what it is later, how he knows it, if you can listen to it again in the truck together. He doesn’t seem to be as much of an open book as you’ve already given yourself away to be, and you respect that about him. It doesn’t make you any less curious, but you resign yourself to getting to know him better in the small doses he’s willing to offer you.

You decide to begin a mental list of all the things you want to ask him later, knowing that by the time you make it to the motel tonight, you’ll be far too exhausted to do anything more than just collapse onto the springy mattress and sleep until you get kicked out of the room the next morning. You almost wish you hadn’t listened to Joel’s request for you to take your coffee decaffeinated tonight, and you still aren’t quite sure why you did. It just feels so strangely easy to give into him, to trust him, to let him make decisions for you. You suppose that’s what you’ve been needing all this time, someone to guide you and understand you and at least pretend like they care about you. Joel has shown you more concern and care and protection in the last hour or so than either of your parents have pretty much your whole life. And he’s good at this, making you feel wanted, making you feel like somebody, even in subtle ways, just by looking at you.

“A’right, why don’t you finish up, darlin’, ‘n we’ll hit the road again. Practically usin’ your pancakes as a pillow over there.”

“Oh, sorry,” you apologize sleepily, waking yourself up enough to make quick work finishing off your plate and your last few sips of coffee.

“Nothin’ to be sorry ‘bout, sweetheart. Lord knows you need some rest, won’t be too much longer now,” Joel assures, fishing a few tens out of his faded leather wallet and placing them on the table. He slides to the edge of the booth and stands himself up with only a few pained noises as he straightens out his back, then offers his hand for you to take. You use it as leverage to pull yourself upright, and your hands linger in each other’s hold for a few seconds longer than they need to. The hostess thanks the two of you for stopping in when you pass her by, and Joel opens the door for you again as you leave Moody’s. He opens the truck door for you, too, and promises you that the motel is just another couple of minutes down the freeway. You make an effort to stay awake in your seat this time as Joel begins the drive, opting to gaze out the window and focus on trying to make out the sparkling constellations above the treeline. You smile privately at the moon when you find that she’s following closely behind you just as she always does, bright and full.

She doesn’t leave your side until you reach the unassuming little roadside motel, which to your gratitude, proudly displays their vacancy on the flickering sign in the parking lot. It doesn’t look like a five star joint by any means, but you know it will serve its purpose just fine. Joel instructs you to stay in the truck while he goes about getting a room for the two of you, and you don’t object. He’d insisted that you didn’t need to be on your feet any longer than you already had been today, and you were too tired to argue with him even if you wanted to. When he returns, he taps lightly on the passenger side window so as not to startle you from the half-asleep, half-awake state you’ve found yourself in, and swings your backpack over his shoulder as he helps you out of the truck. He leads you to the room at the end of the row, and the door takes some finessing of the key and a shove of his shoulder to open. Joel flicks on the light, and you let out a disappointed-sounding ‘oh…’ when it reveals your accommodations.

There aren’t two beds like you had assumed Joel was going to request. There’s only one.

Joel catches your reaction. “‘S this gonna be alright? I know it ain’t the Ritz Carlton, but—”

“No, the room’s fine, it’s not that. I just thought… I just assumed that… I didn’t know it was gonna be, like… just the one bed.” You try to explain your discomfort as gently as possible, without seeming ungrateful for everything Joel has done for you tonight.

He looks at you sympathetically. “I know, I ain’t tryin’ anythin’, I swear. Guy told me it was the last room they had, jus’ figured it was better than nothin’.”

You offer him a soft smile, but your eyes must still look a little wide as you begin to nervously pick at your fingernails. Joel continues, “I can take the chair if you want, darlin’. Get the bed all to yourself, how’s that sound?”

You visibly relax at that, your shoulders deflating as your smile becomes a little more genuine. “Okay, that’s good. Thank you.”

“‘Course, sweetheart. How’s about you take a nice hot shower, rinse off some o’ that dirt you picked up from walkin’ all day… Don’t suppose you got some suitable clothes in here for sleepin’ in?” Joel asks, handing your backpack off to you.

You shake your head. “Just some jeans and t-shirts, and another pair of shoes. And… y’know, some underwear, and stuff.”

Joel pinches the bridge of his nose, then rubs his fingers across his forehead exasperatedly. “I swear… it’s like you didn’t think there’d be a tomorrow or somethin’, girl. Christ.” Joel looks out the window to his truck parked just outside. “Tell you what, think I got somethin’ in the truck you can wear. Why don’t you see if they got anythin’ on the TV tha’s worth a damn, ‘n I’ll be back, alright?”

You nod, “Okay,” then set your backpack down on the drab carpet in favor of picking up the remote perched in front of the small square television. You sit yourself down on the edge of the bed as Joel leaves the room, and begin to flick through the few channels that aren’t just a screen full of snowy static.

Local news. Commercial. Game show. Commercial. Documentary. Commercial.

Eventually, you land on what seems to be one of those old black-and-white western shows that you can never remember the name of. You only know that the reruns used to play on Sundays around lunchtime, because Rob would always be half paying attention to it with a beer in his hand when you and your mom would get home from church. For how adamant she was that you attend every weekend, she sure never called him a harlot and a sinner for not wanting to go with her. You’re not sure she had ever even tried to get him to go, but he probably didn’t own anything decent enough to wear, anyway. Whatever, fuck them. The show seems like the kind of thing Joel would like, so you let it keep playing.

He comes back a moment later with a small stack of folded up clothes, tossing them over to where you sit on the bed. You unfold what he’s given you and examine them—a pair of simple pink cotton shorts, and a white tank top with a ditsy floral pattern scattered across the fabric. The clothing is a little more revealing than you’d like, but you figure you’d be a hell of a lot more comfortable wearing them to sleep than the denim shorts you have on now.

“These are… great. Thank you, Joel. But…” you snicker. “Should I be concerned that you have a very convenient supply of girls’ clothes in your truck?” Joel scoffs. “‘S for when I got Tommy’s kid with me, smartass. He’s got a daughter, few years younger ‘n you.”

“Okay, well, I dunno how I was supposed to know that, but… as long as you don’t have a girlfriend who’s gonna come after me for wearing her clothes.”

Joel only chuckles in response, his attention suddenly pulled to the TV.

“Gunsmoke, huh? ‘S a good choice, definitely what I’d classify as ‘worth a damn’.”

You smile to yourself, and his approval makes that warm fluttery feeling return to your belly. “I didn’t even know what it was called, just seemed like something you’d like.”

He turns back to you. “That obvious, huh? ‘S just ‘cause I’m old and southern, ain’t it?”

“Maybe a little,” you admit, making a pinching gesture with your hand.

Joel nods as he makes his way over to the armchair on the corner of the room, collapsing onto it with a groan. “Well, why don’t you go ‘n get yourself all changed and cleaned up, ‘n if you’re quick enough maybe we can finish the episode together and then get some shuteye, hm?”

You swiftly unzip your backpack to retrieve one of your clean pairs of underwear, then bound over to the small bathroom with them and your new change of clothes in hand. It’s not the most spotless one you’ve ever had to use, but you’ve honestly seen much worse. You rinse off quickly in the steaming shower, using the scratchy motel-provided washcloth to scrub the dirt from your legs, stuck to you with the sweat you worked up from God knows how many miles of walking today.

Today. You can hardly believe it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours since you left home yet. It seems like you’ve already known Joel for days, maybe even years, as silly as it sounds. You wonder if he might just take you in after this, or if he’ll have had enough of providing for you after just one night. He seems like a man of limited means, and he’s already given you so much. If you’re brave enough, maybe you’ll ask him tomorrow, when you get to the ‘so… what now?’ part of your time together.

For now, you step out of the shower and dry yourself off with an impossibly scratchier towel, then pull on your panties and the tank top and shorts Joel provided you with.

Jesus, how much younger is Tommy’s daughter?

The shorts just barely cover your ass, and there’s a sizable gap between their waistband and the bottom hem of your top. The thin, white material of the shirt only serves to accentuate the way your nipples poke through the fabric, but you suppose there isn’t anything you can do about that.

You quietly crack open the bathroom door, and are somewhat relieved to find that Joel’s already fallen asleep in the chair. You do wish you could’ve finished the episode of Gunsmoke with him, but the end credits seem to be rolling already anyway, and you’d rather avoid being seen in your very ill-fitting pajamas. Although, you do wonder if he’d say anything, or if he’d just let his hungry gaze linger in silence again, holding himself back from touching you beyond a comforting pat on the thigh.

You pick the remote up off the bed and use it to make the TV screen sizzle to black, then tip toe over to the lightswitch by the door and turn it off, the room now completely shrouded in darkness. Joel snores softly from the chair as you blindly feel your way back over to the bed, pulling the covers back and nestling yourself underneath them. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, considering, and it doesn’t take long for your exhaustion to catch up with you. Your thoughts become slower and slower along with your breathing, and you’re asleep not even five minutes after your head hits the pillow.

—

The last room they had, yeah, right. You’re just the most pathetic little thing, aren’t you? You’ll believe just about anything that comes out of his mouth if he turns up the ‘southern charm’ dial a few ticks, throws in a feigned apologetic-looking expression for good measure. It’s sad, really. For you, anyway.

Joel fakes his snoring for another thirty minutes or so, until he’s certain you’re sound asleep. He had heard your breath even out almost immediately after you had tucked yourself in, but he had chosen to lay in wait for a little while longer, just to make sure you wouldn’t put up too much of a fight when he made his move. You don’t seem like the type, considering how you’d hardly argued with him at all tonight, like when he had convinced you to forgo the caffeine with your dinner. There’s a reason he wanted you sleepy and subdued tonight, but you didn’t know that. Joel likes how well you listen to him, how easily you do as he asks.

He also likes how warm you are, how small your body is compared to his own, the difference in size especially prominent now that he’s laying snugly against you, his front pressing firmly into the back of you. You don’t wake from his lumbering movement, only coming to slightly when you feel his arm slide underneath your body, his warm hand snaking its way beneath your tiny shirt to squeeze at your plush tits.

You mumble out a little “Hm?”, which he’s quick to quiet with, “Sorry, darlin’. Chair was too hard on my damn back. Just go back to sleep, ‘kay?” That chair felt like laying on a goddamn cloud compared to some of the other surfaces he’s found himself having to sleep on before, but again, you don’t know that, and what you don’t know won’t hurt you. You probably won’t even remember this in the morning, how his hard cock is slotted so perfectly against your ass, especially without the confines of his thick jeans holding him back. They’re discarded onto the floor now in front of the armchair, along with his flannel shirt and jacket. Joel holds you tightly against his bare, hairy chest as he circles a roughened pad of his finger around one of your nipples, smirking to himself at how quickly the bud hardens from his touch. He knew you wanted this, and the wet spot that the fingers of his other hand are teasing in the gusset of your panties is proof of it. How long have you been leaking for him like this? Had you been soaking the seat of his truck earlier today? Filthy thing.

You still don’t rouse when he pulls your panties aside and slips a finger inside your slick cunt, or when his grip on your tit loosens in favor of sliding up higher under your tank top, his hand coming to a rest around the base of your throat as he pumps his finger in and out of your tight heat. It would be so fucking easy…

But he can’t, he won’t, because you’re not like the others. You want to get to know him, you let him take care of you, you seem to like his company, and you don’t leap out of bed and call him a fucking perv and a dirty old man for what he’s doing to you. That’s what the others would have done. It’s what they have done. And they faced the consequences.

But you’re different. You’re not like them. You’re like him. A lost soul, that’s what you are. Nowhere to call home, no one who misses you or loves you or gives a damn what happens to you. Joel’s mouth had tasted bitter when he had told you about Tommy, or rather, lied about him. Joel hasn’t seen the fucker in years, certainly doesn’t pay him any visits or watch his brat, not since Tommy had learned the truth. You better not show your goddamn face around here ever again, you understand me? Tommy had spat at him. You’re fuckin’ sick. Only reason I don’t turn your ass in myself is ‘cause you’re my goddamn brother. But if I ever fuckin’ see you again, I won’t hesitate. Better make yourself pretty fuckin’ scarce ‘fore I change my mind. That might’ve been about the only time Joel had ever taken orders from his little brother.

That bitter flavor is cut by the sweet tang of you that he tastes on his finger now, so young and eager and fresh. The hand around your throat squeezes a little tighter, and Joel’s hips begin to move against your ass as he allows himself to suck wet kisses onto the skin under the hinge of your jaw. Softly, gently, so as not to wake you. He could come just like this, using your pliant body in your sleep, rutting himself against your still form with the taste of your pussy on his tongue and his fingers pressed against your pulse points.

He’s close when you stir again, making broken hiccuping sounds as you choke on your breath.

“Shh, shh,” Joel soothes. “You’re alright, sweetheart. ‘S just me. Just—fuck—hold still, go back to sleep, baby.” You let out a quiet whimper, squirming against him just a little bit, but return to your unmoving and silent state a second later. Joel finishes himself off quickly with another couple of shallow thrusts against you, his large hand still gripped around the column of your neck, trying to stifle his groans as he spills into his briefs. He removes his suffocating hand and keeps you pressed tightly against him for a while after that, tanned arms wrapped around your waist and breathing in your scent as he waits for you to settle back down.

When he’s sure he won’t disturb you again, Joel releases you from his hold and pads quietly back over to the armchair, redressing himself and resuming the position you had left him in. In the morning, if you do remember any of it, you’ll just chalk it up to a very strange dream, one fueled by the desire he knows you’ve felt towards him since he picked you up. You’ll be left with a strange assuredness that he feels the same way about you, without really knowing why.

But Joel will always know.

—

The digital clock on the nightstand only reads around 8:00 when you’re awoken by a beam of sunlight shining brightly against the backs of your eyelids, streaming in from the window’s lopsided blinds. You had gone to sleep with your back to Joel, but you find yourself facing him now. He looks kind of peaceful when he’s asleep, that permanent furrow etched between his brows finally smoothed out as he dozes. A small smile tugs at the corners of your lips, but they fall quickly when you adjust your legs and feel the cool dampness against your core, the sensation bringing back the memory of the dream you’d had last night.

It had felt so real, but it couldn’t have been, could it? There’s no evidence that Joel had really laid next to you last night, that he’d really touched you like that, that you’d wanted him to keep going. It must just be some kind of strange side effect of the affection you feel toward the man who had rescued you, more or less. You’ll likely just part ways after today, anyway, so it’s probably best to just try and forget about the whole thing, put on a fresh pair of underwear and pretend it never happened.

Joel is awake by the time you’re done freshening up in the bathroom, and he greets you with a raspy ‘Mornin’, sweetheart’ as you retrieve your backpack from next to the bed and shove your ruined underwear into the bottom of it. “You get some good sleep last night?” He asks, rubbing a hand over his eye.

“Mhm, the bed was nice, more comfortable than the one I had at home, honestly.” You finish zipping your backpack closed and sit back down on the bed, pulling on some socks and the lace up sneakers you had been wearing yesterday. “I hope the chair was okay, like, for your back and everything.”

“What makes you say that, baby?”

You pause in the middle of tying one of your shoelaces, turning to look at him with a confused pout. “Didn’t you…? I thought you had told me something about how the chair would be hard on your back. Like, last night.”

Joel frowns, shaking his head. “Don’t think so, darlin’. Chair was just fine.”

“Oh… Well, that’s good.”

Maybe it had just been a dream, then.

Joel hands you a few bills from his wallet, and tasks you with getting the two of you some breakfast from the gas station across the street while he cleans himself up. He tells you that he doesn’t eat much in the mornings, but that you can get yourself whatever you want, as long as you bring him back a carton of cigarettes and a black coffee. You obey eagerly, retrieving what he asked for and getting a pack of miniature powdered donuts and an equally as sugary coffee for yourself.

He’s just stepped out of the bathroom when you return to the room, and your face feels hot when you see him with his dark hair slicked back and wet from the shower. The few strands that fall onto his forehead as he laces up his boots almost make him look a little boyish, despite his whitened temples.

“Such a good girl, thank you,” Joel praises when you hand him his items.

You respond with a shy ‘You’re welcome’, but he doesn’t miss how you seem to light up at his words. You plop yourself down onto the worn-in chair that Joel had used as a bed last night, happily munching on your gas station donuts and sipping on your coffee. It all makes you feel warm from the inside out.

But you figure you should find out what the rest of today might look like before you let yourself enjoy the beginnings of it too much.

“So, um… We’re just gonna check out this morning and then… what?”

“Whaddya mean, baby?”

“I mean… are you just gonna, like… take me to the nearest bus station or something?”

Joel’s confusion is written all over his face, embedded deep into those lines between his brows. You could swear he almost looks a little hurt. “Why would I do that? ‘S that what you want?” He asks softly.

You try to backpedal a little, afraid you might’ve offended him or seemed ungrateful in your question. “I just thought it might be what you want. That you probably have somewhere else you need to be, like Tommy’s or—”

“No, I don’t,” Joel says definitively.

You pause. “Okay, so—”

“You ever been to California?”

His question stumps you for a moment, seeming so random in its nature. “No.”

“You want to?”

You shrug. “I mean… sure. Maybe someday—”

“Why don’t you come with me then, baby?”

You let out an awkward giggle. “...Come with you where?”

“To California. Come with me.” Joel’s tone is genuine but firm.

“Like, today? Are you sure?”

“I mean, we ain’t gettin’ there today, darlin’. But yeah, I’m sure. We both got nowhere else to be, do we? So let’s just go, we’ll see it together.”

You beam up at him, realizing that he’s being serious. Joel does want you, wants you to be his companion, maybe even something more that you’ll discover on familiar-looking back roads and in cities you’ve only ever seen pictures of.

“Okay,” you agree excitedly.

Joel nods. “Okay, then. Lemme go check us out ‘n we’ll get back on the road again. Burnin’ daylight already,” he jokes. He carries your backpack out to the truck for you, setting it down between your feet after he opens the door and helps you inside with a stable hand. It only takes a few minutes for Joel to hand in the room key and pay for the night, and then he’s back at your side. You begin to feel like that’s where you always want him to stay.

“So, where to first, baby? California ain’t goin’ anywhere, can take as long to get there as we wanna. We’ll go wherever you like, take your pick.” Joel leans across your body to dig a folded up map out of the glove compartment, handing it to you.

You examine it, your eyes darting across the dozens of dots with the names of cities next to them, some you’ve never even heard of. You point to one that you have heard of, but have never been to, because you’ve never even left the state you grew up in before.

“Um… how about Detroit? I’ve heard it’s nice, I think.”

Joel belly laughs at that. “It ain’t, but sure. You wanna go to Detroit, that’s where we’ll go. Buckle up, baby,” he instructs, patting your thigh. You oblige, and it feels good to finally know where you’re going, and that you’re going there with someone who cares about you, who feels safe, who wants you around. You also feel a little hopeful that maybe you were right about Ruby, after all. That you didn’t start walking for nothing, that you weren’t following some childish delusion, that if something as good as Joel had happened to you when you left, that maybe she had found herself on a similar path, ran into somebody good who took her wherever she wanted to go and helped her find someplace she belonged. Maybe she found her way out to California, eventually. What you are certain of is that neither of you ever have to go back to that town ever again, and that feels good, too.

And if it feels good, then it can’t be bad.

tag list: tag list: @beefrobeefcal @iamasaddie @rebel-held @dilfgestivo @zliteraturehoe @joeldjarin @kamcrazy123 @hellowoolf @rexamongthestars @stevie75 @luxurychristmaspudding @noisynightmarepoetry @mewantpeepaw @pedritoferg @alex-does-art-things @evolnoomym @annoyingmarvelreader @k1l4ni @joelsdagger (if your name is crossed out, it won’t let me tag you!!)

#my writing #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x you #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #joel miller smut #dark!joel miller #dark!joel x reader

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dovveri · 5 months

Text

sun-kissed

bachelorette masterlist - part 1 • part 2 • part 3 • part 5 • part 6 • part 7

synopsis: an unexpected arrest deters filming for day 4 so instead, y/n and sana spend the day together. almost like a date?

warnings: mentions of child pedophilia! suggestive, cursing - i forget to tag that alot bcs its in all my fics but just assume its always there oop

w/c: 5.2k

a/n: okay this took me way longer than it should’ve to write but i think it’s maybe my favourite chapter so far… or maybe i’m soft rn 🤭 enjoy!

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

could they have made any less of a scene?

the sirens have stopped but the blue and red lights continue to blaze as you stand in shock with the rest of the contestants while the cops raid the mansion.

sana had been taken away by the producers as soon as the police cars had pulled up.

when they're finally done checking the mansion, they walk out a cuffed wonsik. his head is down, refusing to look at any of you, hands behind his back as he's shoved into the back of the police car.

none of you had a clue what was going on, you were all enjoying the third rose ceremony and nothing could've predicted where this night had led you.

eventually, after the police have long driven away, the producers return with sana who looks a little shaken up. you head towards her immediately, wrapping your arms around her shoulders, but she can't seem to face you, eyes blank as she follows the producers instructions for everyone to come back into the mansion.

"sana? sana?" you're trying to get her attention, shaking her slightly.

she snaps out of it with a blink, looking up at you in confusion, "hm?"

"you okay? kinda lost you back there."

"mm yeah i just- it was just really unexpected."

"what was?"

she nods her head towards the producers who are now standing in front of the leftover contestants preparing to make an announcement.

"okay guys so we only just found this out but wonsik has been arrested on charges of owning child pornography, engaging in pedophilic acts, and sexual assault of a minor. the police have searched the house and confiscated all of his items and any incriminating evidence they could use in court. as you all know, we do conduct background checks on all contestants before they are accepted onto this show, and we apologise that this incident has been overseen. we won't be editing wonsik's arrest out of tonight's episode, but he has obviously been eliminated. we'll take tomorrow off filming to allow you all a small break and please do let us know if you have any concerns moving forward with filming."

what the actual fuck?

as soon as the producers are done with their announcement everyone is talking on top of each other, trying to figure out just what the hell happened and how this happened under everyone's noses.

"did you know?"

"holy shit i never saw that coming out of him-"

"man its always the quiet ones that are the most fucked up-"

you turn to sana in shock, feeling much like how she had looked just a little earlier. "sana?"

she's still a little distracted when she looks at you, "hmm? i'm tired y/n. let's go back home?"

you're nodding quickly, leading her away from the aftermath to the quiet cool of the outside air. you wave down your driver and quickly lead sana inside, stuttering out directions to your villa and sitting back, sneaking a glance at sana who's looking out the window with glazed eyes.

the drive back is silent save for the low hum of the engine. you're a little surprised when sana shuffles closer to you, linking her arm through yours and placing her head on your shoulder, still not saying anything.

you take her hand in yours, interlock your fingers, and lean your head on hers. the rest of the short drive is spent like this, the silence is thoughtful, but not awkward.

even as you arrive back at the house, your hands never leave each other's, you lead her towards your shared bathroom and brush your teeth side by side. only letting go of each other when you both go to start your nighttime skincare routines.

sana has a much more intricate routine than you because of her obsession with all things health-related and her need to take care of her skin well. so you finish earlier than her, mumbling a quick goodnight while she's still bent over the sink and moving past her to retire yourself to bed.

you close all the blinds, intending to have a full night's rest and wake up late tomorrow because filming was cancelled, climbing under your sheets and sighing at the feeling of soft fabric against your skin.

your eyes are slowly drifting shut when your door peeks open, and sana's slipping in, closing the door behind her, shrouding the room in darkness again. she tiptoes to the edge of your bed, lifting the cover and sliding inside, cold feet come to entangle themselves with your legs, shuffling close as you get a whiff of her night serum, the sweet, tangy smell of mandarin subtly descending upon your senses.

