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ellecdc · 12 days ago

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Ok ok may i request a pt 3 to the zombies au where reader is trying to figure out how they fit in the dynamic with the boys. Maybe like halfway through they set traps or something around that the boys don’t know how to do, and the boys see. Also I feel like this would take place kinda shortly after pt 2, so the boys (esp Sirius) would be super protective when reader tries to walk around.

thanks for your request! I think this is the perfect prompt for the next part of this series <3

poly!marauders x fem!reader who set up camp for the night [1.3k words]

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

CW: zombie apocalypse happening in the background, reader is slightly shy in this, chronic pain, slight angst? but not much

“I think we should stop here for the night.” James declared rather ruefully, wincing after Remus tripped for the third time over the past few minutes.

“No, we’re nearly there.” Remus practically barked; pain and exhaustion intermingling in his tone as he tried to shoulder past James.

“You’re sore, Remus.” James tried.

“I’m fine.”

“Well I’m not.” You declared with a huff, shucking your rucksack off and letting it fall to the ground decisively with a thud. “I want to stop for the night.”

Sirius tried to ignore the protective fire roaring inside of him as he moved his gaze from Remus’ sore leg to take in your form.

He’d been more than a tad reluctant to have you join them on this excursion, but after what took place the last time they’d gone without you, well, there would be no arguing with you (and, Sirius had to admit, rather reluctantly, that he felt better when he was able to keep his eyes on all three of you).

So, while Sirius was already accustomed to keeping a close eye on Remus to see when his knee or hip started acting up, he’d been keeping an equally close eye on you.

He had noticed you'd been quiet today - he wasn’t sure if you were just trying to be particularly agreeable so that they wouldn’t fuss over you (or leave you behind again), or if you really were content - but as he took a quick inventory of you, he couldn't seem to find anything wrong with you.

But it was the way you looked up quickly to make eye contact with him that let him know you were doing this for Remus’ sake.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” Sirius agreed, playing along as he pulled off his own rucksack and sat on a log.

“I know what you’re doing.” Remus spat at Sirius, though it was you who let out a long sigh in response.

“All we’re doing is taking a break, Rem.” You murmured patiently as you dug through your bag, and most of the ire that Remus had been directing at Sirius melted away when he turned his gaze to you.

Sirius wasn’t sure if his capitulation was at your use of his nickname, your soft, calming tone, or just because he didn’t really know you well enough to take an attitude with you the way he did with James and Sirius.

But what really struck Sirius was the fact that he didn’t feel at all bothered by the fact that Remus was willing to argue with him and not with you. He found he couldn’t blame Remus, really; you were difficult to be mad at.

Sirius never had a difficult time being mad at anyone, though, hence his temper with you last time.

“I’ll run back to the river and collect some water, okay?” James offered then, clearly speaking to Remus though the stubborn sod wouldn’t look at him.

“Thanks, James.” You agreed when it became clear Remus wouldn’t.

James shot you a grateful smile and Sirius a pointed look - keep an eye on them - before heading back in the direction of the nearest stream.

“Where do you think we should sleep, Moons?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He grumbled petulantly as he sat down directly on the ground and stretched his leg out.

You and Sirius shared a look before you picked up your bag and moved to sit a few meters away to give them some privacy.

“Don’t be grumpy with me.” Sirius whispered, sitting beside Remus and nudging him gently with his elbow.

“I’m not grumpy, Sirius, I-” Though Remus cut himself off when he realized he was really only serving to prove his point.

“Listen, we take care of each other, okay? James always packs the heaviest stuff into his rucksack. You never let either of us clear the room first. And we make sure you take breaks when you need it. Yeah?”

Remus let out a long sigh and craned his neck until it cracked as he kept his eyes trained on you. You’d pulled out a spade and a rod that seemed to snap together to form a long shovel and were digging into the earth. Sirius found that this was something he'd grown to like about you - the three boys relied heavily on one another, “should I go down to the river and collect water?” “Sure, and I’ll try to find us some shelter”, and nothing got done until they had formulated some sort of plan - but you saw something that needed to be done, and simply did it, unprompted.

Sirius, Remus, and James once came back from bathing in the river to find bowls of soup waiting on the makeshift table; you barely commented on it as you grabbed your towel and walked down to take your own bath. One morning after a trip to town that saw James’ glasses snapping in half after a close encounter with a zombie, they woke to find the bridge of the frames taped back together for him.

Acts of service, Remus had called it one night when Sirius voiced his observation, it’s how some people show they care.

