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drarrily-we-row-along · 3 years

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Veritaserum Prompt Fic (Part 6)

Notes: Hi lovelies- sorry it's been a minute since I've been able to work on this fic! If you are just starting this ficlet I recommend starting at Part 1 and reading through or just popping over to read it on AO3 (I'll try to post it over there as soon as it's up here as well).

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"If you could do anything," Harry murmured one night while they were lying in bed after one of Draco's nightmares (although, truth be told, Harry hadn't been having a much better time trying to sleep), "What would you want to do?"

"You mean like as a career?" Draco asked.

Harry turned his head to look at him, watching Draco stare up at the ceiling, "Sure. Let's start there."

Draco hummed, "I always really liked potions, you know?" he said, turning his head so they were looking at each other. "I'd probably want to do my potions mastery and own a little apothecary or something." He shook his head and looked back up at the ceiling, "Not that anyone would want me to ma-"

He huffed, "I said if you could do anything. That means reality has no place in this conversation." He watched as the corner of Draco's mouth tipped up, "Besides," he continued, "Those people are arseholes anyway. And they're wrong about you."

The other man cleared his throat, "What about you?"

"Oh, I want to be a hermit," Harry replied easily. "I never want to see a single person that recognizes me again. Except maybe the Weasleys and a few other friends."

"Cheater," Draco murmured.

(Read more below the cut)

"Hmm?"

"You're cheating," Draco said, rolling onto his side so he could look at Harry. "You told me that reality has no place in this conversation but you're making your entire decision in light of the fact that you're the savior of the wizarding world. If you were just," he shrugged one shoulder, "just Harry, what would you want to do?"

He hummed, "I suppose you're right. I don't know, I like building things," he said. "Maybe I'd want to do that for a living."

Draco gave him a little smile, "That sounds nice," he said with a yawn.

"Maybe I'd build your apothecary."

"Oh?" he asked, eyes sliding shut. "What would you build me?"

So Harry started talking, telling him about the cozy shop he'd build with lots of windows and shelves, with a little counter with an old fashioned register, the cat he'd find him to sit on the counter and silently judge people's purchases. He described the work space he'd build behind, more sturdy shelves made out of dark, strong wood; a cupboard for the ingredients that couldn't be in the light; a skylight to help to keep the room from being too dark. Harry told him how he'd build him a glass greenhouse where he could grow his own potion ingredients all year round.

By the time he ran out of words, Draco was sleeping again; eyes closed, mouth open just a little, the corner tipped up like he was smiling.

But Harry was wide awake, day dreaming.

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Harry was out of bed before the sun was up the next morning; plotting and planning, making lists in his head of all of the things he needed to buy as he drove the jeep into town.

It took an hour and a half to buy everything and Harry stopped at the bakery to pick up fresh croissants before driving back home. Before he started, he brewed coffee and left a cup of coffee under a stasis charm beside a fresh croissant for Draco when he got up.

Then he headed out and got to work.

Draco was a late sleeper. Not that Harry blamed him with the nights he had (or in general, it made a weird little part of him happy when Draco slept in) but he'd noticed in the past two weeks that Draco usually slept until around 10:00 am. This meant that Harry had a solid three and a half hours of work in before Draco wandered out with the cup of coffee cradled in his long pale fingers.

The entire frame was almost finished for the greenhouse he was building.

"Harry what-?" Draco started.

"Hey!" Harry said, grinning over at him and grabbing his shirt so he could wipe the sweat off his face. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine," he answered distractedly, "What are you doing?"

"I'm building you a greenhouse," he told him, "Here, come take the tour."

Draco followed behind him and Harry stepped through what would be the door. "Right, so what we walked through will be the door," he said. "Then once I get all of the glass installed I have the supplies to build raised beds all throughout."

He moved into the first room, "The greenhouse is split into four rooms," he continued. "That way we can do climate control. I'll charm the glass to respond to your specifications; some rooms can be darker and cooler, others bright and hot, you know?"

"What?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "obviously the interior walls are glass, too, but fortunately I'd helped with rebuilding one of the green houses at Hogwarts, so I know a spell that will let light come through the glass one way but not the other."

He continued on into the back room, "And then I thought this might work for a studio where you could make potions," he said. "I can build you a fantastic table," he added. "I'll line the walls with shelves for storage, I think there will be plenty of storage space."

"Harry," Draco said, sounding a bit dazed.

He looked over at Draco who was standing helplessly in the middle of the room, cup of coffee still clenched between his hands.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

His brow furrowed as he stepped closer, "What do you mean?"

"The greenhouse?"

"Oh," he said, "Well, I dug up a garden outside this morning, too. You're right, some things will probably grow great here naturally," he conceded. "I thought maybe I'd try my hand at growing some regular vegetables, too, if there's enough room."

Draco shook his head, "No, I mean why are you doing any of this?"

"I thought you'd be happy," he said, starting to feel unsure. "We can ask Ron and Hermione to pick up cauldrons, vials, whatever you need and send them to us."

He stared at him for a long moment, "Why would you do all of this?"

He tilted his head at the other man, "Because you said if you could do anything you'd want to make potions."

"And so you just built it?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, yes," Harry said with a shrug.

"You're insane!" Draco finally blurted. "You're an absolute nutter, Harry Potter."

"What?" he asked. "Why?"

"Because the world doesn't work like this!" he said. "I'm a death eater, Harry! I don't get to have gardens, and greenhouses, and people who care about me." He covered his mouth with a trembling hand.

His heart felt like it had been crushed. After a moment, he stepped forward, "You aren't what they want you to believe you are."

"Who are 'they'?" he asked.

The corner of his mouth tipped up, "Everyone." He shrugged, "Your parents,your teachers, your friends, the people at the ministry, me. You are so many things and a death eater may have been one of them when you had to be, but you aren't now."

"How do you know?"

"I can't explain it," he said, and it's true he couldn't. He thought about it for a minute, "I don't, I guess. But even if you were, I like to think that if you were given the opportunity for something different you'd take it."

Draco was quiet for a moment, searching Harry's face, "I would have," he said softly. "When Dumbledore asked," he continued, "If he could have kept me safe, kept my mother safe."

"I know," Harry replied because he did. "I was there. And I was there at Malfoy manor when you refused to identify me, when you gave me your wand. Which," he continued, "I'm guessing you knew was the master of the Elder Wand."

Draco looked down at his coffee cup, his thumb brushing nervously back and forth along the lip and Harry had a startling realization. Here, in this moment when neither of them knew what the future could hold, with Draco standing outside in pajamas with his hair still a mess from sleeping and Harry in a pair of filthy jeans and little else, when hardly anything made sense, there was one thing that did:

He was falling in love with Draco Malfoy.

Before he could start to panic, Harry pushed the thought to the back of his mind, he could think about it later. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" he said softly. "About saving my life? About your wand?"

Draco's head snapped up at that, "I tried," he rasped. "They didn't believe me."

"You aren't what they believe you are," Harry repeated. "You're good," he murmured, "And you have a gentle soul. You've seen too much of war and hurt; let me give you this."

"I shouldn't," Draco whispered.

"You should," Harry replied. "Please."

Draco's eyes searched his for a long moment, "Alright," he finally said. "But only if you let me help with something."

Harry smiled, "Done." Somehow he knew that he'd never say no to spending more time with Draco Malfoy.

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Veritaserum Prompt Part 1 Veritaserum Prompt Part 2 Veritaserum Prompt Part 3 Veritaserum Prompt Part 4 Veritaserum Prompt Part 5

#Veritaserum prompt fic #100 drarry drabbles in 100 days #sort of #sorry this has taken awhile to get posted #drarry #developing relationship #soft #falling in love #enjoy the sunshine while it lasts #drarry fanfic

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mandoalorian · 3 years

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Sugar and Spice [Maxwell Lord x Reader] - Chapter 9

Summary: When you are evicted from your apartment by your toxic ex boyfriend and have no place to go, who do you turn to? Alone in the city as the countdown to Christmas begins, you find yourself applying for a job as the assistant of the world’s biggest entrepreneur; Maxwell Lord. Little do you know, he has other intentions for you. No doubt about it, this Christmas will truly be like no other.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Smut, mentions of a previous verbally abusive relationship, typical 80s misogyny (but very little of it), mentions of food and drink, alcohol consumption. This is a sugardaddy x sugarbaby fic soooo… a daddy k!nk too oops.

But in this chapter - verbal abuse, reader is held hostage by her ex boyfriend.

Author’s note: We're approaching the end… I hope you enjoy this chapter. I just want to clarify that, although I have seen WW84 (and it was great!), I'll be finishing this series as if I haven't seen it. Sugar and Spice will not have spoilers for WW84.

MASTERLIST

PREVIOUS - CHAPTER NINE - NEXT

Maxwell must've been banging on your front door for minutes, yelling your name, desperate to get an answer. He just had to see you. He began to feel sick with worry when you weren't answering. What if you wanted nothing to do with him anymore? What if he had frightened you away like he has done to everyone else in his life? The guilt and the nausea overwhelmed him. He kept banging on the door until his knuckles were red raw and your neighbours came to look at what was going on. Unlocking their door, a mother and her two younger children padded out into the hallway, looking perplexed. The woman's face softened when she realised who it was.

"You're- you're the oil guy from television!" the mother stated with a gasp of shock. Her two children clasped their hands over their mouths when they realised. Maxwell stiffened up and ran a finger through his hair, straightening his posture and taking a deep breath.

"The oil guy! I'll take it!" Maxwell forced an enthusiastic grin trying to keep up with his charming persona. He couldn't let his anxiety ruin his reputation, that's for sure. "Could you- could you help me with something?" Maxwell raised an eyebrow.

"Oh Mr Lord, I would be honoured." The mother sighed dreamily and Maxwell smirked.

"The lady who lives here… you wouldn't happen to know where she is? I have to see her and it seems as though she's not answering the door. I- I have to get into her apartment." Maxwell explained, hoping the mother wouldn't require any more information than what he had already provided.

"Hm, I can't think of where she might be this early in the morning. I know she lost her job at the coffee shop. She must be in bed still… heavy sleeper?" The mother thought out loud, but Maxwell knew you weren't a heavy sleeper and you would have heard him by now. His heart rate began to pick up speed and his knees felt weak and wobbly with nerves. What if something had happened to you? "If you need to get into her apartment, I'd recommend going to see Tristan. He's our landlord. He has a spare key for every place in the building."

Maxwell's eyes lit up. "Right! Oh wonderful!" he gleamed. "Where can I find Tristan?"

"His apartment is the only one on the first floor. Back down all those flights of stairs I'm afraid! Oh but… he doesn't like to be woken up early… I'd maybe come back in a few hours." The mother recommended, but Maxwell was already long gone. He ran down the stairs, his hand sliding down the bannister as his feet carried his body faster than he anticipated.

When he reached the ground floor, he was heaving and panting. Maxwell loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top of his shirt before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

Nothing. Silence. Maxwell knocked again and he could've swore he heard shuffling around. "Hello? Is anyone home?" Maxwell asked, his fist banging on the door again.

Your ears perked up from the other side of the door as you sleepily rubbed your eyes. It couldn't be… could it? You must've been dreaming. But you recognised that soft, velveteen voice anywhere.

"Max?" you groggily croaked out. Maxwell's heart sank. He called your name and knocked on the door louder this time. You gasped and shuffled towards the front door, leaning against it and trying desperately to work the lock. It was no use though. Tristan had the key. "Max? Please tell me that's you." you whimpered as tears pricked your eyes. Had your wishes been granted? Was it really him?

"Wh- darling? What are you doing here?" Maxwell asked, his voice croaking slightly. Why were you at your landlords apartment? The reality that you had left Maxwell's side when he was most vulnerable to go stay at Tristan's was finally hitting him and it did not feel good.

"Max please be quiet," you whispered, and now the tears were free falling. "Tristan has me trapped in here. The door is locked I- I can't get out. I need help. I'm scared Max." you sobbed as gently as you could, not wanting to wake up your ex boyfriend.

Panic began to fill Maxwell, knowing that you weren't safe. He looked up and down at the sturdy door and cursed himself, knowing he wouldn't be able to break it down alone. He needed reinforcements. "I've got you," Maxwell promised. "Hold on baby, I'll get you out of here."

You were a sobbing mess when you heard Maxwell run away, his footsteps growing quieter and quieter. For a split second, knowing he was on the other side of the door, you felt safe and protected. For the first time you felt cared for. You held your head in your hands and cried, back pressed against the door in hope that Max would come back. "I love you Maxwell Lord." you weeped, knowing he was already gone.

Maxwell practically dived back into the limo. "Everything alright?" Jeeves asked with a raised eyebrow.

Maxwell didn't answer, instead pulling out the carphone and dialling 911. "Hello, I'd like to report a kidnapping."

Your crying became louder as you wondered how exactly this all went wrong. You didn't want to lose Maxwell. You wished you had stayed with him and told him that you loved him back. If he even did love you… his revelation came from him when he was drunk. You didn't know what would be next in your arrangement with Maxwell.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Tristan asked, padding out his bedroom in a pair of shorts and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Do you know how early it is?"

"I'm sorry." you garbled, wiping your tears away feeling embarrassed. You always hated him seeing you like this. Vulnerable. Weak.

He focused his vision on your curled up body leaning against the door and laughed. You scowled as he bellowed and pointed his finger at you. "Why are you waiting by the door? You want to leave?" He laughed. "You're not leaving."

"I'm not yours to keep here." you spat, shakily rising to your feet. Tristan picked up a magazine from the mantle piece and thrusted it into your chest. A red top tabloid with your name written all over. The headline was insulting and you felt your heart sink. Your jaw dropped slightly and your head began to feel hazy. In just the span of two weeks you had made a public name for yourself, and it wasn't exactly a good one. You didn't understand. You had done nothing wrong.

Tristan snatched the magazine out of your hands and turned to the glossy double page spread with your face all over it. "Rumour has it, you're his… what's the technical term? He uses you for sex?" Tristan, as usual, was being incredibly condescending.

"He doesn't use me." you shot back but your voice was no higher than a mere whisper. "Our arrangement isn't like that at all."

Tristan's eyes widened. "So it's an arrangement?" he smirked, his hand raising to cup your cheek. His thumb grazed over your skin as he looked into your glazed eyes. You looked down at the floor, embarrassed and annoyed with yourself. You had said too much. Tristan pressed his finger into your chin and forced you to look into his eyes. "Out of all people, I figured Maxwell Lord would know not to mix business with pleasure." Tristan chuckled.

You couldn't bring yourself to reply. You didn't know what to say. Your mind raced back to the first night you spent together, when you signed his contract and he called you nothing but an asset to his business. It angered you so much, and despite you both moving past it, Tristan's words brought up that same familiar hurt once more.

The hurt bubbled within you and you felt your tears prick your eyes. Had you really been so foolish to let yourself fall for a man like Maxwell Lord? Was Tristan right? He couldn't be…

"Are you- are you crying?" Tristan chuckled, taking a step towards you and kneeling down, breaking any distance. "Oh sweet girl, don't cry," he cooed and you felt your stomach twist into a knot. "Men like him… they aren't worth it." he shrugged non chalently. You were about to reply when you felt a loud thud on the door you were leaning against, followed by another bang. You gasped, scrambling to your feet and hurrying as far away from the door as you could get to. "What the fuck is going on?" Tristan snapped, glaring at you. His eyes flicked between you and the door which was already fraying at the edges, wood splintering out in places.

You were speechless, your lips parted in a perfect o shape as you watched the door get smashes open by the police. You stood there, a shaking bundle of nerves as they stormed the apartment, immediately grabbing Tristan and handcuffing him. "What the fuck?!" Tristan bellowed.

You watched them drag Tristan out of his own apartment, not saying a single word to you. Just a few moments later, Maxwell showed up. He cautiously padded into Tristan's apartment, but when his eyes met yours, he practically bolted towards you.

You fell into his arms, tears falling and dampening his suit as he held you tight and smoothed out your hair, quietly shushing you. "I've got you." he whispered and you felt your whole body loosen up as you cried into him. You felt safe again.

"Max," you gasped, choking out a sob. He gently pulled you away from him, and wiped the tears away from your eyes, his hands cupping your cheeks. "Thank you." were the only words you were able to muffle out.

"He will never hurt you ever again." Maxwell promised. "I'll make sure of it."

You didn't know how, but you trusted him. You believed him. You loved him. "Please, can we go home?" You asked him with a hopeful smile.

"I'll walk you back to your apartment." Maxwell offered, sliding his hand in yours.

"N-no," you shook your head. "This building holds too many bad memories. I mean…" you felt yourself trail off, wondering if you were being too forward.

"Oh," Maxwell gulped. "Remember what I told you when we first made our arrangement?"

You spent a moment thinking. He had said a lot of things… Maxwell chuckled when he saw your mind wander off, trying to remember. "You will want for nothing. What is mine, is yours. C'mon, Jeeves is outside. Let's go home." he smiled and you felt yourself begin to bubble up again, wondering how on earth you had gotten so lucky in such a short space of time. You had found your hero.

Now, it was just a week before Christmas day and you had no idea what was to come.

December Magic: @100layersofdaddyissues @mrschiltoncat @honeymandos @thisisthe-wayson @this-cat-is-dea @blonde2bomshell @maiyaaaa0130 @autumnleaves1991-blog @justanotherblonde23 @softly-sad @laaadygisbooornex3 @kaelyn-lobrutto24

Permanent: @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @luvzoria @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic @nerdypinupcrystal @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first @pedroepascal @castiel-barnes @honeymandos @rocketqueen @ladycumberbatchofcamelot @dybalalover10 @girl-obsessed-with-things @elena-myth

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader #maxwell lord #max lord #maxwell lord x reader #max lord x reader #pedro pascal smut #ww84

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delos-mio · 3 years

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Out of the Woods - College!AU - PART 2

A/N: Part 2! I hope you enjoy this chapter. No major warnings apply! Thoughts, feelings, predictions always welcome <3

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After dropping you off that evening, Nikolai found his mind to be running a mile a minute. It was 1am, relatively early by college standards, but he had no desire to go back to the party and no desire to go home. Instead, he walked around campus until his feet throbbed. He thought about your smile and your laugh, the way you bit your lip and the way you toyed with the ends of your hair. He thought about how you could very well be in the arms of another man right now.

He could have lived without that mental image.

It seemed wild to him that you could make so many feelings flood back to him in such a short amount of time. It hit him like a ton of bricks the moment you locked eyes, and it was instantly like the last 5 years of silence never even happened. God, he wished they never happened. How could he have been so cruel? Who just up and left the person they were very clearly falling in love without a trace? Nikolai, that’s who. And under the penetrating glow of the moon, for the next six or so hours, Nikolai hated himself for it.

Nikolai quietly tried to sneak back into the apartment he shared with Aleks around 7am. Generally, he was a pretty heavy sleeper, so he figured it’d be no problem. As the front door clicked shut behind him, another door clicked open inside the apartment. Alina, clad in only one of Aleks’s shirts, exited his room and immediately jumped upon seeing Nikolai. He quickly averted his eyes and turned his attention to the ceiling, trying to look anywhere but at the half-naked girl before him.

“So, I take it he wasn’t too upset I left the party early?” he asked before she blushed and quickly padded down the hall to the bathroom.

Nikolai pushed his hair back from his face and shook his head. Of course Aleks had company. He made his way to his room and let the back of his knees hit the mattress, flopping onto his back. His eyes fluttered shut as he mulled over the events of the evening. He knew he needed to turn his brain off and actually try to get some sleep, but that was still proving to be rather difficult. As he was getting lost in his own thoughts, he was interrupted by his door being flung open and Aleks leaning in his door frame.

“Do you mind? I’m really tired,” Nikolai grumbled, still not opening his eyes.