"this is okay right?" she's murmuring against you, you're lying face to face, eyes sleepily open while your eyes readjust to the darkness, making out the soft curl of her eyelashes and the perfect slant of her nose.

you hum against her, sliding an arm over her waist and pulling her closer, resting your foreheads together and closing your eyes comfortably.

you think she's drifted off to sleep after a few minutes, but she speaks up in a whisper, barely there, you wouldn't have heard her if you weren't almost lip to lip, "y/n?"

"hm?"

you feel the soft breath of her sigh against your lips, "i... i should've known... he- i could've put him away faster- i gave him a platform- he was on national television and oh y/n, kids the kids he took advantage of could've seen him on tv and thought-" she's slowly panicking the tone of her voice getting shakier as she spirals and allows herself to voice her thoughts out loud for the first time, "-thought that he was in the right that it was okay that there were no consequences and then i kissed him oh my god i kissed him y/n and what kinda message does that send like-"

"sana sana baby shh, shh c'mere-" you're pulling her into you, tucking her head under yours and she starts crying and shuddering, hands twisted at the collar of your shirt.

"i just- like what's worse is i actually liked him-"

"mm no no sweetie stop stop. listen no-one knew what he was okay? it's not your fault you fell for him you can't blame yourself for that. he literally came here with the intention of making you do that you were just another one of his unlucky victims okay? and look, once this gets out on the news he's not going to have that platform anymore okay? in fact he'll probably hate that he came on here because he's going to be even more infamous than if he had stayed anonymous. we can only be real and truthful going forward so that those poor kids are validated in their feelings. he's going to be put away for a long long time now and he's not gonna have the chance to pull any more of that shit okay?"

she's sniffling into your shirt, listening to you talk and soothe her. you continue whispering sweet reassurances into the night, waiting for her to calm down.

she sniffles again, finally looking up at you, eyes red and snot dribbling out of her nose, your heart aches, "can we go out tomorrow? just us, like old times."

you smile at her request, nodding and pressing a gentle kiss onto her forehead, "of course baby. we can go do whatever you want. i promise i'll be yours for the whole day."

she's smiling, thanking you softly and closing her eyes. you wait to hear the her breath slow into quiet even snores before you stop stroking her hair, just holding her against you and closing your own eyes. drifting off to sleep with the adorable mimimimi sound she lets out only when she's exhausted and sleeping well.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

the next morning the both of you wake up around 10am, a comfortable time that allowed you to sleep-in, but not so much that you'd miss out on the entire day.

some producers stop by to check in on sana and go through a small debrief of everything that's happened and what they have left to film in the show.

you can tell she's still a little on edge and wants to get away from everything as fast as possible so you politely ask the producers for time off today and to leave the both of you alone until tomorrow since no filming was happening anyway.

eventually, they're leaving and sana's throwing on casual white pants, a light cardigan on top of a knit button-up, sunnies, grabbing her prada handbag and she's ready to go.

you're lucky you have so many things at your disposal, even multiple cars in the garage to pick from as you grab a random set of keys and click unlock. spotting a white convertible respond with its headlights flashing twice and leading sana towards the car, hopping in. sana's mood has already improved greatly, bubbling with excitement as she lists off some names of a couple restaurants you could try in town for lunch. you smile at her nodding along and humming as you start the engine, pulling out of the garage and onto the valley road, turning on the radio and laughing at the way sana almost jumps out of her seat, neck craning up, eyes closing, letting the wind sprinkled with a hint of sea salt blow through her hair, breathing in a deep breath of satisfaction.

you know you're meant to keep your eyes on the road but it was empty anyway and sana looked so so beautiful. you traced the slope of her nose, down to the curve of her lips as she smiles, the sharp lines of her jaw, and the smooth plane of skin at her neck.

she's peeking an eye open at you, laughing when you realise you've been caught, her giggle high and airy. you loved her so much. and it was getting harder and harder to say that to her without it meaning something a little more.

you're pulling into town soon, she's babbling excitedly and pointing at things that interest her with the curiosity of a child, you're trying to find parking and smoothly drive into an angled spot just in front of the restaurant you had both decided on.

you're jumping out of the car and running to the other side to get her door, and she's giggling and smiling when you take her hand, pressing a sweet kiss to her knuckles, and helping her out of the car.

you enter the bustling shop hand in hand, smiling kindly at the waiter who greets you and ushers you to a table situated next to a large window, allowing a picturesque view into the bay area with a couple fishing boats coming back in after an early morning.

you continue your act of chivalry, pulling out her chair before she sits, and then walking over to take your own seat across from her.

you both glance over the menu enjoying the hum of a busy eatery.

"do you know what you want yet y/n?"

the words on the menu were quickly meshing together, lots of french and seafood terms you wouldn't be able to take a first guess at the meaning of. you pout and shake your head.

she giggles at your antics, "it's okay i'll order for us." she's waving over the same waiter who greeted you at the door, then listing off a few menu items, her french sounding poised and elegant, though you knew she had not-so-secretly spent a year obsessing over french ballet and had even taken up a few lessons herself, only to realise she was much too clumsy to continue it. she had thanked your mutual friend mina for the gracious lessons but resorted to attempting to learn french as an outlet for her obsession.

"-leave out the pickles in everything. and that'll be all thankyou."

your heart picks up a little at the small gesture. you despised anything with pickles in it, and she knew that, making sure you wouldn't have to pick out any of those sickly green slices.

you smile in thanks when the waiter leaves with your order, only to come back quickly afterwards with a bottle of chardonnay which she pours into two elegantly carved wine glasses she's brought along with her.

you raise your eyebrows at sana, questioning the alcohol, but she only sits forward, propping an elbow up on the table and leaning her head into it with a smile.

"day drinking?"

"what? i'll drink yours if you don't want it."

you roll your eyes at her affectionately, taking the glass and sipping, humming at the sweet and tangy bitterness that fills your mouth.

she copies your actions with a beam, setting her glass back down and licking her lips. you follow the action.

"is there anything else specific that you wanted to do today?" you're asking her, taking another sip from your glass.

"mm, not really. i don't mind as long as i'm with you."

"glad to know you're feeling well enough again to flirt."

"oh always with you baby. you're the only one for me."

"that's a bold faced lie and you know it."

she pouts at that, and you can't help yourself, leaning forward and pressing lightly on her bottom lip.

"stop that. put that back in there."

she licks your finger and you hiss, pulling away quickly in mock disgust while she laughs, "please you've made me suck on your fingers and now you're grossed out?"

the waiter decides to come with your first dish at that exact moment, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks when she overhears sana's comment, you don't fare much better when you flare up in embarrassment, hastily wiping your finger on your skirt and babbling out a loud thank you to the waiter.

you glare at sana who's trying her hardest not to laugh, no shame whatsoever, shaking in her seat at the effort of keeping it in, her lips pursed and eyes twinkling.

"you're so going to get it when we get back." you mumble as you stab into a mussel on the plate in front of you.

"awwwwh poor baby's embarrassed, don't worry, mommy will make it better."

your fork drops at the term and you feel yourself going extraordinarily red. she's laughing now, loud and boisterous, drawing the attention of a few onlookers and you throw your napkin at her, whining and slinking back into your chair trying to hide your face.

it's a few seconds after you've folded you arms across your chest and tucked your chin in, willing the heat in your cheeks to go away while staring into your lap, that sana's stopped laughing.

she picks up a mussel with her fork and holds it out to you, leaning forward onto the table again, eyes bright making an 'ahh' sound.

you turn your head, not giving her the satisfaction of paying her attention, but she's persistent, "c'mon y/n. i'm sorry i won't tease anymore i promise."

it's no surprise that you can't resist her, rolling your eyes and opening your mouth, accepting the fleshy piece of seafood and chewing. she's smiling and poking her own piece to put in her mouth, humming at the taste and making sure it was to your liking as well.

the rest of lunch is spent like this, playful and fun, it's good to be able to feel like yourselves again after all the hectic film shooting.

you're standing up to grab the bill after you're both finished when sana shakes her head at you, "i got it already don't worry."

"huh? what do you mean?"

"i told the waiter earlier in french so you wouldn't know. just let me treat this time? i still haven't really been able to thank you for coming along with me for this."

"what? sana this was like... a one hundred dollar meal at least. don't be silly let me pay you back."

she's humming and putting her cardigan back on, standing up and walking in front of you, "pay me back by winning something for me at the arcade?"

you sigh, grumbling along as she giggles at you, taking your hand and leading you out of the restaurant, thanking your waiter who still looks a little off-put by you, and walking down the street to where you had spotted the small arcade earlier.

you purchase a hefty amount of arcade tokens and get straight into all the classics. sana just barely won air hockey against you, jumping and whooping with every goal, you have to take off your jacket midway through the game, sweating as you try and focus on hitting the little puck. you get her back on the dance machines though, you can't keep in the laugh when she somehow ends up sprawled on the floor, limbs tangled and missing every following beat.

you cycle through the arcade, speeding through mario kart and midnight run, shooting with abysmal accuracy at the gun games, trying your hand at some of the more unique japanese arcade games they have (which sana completely destroys you at), and eventually ending up at the wide variety of claw machines.

sana's pulling you towards one with spy x family collectibles, and you furrow your eyebrows in concentration as you try to get the small anya keychain for her.

she's giving you instructions from the side of the machine, trying to give you as much perspective as possible before the time runs out and the claw drops. you wait with baited breath as it grabs the keychain, comes back up with a whir, and then... the keychain falls out at the bump at the top of the machine.

you don't even hesitate when you push in another token, determined to win this one thing.

sana's with you the whole way, her reactions only getting more and more expressive with each loss.

you're probably on your 9th try, the claw grabs onto the keychain, lifts it up, and with a whoop the keychain's falling successfully into the claim box. sana's caterwauling and jumping into your arms and you lift her up in glee, spinning her around once before setting her back down. you bend down to pick up the keychain, presenting it to sana with a flourish, and then she's kissing your cheek and squeezing you against her in a hug, thank yous spilling out of her in rapid succession.

you giggle against her, hugging back, relishing in the contact.

after you exchange your arcade tickets for prizes, you head down towards the docks, stopping for some ice cream before making it to the boardwalk.

there are a few other couples doing the same thing, and when you nod politely to an elderly couple holding hands, you're hit with the abrupt realisation that you and sana must look like a couple right now. unless people were homophobic, then you'd just be a couple of close friends, maybe roommates.

you're suddenly hyperaware of the sweat starting to collect on your palm, releasing her hand and wiping it on your skirt when she looks at you with a cocked head, mid-lick of her ice cream cone, eyes wide.

you switch your own ice cream cone to your other hand so it looks like you had an excuse to let go, avoiding her questioning gaze.

eventually you both decide to sit down at the end of the boardwalk, legs dangling over the edge and looking out across the bay. there weren't any boats currently docked in so you had a clear view of the blue vastness in front of you.

sana's leaning in and looking up at you with puppy dog eyes.

"...what?"

she doesn't speak, her eyes darting down to your own ice cream cone and back up.

you roll your eyes and hold it out for her.

she's grinning and sticking out her tongue to lick a long strip along the side of your cone, humming in satisfaction.

"wanna try mine?"

"i'm okay thanks."

she's pouting and you can't have that so you lean in and lick some of hers, cringing at the overly sweet taste of artificial fairy floss but the smile she gives you afterwards makes up for it.

you both sit back and enjoy the light afternoon breeze, a calming presence after the hectic running around you did at the arcade.

"i missed this." sana speaks up first.

"me too."

"things have been pretty crazy with the house. i'm really glad that you're here with me though."

you turn to her and smile, "i'm glad you let me come."

"of course. the home visits later on are gonna get a little crazy. every season those are always full of drama."

"do you know who you want to end up there yet? your final four?"

she hums, thinking for a little, "still not really. we have... nine- wait no, eight since wonsik's a pedophile. so jacky, eunji, jihyo, momo, jun, jiwon, nayeon, and dae."

"it's a good mix i think. they all have different types of chemistry with you."

you're distracted by a buzz on your phone, taking it out and opening your messages.

miyeon: y/n!!!!! i just saw the news about wonsik! its everywhere rn r u guys okay?

"who's that?" sana's looking at your with a curious lilt in her voice.

you hesitate to respond, knowing how she reacted the last time you and miyeon were together.

"oh just my uncle. he's asking what to get my mum for her birthday later. you'd think he'd know since they're siblings but..." you trail off, typing a quick response back to miyeon.

y/n: it was crazy no one saw it coming! the producers called off filming today.. probably so they can deal with all the legal disputes that'll come up bcs of this

you tuck your phone back into your jacket, ignoring the new messages you get. you could respond to miyeon later. today was meant for you and sana.

sana's sighing and leaning her head on your shoulder, "wish i wore swimmers. it's such nice weather and the water looks soo good."

"we can head back and go for a swim in the pool if you want? we haven't had a chance to use it yet. may as well get the most out of being the main character on this show."

she's up in seconds, grinning, all fatigue gone as she practically prances back towards the car, only turning back to yell at you to hurry up.

you beam at her, running to catch up, laughing and smiling, just the two of you.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

sana's yelping when you cannonball into the deep end of the pool, splashing her with cold water in your wake.

"y/n!!"

you break the surface grinning and laughing, trying to splash more water on her.

"sto- stop! y/n oh my god-"

"hurry uppppppp! it's not cold if you get it over and done with!"

"no! i need to put on sunscreen first!"

"sunscreen? it's 4pm!"

"there are still UV rays at this time! i don't want to die from skin cancer and if you're a good girl you'll get out and let me put sunscreen on you too."

you narrow your eyes at her while she's lathering her legs with the white cream.

you decide to ignore her, diving into the pool and resurfacing a few times, splashing around by yourself while she takes her sweet time. to be honest, you're glad for the coolness the pool offers you, when sana first stepped out in her pale yellow bikini, you had felt your cheeks blush all the way up to the tips of your ears. you'd avoided her gaze quickly, instead opting for racing her outside and jumping in right away.

now that she wasn't watching you though, you couldn't help the way your eyes drifted over to her. she had finished with her legs and was now applying lotion to her arms. you traced the outline of her-

"y/n!"

you startle in the water, and she's looking at you curiously when you make a sort of weird strangled sound and water goes swashing around. "y-yeah?" you clear your throat, hoping you weren't as red as you felt.

"can you help with my back? i can't reach." she's looking at you with a dangerous pout, eyes pleading.

you mumble incoherently as you swim towards the shallow end, stepping out of the pool and grabbing the sunscreen bottle from her, gesturing for her to turn around while she grins at you.

you squirt some of the lotion onto your hand, rubbing it diligently into her back. you knew how much she cared for her skin, and even though you cared significantly less for your own, it mattered to her so you had to make sure you did a good job.

the problem arose when you started reaching her lower back. the pressure you've been applying becomes considerably less when you realise just how close you are to sana's ass. sana's very very attractive ass, only emphasised in these bikini bottoms.

"feeling shy y/n?"

"s-shut up."

"you can do my ass too if you want y'know. it's not like it's anything you haven't felt before."

you can picture the cheeky smirk on her face while you recap the sunscreen bottle after you're finished. and really, you just felt like you had to do something about that so before you know it, a hand's coming down and smacking her, a loud resounding slap followed closely by sana's yelp.

you're jumping back into the pool, trying to push the image of her cheeks rippling in the most perfect way to the very back of your mind.

when you break the surface again with a bubbly laugh she's still standing by the side of the pool, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face.

"did you just spank me y/n?"

you stick your tongue out her in defiance, sending a splash of water her way.

"oh you are so dead!" she's jumping in now, and you're scrambling away trying to put as much distance between you two as possible. but she closes in quickly, tackling you underwater and pulling you down so you're both submerged.

you're grinning and then you're laughing, but not in a good way because her fingers are at your sides tickling you and digging into all of the sensitive points in your body she's discovered over the time you've known each other.

you spend the next few minutes trying to one up one another, droplets of water flying everywhere, noisy screeches and laughs sounding out. you're lucky this mansion of a house was situated in the valleys with no neighbours or you most definitely would've gotten a noise complaint.

eventually, you decide to call a truce, cheeks sore from smiling, stomach sore from laughing. you float onto your back, closing your eyes and letting out a loud sigh in comfort. you can feel sana floating next to you, your heads next to each other, hearts beating in tandem.

she’s speaking up after a minute, "cats or dogs?"

you snort, "i don't mind."

you can hear the whine in her voice, "just pick one."

you hum thinking about it for a little, "whatever suits my lifestyle better i guess. if i'm really busy with work or i have to stay home a lot then probably a cat. but if i have a big backyard or something then probably a dog. knowing me though, i'll probably end up with cats. i'm too lazy to keep up with the energy dogs have."

"not with me though right?"

"what? of course not with you. also, you're not a dog sana."

"people say i look like a shiba inu."

"that's not the same thing."

she giggles a little before sighing, "you suit cats. okay. it's decided. we're getting a cat when we go home."

"huh?!"

she's breaking into high-pitched laughter again and you can only find yourself to be slightly concerned over whether she's being serious or not. you could deal with that at a much later date though. you drift back into a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the night wildlife slowly wake up in the valleys next to you.

"y/n?"

"hmm?"

"i love you."

your eyes are opening now, heart rate picking up. there's no reason to panic right? she meant it as a friend. a friend. so why was it so hard to say it back to her? as a friend?

instead, you say, "enjoy our date that much minatozaki?"

she doesn't respond with the same teasing tone you're expecting, "i really did." all honest and pure.

you're gulping, "...me too."

you know she's standing when you feel light waves push against your body, so you lift yourself up, looking at her puzzled, but she only goes to stand in front of you, grabbing your arms and wrapping them around her waist.

you let her, squeezing slightly and dropping your head onto her shoulder, your eyes drinking in the pinks and oranges of the sunset.

"you're not gonna say it back?"

you stiffen behind her, "what?"

"you know what."

she's tightening her hold around you even before you try to subconsciously escape.

you let out an almost-laugh breath, "...i love you too sana."

"was that so hard?" she's turning now, pupils dilated when they meet yours, pink lips slightly parted, noses almost touching.

you're shaking your head no, breath caught up in your throat.

a crinkle appears between her eyebrows, you have the urge to smooth it out, "are you lying?"

another shake of your head.

you feel her breath against your lips as she lets out a soft exhale, the tightening of her hands against your forearms helping ground you, if only slightly.

"i hope one day you'll be able to tell me the truth." you're confused, what was she talking about? "for now i guess this is fine." and then she's leaning in and pressing her lips against yours.

its almost an automatic reaction now. your mouth is moving against hers even before your brain registers you're kissing.

she's sweet, she always is. but this kiss is a little different. it's not filled with passion or heat, not like all your previous kisses that have always led to tangled limbs and heavy breaths. it's soft, tender, like she's trying to tell you something with her lips. you just weren't particularly versed in this form of sana communication yet to be able to tell what that was.

when she breaks away, the sun is dipping behind the horizon, her forehead leaned against yours, breaths coming in shorter after the lack of air.

she shivers a little when a cool gust of wind starts up.

"inside?" you ask.

she nods, letting you go, and following you out of the pool to dry off.

the rest of the night, even when you end up sprawled on messy sheets, sweat coating your bodies and arms around each other, your lips still tingle from her kiss in the pool. you fall asleep dreaming of small kittens, ice-cream, and sana.

#sana #minatozaki sana #twice sana #sana x reader #sana x f!reader #sana x fem!reader #twice x reader #twice x f!reader #twice x fem!reader #twice imagines #sana imagines #dovveri

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itwasrealtome · 5 days

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THIN ICE

Olivia Benson x fem! reader

⚠️ DO NOT READ IF THIS MIGHT TRIGGER YOU

ANGST | Olivia Benson x fem! detective reader | Masterlist

Summary : Detective Y/N Y/L/N, part of Olivia Benson’s Special Victims Unit, faces a life-threatening situation during a suspect’s arrest, chasing this one into an ultimate falls to his death. Injured but alive, Y/N finds herself in an hospital room, receiving stern words from Olivia about her reckless actions.

A/N : Hello my loves. I'm finally sharing this first Olivia X reader with you. I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. There are a few people I can't identify in the taglist, I'm sorry.

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This afternoon, the streets seemed even more crowded than usual. The vehicles flooded the roads, coming from every corner and blocking the main way out.

Behind a queue of about ten of them, a police car came to a sudden halt. The alarm was on, and the blue and red flashing lights blinded anyone who looked in that direction.

But no one moved.

Not even the sound of a horn persuaded the citizens of New York to get out of the path.

Amanda’s grip on the wheel only tightened. She had never been able to understand the reason behind people’s insensitivity to this kind of thing. It was such an easy thing to understand. Besides, someone’s life often depended on it. Yet, there she was, turning furiously midway, her partner gasping in surprise, her shirt now stained with hot coffee.

— Dude, can’t you just warn before doing that kind of thing?

The blonde gave a brief glance to her passenger. She expected to find her glued to the door, her fingers clenched around the top handle, but she didn’t.

Y/N was desperately trying to absorb the contents of her cup on her worktop. The wipers provided with her order, finally finding their use.

While most people would have been annoyed about staining a piece of clothing, the young detective was not. She seemed much more upset about losing a few drops of her beverage. The former could still be replaced, but the latter was definitely needed.

— Sorry about your shirt.

— Yeah, well you owe me a coffee.

The driver’s smile only widened when she heard her partner muttering complaints. She knew her well enough to say that it had nothing to do with that slight accident. It was cute. Of course, it was. But Amanda could see through it. She knew it had nothing to do with the coffee. Sure, the days were long and their job involved finding stimulants to stay awake, but Y/N was never acting like that. Something was different. And who better to notice than someone who practically lived with her?

— Sure you’re okay?

— Rollins, it’s just a shirt. I think I can get over it.

Amanda gave her a knowing glance. She expected this kind of answer from the young officer. Everyone knew what kind of person she was.

Committed, she was always the first to arrive at the precinct and the last to leave. She was practically married to the job by now. And though Kat had trouble following orders, Y/N did not. She was the perfect partner. Amanda couldn’t remember a time when Y/N had lost control. But these days, everything seemed to fall apart.

It began with a couple of small comments, here and there, a bit too harsh coming from Y/N’s mouth. Next up, her silence during the team talk was a concerning factor for Amanda. If anyone always had something to add to the investigation, it was her. This ranged from a simple detail no one had noticed, to scientific or sociological facts. It was often complicated to keep the detective quiet, so her lack of involvement was bound to catch the eye. That and the fact the blonde had seen her leave the bunks two mornings in a row at the exact same time.

Sure, it was just the addition of minor details. But the older woman’s gut was not wrong, not about this. Something was wrong with her partner. And it had nothing to do with a simple lack of caffeine.

— Oh, don’t give me that kind of look.

— But you’re not telling me the truth, Y/N/N!

Y/N huffed quietly. At times in her life, she hated being around people whose job was to investigate. She cursed them all equally. She just couldn’t help herself the last few days. Her anger was aimed at a specific and unique person, but that person being in law enforcement themselves, it was almost overwhelming to go to work every day. Time seemed to run too slowly there. The only moments she enjoyed were those outside the building. The cold New York weather allowed her to clear her mind and take a deep breath. And she always had something to do, after all the city never slept.

—Like you don’t keep anything to yourself, huh?

Amanda faintly spluttered. Everyone knew she had had difficult times, but she wasn't the only one. And now that she was honest with herself, she knew she had made mistakes. One thing’s for sure, she did not want her partner to replicate these.