He didn’t know why you would - care, that is - though he certainly found that he (and Remus and James) cared an awful lot about you.

Remus had rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder in way of apology as they watched you work, and Sirius felt slightly embarrassed about the fact that a) neither he nor Remus did anything to help set up camp whilst you and James fussed, and b) didn’t actually know what you were doing, yet enjoyed watching you do it nonetheless. You dug a hole about a foot deep before pulling some seeds from feather reed grass nearby, dropping them, and watching them drift to the east with the wind. You picked the shovel back up and began digging a second hole at an angle nearly a foot to the west from the first hole.

And to both Remus and Sirius’ surprise, by the time James appeared through the brush with two jugs of water, you had a concealed fire roaring in your hole.

“Whoa,” James called rather breathlessly, “did you bury the fire?”

You chuckled at James, though Sirius could tell you were turning slightly bashful. “I, well… it’s called a Dakota fire…it uses the wind to keep it burning, and produces little to no smoke.”

James let out a breathy yet impressed ‘huh’ as he turned to look at Sirius and Remus - both sitting uselessly - as if saying ‘are you seeing this? Can you believe her?’.

“That’s rather clever, Y/N.” Remus called as he stood - hip audibly clicking and eliciting a small wince from the tall boy, though Sirius knew it was good for Remus to keep it moving - and made his way over to inspect your handiwork. “It’s concealed too; we could leave it burning overnight without worrying about being spotted.”

“Right.” You agreed, clearly finding it impossible to look directly at any of the boys. Sirius found it rather adorable.

“You sound surprised by her clever nature, moons.” Sirius taunted, relishing in the way you went from bashful to straight up timid. “Well, since she’s the only one you won’t bark at, why don’t you sit here and help her keep the fire going now that she’s already done the hard work, and Jamie and I will set up camp?”

And before either of you could argue, Sirius stamped a loud kiss right on the side of Remus’ face that he pretended to wipe off in disgust, and a much gentler kiss to the crown of your head before he and James headed back towards their bags.

“So sodding cute.” James whispered gleefully as they pulled out the tarp and sleeping bags from their rucksacks, stealing glances over at the two of you ever so often in a way he knew James thought to be discreet.

Sirius didn’t know whether James was talking about you, shy and bashful from the praise Remus was no doubt showering you with right now; Remus, and his lovesick gaze as you explained the steps of building your Dakota fire; or Sirius being brazen enough to plant a kiss to your head for the first time.

But Sirius found he didn’t need to know, because he certainly agreed.

It really was so sodding cute.

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ellecdc · 3 months ago

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pls tell me u will write a part 2 for not alone?🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

took me a while to get this to feel cohesive (also couldn't decide for the longest time what I wanted the outcome to be for a few people so that took a while to figure out) and I'm still not 100% sure it reads cohesively but I hope you all like it <3

poly!marauders x fem!reader who they are 'worried' about...whatever that means [2.2k words]

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

CW: hostage situation, attempted overtaking of camp, brief and hardly noticeable implied suggestion of SA, death of minor and unnamed character, blood, injury, Sirius being an arrogant son of a bitch even when his life is at risk

You have quickly come to realise why the boys chose this location to set up camp since agreeing to stay with them.

It was in a rural, secluded area with a small population prior to the End Of The World As You Knew It which left it almost next to empty now, but it was still in walking distance of a small town with various shops that they could pilfer when they began running low on supplies.

There was a creek about half a kilometre behind the barn that they could use to collect drinking water and also to bathe and wash their clothes.

And need to bathe and wash your clothes did you ever.

So, whilst “keeping an eye on the encampment” (which was really just a polite translation of none of the boys trusting you enough with their safety to bring you along on a run into town), you opted to head down to the creek to clean up.

The water was freezing, but you breathed through the pain in your toes and fingers as you waded into the water, reminding yourself that feeling pain meant you were alive - that you were still here.

You used to fear pain - before - but now you almost craved it; now you found comfort in the discomfort, knowing that it meant you had survived another day.

Soon enough your body acclimated to the cool, running water and you submerged yourself into the deepest part to let the steady flow wash away the layers of grime, dirt, and sweat that you were likely covered in.

There was a time in your life you probably would have felt rather horrified that three very attractive men had seen you in such a state - but it seemed that there was no room for vanity or ego in an apocalypse.

Once you were cold enough that you were sure you had squiggle lines surrounding your being like an old cartoon character, you used a rock to scrub at your clothes, feeling (though cold) quite peaceful as you listened to the trickling water and various birds singing around you.