“You dog! You got home later than me,” he said with a smile evident in his voice.

“It’s not like that. You’ll notice I didn’t bring anyone home with me, now did I?” Nikolai was starting to get irritated by his roommate’s presence and hoped he’d leave him in peace and quiet sooner rather than later.

“Maybe not. But you could have. Seemed like you and Genya’s new roommate had something going on,” he pried.

“Can you fuck off? Respectfully?”

“Alright, alright. I’ll let you sleep. But you’re gonna tell me about her when you wake up.” With that, Nikolai heard his door shut again, leaving him in the stillness of his room. He fell asleep half hanging off the bed where he landed with the girl who got away on his mind.

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When you woke up the next morning, Nikolai was still fresh on your mind. The way he smiled, the way he smelled…everything about him haunted your dreams. It didn’t even take a full minute before the guilt settled in. Jesus Christ, what were you thinking? Did Matt cease to exist because your first love cropped up out of nowhere? You just started flirting with Nikolai again like it was as easy as breathing. But you couldn’t help yourself—Nikolai had worked his way into your head instantly just like he had when you were 17. Like the first time you saw him take off his helmet, shake out his perfect, golden hair, and skate to the bench. It had been a wrap since that moment. You groaned into your pillow, feeling a little nauseous and a lot guilty. After freshening up and pulling a sweatshirt on, you wandered out into the living room of your apartment with Genya where she was eagerly chatting with Zoya over a cup of coffee.

“Fancy seeing you here, ditcher,” Genya teased as you grabbed a mug for yourself.

“I didn’t ditch,” you said. “Nik told you guys we were leaving.”

“Where’d you end up anyways?” Genya asked with a tiny smirk. This line of questioning amused Zoya and she gladly joined in on the antagonizing.

“I can only assume, knowing him, that you ended up somewhere more...private,” Zoya interjected.

“It wasn’t like that. I um, we ended up just going to get some food. Catch up or whatever,” you said while you shot daggers at Genya. You paused to take a sip of the too-hot drink before continuing. “Where have you been hiding Nikolai anyways?”

“He ain’t hiding- have you met the dude? I met him during Freshman orientation. Zoya and I lived in the dorm room next to him and Aleks,” she said as a matter of fact. “We’ve been hanging out ever since. Real good guy.”

“I know,” you sighed, pushing around a pen that was left on the coffee table.

“You like him! Oh man, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about him being totally your type. You and your pretty boys. Mhmm, I bet he liked you too,” Genya teased and smiled again.

“No, he’s just an old friend,” you lied. “I have a boyfriend.”

“Could have fooled me,” Zoya mumbled, but you caught it. The comment did nothing to ease the growing knot in your stomach.

“Seriously. He’s my friend. I kinda got carried away with the flirting last night, but I was so excited to see him, you know?” You looked at them both, silently pleading with them to let it drop. “We’re just friends. Nothing else.”

“That may be true now, but the dude has it bad for you. I saw the way he looked at you, dude,” Genya said softly, finally sympathetic to your anguish. “Can I ask how you know each other? Besides ‘high school or something’?”

“We didn’t even go to school together.” You leaned back into the cushions, letting your focus drift away from the girls across from you. “My parents own an ice rink in my hometown and I’d work the concession stand when I got out of school- do my homework and pour hot chocolate or whatever. Nik played hockey with his high school team there.” You smiled to yourself. “I saw him come off the ice one day and thought he was the most handsome boy I’d ever seen. And one night, he walked right up to me after practice and started talking to me like we’d known each other forever. I didn’t have a ton of friends in school and hadn’t really been noticed by boys like...ever. So to have this super hot dude flirting with me was wild.”

“Oh my god, was Nik your first crush?” Genya squealed.

“I’d had a couple guys that caught my eye before him, but he was the first guy I really liked. First guy I kissed. First guy I…” you trailed off, letting the pause speak for itself.

“No wonder he was so happy to see you,” Zoya said.

“He kinda ghosted me when he left for college and I hadn’t talked to him since the last night we were together. I was too scared to try and find him on Facebook or anything. I didn’t want to see him with other girls hanging all over him and hurt my own feelings, you know?” Genya and Zoya exchanged a sympathetic look. “Anyways, that’s about it. Pretty boring stuff.”

“Babe…”

“I gotta start getting ready for work,” you said, abruptly standing and putting your mug in the sink. “I’ll see you guys later.” With that, you shuffled out of the room, hoping neither of them caught the hitch in your voice. So, maybe you weren’t as over that ghosting as you thought you were.

----

The weekend passed with a lot of idle time thinking about when you could possibly see Nikolai again. You were really regretting not scrawling your number somewhere for him. It was torture not knowing how to find him again outside of groveling to Genya, or hoping dumb luck would make you run into him.

You made it to Monday morning and somehow managed to make it to your 8:30 am class on time; a rare feat for you. Thankfully, the class was all engaged in a lively discussion of what constituted a modern classic novel, so it was easy to stay alert and engaged. Before you knew it, your professor was dismissing you and reminding you all about the paper that was due on Thursday. You shuffled down the stairs of the academic building and paused once you got to the quad. Normally, you’d head home for a few hours before your afternoon class, but you had a little time to spare today before your study group. But you also had Nikolai’s face burned in your mind. Would it be totally weird to try to find him?

The building that housed Science and History was only a quarter mile from your classroom, so you made quick work of the walk and tried to hype yourself up, telling yourself that it was normal to want to see him this bad- you’d missed out on a few years there! Of course you wanted to see your friend. When you got inside, you realized you had no idea where you were going. You had yet to take any sort of History class while at school and had absolutely no idea if he was even in class at this time. God, this was seeming like a dumber and dumber idea the more you walked around. After wandering aimlessly for a minute, you saw a familiar head of effortlessly messy golden hair slink out of a classroom.

Immediately, your eye was drawn to him. You were thankful he didn’t notice your presence because you were definitely staring. All weekend, you were sure you had a picture-perfect vision of him in your head, but you were abruptly reminded that he was much more handsome than you could dream up. He had traded in his button down shirt from the other night for a cozy looking grey sweater. You allowed yourself one more moment to admire him from afar before you approached. But Nikolai had turned to face you straight on, face lighting up the moment he saw you.

“I was wondering when you’d come around.” You could hear the smile in his voice.

“So, you don’t think I’m crazy for wandering around a building I’ve literally never set foot in, hoping by cosmic timing you’d be here?” you smirked.

“I promise you, I don’t think you’re crazy. I mean, I was considering doing something quite similar myself,” You couldn’t stop the heat that started to rise in your cheeks.

“So, where are you headed now?” you asked, rocking on your heels.

“Well,” he pondered, “I was going to meet Aleks at The Moose if you’re walking that way.”

“I’m not, but I have a couple minutes before I have to be at my study group if you want to sit outside,” you offered.

“Of course, darling,” he grinned, hazel eyes playful as you found a bench next to the bike rack. “How was your weekend?”

“Not bad,” you shrugged. “I had to work both days, but it was pretty slow, so no complaints. I only got grilled by Genya and Zoya a little. It could have been a lot worse,” you smiled.

“They do love any information they can get their little hands on,” Nikolai said, leaning back into the bench. “You...didn’t see Matt at all?” he probed, trying with all his might to look and sound nonchalant, but failing.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Can I not take an interest in you?” he asked with gentle eyes, but you just glowered.

“No. I didn’t see Matt this weekend. We haven’t even talked since Friday, honestly,” you said. Nikolai didn’t interject at all, just looked at you to go on, if you felt like sharing. “We haven’t really been getting along lately. He’s a nice guy and all, but I don’t know how much we have in common. And he never seems to have time for me unless it’s on his terms. Like, he expects me to be available whenever it works for him, but he’s always conveniently busy if I ask him to do anything with me.” You kicked at a rock near your toe, eyes fixed on the ground, totally unsure why you just told Nikolai all that.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said sincerely. “I’m saying this as your friend,” he started, making you look in his eyes again. “You deserve someone who understands what a gift it is to spend time with you.” It was so simple, but it made tears instantly spring in your eyes. “Hey. Hey, now. None of that,” he smiled, thumbing a tear away. “Would you maybe want to come over Friday? Get pizza and watch a movie or something?”

“That sounds really nice, Nik,” you nodded. It was then he broke into a blinding smile and you were unable to stop the swirling in your belly.

“Could I—would I be able to get your number? So I can send you my address or whatever,” he added quickly; you were really starting to love seeing him get flustered.

“I think that’s a good idea, yeah.” You reached for some scrap paper and pencil from your bag and scribbled down your number, placing it in the palm of his large hands before standing up. His fingers just barely brushed yours as he took the paper before stowing it away in the front pocket of his jeans. “You can always use that number before Friday too, if you want,” you said with a sly smile and patted Nikolai’s cheek gently. His laugh carried a bit as you walked opposite directions out of the quad, your feet feeling like they were being carried by tiny, pink fluffy clouds.

Fuck. Did you just set up a date with Nikolai? No. No, not a date. Just two friends eating pizza and watching movies. Friends did that all the time.

But as you walked to the cafe where your study group met, there was a crashing wave of guilt that washed over you. What the fuck were thinking? All you were doing was playing with fire, practically begging fate to burn you. You were mentally beating yourself up, feeling like a total shit bag as you pushed open the door to the small cafe, seeing your group already gathered and breaking off into pairs, Matt beaming at you when you came into view.

“Hi, baby,” he said, kissing your cheek as you sat down next to him.

“Hey,” you smiled back with tight lips, hardly able to look at him.

You started going through notes for an upcoming Logic and Reasoning exam, but you found yourself unable to process anything you were reading. Your mind was elsewhere and you only managed half-hearted affirmations and hardly contributed any correct answers. Here Matt was, sweet and excited to see you. He was good, he was nice. Maybe you just needed to make more of an effort with him. Should he really want to do the things you wanted to do, or were you being selfish? You weren’t sure.

“Something wrong?” he asked suddenly, snapping you from your thoughts.

“Just don’t feel good, that’s all,” you shrugged, looking back at your notebook and computer. He accepted that answer and didn’t probe any further.

“So, you should come over Friday. I don’t have anyone else to hang out with and thought we could hang out,” he said into your ear, hand gripping your thigh.

“Can’t,” you said with a shake of your head. “I already have plans.”

“Oh there’s a surprise,” he said, half under his breath. And that...that was it. You immediately slammed your pen onto the table and looked at him with hard eyes.

“Would you just say whatever you’re trying to fucking say?” you seethed.

“Just seems awfully convenient that every time we’re supposed to do anything, suddenly you have plans with I don’t even know who” he said, clearly annoyed. “All I’ve done is try to accommodate you and do what you want, but that doesn’t seem to be enough,” he added with a melodramatic sigh, which was more than enough to set you off.

“Oh, that’s a fucking joke, right?” you laughed. “Maybe you’d know more about my schedule if you ever bothered to talk to me more than once a week. And you literally just said I should come over because no one else can! Like, I’m your girlfriend- I shouldn’t be your last ditch option,” you scoffed. “You know what? I can’t be here right now. Call me when you’re ready to rejoin all of us in reality.” With that, you grabbed your bag and stormed out the door, letting your feet take you quickly in any direction that was simply away. No, you were right about what you said to Nikolai- Matt only saw you as convenient.

Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

#nikolai lantsov #nikolai lantsov x reader #nikolai lantsov x you #shadow and bone #grishaverse #nikolai lantsov imagine #nikolai lantsov au #nikolai lantsov fanfic #shadow and bone au #shadow and bone fanfiction #ootw #masterlist

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ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa · 4 years

Text

Addicted to You

Part III: Renegade

Summary/Author's Notes: Frankie (and the rest of the boys) goes and gets his girl back. I won't say anything else because I know y'all have been waiting.

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Pope's sister!Reader Word Count: 4.5k Warnings/Rating: R/18+ once again STRONG kidnapping elements, restraint, violence, death, murder, blood, language, PTSD, hurt/comfort

Gif by @hvitserkk

MASTERLIST

Part I Part II

Apparently this hell hole of a jungle insisted on being true to its word. Ever since they had left the bar it had been pouring down rain. Large torrents of water cascaded from the dark sky like the dump bucket at the local water park crashing down on a bunch of screaming kids. Unsurprisingly, Frankie had not slept at all. He tossed and turned on his cot in their hostel, spending the majority of the night staring at the ceiling, listening to Benny snore, and thinking about you.

A few times he gave up his restless dance and got up to crack the window and light a cigarette. Pope was already up as well, unable to rest for the same reasons Frankie couldn't, and he held out a smoke and a lighter to him in silence.

"Thanks," Frankie said, quietly and Pope nodded. The two of them didn't speak. What was there to say? He offered his presence and a cigarette as an apology and Frankie took it. That's just how they had always operated, with an unspoken language of knowing that even if they were pissed at each other, there was no one else they would rather have watching their six.

The watch on Pope's wrist beeped quietly and he pressed the button, nodding to Frankie that it was time to head out. Frankie returned the gesture, taking another long drag of his smoke as Pope started to wake the others. He stared up at the dark sky and wished there was some way to tell you that he was coming for you. Whatever was happening, whatever state you were in, just hold out a little longer.

The thickness of the canopy of leaves on Lorea's property helped with the rain. The large drops pat on the trees with soft thuds as the men took up their positions from yesterday and started in towards the mansion. Only this time, each of them was geared up, locked and loaded. Frankie was careful of his steps not because of noise this time, but because of the mud. The sheer amount of water that the forest floor had received overnight had flooded every tiny creek bed, and eroded enough earth that even the smallest hill was just an avalanche of silt. His shirt was already stuck to his body, protected only by his Kevlar and the pack slung over his back.

Pope turned his hat around backwards as he took up his sniping position on the hill and looked through his scope. Frankie moved quietly through the trees towards the gate and Will flanked him, each lowering their guns to start snipping the chain link fence with their bolt cutters. Benny mirrored Pope's sniper stance from the East side and kept a careful eye poised on the two men below working on the gate.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing they're so devout," Benny said flatly through the com piece. "My dad used to say when it's raining, that means god didn't need us in church today."

Will chuckled and shook his head, finishing up clipping the fence and putting the bolt cutters back in his backpack. "Yeah, he also said you go to heaven for the climate, and hell for the company."

"Actually I think Mark twain said that, shithead." His brother retorted as he adjusted his scope and checked on Frankie's progress with the fence.

"Alright, keep the radio clear. Stay awake and look alive." Tom's voice came through everyone's ears, his obviously irritated tone making Frankie roll his eyes. "How many is that, getting in, Fish? Count it."

Frankie looked up as he finished cutting and watched the family pile in the car adorned in their Sunday best and umbrellas. "Seven getting in the van," he answered Tom.

"Anybody see Lorea?" Pope asked.

"Negative. Never saw him come out." Will walked carefully back to his spot perpendicular to the road that led out of the fortress. He ducked behind a tree as the cars drove passed him down the gravel road. "Wife and two kids are with a single driver--the family has left the building. We're clear."

They all waited in silence as the family vans disappeared and another unmarked, black car rounded the corner in their place. Pope's informant had been true to her word and was here to deliver the day's round of Lorea's money like she didn't know that he was about to be robbed blind. The gates opened slowly and she drove right through. She had a beat up four door hitched to the van so she could drive away and leave them the extra van, just like Pope had asked.

"Damn Pope, your girlfriend is a keeper. She got us that second van." Benny said, looking through his scope and adjusting the settings. "Punctual, smart, and brave as shit--just how you like 'em."

Pope ignored his quip about the informant and asked, "Has anyone seen any sign of (Y/N)?"

"Negative." Frankie said flatly, squeezing the com button clipped to the inside of his shirt. His eyes diligently searched each window of the upper floor, desperate for even the smallest sign that you were inside and alive. But he saw nothing.

"Informant is in," Benny cut through the silence. "Making the handoff now."

"Here we go," Tom raised up off of his knees and started to move. "Ben, you're first hit. With this rain the guards are gonna be inside. Watch your angles--silence is key."

"Roger."

Will and Frankie started walking toward the back of the mansion, matching each other's strides as they let Pope take point in front of them through the tall grasses. Each man had their semi-automatic rifle level with their eyes, balanced against their chest as they strained their ears and vision to see anything in this fucking rain. Frankie ducked his head under the family's clothes line as they entered the backyard and waited for Pope to give them a hand signal.

To an outsider, this would have looked like any normal family's patio. A children's sized soccer goal and a few balls were off to the side, a grill and a white iron table and chairs sat waiting for summer time barbeques. And only a prick like Lorea would subject his family to his dealings out here in the middle of nowhere. Frankie hoped with everything he had that the man in question was inside, because he couldn't wait to get his hands on him.

"Steady." Pope said over the com and motioned that he was going in the side patio door, and that the other two should go in through the double doors.

"Alright," Will nodded, looking at Frankie and motioning him to take the lead. "We're going in."

The house was dark. Will checked the windows but it didn't offer much insight before they crossed the threshold. Most of the glass had been covered with newspaper, bleached from the sun and offering little to help with what he could only imagine was Lorea's paranoia. A lot of the furniture was covered in sheets and protective cloth like they had just moved in or were getting ready to move out--either way, it wasn't very homey.

Pope nodded as he crossed paths with the two of them from the side door, taking note of the guard watching soccer in the living room at such a volume that suggested he was absolutely hard of hearing. But that sure made sneaking passed him easier.

Will and Frankie headed to the kitchen. The fridge door was open and a faceless man was rifling through the contents. Frankie let Will take point, keeping his gun raised as the blond slung his over his shoulder and waited for the guard to shut the fridge. As soon as he did, he was on him with a swift punch to the face. Will twisted the man around and wrapped his bicep around his neck, putting him in a sleeper hold, squeezing tighter as the man struggled, ultimately falling unconscious and sliding to the floor.

Frankie white knuckled his gun as he saw that it was the smaller guard from the day before--the one who had called you merchandise. He hesitated, but shook it off as Will tossed him a zip tie and they secured the man's wrists and ankles before stowing him on the other side of the counter.

"Front gate secured," Benny said over the com from outside the house.

"One guard secured in the kitchen," Frankie answered as they crossed back into the foyer.

"Ben come to the house," Tom ordered from his place on the rooftop balcony

"Copy that."

Will followed Frankie into the next room as they looked across the foyer at Pope. The guard who had previously been watching his ridiculously loud television was nowhere to be seen. Benny's shadow appeared in front of the frosted glass of the French double doors and Pope held up a fist that he hoped he would be able to see.

"I'm at the front door."

"Hold Benny, hold," Pope responded, keeping his fist raised.

"Threat in the TV room is gone," Frankie said, keeping his voice calm and factual, letting Benny know the reason he was continuing to stand in the rain.

All three men looked up as the missing guard came down the staircase. Frankie's eyes narrowed as he realized who the guard in question was. He remembered the clear image of his disgusting hands over your mouth, hurting you, restraining you, and ultimately striking you--bitch. muzzle. cunt. His heart hammered in his chest and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears and he did the only thing he could think of. With an echo through the high ceiling entryway, he squeezed the trigger and fired, hitting the bald guard in the kneecap and sending him to the ground with a thud and a yell.

"What's going on in there??" Benny said over the com and Pope lowered his fist.

"All clear Benny. Eyes out for Lorea--"

"Well, he sure as fuck heard us now!" Will growled, dropping to his knee and pulling the zip ties and electrical tape from his pack. He spared a glare at Frankie as he got to work but Frankie felt no remorse. If he didn't need to find you, he would have shot the bastard a second time.

Will wrapped the black tape around the guys mouth to muffle his painful screams as Frankie pulled the zip tie tightly around his ankles--perhaps a little tighter than was necessary. The three of them looked up as Benny came in the front door and Pope pointed to the open utility closet at the left of the stairs.