— I made some mistakes, most of them I don’t want you to repeat.

— I seriously doubt you did this one.

That was all she could get out of the young detective. Amanda knew it as she watched her turn toward the window. The mere reflection of her face gave her a glimpse of what she was really feeling inside, a sweet mixture of anger and bitterness. Whatever the problem was, it wasn't something they could fix with a drink. And this worried the blonde even more.

— Just promise me you won't do anything stupid.

These words captured the passenger's interest again. She arched an eyebrow at her partner, a smile forming at the corner of her lips. Knowing their duo’s dynamics, she had dozens of retorts on the tip of her tongue, all of them a little more mischievous than the last. Instead, she just shook her head gently. Amanda didn't have to know how upset she was about the whole thing. She didn’t deserve to worry so much. And Y/N certainly had no right to be such a burden to her partner.

— Like what? Jumping off a building? y/n chuckled at the blonde’s glare. Relax. I won’t do anything of that kind, I promise.

At that very moment, the young detective genuinely meant it. She had not gotten up with such an idea in mind. If jumping off a building was regarded as a very stupid gesture, she considered her routine more so.

It was in the way the precinct’s bunks were beginning to feel like home. And how she spent every second of her days with the badge on her waist. She had no idea when she had last stepped into her apartment for more than a shower. Her desk was overflowing with paperwork and books in which she always found a way to bury herself. It was much more than a way to distract herself. At all costs, she avoided raising her head, out of fear of meeting the gaze that froze her every time. The path she was on was, for that matter, significantly more dangerous than whatever stupid thing Amanda was thinking about.

But she could not say that to her.

To anyone, actually.

— Weren't we just called to make sure that this jerk wasn't prowling around the residence?

In any other context, Y/N would have felt like a fool. Her back nearly arched as she tried to make out what was going on in a street they weren't even close to yet. She may have lacked sleep and insight into her personal life, but her cop intuition never failed her.

— You'd be sure of that if you'd listened to a single word the captain said.

— Something’s wrong.

Amanda brought them to the next intersection before momentarily stopping the car. The sight over her partner’s shoulder sent a chill down her spine. Despite years of experience, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline every time. The crowd of cops down the street certainly wasn’t helping. They were everywhere. Mostly hidden behind their vehicles. But their vests did not go unnoticed and neither did their weapons pointed at a specific target.

— Crap, I hate when you’re right about this stuff.

— Hum…what was that you were saying about our captain again? y/n faced her friend with a teasing smile on her face. She couldn’t help herself. Always listen to what sh–

The sudden acceleration of the vehicle silenced Y/N. She felt grateful once again that her belt was keeping her safe. No day went by without her being in some kind of danger, but she never thought she’d have to worry about dying while Amanda was behind the wheel.

— Would you please stop doing that? cried the younger detective, her hands still clutching the top handle. And since when do you drive so badly? Damn it.

— Guess now you’ll stop driving like a maniac if I let you get behind the wheel.

The door swung shut before she could react. She stepped out of the car herself and walked over to Amanda. A vest was tossed in her face before she could even think about opening her mouth. But anyone who thought she would have given up so easily was wrong.

— I do not drive like a maniac.

Her friend gave her a knowing look as she closed the trunk. Now was definitely not the time to have this kind of conversation, but Amanda was glad her partner hadn’t lost everything that made her the person she was.

She was relentless, both in her work and in her personal life. To be defeated by a suspect in an interrogation room was a rare occurrence. Within the profession, many officers wondered about her career choice. They could imagine her leaving the field to terrify judges in a courtroom. Perhaps because they were themselves scared to death to face her. Seeking victory in a debate with a woman like Y/N was a waste of time. She knew when she was wrong, and would always acknowledge it. Nevertheless, she also knew when she was right. And in those moments, Amanda was the first to grab a bag of popcorn.

— That you do.

The detective’s hands found the velcro on the vest from memory as she was too busy glowering at her friend. The protection weighed on her shoulders. It was almost enough to give her a reason to fall apart. That, and the weight of life that was beginning to take its toll on her.

Slightly defeated, she stomped over to Amanda to catch up with her. She knew the other detective was right. Her anger was evident in the way she drove. Since then, she was assigned the role of co-pilot. It was okay. But she loathed being deprived of her usual distraction. It was starting to loop in her mind. She needed a way out.

— Detective Rollins and Y/L/N, Special Victims Unit.

Amanda shoved her badge in the man’s direction, half-expecting him to tell her to piss off. He dominated the scene with his large stature and a rank evident to all. The rookies were following his orders and keeping their mouths shut. Something that obviously wouldn't work with Olivia Benson-trained agents. He didn't seem to mind, guiding the two detectives as close as possible to the scene. But then, the mere idea of having to send men into the building made him raise his chin in an authoritative, disapproving manner.

— Our only witness is trapped in this building, Rollins began the fight, finger pointing accusingly. I don't care how, I want that man in custody.

If one of them had looked up for even half a second, instead of fighting over who had the biggest –which was obviously Y/N in this situation– they might have been able to stop the young detective in her tracks. Amanda had had enough of listening to the man's whining as he waved his rank in her face. And her colleague, the one she was supposed to look after, was tired of simply waiting.

As discreet as a mouse in the middle of the city, Y/N circled the building and quickly found a fire escape. It wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind when the impulse to walk into the building first came to her, but she couldn't really say she'd given it much thought. With a bit of imagination, and a little help from a trash container, she managed to pull herself up to the top. Now, maybe that was the beginning of a crazy idea. She could already imagine her partner and captain scolding her - if, and only if, she managed to get out of there alive and intact.

At the top of the stairs leading to the third floor, the detective stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of their suspect's agitated voice.

Thomas Patterson, 45, suspected of having violently abused his wife before killing her, and of abusing his stepdaughter - Johanne Morales. The man's profile was clear: a respectful-looking husband and father-in-law, loved by all, carefree, but once the door was closed he turned into a control freak with urges he simply couldn't escape. He clearly hadn't planned to kill his wife. The autopsy had revealed signs of haste and mistakes that a man like Patterson would never have made if he had prepared properly. But he had made mistakes. His blows had been too violent, Johanne had interrupted him, and he'd had to finish the job quickly - too quickly, in order to hide his crime.

Y/N had studied his profile carefully. That's what she did best, that and avoiding her captain. She knew he was restless, nervous, ready to do anything to cover up his actions. The final piece of the puzzle was to eliminate the only witness, the one who would go all the way to court to see him take the fall. She had an advantage over him. She was there, so close to the goal, and he was unaware of her presence. At least, that was until Amanda's voice came through the radio.

— Y/L/N, you've got two seconds to get your butt over here.

The young detective could have banged her own head against the wall. Boy, had she been stupid on that one. She clenched her jaw, the urge to bite her fist growing cumbersome as she prayed Thomas hadn't heard. But he definitely did.

A front door opened slowly, the creaking hinges betraying the building’s condition. The man was probably armed, the sound of the guard echoing in the empty corridor. Each of his steps shook the wooden floor and sent a current of adrenalin through Y/N's veins. He was getting closer. She could smell him and his perfume. Him and her fear.

As soon as he was close enough to round the corner of the stairwell, the young detective took this as her cue. She charged at the man, her hands reaching for the 9mm held firmly in his rough, bleeding hands. In a split second, the magazine slid out and collapsed on the floor. She sent it tumbling down a few steps with her boot, before landing a knee into the suspect’s parts. This only confused him for the briefest moment. He was on her again before she could even flinch. Her body hit the wall with a heavy thud, the vest shielding her body from the heavy impact. However, the man’s hands found her neck and tightened their grip, pulling her head violently forward and then pushing it back, slamming it against the concrete wall.

He repeated the motion twice more, the detective’s pleas of pain provoking a feeling he himself could not begin to describe. Y/N wasn’t done with him yet. He clearly wanted to lash out at a woman and had a nasty habit of underestimating them all. Only, today wasn’t his lucky day. He was forced into the apartment where he had deliberately tied up the young Johanne. It was his turn to bang into something. The dresser barely tilted behind him, but the vase crashed hard against the top of his skull. He felt the water run down his face, the smell of freshly bought flowers wafting through the air.

Back in a corner, Johanne tried desperately to struggle out of her bonds, her words puffed out by the duct tape over her mouth. She could only witness the struggle between her back-up and her assailant. Watching as Y/N unloaded all her pent-up anger on the man who had dared to cause so much harm. In one smooth motion, Thomas grabbed the detective’s gun, a triumphant glint in his eyes. Hope was soon lost, his chances of getting out of there alive and free close to zero. His opponent was relentless and had no intention of letting him slip away. His only option, he realized, a flash of light reflecting off the window, was to drag the detective with him in his fall.

Outside, Amanda was still arguing with the man in charge of operations. He hadn’t given up and neither had she. Only when, as the argument continued to escalate, gunshots were heard, followed by the shattering of a window pane, did they come to an agreement. The plan didn’t even have time to take shape before two bodies flew out of the building.

First, the blonde saw the man she recognized as their suspect crash hard to the ground, the collision knocking him down instantly. Then came a tremendous thump and the shrill sound of a car alarm. Straight ahead of her, on one of the patrol cars, had landed Y/N. The height of the fall meant that the roof of the vehicle had been crushed and some of the windows smashed. That wasn't what Amanda was most worried about. Her partner, the one who'd promised her she wouldn't do anything stupid – like jumping off the third floor of a building, was sprawled motionless on the broken glass, blood on the back of her skull.

— Oh my God, Y/N, in one stride, she was as close as she could get to her friend. Call an ambulance. Now!

For once, the man made himself useful, radio in hand, as he asked for help. He now stood with one, maybe two, even three victims to deal with if the detective didn't make it. He could already imagine the damage it would do to his career. Besides, he knew Captain Benson very well and had no desire to mess with her.

Needless was his worry. The more Amanda studied her friend, the more she realized how lucky she’s been. Y/N was simply stunned, staring at the New York sky with an uncharacteristic intensity. She began to laugh, full-throated, heartily. It was probably the adrenaline pumping again. Tears joined the party, leaving funny marks on her bloody cheeks. Suddenly, she remembered.

— Johanne. She's alive. Up there. Y/N looked up at Amanda expectantly. She needs help.

***

Captain Olivia Benson had seen enough in her career not to let anxiety get the better of her. She had been beaten, kidnapped, almost died and dragged through the mud in front of an entire courtroom. She had reached a point where facing certain types of suspects no longer made her lose her footing.

But someone was bound to make her lose it.

Briskly, almost to the point of knocking herself off her feet, she made her way through the corridors of a hospital she knew all too well. The distinctive clatter of her heels against the floor blended perfectly with the incessant beeping and distant hubbub of such a place. She wasn't there to see a victim, as she often was. Her hasty and agitated demeanor only aroused the suspicions of the medical staff who had crossed paths with her so many times. It wasn't just a professional matter.

It hadn't been for a long time.

When Olivia reached room 212, she didn't spare a moment's hesitation. One of her youngest detectives and latest recruit was sitting wisely on the edge of the bed, her legs wriggling in the air like a child's. A nurse was visibly busy behind her, dropping more and more glass flakes into her tray as she went. She leaned against the doorframe, arms folded tightly against her chest, eyes focused on the sight that made her stomach hurt in spite of herself.

She watched as Y/N's chest, covered in dried blood, continued to pulsate with every breath, as hematomas were already starting to spread across her face and torso, and as her plain face twisted in pain as soon as the nurse reached for another piece of glass. Just a few days ago, her first instinct would have been to rush to her protégé’s side and calm the agony she knew to be growing in her heart. But she'd vowed to keep her distance and stay in her current position: Captain Benson, unit chief.

All too quickly for the young detective's liking, the nurse finished her treatment and left the two law enforcement agents behind. Olivia had had the decency to wait until the door was closed before lashing out at her, which didn't stop Y/N from rolling her eyes. She'd already imagined this conversation - or rather, monologue - and knew she wouldn't come out of it unscathed. She'd probably lose her badge. No matter, she'd already lost her heart.

— Have you completely lost your mind? You could’ve been killed.

This was the cue for a lengthy sermon that she couldn't escape. The words left Olivia's mouth at a speed that seemed unbearable. She paced back and forth, her arms stretching out in waves of frustration and indignation, her cheeks rosy with emotion. She'd done some stupid things herself when she was just a rookie, but throwing herself off the third floor of a building had never been on the list.

— Are you done? y/n arched an eyebrow as Olivia finally paused. I saved a life today. While Amanda and that jerk were fighting over who had the biggest, which apparently I did.

— No, you refused to follow orders. Not only did you put yourself in danger, you put everyone's lives in danger. Heaven help us again that you were wearing your vest, otherwise it could have been a lot worse.

— I don't know why you care so much, you're just my boss!

Although these words were intended to hurt Olivia, it was Y/N who took the brunt of the blow. It was one thing to know that their relationship had been reduced to this, but it was quite another to admit it in person. The brunette was no longer entitled to worry so much, to ask her to watch out and send her a text as soon as she got home. Whatever had been was no more.

— Right, Olivia broke into an almost scoffing snort. Let me tell you, as your captain, that you won't be leaving the precinct for a long time.

— You’re benching me? Liv, you can’t do this!

— What you did was completely irresponsible. You don't want to follow orders, fine. But you're not leaving this desk without my permission.

The young detective had been holding her breath for a long time– far too long. She'd spent days avoiding conflict, lamenting in her corner, mourning the end of a story she'd thought would last forever. It wasn't just about what had just happened, it was something else, something more personal. She felt as if Olivia had no idea how to express her concern, as if her only option was to play the role of the big bad boss. But she was tired of hiding, of running away, of avoiding confrontation.

— Breaking my heart wasn't enough for you, uh? She rose from the bed, hastily putting on her jacket. If you want me to leave the squad, just say so.

For the first time, she faced her head-on. Head held high, eyebrows furrowed in frustration, ready to stand on tiptoe if that would help reach the brunette's height. She faced those brown pearls with all the courage she had left, her own eyes misty with tears she'd never let flow. This was it, so close yet so far, two souls who knew each other becoming strangers once again.

Olivia reached out with a last ounce of regret, brushing away a tear that had escaped down the young detective's cheek with the tip of her thumb. Her heart urged her to do more, to embrace this bruised woman, to bring her all the comfort she needed. She wanted to take Y/N home, wrap her in one of her shirts, tell her how much she loved her. In another life, where they were just two soul mates, where Olivia didn't have to worry about repercussions, whatever they might be. This was where she could find comfort.

— Go home. Take a few days. Get some rest. We'll talk about it when you get back.

The New Yorker had rarely seen a face shattered in a matter of seconds. Her words had urged Y/N to free herself from her hold, her head heavy and spinning from all the hassle and concussion she'd picked up from the blows. Her shoulder nudged her superior's as she walked by, a gesture of no little importance. She did not look back once to meet her former lover's gaze again.

Maybe she should have.

Maybe she would have seen the same love, the same tears, that Olivia saw in her eyes.

Maybe the ice wasn't so thin after all.

•••

Taglist: @electricboost @womenlovingwomen-imagines @hi-1-1-blog @emskisworld @enjoytheentireworld @arie109 @marvelandotheruniverseslover-adhd @philocalistwrites @wittygutsy @observeowl @ravennewlyn @tina-2005 @makkaroni221 @ssaaggwwaa @youdontknowwhotfiamm @mmmmokdok @hbkpop @micaluvssoccer @idk-whats-wrong-with-me-blog @nciscmjunkie @moonlightjxuregui @thefatobsession @12fluffybunny12 @scarletwitcher97 @thesamesweetie @idonothingallday @clozeliz @realgirlbossqueenslay @l4yne @rain-mikaelson @fanfiction-24824 @sammi1642 @inquisitive-nix @namelesscheshire

#olivia benson x reader #law and order svu #oneshot #angst #amanda rollins x reader #olivia benson

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thesleepyfable · 4 days

Text

~ SWTD: Still Here AU Part 13: ~

Operation Spy Part 2:

There's not much to say here. Other than that, I never expected to do this many chapters and still have so many people reading every time I post. I'm truly grateful for all of you, and I hope you all stick around for the next 10 chapters I have planned.

Bernard Cunningham was exactly how you'd picture a stereotypical chairman. A tall, large man in his 40s, with brown hair and matching moustache, that would make Gibbo blush and wearing a 3 piece green suit. Oh, and smoked expensive cigars. Can't forget that.

Caz sat opposite the way overpriced mahogany desk and caught quick glances at the possible fake awards, all neatly hung in the office that was bigger than his living room. Of course, the office was several stories high. As Bernard helped himself to a cigar, Caz quickly caught a glimpse of the crane lifting the infected containers off the ship and onto the docks. His leg began to bounce. Still couldn't feel their presence from this height. Everyone else who wasn't infected sat outside in a large waiting lobby. He was last to be questioned. At least he was back in his own clothes. His work clothes had a stink that would never come off.

Something else was odd. No police. Nothing. Billy couldn't have dropped the charges. Did they only send a letter off to Beria? They didn't have to go through the higher ups? Technically, it was Rennick's. He owned the place. If it went straight to Beria, then he had no time to call the police and let them know. He had his own phone to reach the mainland, and Administration also had theirs for whenever the crew needed some time with family. And, ironically enough, besides Gregor and Davros, all of Administration were missing. Still, Caz had to keep his guard up. This was his last chance to slip past them. They probably had no idea the rig was evacuated, and why would they? This wasn't their problem.

'Right, Mr. McLeary.' Bernard's booming voice brought Caz out of his endless thoughts. 'Tell me what happened to my rig?' Oh, it was a good thing Rennick wasn't here. Like Caz with Roper, some of his attitude must have rubbed off on him because he had to bite back from correcting Bernard.

'I dunno,' he answered. 'It all just fucking-'

'Please no swearing in my office.'

'It all just fell apart.'

'Just like that?'

'I guess,' Caz shrugged. 'Construction isn't my forte.'

'But you saw what happened?'

'Yes. The f-' He paused and composed himself. 'Pieces just fell into the North Sea.'

'Alright.' Bernard began to jot down notes. If Caz didn't feel like this was an interrogation, then it certainly felt one now. Another quick glance to docks. 'And how did you follow protocol?' It was now Caz realised this was going to be a long day.

'I listened to Rennick and went to find anyone who needed assistance.'

'Oh, and not fix any electrics?'

'Things were important.'

'Such as?'

Was this guy serious?

'The wellbeing of my coworkers.' Caz couldn't help himself. He reverted back to his youth when he would sarcastically answer back to the headmaster, explaining why the student he beat up deserved it. 'The place was already falling apart, and thankfully, the backup generators hadn't switched on. The leccy was fine. Engineering had that covered.'

'And what of Rennick? The man wasn't listed as a survivor. Do you know what happened?'

Caz shrugged. 'My guess, he fell from the Beria when it began to shake.'

'And the others?' Bastard didn't even know their names.

'I tried to get Gregor.' The memory came back. Caz's composure began to slip, and his breathing began to labour. There was a sadness in his eyes as he looked to the floor. His fingers began to tap against each other. 'But I couldn't reach him.'

Bernard continued to write down the answers. 'That makes the payouts easier...'

And just like that, something snapped in Caz. His face dropped, and his skin turned pale. He slowly looked back up, trying to make eye contact with the chairman.

'Excuse me?'

Bernard ignored the question. Caz thought more. He began to think if he was in Rennick's position and then everything he had noticed on the bulletin boards. He knew Rennick was cutting corners, but someone gave him the budget to build Beria. Money never comes out of a buisness man's own pocket, especially for a rig. Caz looked back at Bernard. Rennick's voice ran through his head.

'I know you all hate me, but you should all share that hatred towards Cadal.'

'Please. If it was up to me, I would have stopped the drilling. But Cadal, that Bernard prick, would have rung all our necks.'

Now, Caz understood. Bernard Cunningham was a weasel-bodied, rat-faced, snake. His body tensed, trying his best not to jump the table and do what he did to Billy to this prick. Because of this cheap bastard, Gregor, Davros, and the others were dead. Rennick was right. It all linked back to him. He had to look away.

The last container was lowered onto the docks. Everyone from Beria held their breath. No one could stop it. They all knew this would happen, but what would happen next? A man opened the door to Muir's container, and a horrified scream echoed across all of Scotland. They fell onto their back, others came to look in curiosity, which was followed by a look of shock, as Muir stepped out along with Innes.

'Oh, shut up, mate,' Innes snapped. 'Can't you see I've got a headache?' Too much booze, food and crying from last night.

Using a tendril, Muir opened the other infected doors. Panic spread across the dock employees who saw the others appear from hiding. You couldn't blame them as they all collectively moved away like the infected were lepers or had some form of contagious disease. Obviously, this wasn't what they had in mind. But, what they couldn't wrap their head around was how normal they were acting. Trots, being the closest to looking human, stretched his arms above his head before putting his backpack over a shoulder. 'Finally,' he groaned. 'Thought I was gonna suffocate this there.' He then took in his surroundings and smiled. Land at last. He turned to Gibbo and pointed into the distance. 'Look, Gibbo, it's a tree.'

Gibbo had clearly slept the entire trip. He had a dazed look in his eyes, and his hair, because he was the lucky bastard who didn't lose it through infection, was all over the place. He tossed and turned in his sleep. He forced a tired smile. Trots' genuine happiness was hard to ignore. 'Did you think you'd never see one again?'

Bernard and everyone on from Beria came out onto the dock. Seeing how casual they were, the workers began to relax. Their mouths were still agape, bodies frozen in place and eyes staring at them. It must be a trait of his because Roy tapped one of the man's shoulders.

'Don't stare. They've been through enough.'

Bernard shoved his way to the front. His face went white, and sweat ran down his forehead. 'What...What...' He stepped closer with a look of panic in his eyes. The infected and Innes noticed. They'd never met Bernard before, but they all knew this was him, and they all gave him a dirty glare. 'What the fuck is this?!' Because, they all knew that he wasn't showing panic for their well-being. If it was possible, his pupils would he shaped as the pound sign. He was worried over what this meant for his company and reputation. 'Is this a joke?'

'It's December,' Finlay muttered yet was loud enough for Bernard to hear. How odd.

Bernard frantically looked in all directions, suddenly catching a glimpse of Innes still holding onto Muir. 'And why are you touching it?!' Well, that got everyone to glare. If it wasn't for Innes, Muir would have flung Bernard to London. Addair looked like a predator locked in on its prey. Large, rounded eyes that had no life behind them. Trots debated on punching him, and Gibbo's jaws clenched, and his teeth began to rub. But it was Caz who went to make the first move, rolling up his sleeve and stepping forward. Fuck it. He'll happily punch him into next week.

'Ah, Bernard Cunningham.' That voice. It ran a shiver up Bernard's spine and caused Caz to stop in his tracks. Somehow, Rennick had slipped past over thirty people and crept up to the chairman by scaling the building, who stood frozen in fear. 'Sorry to have given you a scare, and so sorry to get you out of your office.' That light, sing-song tone from that built anxiety for his crew, now made them smile wickedly. One of Rennick's 'arms' wrapped themselves around Bernard's shoulder, and he pulled himself uncomfortably close to his face. Bernard didn't have the courage to look at him. 'But, I think you and I need to have a wee chat.'

'You're supposed to be dead.'

'Now, wouldn't that have made your day?'

Bernard glanced to Caz, who simply shrugged. 'Guess we miscounted.'