You laid your soaked clothes on a boulder in the sun to dry and pulled on a second set of clothes - or rather, your only other set of clothes. You wondered for a moment if you should have more - how many sets of clothes should one have in an apocalypse? You couldn’t bear the thought of having to carry around a third change of clothes, so came to the conclusion that you were fine with just the two.

You were interrupted in your musings when you heard your name being shouted.

“James?” You called back, hastily finishing tying your shoes before grabbing your gun.

But it was Sirius you saw first, sprinting through the bushes and staring at you with a mixture of dread and outrage.

“Is everything okay?” You asked him as he stalked towards you.

“Where the fuck were you?!” He barked instead of answering, looking like he was just itching to grab you roughly by your shoulders.

“I- what? I was here? What happened? Is everything okay?” You continued, not moving your eyes from the fuming man in front of you as you heard James and Remus step through the bushes Sirius had just come bursting through.

“No, everything is not okay; the fuck were you thinking just taking off and not saying anything!?” He berated you.

“Pads.” Remus warned carefully; slightly breathless from chasing the long-haired man over to you.

“You’re a fucking piece of work.” Sirius spat with finality before turning and shouldering his way past Remus and James, disappearing through the bushes on his way towards the barn.

“Was the trip not successful?” You asked quietly once you could no longer hear Sirius storming away.

“No… it was.” James offered cautiously.

“He was just… worried about you, dove.” Remus placated.

You shot him an unimpressed glare. ��He was worried about me, not about me.” You muttered back, shoving your gun back into your bag and running your fingers through your wet hair that was leaving damp patches on your shirt. “If you guys don’t want me here, just say so, but if you’re going to keep me around you’re going to have to start trusting me.”

“We do trust you.” James argued, causing you to scoff derisively as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Not enough to join anyone on excursions! And not enough to take a night-watch shift alone; but sure, add taking a fucking bath to the list of things you definitely trust me to do.”

You didn’t wait for a response before you were stalking back to the barn, leaving your clothes behind to dry for the rest of the afternoon.

You were just about to push through the slightly open door (none too gently, either, mind you) when you heard Sirius’ voice.

“There’s no one else; I’m alone.”

Ice cold dread seeped into your bones as you held your breath in wait for a response.

“Are ya now?” A cocky voice taunted. “This seems like quite the setup for one bloke.”

You crept along the edge of the barn until you found a hole you could peek through.

Sirius was kneeling with his hands up in surrender whilst three men stood before him - one man loomed over him and the other two formed a blockade between him and the barn door as well as the stairs to the loft.

“What can I say?” Sirius countered. “I’m quite the bloke.”

The man currently interrogating Sirius was apparently not interested in his haughty quips and slammed the butt of his rifle into Sirius’ jaw, causing him to fall over.

You quickly looked over your shoulder, ears straining to see if you could hear Remus or James following you back, and you prayed to a God that you weren’t even sure you believed in anymore that they had decided to stay at the creek to give the two of you a chance to cool down.

You crept back along the side of the building slowly before pulling yourself up the ladder to the hay hood that Remus had put up as an emergency exit.

You could kiss that brilliant, brilliant man right on the mouth for it now.

You crouched low and snuck over to look beyond the edge of the loft; the man with the rifle was the only one with a firearm from what you could see, the other two men holding only a crowbar and machete.

You silently opened your rucksack, pulled your gun out and put a knife between your teeth as you edged closer to the beams so you were effectively standing directly atop of the man currently looming over top of Sirius.

“I’m not gonna ask you again, where the fuck are the others?” He spat at him.

“We heard the lot of you arguing - we could just finish you off and go looking for them, if that’s what you prefer.” One of the cronies added tauntingly.

“You’d be looking for an awful long time.” Sirius grunted as he spat blood out from his mouth. “Seeing as I’m alone.”

“Stop fucking lying.” The interrogator barked as he landed a kick to Sirius’ ribs. “Pretentious or not, one bloke doesn’t need four sleeping bags.”

“How do you know I, hmph, didn’t find it like this?” Sirius choked out as he rolled onto his back where he spotted you in the rafters.

You brought your finger to your lips, and Sirius let his head roll back towards the guy so as to not alert him to your presence.

You watched as one of the guys - the one with the machete - started poking around the makeshift kitchen area, and the other moved towards the door to keep watch.