"Set the charges for the security room. I want those cameras offline now! It's just Lorea and I do not want him to know our positions." Pope took a couple of stairs up and raised his rifle back to balance on his shoulder as he looked around the corner.

"What was the fuck was that? Who shot first?" Tom hissed through the com and they looked at Frankie.

"We had to shoot the third guard in the leg." Ben answered as he started pulling wires out of the cameras and lining the inside with a small amount of explosive, wetting his fingers with his tongue. "Taking him to the kitchen as we speak." He looked pointedly at Will and Frankie. It made Frankie realize that, unlike Tom, none of them would blame him for the shot, but they had to stay focused and keep moving.

They picked up the still grunting and thrashing guard and carried him into the other room and Benny turned his head and said with a grin, "Fire in the hole."

The camera system fuse sparked and popped like a line of firecrackers and all at once every camera in the compound went dark.

The rest of them let Frankie and Pope take the lead as they walked up the stairs. Both men shoulder to shoulder as they aimed down the sight of their guns and looked in each open door that led to a room, hoping that you would be there. With each empty room Frankie's heart beat harder. He found it more difficult to breathe every time he swept the area and you weren't there. Sweat dripped off his brow, both from the humidity in the house and the fear of the possibility that you were no longer in the house at all.

The two of them came to the last closed doors in the hallway and they looked at each other.

"You take right, I'll take left?" Pope offered and Frankie nodded wordlessly.

"I got your six," Will said behind them both as Tom and Benny moved to take the double doors that led to Lorea's office.

Frankie tried to calm his hands as he took one off of his gun to open the door. The room was dark and cluttered, a nice set of bay windows being the only light as rain pounded against the glass. Frankie swept the room slowly, using the barrel of his rifle as a guide for his eyes as they adjusted to the low light. He lowered his gun slowly as he laid eyes on you, for even in shadows he knew it had to be you.

"(Y/n).." he breathed out, dropping his rifle and backpack to the floor with a thud. Nothing in the house mattered anymore, not Lorea, not the Narcos money--even if Will wasn't watching his back, he would have dropped everything he was carrying to get to you faster.

You had heard footsteps and a gunshot long before Frankie hit the door. Not that any of the warning sounds mattered because you were basically a sitting duck, and you had been for almost twenty-four hours. Time was irrelevant though as the blindfold around your eyes made everything dark at all hours of the day. As the footsteps got closer you clenched your fists and pulled against the zip ties that held you against the straight back chair. A whimper fell around the gag that was biting into your cheeks and as a hand touched each of your arms, you let out a muffled scream.

The sound alone felt like someone was ripping Frankie's heart out with his own hunting knife. He released you like you had burned him and quickly went for your blindfold first so you could see it was him, not Lorea, not his thugs...him.

"(Y/n)! Baby, stop--it's me, it's me!" He raised his voice to be heard over your fear and you froze.

Blinking slowly, your eyes adjusted to the light as he came into focus in front of you. Frankie. Your Frankie. Frankie Morales was squatting in front of you, looking up at your face with a mixture of elation and worry.

His large but gentle hands reached up and, careful of your hair, slipped the cloth gag out of your mouth and let it drop to the floor.

"Cat?" You rasped weakly, the one word catching in your throat like a stone. Your mouth hurt and felt like it was full of paste, dry and clammy at the same time.

"Yeah," he laughed softly in relief as if hearing your voice made you more real. "Hold on, doll." He said, pulling his knife out of the sheath on his boot and cutting through the restraints on your ankles before moving up to each wrist. The plastic snapped easily under the blade and your body felt like it's entire existence gave a sigh as the blood flow resumed to those areas.

Before you could stop yourself, you crumbled off of the chair and against his chest, but he was expecting it. He knew you better than anyone and like always, it was as if he could read your thoughts. Your sobs came easier than you would have liked, but they were impossible to fight.

Frankie's arms wrapped around your body like they had a thousand times before. One hand went to your hair and he looked over his shoulder to Will, "Get Pope." His words were as quiet as he could keep them while still allowing the other man to hear him over your tears.

"Of course," Will nodded, leaving the room at a jog.

"Santi's here?" You managed to choke out and you felt him nod.

"You bet," he tightened his grip on you, clearing the emotion out of his own throat. "Who do you think called in the calvary?"

The fact that your brother had been the one to track you down was not surprising in the slightest. You had hoped against all odds that the moment you didn't show up to meet him in the city, he would have allowed his paranoia to go into full force. But you had no idea that it meant he would rally a rescue posse. It made sense--there was no way he would be able to take the mansion solo, but knowing that all of his guys, the guys that you considered part of the Garcia family, had dropped everything to help him find you made your chest tight. The tears started again and you gripped Frankie's Kevlar vest, too tired to fight them.

"Hey," he whispered, pulling you back against him. "I got you. You're safe now--we're gonna get out of here."

You nodded and looked back up at him. Two years. Two years and not a damn thing had changed about the man in front of you. He still wore a ball cap that you were certain you had seen before, his thick, dark hair curled out from under it and you knew if the hat came off it would be sticking out in every direction. Your fingers itched to touch it, to touch him, any part of him that wasn't the tactical gear that covered the outside of his body. The scruff at the sides of his jaw had just a touch of gray, now that was new, but then again neither of you were kids anymore. You couldn't stop yourself as you touched the edge of his beard with the tips of your fingers. He was here. He was real. And despite the distance and the time between your last encounter, he had come for you.

"Can I kiss you?" Frankie choked out in the empty room as if he held the thought in any longer he was going to burst. His chest ached, and his jaw hurt from clenching his entire body to keep his own tears at bay. He didn't need to add his own shit on top of your distress, and he shouldn't have asked for such an intimate act after just untying you from a fucking chair. But he heard Will's voice promising him that he would get to tell you everything he had ever meant to since you met.

"Yes, yes," you nodded, a few more tears slipping down your cheeks.

He cupped your face and looked at you like he had never seen you before. Your cheek was bruised from the day before, the purple edges starting to turn yellow but the majority not the center remained a painful looking black. Your lip was swollen, very obviously cut open and recently dried by something forceful and crass that should have never been allowed to touch you in the first place. The corners of your mouth were irritated and chapped from the gag and from screaming, another image that he didn't want either of you to have to remember after today.

He shouldn't kiss you, he shouldn't entertain such a self indulgent act when you were this badly hurt, but you didn't stop him. If he was a bigger man, he would have stopped himself, but the thought vanished as he met your eyes. Those soft, kind, eyes that he wanted to lose himself in were so tired, red with tears, and downright broken. If Lorea was still in this house...he would skin him alive.

His lips were a feather's touch against your own and you swallowed the whimper that threatened to leave your mouth because you knew such a noise would gut him. You wanted to hold him close and never let him go again. Suddenly all of the excuses you had ever had for settling down with Frankie Morales were bullshit. You allowed your arms to be pinned against his chest as he held you close and you closed your eyes. He smelled like rain and sweat but under that he smelled like how you remembered, like campfire and earth.

Not wanting to cause you any discomfort, he allowed himself one last quiet peck before nosing your cheek and exhaling softly.

"Take me home, Frankie," you breathed against his face, your voice shaking despite your efforts. "I just want to go home."

He nodded against you and you felt his grip tighten. "You got it. We're going home."

"(Y/n)?," Pope said as he broke the threshold of the room and laid eyes on you and Frankie. "Oh, gracias a Dios," he said, lowering his voice as he crossed the room and fell to his knees with a graceful thud. Frankie relinquished his hold on you so the other man could gather you up into his arms.

You hugged him back as tightly as you could, but nothing prepared you for the grip he engulfed you in and the grimace on your face made Will speak up. "Easy, man, she's seen better days," he called from his position in the doorway and it made you smile.

"Are you hurt? What did they do?" Pope said, sitting back on his heels and holding you at arm's length to see your injuries.

"I'm okay," you tried to sound reassuring. "Sore, but okay."

"Did you have any idea why they wanted your crew?" Will asked, and you shook your head.

"No, I don't. I've been in this room since I got here. I know they change who guards the door, but that's it." You put a hand on Frankie's leg to steady yourself and his hand found the small of your back. Even sitting on the floor, you felt weak, you were so tired.

For two days the only human contact you had was with a select few of Lorea's men. With a shift change, they gave you water, led you to the bathroom, and then redid the zip ties on your hands and feet. The blindfold stayed on through everything and they had strict orders to keep their hands to themselves and not rough you up too much. You weren't stupid--Journalists made good ransom chits, especially American, female ones.

"Is there any of your crew left?" Will asked and you shook your head.

"They killed them, oh god," your hands started to shake again and your breath caught as you remembered the men kneeling in the tennis courts of the mansion, landing in a puddle of blood and darker things with each bang of a gun. "They're dead--it's just me."

Santiago pulled you back against him and put his chin on top of your hair. "It's okay. Stop. Nothing you did would have stopped it. Your job was to survive, remember?"

You nodded, not really wanting one of your brother's trademark military pep-talks. You knew he was right, what else could you have done? But that thought didn't do anything to change the bile in your stomach that made you want to throw up.their coms crackled to life, thankfully drawing yourself out of your own thoughts.

"Fish? You got eyes on (y/n)?" Benny's voice came over the radio and you looked at Will who gave you a wink. Of course he had brought his little brother on the rescue mission.

Frankie reached up and clicked the button pinned to the collar of his shirt. "Yeah we got her. She's okay."

"Good," Tom's voice crackled back. "Now, everyone to the upstairs office. We got a problem."

"Shit," Pope cursed, getting up and letting go of your arms so Frankie could take over. "Take your time," he said to you as your knees wobbled and Frankie hooked his arm around your waist.

"I got her," the other man said, nodding his head in the direction of the door. "Go see what's wrong."

Pope hesitated, taking another glance at you before nodding his thanks to Frankie and Will. The blond moved to the side, but kept his post of guarding the door so Frankie could give you his full attention. He started unbuckling his bulletproof vest and you looked at him in confusion. He tossed his backpack next to his gun on the floor, clearly intent on getting to the vest itself.

"What are you doing?"

"You're gonna put this on," he said flatly, pulling the Kevlar over his head in one fluid motion.

"Frankie, you need that," you tried to protest but he shook his head.

"Arms up," he said firmly and you obeyed in silence. He was gentle as he pulled it over your head and tightened the first strap on your side. He clipped the buckle and moved to the next one, making sure the material hugged you tightly and was secure. As much as you wanted to argue, the look on his face made you bite your tongue. His sole mission was to get you would of that mansion alive by whatever means necessary.

His handsome face was much too serious and you couldn't help putting your hand on his cheek as he leaned down towards your chest to finish the last buckle around your back. The small smile you received was worth the action. He pulled a handgun from the back of his belt and held it in his palm.

"Safety," he said pointing to the small black dot under the magazine. He clicked it up and the dot showed the smallest flash of orange paint underneath. "On."

"I know how to handle a glock, Cat," you said quietly and he grinned.

"Just making sure," he raised his hands in playful defense as he let the full weight of the gun transfer to your own hand. "I know it's not the beretta."

You blushed and shook your head as you holstered the gun in the waistband of your jeans. You suddenly wished you had the beretta that was sitting useless in the nightstand beside your bed. Santiago had purchased it before he left back for Columbia and he entrusted Frankie to teach you how to use it. And the man in front of you had stayed true to his word.

"Let's keep moving," Will broke the silence between the two of you and nodded his head down the hall.

Frankie agreed with a nod of his own and started to walk towards the door only to stop and hold his hand slightly behind him. You crossed the gap and gripped it tightly, something you had done a thousand times, felt as wonderful as it had years ago. "Stay with me," he said gently and you nodded. He knew it was an unnecessary request, because right now, he couldn't think of a single thing that would make him let you out of his sight.

Tag List: @winters-buck @stevieharrrr @zeldasayer @rae-gar-targaryen @thebakerstboyskeeper @bookshelvesandteacups @honestlystop @seawhisperer @huliabitch @phoenixhalliwell @roxypeanut @mrsparknuts @domino-oh-damn @wickedfrsgrl @cloud-of-roses @arrowswithwifi @thinemineours @sgtpenny @xxlovingfandomsxx @scorpionsandhoney @honeybeeespeaks @lukesrighthand

@irishleesh93 @ripleyafterdark @lokiaddicted @maybege @humongouspandafest

@jigglemiwa @manda-but-not-lorian @skdubbs @buckstaposition @lostinwonderland314 @a-killvr-queen @mrpascals @saltywintersoldat @starlite41

@ms-dont-care @lustinglilac @fioccodineveautunnale @cahooter

Please let me know if you would like to be tagged, if I missed you, etc etc. There are a few of you that your tags aren't working. 😭😭

#Frankie Morales #frankie morales x reader #triple frontier #Pedro pascal #pedro character fic #addicted to you #santiago garcia #santiago pope garcia #frankie catfish morales

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readyourimgaines · 3 years

Text

The Little Things

Summary: Derek knew fully well that moving in with Spencer was going to bring around some changes. Dr. Spencer Reid was different and Derek loved him for it. There were little quirks that the doctor showed at work and some Derek was still learning. So there must be some at home.

And a special thanks, of course, to @chaoticgremlinwholikescheese for helping me compile this list!

1. Alphabetizing Movies by Title

“Pretty Boy?” Derek was crouched down in front of their TV looking for their movie while Spencer did the dishes. The latter hadn’t seen Happy Gilmore and Derek couldn’t let that stand.

“Yeah?” Spencer called from the kitchen.

“I can’t find it?”

“What?” Spencer stepped away from the sink and went to the living room. Water dripped from his fingertips. “The movies are alphabetical. It’s between Hamlet and Ice Age.” He went to Derek’s side and gestured to the movie. “I was going to order them by director, but Hotch said most people don’t know directors very well. Which is a shame because J.J. Abrams destroyed Star Trek but Guy Riche-”

Derek pressed a kiss to Spencer’s lips with a fond smile. Spencer blinked.

“Sorry,” the doctor blushed.

Derek just chuckled. “You know you’re adorable, right, Pretty Boy?”

“You may have mentioned it a time or two,” Spencer laughed.

“You can tell me all about directors later,” Derek promised. “I know a bit about the mainstream guys, but not a whole lot.”

“All you really need to know is that J.J. Abrams kills anything he touches and Peter Jackson doesn’t get as much attention as he should.”

*****

2. Morning Rituals

One thing that Derek very quickly learned about Spencer was that he

had a specifically timed morning ritual when not on a case. And that if it was broken or disturbed, the whole rest of the day would go down hill like a train on greased tracks.

He woke up at 6:17, was in the shower by 6:25, eating breakfast by 7:00, his bed made by 7:30, and shoes on his feet by 7:32. The last half hour before they left at 8:00 was free game.

The first morning in their new place was the roughest. Spencer went

about his usual morning, but Derek didn’t usually wake up until 7:45 because he took less time to get ready and ate in the car. So when Spencer finished breakfast and went back to their room to make the bed but Derek was still asleep… He paced for the next fifteen minutes and his head nearly went through the ceiling when Derek’s alarm went off.

Spencer almost had a panic attack as he fumbled his way through making their bed and cramming his feet into his shoes. Needless to say, the extra half hour was spent- in vain- trying to calm the doctor down. None of the rest of the day lined up properly and Spencer was on edge and fidgety. Hotch even had to gently remind him to focus a few more times than the usual redirection of infodumps.

That was the first and only time Derek didn’t follow Spencer’s morning routine. He found the same day that Spencer had a much simpler night ritual: Snack (sometimes) at 10:10, teeth brushed by 10:25, in bed by 10:35, reading until (supposed to be) 11:18, and then lights out. This routine was much more flexible and relaxed.

Derek found waking up and going to bed at the same time every day made the former much easier. He also found that Spencer reading to him most nights- no matter the book or topic- was very relaxing. And of course there were nights when Derek read to Spencer.

*****

3. Sugary Coffee

Derek took a sip of coffee from his travel cup and whistled. “Think I got yours, Pretty Boy. There’s enough sugar in this to hype up a six year old’s birthday party.”

Spencer braced himself and took a sip of the coffee in his own cup. He was pleasantly relieved when the bitterly sharp taste expected never came. “I-I put sugar in both of them. I wasn’t thinking,” he said sheepishly.

Derek shrugged. “You know what they say: I’ll try anything once.” He chuckled. “I’ll just brush my teeth for an extra three minutes.”

Spencer scoffed as he got into the passenger seat of Derek’s car. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll like it. You don’t get the caffeine drop when the eight hour half-life is over.”

“Is that why you put so much sugar in coffee?” Derek raised an eyebrow, thinking he already knew the answer.

“And coffee tastes like battery acid. I’d rather drink vinegar than black coffee.” Spencer shuddered.

Derek chuckled but didn’t say anything else as he pulled onto the street.

*****

4. Cuddly Sleeper

Even though Spencer wasn’t huge on PDA like Derek was, he sure was a cuddly guy. The second the door closed, he was a six foot koala. That included in bed- but usually not until after he was asleep.

Some nights, Spencer would fall asleep reading. So Derek would take his book, close it, gently remove Spencer’s glasses, and turn out the lamp. Nine times out of ten, Spencer was curled up against his side before Derek was asleep himself.

At first, Derek found himself wondering why Spencer wasn’t nestled against him before sleep took him. But after a while, it sunk in that the doctor unwound by reading.

The look on Spencer’s face when he curled into Derek’s side always sent the older man over the moon. The absolute peace on the doctor’s face. One night, Derek almost woke Spencer up laughing. Derek rolled over to out the lamp and Spencer had gripped Derek’s arm tighter and whined in his sleep. Derek then had to assure his boyfriend- in soft whispers as to not actually wake him up- that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Spencer never thought to question why his book and glasses were gone when he woke up.

*****

5. Leaves Books Everywhere

Anyone who had a 30 second conversation with Spencer- anyone who glanced at Spencer- could tell the man read more than he did anything else.

Derek picked up the doctor’s satchel once and was moderately surprised the slim man hadn’t dislocated his shoulder with how heavy the bag was. But Spencer didn’t only keep books in his bag. No. They were all over the place.

Their bedroom, the craft room where Derek made floor plans for his renovations, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room. Even both bathrooms and the basement.

When the two first moved in together, Derek debated building an extension onto the living room for a library. He still debated it from time to time (just in case). But as time wore on, Derek grew to appreciate the countless (if seemingly random) books around the house.

Spencer would read when Derek was working on floorplans, so Derek would read when Spencer worked on an academic paper or consult.

“What’re you reading?” Spencer asked one night, finally looking up from his notebook. He was writing an essay on how handwriting analysis could help catch a serial killer and/or rapist.

“I don’t even know,” Derek chortled. “Uh..” he looked at the cover, “it’s Introduction to Law by Joanne Banker and Yvonne Ekern.”

“Oh! Hotch loaned that to me yesterday,” Spencer noted. “I should get that back to him soon.”

Derek just shook his head. “You know, Pretty Boy, I didn’t read this much in college.”

Spencer smiled. “See? Maybe there’s a good side to not spending thousands of dollars on building a library,” he teased.

6. The Nightlight

In the bedroom, in the outlet closest to the door was a nightlight. But not just any night light. This nightlight made the move in the front pocket of Spencer’s satchel.

“So what’s the story behind this platypus, Pretty Boy?” Derek had to ask one night as Spencer turned it on. “Because you’ve had this since before we were dating.”

“My uh- my mom’s went on a sort of field trip with her hospital a couple years ago. It was on one of her good days. She saw this in the aquarium’s gift shop and bought it for me.”

“That’s pretty cute,” Derek encouraged. He knew Spencer didn’t open up about his mom often so Derek tried to learn everything he could about the woman during the rare occurrences.