#Still Wakes the Deep #Still Wakes the Deep: Still Here AU #My Writing

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violetmuses · 23 days

Text

Versus - A. Aretas (Part III) 💔

Title: Versus - A. Aretas (Part III) 💔

Fandom: “Bad Boys” Film Universe

Character: Armando Aretas

Pairing: Armando Aretas + Female Reader

Main Storyline: One decision will change everything.

Tag List: @nelo0wesker @yassbishimvintage @nobodygetsza @peaxhygirl @superstar-t20 @adoresmiles @klssngss @deja-r @hyper-trash-panda @amethyst-loves-bucky 🏷

Part I ❤️‍🩹

Part 2 ❤️‍🩹

=====

2024

Shortly after your home settled down from those unexpected visitors, this doorbell rang once more.

Checking that RING camera again, you realize that Armando returned to the porch this time.

“What, did y'all forget something?” You barely opened the door, almost nervous.

“C'mon…” Aretas tried.

“What?” You don't even understand his point, not yet at least.

“I don't have much time before leaving, but we're doing this together.” Armando grounded reality.

“Say less.” You vowed, rushing to prepare for the battle yourself.

******

Outright monster James McGrath veiled his dark operations by working through one abandoned alligator park located somewhere deep in Florida.

“Armando's with Callie! Trail ‘em.” Mike Lowrey gritted his teeth amid crossfire and set your instructions for the mission.

McGrath just kidnapped Mike's wife Christine and even took Captain Howard's granddaughter Callie hostage. You fumed, raging from within.

___

“We're right here!” Callie lifted both palms for your vantage point just in case.

Yet wounds riddled Armando's body as this tree anchored his weakened presence.

“She…put me down by this tree. I'm okay…” His accented English struggles through pain, rightfully so.

“Kay…” Nodding down toward Armando, you're still protective despite everything.

“Hands up, Detective!” Marshal Judy Howard prompted your attention.

Raising both hands slowly, you turn around as expected.

“Mom, please don't hurt anyone!” Callie reveals tears, noting Aretas and you. “Armando saved my life and the detective looked out for us.”

“Move out of the way, Callie.” Judy continued staying armed.

“Mom, no!” Right when Callie shouted once more, Judy pulled the trigger.

Your body fell backwards as red dampened this tactical gear.

Yet, one lethal bullet pierced directly between your eyes, marking Judy's instant plan.

“Let me up, let up!” Right away, Armando wants Callie to help him stand from the ground, but immediately signals his father. “Mike, Mike!”

Seconds later, Detective Mike Lowrey joined this spot in the wilderness alongside Marcus Burnett as Judy keeps holding that firearm.

“What the fuck?!” Mike and Marcus shouted over this permanent view of your dead body.

“What happened?” Mike glanced toward Judy, both distraught and angered.

“I aimed for Armando but…”Judy revealed the truth about your death. “She wanted to protect him and Callie…”

“Aw, damn!” Genuinely crying, Marcus knelt toward your body this time.

“We can't call it in. Everyone will see Armando first.” Judy sniffled after holstering the firearm.

“What do you suggest?” Mike sought true guidance.

“Go. Leave with Armando before I change my mind.” Judy held her daughter Callie, but Mike understood this point.

Leave before everyone freaks out.

====

2025

Despite everyone marking calendars regardless, time slowed down.

The Miami Police Department lost joy while Marcus and Mike stopped laughing together.

Even your pictures still greeted desks at the precinct, showing camaraderie and highlighting true friendship.

“Listen to this, man.” Bringing his cell phone, Mike walked toward Marcus one afternoon.

“Hey, Lowrey! It's my day off.” Your laughter chimed this old voicemail. “Are we still planning cookouts for the department? I'll be there, just don't let Marcus eat Skittles. See you later, bye.”

“She'd sit in the corner with a plate now.” Marcus almost chuckled to avoid pain.

Memories could last forever.

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americaswritings · 2 years

Text

When we fall | Part 1

Warnings (for all parts): Fluff, angst!!, description of injuries, blood, violence, use of guns, mentions of death, probably unaccurate policing/medicine

Summary: You moved to Chicago to start a new life. Working as a doctor alongside your brother Connor you make new friends and although you swore to yourself not to let any man in your life at least for a while, your promises fail when you lock eyes with a handsome stranger in a bar.

Words: 6k

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Doctor!Rhodes!reader

A/N: I just started watching Chicago PD (I'm on season 3 now) after I've been watching Fire and Med for years now. I just can't stand Voight so I only began watching for Jay and Burzek! And I am so in love with Jay. Please, this man is perfect. Just look at that handsome face!!

This is going to be a 3 part series I wrote on a whim. Originally I only planned on writing one scene, but then I figured it needed a backstory so this happened...

I have to say I am really proud how it turned out. I was just in such a flow when I wrote it that the story basically wrote itsself. I hope you enjoy and that the characters feel true to themselves :)

You had only began working at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center a few months ago, hesitant to work alongside your brother but knowing it was an opportunity, which would be stupid not to take.

Having moved to Chicago recently to be close with your brother after a messy break-up, you were still adjusting to your new life.

It was why you were more than relieved when you got along well with your co-workers, especially Natalie and her boyfriend Will.

They were understanding of your situation, were never bothered to show you where to find something at the hospital and made you feel welcome from the beginning as they invited you in on their group plans and joked like you were old friends.

Although you still felt a little uncertain at times to work with your brother, who had made himself a name as a brilliant trauma and cardiothoracic surgeon, he had been supportive since your decision to leave your old town behind and start a new life in Chicago.

Maybe, you thought, coming here had been exactly what you needed. A fresh start, a new beginning with new friends and no men to mess with your heart. At least for now.

“I told you I have sworn off men”, you sighed, shaking your head in amusement at Natalie’s try to play matchmaker. “They’re trouble. I don’t need that in my life right now.”

“Hey!” Will send you a look, though you knew he wasn’t mad. “She’s not wrong though”, April stated and Ethan next to her grinned. “I mean it though”, you said directed at Natalie. “I just want to focus on myself right now. My job. No dating for now.”

Everyone at the table nodded and you relaxed, glad you had found these people, who respected and supported you. “Cheers to that!” April raised her glass and you did the same when you noticed yours was empty.

With a groan you pushed yourself out of your seat and up, gesturing towards the bar. “I’m going to get another drink. Anyone want something?” They all shook their heads, already moving onto another topic.

As you made your way over to the counter you studied the people around you, trying to determine who was a cop, a firefighter and who a regular. Right in the beginning the others had introduced you to Mollys, claiming it was Chicago’s bar where first responders spend their time after shift.

Figuring it might come in handy to memorize some faces you let your gaze drift over the sea of people, recognizing a few men that Connor had once told you worked at the CFD. They were laughing loudly, beers in hand as they seemed to be talking enthusiastically about something.

At the table next to theirs your gaze came to a hold, your eyes caught by a man you had never seen before but looked slightly familiar. Your brows furrowed as you rummaged in your head for something that connected you to him, but you couldn’t find anything.

The people who sat with him didn’t look familiar either, consisting of men and one woman with chestnut hair. Your eyes drifted back to the man, who had caught your attention, his brown hair styled neatly and his hands wrapped around a bottle of beer that he just raised to his lips.

You didn’t meant to stare, but you were mesmerized, torn between trying to determine why he looked so familiar and captured by his effortless handsomeness.

He wore a green shirt, making you think his eyes were the same shade, although it was hard to know with the distance between you.

He seemed relaxed, leant back in his seat but listening to the others conversation attentively. Having sensed someone’s eyes on him he suddenly looked up, his eyes searching the room for a split second before they fell onto you.

Your face heat up as a blush crept up your cheeks, knowing you had missed your chance to turn away. The man raised his brows slightly, in confusion just as much as amusement it seemed, before he lightly lifted his bottle, as if he was saying cheers.

You clutched your glass a little tighter, glad that it had been refilled in the time you had spent gawking at him, and copied the movement, an unstable smile on your lips. Then you turned away, meeting Stella’s gaze from the other side of the bar.

The two of you had met when she had been at the hospital for smoke inhaling a while ago and you had clicked almost instantly, connected by your determination to hold your own in a field still dominated by men. And by your past with toxic relationships as you found out later.

“What was that?”, she asked, a teasing grin tugging at the corner of her lips as her eyes flickered between you and the man behind you. A part of you wanted to ask if he was still watching you, the other longed to forget it had ever happened.

“I don’t know.” You let out a dramatic sigh. “Can we just forget it ever happened?”

Stella’s face lit up, her curls dancing around her face as she shook her head. “Yeah, you wish. But that was definitely something.”

You exhaled, pinching your nose. “Thank you for the drink.” You saw Stella open her mouth in protest at your ignoration of her words, but before she could say anything else you send her an apologetical smile and hurried off.

No one seemed to have noticed your encounter and you slipped into the booth with ease, trying hard not to steal another glance at the unknown man a few tables away.

No men, you reminded yourself. Right now you needed to focus on getting your life together, not getting your heart broken by a handsome stranger.

“Dr. (Y/l/n)?” “Yeah?”, your head shot up from where you had filled out paper work. Because Connor and you were only half-sibling, you didn’t share the same last name, something you had been more than glad over when stepping foot in this hospital for the first time.

No one knew where you came from and that you shared genes with the successful Dr. Rhodes and you had left it at that at first, wanting to make your own impression first before dropping the information.

You could still remember their shocked faces, the questions, but most of all the excitement as they asked what Connor had been like growing up. If you had any embarrassing stories to tell or photos to show.

You didn’t, keeping them to yourself for now, because you hadn’t come here to make fun of your brother. He had been your rock through your breakup and your move here, something you were so grateful for you feared you would never be able to show him just how much.

“We have someone hit bit a bullet waiting in the three.” Your eyes widened. “Why didn’t they come with an ambulance?”, you asked, grabbing your iPad along the way.

Maggie waved off your comment, chuckling. “Cops. You know how they are.”

Actually, you didn’t. Coming from a small town you had no experience with shootings and gangs and many of the other trauma causes that were common here in Chicago. It was why you had been so excited about your job offer at the hospital.

Although you were still adjusting to the changes of living in a city and there were downsides you hadn’t considered before, you liked it. It felt so different, giving you the sense that in this city everything could be possible.

So many options and so many possibilities, as if you could completely reinvent yourself. It was thrilling, making you wonder how you had ever lived without the adrenaline rush of stepping into a busy ER.

Quickly scanning the information on your tablet you pulled open the curtain, clamping the iPad under your arm as you disinfected your hands.

“Hi, I’m doctor (y/l/n) and you are?” You glanced up, startled as you met the eyes of a familiar stranger. The man in front of you grinned, seemingly better at covering up his surprise. “Shouldn’t it say my name on your tablet?”

He didn’t sound rude, only a little sarcastic and perhaps even teasing. You gulped, trying to recompose yourself. “Right. I just prefer getting to know my patients myself than just relying on numbers and letters.”

You didn’t see his reaction when you grabbed your iPad again, glancing down at it. “So your name is Jay Hal-” “Halstead”, he finished for you and you looked up at him again.

It made sense now, why he had seemed so familiar to you nights ago at Mollys. “You’re Will’s brother.” The man in front of you, Jay, as you knew now, raised a brow. “Have you considered becoming a detective?”

He was mocking you, again, and you were tempted to smack him with your iPad. “So-”, he paused, letting his eyes drift over you. You felt your body tense under his gaze, cop’s eyes, and stood a little straighter.

“You were watching me at Mollys.”

You pressed your lips into a thin line, biting your tongue. You could only hope the embarrassment that began to sink in didn’t show.

“I was not watching you”, you stated and he raised a brow, daring you to explain yourself. “I just thought you looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. Now it makes sense.”

You turned halfway towards the door, gesturing to the halls where somewhere his brother was treating another patient.

“I don’t think that’s the whole truth.”

You almost gasped at the confidence in his voice, instead blowing out a breath. “It definitely was.”

He shook his head, smiling. “I don’t buy it.”

There were many things you wanted to say to him, but you swallowed them, knowing it was no use. He clearly enjoyed teasing you, so you wouldn’t give him more fuel.

Instead you let out a sigh, shifting into professionality. “So, Mr. Halstead”, you began. “Jay is fine.” You tried not to let his interruption let you lose your string again and nodded. “Jay, you’re here for a bullet wound on your left upper arm?”

Jay nodded, his eyes- they really were green- bright. Pulling on your gloves you decided it was time to reclaim your own position a little. “And you decided to just walk in here instead of coming with an ambulance? Seems a little reckless, don’t you think?”

He raised one brow at your question. “It’s just a graze. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for my boss.” He rolled his eyes, making you wonder what his boss was like.

“Seems like your boss is a lot smarter than you”, you muttered, but to your surprise Jay grinned. “You’re new here, right? At least I’ve never seen you here before. Do you always talk to patients like that?”

You shrugged, unbothered by his words as you stepped close to him to take a look at his arm. You didn’t know what had gotten into you to talk to him like that, but you had the feeling with him it was fine. That he could take it, perhaps even enjoyed it over your dry professionalism.

“Only to the ones I like best”, you said with sarcasm in your voice, too focused on inspecting his wound to check his expression.

Jay didn’t move under your touch, allowing you to move his arm before you let it go again. He had done this before, probably multiple times. It was why he was so unbothered, perhaps even annoyed to waste his time here on something that seemed unsignificant to him.

For a moment you were tempted to ask him how he could choose a job that demanded such sacrifice, but you didn’t know him and you doubted he would give you an honest answer. Not that you could blame him. You were practically strangers.

And was your job much different? Although you had never been hurt and doubted it would ever happen, you were still making countless of sacrifices for it. Taking on extra shifts, working through the nights, staying longer to take more time for your patients and putting their health over your own sometimes.

“It’s just a graze shot”, you said when you were done inspecting the wound, ignoring his look that seemed to say “told you”.

“But you still need to be careful with it. Give it rest, avoid any rapid movements, don’t lift too heavy with it…I think you know.”

Jay nodded, watching you remove your gloves. “Does that happen often?” He tilted his head in question and you bit your lip. “I mean, you- getting shot on the job.”

“Are you asking if I come here often?” His lips were curled into a lopsided grin, looking way too handsome on his features. You rolled your eyes at his teasing, ignoring the way your heart beat a little faster in your chest. “Forget it”, you stated, throwing your gloves into the bin.

“I am going to tell one of the residents to come and bandage the wound. Then you’re free to go.”

But before you could move the curtain again and leave the room you heard Jay’s voice behind you. “Wait.”

You paused, turning back to him slowly. For the first time he wore a serious expression, his jaw twitching.

“I’m with the Intelligence”, he stated, in a way that told you the name should ring a bell. It didn’t. You were too new to know much about it.

Jay seemed to sense it by your lack of a reaction to his words. “We’re…very involved in the City.”

Whatever that meant. You tilted your head in question. “You mean with the gangs?”

Jay shifted. “Voight, my boss, he can be very- intense.”

You nodded slowly, taking in his guarded expression. It was a topic you wouldn’t pry at. “And you’re okay with it? I mean- you’re just so…casual about this.”

You bit your lip, hesitant to ask him but curious as well. The cops in your home town had barely ever used their weapon to the point you sometimes even doubted they were able to.

Jay shrugged nonchalantly. “Before I worked for the CPD I was in the army. I’ve been through a lot worse than a graze. Getting shot at is just another part of my job.”

A veteran.

In such a short amount of time Jay had revealed so much to you. Suddenly you had a lot more respect for the man in front of you and you wondered if that was his way of coping, covering up his battle wounds and scars with sarcasm and wit.

You swallowed, trying to find words. But none seemed fitting. “Sounds like I will be seeing you here often then.” You kept your voice emotionless, although the thought of seeing Jay regularly made your heart speed up a little. Of course you would prefer different circumstances.

Damn his handsome face and wit.

He grinned slightly, shifting the atmosphere back to something lighter. “Don’t get too excited. I prefer staying bullet free.” “As you should.”

Typing something into your iPad you gave Jay a final nod. “Stay safe out there.” Then you turned to the door, already halfway out when you heard his voice again.

“I don’t even know your name.”

You froze, smiling to yourself when you tried not to put too much weight into the fact that he had called you back a second time. It seemed almost as if he didn’t want you to leave just yet.

But you pushed the thought aside, knowing it was pointless. You couldn’t let yourself get distracted so easily.

Turning back to him you put on a polite smile.

“You’re a detective, figure it out.”

You were surprised by your own confidence, but with Jay you didn’t feel shy or insecure. He made you feel like you could say anything and he wouldn’t mind. The type of man that didn’t get upset easily, so comfortable with who he was that it took a lot to get him to lose his temper.

“I could just ask my brother, you know.”

You shrugged, unimpressed. “If that lets you sleep at night, sure.”

You left the room smiling to yourself and it took you another few minutes to calm your rapid heart and collect yourself.

“You didn’t tell me you have a brother!” “What?” Will looked up from the computer, startled by the way you had barged into the break room.

Your shift was over and you couldn’t wait to get home and relax on the couch, but before that you needed to talk to Will. Because after encountering the other Halstead your mind hadn’t been able to let go of what had happened between the two of you. The way he had looked at you, teased you. How he had made you feel nervous and confident in just a matter of moments.

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a brother?” You leaned on the desk, sure that you had Will’s full attention now. “You didn’t tell us you had a brother the first few weeks either.”

“That’s different.” You shook your head. “And I did tell you. So…?”

Will leaned back in his chair, stretching his back. “I didn’t think it mattered. I would have introduced you eventually but- wait, is Jay here?”

You bit your tongue, feeling a little caught. You hadn’t thought that maybe Jay didn’t want his brother to know what had happened. But it was too late now, and anyway, how should you have known?“

"He was. He is fine though.” You kept your words vague, aware that you weren’t allowed to share personal information with Will. Even if they were brothers.

Will let out a sigh. “That idiot. Probably got himself in trouble again.” He reached for his phone across the desk and you quickly got up, straightening.

“You didn’t get it from me”, you threw in before Will could drag you into it and he looked up at you with curiosity in his eyes. “I wasn’t going to mention you.”

“Oh.” You nodded, feeling relieved yet a little flustered. Will studied you with attentive eyes, reminding you of his brother for a second before his expression shifted into suspicion.

“So you met Jay.” He said it in a way that proposed something meaningful behind his words, but you couldn’t figure out why. “I did.” You shifted your weight to the balls of your feet before swaying forward again. A nervous habit. “I bet he’s the younger one.”

“He is, yeah.”

You suppressed a grin. It made so much sense. “So I should probably head home now. I got the early shift tomorrow.”

“Right.” Will nodded, the phone in his hands seemingly forgotten as his eyes were still fixed on you. “Did something happen between you and my brother?”

Your heart sank a little. Were you really so obvious? “I told you I’ve sworn off men. And your brother is- annoying.”

You wished the last part didn’t sound like it came straight from a five year old’s mouth, but it was too late to take back.

“Trust me, I know that.” Will let out a sigh, but you could see the fondness in his eyes. The gesture alone told you they had a close relationship.

A cop and a doctor. What a pair.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Weeks had passed since you had last seen Jay. He hadn’t shown up in the hospital again, which you were both glad for and disappointed at, and since you had been taking on extra shifts for a sick co-worker, you had spent almost all your time at the hospital or passed out in your bed.

“You haven’t gone out with us in weeks!” Sylvie was currently trying to convince you to come to Mollys. You had gotten to know her through Stella and the two of you had gotten along well, her sweet and kind nature something that made you feel comfortable around her instantly.

Although you had quickly learned not to underestimate the girl. She was working with a bunch of guys after all and had learned to stand her ground with them.

Sylvie could be very persistent, you realized again when she had called you to invite you to a girl’s night out. “Stella won’t be working today, so it’s our chance to spend the night as just us girls.”

You gnawed your lip, thinking. You were tired, craving your couch and tv more than going out again, but Sylvie wasn’t wrong, you had been mostly on your own the past days. Being a little social and getting out of your own apartment would probably be good.

“Urgh, fine”, you groaned. “But you’re paying my first drink.” You knew Sylvie was smiling triumphantly on the other end of the line. “Deal.” “Now get your ass over here!” It was Stella’s voice in the background and you chuckled. “You are the worst!”

“And you love us anyway”, she chirped and you hung up, shaking your head with a smile on your face.

You hadn’t thought about impressing anyone when getting ready, but you were more than glad you had put a little effort into your outfit and make-up when you stepped into Molly’s that night, your getup like a wall build around you.

“You came!” Stella crossed the room, her voice loud enough for a couple of heads to turn towards you. You could kill her for drawing attention to you, but you forced a smile onto your lips instead, trying not to look at anyone except her.

“Hey”, you muttered, shrugging out of your coat and hugging her. “Wow, girl you look stunning!” Stella’s eyes flashed up and down your body as she let go, a smirk on her face.

“A little quieter, please?”, you almost whispered, aware that you still had the attention of the people around you. Stella seemed either completely oblivious to it all or unbothered, because she grinned at you. “Looking like that you will draw attention to you whether you like it or not!”

You felt your cheeks heat up a little, glad when you spied Sylvie making her way over. “I told her not to make a scene, but she wouldn’t listen. You know how she is!”

You hugged her too, smiling as Stella let out a breath. “I did not make a scene. And I’m standing right here, you know?”

Laughing, the three of you made your way to the back, where you slipped into a booth, your drink already waiting for you. “You know me so well”, you told Stella as you took your first sip, relaxing a little now that the attention had mostly vanished.

“I got you, girl!” Stella winked at you, before launching into a story about their newest rescue. Soon you were enveloped in laughter and smiles, the stress of the last days forgotten for the night.

Only when Stella declared it was time for another round of drinks you felt the exhaustion return to your body. “I think I’m going to head home”, you told them, stretching a little in your seat. “Early shift tomorrow?”, Sylvie asked and you nodded.

“You’re way too selfless, taking on all these extra shifts”, Stella pointed out, but you waved her off. “I’m the new one, so it’s fine. Helps me get to know everyone and everything better and it’s not like I have much to do in this city yet. I only got my gym membership, but I didn’t really have time to look for anything else.”

“See? That’s exactly why you need time off! You should be out exploring the city!” You smiled at Stella’s enthusiasm. “It’s not like it won’t be here tomorrow. I’m planning on staying here, so there’s plenty of time to get to know it all.”

Sylvie offered you a smile. “I’m glad you do. I know it can be quite an adjustment to move to a big city like Chicago, but it will feel like your home in no time.”

You felt your heart squeeze painfully in your chest as you thought back to the past months, which had been filled with nothing but heartbreak, loss and a turmoil of emotions. Even as you had decided to start a new life in Chicago, you had been filled with fear and uncertainty, scared to make the wrong call yet again.

Never could you have imagined to find a job, that was so challenging, but gave you a sense of purpose and a group of friends, that felt like you had met them long ago.

“It already kind of does”, you admitted, your eyes fixed on the empty glass in front of you before you looked up at them again. They both looked at you with big smiles on their faces and you almost felt tears fill your eyes. It had been a long day.

“We should do this more often”, you told them as you got up and grabbed your coat. “That’s what I said!” Stella nodded.

“And I still need to show you that spinning class. You would love it!” Sylvie sounded so excited that you couldn’t help but chuckle. “I am sure. Just text me and we’ll find something.”

“And you’re sure you can’t stay longer?”

Your eyes drifted to the counter as you considered staying for another drink, but your body felt heavy and almost sore from the day’s work. “Next time. But you two have fun and don’t drink too much”, you winked at them.

As you excited the bar you waved towards a few familiar faces before pulling your coat closer around your body to prepare yourself for Chicago’s cold.

Still you shivered as you stepped outside, pulling out your phone to order an Uber. Something you had only done once before, on your way here, but was an easy and quick way of getting around the city.

