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contentconsumer · 2 years

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a second chance (ii)

a/n: part 2! sorry it’s not very long but i’m still tryna get the dynamic flowing but overwhelmed steve and comedic dialogue have my heart.

word count: 2.6k(ish)

requested?: no but requests are open and my prompt list can be found here

pairing: steve harrington x f!reader

warnings?: nosebleed? jason?

read part one here

The day had finally arrived. Jason, alongside his jock friends, entered during the middle of your shift meaning you didn’t waste any time in calling Steve at Family Video to come visit, to ‘keep an eye on them.’ you said.

As Steve walked across the retail park to the diner you worked at, his mind moved 1000mph. He had spent the past week trying out different apologies to Robin, each ending with an elaborate way to ask you out but they all got the same response from his best friend, “Ew no. You can’t say that she’ll probably hate you more creep.” Therefore, even as he speedwalked over, he still had nothing, no flirty pick up line, no useful complement, nothing. It was like his mind went blank when it came to you. He snapped out of his thoughts as the sound of the bell on the door rang and you were alerted of his presence. He found himself with his jaw slack, previously when he visited you were sporting your own clothes on top of your uniform but now seeing you in a slightly baggy black polo, a apron hung lazily off your hips and jeans that were just tight enough that his mind yet again pulled a blank. “Hey Harrington” You nod a small smirk shooting towards the flustered boy, before he had time to respond you nodded towards a seat that was close to the bar.

He pulled it out and sat down still watching you, “You gonna uh say anything?” You question, “Yeah,” He sighs, “All good?” Worry begins to lace his features as he glances around the shop floor, eyes settling on the Hawkins Tigers who were staring straight back at the pair of you. You nod, “Just stay here alright?” You move from where you were previously standing and begin to wander around, taking orders and chatting to regulars, Steve can’t help but admire you, as he twists the straw around his now empty milkshake. Steve is pulled out of his trance when a girl, Sandra, he remembers going to school with - she was in his history class, pulls out the chair next to him. “Hey Steve, long time no see! How are you?” Steve realises he hasn’t answered once Sandra furrows her eyebrows, “Oh! Yeah good, and yourself?”

5 minutes, he swears he took his eyes off of you for 5 minutes and now you’ve disappeared. He abruptly and probably rudely ended his conversion with Sandra, cursing at himself for getting caught up in his previous conversation. He pushes the doors to the back of the shop leaning all his weight against it, his eyes search wildly for you but his breath dies in his throat at the scene before him - Jason had you cornered, a clear sneer on his face as he attempted to say things he presumed would get under your skin. Steve begins to walk towards the pair of you but before he can open his mouth, you answer “Now I always thought you were stupid, but this?” You gestures between the pair of you, “Is just fucking ridicoulus, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re gonna get out of me but I am not 1. telling you where Eddie is or 2. telling you why Chrissy was with him?” Jason takes a step closer, you don’t back away, Steve feels overwhelmed but also steps closer, “Look,” Jason seeths, “I don’t know what is going on between you and Munson but for your own safety I really suggest you put it beside you. And tell me where he is.” A loud scoff escapes your lips, “You don’t know why she was there do you?” Jason’s expression tells you all you need to know, “Oh my god, I’m so glad I don’t get to miss this. You’re little girlfriend, who by the way was struggling with something way bigger than your tiny pea brain to begin to understand. Was.” You poke the basketballer so hard in the chest he winces and falls back a step, “There.” poke, “To.” poke, “Buy” poke, “Drugs.” You smile eerily, scaring Steve as well as Jason, the latter runs his hands through his hair, “No she would neve-” “Oh give it a rest! You don’t know the next thing about her! Hell, Eddie and I only knew her for a few weeks and we still understood her better than you! Now leave me the hell alone, I don’t have time for this,” You firmly place your hands on his shoulder before driving your knee in between his legs, he lets out a shriek of pain before falling to the floor. You smirk and turn, finally facing an awestruck Steve. “See?” You walk past, “I told you I had it.” Steve smiles, “Then why did you want me here?” He follows after you back into the diner. “Because why would I miss out on spending quality time with you.” You tease, dramatically holding the door open for him. “But,” He blushes deeply, “You hate me.” “I never- actually I did say that yeah, did I make it that obvious?” “Honestly,” Steve swings his legs over the stool again, “I had no clue,” He laughs slightly, “Not until Robin reminded me.” “Ah shucks,” You shrug, “I’m that forgettable huh?” “No! No! I didn’t mean it like that!” “Well that’s how it sounded, Harrington.” Something about the way you said his last name made butterflies spread through his stomach.

You two spent the next hour making idle chit chat between you serving customers, a lot of them knew you from visiting everyday but now they speak to you with a bit more of an edge, understanding you were friends with the suspected town killer. They were used to seeing him half sat half laid across a booth chatting away to you, you frown slightly at the memories but understand the situation from an outsider perspective. Instead you decided to throw yourself into a small conversation with Steve, trying not to laugh at his jokes as you had to keep reminding yourself - you hated him. You didn’t realise how much time had passed until the store phone began to ring, you picked it up - customer service greeting at the ready only to be met with Robin’s rambles, “Hey Y/N is that you? Are you okay? Did Jason get you? Did he get Steve? Oh my god I can’t work here without Steve I’ll die of boredom, please tell me Steve is okay? He said he would be back in an hour but now it’s been 2 and he still hasn’t shown up and I-” You smile at the girl's protectiveness, “Robin,” but she doesn’t stop mumbling, “ROBIN!” This makes Steve turn in his place, “He’s fine, he’s here with me. We are both fine.” “Then what have you been doing for the last two hours?” “Talking.” “Talking? I thought you hated him, what do you have to talk about?” “I did hate him, I’m still not particularly fond but he’s not too bad. At least, anymore.” You mumble slightly, embarrassed Steve might overhear your confession, Robin lets out a low whistle, “Not too bad huh? I’ll have to keep an eye on you two.” “Can it. I’m sending your beloved colleague back to you now, so you can stop worrying and STOP calling.” You laugh before placing the phone back on the wall. “Robin then?” Steve calls, pulling your attention back to him, “Yeah,” You smile, “She wants you back, to the store I mean not like-” you panic, “I mean I wasn’t implying but-” “Y/N” Steve raises his eyebrows, “She wants me back to work. I get it.” He turns for the door. As he reaches the handle, he calls back “Please don’t imply anything - you would be wrong.” You shake your head, heart thudding against your chest, wondering why Steve Harrington had made you crumble into a stuttering mess. This wasn’t you. You take a deep breath with a promise to pull yourself together before turning back to the rest of your shift.