“We named him,” Spencer laughed. “Alfred Nicholas Brian Reid.” He giggled. “I just… He helps.”

*****

+1. Bleeding/Infected Hangnails

Spencer usually had something to stim or fidget with. A strip of paper, a pen or pencil to twirl, a shirt with a loose thread, something. On the off chance that he didn’t, the doctor somehow decided that his fingers were good enough. If Spencer didn’t have a hangnail, he’d start one.

This was the one and only thing about Doctor Spencer Reid that Derek Morgan hated. He could see the minute flinch when Spencer held a utensil wrong and it pressed on the swollen skin. He heard the soft hiss when Spencer got tomato or orange juice in the broken skin.

What Derek hated even more than that was when the hangnail would get infected. The skin around the nail or turn a greenish-yellow and harden. Which, in turn, gave Spencer another thing to pick at.

“Pretty Boy, you gotta stop,” Derek sighed. He’d gone into a convenience store to get them something other than coffee- but tastier than water- to drink. While inside, he bought a box of Band-Aids and a tube of anti-bacterial cream.

Spencer snapped out of his daze. “What?”

“Picking at your nails.” To prove his point, Derek took Spencer’s hand in his to show him, as well as to stop his current picking. “I know you’re worried about the case, Baby, but we’ll catch the son of a bitch and put his ass behind bars like we always do. You gotta stop destroying your hands.”

“I didn’t realize I was,” he admitted.

“I know,” Derek said softly. He applied the cream and a Band-Aid to each finger that needed it (five in total between both hands). “We just gotta get you a couple of those fidget cubes Garcia has.”

Tag List: @mayonnaiseismycomfortfood

#read your imagines #combefere's journal #criminal minds imagine #moreid imagine #spencer reid imagine #derek morgan imagine #5+1 things #6+1 things #moreid #moreid fluff

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gubes-sweaters · 3 years

Text

Mind, Body, and Soul 5

Authors note: Hey, so it's been a while oops. I’ve been writing one-shots in between writing chapters 4 and 5 only because I wasn’t sure where to take this series, but I’ve figured it out and now I’m back. I still have 3 or 4 one-shots written that still need to be edited. This chapter has a couple of switches of the POV. Sorry if it’s a little confusing, but it’s the easiest way to write the story. Also, I know Gideon and Rossi didn’t work together in the early season, but I’m changing it. I realize the TL of a lot of the members is off, but it’s all intentional for the story.

Content warning: Nothing I can think of, but don’t be afraid to tell me about a warning I should put in.

Word count: 2.7k

Chapter 5: New Member of the BAU

*ring ring*

I shift under Spencer's grip trying to reach my phone as it's ringing. He’s such a heavy sleeper that by the time I wiggled out from his arms and grabbed my phone he was still sleeping. He just rolled over before snoring very quietly. I look at my phone and see it's my dad! Shit, I was supposed to meet with my dad at ten today and it's already eleven. I'm not even ready this is such a disaster, what am I supposed to tell him? Oh, don’t worry dad I’m just busy because I’m in the back of this guy’s car and I slept through my alarm! He’s going to kill me because I'm supposed to meet some of my dad’s work friends then go out to lunch with him.

“Ciao papà,” I say trying to sound like I'm awake. He can probably see through my bullshit though because I'm a shitty liar, and he's a profiler.

“Where's my bambino and why isn't she at the BAU right now? My colleagues want to meet you.”

“Sorry, I spent all night studying and I must've slept through my alarm I'll be there as soon as possible,” I technically lie to him I did sleep through my alarm.

“Okay...well, I love you. I have a security badge ready for you. All you have to do is tell security who you are and you're here to see me,” He's clearly not convinced but I don't think he cares enough to press the issue.

“Okay, love you too. Bye!” I hang up then turn to Spencer trying to wake him up.

I shake him over and over until he finally stirs. Seriously how the hell does he sleep so heavy. Once I get him up I explain that I’m supposed to have lunch with my dad and I’m supposed to meet his coworkers now that he’s coming out of retirement for whatever reason.

“Okay, yeah give me a second to clean up the back, and we can take you back to your apartment,” He says while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Thanks,” I say before planting a gentle kiss on his cheek.

He blushes at me before signaling for me to hop out of the trunk. We make a collaborative effort to clean out the trunk and sit the back seats back up. We then get in the front and make small talk on the way back to my apartment. Once we arrive I feel that pit in my stomach again, the same one I feel every time one of us has to leave.

“Thanks for yesterday!” I say before turning to open the car door with the bear we made yesterday. When I asked who's keeping the bear he jokingly said we’ll split custody and I guess this is my week. Before I could open the car door he placed his hand on my forearm very gently like I was made out of glass. He has this pained and disappointed look on his face.

“Can I see you again?” He asks just barely above a whisper.

I just respond with a nod and a quick kiss before I hop out of the car and wave goodbye. All I see is a wide grin on his face and a wave before I disappear into my apartment building. I knew Stella and Raven weren’t home because neither of their cars was in the parking lot. That meant I could get ready quickly and slip out of the apartment without any questions being asked.

I set the stuffed bear on the bed and begin getting ready. After I shower, dry my hair, brush my teeth, apply a small bit of makeup, and slip on a sweater and jeans I’m finally ready to leave. It’s only one pm, so I'm not making a horrible time given that I was already late. I then practically drive like a mad man to the BAU. I stop at security and tell them I’m here for my dad David Rossi. I get directions to the floor and where my dad’s new office is. I walk into the bullpen and see two very familiar and comforting faces, but the others belong to complete strangers. I immediately spot my dad’s old partner Jason Gideon and the Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. I met them both when I was in middle school, but the rest of the team was new to me and my dad as well. He’s been there for a couple of months since his book tour was just now ending. As soon as Gideon sees me he walks towards me with his arms outstretched.

“Hey kiddo it’s been a long time. I may be getting old, but I’ll never forget that face.” He says while engulfing me in a hug. Honestly, I talked to Gideon probably more than my dad growing up. This is odd because he didn’t have the best relationship with his own son, but he was always like a cool uncle. Then the same click happened to me and Aaron Hotchner when we first met. He always wanted kids and some of the only times you would see him smile and laugh was around kids. He and his wife Haley jokingly called me their test run when I would spend time with them. When my mom and dad were both busy I spent a lot of time with Haley because I didn’t want to be with a nanny.

“Hey, guys!” I say before hugging them both once more.

“So, how’s school been? You’re not getting into any trouble are you?” Uncle Jason asks before nudging me as the three of us walk towards my dad’s new office. I can see two people’s eyes on me from the bullpen then suddenly a third when a blonde woman who doesn't look much older than me comes strutting out of her office flashing me a quick smile.

“You know me, I’m David Rossi’s daughter, so I seemingly can't stay out of trouble,” I joked with them as we arrived at my dad’s new office. It had a shiny new nameplate that said “David Rossi” on the front of it. Gideon knocks and I feel a wave of nostalgia. I remember in the 6th grade visiting my dad at the BAU and walking up to my dad’s office hand in hand with Gideon. Now I’m much older and much taller, but much hasn’t changed. After a few seconds, my dad opens the door with a huge grin on his face I swear he hasn't changed since I was a kid. He still wears overly expensive suits and a watch that probably would pay a year and a half of my rent if not more.

“Ah, there she is. Oh, how I’ve missed you,” He says before eloping me in a bear hug.

“Come I want you to meet my other co-workers,” He says as the four of us walk back down the stairs where a small conglomeration of desks are.

“Everybody this is my daughter (y/n),” My dad proudly says while the three people went to introduce themselves. The first being the woman walking out of the office earlier. She is tall and blonde. She looks a little young to be a profiler though.

“Hi, I’m Jenifer Jareau, but you’re more than welcome to call me JJ. I’m the communication's liaison,” She says as she sticks her hand out for me to shake. After a woman with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes also extended her hand out to me. She was wearing a tan leather jacket with a black top beneath it and black dress pants along with tan ankle boots.

“Hi I’m Elle Greenway, it’s nice to meet you these three have been talking about you all day,” She says while gesturing towards my dad, uncle Aaron, and uncle Jason. Lastly, a tall very muscular man walks up to me with an awful lot of confidence. He’s wearing a tight heather gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Accompanied by his gun sitting snugly on his hip.

“Well Hello I’m Derek Morgan and you must be an angel,” He says forgetting that my dad is standing right behind me either that or he doesn't care. I shake his hand before my dad clears his throat not amused by Morgan's antics.

“Well, now that you’ve met my team it’s about time we went to lunch. Aaron don’t hesitate to call me if something pops up about that DC hacker case,” He says as we walk away and Uncle Aaron just responds with his usual very stern-looking face and a slight nod.

“DC hacker?” I ask as we exit the bullpen and make our way to the elevator.

“Let’s not talk about work. I want to know about school how are you?”

“I’m doing good I guess I've been a little distracted as of recent but I'm keeping myself on track I promise.”

“Atta girl,” He says before the elevator doors open, and he leads me out to his car.

-----Time Skip----

“So how are Raven and Stella I haven't seen them since I went to sign the lease again last year.” I can tell what he’s doing he’s making awkward small talk, so he feels like he's an integral part of my life. I appreciate the effort and I can’t shit on him too much because at least he’s making an effort. So I’ll play into this and make him feel better for the time being. I’m hoping that he doesn't feel like utter crap because we have nothing important to talk about besides this DC hacker case that I can’t get out of my mind. I haven’t talked about it since we were in the car because he clearly doesn’t want me to know anything about it since he keeps dodging my questions.

“They’re doing pretty good. I mean we don’t have any classes together this year because our majors are somewhat different, but we live together, so we're still close.”

“Oh, how's that friend you were telling me about? Penelope Garcia, that's her name right?” He asks as he leans in close to me. If I didn't know any better I would think he's shamelessly profiling me right now. We continue to talk about school and my friends throughout lunch. For someone who has such an extra and boujee person, he didn't talk about himself at all. Which is not my dad's usual behavior at all.

“Well, that's good to hear. So I was thinking after lunch maybe we-” As if God himself answered my prayers my dad's work cell starting ringing. I can hear small mumbles from the blonde woman I met earlier I believe her name was JJ. I can't exactly make out what is going on but either way, I'm taking whatever excuse I can get.

“I’m sorry sweetheart I’m going to have to cut this short that was a call from work. On the bright side, I’m not going to be on my book tour anymore, so whenever I have a day off we can spend time together.”

“Of course!” I say trying to humor him.

“Well, I’ll drop you back off at the FBI building.” He says before flagging down the waitress to pay for the check.

----Rossi’s POV----

I walk back into the FBI building after dropping (y/n) off. Aaron, Gideon, and I feel terrible for using her to get information. I feel the worst out of the three of us because I promised her after going back to the BAU this time would be different, but she's currently just another pawn in a game she didn't agree to.

“So what do we have Aaron?”

“Follow me to the round table we got all of the information needed from another technical analyst in the building Kevin Lynch.”

As Aaron and I walk into the room JJ is giving Gideon, Morgan, and Emily all of the information we need to know.

“This is Penelope Grace Garcia. She is a 28-year-old female. We didn’t have many people to contact for information on her because her birth parents are no longer alive. Her parents passed in a car accident ten years ago that was caused by a drunk driver. Since then she has seemingly lived a low profile life and has managed to stay under the radar when it comes to the justice system. We have been able to get enough evidence on her because of her close relations with David Rossi's daughter (y/n) Rossi. We are going to bring her in for questioning. She’ll likely have no prior knowledge of interrogations because she’s been able to fly under the radar. That also makes her extremely cocky, and she’ll think that we have no information on her. Our job is to be as docile yet forward as possible. We want to be docile, so she’ll trust. She has so much skill that Strauss approved for us to recruit her into the BAU. She’ll be of more use to us than she would be in jail. That’s all for now.”

As JJ finishes with the profile we all gather our things and mentally prepare ourselves for the interrogation. I was advised to stay out of it just in case she knew I was (y/n)’s father. Given the fact that she’s an elite hacker that isn’t such a farfetched statement.

-Hotch’s POV-

“You have two options either you can serve jail time or you can work for us at the BAU,” I tell her just before Morgan walks back into the room.

I have her make a quick resume, so we can hire her onto the BAU. I think she has potential and that she’s just putting up a tough front. I have to give her props though because I’ve seen grown men crumble a lot easier than her. Once we’re able to strike a deal with her I have Morgan unlock her cuffs. I make sure Morgan knows to tell her that she can’t talk about any of this with (y/n) for a while especially since the case involving her isn’t fully closed.

-(y/n) POV-

I finally make it back to my apartment when I get a text from my mom asking how lunch with my dad went. As I unlock the door to my apartment I text her back and let her know that it was okay, but dad was acting super weird. I told her it seemed like he was interrogating me. She just let me know that it’s out of habit because he’s a profiler and it’s not that big of a deal and to not read too much into it.

I feel like there was something that I had to do but I can't remember. It’s not until I check the calendar on my phone and realize Daisy’s birthday is in two days and I didn’t get her anything. I’m far too lazy to leave my apartment for a second time today which was supposed to be my day off. I also don’t want to go alone maybe I should text Spencer and see how busy he is.

Me: Hey, I have a birthday party to go to on Saturday. I still need to get her a birthday present would you mind coming with me tomorrow?

Spence: Sure, what time should I pick you up?

Me: How about 10?

Spence: Sounds good I’ll see you then :)

Taglist: @haylaansmi @rexorangecouny

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid smut #spencer reid au #spencer reid x y/n #criminal minds smut #plug spencer #spencer reid fanfic #plug!spencer fanfiction #plug!spencer #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst

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agoddamn · 3 years

Text

>the nightsisters try to kill Dooku

>Dooku wants the nightsisters to protect him

We really Scooby Doo here now

Dooku calls Talzin mother and then sister

I just realized; do we ever get normal nightsisters that are relevant? I think it's just Talzin and Asajj, right?

Dooku: A warrior of the same caliber [as Maul]?

...hang on, Maul got bodied by a Padawan. Why is being compared to him a compliment

Why would you need to procure an assassin because you were attacked. You procure a guard for that, not an assassin

Talzin has this incredibly dramatic echoed-voice effect. I'm not sure why, aside from style

So we have Feral, Maul, and...Saváge? What a pretentious motherfucker lmao

Darth Maul coming from a village of Mauls has always seemed silly to me. His TPM design is almost the entirety of his characterization so it's always felt very Specifically Maul. Being like "oh yeah nah this wasn't on purpose I was just born looking like space Satan" is...hard to take seriously

Cos, it also means, Darth Maul's look in TPM wasn't special at all! He wasn't wearing a Bad Guy Outfit; his appearance is as generic as the grizzled brown-haired white man starring in every shooter game. No drama or panache intended. Motherfucker is out here chewing scenery in jeans and a t-shirt

Puppy-dog eyes space Satan

Asajj's skirt is pussy-out short

Animator: hey boss what am I supposed to do about all these upskirts?

Boss: why would you have to do anything

Animator: what if some bored lady on the internet frame-by-frames and laughs at us

Look, I can't not notice this

:muffled Wilhelm in the distance:

Love how nightsister powers are literally just whatever the plot needs at the moment. Fuckin, steroids, summon +1 broadaxe, invisibility, roofies, GPS, whatever, they can do all of it and nobody's ever going to ask "wait did you just build that broadaxe out of thin air or teleport it from another location? Either way that's a gamebreaking level of manipulation of reality never seen before so why aren't you using it more often?"

God this is so fucking tryhard. Savage Opress. Suffering secondhand fucking embarrassment

Oh boy can't wait for Saváge here to kill a bunch of generic clones for the narrative to prove how cool he is, again

:watches men with guns run into melee range before firing them: I am never going to be able to take this seriously

So they really just had a bunch of infantry to defend this base, huh. No, say...cannons? Artillery?

Bro you're literally OUTSIDE the temple, how can you possibly say that you've taken it?? There are still dudes inside

If you were on the shitter for this battle you'd come out and be absolutely fucking fine and still hold the base because the motherfucker just leaves

"Your powers will rival that of the great Sith lord, Darth Maul"

...again. Bodied by a Padawan.

Also, oh, are all these Dathomir inhabitants naturally Force-sensitive? Or do they cull the nulls? That second option feels very Talzin

Man, I gotta say that I'm not really into the story structure of "show us exactly what the bad guys are doing and then show us the heroes reacting to this". It saps tension and makes the heroes feel stupid because as the audience, we know so much more. It's especially jarring because the show has a very tight focus when it comes to Anakin's emotional perspective, but doesn't let you get immersed in it because it's constantly zooming you out

Like this opening dialog is all "mysterious killer!" and it makes me just kinda zone out because I already know everything they're gonna try and investigate

These are some unusually thicc clone troopers

"this is the work of a reckless, impulsive animal" yes I literally just spent thirty minutes being told that. If this sort of thing brought new information I'd be less annoyed, but it's just repetitive

God Saváge you have a terrible grip, space your hands out at least, you look like you're holding a pool noodle

"Iridonia is where the rest of the males of the species live" wait, hang on, huh? How widespread is this night cult thing? I was under the impression that Talzin's operation was relatively small, not something so large you'd call the normal male population "the rest"

...Saváge can drive a ship on his own? Legit question. He seemed brain-nuked by Talzin and his village is the epitome of low-tech; they don't even have blasters

Obi-Wan addresses Talzin as "mother"

I wonder how much of Obi-Wan's calling Saváge an animal is purposely there to demonstrate Obi-Wan having prejudice after Maul-related trauma (Saváge is like twice the size of Maul, I was surprised Obi-Wan mistook him for Maul on the recording) and how much of it is...actually, literally correct... Talzin's ritual seems to have legit burnt away some brain function. Obi-Wan doesn't know this, of course, but since We The Audience know everything...not a great choice if the writers wanted to portray Obi-Wan as having lingering prejudice

Hey remember when Dooku showed up and Talzin manifested a cup into reality and he drank it without blinking? Why didn't you just poison him then. Why this weird convoluted sleeper agent plan. You could be done with this revenge business already, Asajj, yeesh

--how did these guys know to come to Toydaria? I don't remember Talzin mentioning Toydaria. Ah, whatever

So he does have a chauffeur

Ventress this plan was fucking terrible, don't blame him for you being an idiot

Dooku is another tragic victim of "can't animate capes so he has to run around in his jammies" syndrome

Poor dude. Condemned to C-list filler villain status

#boots watches tcw

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abbacchiosbelt · 4 years

Text

Upon The Shore | Mer!Joseph Joestar x F!Reader

A commissioned piece for @lovelystand!

3.7k words, not sfw. CW for a description of drowning - however, the reader character ends up safe.

In his mind, he sees it — though it’s only been described to him, he has no trouble picturing the rolling green hills and the bright blue sky, humans bustling about on two legs as they go about their daily business. The buildings that had been described to him are harder to picture in his mind’s eye, their architecture complex, and their outsides less colorful than the environment he had grown up in. He yearned to explore their insides, eager to see what sort of things the surface held.

If someone else were in his place, someone who had lived on the land their whole life instead of in the sea, they might be thinking of something similar - venturing beyond their regular life to experience something new that they’d only heard stories of. For most regular humans, a life under the sea was unthinkable.

Joseph Joestar was no regular human, however.

- Joseph’s long, green tail flitters impatiently in the calm water as he listens to another one of his Grandma Erina’s lectures about how dangerous the surface was, though his mind is far away as he daydreams about the surface.

Joseph had heard her spiel hundreds of times over each time he was caught close to the surface, but it never stuck. Joseph’s curiosity about what lay above the sea was endless. He knew his Granny Erina was just worried about him – all of her family save for his Uncle Speedwagon were gone.

Still, the call to go beyond the ocean pulled at Joseph’s body every day.

He snaps back to attention when he hears his Granny huff in annoyance, having caught him daydreaming instead of listening to her.