It would take a few minutes for your driver to arrive and you realized it would have been a lot smarter to wait inside, but you hadn’t thought of it then and you felt too proud to step inside again.

Pressing your hands together you rubbed them against each other a few times to create heat, before slinging your arms around your torso. Chicago’s harsh winters wasn’t something you hadn’t gotten used to yet, but the promise of snow lingering in the air made it almost worth it.

You heard the faint sound of the door opening and closing behind you so you took a step to the side of the building, not wanting to stand in the way of whoever had just left the bar.

To your surprise the person came to stand beside you, his presence alarming you until you glanced up to find none other than Jay Halstead standing next to you.

Immediately your body relaxed again, as if it knew by instinct his presence meant safety. “That was quite an entrance”, he greeted you, referring to the moment you had stepped into Molly’s.

You felt your cheeks flush at the memory, hoping he couldn’t see it in the dim light of the streetlamp. “I didn’t know you were here.” You kept your eyes trained at the empty street in front of you, willing and dreading the moment your driver came to pick you up.

“I was with the unit”, he said and you turned your head towards him. “Are you here often?” He shrugged, his eyes darting to the building. “I guess so, yeah. It’s the place where everyone comes.”

You nodded silently, contemplating his words. “But if I want to be alone, I go to the bar at the corner North Milwaukee Avenue.” You met his eyes curiously. Was he making recommendations, because you were new in the city or did he have another intention?

“So bars and hospitals. Everywhere else I can expect to run into Jay Halstead?” You didn’t know why you asked, but a part of you wanted to know. Wanted to know more about him, what his life was like, what made him who he was.

Jay grinned faintly. “You make it sound like I’ve got issues.” “Do you? Have issues?” You were teasing and he smirked. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“I don’t think I have.” Even as you said it you knew your words couldn’t be farer from the truth. Hadn’t your issues been what had led you here?

Jay watched you for a moment, seemingly picking up on your change of mood, but sensing you weren’t ready to talk about it. You appreciated it, welcoming the silence to sort your thoughts again.

“So what led you here to Chicago?” His question was innocent and something you had been asked countless of times since your move here, but for some reason you felt the urge to be open with him. No lies or excuses.

And even if Jay barely knew you, you thought he would be able to pick up on it. He must be an excellent detective.

“There were some…things I needed to leave behind.” It was vague, but more than you had told most who had asked. Only the girls knew about your breakup, but even with them you hadn’t shared many details.

Jay didn’t ask further, his grave expression suggesting he understood you better than you might have thought. “Why Chicago?” You glanced away from him, taking in the empty road, the skyline with its lights in the background. “I needed a fresh start, somewhere where no one knew who I am. And I got family here, so it made sense.”

You could feel his eyes on you and you swallowed before facing him again. For a moment your eyes locked, none of you saying anything as you started at each other. Jay was the first one to break the heavy atmosphere, a smile dancing at his lips.

“But you’re not a criminal on the run, are you? Because I would have to arrest you, if you were.” The tension that had risen in your body at the mention of your past vanished and you grinned, relieved about his ability to lighten the atmosphere. “What gave it away?”

Jay leaned a little closer, his eyes glistening. “Maybe the way you always look over your shoulder-” You inhaled. Was that really something you did? “-or that you’re nervous around me, a cop.”

The air you had held escaped you in a surprised sound and you hugged your torso a little tighter. “I’m not nervous around you”, you huffed, shaking your head. Jay grinned.

“How is your arm by the way?” You weren’t interested in talking about yourself any longer, shifting the topic onto him. Your gazes travelled down his arm where his jacket was covering the wound you had inspected. It seemed like forever ago and like yesterday at once.

“It’s good. Voight’s keeping me at a leash, make sure I’m 100% before I get into the field again.” He said it like it wasn’t a big deal, but you could hear the strain in his voice. He missed it, being out there on the streets.

“Sounds reasonable to me.” “Yeah.” Jay nodded, a faraway look in his eyes. It seemed like you weren’t the only one with secrets.

You looked up at the sound of a car nearing, a black car approaching the two of you. Checking your phone you held it up. “That’s my ride.”

But you only managed one step towards it before Jay pulled you back, his hand wrapped around your lower arm. You gazed at it, confused and startled by his reaction and he loosened his grip, his hand falling to his side after a moment.

“You know the guy?”, he asked, pointing to the man that was sitting behind the wheel, an impatient expression on his face.

Slowly you shook your head, your eyes flickering between the car and Jay. “But he’s my ride. See-” you held up your phone to him, but Jay paid it little attention.

“Yeah, no, you’re not climbing into that car”, he stated, his voice firm but not unfriendly. “Wait, what?”

Surprised you watched Jay walk towards the car, waiting for the driver to pull down the window before leaning in. You couldn’t hear what was said, only watched the two speak for a minute.

Their conversation ended with Jay handing the man money, before walking back towards you as the car sped away in the darkness.

“What the hell was that?”, you asked as Jay came to stand beside you again, his body just as relaxed as before. “You’re new in Chicago, right?” You didn’t say anything, knowing it was a question he didn’t expect an answer to.

“You should not be climbing into a car with a stranger. And not in the dark.”

Your head spun as you tried to process what he was implying. “It was just an uber! Everyone does that around here.”

You sounded clueless and defensive, shocked about the sudden change of events. Jay eyed you. “Well, then take it from me to never do that again. At least not alone. Chicago’s not a good place, especially for women, trust me on that one.”

You didn’t know what to say, blinking at him as the impact of it sank in. What if Jay hadn’t stepped outside? You doubted anything would have happened, but what if he was right and you had been reckless? Naive?

“So how am I supposed to get around the city then? Because driving in this traffic is madness.”

For the first time since your interruption Jay smiled again. “You can just ask me. I am much cheaper anyway. And on top you will get to see my face.”

You rolled your eyes over his confidence. “Now that’s a deal I can’t decline”, you muttered, fighting the grin that threatened to spread over your face and failing. Damn it.

“But for real, what am I supposed to do? I can’t just call you all the time I want to go somewhere.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem if we went together.”

Your eyes widened as you almost choked on the air. “You mean a date?”

Jay shrugged, his eyes not meeting yours for only a second. “You can pay me back for saving your ass twice.”

“Twice?”

“Getting into that car for one and saving you from freezing here on the street by driving you home.”

Smooth. You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you. “Does that work with every woman you’re trying to impress?”

Jay shrugged, fiddling for something in his pocket before pulling out his car keys. You watched a car light up at the other side of the street, following Jay towards it.

“I wouldn’t know. And who says I’m trying to impress you?”

“Maybe because of this whole I’m-a-cop-and-I’m-so-tough-thing.”

Now it was Jay’s turn to chuckle. “That’s not just a thing. So, what are you saying?”

Oh. You bit your lip, considering the thought of going on a date with Jay. Hadn’t you just recently decided not to date and focus on yourself for a while?

But you couldn’t deny you wanted to say yes. To spend more time around him and enjoy the feeling of ease he gave you.

“Maybe.”

You said it with a teasing smile, scared Jay might take your answer in a bad way, but he sent you a confident grin. “I can work with that.”

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haveyouseenthisskeleton · 10 months

Note

A random guy kidnapped skeleton to escape the police and handcuffed themselves to him. Now they're running through the city, trying to escape. Who complies? Who is not?

Undertale Sans - Chillest kidnapped person ever lol. He's following the guy around, not giving a care in the world, and even asked for a burger midroad because he's hungry. Little did the guy know he didn't ask that in front of Grillby's for nothing. As the two of them sit at the bar, Sans casually says to Grillby that he's getting kidnapped right now and to call Undyne. The guy is so in shock they can't say a word. They're getting arrested not five minutes later, looking so betrayed. Yeah, sorry, he's not that nice. He was trying to gain your trust for this moment lol.

Undertale Papyrus - He's anxious, and late for work, and he hates being late. He's playing along for a little while, before asking the guy if they please can part ways now, promising he won't tell the police or anything. The guy says no. Papyrus sighs. Welp. He tried. He turns around and starts to walk in the other direction, dragging the poor guy around. The man is not happy and threatening him but, uh, it's not like he can't do anything. Papyrus is way stronger and since he's annoyed the man keeps slowing him, he ends up picking him up like a child and carrying him to the police station lol. The man is crying and begging in the end. Undyne is so confused when Papyrus comes to see her and asks if she can unkidnapped him because he's late for work.

Underswap Sans - He plays along, waiting for the guy to bring him back to his hiding place with all his partners in crime. He then discreetly activates his police GPS alert and sends a signal to his colleague lol. The bad guys are for sure surprised when the police show up out of nowhere. Oh no, how did they find them? Truly a mystery for sure. Maybe don't kidnap a cop accidentally next time.

Underswap Papyrus - He's so anxious and doesn't know what to do. He's slowly panicking as they're getting farther away from home. Please... He just wants to go home. He won't tell anyone. His begging is more and more desperate until he can't take it anymore and... passes out lol. Good luck dragging a huge unconscious skeleton around now. Honey doesn't do well with stress. The guy is arrested not five minutes later as people reported him dragging a corpse lol.

Underfell Sans - He's like a rabid dog, biting the handcuffs to get free and struggling as you're dragging him along. That's five times he tried to attack you now and you stopped in a pet store to buy a muzzle for him. He is pissed off, growling angrily and you better run really fast when he's going to free himself because you're so dead.

Underfell Papyrus - Uh. You realize how much of a bad idea it was when, at the moment you wanted to drag him away to escape the police, Edge suddenly kicks your knees at full force and pins you on the floor. You're actually pretty lucky there are still police officers around. If it was only the two of you, you feel like he wouldn't have hesitated one second to end you.

Horrortale Sans - He's so confused about what's going on, and he's following you. He forgets every ten minutes or so who you are or what you want, so he assumes it's normal he's handcuffed to you and follows you. By the time he realizes something might be wrong, you're dragging him into his own farm saying that you are going to hide there for the night and he's even more confused because it's his home??? He's tired of your bullshit and drags you towards the house. If he has to sleep there, it will be in his bed. Willow is shocked to see him here, screaming everyone saw him get kidnapped. Oak turns towards the guy. Oh yeah, he forgot about that! Anyway. He's tired. Time to sleep.

Horrortale Papyrus - He plays along at first because he is nice and feels bad for you, but man, he's OLD and TIRED after a few hours of walking. He will ask several times if you two can take a break, if you say no, he sits anyway on the nearest bench and good luck to get him to move again. He won't. He's not some dog you can walk around, he has played long enough already. Let him go or he won't move. Willow is very patient. You won't have any choice but to to accept his offer or you will stay three days on this bench.

Swapfell Sans - He plays with you. He accepts to come, but randomly during the day, he will try to kill you. Survive and he keeps walking. Die and... Well, you're dead so... Two can play the game you know. Next time you'll learn not to underestimate tiny people you idiot.

Swapfell Papyrus - You know how some children pretend to be dead in shops when they're throwing a temper tantrum? That's Rus right now. He lets you drag you wherever you want. Though you have to carry him too because he's not gonna make any effort to make your job easy. He's limp on the floor, smiling at you, not moving. You give up on him after an hour as it's starting to draw attention to you. Worst hostage ever.

Fellswap Gold Sans - You don't have time to handcuff him. As soon as he sees you get close, he slams you into the nearest wall several times and he lets you agonize on the floor, several bones broken. Don't touch him with your filthy human hands, ew.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He's having a panic attack, and since he can't hug his S/O or his brother... He's hugging his kidnapper, hanging on his back like a koala. His hands are blocking your eyes and you have no idea where you're going. You walk into a tree and knocks yourself out. Coffee is even more panicked now, thinking he killed you. He runs home, carrying you, and cries to Wine that he accidentally hurt his kidnapper. When you wake up, naked in an unknown room, all you can see is Wine smiling coldly at you. You're so dead.

#undertale #underswap #underfell #horrortale #swapfell #fellswap gold #sans #papyrus #undertale ask blog #undertale asks #undertale imagines #undertale headcanons

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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 2 months

Text

Retaliation: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.7k

Summary: Everyone can see just how much you're suffering, Spencer more than most. When he confesses to the team about your nightmares, Derek takes matters into his own hands.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

When they come through, Emily points to the person she saw helping Schrader out of the car he wrecked.

"That is the guy. That picture is ten years old but that's him. Garcia, it's the first one you sent over."

"His name is Joe Muller. He has a wife and two kids."

"That's definitely the guy. Where is he now?"

"I'll hit you up when I know."

The team doesn't wait for Penelope to do her job. Instead, they start asking around at people who might have known him or do know him. Even people who know his wife and children.

"Muller's not at home," JJ says. "No one is. His wife didn't show up at work and the kids weren't at school yesterday or today."

"Schrader probably has them hostage," you say.

"Where? What could Joe do for him?"

"The only thing that's left. He can get him the money."

"No one even knows where it is."

"Schrader does. He must have hidden it someplace safe. Though, I don't think he'd use a bank. His face is circulating all over town. The only way he would is if Joe walked in," you say. "He'd have to have a key, though."

"Where's the physical evidence from the Schrader case?" Emily asks.

"We don't have it."

"Well, if we can figure out where Schrader hid the money, we'll know where he's going."

You and Derek go to the police station that has the evidence from the original case, and a woman named Betty is working inside the cage where all the evidence is held. She looks up when you three approach her.

"Can I help you?"

"We're with the FBI. We're working the Dale Schrader case," Derek says while flashing his badge at her.

"Is Joe Muller helping you?"

"No, why?"

"He was just here."

"When?"

"Two minutes ago."

"He'll still be in the parking lot," you tell Derek.

You and Derek rush outside and find Dale and Joe inside a car that is about to leave the parking lot. You and Derek raise your guns and stop them before they get far. Joe is the one driving but Dale pulls him close and pushes a gun into the side of his head.

"Stop the car! Put your hands where I can see them!" Derek yells.

"Don't shoot!" Joe pleads.

"Schrader, put it down!" you yell.

"Are you really gonna let me blow his brains out?"

"Drop it or I'll shoot!" you say angrily.

You're channeling his anger to fuel your own. You're not normally this angry but you can't help it.

"What's wrong, agent? Upset I hurt one of your own? Huh?" He smirks at Joe and yanks him closer. "Look at her. She is pissed."

"Please don't kill him," Joe begs.

"See that look in her eyes? She is going to do it. Come on, what are you gonna do?!" You don't say anything so he turns to look at Derek who moves the gun from Joe to Derek. "How'd your aim?"

You take this opportunity and shoot Schrader in the head through the windshield. Joe freaks out and immediately tries to get information on him but Schrader is already dead.

"Where are they? Where's my family? Tell me where they are!"

"Back up! Get away!" Derek argues.

"She just killed my family!" Joe gets out of the car and stalks toward you. "You killed my family!"

"Calm down!" you yell at him.

Joe grabs your shoulders and tugs you towards him in anger. Your entire body freezes as you're brought back to the moment when you were taken by your rapist.

"Let me go! Help! Somebody help me, please!"

"Let me go! Please let me go!" you beg in horror.

"Hey! Stop!" Derek yells and yanks Joe off you. He slams him against the car next to you and holds him in a way that he can't go anywhere. "Calm down!"

Yeah, you need to go to therapy for sure. You back away and try to control your breathing without having a complete breakdown. Once Joe is calm enough and you're confident you won't break down in tears, you and Derek take him back to the station while you let the local police deal with Schrader's body. Joe explains the situation with Schrader and produces a photo that he took of Joe's family to prove they are alive.

"He was the only person who knew where my family was and now he's dead." Joe looks at you but you can't seem to look at anyone. "I had every chance to kill him but I couldn't. He had my family."

"This photograph is the only proof of life?"

"Where's my phone?"

Joe takes his phone out of his pocket and plays a voicemail he got from his wife for all to hear.

"Joe, honey, it's me. He got us. All of us. I don't know where we are. God, I am so sorry."

"Help us, Daddy!"

Hotch looks away in pain when he hears the son call out for his dad. It reminds him of Jack who reminds him of Haley and what happened to her.

"Just do what he says, okay? Please do whatever he says."

"I'm gonna get Garcia to trace this," Derek says and dials Penelope. "She might be able to help."

"Were there any other phone calls?" JJ asks.

"I tried to get him to let me talk to them again but he wouldn't."

"There must not be anyone there watching them. He hid his family where no one would hear them call for help. Maybe someplace remote? The cabin?"

"No, the locals tore it apart. There is no one there," Emily states.

"Where are they?" Joe sobs.

"You saw Schrader since he's had your family. You saw something or heard it. There's got to be some clue. Y/N?"

"Yeah, I'm on it," you sigh quietly. You get in front of Joe and hold out your hands. You don't feel like telling him what you can do and he doesn't ask. He puts his hands in yours and you close your eyes to concentrate. "When was the last time you saw your family?"

He explains it as you see it. There is a one-story house with three cars in the driveway. Joe's wife is getting the kids in the car and once done, she approaches the car Joe is in. They kiss and both go their separate ways.

"Did you notice any cars on the street?"

"Nothing." Joe drives away and she waves him off, but there are no other cars on the street. "Our routine's the same every day. The kids have to be at school by 8:15, then Molly heads to work."

"She didn't make it to either yesterday. What was her route?"

"North on Route 7 and East on 22."

"Is that route isolated during the morning commute?"

"No."

"If he was watching, there's a good chance she never left the driveway," Hotch sighs.

"I drove out first. I just left them there."

Joe wants to pull his hands away but you keep them firmly in yours.

"Where did he find you?" you ask.

"At the hardware store."

Joe just got done in the hardware store but before he can even put the keys in the ignition, Schrader slaps a picture of his wife and children onto his window indicating him of their danger.

"He told me how for eleven years he'd been trying to figure out how he got locked up. He knew Otey had ratted him out for the robbery, but that wasn't enough to put him away. He said I was the piece that didn't fit. He figured out I was a cop."

"He took your family." Hotch holds up a picture of Stacy. "Did you ever see this woman?"

"Yeah. I think she's some junkie. I saw her right after he told me, 'You help me, your family lives. You don't, they die.'"

Joe is driving Schrader around town and stops at an alleyway where Stacy is pacing. Schrader hops out and starts talking to her but they are disagreeing. You can't hear what they're saying but her body language suggests she is angry and impatient and Schrader is anxious and annoyed with her.

Suddenly, he stabs her and drags her to the car. Joe can't do anything but watch as Schrader shoves her in the front seat and climbs in next to her before ordering Joe to drive.

"You didn't know what she was talking about?"

"No."

Joe drives to an open area on the side of the road and tosses Stacy down the hill where she is ultimately found. You take your hands away from Joe since you're done seeing what he is willing to give. You explain what you saw to the team and they try and piece together what happened.

"He could have left the body in the alley. Why didn't he?"

"He didn't want to draw attention to that place."

"Where was it?" Hotch asks.

"South of Van Wyck. It's an abandoned side of town that the junkies took over."

"It's a perfect place to leave hostages," you state.

"Can you take us back there?" Emily asks.

"Wait, you think she knew about my family?"

"Her murder was the only thing that didn't fit. Now it makes sense. Schrader killed her to shut her up."

With your help, you're able to lead the team inside the abandoned building to where Joe's wife is. She is battered, bruised, and dirty but alive. The kids aren't with her so you use her energy to guide you to where they are. With his family safe and Schrader dead, this is a case closed.

Derek had given you the choice to start therapy sessions Monday morning but you feel like you need to get this done and over with. You don't want to be here even if you know you have to be here. The therapist you chose, Melissa Patterson, had an opening right when you got home to Virginia and suggested you take it so she could get to know you and establish a rapport.

However, you've been in her office for twenty minutes and have been silent for seventeen of it. The ticking of the clock makes you more anxious, anxious enough to want to blurt out how you're feeling.

"I don't even know why I'm here. I'm fine."

Of course, you'd say that. Everyone wants to be fine. No one wants to feel like their world is falling apart.

"That's not what I hear," Melissa says and crosses her legs.

"Yeah, I went to prison for a crime I didn't commit. It could happen to anyone."

"It didn't, though. It happened to you." You go silent and look at your lap. You don't think you can look at her face without crying. "Why don't you start by telling me a bit about yourself? That doesn't seem so bad, does it?"

You take a deep breath and finally look at her in the eyes.

"Where do I begin?"

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love." - Washington Irving

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds angst #criminal minds season 5 #criminal minds series rewrite

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chronicbeans · 1 year

Text

Wally Darling with a Restoration Project Reader (part 8)

Yippee- No nightmares! New friends!

TW: Disappearances, Mentions of Nightmares, Mentions of Vomiting, Mentions of Possible Hallucinations, Minor Scopophobia/Eye Imagery

🗞️ You wake up the next morning, happy to find that you didn't have any nightmares. However, your cellphone is blowing up. Looking at it, you find a few texts in the group chat. Amy is complaining about having horrible nightmares, Finn is informing everyone that Daniel has been "vomiting his guts out". Daniel's only text has been "God help me, why can't I drink water? I'm going to the ER, see y'all when I get out." which was sent at 3 in the morning.

🗞️ You meet up with Finn and Amy at the playground. You have one of the letters with cursive handwriting on it, alongside the "Painting in the Dark" tape hidden in your coat pocket. Finn and Amy have their own respective letters. Amy is the first to speak "I hope Daniel will get better. I called him last night, after I had the nightmare... He kept mentioning that his windows had eyes. I think something is seriously wrong." You all nod in agreement. You ask Amy "Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" "No..."

🗞️ Everyone is silent, again, before you tell them that you are going to go around and ask people about the letter. With that, you leave. Walking along the streets, you ask everyone you bump into about the letter and handwriting. A few seem to have a reaction, but don't give you an answer. Most, however, just shake their heads.

🗞️ One person, though, grins happily. She's a woman with a beautiful yellowish gold tie, as well as a very professional style of dress. "Oh! That looks like the handwriting of one of the two Dorelaine brothers! They went missing a long time ago... However, some of their family lives here, still. Right up there, in that large manor, on the hill." She points to the hill, and sure enough, there is a large manor on top of it. She continues "I know them, so I can get you in. They will be happy to see you have something like that."

🗞️ You grin, quickly texting your group that you have gotten a hit, before following the woman. You make it to the large gates, where the woman quickly talks to the security about what you have. Shockingly enough, that was all you needed to get in. The lady stands outside to make a quick call, telling you to just go up to the front doors and knock.

🗞️You do so, knocking on the large, dark oak doors. Suns and Moons are carved into the wood, with hourglasses scattered here and there across the pattern. A young man opens the door, his eyes large and full of hope. "Do you have the letter? Can I see it?"

🗞️ You quickly explain "I have the envelope. I didn't bring the letter, because it was just concept art for the show Welcome Home. I could go grab it if you want-" He cuts you off "No! No! Just show me the envelope, then." You pass it to him, watching as he stares at it with fascination.

🗞️"The handwriting is just like my great-uncle, William. He was very involved in Welcome Home. His brother, Ronald, my other great-uncle, created the show. They both went missing... First, Ronald. Years later, William went missing. We've asked the police numerous times to reopen their cases, but they say it's a cold one. I am so happy you found this! Maybe you could help us. One second!"

🗞️ Before you can speak, telling him that you are not interested in helping, he turns around and shouts "MAMA! IT'S TRUE! COME LOOK AT THIS!"

🗞️ There is a shuffling as an old lady comes into view. She is using a walker to help her move, her feet shuffling against the floor quickly, as if in a hurry to see what you have found. She adjusts her spectacles, looking at the envelope. "My word! That IS uncle William's handwriting!" She then looks at you "The lady said your friend had this mailed to him... Please, come in! I'll answer any question you have, just... Promise you'll help us figure out what happened to my uncles..."