Taking the split attention of the group to your advantage, you waited for Sirius to look back up at you before you jumped from the rafters.

Sirius rolled out of the way just before you landed on the interrogator, the two of you crashing to the ground - though you were the only one prepared for the impact - causing the rifle to slip out of his grasp which you kicked towards Sirius.

You slipped the knife from between your teeth and held it against the interrogators throat and pointed your gun at the machete wielding man, firing a shot which hit him in the right shoulder.

The man with the crowbar who had been stationed near the door made for you when Sirius shot the rifle, the bullet grazing the man's thigh and bringing him to his knees.

Your ears rang when an elbow met your temple right before a fist connected with your mouth as the interrogator forced you off of him.

“Is this why you were lying?” The man spat as he stood above you. “Trying to keep this thing all to yourse-”

Sirius shot the rifle again, silencing the interrogator for good as he fell to the ground with a thud.

Apparently, the machete wielding man didn’t deign to wait around and see how things played out after you’d shot him in the shoulder and had fucked back off from whence he came, so you and Sirius pointed your firearms at the last man still standing (or… you know, breathing at least) who seemed to have the sense to raise his hands in surrender.

Remus and James appeared at the barn door, then - both winded from clearly having run at the sound of shots being fired - to find the two of you holding the remaining captor captive.

“Nice of you to come by, boys.” Sirius joked as he lowered the rifle with a pained groan now that Remus and James each had a weapon pointed at the attempted usurper.

“What the fuck just happened?” Remus barked as he took in the body on the ground and the state of each of you at the same time James murmured “we thought you were firing at each other”.

“Oh, take a wild guess.” Sirius muttered bitterly, hissing in pain as he lowered himself into a chair.

“How many were you?” Remus barked at the man, sounding so unlike himself that it actually made you flinch.

“Fo-four, four of us and a 12 year-old. Us…three and then a woman and the child stayed back.” He responded quickly.

“From around here?” James continued.

“No…passing through.”

Remus looked up from him to share a look with Sirius; a well practiced silent conversation passing between the two of them.

“Keep fucking moving then.” Remus gruffed as he grabbed the bloke by the collar of his shirt and threw him out the door.

Your - for all intents and purposes - home fell eerily silent then, save the sound of your attempted assailant’s leg dragging along the gravel road as he stumbled away from the barn.

“You alright?” Remus asked finally as he let out a breath.

“Fine, moons. Never better.” Sirius muttered.

You were too busy watching the blood pooling around the interrogators body to realise your companions were waiting for your response.

You looked up at the lingering silence to see all of their eyes on you.

“M’fine.” You offered.

James hummed in acknowledgement, though you could sense disbelief in his tone. “Rem and I will get rid of him, okay? Please try not to get into any more altercations whilst we’re gone?” He tried to joke, but there was a lingering anxiety in his voice as he and Remus began wrapping the body up in a blue tarp.

“Do not go to sleep until we’re back; either of you.” Remus added before muttering something under his breath about concussions and how someone not concussed ought to be on watch in case they come back, except “they” was replaced with “those” and then some Welsh word that you were sure was simply very unflattering.

Once they had left, you and Sirius sat in silence as you both grappled with what had just happened, and alternatively, what had just almost happened.

You weren’t sure what you might have looked like - though the metallic taste of your teeth let you know that you at the very least had a busted lip - but Sirius’ jaw where the rifle had hit him was already turning a purple colour, his chin was scraped and bleeding from hitting the concrete flooring, and he had a protective hand placed over the ribs that were kicked.

You wordlessly placed a bowl of water in front of Sirius before moving to your seat with your own bowl to clean the blood from your persons.

You could feel his eyes trained on you as you wiped away blood that was staining your face; likely equal parts your own and someone else's.

“Don’t go down to the river alone… please.” You heard him say quietly suddenly, feeling your eyes roll to the back of your head as you let your two arms fall from their tasks.

“Are you still on this? Haven’t I proven my trustworthiness yet? Honestly, I-”

“It’s not safe.” Sirius interrupted; a strange look crossing his face as his brows furrowed at you. “It’s not safe.” He repeated, quieter this time.

He stood abruptly then; abandoning his bowl of water and grabbing a pack of cigarettes before disappearing around the side of the barn for a smoke.

Oh.

So apparently he had been worried about you, not about you.

And though you really wanted to feel embarrassed that they had picked anything like that out for you, you also couldn’t help but notice that a new jumper, trousers, and some knickers had been folded and placed on your sleeping bag for you.

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