“Joseph,” Erina sighs, resigned to the fact that her grandson was unlikely to listen to her no matter how many times she warned him. “If you’re going to disobey myself and your Uncle Speedwagon, at least do us the favor of telling us where you’re at. We don’t want you to get hurt.”

Her voice softens as she stares past her grandson, the bittersweet look in her eyes familiar to Joseph – it’s the same way she looked when she’d reminisce about her late husband and his grandfather, Jonathan. “I suppose you are a Joestar. This kind of thing is in your blood. Your grandfather had the same heart for adventuring as you do.” Erina smiles and meets Joseph’s eyes again. “Just promise me you’ll be safe. Don’t stay up for longer than a day.”

Joseph’s eyes go wide, and his mouth falls open in excitement — it wasn’t exactly approval, but she was no longer outright forbidding him from taking a trip to the surface. He glides forward in the water and swoops his Granny Erina into a hug, spinning around in the water.

“Thank you, Granny!” Joseph practically shouts. Erina slips out of Joseph’s hug and shakes her head, unable to resist the smile pulling at her lips. He really was so much like Jonathan.

“Just remember what I said, JoJo.” Joseph nods eagerly at his Granny’s words, his body thrumming with nervous energy and excitement.

Tomorrow, he’d finally get to experience the most exciting adventure he’d go on yet.

Joseph, normally a late sleeper, rises with the sun the next morning. He’d barely slept through the night but still found himself buzzing with anticipation. It only takes a few minutes for him to gather his supplies for the day – the clothing he’d need was stored in a shallow cove he’d found and snuck into to store items he’d pilfer from the shore.

When Joseph emerges from his home, he sees his Granny Erina and Uncle Speedwagon waiting for him. For one second, he balks, thinking they’ll tell him to turn back – but his Uncle puts a firm arm on Joseph’s shoulder, his once brilliant black and white tail swaying slowly beneath him.

“Your Granny told me about your plans, JoJo. We know you’re capable of protecting yourself, but please, don’t do anything rash.” His Uncle squeezes his shoulder before he drops his arm. “You know, your grandfather and I got into quite a bit of trouble up on the surface… I’ll have to tell you about it once you’ve seen it for yourself.”

Erina shakes her head at Speedwagon, though the twinkle in her eye makes Joseph wonder what his Granny was thinking about. Before he can ask, she gives him a stern look. “Remember, Joseph. No longer than a day.”

“I get it, I get it…” Joseph says. “Don’t go too far. Don’t stay up longer than a day. I got this, Granny!”

The rest of their goodbye is quick – it’s not long until Joseph emerges at the cove, he’d stashed the clothing he’d stolen in, perfectly dry as it hung over the rocks.

He has no second thoughts as he hauls himself out of the water and feels the effects of land on his body, his tail giving way to strong legs that had unnatural, green scales running up and down the length of them.

The process has Joseph grunting as his body is pushed to its human form for the first time. It was a power that few merpeople held. The Joestar line was one of them, the power having been taught to them by a mysterious benefactor and passed down between generations.

When it’s complete, Joseph tries to stand, his legs shaky. It takes a few tries for him to get his bearings, but when he does, he finds himself standing tall as he looks down at his body. He knew he was large for a merman, but somehow, he hadn’t expected it to affect his human form.

Joseph yells a loud ‘Nice!’ to himself before he turns to grab the clothes he’d stashed away. The shirt, a plain olive tank top, goes on easy enough, but dark blue jeans are another story. He struggles to pull them up his thighs and falls a few times before he finally feels them slide over his behind and over his hips.

Anyone else would hesitate in a moment like this, but Joseph wastes no time testing out his new legs by running out of the cove and onto the beach, feeling sand between his toes for the very first time. It’s such a strange feeling that Joseph pauses, looking down to wiggle his toes before he kicks his foot and sends the sand flying with a laugh.

Joseph continues down the beach, looking around in wonderment as he experiences the land above the sea for the first time. The sea breeze on his skin is cool and refreshing, the smell reminding him of his home despite the fact he’d only just left. He’d experienced the sun on his skin while sunning on large rocks before, but to feel it now felt like a whole new experience. Joseph puts his hands over his eyes and squints as he looks to the horizon, a small town looming ahead.

Joseph grins – this is exactly the type of thing he’d been looking for. He didn’t just want to experience places… No, Joseph wanted to experience new people. He takes off down the beach, his long legs growing steadier with every step. It’s only a few minutes before the town is right in front of him.

His Uncle Speedwagon’s descriptions gave Joseph an idea of what he would be seeing upon the surface, but it still took him by surprise to see humans walking upon two feet on the sidewalk and cars driving down the road. Joseph stands to marvel at the sights for a second, unusually quiet.

He’s unsure of where to start until he spots a girl – a very cute girl, if someone was asking Joseph. Brown hair, a cute and thick body, and some glasses. He watches as she heads into a small, two-story store with pictures of books on the sign. Though he had no need for books (they were far and few between under the sea, of course), he couldn’t resist a cute girl.

—

You breathe a sigh of relief when you walk into the bookshop, content to see that the only person present was the kind elderly owner, Maria, who also doubled as your landlord. It’s not that you didn’t want to see the shop succeed – you just weren’t feeling up to the small talk the local townsfolk usually wanted to engage you in.

“Hello, dear.” Calls Maria, raising her hand in a tired wave. “I’m feeling a bit worn out, so do you mind taking over for the last hour?”

You shake your head, happy to help the woman that gave you dirt cheap rent in turn for some extra help throughout the week. Besides, it’s not like there would be any more customers today, right? Maria bids you a goodbye as you take over for her behind the small front counter, leaving you only with the sound of the ocean outside.

A few minutes pass before you decide to crack open the book you’d been reading – but the second you open up the book, the chime above the door rings out. You look up, locking eyes with the most handsome man you’d ever seen. He definitely wasn’t a local. He grins when he sees you looking at him, marching up to the counter with confidence. You assume he’s just a lost tourist.

“Hello.” You say, quiet. The brunette grins, bright green eyes staying locked onto your own. “How can I help you?”

“Oh, I can think of several ways.” The stranger replies. You feel your cheeks burn with embarrassment. His grin grows even wider. “How about your name?”

You balk for a second – was a customer really trying to flirt with you on the job? On the other hand, you doubted you’d see this guy again if he was a tourist. Though your nerves are on fire, you manage to murmur out your name to the stranger in front of you.

“Oh! That’s a pretty name. I’m Joseph Joestar, but you can just call me JoJo.” He pauses, putting his elbows on the front desk as he leans down. You notice that he has no shoes on and can’t help but to stifle a laugh. Who was this guy?

He scrunches his nose up. “Are you laughing at me?”

“N-not exactly,” You manage to say between giggles, both shy and embarrassed by just how different Joseph was from any other man you’d met. “You… You forgot your shoes.”

His eyes go wide, and his eyebrows shoot up as he looks down at his feet. “Oh no!” He exclaims loudly. He looks at you with a sheepish grin and puts his hand on the back of his head. “I knew I was forgetting something. I’m, uh… New in town. I lost… the box they came in. Yeah. The box.” Joseph says, sounding unsure. You decide not to question it, though it has you raising an eyebrow in confusion. Joseph simply shrugs, and you drop the subject for now.

The two of you manage to chat for the next hour, with Joseph mostly leading the conversation. He’s so charismatic that despite your shyness, you feel comfortable around him. When you notice the hour on the clock, you sigh.

“Sorry, Joseph, but I’ve got to close the shop.” You pout to yourself before you remember what he said. “Wait, you’re not a tourist, right? You said you moved here?”

“Yeah!” Joseph shouts in reply, startling you. He gives you the same sheepish grin from earlier. “Uh, sorry. Is it okay if I stop by tomorrow?”

You were the kind of person that never expected this sort of thing to happen to yourself – you thought you were plain and boring. Too shy, not pretty enough… And yet here you were, talking to a handsome stranger who was giving you genuine attention without being creepy. No longer did you want to deny yourself of experiences like this due to shyness – with a small smile, you nod.

“Sure. You can stop by before we close.”

Joseph comes the next day, and the next, until you realize he’s visited you almost every day for a month. You didn’t think it was possible to fall for someone so fast, yet every little thing Joseph did had you falling more in love with him every single day.

The first day he doesn’t visit in a while is a stormy day – you’re not upset. You wouldn’t expect anyone to go out in this kind of weather. Not only was there a torrential downpour outside, but the sea and wind were raging. The sidewalks in the town you lived in weren’t built to withstand heavy rains despite the location, so it was best not to go outside during bad storms.

Unfortunately, you’d found yourself on the opposite side of town from the shop after a short grocery trip for yourself and Maria. Though it’s against your better judgement, you decide to step out from the walls of the warm grocery store into the chilly and turbulent storm. Each step seems to be more dangerous than the last, and you consider running back to the store when you reach the hill that leads down to the shop.

With a hesitant step, you begin to walk down the hill. Suddenly, you feel your world turn upside down as you slip on the wet earth, your body tumbling down the hill straight towards the raging ocean. The bags you were carrying are flung out of your hands as your body roughly smacks against the ground and you’re propelled down the hill – the only thing you can do is brace yourself for impact into the water, the fear coursing through your body making your heart pound a million miles a minute.

You’re tossed underwater and find yourself being drug under by the strong waves in an instant, your body nearly freezing in shock before you start to thrash wildly. Even though there’s a voice in your head screaming at you to try and calm down, your body continues to panic no matter what you do. You push against the water as your lungs burn, helplessly trying to force your head above the water.

You don’t know how much time has passed before you feel your body give up without your consent, your limbs falling limp by your sides in the water as the last bits of air escape from your lungs. The sky above isn’t even visible above the choppy waters – and then you’re being pushed through the waves at a blinding speed before your head emerges above the water as you gasp for air, lungs expanding painfully as you gulp in fresh breaths.

“You scared me,” You hear a voice say, though it sounds distant. Weakly, you turn your head and come face to face with Joseph – or at least you think it’s Joseph. There are bright green, iridescent fins sticking out of the side of his head where his human ears normally were. Before you can think about it too much, you find yourself sinking into darkness as your body starts to pass out from all the stress you’d just put it through.

The last thing you remember is Joseph calling out your name before you close your eyes.

When you wake up, you’re back in your own bed… except there’s a large, warm presence next to you that has never been there before. You blink wearily until the form turns over, revealing Joseph’s snoring face to you. Even though you’re still weak with sleep, the events of the past day come rushing back at you.

If it weren’t for Joseph, you wouldn’t be here right now. Though you want to wake him up to thank him, to tell him how much you love him, you know it’s better to settle back down and let sleep take you once more.

When you wake up again, Joseph is still next you, though he’s no longer asleep. Instead, he’s sitting against your headboard and flipping through a book with his brows knit. You stare at for a moment before he notices you, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

“You’re up!” He shouts, practically throwing the book down to gather you up in his arms. “I was so worried…”

The two of you remain like that for a moment, Joseph’s strangely cool arms wrapping around your body with ease. Despite how grateful you are and how happy you are to have Joseph next to you… You have some questions. You pull back and put your hand against Joseph’s cheek, meeting his gaze.

“So…” You say. Joseph echoes the sentiment, looking sheepish. “A merman, huh?” Joseph eyes you for a moment, nodding. “There’s record of merpeople, but they were thought to be extinct. At the very least, merpeople that were able to walk on land have been unheard of for years.”

“Yeah, well…” Joseph says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Surprise?”

He looks nervous. You roll your eyes and smile – typical Joseph. “We can talk about this later. For now… Let me thank you?”

“T-thank me?” Joseph says, his suave persona falling away. He was finally able to be vulnerable in front of you, the bravado he usually carried fading as Joseph felt more and more comforted by your presence. “Babe… If you’re sure.” He pulls you onto his lap so that your legs are on either side of his body but makes no further moves. “I think you already know this, but I love you.”

Even though you knew you would hear it from him someday, you still blush. “JoJo,” You sigh, happy. “I love you too.”

Joseph leans forward and presses his lips to yours, leading you into a tender kiss that quickly turns passionate as his tongue swipes at your bottom lip. He tangles his hands in your brown hair to pull you even closer until you’re pressed flush against his chest, his movements careful as so not to pull too hard. Joseph was gentle, despite all his enthusiasm and strength.

Joseph slides his hands from your hair and down your sides as he continues kissing you, until he’s pressing you down into the bed, finally pulling back to smile at you. He puts a hesitant hand at the hem of your shirt. “Can I?” Joseph says, sounding breathless.

“Please,” You murmur. Joseph lifts your shirt up over your head easily – and though you feel like covering your body with your arms for a moment, the reverent and loving look on Joseph’s face makes you change your mind.

“Wow,” Joseph breathes out. “You’re beautiful.” You feel your face flush even redder at the sound of Joseph’s compliment and he takes it as a cue to continue on, pressing his lips to your body until he’s kissed his way up to your neck. You squirm beneath him, core aching already for Joseph’s touch.

Your own hands come up to press against Joseph’s prominent pectorals and he gasps in surprise before he looks up from your neck and grins. “Like what you’re feeling? I can take this off for you.” He leans back and practically rips his olive-green tank top off, exposing his muscled and tanned body. You’re speechless – Joseph is beautiful. The confident grin on his face grows at your expression. “I don’t need any words from you, babe. That look is enough.”

The next few minutes feel endless in their pleasure as you and Joseph explore each other’s bodies, hands gliding up and down and lips pressing against the most sensitive spots either of you can find. Both of you end up with your clothes on the floor as you stare at each other longingly, finally ready to connect your two bodies as one.

Joseph is laid back against the bed as you hover over his straining member, his fingers digging into your plush hips. You can barely believe you’re here with him now – but you are, and he loves you. You sink down onto his cock and Joseph groans headily as your soft walls squeeze him, your own moans falling out of your lips as you adjust to the stretch.

“JoJo,” you moan, squirming as he bottoms out inside of you. It’s like nothing you’ve felt before, but you feel so full and so good. “You feel so good.”

Joseph stops himself from bucking his hips at your words and digs his fingers into your hips tighter. “I’m ready for you, baby.”

An experimental roll of your hips, and then another has you and Joseph moving in tandem in only a few moments – it was like the two of you were perfect for each other in mind and body. The emotions from the day have both of you running on high and you feel your climax coming sooner than usual. By the look on Joseph’s face and the grunts he was making, you know he’s not far behind.

“I’m close,” You hiss – Joseph doesn’t hesitate to bring one of his rough finger pads to your clit as you ride him, circling it with sloppy motions but with enough pressure that it has you crying out for him and clamping down around him as your orgasm washes over your body. Joseph cries out your name only a moment later and you feel his cock twitch as he releases himself inside of you. You collapse onto his warm chest and wrap your arms around him as both of you breathe heavily and come down from the moment.

Later, after the two of you have gotten cleaned up and shared a long conversation over several cups of tea and coffee, you find yourself in pleasant shock as Joseph presents a beautiful pearl ring to you and says, “Will you marry me?”

12 months later, you’re sat on the shore while your husband shows off for you in the ocean. Marrying a merman wasn’t something that came with a guide, but the two of you had more or less figured it out. Joseph’s family, though surprised and confused, were delighted once they too had come to the shore to meet you on the day after Joseph’s proposal.

You startle when you feel movement in your stomach and you place one of your hands on the round dome, feeling little feet kicking at you. Joseph notices you’ve stopped clapping for him and swims over, eyes alight in wonderment as he sees you cupping your belly.

He swims close to the edge of the sea and you inch closer until he can rest one hand opposite of yours on your bump, smiling.

“You know, I think I’ve thought of a couple names.” He says.

“How about Holly for the girl and Josuke for the boy?”

#commission #jojo's bizarre adventure #joseph joestar #merman!joseph joestar #monster au #not sfw #fluff #jjba fic #my writing #joseph joestar x reader #cw: drowning #AFAB reader

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glitterbootsharry · 4 years

Text

chapter five

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“I fuckin’ ‘ate Harry,” Daphne sips on her endless mimosa- the orange liquid sloshing against the clear glass as Daphne emphasizes her words with her hand, sunglasses hiding the dark circles that seemed to appear overnight on the very dull grey Wednesday mid-morning. Her fork scraped over the white china, trying to push the food around so it looked like Daphne actually ate something. Eliza’s face furrowed, in disbelief, as she leaned on the outdoor table with her elbows.

“Why? You loved him so much you moved in right away and he-” Eliza’s protest was cut short with Daphne sighing dramatically.

“He’s full of ‘imself and he won’t apologize to me for what happened last week, piece of shit,” Daphne’s eyes roll as her croissant nearly fell off her plate. She huffs as she picks her bread up and feverishly begins to chew as a passing car honks the horn. “He literally....”

“Took you on a date with Alex and his new girl and what? Did he not kiss you goodnight? Offer a good shag?” Eliza was trying to hide her ever growing smile- she tapped on her empty glass with her coffin nails waiting for a refill. The fact that Daphne was this upset over a double date was hilarious to the brunette.

“Gross. Never will kiss Harry, but no. He’s been a complete arsehole ever since I saw him with... Stephen.”

“So? He was laughing with the bloke at work. It’s not like-“

“Eliza Jane Harrington, he was seen canoodling with the enemy. It gets worse; just let me finish.”

☕︎︎

Harry hears the faint knock on the front door when his eyes open. Normally, he’s a sound sleeper- only the smell of food or the loud blaring of a weather alert pulling him from his slumber. But with Daphne gently moaning with her mouth slightly agape, Harry slept lightly in case she needed anything.

He rolled out of bed hoping the creaking of his body and bed wouldn’t wake Daphne. He closes the white door softly before scoffing at the absurd amount of knocks that whoever is doing. He opens the door to find Alex in a state.

“I need you mate, I really do,” Alex’s worried voice carries over the white flat as he walks through the entryway, not giving Harry a proper hello. Harry closes the door, sighing as he curses at the universe for waking him early on a Sunday. “I really cocked it up with this girl. I actually asked her out on a date.”

“Oh no, the world is in shambles. You’ve completely lost the plot, mate. I dunno what to tell you,” Harry crosses his arms as Alex shuffles across the floor.

“I mean I like her, I really do, but I actually asked her out. Proper. On a date,” Alex looks up to his friend with a look that worries Harry for a second. He had a plan.

“You could come with. Yeah, make it a double?” Alex’s voice was now excited as he nearly screamed in place. Harry steps forward with a stern look on his face. He motions with his head at his closed bedroom door.

“Quiet, or you’ll wake Daphne.”

“Are you joking mate? Daphne’s in there?” Alex was at a loss for words as he pointed with his hand at Harry’s closed bedroom door. Harry’s finger finds his mouth and shushes his friend back to a library safe tone in fear of waking Daphne. “What about Amelia?”

“Mate...” Harry’s voice broke flat as his face scrunched together. “Really? Nothing’s going on between us. She... We watched a movie and she got scared. It’s not the first time.”

“Not the first time?!” Alex’s voice raised again before he spoke more quietly after Harry gave him a stern look only Alex knew that he was driving into dangerous waters. “You mean to tell me that your beautiful, sexy flatmate has spent the night in your bed and you didn’t get a leg over?”

“No, and if you don’t drop it now, I’ll shove my foot so far up your arse when I bend me toes, I’ll tickle your brain.”

“Drop what?” Daphne stood at the opened doorway yawning. She rubbed her eyes adjusting to the bright light coming from the main room’s windows.The low murmurs woke her to an empty bedroom. She had outstretched to find Harry only he wasn’t there. Her hair was frizzy and tangled from her tossing in the middle of the night- vivid nightmares keeping her awake as Harry softly snored from sleeping on his naked torso. Her chestnut eyes were red and puffy, laying out evidence of a terrible night’s sleep.