🗞️ As much as you want to say no... your heart breaks for the old lady. She sounds so hopeful, like she has been disappointed time and time again, and you are her last hope. You nod, saying "All I ask is that you let me ask about the show they worked on. We are trying to revive interest in it." She nods, her feeble voice saying "Of course... That would be a cherry on top of finding them. That show was their passion. They'll live on through that show..."

🗞️ You follow the two inside, amazed by how large the place is. Everything looks so expensive. A lot of gold, blue, and silver. You are led to a large table, a little statue of Home in the center. The old lady introduces herself "I am Lindsey Dorelaine. This is my son, Edward Dorelaine." Edward grins, waving. You wave back, an awkward smile on your face.

🗞️"So... I want to know anything you can tell me about Welcome Home. I can see that you have some memorabilia of it." You gesture to the little statue. Edward nods "Okay. Well, Ronald came up with the idea alongside his friend, Caesar Jones. Caesar came up with Wally. After a party celebrating how Welcome Home got a broadcasting deal with one of the same channels as one of the shows Jim Henson was on, Ronald went missing. Then, William took over, made a few changes, and... That's all I know. What about you, Mama? You know a lot, since you were alive when William was around."

🗞️ Lindsey is silent for a moment, before speaking very softly. "I saw the studio, once. There were Suns and Moons painted on the walls. William's office was filled with clocks. He even had his own two fire hatchets. One had a Sun and the other a Moon on it. I even got to meet ol' Caesar. At that point, his hands couldn't move as well as before, so another person puppeteered while he voiced good ol' Wally Darling. The Playfellow Workshop is still standing, you know? Locked up and rotting, but still standing. Eddie, why don't you show our guest William's room? We've kept it locked up to preserve it."

🗞️ Your eyes widen as Edward stands. He nods, then holds his hand out for you "Come on. I'm sure we'll find more about Welcome Home in there. It will even give you some more info about William, so you can start your search for him, too." You take his hand, letting him lead you further into the manor. In the very back, on the third floor, there is a faded yellow door. Edward takes out a key, unlocking it, then pushing it open.

🗞️ With a loud creak of the rusted hinges, the dark room is revealed to you. Baby blue walls, clocks everywhere, a large bed... there are countless bookshelves and drawers, alongside an old writing desk. Edward flicks on the light, which flickers slightly before glowing gently. Pictures of Wally Darling hang on the walls, their eyes staring blankly ahead. Most of the Wally pictures are framed, with things such as "He's the Most" or "Puppet of the Month" written in gold letters underneath the picture. There are a couple pictures of Barnaby, too, but most of them have had their eyes scratched out for some unknown reason, and are simply hung up with thumbtacks.

🗞️ The last thing Edward says before leaving is "Take a look around. Take what you think could be useful for your investigation, both for Welcome Home and my great-uncles. Just let us know what you take before you leave. You can call your friends to help, if you like."

#welcome home #welcome home arg #wally darling #wally darling x reader

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selineram3421 · 1 year

Text

*little dancey dance* I got snacks.

Isekai'd

Part 6: The One Bullet

Part 5

Warning! ⚠

⚠ cussing, weapons and guns(pew pew), reader is surprisingly calm, all caps for screeching dialog, bold red italics = sound effects, the probability of death is inching closer and closer ⚠

"Of course this would happen!", you say pacing around your room that you got at a nearby Inn. "Thank you SO much universe! I really wanted to be fucking yeeted into a hell hole of a planet and get stuck in the clusterfuck of events!"

You threw down your coat and let out a frustrated yell, kicking the foot of the bed.

"JUST MY FUCKING LUCK!", you huff and sit down on the bed, starting to calm yourself down.

Ok, think. Its not long till the July military police get here. You look out of your room window. I probably have enough time to get a .22 caliber bullet.

Putting on your coat, you got ready and made sure to take your scythe.

As the suns began to set, you made your way over to see the duel. Making sure to stand nearby to give the bullet to the lady from the diner.

The crazy ass captain shot out the cluster bomb and screams went off.

"Vash! Get down here!", Rosa shouted up at the blonde.

"Tell everyone to take cover!", he responded and turned around to face the falling bombs.

5.....4....3...2..1. You count down in your head.

"BULLETS! I COULD REALLY USE SOME BULLETS!", Vash shouts out after rushing towards the edge of the cliff he's on. "A FEW .22 CALIBERS WOULD BE DANDY!!"

You calmly walk over to the woman backing up.

"COME ON GUYS! ANY TIME NOW!?"

" 'Scuse me Ma'am.", you startle the woman when tapping her shoulder.

"Huh?", she looks at you confused.

"Bullet.", you say and hold it out to her.

She gets the message quickly and takes the bullet before making her way to Meryl.

Whelp, I've done my bit for today. You think and start walking away, not wanting to feel the heat from the explosives.

You don't notice the woman looking for you to properly give thanks.

"HURRY! HELP! PLEASE!! I NEED AMMO!", Vash yells before crying out in stress, tears streaming down his face as he lifts his hands to the sides of his head.

"Special delivery!"

The blonde turns his head when hearing Meryl.

"It's from Rosa!", the small woman shouts before reeling back her arm and throwing the one bullet at him.

He jumps to catch it but the bullet is shot out of his reach by the captain.

Not wasting any time, he runs after it.

"Come to daddy!", he gasps between breaths, pushing himself to go faster.

Jumping forward with an outstretched arm, it feels like time slows down as he manages to catch the bullet.

"Got'cha!"

Quickly moving to load the gun, he mumbles, "Much obliged.", in relief as he puts the bullet in the barrel.

As he aims up to the sky, his gun is shot by the captain.

"I don't think so!", the man in uniform says as he runs over to shoot at the blonde.

Vash dodges the bullets quickly and flips the man over his shoulder, letting him bounce off the ground before hitting the man on the back of his neck to knock him out.

Running over to get a piece of the rock, the ace gunman breaks it out before tossing it up high into the air with a shout and takes aim.

BANG!

The rock breaks apart when shot and the pieces shoot off, hitting the bombs surrounding it.

It only takes a second for all of them to explode. The power of the blast forms a dust cloud that extends until it falls off of the rock.

After the July police were detained, the town threw a party at the diner to celebrate.

Vash walks over to the bar and waves at the pregnant woman on the other side. "Thanks Rosa! If it wasn't for your bullet, we wouldn't be here.", he smiles, leaning on the bar counter.

"Don't thank me. Some stranger gave it to me.", she says, getting drinks to serve to one of the tables.

"What? Really?", the blonde says surprised. "Are they still around?"

"Can't say. When I looked back to thank them, they disappeared.", she says and goes out from behind the counter. "Must have been an angel."

Rosa leaves him be and makes her way over to the table with singing drunks.

"An angel?", he blinks.

For some reason, the medic he met a while back comes to mind.

No way. He shakes his head and goes back to his table. It couldn't have been them.

...

Could it?

You were back in your room, making a list of medical supplies to buy before all Hell breaks loose.

Mother fucking Knives. You think and grumble out a few more curses.

"I'm gonna end up broke because of you.", you huff, letting your head fall back and look up at the ceiling.

Doesn't matter, as long as I can help out to ease his conscience. You tell yourself.

Then all of a sudden you feel your ears burn.

"What the heck?", you say and touch one of your ears. "Is someone talking about me?"

You shrug and get ready for bed.

I should sleep now, I'm gonna need the energy for tomorrow. You think and have a feeling that another weird dream is waiting for you.

✴

For some reason you snapped your eyes open.

Standing up and looking around, you find the ship's green house empty. No Rem or little Vash in sight.

Weird. You think, not moving from your spot. Someone's always here.

Then when you decide to turn around, you see an almost identical blonde child standing behind you.

Freezing on the spot, you just stare.

WHAT THE FUCK!? NAI YOU LITTLE CREEP!

"Vermin.", the pale blue eyed boy says randomly.

Did this.. You get pissed off. This little shit!

"Oh please, not every human is trash.", you respond. "Yeah a good amount of them are but that doesn't mean all of them have to die."

All the boy does is frown at you.

"Whatever, all you're doing is trying to protect your brother.", you say and turn away from him to look at the red flowered meadow. "You do carry it out in the worst possible way though."

Silence settles in between both of you after.

At some point you look over at the kid and find him standing next to you, also looking at the flowers.

Not wanting to break whatever 'peace' this is, you look back at the flowers.

...

"Do you think you can protect him?"

✴

I re-watched episode one over and over to get it right.

~Seline, the person.

Next: Part 7

Taglist@

@summerdazed @lunar-archangel @+?

ML Vash | ChL Isekai'd

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kissorkill16 · 8 hours

Text

Fill My Empty Heart: A Hello Neighbor Fanfic

By JJ

Summary: After Mya's death, Aaron commits suicide. Mr. Peterson, desperate to have a family again, kidnaps the depressed and heartbroken child across the street, Nicky Roth.

Chapter 9

Trinity slammed the door to her room in anger.

"We need a plan.", she said to her friends. "Mr. Peterson literally faked Nicky's suicide note just to kidnap him. We've gotta put our heads together and come up with a plan."

Maritza had her head in her hands, "I don't get it.", she said, "Why would Mr. Peterson kidnap Nicky?"

Ivan shrugged, "Who knows? All we know is that we have to save him, we have to do something, we have to tell someone!", he said. "We should tell the police!"

"We could, and we should, but the police are still looking for Nicky's body. They still think he jumped off a bridge, so there's no way they'd listen to us.", said Enzo, "They'd want more proof than just a fake note."

"But we gotta tell someone. We -"

Just then, Mr. Bales knocked on the door and came in. "Trinity, Mr. Esposito and Ms. Torre are here. Your friends have to go."

Trinity smiled and nodded at her dad, "Okay, Dad. They'll be right down."

Mr. Bales left and closed the door on his way out.

Trinity turned back to her friends, "No adults allowed. We'll save Nicky ourselves and Mr. Peterson is going to pay for scaring us and basically everyone in this damn town.", she said. "We'll meet again tomorrow to discuss the plan. Okay?"

Everyone nodded, then they were out the door.

Trinity flopped on her bed, shutting her eyes and sighing deeply. "We'll save you, Nicky. I promise."

Meanwhile, Nicky was just waking up. His head felt heavy, his legs felt like sticks, and he was sure that he was seeing double again.

As he tried to open his eyes, he looked all around the room and noticed that he was in bed...

Again...

Mr. Peterson drugged him again...

Just then, the door opened. "Oh, you're awake.", said a familiar voice. "I didn't think you'd ever wake up after that."

Nicky threw the blanket off his body and tried to stand up, but fell to his knees. "Mr -...Dad, what happened?"

"Well, you tried going outside after I told you not to. You had one of the keys and tried to unlock the front door, but luckily, I got to you in time before you could do anything.", said Mr. Peterson.

The man stepped forward to Nicky, "But none of that matters right now.", he said in a deep voice, "You tricked me and tried to leave me, Nicky. I'm sorry, darling, but I can't let such actions go unpunished."

At that point, Nicky didn't care that he still felt like a stick figure. He just stood up and snapped at his crazy kidnapper. "Stop calling me pet names! I'm not your son, I'm not part of your family, and I never will be okay?! You're just fucking crazy because your real family is dead!"

Mr. Peterson balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth, still looking down at Nicky. "You know what? I was going to go easy on you just this once, but you just want to be a brat.", he growled.

Nicky backed up against the wall, curling up and hugging his knees. Mr. Peterson leaned down, still not breaking eye contact.

"I'm going to leave you here. You're not allowed to leave this room for the rest of the day.", he said. And with that, he stood up, walked out of the room, closed the door, and locked it behind him.

It was at that moment that Nicky broke out of his frightened trance and ran to the door, banging on it and trying to wiggle the doorknob.

"HEY! LET ME OUT!", he screamed. "LET ME OUT OF THIS STUPID ROOM OR I'LL...I'll..."

Who was Nicky kidding? He couldn't do anything. He was stuck in here, no escape in sight.

He walked back to the bed and fell backwards onto it, staring at the ceiling.

He thought his friends were his last hope of getting out of here, and then he'd finally be free from Mr. Peterson's fantasy land.

"Please save me, guys.", he whispered.

#hello neighbor #kidnapped au #mr bales #theodore peterson #trinity bales #enzo esposito #maritza esposito #nicky roth #ivan #my fics #hello neighbor fanfic #fill my empty heart

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n0v4t33z · 1 year

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The Syndicate - Chapter 4: Becoming The Ashes

Pairings: Choi San X Female Reader, Park Seonghwa X Female Reader, Ateez X Female Reader

Summary: Y/N is a Detective with a promising future in the police department until she's kidnapped by the infamous mafia boss Choi San and from him, she learns the dark secrets her superior has been hiding the whole time so she teams up with him in order to put a stop to it.

Genre: Lots of angst, Romance, Crime Fiction, Psychological Drama

Word Count: 4.1k

Tags/Warnings: For Mature Audiences, Language, Graphic Violence, Mentions of Illegal activities (i.e Kidnapping, extortion, assassination etc.), y/n gets roughed up by Wooyoung like twice , Slow Burn, Fluff sometimes, Work In Progress, Non-Idol AU, Mafia AU, Very suggestive at times, y/n cries alot, y/n having inner turmoil, Ateez being bad boys, Wooyoung and Yeosang are a little mean in this story tbh, Guns, Gunshot wounds, Assassination attempt(s), mentions death and acts of violence

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Spotify Playlist🎵 | Series Masterlist📝

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After I finish helping Hongjoong it was already pretty late but San was still gone in his office. Unfortunately I'm so tired from the rollercoaster of emotions I felt today, that I walk to the guest room not even bothering to explore this whole building by myself without anyone’s watchful eye. So when I enter my room I take off my leather jacket and begin to get ready for bed. Then there was a small knock at the door and to my pleasant surprise it was San.

WIthout another second to waste I walk over to him and hug him, burying my face in his chest while he gently cradles the back of my head. “I missed you.” I say in a hushed tone then he chuckles a bit gently pulling back from me enough to be able to kiss the top of my head and look down to meet my eyes clearly being able to see his dimpled smile “You know you could have just gone into my office right?” I rest my head on his chest again listening to his calming heartbeat “I didn’t want to bother you, besides I’m sure everyone else would think it’s weird if I go in there a lot.” He lifts my chin to look up at him and gently kisses my forehead. “Well, you're very sweet trying to keep that in mind. It’s going to be hard not to make it obvious.” He buries his face in my neck and I feel his warm, breathing while I gently run my fingers through his soft black hair then I say in a soft voice “It’s okay Sannie, I'll wait.” He jerks his head back and looks at me with a huge smile on his face “You called me Sannie…” Slightly puzzled I nod “Oh, I’m sorry. Was that weird?” He rests his forehead on mine and gently caresses my cheeks with his thumb “No, I like it. It’s cute.” My heart, it’s racing again. A flush creeps up my cheeks and I look away then San slowly turns my face back in his direction and kisses me. He slithers his hand around my waist and pulls back just enough to talk. “Look at me, I love you. Don’t forget that.” My lips slightly part in shock. He what? Is he joking right now? “I-” I pause for a few seconds then sigh “Please don’t tell me you love me unless you mean it.” San furrows his brows and tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear “I do mean it, my heart is telling me. See?” He grabs my hand and puts it on his chest over where his heart is, I feel his heart racing now. I look back up at him slightly shocked. San smiles showing me his cute dimples again knowing full well it’s my weakness. “Now you know I wasn’t lying.” I know he’s already my boyfriend but what? I caused someone to feel that way? For once it wasn’t one sided and someone finally feels happy to see me. I thought he was joking, you can't just fake your heart racing for someone. Those feelings are something you just can't fake. San gently kisses my forehead “Hm, you should get ready for bed it’s pretty late.” I nod and gently poke his chest “You’re right, you kind of did interrupt my nightly routine.” He chuckles and ruffles my hair “Yeah, but I know you were secretly hoping I did.” I gently bite my lip stifling a laugh and playfully smack his arm.

When I'm done I notice San laying in bed. Now, I don’t know why but seeing him like this makes me kind of nervous. I know I've laid down lots of times with him but only as friends. So when I walk over to him and awkwardly sit next to him he glances over at me and furrows his brows “What’s wrong?” I shake my head and I force a smile “Nothing, I’m just not used to us you know?” He gives me a comforting smile and pulls me over to him so I’m laying next to him with my head on his chest “It’s okay don’t worry. I’ll stay here until you fall asleep.” I wrap my arms around his waist and stare off into the distance and a few moments later San begins to sing while gently running his fingers through my hair. The rest of the time we don't speak, we just lay there in each other's arms while his soothing lullabies leave my eyelids feeling heavy until eventually i give in and fall asleep.

In the morning when I wake up I notice San was gone, it almost feels like laying there with him was almost a dream. I sit up on my bed for a few minutes trying to fully wake up then I get up and change out of my sleepwear. When I walk down to the lounge and prepare myself a cup of coffee, I notice it was awfully silent. Hmm i haven’t seen anyone since I woke up, weird. I sit down and turn the TV on and while I was watching some random talk show a breaking news announcement comes on. A male news anchor was standing in front of what seemed like an alleyway “This is Peter Davis and I am now bringing you breaking news from Ulwood’s southside, It appears Detective y/n (Y/LN) has been found dead. She was found earlier this morning at around 7:45 am and so far the police have announced Aurora Syndicate as prime suspects for the detective's murder. As most of you all may recall the young female Detective went missing about a month and a half ago outside her home in Lulens a few minutes away from Ulwood.” My stomach drops, I quickly turn the TV off and I walk over to the sink feeling sick. I’m officially dead, there’s no going back now. It’s set in stone. The more I think about how that girl must have looked and felt like makes my body run cold and I feel physically sick to the point I puke up the little coffee I had. I hurriedly rinse my mouth with some water and sit back down on the lounge seat. I cover my face with my hands and quietly mutter to myself “My god, what have I done. An innocent woman died all because I was selfish enough not wanting to deal with the consequences.” I thought I was going to feel relived but I don't. At least not knowing someone else paid with their life, I took something from them that I had no right taking.

A few minutes later a distance I hear commotion down the hallway. I lift my head up and hurriedly grab the mug of coffee I had and pretend to drink what was left of it until I see San, Yunho, and Wooyoung come into the room laughing and smiling then I hear San say “Hey, y/n good morning you’re up early.” I fake a smile and give them a small wave with my free hand “Good morning.” Wooyoung coldly glances at me while San sits next to me and Yunho walks over to the refrigerator and pours himself some orange juice “Guess what y/n?” I look over to Yunho and manage to let out a small hum San then says “Well, they found “you”. You’re officially dead so they won’t look for you anymore.” I slightly raise my eyebrows and say in a flat tone “Wow, that happened fast.” San smiles “Well you’re top priority, we couldn’t afford to miss out on how valuable you are to us now.” Wooyoung sneers “San are you okay? Are you sick?” San looks over at him and tilts his head “I'm fine, why?” Wooyoung shrugs and says “I don’t know seeing you smile like that over a cop you barely even know is really weird.” San's gaze darkens almost like he's upset Wooyoung's ruined the mood with his snide comment. He walks over to Wooyoung “It’s actually not. Considering her and I are very close now. We need her help more than ever to get that bastard back for what he did to my father.” Wooyoung smirks and gently pats San’s back nervously trying to calm him down. “Okay calm down, I was just joking.” Unmoved with Wooyoung's "joke" San stares straight into Wooyoung's eyes "Do I look like I'm laughing?" Yunho looks over at San and Wooyoung then walks over between both of them and puts his arms around both of their necks “How about we celebrate later yeah?” San pulls back slightly shoving Wooyoung away from him "Not now, I'll be in my office if anyone needs me." He walks away silently leaving the kitchen clearly upset. Yunho awkwardly coughs and mutters under his breath “Maybe not.” He looks over to me “He’ll be okay, Wooyoung and San tend to bicker sometimes.” Wooyoung rolls his eyes and walks out of the lounge where he bumps into Seonghwa who was walking in, he quickly turns and looks at Wooyoung and says “Excuse me?” He looks over at me and Yunho with a puzzled expression and mouths “What’s up with him?” Yunho then lets out a chuckle and says “Oh, you know San and Wooyoung bickering.”

Seonghwa walks over to the counter and makes himself a hot chocolate while talking to Yunho, a few minutes later he sits on the other side of the lounge seat next to me while holding his mug on one hand and says “Hey, you’re quiet is everything okay?” I nod then I set my mug on the ground “Yeah, I’m fine why?” Seonghwa looks over at me examining my facial expression then says “Oh, just asking. You’re usually not this quiet.” I blankly stare at the ground for a few seconds until I finally decide to speak “I feel terrible.” Yunho gives me a concerned look “About what?” Suddenly Yunho’s radio goes off “Yunho, come down here I need you to go run a quick errand for me.” Yunho drops his head and sighs, he then lifts his head up again and speaks into his radio “I’ll be right there.” He gets up, pats my head and says “I’m so sorry I have to go, tell me all about it later okay?” He leaves me and Seonghwa alone to which he says in a soft voice “Go on, I’m here.” I stare at the ground for what seemed an eternity again then I manage to say “I feel horrible about that innocent girl’s death to the point I physically feel sick.” Seonghwa clicks his tongue and sets his mug on the table next to him “You want me to tell you something?” I look over and softly hum he then says in a very serious tone “That girl wasn’t innocent. She was a liar and a murderer that almost got some of us killed at one point. Echo Kyrian.” I cover my mouth with my hand. That name sounds awfully familiar. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. “I’ve heard of her.” He nods then leans back in his seat onto the wall “I figured. She was the one who organized a shootout on Locust Street, which was our previous head quarters. That day we lost a lot of people that worked for us. Yeosang, and Mingi got severely injured but luckily they both pulled through. The reason this all even started was because she lied about having insight on Lee since she also worked for The Obsidian Dragon later we found out she was a lower level worker so she never even met him at all. For months she mocked San about the loss of all the people that worked for us, unfortunately she was also asking San to pay up or his inner circle was next to be destroyed." Bingo, that's where I've heard of her, she's well known for extortion. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about now. Wow, I didn't know about all of that though. I guess you guys did what the police couldn’t." He silently nods then I gently pat his shoulder "Well it's over with, she's gone now don't worry. I’m glad she’s out of you guys’ way" He smiles then gently pats my hand on his shoulder "It should be you who should be happy, you're free now." Free, all at the cost of another wretched life. "You’re right, thank you." He pulls his hand away and grabs his mug again "Of course, but the main person you should be thanking is San not me. I just followed orders. Besides I've seen how much he cares about you and that’s a rare occurrence coming from him. You should go talk to him so he could get over that little argument he had with Wooyoung. He did say you guys are close friends now so he should be really happy seeing you check up on him." I pick up my mug off of the floor and walk to the sink to rinse it out. “I’ll do that, I want to at least thank him since I didn’t get to earlier.”

I head over to San’s office and try to open the door but it was locked. I sigh and I knock on the door “San, it’s Y/N. Please open up I just want to see you for a little bit.” A few seconds later I hear the door unlock, immediately after he opens the door I hug him tightly. Completely in shock he hugs me back and gently pats the back of my head and says “Oh hey, you missed me didn’t you?” I pull back and brush my fingers through his soft black hair “Well, I came to thank you but yes. It was more like I also got worried seeing you storm off that way I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That and I also just wanted to thank you” I walk into his office and close the door behind me. Being here feels a bit weird because the last time I was in here I was basically San’s prisoner.