“Alex was just...” Harry couldn’t find any words. He watched as Daphne walked closer to them in a shirt Daphne didn’t wear to bed. She was wearing his. It was a bit tight across the chest, but she looked ravishing.

“Asking Harry to a double date next Friday. I have a girl that I want to take her out, and I thought it would be less weird if someone else was there,” Alex smiled at Harry before drawing his attention to Daphne’s hardened nipples. Harry punches Alex in the arm when he notices.

“Oh that would be fun. Amelia going with you?” Daphne’s raspy voice creaks through the room. This always happened to her when she would cry herself to sleep.

“No she’s out of town then. Ya know, work,” Harry sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “Which we need to get ready for.”

“It’s Sunday, Harry. No one’s working,” Daphne rolls her eyes as she tugs on the grey hem hoping it would magically cover more of her torso.

“What about you Daph? You in? We’re going to the National Gallery and mini golfing.”

“What an odd combination,” Daphne laughs at Alex. “Sure as long as Harry here is ready to be dominated at mini golf.” Daphne kisses Alex on the cheek and rests her hand on Harry’s chest- his heart beating fast. He prays that she can’t feel the dern muscle pumping against his skin. She looks up at him and smiles softly before letting her hand cascade slowly across his chest and down his arm.

Daphne stops short of her bedroom door and listens to the rest of the conversation that she had been eavesdropping on.

“I’m tellin’ you mate she’s got the hots for ya,” Alex’s voice is beginning to fade as Daphne assumes Harry is shoving him out the door. Daphne’s heart twists as she comes to an all sudden realization. She had been staring at Harry for far too long this morning.

“Yeah, you bloody wanker, and I’m the King of England.”

☕︎︎

Vera was nice. Beautiful, as if she had stepped out of a photoshoot or off the runway, Daphne couldn’t decide between the two, but the one thing that annoyed Daphne was the obnoxious laugh that carried throughout the entire building. Daphne swore she would hear the tune of laughter in her nightmares until days to come. It wasn’t a small laugh, no- it was a wide laugh that was in your face over the smallest of things. Alex made a corny joke, one like Harry would make, and while Daphne and Harry chuckled, Vera laughed from her belly with her mouth wide open as if she was in a comedy club.

Daphne counted the few peaceful moments of the evening as a reminder that the agonizing pain was to be over with soon. In the National Gallery, the two pairs went off on their own. Daphne found herself wondering over to the marble statues, listening to the recorded facts of each piece that hummed in the ear set. She had always wondered how much beauty could be formed from a block of materialized rock.

-ONE-

“It’s fascinating how the artist can make the sheer gown look real,” Harry whispers, leaning over to Daphne’s free ear. She jumped feeling quite startled as Harry pulled her back to reality. She imagined each chisel, each precise stroke that went behind every curve and point of the artwork. One wrong move and everything was over. When she looked up at Harry, his quiet smile ceasing to end, her heart pummeled inside itself. She hoped it was still from the scare.

“Yeah, I would love to see David in Florence. Michelangelo really was something else in the art world. And DiVinci. These are just....breathtaking,” Daphne smiled as she nudged Harry in the side with her elbow after his “Oh, we’re not talking about the Ninja Turtle?” joke. “How’s Miss Laugh and Mister Funny?” Harry looks around the room as if he’s lost something before turning to Daphne. He searches behind the tall naked woman before calling out Alex and Vera’s names.

“You haven’t heard them? Maybe someone kidnapped them?” Harry asks as his smile grows. “Or maybe they were escorted out due to disturbing the paintings.”

The small laughter between the two of them filled the open room. Daphne clutched Harry’s elbow, the tan block sweater burning into his skin as she looked up at him. Her brown eyes were growing dark and he wondered what it would be like to hear her laughter in his darkened bedroom in the lull of early morning when both were too awake to sleep, only running on hysteria. Daphne begins to walk to another statue across the way and wonders if there were ever any technology to capture the sound of laughter and make it into a painting, she would be willing to bet pounds that Harry’s laughter would sit next to the statue of David.

Harry hummed quietly as he followed Daphne through the statues. He took in, silently and stealthily, Daphne’s beauty. Her blonde hair was in a high pony, swaying the air around her as she walked. She wore the purple cashmere sweater that kept the cold November air at bay from her body with her black ripped skinny jeans. When Daphne walked out in those jeans with only her black lace brassiere on, Harry cleared his throat as he looked anywhere but in Daphne’s direction.

“As if you haven’t seen a naked woman before, Haz,” Daphne laughed as she took her cup of tea back to her bedroom.

“Won’t your knees get cold?” Harry called out after Daphne, only before she closed the door- the image of her raven torso tattoo burning in his mind.

“Not as cold as your heart,” Daphne yelled, a smile growing on her face.

“Should I be offended?” Harry laughed to himself.

Harry stands behind Daphne- close enough to smell her rich perfume. He thinks about wrapping his hands around her waist, pulling her head against his shoulder to kiss her. Shouldn’t he have these thoughts about Amelia?

Across the open hallway was a tall blonde man watching Daphne. His blue eyes followed her when she looked up at the looming statues with appreciation and love. Harry could see the wanting in his eyes, and it made his stomach churn. Anger tinged his soul as gingerly grasped Daphne’s hand- her cool skin setting a fire against his warm skin.

“Don’t look now, but some bugger is staring at you,” Harry whispered as he pulled Daphne into his embrace. Her honey eyes search his green ones, trying to understand what Harry was exactly doing. “Don’t want you chatting some boy up on our date.”

-TWO-

“You totally cheated,” Harry huffed as Daphne’s golf ball rings inside the white hole.

“You can’t cheat at mini-golf, Harry. ‘S not possible.” Daphne walked over to the small hole and grabbed her purple ball before shifting her weight to one hip as she waited for Harry to put his own. “Oh my God, is that Elton John?”

Harry looks up to where Daphne is looking as he hits the green ball only for it to miss the hole entirely.

“I swear to God, Daphne, I hate you,” Harry sighed, a fine line forming across his face where his lips were. He hated losing almost as much as saying he was sorry.

“Yeah well, get over it,” Daphne smiled. The one thing that really had been eating at Daphne was building the courage to confront Harry about a certain moment that happened earlier in the week. She had gone to take Harry’s forgotten packed lunch when the lift doors opened to Harry laughing loudly at a tall brunette man whose back was turned to her.

She waltzed across the room, not really caring at the moment since she herself was running late as it was, mind you, that she didn’t have time to carry Harry’s lunch across town to him. She extended her hand out, giving Harry’s cold leftovers to him and when she turned to leave, her heart sank.

She should have known who it was before she walked over to Harry- the slight build of the back, the deep voice that carried through her, the intense glare she had gotten from him.

“Stephen,” she hissed, not caring who was around. “How’s the slag from accounting? Still working out for you, yeah?” Daphne gave Harry a eat-shit-and-die look before turning to leave. “See you at home, Harry.”

Daphne yawned as Harry’s face furrowed in anger. She purposely made him miss so that she could win, but the smile that was plastered on her face when Harry straightened himself made the anger of losing melt away.

“Do you want some hot cocoa?” Daphne asked as Harry lined himself with the ball, solely concentrating on his game. “My treat.”

“Yeah sure, but please don’t leave me for long. I don’t know if I could stand it,” Harry motions his head over to the obstacle hole next to the pair. Vera was being coached by Alex, his body hovering against hers as they swung the club in the air for practice and her laugh stifling the air. “Still don’t know how she’s made it this long without playing.”

“It’s been a long twenty-eight years, I’ll tell you that,” Daphne chirps before handing Harry her club before leaving the faux grass. The giant plastic elephant’s trunk swung open barely missing Daphne’s head, Harry laughed and she gave him the middle finger.

“In your dreams, darling,” Harry called out into the cold night air as he watched his roommate walk to the queue.

“Two hot chocolates please,” Daphne ordered, her hair flying in the night air. The smell of pretzels and fired hot dogs fill her nose and she’s reminded of the circus.

“£3.50,” Daphne handed her card and the lady quickly swiped it through the card reader. “Receipt?”

“No thanks,” Daphne smiled. Looking back at Harry, he’s waiting as patiently as he can with his wait on his hip and his hand on the opposite for Alex and Vera to move to another hole. She laughs at the thoughts Harry could possibly be thinking.

“Be a minute, love.”

Daphne watches her flatmate from afar, wondering what life would be if she hadn’t responded to the advertisement those months ago.

Bland. Desolate. You’d be living with your parents again.

“Here you go, love. Enjoy.” The counter lady places the hot cups on the counter and when Daphne turns to be with Harry again after gently picking the scolding hot cups, they’re suddenly on a stranger.

She couldn’t stop herself from turning and crashing into a tall handsome man who looked out of place. In a land of mini-golf, he looked as if he belonged on the Master’s grass.

“So sorry, I should have looked,” Daphne mumbled out of her mouth as she tried to dry off the spilled milk with the few napkins she grabbed. “Let me pay for cleaning,” she looked up at the man who, for someone who just had hot chocolate spilled on them, was calm and almost laughing.

“Honestly, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing so close.” Daphne continued to pat the growing spot to soak up as much of the liquid as she can. “Don’t worry about cleaning, it’s an old shirt anyways. Name’s Matt.”

He extends his hand and when Daphne finally stops patting him down, she shakes his hand. His face, Daphne came to the conclusion, was chiseled from God himself. He took extra time with this Matt. High cheekbones, structure jaw that she could see herself sitting on, blue ocean eyes that she could get lost in.

Still holding his hand, Daphne finds herself feeling small. “Daphne. Daphne Rose Jones. I’m a Sagittarius.” Matt laughs as he tousles his dirty blonde hair with his free hand. His smile stretches across his face. “Matt Jerome Barr. I have no clue what sign I am.”

“Guess we would need to research it then,” Daphne felt her face get hot from embarrassment. Did she really just say that?

“I guess so,” Matt’s voice hummed low as he finally lets go of Daphne’s hand. “You with anyone here, love?”

“Yeah, just my roommate. He’s over there with his friend and girly friend thing,” Daphne looks over to Harry who is now watching Daphne interact with a tall bloke.

“You live with a guy? He’s gay?” Matt asks, his brow quirking up.

“No. He’s got a girl. She isn’t here- on business. But yeah totally straight.”

“Interesting.” Matt wanted nothing more than to run his hands through Daphne’s hair.

“That’s not the only interesting thing here,” Daphne purred, her honey eyes going completely black. “I’m winning at mini-golf.”

“That is very interesting. How about you and I go a couple of rounds later? Say next Friday?” Matt asks, his hands toying with Daphne’s.

☕︎︎

“What was that all about?” Harry asks as Daphne hands him his cup. He sips slowly, letting the hot liquid soothe his throat.

“Spilled the drinks on him. Had to apologize properly,” Daphne’s eyes darted down to the faux grass, “and then he asked me out next Friday.”

“Next Friday? We were going to do the naked painting thing,” Harry’s smile crooks in a corner as Daphne laughs. She makes her stance at her ball before once again getting a hole in one.

“We’ll always have the naked painting thing.” Daphne kisses Harry on the cheek and he feels his heart breaking one piece at a time.

####

taglist: @starboyhaz

#harry styles #harry styles au #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry 1d #harry styles 1d #harry styles ofc #1dff

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lovelikedestiny · 3 years

Text

May trust be my blanket

With a startled blink Nile accepts the car keys Andy is holding out to her without a word and with a clearly encouraging look that does not allow any contradiction. Of course, it is not uncommon for Nile to drive their getaway car, although it took Andy a while to voluntarily give up her place behind the wheel. But when the others are busy giving them cover or when Nile is the only one with functioning limbs or the fastest, she's behind the wheel and steers them out of the danger zone.

But today is the first time that Andy gives her the keys without a protest, or a laughable discussion and Nile doesn't know why. Neither Andy, nor Joe or Booker are injured, so they have to heal and therefore cannot drive, and the mission actually went off without a lot of blood and guts. Nile finally has no blood in her hair, which is really hard to get out and her shirt only has two holes in it and luckily is not one of her favorite tops. However, Nile has learned to listen to her superiors and to trust their decisions and it is natural that she sees Andy as her boss. The others do that too and with Andy's badass charisma and her iron will, it's no wonder. So, Nile slides behind the steering wheel and starts the car while Andy takes the passenger seat and Joe and Booker climb into the back seats. As soon as Nile drives off, she sees in the rearview mirror how Joe's knee jerks restlessly up and down and his dark gaze constantly scans the area outside the window. It is very likely that he will not relax until they have picked up Nicky. And Nile, who has often observed the centuries-old couple interacting with each other, cannot blame him. Nicky and Joe kind of come in twos and just like everything else they do, they're disgustingly cute even on missions. The alley in which they are supposed to pick up Nicky is a few minutes away from their place of work and is inconspicuous. The Italian acted as their sniper during this mission and was positioned in a skyscraper near the office complex, from where he had a perfect field of vision and the greatest possible range of fire. Nicky had been lying in wait there for three days because Copley had been unable to narrow down the time window for their target's arrival. Nile would have been too impatient for this job and is still wondering how Nicky manages to lie motionless for hours in front of a telescopic sight waiting for the one ideal shot, but the former crusader has more patience than anyone else Nile knows. Because of this, she was glad that she, Andy, Booker and Joe had to make sure that no one was around to make things as easy as possible. Nile would rather have something to do than to be condemned to wait somewhere and she would have gone mad in the sniper's nest that Nicky had set up in a small apartment. They haven't seen Nicky for three days, couldn't give up their covers to be ready at all times, and the separation from his husband pretty obviously gnaws at Joe. But even Nile cannot deny having missed Nicky, who is a calm and grounding constant in their small group. There is no way she can tell whether Nicky was bothered by being alone, the Italian is not a man of many words and mostly quiet, but she hates not having anyone to talk to and would probably have started talking with a bag of chips or a granola bar. Even though Nicky had been physically separated from them, his radio announcements had continued to be gentle and reassuring, and he had even joked with them - this man's humor is dry as a desert and comes out when Nile least expects it. As soon as she steers the car into the alley, Nicky steps out of the shadows of a building, equipment casually slung over his shoulder, but Nile can see that his steps are slow and exaggeratedly clear, as if struggling to walk properly. There is nothing she can do about the emerging worry in her stomach, but the worried flame is dimmed a little when she cannot see any blood on his clothes and finds no further signs of a fight on him. So, he's just exhausted. And Nile can handle that, she wouldn't feel differently after spending three days in one position either. Exhaustion is far better than any of the unexpected complications guns and death bring with them. The getaway car hasn't even come to a complete halt when Joe opens the back door and Booker gets up from his seat and makes himself comfortable on the floor, which Nile registers with furrowed eyebrows. Why does Booker sit on the floor when there's enough room in the back for him, Joe and Nicky? Especially since the sniper rifle and Nicky's backpack are just being stowed away in the trunk? "Ciao,” Nicky finally says quietly, the small smile that is so typical for him plays around the corners of his mouth and he steps in with a barely audible groan. "Hello, my heart," Joe replies warmly, his hands clasping Nicky's face and for a few seconds he and Nicky stay like this, their foreheads pressed together, breathing the same air and this gesture is more intimate than any couple action Nile has ever seen on the street or at her school. On closer inspection, Nile sees the dark circles under Nicky's light eyes, which make them appear even larger, and the lines of exhaustion that mark his face. Without thinking, she reaches back with one hand and gently squeezes his upper arm and Nicky grips her hand with his and gives her a soft look. "Were there any problems?" Andy asks when Joe closes the door and after Nicky carefully shakes his head, Andy turns around, puts a hand on his neck and kisses Nicky's forehead. It's over as fast as it started and Nile wonders if she just imagined it. “Well done, team. Then let's go, I want to take a fucking shower.” Nile obediently starts the car again but is still more than aware that Booker is sitting on the floor. The French pats Nicky, who sits heavily on the back seat, on his knee and nods at him with an encouraging smile and Nile's eyes almost fall out of her head when Nicky lifts his legs and lies down completely on the back seat. His head rests in Joe's lap, who softly whispers something to him in their personal language and caresses his head at regular intervals. He's too big to stretch out in the back seat, but Nicky doesn't seem to mind. With his knees slightly drawn up he lies on his side, his arms crossed over his chest and then he closes his eyes. When you live with people under the same roof, it is inevitable that at some point you will learn their sleeping habits and that is exactly why Nile stares at Nicky through the rearview mirror with an open mouth. The Italian is always the first to start the day and no matter what time Nile gets up, Nicky is always up before her in the kitchen and is already preparing coffee. Joe is as far from being a morning person as the earth is from Neptune and can sleep anywhere, in the most impossible positions. A bomb could go off next to him and Joe wouldn't even flinch. Booker has an irregular sleep rhythm, and this is also reflected in the times he gets up: sometimes he is at the breakfast table in the morning, then you don't see him until noon and occasionally he crawls out of his room for dinner. And Andy is scratchy like a fury if she doesn't get at least six hours of sleep and woe to those who deny her her precious sleep. Nile herself has fixed times to go to bed and get up, unless missions require otherwise. But of all of them Nicky is the lightest sleeper, immediately on alert when a suspicious noise sounds, a gun in hand, while Nile is still blinkingly trying to figure out her name. She has never seen him sleep so open outside of a safe house and that is a clear sign of how exhausting the three days must have been for him. Joe's muttered words are a pleasant background noise for Nile even if she doesn't understand the meaning, Joe's tender tone and loving gaze speak for themselves. Her attention is divided between the street and the back seat because somehow Nile can't get rid of the feeling that something important is going on there. Booker's hand is on Nicky's leg, and is the French drawing circles with his thumb on the skin hidden under the fabric? He has moved a little closer to the bench, as close as possible in the space between the back and the front seats and stares at the floor lost in thought as if he were touching Nicky unconsciously. Nonetheless, the naturalness of this gesture and the fact that Booker gave up the seat way earlier seem to come from some kind of repetition and Nile bites her tongue so as not to blurt out questions and thereby wake Nicky, whose slow breathing and relaxed limbs indicate that he really has fallen asleep . The intention to be as quiet as possible vanishes when Andy loosens her seat belt and makes as if to climb back over the center console. "What the...? Are you kidding me? Sit the fuck down again, Andy!” Nile protests and tries to prevent Andy with one hand from continuing her way and pushing her back onto her seat. The older warrior slaps her hand aside as if it were a fly and pays no attention to Nile's angry voice. "Keep your eyes on the road, kid," she instructs Nile and has already completely disappeared into the back. "Eyes on the road my ass!" Nile replies with a violent snort but puts her free hand back on the steering wheel. “Seat belts don't exist in cars for nothing, if you've noticed! And...” She falls silent, only now noticing how loud she has been talking and looks worriedly in the rearview mirror to check if Nicky has woken up. To her own astonishment, his eyes are still closed, one of his hands is now holding Joe's left hand tightly against his chest, fingers interlaced. "Don't worry, Nile," Joe says with a reassuring smile. “You don't have to be overly quiet. Just behave normally.” Nile is not convinced. She knows that a drop of water could wake Nicky. "Isn't Nicky going to wake up then?" She asks, her voice carefully lowered. "No," Booker replies, rearranging his position to make room for Andy without letting go of Nicky's leg. “At least not now. Nicky is a light sleeper, but after such missions he sleeps like a stone.” He laughs with a snort. “I once laid behind a sniper rifle for three hours and was exhausted. Nicky has just stared through a telescopic sight for three days in a row, if you don't count the short breaks." Nile dutifully looks at the street in front of them and turns on a blinker. “But why is he sleeping now? And doesn't wait until the safe house?” Nicky always checks double and triple whether all doors are locked, how best to sleep in order to better ward off possible attackers and he always lies between Joe and the door. Joe once told her that Nicky was a protector and that even if they were just shopping, Nicky would keep an eye on everything around them. So the fact that he is asleep in the backseat of a getaway car is more than unusual - even when he is exhausted. "Because he trusts us." Andy squeezes herself into the space next to Booker and supports herself with one hand on Joe's knee, the other curls around the curve of Nicky's shoulder. "He has faith that we will protect him and ourselves and that you will bring us safely to the safe house." Nile did not expect the emotional impact of this statement and drives for several seconds in silence to choke down the lump in her throat. That Nicky trusts her touches her more than she would admit and every time something like that happens – small gestures of affection from the others to her – she feels a little more at home. The immortals cannot replace her real family, but they are there for Nile and love her and Nile is amazed to find that she loves Andy, Booker, Nicky and Joe too. Their strange ability, the dreams, everything connects them, and Nile believes, not for the first time, that they really are not meant to be alone. "Then I'll try not to disappoint him, huh?" She asks jokingly, hoping to cover up her short, emotional dropout and is grateful when Joe deliberately takes the bait. He chuckles softly and pulls Nicky closer to him. "Nicolo would certainly be anything but thrilled if he woke up in a car that was about to hit a tree." "You're one to talk." Booker's laugh is interrupted by a grunt as Joe kicks him in the side. "When cars were invented, you and Andy made fun of driving them against obstacles." "It was fun,” Andy says with a grin as if it justified deliberately driving a car into walls or the like. “And who could have thought that cars would last? We thought it was a short-term invention and wanted to use it as long as it existed.” Nile shakes her head in disbelief, still not wanting to believe that these four people in the back seat have been on earth for centuries and have seen so many famous personalities, buildings or inventions. "If Nicky didn't sleep, I would now brake check you so that you could get what's coming," she informs the others dryly. "Hey, I didn't do anything," Booker protests. "At least wait until I have buckled up. Then I'll take Nicky and you can give Joe and Andy a concussion and bruises." "Nicky stays with me," Joe shrugs off Booker's suggestion amused and presses a very gentle kiss on Nicky's temple. Nile only sees the smile ghosting over Nicky's lips because she wants to make sure that Andy, who utters a kind of short bark, doesn't start a fight with Booker. Even in his sleep, Nicky's entire being is focused on Joe and Nile can't help but smile too. "Okay, when you children have calmed down again, you can tell me what the meaning of the touches is," she interrupts Andy's questionable explanation of the fact that she does not need a seat belt because there were no seat belts for horse backs back then either. "Touches?" Andy asks, peering over her shoulder through strands of dark hair at Nile. "What do you mean by that?" "What do I mean with...?" Nile starts in disbelief and then gestures at the immortals, as good as possible without taking her eyes off the traffic. “I can still understand that with Joe, after all, he and Nicky are basically married. But Booker hasn't let go of Nicky's leg since the beginning of the ride and you, Andy, climbed back to touch Nicky's shoulder.” Booker fixes his gaze on the said hand of his. "Oh," he says as if he is only now fully aware of what he is doing, but he doesn't pull his hand back. "That." “Yes, that,” Nile repeats. Hopefully in a few decades she will not be as slow on the uptake as the others can sometimes be. "Does it have a purpose? Do I have to know anything? Because if this is a polygamy thing, as a new member of this family I have a right to know." While Booker chokes in the back and Joe gives a surprised and open laugh, Andy doesn't flinch. "Don't shit yourself, kid, only Nicky and Joe fuck like rabbits in this family." Joe snorts. "Objection! Booker and you don't live like monks and nuns either. And besides, Nicky and I look a lot better than rabbits during sex.” "Oh god..." Nile mumbles, rolling her eyes and cursing herself for the mention of polygamy. "Can you just answer my question without talking about your sex life?" "You're the one who accused us of polygamy," Andy notes, but her focus is already back on Nicky, who hasn't moved a muscle in the whole time. "I didn't accuse you of polygamy," Nile defends indignantly, but feels embarrassed as her cheeks get hot. It's good that it's not as noticeable for her as it is when Nicky blushes. "Yes...uh, to get back to your question," Booker luckily intervenes and saves Nile from further embarrassing stuttering, even though he doesn't do a better job. “Nicky...uh...doesn't particularly like it when he's apart from us. He then has the feeling that he is not...uhm..." He looks for help at Andy, who ignores him and caresses Nicky's shoulder, so that Booker turns to Joe to find a suitable phrase. "Nicky then has the feeling that he couldn't protect us so well,” Joe finishes the sentence and looks down at Nicky with a gentle smile, he seems to be addressing his next words directly to the Italian instead of Nile or the others. “That is of course not true, after all he watches over us with eagle eyes, ready to eliminate any danger from his sniper's nest. But Nicky has always tended to worry too much.” Nile can feel the warmth of the immense devotion in his dark eyes in the front and has the feeling of observing something very intimate between him and Nicky, whereby the Italian continues to be deep and sound asleep.