He smiles "Thank me? For what?" I reach out for his hand and lace his fingers between mine "Well, helping me shake everyone off my back by faking my death. It was very nice of you to have enough empathy to help me." He gently places his hand on my cheek, his cat like eyes examining my face. "There's no need to thank me angel eyes, of course I'm going to help you. Besides this will help us in the long run." He's right, at least now I don't have to sneak around the way I would have probably done if we just went with me being missing. I still feel for my family though, I can't imagine with how worried they are. Maybe one day when this ends I can maybe see them. I lean into his touch "Enough of me though, is everything okay? You seemed pretty upset with what Wooyoung said."

“I’m okay, it’s just Wooyoung can be a bit rude sometimes and it really pissed me off how he was just insinuating you’re untrustworthy when I know deep down that you’re not” He leads me to the seat in front of his desk, meanwhile he sits on the edge of his desk in front of my chair. I look over and notice San’s somewhat hurt expression mixed with anger. “It’s okay, it doesn’t phase me. Let him think that way, I’ll prove to him and everyone else who thinks otherwise. That’s what I did back at the station, I showed them.” A small smile appears on San’s lips “Alright then, in that case I’ll give you time to show off. I need a hit for someone, that’s if you’re ready.” I knew there had to be a catch, what a better way to show your loyalty than to get blood on your hands. Smart. I sigh and shove my hands under my legs. He reaches over to me and gently strokes my cheek and says in a soft voice “I’m not forcing you to do anything. I’m giving you free will to do as you wish, you’re welcome to just stay here where you’re safe.” I look down gently biting the inside of my lip. I have to do this, not just to prove to everyone here I’m worth trusting but I’m going to make sure Captain Lee regrets ever having me “die” just to save himself. San pushes a few strands of hair behind my ear “Is everything okay?” I tightly press the cushion under my hand with my fingers “I’ll do it. Who’s the hit?” San gets off from his desk and walks over to the filing cabinet next to the bookcase behind him then comes back with a folder with the name “Ryu Moon” on it. I open the folder and I see a picture of the person, he looked to be in his late 20’s and looked like your typical spoiled rich kid. I read the file for a few minutes then San says “Can you do it?” I silently nod then I say almost inaudibly “Yeah, I can.” he turns to me with a serious look on his face “I’ll have Mingi go with you, just in case. Jongho will be your driver.” I nod then I clasp both my cold hands together trying to warm them up “ Okay so when is it?” San takes his glasses off and sets them on the table and rubs his eyes a bit “The weekend, you have about 4 days. I’m saying the weekend because he usually heads out to the club Friday nights.” Wow, such short notice but I see what he's trying to do. I get up from my chair and force a smile “Well, I’ll get to practicing then. I haven’t fired a gun in a while so I’m a bit rusty.” San pulls me over to him and says “I want to watch you practice, can I?” Way to go, I have spectator anxiety. I really don’t want to do terrible in front of him. Now that’ll be embarrassing, making an ass out of yourself in front of your mafia boss boyfriend. I thickly swallow and shrug “Sure, if you want to.” San gently kisses my forehead and grabs my hand leading me out of the door. He looks around again and looks back at me “Hey, follow me.” We both walk down all the way down to an underground shooting range.

As soon as I walk in I gasp at the amount of weapons on display. I walk over to inspect the weapons and some of them appear to be stolen due to the fact some of them are weapons used by the military and the police force. To start off I grab myself a small pistol and load it then I put on the protective ear muffs. While San stands a few yards behind me I stand at the booth then take aim, pull the trigger and to my horror I notice how I almost completely missed the target. Shit, just pretend he’s not there you can do it. Pretend you’re back at the station practicing and you’re showing off to Chris how well your accuracy is. I take a deep breath then I exhale trying to calm my nerves, I focus on my target then I pull the trigger again this time emptying the magazine of the gun. San smirks “Let’s go see how well you did.” We walk over and look at the target, for a few seconds he stands there and examines the target then he says “Aside from those first two shots, your accuracy is beautiful.” My ears warm up then I shyly look down and I say “Thank you, I promise I can do much better I'm just a bit rusty.” He reaches over and holds my hand “Do you want to continue practicing with this one or practice with something higher caliber?” Instantly I respond a little too excited “Higher caliber since I haven't practiced with one in a few months maybe about 3 or 4.” We walk back and look at all the higher caliber options while carefully looking at all the guns he picks one out in particular, he grabs the M24 (police rifle) and hands it over to me and says “I’m sure you’re familiar with this one right?” I nod “Yeah we were trained with these but we actually don’t use these anymore, they were replaced with a more enhanced version.” Impressed, San slightly raises his eyebrows then says “Hmm, that’s interesting. Should we go see your shooting abilities outside angel eyes?” Hesitantly I nod then I check that the safety is on the rifle and I sling it over my shoulders. San grabs a whole box of ammo and while walking outside I clench onto the rifle strap the whole time and follow behind San. My first time going outside in about a month and a half. How does San just trust me like this? A gun in my hands with his back facing me. Does he not know I could easily betray him if I wanted to? I know my life as a cop wasn’t guaranteed but San has blood on his hands from so many other mafia gangs who have a target on his head. So many would kill to be in my position right now, but unfortunately the more I've gotten to know him the less I want him to ever get hurt.

“We’re here.” I slightly squint due to the beaming sunlight, once my eyes adjust I look around and realize we’re in the middle of nowhere. Trees sprawled out everywhere with a heavy forest in the distance. San then points over and says “You see those targets over there? Try starting with the one closest to us.” I set up the gun at the edge of the building and while I focus on the target and I land the first shot but not a headshot. I let out a small frustrated sigh and mutter “Come on.” then I hold my breath and carefully aim and successfully get the headshot. By the 3rd target I get in my groove and successfully finish all 10 targets. When I finish, San walks over to me in shock while looking into binoculars and says “Wow, that’s amazing. You did great. ” Not used to the compliments I awkwardly press my lips into a smile “Are you just saying that because you’re my boyfriend?” He chuckles and shakes his head and says “No, I’m serious. I just witnessed one of the reasons why everyone was making a huge deal about finding you. You're amazing.” I carefully set down the gun and I look at the trees in the distance solemnly “Well, you’d think being so well trained would have kept me from getting kidnapped.” San crosses his arms and steps next to me while looking at the trees in the distance alongside me and says “I’m sure if you knew you would have easily taken both MIngi and Wooyoung down. Which is why we were extra careful with you, we had to take precautions we usually never have to take.” When he gets serious like this is what scares me the most. I shove my hands in the pockets of my sweater “That was honestly no excuse. Not even the fact that I was exhausted, the only good thing that came out of this is that I met you. Even if you do scare me sometimes.” San turns and looks at me with a raised eyebrow “I scare you?” Shit. Did I just say that?! I silently stare at the ground for a bit then I sit down and continue “Yeah, it’s like you’ve forgotten that I’ve seen the aftermath of all your violent crimes, all the blackmail, extortions, the death. Ever since I became a cop I’ve been studying your every move and I’m sorry but you’re really scary in terms of what’s in your file.” San kneels next me and gently strokes my hair “I’d never do such things to you though, I…I love you far too much to hurt you like that. If anything you’ve brought out the softer side of me, something nobody including my own family has rarely seen since my father died.” I stare at the trees in the distance ever so slightly sway “I feel the same way. I care so much about you and I know you’re a good person at heart but it just freaks me out a bit when I remember how violent you are when someone gets on your bad side. I understand it’s to avenge your dad but I don’t know, the image I have of you from when I worked back at the station was really not a good one so it just keeps coming back to me even if I know you’re not truly like that.”

He sits next to me gently pulling one of my hands out of my pocket to hold it. His gaze completely softens to try and eliminate any trace of fear I have towards him. “Look, I know this life of crime for you isn’t your normal so I understand why you’d feel that way, you’re not used to it. So I respect you for even agreeing to do this hit to begin with but just remember that for you, I’m willing to take a bullet just so you’d be safe.” I look over at San who’s expression seemed sincere with a hint of him feeling hurt he then continues and says “I know you still don’t fully trust me and I understand that. I don’t blame you, so please don’t beat yourself over it. I promise I’ll do everything in my power so you can trust me.” I tilt my head and rest it on his shoulder while I hold his arm “Thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me from the very beginning. I know you didn’t choose to be born among chaos.” He gently kisses the side of my head “It’s funny how we started off practicing and now we’re just sitting here like this.” I smile and stand up, pick up the gun again and hand it to San “You want to practice too?” San smiles with his dimples fully visible “Actually, I like watching you shoot it’s pretty hot.” I let out a scoff “Oh, shit. Okay well in that case I’ll take this back then.” I take the gun and begin to load it and a few seconds later I turn back and notice San looking at me with his face in his palms. I turn back and my ears and face heat up. I really don’t deserve him, but having him at my side brings so much comfort to me especially after my "death" and how two faced my old boss is I’m just hoping he won’t change his mind about me eventually.

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lipeg · 9 months

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Jaune: Sun has done much to damage both

Jaune had arrived early in the morning at the hospital where Blake and Yang were staying.

He was here as the Jaune Arc and not as the chief of police of Vacuo.

All Faunus were afraid to look at him, for he was the descendant of the devil of Faunus legends.

When Jaune arrived at the hospital.

It took him a while to find Yang and Blake because he had stopped to help people with his semblante of healing and unlocking people's auras.

Yang: When I find that monkey, I'm going to cut off his tail

Jaune: Yang, I have to remember that you are in front of an authority, I can put you in jail

Jaune sat in a chair.

Yang and Blake were in bed.

There were a lot of other people around her who were receiving medical treatment.

Because the world is in a desperate situation.

Jaune looked at the two guys and saw that they were almost 100%. As they were hunters, they were priorities.

Jaune: Okay, Blake starts talking

Blake: Speak? Say what?

Jaune crossed his arms.

Jaune: I talked to Neptune, he revealed to me that you and Sun have been through a lot together, you even traveled together when you escaped from Beacon.

Blake:I really have no idea why he did that, jealousy maybe?

Jaune: Our 🙄 I was so jealous when I saw you two kissing~

Jaune: Blake, please, Sun must have had a reason to do that, a man just doesn't hit a woman just because she's a lesbian. There must be a reason, and you know what it is, Blake

Blake looked away.

She was nervous.

Jaune let out a sigh.

Jaune: Come in soon

Blake turned pale.

She thought that Sun would enter through that door, but the person who entered was not Sun

It was Robyn Hill... Wait, this is still bad.

Before Blake could do anything.

His right arm was bound with a chain that was made of aura.

Blake: He can create aura weapons

Robyn was standing between Blake and Yang's bed.

Blake: you can't force me

Jaune: Yes, yes I can, I have studied the laws of Vacuo. And right now you're not helping Blake, I'm a 65-year-old man, do you think I'm that stupid?

Random doctor: You are 65 years old!

Jaune turned to the doctor.

Jaune: Aura does wonderful things

Jaune stood up.

He pulled a super necklace out of his pocket and took Blake's left hand, he put a large amount of necklace, and then he took Robyn's hand and glued both of their hands together.

Blake hadn't escaped.

Jaune returned to his chair.

Jaune: Then Blake started talking

Jaune bitterly regretted it.

Blake is not a girl with problems.

She was trouble in girl form.

He was not supposed to improve Robyn's semblante.

She revealed too much. Something he doesn't need to know.

Robyn wanted to get out as soon as possible when Blake told her about.... His hobbies

Everyone stopped to watch this soap opera, or rather everyone who was in the room.

Jaune: Let me see if I understood. Have you ever had a boyfriend who was 100% anti-human, where you both had a little tense relation, but... full of sexual tension...

Jaune stopped breathing.

Jaune: Instead of sitting down and having a conversation with him, you ran away to the Beacon, he was one of The White Fang leaders, who was one of the main people responsible for Baecon's attack and he was responsible for cutting off Yang's arm!

Jaune pointed at Yang's missing arm.

Jaune: You left without telling your team to go after the White Fang and detail that you did not take Yang to the hospital, you left her bleeding on the floor without her arm!

Random man: What a crazy thing

Jaune: You faced your ex-boyfriend and almost died! If Yang hadn't arrived on the scene

Blake: You forget the breaking into my house part

Jaune: This is the least important part! It was a miracle, Yang, it seems like you weren't dead! To add fuel to this fire, you discovered that your ex-boyfriend was an SDC slave.... This relationship is not toxic, it sucks! The guy was enslaved, he literally has a slave mark on his eye, how do you not want this guy to hate human?

Elderly lady: He really is right

Jaune: What is incredible to me is the fact that Sun was willing to be of help to you. He accepted all of this even though you treated him badly

Blake: I didn't treat him badly, Jaune.

Jaune: I didn't find another word.

Jaune coughed.

A child handed him a glasswater.

Jaune drank water and returned the glass.

Jaune: Thanks

Jaune: This story between the two of you starts off all wrong. You abandoned your team without giving a single warning, he followed you to your home, where the two of you face the remnants of the white fangs. Your house was attacked, your parents were almost killed, and in the end you kiss him

Yang: Sun looks like he is being chased

Random doctor 2: I wouldn't say he's being persecuted, of all the stories I've heard from my friends, the most common is when a stalker sees that his or her target is having a hard time, this is the perfect opportunity for a kidnapping. He's a fool in love.

Jaune: You gave him a kiss! It's the same thing as putting a billboard on your head and saying you have a chance with me, Sun! Not even my sister did that!

Jaune's blood pressure began to rise.

Jaune: It looks like hell came out of the mind of a 16-year-old teenager. Bringing two troubled teenagers together to become a couple

Yang: Jaune, you sound like an old man complaining

Jaune: I am old Yang, I have more important things to do, and the discussion of your sexuality or Blake's sexuality is not on my list

Blake: So you saying what the Sun is correct

Jaune: Don't put those words in my mouth

Jaune: I'm not saying that what the Sun did was right, but what you did was not right either. You rubbed it in the face of the man who was trying to win you over, that you are happy, etc, etc. Did you have to exaggerate that, Blake?

Blake looked away.

Jaune stood up and put his right hand on Blake's face.

He began to heal Blake.

The wounds that were caused by the Sun began to fade away.

The necklace that kept Blake and Robyn together. It was also undone.

Robyn, now free, the first thing she would do is clean her hand because of the Blake's hobby.

He did the same thing to Yang. But he was able to give back Yang's lost arm.

His work here was done.

Jaune: Now Blake, for the love of Jesus Christ, never do that to anyone again. Now I have to find Sun and make him apologize for what he did

Blake: Who Jesus Chris?

Jaune: Someone who would be the last person you would choose to follow because of your lifestyle

Jaune walked to the door.

Aura chain fell apart.

Jaune: Blake

Suddenly, Blake's animal instincts began to alert her to danger.

When she looked at Jaune.

Jaune was about to leave, his back to Blake.

Jaune had turned his head a little.

Blake had a glimpse of one of his eyes, and that eye was the source of her sense of dread.

Jaune's eye had changed, this eye became like her father's eye when he released his animal side. The difference was that his eye seemed to have electricity, the eye color changed to a much darker blue.

That was the eye of the diabolos Diogron Sabertooth.

They were the same eyes described in the legends.

Blue eyes as deep as the ocean, his eyes radiated lightning.

Jaune: If I find out that you're going to disobey again, I'm going to throw you in and you're never going to get out

Out of fear, Blake nodded his head.

Jaune: Good

Jaune left the room, Blake fell out of bed.

Yang was worried about his girlfriend's safety.

She will have to think of a way to deal with Jaune's new trick.

Elderly lady: Oh my gods, it was great entertainment in between, it would make an excellent piece of theater. It's a shame that my beloved Rogério is no longer here, I would love to give him a blowjob now after this show

Relative of the old woman: Grandma!

Elderly lady: * laughter * Oh darling I may be old but I'm still very good at what I do

#rw vampirebat #jaune arc #old jaune #Jaune police #diabolos diogran Sabertooth #yang xiao long #blake x yang #blake belladonna

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violetmuses · 21 days

Text

Part 2 of a request! - Part I ❤️‍🩹

@thomasrunner @nelo0wesker 🏷

Despite hiding around the world for quite a while, criminal Armando Aretas finally returned to Miami and would learn this brand-new chapter of life.

To cut his grounded time in prison, Aretas would even continue working through the Miami Police Department and officially joined AMMO's squad.

No more running.

______

Staying with Detective Mike Lowrey until further notice, Armando pulled together and headed down for breakfast, not rushing to the precinct.

“Morning, man.” Mike still wanted to greet Aretas without pushing boundaries. Their estranged relationship proved cordial at best now.

“What's up?” Armando offered slightly accented English before sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Good morning, Armando.” Mike's wife Christine, a physical therapist, smiled.

“Hey.” Armando nodded, still not comfortable enough to grin back.

Christine also helped Mike heal throughout the shooting recovery that took place years ago.

“Listen, we'll eat first and just get outta here, all right?” Mike spoke up. “Don't wanna be late.”

“Kay. Who made the coffee, though?” Aretas glanced toward Mike and Christine for a second.

“Me.” Mike joyfully confirmed. Even Christine laughed while Armando finished the meal.

*****

“Don't worry about Marcus. I got you.” Mike almost whispered near Armando after driving the classic Porsche to work.

Before Lowrey and Aretas could even walk inside, one voice called out.

“Aw, Mike! Why didn't you tell me?” Sniffing through dramatic tears, Mike's longtime partner and best friend Marcus Burnett reached the curb.

“Please stop crying, Marcus.” Mike shook his head while exiting that car.

Embarrassed, Armando nearly shrunk in the passenger seat to hide and even veiled further by wearing Mike's sunglasses.

“Armando dressed like you, too.” Marcus continued anyway. “Look at the gun holsters placed on his back, Mike.”

“Stop.” Mike repeated himself while entering the precinct with Aretas and Burnett.

_______

To make this return even more unsettling, Armando noticed that fellow law enforcement officials and other staff members wouldn't talk.

The building neatly turned silent when everyone recognized Aretas.

Even AMMO weapons expert Kelly and tech genius Dorn looked elsewhere.

“What the hell’s wrong with everybody?” Marcus Burnett spoke up this time.

“Marcus….” Mike Lowrey warns his best friend for the umpteenth occasion.

“No, Mike. Listen, y'all. Stop tripping for five minutes, all right?” Marcus quickly defended Armando. “Focus on the job because Armando's not leaving anytime soon. You can't give up normal things just because he showed up either. He's part of our team like everybody else.”

Voices responded in all directions until Captain Rita Secada entered the precinct and headed toward that briefing room. Everyone else trailed.

_______

“We'll need all hands on deck regarding this new assignment.” Rita explained details while standing behind this podium. “Look for the witness described on screen.”

Once Rita offered this large-scale viewpoint of that witness, Armando, Mike, and Marcus nearly froze.

You centered this case.

*****

Shortly after that briefing concluded, everyone braced themselves for your arrival. Different officers would bring you to the police station.

“Who does she want in there?” Armando offered the important point over your questioning.

“Marcus and I have a much better chance of talking to her, man. I'm sorry.” Mike would never forget how you “woke up” after nearly drowning that day.

“You're right. I'll wait.” Aretas nodded and walked toward his desk for the day.

Mike and Marcus know exactly what happens next. Aretas could outright trigger your escape from this station.

_______

“I know that you're scared right now, but we won't hurt you.” Mike repeated his vow from the wilderness as you sat in this horribly gray room.

“He was looking for me.” You speak with Detective Mike Lowrey, otherwise there's no chance that you'll ground this case for yourself.

“Who?” Mike sits up.

“McGrath.” You reveal.

“James McGrath is dead.” Mike answered. “We shut down his operation recently.”

“I know. McGarth took me hostage right before Captain Howard was framed.” You exposed brand-new information.

Mike's heart dropped and Marcus stood flabbergasted in the corner.

“Hostage…” Mike Lowrey whispered.

“Yes.” Your statement confirms the truth with each passing moment.

Your fear. Running away from strangers. Not trusting anyone. On and on.

“What do you need?” Mike asked, gently trying to ease the situation.

“There's nothing else to do because McGarth is already dead at this point.” You shake your head, looking down. “Can I ask you something though, Detective?”

“Of course.” Mike locked eye contact with you for a reason and even stepped closer.

“What happened to that criminal?” You bring up the question that plagued thoughts ever since you run in those woods.

Shit! Mike silently acknowledged that you remembered Armando.

“It's a long story…” Mike struggled to answer your question.

“Is he still on the run?” You whispered over rumors from different places.

“No.” Mike began. “The department will give Armando another chance, but you're not in danger. I promise.”

“Armando?” You grounded the criminal's name this time. “Why…”

You trailed off because Detective Lowrey spoke up again.

“He's my son…” Mike cleared his throat and handed reality straight toward you.

“Your son?” You can't believe how invisible cobwebs tangled this place.

One of the most well-known professionals in Miami fathered someone who lurked with darkness.

“We didn't bring him for questions with you, but his name is Armando Aretas.” Mike continued speaking.

Realization slapped you in the face!

“Armando Aretas, the drug dealer?!” You shouted, almost leaving this chair. Even your voice resounded.

“I knew she would react, Mike.” Marcus grumbled from the corner.

“Shut up the fuck and help me!” Mike tried catching up with you, but failed.

Within seconds, you kicked that door open and found one of the back exits, immediately heading outside.

“Shit!” Marcus finally realized the mistake of arguing.

“I need backup! The witness has escaped our building. All units: respond to the situation immediately!” Demanding communication, Mike ran down this street.

“She's not a fucking dog, Mike! What the hell are you doing?” Marcus shouted back and defended your reaction.

Ignoring Marcus, Mike continued racing down while members of the AMMO squad emerged.

“Armando, stay here!” Marcus noted Aretas over you just in time. “She escaped the building.”

“No!” Armando refused to hide once more because anything could happen near you. Even sirens began wailing in the distance. “If she's mad, I'll deal with it.”

On instinct, Armando races outside, leaving Marcus in the dirt.

_______

“Nobody's safe!” You glance over your shoulder while bolting and realize that officers have caught up with you. “Get Aretas out of the damn building or I'm not talking again.”

“Armando won't hurt you.” Mike acknowledges you first.

“Prove it, Mike!” You rasped, pissed off and worried at the same time.

Moments later, Armando emerged and stepped toward you in broad daylight, not holding weapons.

“Just tell us what happened.” Armando wouldn't stop looking at you.

Even Mike and Marcus turned silent, waiting for the next plan here.

“Stand down.” You took charge for once. “I can't explain everything in public.”

Deal. Armando thought.

******

Police tape riddled the scene while you joined Mike Lowrey's Porsche.

While you became Mike's passenger instead, Armando crammed the back seat to dodge your glare.

“My wife knows what happened.” Mike grounded this plan to settle everything in his home.

“Thanks.” You nodded when adrenaline stopped for good.

******

Parking at the house, Mike greeted Christine and stepped back, letting everyone enter.

Once Mike locked doors and food set around this table, questioning resumes without Marcus Burnett.

“What happened just before you were kidnapped?” Mike asked.

“It was my birthday that night.” You remembered. “Right as I'm leaving the club, McGarth cornered me.”

“South Beach.” Mike shook his head, already painting thoughts and images.

“Scars?” Armando refuses to eat anything until you finish the story.

“No physical assault. McGrath didn't hurt me, but his goons patrolled.” You don't express more.

“How long were you there?” Armando nearly whispered.

“I don't even know.” You almost struggled. “No lights in the room.”

“How did you escape?” Aretas pulled this big-time question to score that previous tragedy in the water.

“Tricked someone to help me with restraints.” You answered. “By the time McGarth hijacked your federal transport, I tried swimming away.”

Flashbacks pulled right away and Armando's heart shattered.

Aretas realized that McGarth controlled your every move until this point and reaching that unknown water should've marked freedom.

You would rather die just to escape hell.

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yjano · 2 years

Text

Never The Same.

Part 14.

Pairings: Jake x Mc.

Warnings: Swearing, violence, angst, smut, other pairings;), traumatic experiences.

Words: 5.6k

Author's note: Honestly, this story is going to be a big piece of work and a lot of angst. It's not connected to the game at all. Because I always want to try something new and newer. Read it only if you're into angst stories, please. Thank you and let's go!🩶

A smile made its way onto my face as I and Lex were going from shop to shop. The two of us had decided that we needed some new clothes and after a bit of begging from Lex's side, Jake had agreed to let me come with her to the mall today. The fact that the two of us had four big bodyguards with us didn't matter to us all.

Jake had told Lex that he would only allow me to go out if we took some protection with us and thus Lex had arranged just that. What Jake wanted Jake got.

"That shirt you got is so pretty Mc, I bet Jake can't keep his hands off of you once he sees you wearing it," Lex spoke in an amused tone as she watched how I became shy. A red blush began to form on my face as I smiled back at her.

Nobody knew about the things that I had done together with Jake and I wasn't planning on telling anyone. Jessy and Lex surely wouldn't be able to keep their mouth shut and it wouldn't take long before everyone would know about the two of us and our nightly activities. No, this was something private and only meant for Jake and me to know.

Suddenly a loud grumble left my belly and immediately my eyes grew big. I hadn't been feeling too well this morning and thus I had decided to skip my breakfast. It wasn't weird that my body was now craving some food.

I needed food to keep my system running and my body was telling me that fact. A soft laugh left Lex's mouth and she slowly shook her head.

"I guess it's time to eat something hmm?" She spoke before she took my hand in her own and began to drag me towards one of the restaurants nearby. Soon our eyes fell upon a small waffle shop and once the two of us walked closer a delicious smell began to infiltrate our nostrils.

A waffle sounded like a very good plan right now. As the two of us were making our way toward the waffle shop suddenly a high-pitched voice sounded through the mall.

"Mc!" A familiar voice shouted and the moment I turned around to look at who it was that was calling me, the familiar face of my very best friend came into view.

"Lilly." I softly whispered before tears began to form in my eyes. I missed Lilly so much. The girl had been my best friend ever since I had moved to Duskwood and she had been my number one supporter, in any case, I had done.

The fact that I hadn't seen her for a few months now absolutely broke my heart and I wanted nothing more than to take my best friend into a hug and never let go.

As soon as Lilly noticed how I turned around when she screamed my name tears began to form in the girl's eyes and a small smile began to form on her face.

Ever since Mc had been kidnapped Lilly had visited the Duskwood Police at least once a week to ask about any progress on her missing friend. The police were still looking for Mc and while everyone who had brains would understand that she could be considered lost forever somehow Lilly couldn't give up on looking for her best friend.

The moment Lilly began to run towards me one of the bodyguards stepped in between the two of us and blocked our view of each other completely. Immediately I began to walk a bit more to the side to get past the guard and engulf Lilly in a big hug but suddenly Lex grabbed my hand and pulled me back a bit.

"Mc, don't." She softly spoke while shaking her head a bit. A confused look made its way onto my face and I looked at Lex with a questioning look in my eyes.

"What do you mean?"

A deep sigh then left Lex's mouth and she looked at the back of the big bodyguard that was separating me from Lilly at that very moment.

"Don't drag her into this world with you. She can't know anything about us or Jake won't hesitate to make sure she will never see the light of day again." Lex explained while she looked at me with a sad look on her face.

"I know how much she means to you but giving in to your desire now and letting her come close to you is practically the same as signing her death certificate. Jake won't let her get away if that meant that she could tell anyone some secret information about you, me, or anyone who is tied to his business."

Immediately my eyes grew big and I began to shake my head softly.

"He wouldn't do that to her. He wouldn't hurt me like that, right?" I spoke in an unsure tone. Jake had been through in the beginning but he had truly done a one-eighty when it came to his behavior. Jake was nice now, right?

"Just because Jake acts nice and sweet towards you, doesn't mean that he is like that to anybody else. I know a different side of him Mc and trust me when I say that you don't want that side of him to ever meet your friends." Lex then spoke in a serious tone toward me. She then began to tuck at my hand softly before she gestured for the two of us to go the other way.

"Let's just leave, okay? It's better for everyone that way."

Immediately tears began to form in my eyes again and I softly whispered a 'Sorry.' before I turned around and walked away with Lex and the other three bodyguards. It pained me so much to be so close to Lilly and yet not have the opportunity to hug her and tell her about my life these last past few months.

I couldn't risk her life like that however, that wouldn't be fair to her. She never asked anyone to drag her into the world of guns drugs and death. As soon as Lilly saw me walk away tears began to stream down her cheeks.

"Mc!" She screamed at the top of her lungs but I didn't react again. A loud sob left her mouth as she saw how I turned around a corner and disappeared out of her sight completely. Would the two of us ever be reunited again?

A sad look could be spotted on my face as I dropped myself onto the couch in the living room. After months of not being able to see my best friend, I had finally gotten a glimpse of her beautiful face again. Unfortunately, however, I hadn't been able to hug the girl or even talk to her for a little while.

After months I had still gotten nothing, except a glimpse of her tear-struck face and that fact broke me even more. She had tried everything in her power to see me and hug me and all I had been able to do was walk away without looking in her direction again.

I lately had begun to miss my friends and family more and more and the fact that once again I had missed a chance to give at least one of those people a hug hurt me, a lot.

It also angered me a bit, because even though I knew damn well that I couldn't drag them down the same road I had taken all I wished for was to see them again and talk to them again. I missed them to the point where I got angry at everyone around me, including myself.

An apologetic smile made its way onto Lex's face as she dropped my bags next to the couch. Of course, Lex knew damn well who that girl in the mall had been. She had been with me for the first time she had ever met me in person. Lilly was someone who meant a lot to me and anyone who failed to see that would be blind.

"I'm sorry Mc but I only did what any good friend would have done." Lex softly spoke to me. I however didn't react at all and ignored her completely. I didn't want to hear any of it right now. Sure this had been the only right option but that didn't make my broken heart heal.

How would Lex have felt if she wouldn't be able to see her best friend in months and then see a glimpse of her only for them to be ripped away immediately again?

"I'll let Jake know we're home again." Lex softly spoke to me before turning around and walking further into the apartment. As soon as she was completely out of sight a deep sigh left my mouth and I briefly closed my eyes.

I hated the fact that Lex made me stop going to my best friend. Of course, I knew that she had been right and I would have been a complete fool if I had refused to listen to her but that didn't mean that I liked it.

I had wanted to hug Lilly, tell her about everything that had happened the past couple of months, and ask her how she was doing. Things that sounded so normal yet were impossible for the two of us to ever achieve.

"Hi, baby." A deep voice suddenly sounded in my ear. Immediately goosebumps began to form all over my body and my heart skipped a beat.

Nevertheless, I kept a sad look on my face and the thought of my crying best friend wouldn't leave my mind.

"Lex told me you were sad before she left. What happened?"

"I saw my best friend today but Lex didn't let me speak to her or even give her a hug." I then spoke in a bitter tone. Of course, Lex couldn't help this situation at all and it was in no way her fault but right now I just needed someone to be the culprit.

Lex had been with me and thus she would be my victim. I needed someone to blame it all on as long as I was sad and mad at the same time.

"Yeah, she told me about what happened." Jake then answered with a serious look on his face.

"Lex was right you know. You can't drag her into this world." He then spoke before walking around the couch and sitting down next to me.

Slowly the sad look on my face began to turn into an angry one and I began to raise an eyebrow. Did Jake think I was stupid? Of course, I knew damn well that Lilly didn't belong in this world.

Hell, I didn't even belong in this world myself, and yet here I was. None of this was ever meant to happen and yet I was into this shit shoulder-deep.

"You think I don't know that I can't see her as long as I'm trapped here?" I suddenly exclaimed in an angry tone. I stood up from the couch before I angrily began to walk back and forth in front of the couch.

"I'm not stupid you know, I have functioning brains in my head!"

"I didn't fucking speak to her because I care about her, because you will come for her if I did!" I then spat to Jake, anger still lacing my voice. I felt completely hot from all the anger that was radiating from me.

I hated my life here if that meant that I couldn't see Lilly. I hated Lex for making me stop going to her and I hated Jake for taking me here in the first place. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated all the time?

As Mc was getting angrier and angrier Jake slowly became more and more annoyed by the tone in which she was screaming at him. He didn't tolerate anyone using a tone like that towards him and the girl in front of him was no exception to that fact. She needed to know who was the boss around here and if she had forgotten then Jake would gladly help her remember. Nobody talked to Jake Dalton like that.

Jake poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue before he stood up and looked at me with an angry look on his face. His whole aura had turned dark and power was practically radiating off of his body.

"I don't like you talking to me like that baby," Jake spoke in a low tone to me.

As soon as I noticed the change in Jake's aura I gulped visibly but then looked at him with a challenged look. I was still angry and Jake trying to get me to submit again was not something I was going to do. I was angry and I needed to let my anger out or else I would feel sad all day.

"I don't fucking care," I answered him in a challenging tone while a serious look on my face.

Immediately the look on Jake's face darkened even more and he slowly began to walk toward me before harshly pushing me against the wall.

"Behave baby, or I'll make you." He whispered inside my ear and immediately my heart skipped a beat. Even though I knew Jake was dead serious I couldn't help but get excited by the way he was acting. This whole demeanor was something I liked a lot.

A challenging look crossed my features once again and I leaned in slightly before licking his lips seductively. Then I locked eyes with him while a smirk began to form on my face.

"Make me."

As soon as those words left my lips Jake slammed his lips on my lips and immediately the two of us got entangled into a heavy make-out session. Even though I was trying my best to not let Jake completely dominate me, it was very difficult for me.

Jake wasn't taking anything I was doing and every time I tried to get the upper hand in our kiss. Jake would make me submit to him immediately again. Jake hadn't been joking when he said that he would make me behave but I didn't care. If anything, I liked where this was going.

As soon as Jake detached our lips he grabbed my hair and pulled it a bit to the side.

"Don't test me, baby. I will make sure you'll regret it." He spoke in a dangerously low voice before connecting his lips with the skin of my neck.

Immediately he bit down on the skin and a shot of pain rushed up my spine. Nevertheless, I began to feel more and more excited and thus when I felt how Jake slowly let go of the skin between his teeth I let out a low moan, on purpose. Let's see how long the two of us could keep this game up.

As soon as the sinful sound that had just been released from my mouth was heard by Jake, he immediately began to harshly suck and lick the skin underneath his lips. I had to remember who he was and that he would not let anyone fuck around with him. He was the boss.

I seemed to be in a bold state and when I began to feel how Jake was creating a hickey on my skin a smirk made its way onto my face.

"Is that all you got?" I spoke in a challenging tone and before I knew it I felt Jake lift my head before looking me in the eyes.

Seductively I began to bite my bottom lip before I eyed him from the bottom to the top. Then I leaned in a bit before that challenging look in my eyes began to take me over once again.

"I must say, I've had better." I then whispered against his lips in a low seductive tone before increasing the distance between our lips again.

A low growl made its way out of Jake's mouth and his eyes visibly darkened before he pressed me harshly against the wall. A soft thud sounded through the room as my back once more collided with the white walls of Jake's apartment and a smirk began to form on my face.

Of course, what I had told him had been complete bullshit. I had sex with one other person and that time it had been absolute shit but that didn't matter right now. Jake's ego was already big enough, I didn't need it to get any bigger.

"Last time I held back. Guess you want to be receiving that kind of special treatment today." Jake spoke before a smirk began to form on his face. Before I knew it Jake had moved both his hands down and began to unbutton the black blouse I was wearing.

"I'm gonna make you feel so good you won't be able to stand on your legs anymore." He then spoke once he had unbuttoned all of the buttons. Immediately after speaking, he lowered his head and attached his lips to one of my nipples while he began to tease the other one with his hand.

A high-pitched moan unwillingly left my mouth and immediately after that, I slapped my hand in front of my mouth. I shouldn't make all these sounds if I wanted to show Jake that he wasn't the only one who could tease me.

As Jake began to lick, twist and softly bite the sensitive nipple. I couldn't help but let a small moan escape my lips every once in a while. Jake knew exactly what he had to do to make me make sound after sound and even though I was doing everything in my power to keep the moans in, I couldn't.

Soon however I felt how Jake suddenly left both my nipples alone before he harshly grabbed both my hands and slammed them against the wall.

"Don't hold them in baby. I want to hear you scream my name when I fuck you." He then spoke in a dominant tone before he moved my arms up and began to pin them both against the wall with one of his hands while the other one began to unbutton my shorts.

It didn't take long before my blue shorts fell from my hips and before I knew it Jake began to rub me through my panties while attaching our lips. While he began to speed up the pace at which he was kissing me, he began to increase the pressure with which he was rubbing me and it didn't take long before another moan left my lips.

As I began to softly moan in our kiss Jake quickly pushed down my panties before he released my hands from the wall and picked me up before pressing me against the wall once again. An excited feeling began to spread through my body more and more with everything he did to me. Jake was slowly driving me insane and I loved every bit of it.

Soon Jake held two fingers in front of my mouth and immediately I opened my mouth before I began to eagerly suck on them. I knew damn well what Jake wanted me to do and I wasn't going to put up a fight anymore. As I was getting wetter, I became needier and needier and thus we played for long enough. It was time to get to the real deal.

After a minute of my sucking and licking Jake's fingers, Jake took them out of my mouth again before moving them under me once again. Quickly he steadied me when I was still holding up against the wall before he began to circle my entrance with one of his fingers.

A loud yelp left my mouth as soon as I began to feel him push the first finger inside of me and immediately I locked eyes with Jake who was widely smirking.

As soon as the first finger was inside me, Jake pushed another in before he began to move them in and out of my hole at a fast pace.

"F-fuck!" I moaned loudly once he began to curl his fingers a bit and hit my sweet spot. Immediately after a rush of excitement shot up my spine and I looked at him with a pleading look.

"Fuck me, Jake, please," I spoke in a desperate tone and a big smirk began to form on Jake's face.

Jake focus.

No way that I was gonna grant her wishes now that she was asking for them. She had wanted to play a game and thus I would show her how it was played.

"You've been not so nice to me baby. I guess I'll continue teasing you a bit longer." I spoke against her lips before I slammed my fingers into her sweet spot again.

"O-oh, god!" She moaned loudly before she grabbed my shoulders and began to bury her nails in them.

A soft hiss left my mouth once I felt her painfully press her nails into my shoulders but a low chuckle also left my mouth. Mc was slowly losing control and only I could help her with it. Too bad she had to be a brat before, otherwise, I would have granted her wishes a long time ago.

"You want me to fuck you, doll?" I softly whispered in her ear before pressing a soft kiss right beneath it. Immediately Mc began to whine softly while she was nodding her head.

"Then show me how much you want it." I softly spoke before dropping her on the ground again and watching her shake a bit on her legs. Immediately after she gained her balance back though she dropped to her knees and began to unbutton my jeans before pushing them down, my underwear following right after.

As soon as she pulled them down, Mc softly wrapped a hand around my member before bringing it to her mouth. The brunette innocently looked up before taking my member into her mouth completely and began to bob her head up and down.

A low moan left my mouth as I noticed the beautiful brunette sucking me so obediently and a smirk began to form on my face. It was as clear as crystal now who had the upper hand out of the two of us.

As Mc was fastening the pace at which she was sucking me off, more and more sounds left me. Soon I told her to stop before I picked her up again and pressed her back to the wall. Soon after Mc's eyes grew big as she felt my tip poke at her entrance before I began to push it in completely.

A few tears began to form in her eyes as soon as she felt herself getting stretched and she slowly began to breathe in and out to ease the pain. As soon as I noticed how Mc was struggling to cope with the pain from having me inside of her, I began to softly kiss her lovingly.

Once Mc felt the soft touch of my lips against her own, she wrapped her arms around my neck before softly kissing me back. I slowly began to move in and out of her.

As I was slowly testing how used she was to have me inside of her hole. I slowly began to thrust it in her faster and faster. It didn't take long before Mc was bouncing up and down against the wall while moan after moan left her mouth.

Mc focus.

A loud moan escaped my lips as soon as Jake hit my sweet spot full force. My eyes grew big and a pleasurable feeling shot through my whole body. Jake had found my sweet spot once again and I loved every bit of it.

"Don't stop-" I moaned once again as Jake hit my sweet spot another time and he began to smirk before he began to speed up the pace at which he was fucking me.

"Don't worry baby, I wasn't planning on doing so anytime soon." He spoke before he thrust his member in once again.

Another jolt of pleasure rushed through my body as my sweet spot got more and more stimulation and before I knew it the familiar feeling of heat began to pool up in my lower area. Immediately my eyes grew big and I tightened my grip around Jake's neck.

"I-I'm close!" I managed to stammer out and as if on cue Jake sped up the pace at which he was fucking me. I had finally given up and submitted myself completely to Jake.

As we were close to our high, we began to eagerly kiss, and before I knew it my body got taken over by pleasure completely.

Jake's body got taken over by pleasure completely as he was trying his best to keep the both of us steady. He slowly filled up me completely.

Once the two of us slowly came down from our high a soft breath of air left my mouth and I locked eyes with Jake once he slowly let me down again. A loving smile was visible on my face as I looked at Jake as if he was the most precious thing I had ever laid my eyes on.

"I love you." I softly spoke before I grabbed his upper arm to steady myself. Immediately Jake noticed how I was having difficulty finding my balance and he grabbed me with both his hands before picking me up bridal style and carrying me to the bathroom for the two of us to clean ourselves up.

"I love you too baby. So fucking much."

Uncomfortable. That was the best word to describe my position right now. Yesterday Jake might have been a little too rough on me, which resulted in me now awkwardly shifting in my seat while Jessy was talking to me about some rude guy she had met on the streets.

Currently, I was visiting my friend in her apartment since Jessy had called me this morning to come over because she was bored. Of course, I thought it was going to be fun and thus I agreed immediately. Unfortunately, when I tried to get out of bed I regretted that decision immediately.

Softly I blew on my cup of hot choco while listening to her rambling on and on about the weird man on the streets who had tried to get her number despite her saying multiple times that she had a boyfriend.

A shot of pain rushed up my stomach now and then after I made a move I shouldn't have done and even though I did my absolute best to keep my face as neutral as possible Jessy had now already looked at me twice with a weird look on her face.

It would only be a matter of time before she would catch up on what had happened yesterday. So much for keeping our nightly activities a secret.

"Are you okay Mc?" Jessy asked once she noticed me form a pained expression on my face once again. A concerned look began to form on her face and she softly put a hand on my shoulder.

"You know, I can bring you back home if you don't feel well."

Quickly I shook my head while I created the fakest smile ever on my face.

"No, I'm completely fine, don't worry," I spoke to while trying to sound as convincing as I possibly could. If I would stand up now there would be no way I could hide the fact that I had difficulty walking and then Jessy would know that something was up with me.

"You were telling about the creeper on the streets right?" I tried to change the subject to her story again but once I moved my leg a bit another jolt of pain rushed through my body. Slowly Jessy began to quirk one of her eyebrows before looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

"I was but now I'm more curious as to why you're acting so weird today Mc?" She spoke before looking at me from my toes to my head, trying to spot anything weird on me. Suddenly a big smirk broke out on her face and her mouth began to make an o shape.

"You two fucked!" Jessy exclaimed loudly and immediately my eyes grew big before I began to shush her. A deep red blush began to form on my face and a feeling of shame began to fill my insides. I knew Jessy would find out eventually but I didn't want the whole building to know exactly what I and Jake did when we had some alone time.

"Oh my god give me the details!" Jessy then spoke in an enthusiastic tone while looking at me with an expectant look on her face. A soft sigh left my mouth and I looked her straight in the eyes before giving her some details about yesterday. If I wouldn't give her anything the girl would surely never shut up and then she would truly not be able to keep her mouth shut.

A twinkle could be spotted in her eyes as she was listening to everything I was telling her and a squeal left her mouth now and then. As soon as I was done with my story, a smirk formed on her face once again and she softly squeezed one of my hands.

"Don't worry my friend, I got the perfect solution for when your boyfriend has been too rough on you."

Immediately I began to blush again before softly shaking my head.

"Jake isn't my boyfriend, Jessy," I spoke softly. That was the truth after all, Jake hadn't asked me to be his girlfriend and while the two of us did everything together that couples do that didn't mean that the two of us were anything else than friends with benefits. A soft laugh left Jessy's mouth before she smiled at me.

"Don't worry, he sees you as his girlfriend. Jake doesn't like to use labels but he cares a lot about you. I've known him for a long time and I don't think I've ever seen him treat someone the way he treats you." She spoke in a reassuring tone before standing up and pulling me up too.

A pained expression immediately formed on my face again and a jolt of pain shot up my stomach again. This wasn't something I wanted to experience again. Jessy immediately began to support me while a big grin was visible on her face.

"Whenever Dan has been too rough on me I always take a nice warm bath. It helps a lot to ease the pain." She explained before walking towards the elevator and pressing the button for the doors to open.

Softly I nodded while trying to not think of the pain I was experiencing right now. Jessy would probably be right and if there was any way I could ease the pain I was willing to try it. Anything to get rid of the pain I was feeling right now.

Soon the elevator doors opened and the two of us quickly got in before Jessy pressed the button for Jake's apartment. It didn't take long for the two of us to reach our destined floor and before the two of us knew it we were walking inside the apartment we had been heading to.

To both of our surprise however Jake was home too and the moment he noticed how badly I was walking, he immediately got up from the kitchen table and walked over to me. I tried to hide the pained expression on my face but failed.

"Baby, what happened?" He asked, worry lacing his voice and a concerned look visible on his face. Immediately Jake put a supportive arm around my middle and gave a small kiss on my temple. Jessy didn't waste any minute answering the question Jake had asked while a smirk. was visible on her face.

"Your dick happened." She spoke in an amused tone before laughing a bit. "I think you've been a bit too rough Jake."

Immediately an annoyed look began to form on Jake's face and he rolled his eyes briefly.

"Shut up, Jessica." He spoke softly before focusing on her. Jessy softly unwrapped her arm from me before looking at him with a challenging look on her face.

"Just stating the facts Jake."

Then Jessy turned towards me and a smile began to form on her face again while she nodded toward the bathroom.

"Take a nice warm bath, you'll feel better." She spoke while sending a wink my way. She then turned around and before the two of us could register it, we were alone in our apartment again.

"Baby I'm so sorry." Jake then softly spoke to me, an apologetic tone lacing his voice. He immediately swiped me off my feet before carrying me towards the bathroom and turning on the water to let the bath fill up completely.

A small smile made its way onto my face and before I knew it Jake had undressed me completely and I was sitting in the warm bath while Jake was watching over me. Slowly I locked eyes with him while a thankful look was visible on my face.

"Thank you for being there for me Jake." I softly spoke while I felt the warm water ease the pain I had been experiencing the whole day. A small smile made its way onto Jake's face as well and he looked at me as if I was everything he could ever wish for.

"Anytime baby."

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #jake x mc #mc and jake #duskwood family #duskwood fandom #duskwood fanfiction

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