In sleep every person has a vulnerability that shows how fragile life is and seeing Nicky sleeping so openly without a gun in his reach, because he feels safe with them, makes Nile's heart beat with joy. "So, you touch him afterwards to show him that he is no longer separated from you?" She asks and is amazed at the gentle tone of her voice, which has adapted to the atmosphere in the car, which suddenly goes deeper than fun foolery. Although she can only see Andy's profile from the side, she recognizes the thoughtful nod anyway. "Yes," Andy says, her steely gray eyes rest on Nicky with a tenderness that the older one does not show so often. “We got into the habit of touching him after such missions, so Nicky knows that his family is there. And he doesn't have to worry.”

Read more on AO3 ;)

#the old guard #family feels #everyone is soft #team as family #Nile #Nicky #Joe #Andy #Booker #fanfiction #may trust be my blanket

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

Text

I Like Surprises Too (Sriracha, Part 44.)

Series description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could keep you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Diane was gone just right after she came for a visit, but there was still more to go through.

A/N: I just wanna be done with the series, tbh.

Word count: 2.4 K

Tagging: @nemodoren, @missdictatorme, @ysljordy, @creedslove, @hopperlover, @btchsm, @rita-lean

Master list: H E R E

Series playlist: Jim Hopper 😠

IMAGE SOURCE

For the first time forever, you were afraid to come home. The last time you were so terrified of opening the doors was when Hopper drove you after you've puked all over his beloved Blazer. It was logical for you not to come home - you were standing in front of Harrington’s house, more specifically in front of a building where he had rented a flat, and waited for Robin to open up the door for you.

She came there only in her t-shirt and pajama shorts, her eyes were still glued together by sleepers and she was looking... Awful. Both her and Steve were extremely worried about seeing you at their hour in such an unholy hour, but she ran down to open the door for you. And the worse it got when Robin noticed that you had mascara all over your place, your face was colorless and your hands were shakily holding three cups of coffee and doughnuts from a Dunkin' Donuts. It was obvious that you and Hopper argued.

Without questions, Robin took you in and helped you with the sweets you brought. Steve was pleased to see you, so after he hugged you, he took off your coat and offered you a shower, getting you some of his clothes. Which was something so nice of him that you cried again? And the boy was wondering what did he do wrong.

"Spill the tea, sister. Let the council judge you." - Robin said, already spread all over the lazy chair while eating one of the donuts. So, you talked - about Diane just appearing out of nowhere with a kid, about Hopper drinking... And the small part when you shouted at him that you're pregnant.

"Oh, fuck." - Robin sighed, sitting straight by the end of the story. - "Oh, fuck indeed." - You answered, drinking your cup without caffeine. Steve was looking at you with a shocked furrow. - "You're pregnant? I'll be an uncle?" - Suddenly, he was on his feet, walking around the room. This was the reaction you expected from hopper - pure happiness.

"Robin, you and I will be the best uncle and aunt in the Hawkins, I tell you. Is it a boy or a girl?" - He sat next to you, his eyes shining at the question. Jesus, the boy was something, but you loved the energy. With tears in your eyes, you smiled at him and shook your head.

"I'll tell you as soon as I know something, deal?" - You asked back, having steve falling into a rant about taking the kid to restaurants, swimming pool, teaching them to play basket, and how to pick up girls... And Robin was just laughing at that. In the middle of his ranting, you've fallen asleep - night shifts were a bitch. It was quite funny when Robin and Steve was co-operating to get you into his bed, whisper-shouting at each other because Robin thought you'll bang your head into the doorframe every second. In the end, you were there, safe and sound.

It was around midday when Hopper called the if they have seen you. Eleven reported to Jim that you hadn't shown up the whole day, so Jim rode his daughter to your mum's - so she wouldn't be home alone since it was fall break starting.

Since Steve would tell Hopper all he wanted to know, because that boy was a little bitch, Robin told James the most innocent 'no' of her life before promising she'd call him when you'd appear at their place. You got up around two in the afternoon, smelling something Robin was cooking. Steve was nowhere to be found, presumably being at his shift in the VHS store.

"That looks good." - You hummed and realized how hungry you were. Robin nodded at you with confidence, serving you a plate of her risotto. - "I should go home, shouldn't I?" - You asked silently when you had half of the plate inside, having Robin look at you carefully.

"I kinda wanna tell you you can stay here... But you should go home, yeah." - The girl fixed a few strands of her hair. - "Listen... This isn't a thing about which someone calms down in a few days. This is a baby on its way. A new life you and he created. Even if you'd keep him in the dark for a little longer, he'd get to know eventually. You'd got bigger, you'd have swollen feet and Hopper isn't a dumb guy at all. So, go home, wait for him, talk to him. You'll make it work, at least I hope so." - Robin supported you with the purest tone you've ever heard. - "And if don't, we and Steve can help you with the baby. He's a damn good babysitter." - The girl tried to cheer you up once she saw other tears in your eyes. Geez, these hormones were doing things to you, didn't they?

Soon after the delicious lunch, you set on your way home. What should you expect? Him yelling at you? Will it be a heated argument full of bad words? He already told you that you were acting like a bitch into the phone, so it was quite possibly the words will get harsher from face to face. Was he looking for you when you were gone? Or was he at home? He was sure worrying for you, you knew Jim wouldn't be calm about you just disappearing even for the morning...

It was quite a surprise to find his car missing in the driveway. He had a day off, or at least you remembered so, so it was quite surprising to finding the home completely silent. El was at your parents' and you let her stay there - it wasn't a good idea to call her to come home before talking to James about the whole baby thing.

You were nervously looking around the house, calling out his name to see if he isn't hidden somewhere out there, but the house was empty. - "Well, fuck." - You whispered to yourself. It was an hour later, an hour of nervous waiting later, when you heard him pulling onto the driveway. And at that moment, it didn't seem that you were sitting in the kitchen for an hour. The panic inside of you intensified almost instantly. Every sound coming from the outside was strumming through your ears like fucking Chinese gong. The stopping of a car motor, the opening of the door, and James' frantic footsteps as he realized that you were finally inside the damn house. You would swear that you heard him talk to himself, but you wouldn't swear that.

The front door opened in the following minute. This sound made your heart stop. Were you ever so scared? No, damn, this was horror at its best. Dear Lord, you closed your eyes for a second - your palm gently rubbed your belly, please don't let us argue. And don't let this relationship end. It would mean the world to me. There was not a single percent of you being religious, but when you saw Jim's shadow in the main hall, you suddenly started to pray to every god you ever heard about.

When he saw you sitting at the table with your nose red, he almost started the conversation by telling you that you look like Rudolf the reindeer. Yet he rather just put his bag down and went to hug you with a great force. One of his palms ruffled your hair as he took in the scent of your perfume. It was just one day and Jim was already going crazy from not smelling it. - "I was lookin' for you everywhere. Jesus fuckin' Christ." - The man pushed you off his chest just so he could palm your face, looking you in the eyes. Your face was already falling into an emotionally unstable expression as you started to cry almost immediately.

"I was worried to come here." - And there you were. There it was. The quiet, basically meowling, tiny voice which indicated that you're not only terrified but guilty as well. This side of you was not to be seen too often. It was possible for the second time Jim was ever seeing this behavior. You shut up, listened, and you were able to say 'yep, I've fucked up too, I've messed up, let's just talk about it'. And honestly, it felt very good. - "I didn't want to argue, again. After you called me a bitch... And the stuff I've said." - You almost rolled your eyes out when Jim chuckled at what you've said, yet he was quick to smooth your shoulders to calm your down. - "We've argued way worse than this. Come on. This was nothin'."

"But the matter is something, Jim. I should've done it differently. I should've told you maybe... Before Diane came here. But I was shitting myself with fear." - The way you clung onto him was almost heartbreaking. It was incredibly sweet, yet done out of fear - it was the fear of losing him. - "I would be terrified too." - The man mumbled into the back of your head, closing his eyes. If I would be pregnant, I mean. Tellin' you would be the worst thing that had ever met me, probably." - The man whispered. This speculation made you grin.

Sure, you two could argue. You could yell at each other for hours to come to no avail. You could tell each other rather nasty things, be very mean and angry. Or you could turn it into a joke. A happy occasion if you will.

Sure, having a baby was far from an actual joke, but you got what Jim was trying to do. He wasn't the most excited to do it again, mainly because of the everlasting fear regarding Sara, but he was happy that he was going through this by your side. A kid. Wow. A damn kid.

"I'm sorry for gettin' so drunk. I fucked that up." - The man whispered as he moved strands of your hair from side to side. - "Sorry for acting like a hysteric bitch. I should've trusted you with Diane. And I failed." - You answered after a while, sighing quite loudly. Carefully, you tiptoed to kiss him, closing your eyes as you leaned into the kiss itself.

"'s alrite. I was probably more confused than you, baby." - Jim's thumbs gently smoothed the sweet spots under your eyes, massaging your skin in the process. He was unbelievably gentle with you. As if you could break under his fingers any minute. - "You acted without thinkin', but yeah, I can be a fuckin' asshole sometimes." - James admitted sincerely, having this small sweet small light inside his eyes.

This man has admired you for some time now. And the more time passed by, the more years you've spent together, the more love he had in himself. It took him a few more weeks to adjust himself to the whole pregnancy situation. And yes, occasionally, there were some misunderstandings and small arguments between the two of you, but would you be a married couple if you didn't have these?

Diane called here and thereafter her visit, still climbing on Jim's nerves and getting inside his head, but these calls lasted less and less time every time it repeated. Eventually, she stopped calling completely. And since then, there was no doubt in your mind about James and his intentions.

What about the other acknowledging that soon, you'll be a mom? Eleven was over her heels. The girl always adored small kids. She loved spending time with them and every time she met some downtown, she stopped just to chat with the kid or to make faces at them. Having a younger sibling almost sent her to another dimension.

Mike and the other kids were regularly happy. Kids were cool... Unless they were younger siblings. Lucas had miss Erica as his sister while Mike had Holly, of both the brothers had to occasionally had to take care. Both the boys realized that over time, Eleven will have to spend her time with the small kid too. And they would most likely have to look after them.

Yet the young gentlemen were so cavalierish that they managed to overcome themselves and to promise you that they'd sometimes look after the kid. You managed to seal a deal with them, pre-planning them as occasionally, fully paid nannies - although your concern about what they'd do with the kid was growing more and the time as you heard what they plan to teach the kid.

Over time, as expected, you grew larger and larger. You grew so much that you had to move your seat in behind the steering just to fit there. Any of your coats and blouses didn't fit you anymore and over the time, you needed to buy some preggy jeans. When you had a worse day than you usually did, which you could recognize based on your back pain, Jim tried his best to help you with the household - he could do dishes, do the laundry and when he was feeling courageous, he tried to cook something. It was nice of him, yes, but he didn't know how to cook at all. Even Eleven could cook better than him. Sometimes, when you woke up from your slumber, you just saw black smoke coming from the kitchen and you knew what James was up to.

Slowly, the time when you couldn't go to work anymore came by. It wasn't that you were sat down on a wheelchair all day or something - but it was quite hard to run around the hospital and to interwiev kids all day. But that didn't take anything from your charming personality - James made sure he behaves or he could be schooled like a small kid. You didn't care how long would it take, but you would have an elaborate lecture all night if needed. It was one silent, calm night when it came.

#jim hopper #jim hopper imagine #jim hopper x reader #james jim hopper #robin burke #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things hopper #stranger things netflix #jim hopper stranger things #eleven hopper #jane hopper #jane ives #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #will byers #joyce byers

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i-never-look-away · 4 years

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Home Is The Nicest Word There Is

This fic was inspired by this picture of Tyler. All I want is for Michael to see Alex and Buffy like this one day.

Thank you, thank you to all my amazing family at the junkyard for all of your encouragement. It’s meant the world to me you have no idea. This fluffy mess is for you.

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Michael gets home later than he has in a long time. Ever since word got out that he was quite the handyman, he's had more work than he knows what to do with. But once he and Alex finally got it together and stopped kidding themselves into believing they could stay away and be anything less than completely and utterly in love with each other, they both made it a goal of theirs' to be done with work at a reasonable time so that they could always spend their evenings together or with their friends. It mostly is a rule they can stick with, except on days like today when an emergency keeps him out and getting home late.

Home, he thinks again and it brings him up short. It’s winter in Roswell and while it’s not snowing, the temperature is frigid at the best of times. It's the kind of cold that stays with you, that settles into your bones and makes you feel like you’ll never be warm again. But just one look at the cabin is already starting to fill a warmth in him. To say he never thought he’d have this life is one thing, but to say he never thought he’d have this with Alex is probably the understatement of his life. It was always a desire he tried his best not to let his mind get too carried away with. But in dreams and lonely nights where the bottom of the bottle was his close companion he would imagine the life they could have. The home they could build for themselves.

They haven’t been back together all that long. They’re going on 4 months next week. But their hearts have been together for more than a decade. Once Alex finally kissed him to shut him up while Michael was nervously trying and failing spectacularly at asking him out for real, they both knew they were finally on the same page this time. They both were in this for good. They managed to last all of a month before Michael moved all of his stuff into the cabin.

He's so eager to get inside that he uses his powers to unlock and open the door as he's walking up the steps. He’s only partly prepared for the sight that greets him the second he walks in.

It’s pretty much a guarantee that their beagle Buffy will spend every moment possible by the fire they have most evenings. The amount of times friends have shown up at the cabin to find them curled up together on the couch while Buffy keeps watch over the fire is enough that the word domestic has been thrown around on more than one occasion. They mean to lovingly tease, but it's pretty much everything that either Michael or Alex have ever wanted with each other so they happily agree.

Despite knowing that Buffy's comfortable and cozy on the rug in front of the fireplace, Alex always drapes a blanket over her so she's taken to facing the fire as she sleeps.

This time though she has her back to the fire and the reason why is laying right in front of her. Alex has joined her on the floor, arm curled around her while she rests her paws on his chest. They both seem to be asleep and it is the most achingly soft sight he's seen that he can't help but let out a contented sigh. Buffy stirs and lifts her head to see him, but that's about all the acknowledgment she can give him before she lays her head back down and scoots a little closer to Alex.

"I'd be offended if it was anyone else, but I get it, girl. I wouldn't move if I was laying next to Alex either. Just remember that next time you insist on making me get out of bed and let you out when I have an armful of him first thing in the morning." he whispers as he toes off his boots and removes his coat.

As he makes his way over slowly, his eyes zero in on a patch of skin at Alex's hip that has become exposed with the way that his shirt has ridden up. He knows every inch of Alex, has taken an up-close and personal approach to memorize each of those inches with his teeth, tongue, and lips and has had one on one sessions with that very exposed patch. And yet just catching a glimpse is still normally all it takes to have him ready to go.

But tonight all he can feel is affection as he takes in the whole picture. Deep to his core love for the man in front of him.

As gracefully as he can he lays down behind Alex but despite being as quiet as possible, Alex is a light sleeper, something that followed him from when he was in the Air Force, when Michael is not next to him and so he hears a soft,

"Mmmmm, you’re home."

As if Michael wasn’t already aware of how far gone he is for this man and this life he now gets to have, his heart stuttering at the raspy loving way that Alex says the words is just another sign he can add to his very long list.

This cabin was given to Alex as a safe space from the hurt and turmoil he endured for most of his life and he will never take for granted Alex referring to it as his home now too, knowing that a big part of what makes Alex feel safe now is Michael himself sharing his bed and his life with him.

He pulls him close, sliding his hand down to skim his fingers along the exposed skin at his hip before Alex tangles their fingers together and turns his head slightly so Michael can lean over him and catch his lips in a soft kiss before laying his head down and burying it in Alex's soft hair.

"I'm finally home, and now I've got you in my arms, where we both belong. I'm never letting you go again."

Alex snorts and he swears he can feel the affectionate eye roll even if he can’t see it. “You’re such an overdramatic sap, Guerin.”

"Only for you."

"No you’re pretty much always overdramatic," he says before he jolts a little at the nip Michael gives his shoulder with that comment.

"Some may say sap, I say hopeless romantic, and that, my beloved, has always been only for you."

"Lucky me," Alex whispers with so much conviction that Michael couldn’t try to pretend that he was teasing even if he wanted to. Neither has gotten completely used to how comfortable the other is at vocalizing their love. What once was kept hidden behind closed doors and careful phrases is now expressed openly and with free and sincere words.

Michael responds by kissing him on the back of the neck which has Alex humming.

"How did she manage to talk you into laying on the floor babe?"

"Mmmmm. Well, we were both commiserating all evening over missing you, decided to wallow in our misery on the floor together and then I guess I might have dozed off," Alex murmurs, and it's Michael's turn to laugh a little.

"Quite the welcome home for supposedly missing me so much," he teases.

"How about I make it up to you tomorrow, show you just how much I missed you tonight," Alex somehow manages a hint of mischief despite the fact that not even looking at his face, Michael can already tell that he's half asleep again.

He knows they’ll both regret it in the morning if they fall asleep here, they have the most comfortable bed that either of them has ever slept on waiting in their room for them. And while they may still be young, nothing about a hard wooden floor is forgiving after spending too long on it. They learned that the hard way after christening the entire cabin when Michael moved in. Michael insisted it was quantity that had them barely able to move the next day, but Alex proved him wrong one weekend when they stayed in their bed the entire time and still were able to walk (mostly) at the end.

"I'm gonna hold you to that."

"You can hold me to anything you want," Alex tries to flirt back, even wiggling his hips with as much enthusiasm as he can and Michael shakes with laughter at the line that his love clearly thought passed for sexy.

They both settle back down and a deep yawn from Michael alerts him that he doesn't have too long before he's going to be out too.

"We should probably get up and head to bed," Michael mumbles, trying for the life of him not to get too settled in this moment.

"Yeah probably."

Neither makes a move and if anything Alex grips his hand even tighter as Michael burrow his face into his neck and lets any lingering exhaustion from the day finally slip away for good.

Five more minutes he says to himself as he uses his powers to float a pillow and blanket to throw over them.

Buffy spares them both one more glance before moving closer to Alex as Michael covers her with the blanket as well and pulls them both as close to him as they can get. She slowly starts to snore as Michael drifts off, warm and at peace, surrounded by all the love and security he ever hoped to have whenever he dreamed about finding his home.

#malex #malex fic #my fic #roswell nm #i actually tried to write something

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mama-chan · 4 years

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Hello Neighbor: One-Shot Trafalgar Law x OC

Law was not having fun no. For him, those places weren’t entertaining a bit, but as always, he had been dragged here by his two friends and didn’t have the strength to argue with Shachi and Penguin this night. Now he was here, sipping one of those cocktails with too much alcohol in it , looking at the people pretending to dance, but really just trying to rub themselves against each other in an attempt to sparkle something fun, while his friends tried to find girls in the crowd.

But when this girl that seemed oddly familiar to him, just crushed herself on his laps, obviously not sober, he felt a smile crumple on his lips. Maybe this night will finally start to be a bit more interesting. He took a good look at her while she was trying to recover her composure after falling on him, she had long light pink wavy hair but he could see from her roots that she was a brunette, brown eyes clouded by the alcohol and a body pretty average but still appreciable.

She seemed lost and Law just waited for her to realize what happened, maybe see her flustered face? But she just looked at him and frowned angrily at him.

-What are you trying to do to me?!

Ok, he was not expecting to be yelled at, that’s for sure. Well he won’t complain, he wanted something new, he definitely found it.

-Nothing, you fell on me actually. Are you wasted? You’re not alone here, right? Where are you friends?

She seemed to have some kind of realization and she left her frown to just sit comfortably beside him on the bench.

-I am alone. My “friends”, apparently left me here to prank me after making me drink like a fish… My bad, don’t know why I thought that this time they would be nice.

Law didn’t understand everything, but this girl was kind of out of the ordinary, talking to a stranger like he was her confident. Was it the alcohol talking? Somehow, he knew that she was also like that when she was sober.

-Just a quick tip, don’t tell a stranger that you are alone and totally wasted in a bar. You are lucky I’m not kidnapping you or anything. He teased her.

She chuckled a little and gave him a look of defiance.

-You don’t look like the type to do something so low. Too much pride in you.

And that’s it, that’s the moment Law knew she was as interesting as she seemed to be when he saw her in the morning many time, running for whatever reason out of the building, screaming that she was late (like always). He recognized her pink hair and strange way of laughing. This was definitely the girl from the apartment next to his, he always thought she was an original, from what he has heard coming from her place through the thin walls and from seeing her running off to god knows where at the same hour every day and still managing to be late.

Well now, that was a good reason to leave no? Taking a poor girl back home? And he didn’t even had to make a detour.

-Do you know how you will get back home?

-Actually… No idea… Why?

-Do you want me to take you home?

She gave him a suspicious look. Well he did look suspicious now that he rewinds the scene. He just told her to be careful with strangers and now he casually just contradicts himself by proposing these.

-It would have been nice but…

And out of nowhere she just…Puked. Thank god not on him, but still that was NOT a pleasant experience. She seemed exhausted from that and just plopped her head on his laps once again, but this time with the intention of taking a nap apparently. Law did try to keep her awake, but she was a heavy sleeper apparently…

Great… His plan to escape was even more convincing now, but he also had to lift her there…

~~~~~

Well he was in front of her door, but she was still asleep and wouldn’t wake up. Should he look for her keys in her trousers? He tried but found nothing, not even her phone. Now that he thinks about it, her outfit was quite fitting, and didn’t seem to leave any space to put any phones, wallet or keys. Great, she didn’t have her bag, and so obviously any of her belongings.

Guess he will have to babysit tonight… He sighs resigned and reached for his keys in his back pocket, struggling to keep the girl in piggyback ride with just one arm supporting her dead weight, and finally opened the door to his studio.

He placed her on the bed and just left her to her nap while he got changed in his bathroom. He got rid of hist black shirt and pants and just put on some jogging; he usually sleeps in boxers but he will have to do with that for the night. But he definitely won’t put a t-shirt, he was nice but not to this point.

When he got back in the other room, he froze in front of the scene before him. The girl was now struggling to get her feet out of her tight jeans and already got rid of her uncomfortable top, lying on the floor far from her. Law let a low growl escaped his throat while his hand sloppily slides on his face in exasperation.

He took one of his shirts in his closet and approached her. After some effort and protestations from her, completely ignored by the tanned man, she was now in a burgundy shirt, visibly too large for her, as a pajama. Law couldn’t resist to a little peeking; she looked quite sexy and cute like that with her hair going wild from the fighting before. He immediately felt a bit ashamed not being able to control himself, and not wanting to take advantage of a woman obviously not in a normal state of mind.

-Let’s just go to bed.

She nodded in response, apparently still a bit sleepy from the alcohol, and got under the covers quickly followed by Law. She didn’t even ask why she was here, but somehow her curiousness got on other subject.

-How old are you?

-24… mumbled Law already closing his eyes, but she hadn’t finished yet.

-Ho, you are older huh. I’m 22.

-Don’t care, just sleep.

-I forgot to brush my teeth I can’t sleep…

Law really contained himself from murdering the women beside him. He just gave her instruction on the bathroom, telling her where to find a new brush and all, and she just got off bed to go do what she had to do. She wasn’t even cautious and trying to be silent, in fact, if Law didn’t already know she was like that at her home, he would have sworn she was doing it on purpose.

When she finally came back, he let himself relaxed, ready to take back where he was left before, but she apparently wanted to chit chat, in the middle of the night.

-what do you do in life?

-Seriously now? You really think this is the right time to do random talk?

-I can’t sleep in the same bed as someone I don’t even have a clue of who they are.

-Shouldn’t you start with my name if that’s the case?

-…… What’s your name?

Law facepalmed internally but responded to the demand, if it could help him sleep faster, he would even give her access to her social media account.

-I’m Trafalgar Law. I study to become a surgeon.

-Huh…

He opened one eye and looked at her direction.

-You’re not going to tell me who you are?

-I… Thought you didn’t care so…

-Now that I told you who I am might as well know who I’m sleeping with too.

-I’m Alicia Parker and I study literature. I-I want to become a writer…

She looked at him biting her lips anxiously, like she was apprehending something. He raised an eyebrow with a questioning look.

-What?

-Nothing, it’s just that I’m used to people laughing or judging me so…

He closed his eyes and replied:

-Why should I? There are writers in the world, why wouldn’t you be one? I would be more concerned if you had told me you wanted to be a unicorn like a teenager.

She chuckled to this, again, this strange sound. She really has a unique laugh.

-No offense but you seemed like a big playboy when I first look at you.

How was he supposed to take that exactly?

-No worries, you seemed like a big virgin to me. Still think you are one though…

He smirked through his tease, to be honest he never thought that once, but he wouldn’t let the pink mess beside him get away with that, even if she was kind of right. He heard an outraged gasped, making his smirked grow bigger.

-I am certainly not! Even if there is no shame in being a virgin, I refuse to let you be this condescending! I had sex and I’m great at it!

He was fighting a laugh from escaping his mouth, this was more information than what he needed to know, but it was priceless. She was really something.

-Yeah sure, I believe you.

-Is that a challenge? It’s not because you look like a demi-god that you can look down on others!

Again, more information than what he asked, but it was a pleasant comparison, so he let it slide.

-Maybe.

Honestly? He should have seen what came after. She was still a bit elevated by the alcohol and he clearly invited her to do so. But still, the feeling of her lips on his and feeling her sitting on him was a real surprise, a pleasant one that his to say. He shouts his eyes wide open, frozen for the second time tonight. He had to admit she was fairly good at that.

Suddenly, his competitiveness awoke, and not wanting to lose, he kissed her back more vigorously, biting her lip and forcing his way through them to encounter her tongue. He let his hands cup her head, but without even realizing it, he lost control of them during the kiss, and they started to make their way to her hips, tracing her body through the process.

It was when he heard her moan at the gesture, that he finally came back to reality and decided that this was his cue to stop, before doing something they might unfortunately both regret tomorrow. But she was visibly a sour looser, and she fought back to keep their lips together, putting everything in it and unconsciously giving slight rub to his crotch with hers. Law swore it was the first time he felt this close to pleasure with just a kiss. He couldn’t help the moan/growl that slipped from him.

She stopped everything and just fell back to her place, leaving Law awestruck.

-I win… She murmured closing her eyes.

She couldn’t do that, not after this! Law was shocked, the effect that that girl had on him was just unbelievable. And she was sleeping like a baby now. He huffed and gave up, he couldn’t compete with people like that, she was like a feminine version of Luffy, but in a more mature version. He finally found some sleep and he took it with great pleasure.

~~~~~

The next morning, Law was woken up by a loud thud. He looked beside him, guessing the source of the noise, but all he could see was feet up in the air. He frowned confused and look over the bed, finding an Alicia gapping at him with eyes wide open.

-What? He yawned.

-What do you mean what?! Where am I? Where are we?! DID WE?!

She looked panicked, and law couldn’t help a smile. Now, will he tease her again or not? He resigned himself, and decided to just tell her the truth.

-You drank too much at the bar and I took you at my place after you fell asleep on me. I sheltered you for the night because you forgot your bag at the club. We didn’t do anything, although you did strip in front of me.

He smirked again, he couldn’t help the last tease, and finally being able to see her flustered face was a nice prize to be honest. She had an illumination and panicked made its return in her eyes.

-HO MY GOD! What time is it? I have uni at 11!

Law grabbed his fun squinting his eyes from the aggressive light and responded:

-Almost 9 A.M.

-Ho no! By the time I go back at my place, I may have no time to shower or take a breakfast! I need to eat! I feel like I didn’t eat in the last three days!

-Well, you did throw up a lot last night.

Again, a tease, and a bit of a lie, she just throw up once, but her facial expression were priceless.

-Ho my god I’m so sorry! I will give you my number and I will pay you back somehow, I promise!

He watched her fighting with her jeans trying to be as fast as possible.

-Hoooo… Whyyyy meeee… I must take back my purse then go to my apartment and…

She continued her monologue, still in a hurry, and Law started to understand how she managed to always be late.

-Just so you know, you are not as far from your apartment as you seem to think.

She gave him a questioning look.

-How would you know that? Did I told you where I live? Are you a stalker?

Starting to lose control again and still being late in her mind, she opened with willingness the door of the apartment and stopped. She knew this view. It was the same as hers. She looked to her right and recognized the aligned doors, but most importantly her door. With her little rug in front of it.

-Hello Neighbor. She heard him chanting behind her.

#trafalgar law #one shot #fanfiction #oc #law #one piece

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tealin · 4 years

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Long Trail to McMurdo, Part 5: Getting There

At 5.45 on the morning of November 13th, I hauled my newly repacked luggage to the Antarctic passenger terminal to check in. Once ticked off the list, I had to find my two orange ECW bags from the other day and put on the parka, overalls, and bunny boots which were required to be worn on the flight. The rest of my stuff was sorted into four categories:

Carry-on – the items to keep with you at your seat on the plane. These can come in as many pieces as you want, but they all have to fit at once in a prescribed volume, measured by a plywood box at the CDC. Anything that doesn't fit in that box has to be checked.

Checked – Just like on a commercial flight, checked luggage gets stowed with the cargo and you are reunited with it at your destination. Unlike a commercial flight, even if your flight is cancelled or turned around in midair, you still won't see it until you arrive in Antarctica, because one it's been palletized it's a right old pain to get it out again. This is why you have a . . .

Boomerang Bag – Weather in Antarctica is extremely unpredictable, and as we have learned this year, aircraft maintenance can be, too. Sometimes you can be well on your way when a blizzard swoops onto the airfield and the flight has to turn around back to New Zealand. This is called a 'boomerang.' As your checked luggage will stay checked until you arrive in Antarctica, it is therefore wise to pack a few days' worth of clothes and toiletries in a separate bag which will be checked but not palletized, in case you end up with a prolonged holiday in Christchurch.

Leave in Chch – It's summer in New Zealand and also summer in Antarctica, but the former can be quite warm while the latter is well below freezing. Therefore there are probably clothes you won't be needing until you get back to New Zealand, and these are kept for you at the CDC until you return. I left my two skirts, a light cotton shirt, sandals, and antihistamine.

Once everyone was dressed and all our bags were appropriately tagged and checked, we were given our boarding passes and released to have breakfast at the strip mall around the corner. It was a rather quiet and rugged-looking bunch who poured into the trim café that morning; I wonder what the more casual visitors must have thought.

Then we were back to watch another video – I have seen so many of these now I forget what this one was about – probably the Antarctic Treaty, which is an agreement between all the nations that operate in Antarctica to preserve it for peaceful science and not to claim sovereignty over it. This makes it one of the few things that North and South Korea agree on.

After the video, we queued for security, which was much like any security queue at any small airport, with the exception of the refreshingly low-tech boarding pass check. Once through the metal detectors and hand luggage scan, we boarded a school bus which was old enough I might have taken it on a field trip as a kid, to be taken out to the waiting C-17.

We passed the lame C-17 on the way to our shiny new Hawaiian one.

Had I been quicker into the queue, I might have got onto this very special private-hire city bus:

On the way into the plane we were each given a bagged lunch and some earplugs. The C-17 is not designed for passenger comfort, and we would be flown south in close proximity to four enormous jet engines. The hearing protection was appreciated.

There were about ten rows of forward-facing seats in the plane, but I wanted the proper C-17 experience so I made my way to the line of lengthways seats behind them. We shared the fuselage with the cargo, and it became apparent why, once bags were checked, they weren't coming out again.

Just like on a commercial flight, we got the standard flight safety briefing, only our cabin crew were a pair of Guardsmen straight from central casting. Turns out, even on a C-17, the life vests are under the seats and are inflated by pulling on the toggle, but as there are no overhead lockers, the oxygen masks are in a compartment in the wall behind your head. Now you know.

There were quite a few first timers on my flight, but it was obvious who the experienced polar travellers were, because they knew the most comfortable way to get some shuteye and got right to it. More sleepless ones had books or e-readers. The man next to me was reading quite an interesting history of the leadup to WWI from a naval perspective, but the book that most caught my interest (by which I mean, it made me laugh out loud when I saw the title) was a few seats up from me.

It was a strange thing to take off on a plane with no windows. We evidently turned a few corners, and we seemed to taxi the entire length of the runway before turning around to take off, but when they hit the gas, WOW did we ever go!

I had noble intentions of polishing off a good chunk of Worst Journey during the five-hour trip down, but the suspense of the last few days and the early morning soon caught up with me, and I joined the sleepers instead. When I woke up, I noticed a cluster of people around the porthole aft of my seat. Had we reached Antarctica?

YES.

Not long after this, we got the announcement that we were beginning our descent, so it was back to seats and on with ECW and seatbelts. For such an enormous bird, the landing was admirably smooth, and once all post-landing checks had been completed, the hatch was opened. Long before we felt the cold, we could see our breath in the air, as the moisture levels in the cabin met the declining temperature. I had read about how stepping off the plane was like walking into a wall of cold, so I'd put on my balaclava and goggles, but when my turn came to start down the gangway, I realised it was actually quite mild. Not what one would expect for being . . .

IN ANTARCTICA!

A low ceiling of cloud obscured the tops of the mountains, but all the same I had much the same experience as I had when I first came out of the tunnel into Lyttelton, as suddenly all my reading and reference photos slammed into place. There was Observation Hill, and up along the Hut Point Peninsula a surprisingly large square promontory – that's why they call it Castle Rock! Windless Bight, White Island (it's white!) and Black Island (it's black!) and though I couldn't see its stripey dome, what was obviously the foot of Mt Discovery. And my feet, standing on the snow of the Barrier! I barely had time to be surprised how close everything was before our gaggle of shuffling scarlet penguins was ushered onto an enormous red people mover and we started our ride to McMurdo.

The windows were above eye level but if I stretched up I could see out. It turned out this was not a an effective strategy, as within a few minutes they had fogged up and I could only see through a narrow strip at the bottom. That may have been the more exciting way to come in to town, as the teasing glimpses of turquoise pressure ridges and the piebald slopes of the Gap suggested more than they revealed.

We pulled up outside big blue Building 155, the hub of activity in McMurdo, and as I stepped out into the light flurry of snow, there was Observation Hill with the Polar Party's memorial cross positively looming over everything. My coordinator, who had worked tirelessly all through the summer to line up resources for my visit and calm me down every time there was a hiccup with my medical, met me with an enormous hug, and I had a little cry on her shoulder. Here I was at last.

#mcmurdo #mcmurdo station #antarctica #united states antarctic program #usap #c-17 #airplanes #aerospace #kress #travel

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