The last time Steve saw you was that Saturday, it was now Monday and he can’t help but think about you, but as usual he is distracted by the group of kids who stand in front of him. He sighs, staring at the group of young teens in front of him, “No-” He starts, “There is no way I am driving all you lardasses to some random comic book shop 40 miles away just because you heard it was cooler than the one here.” Steve goes to continue before he is cut off by Dustin, “Please man, it would help us take our minds of the truamatising murders here in Hawkins, and-” “Dustin shut up. You’re not traumatised.” Your voice cuts through the video store, causing the gang to jump in surprise, all apart from Max who had spotted your motorcycle as you were pulling up, “Ew what happened to your face?” The redhead cringes, nose scrunching in disgust at the sight before you. You couldn’t argue - you had looked better. The sight of you with blood pouring from your nose and between your lips made all the teens in front of you panic, they began bombarding you with questions, asking if you’re okay, if Vecna got to you, if Jason got to you. You hush them all with a wave of your hand, before wiping the back of it across your bloodied face, “Thank you Max, I’m good just uh hit my head on the front of my visor going over a speedbump.” You mumble, quite embarrassed, because you’re not even fully sure how your injury came about. “That’s a lot of blood for just hitting your head.” Lucas states, “I have a loose blood vessel in my nose from getting hit in the face by a locker.” You try to explain, gritting your teeth, “In junior year.” It doesn’t take long for Steve’s eyes to widen. His body shudders at the memory of him swinging his locker door open in the midst of a conversation with Nancy, and smacking someone straight in the nose with it. If he was honest, at the time he didn’t even notice who was standing there but you had just made it clear. “Fuck-” The group turns to him. “It was you. Shit I’m sorry about that.” “YOU HIT HER IN THE FACE WITH YOUR LOCKER?” Dustin screeches. “I didn’t mean to- '' Steve tries to interject, “it just happened. It was an accident.” He turns his gaze to you, “I’m sorry Y/N.” A small smile plays on your lips, “Don’t worry about it Harrington, I’ve had worse but could I please get a tissue?” “Of-of course” He stutters slightly, rushing into the break room to grab you some rough tissue. Launching himself back over the counter Steve takes large strides to meet you on the shop floor, you go to take the tissue from him but before your hands meet his he’s already holding the paper towel to your nose, mumbling about tilting your head back.

A small blush spread over your cheeks, missed by most - but not all before you take the tissue out of Steve’s hand and stumble out a ‘I got it thanks.” “So, other than the nosebleed what brings you to Family Video?” Steve questions, still stood uncomfortably close to you, “What? I can’t come see my favourite employee?” You say, making Steve raise his eyebrows until you step pass him and up to Robin at the counter, “You got it?” You start a conversation with your friend, who looks up, meeting your gaze before flicking her eyes to the now red tissue stuffed up your nostril, “Yeah, I got it-but I’m not giving it to you unless you promise not to bleed all over it. Honestly, Keith will murder me if I return a tape with blood all over it.” Robin laughs, “I promise I won’t bleed all over it. Now gimme!” You reach over the counter, causing your feet to lift from the ground. The group of young teens just watch you, as you obviously snatch the tape Robin is trying to hold above your grasp. That is until Dustin decides to speak up, “Hey Y/N?” “Yeah?” You call back, still trying to reach the movie. “Do you like comics?” “Henderson, gimme a-” You grab the tape and let out a small ‘yay’ which makes Steve smile to himself, you turn. “Uh yeah I guess why?” “Because Steve here,” Dustin gestures to the larger boy next to him as if introducing him, “Won’t take us to the new comic book store! How unfair is that? Why don’t you come with us?” “Aw, Steve, why won’t you take your children to the comic book store?” You smile looking between the pair in front of you, “It’s 40 miles away.” Steve deadpans but can’t help but grin when he hears your laugh, “Damn Henderson, you got some nerve-40 miles? Man, shit hell no will I come. But have fun!” “We aren’t going.” Steve furrows his brows, “You see you say that,” You start backing away to the door, “But 20 bucks says you’ll go.” “Alright Y/L/N you’re on.” Steve challenges, you push the door open and stand in the doorway, pulling your motorcycle helmet on and nodding your head to push the sun visor over your eyes, “Later Harrington. I’ll be back on Wednesday to collect my money.” “Not on my watch.” Steve quips but you’re already gone.

“So we gonna talk about that?” Dustin interjects, minutes after you’d left, “Talking about what?” Steve questions breaking his gaze from the door to the boy who stood near him smiling, “You practically throwing yourself at Y/N.” “I did not!” “You kinda did.” Lucas butts in, “Sinclair, shut it.” “I mean he’s not wrong.” Robin’s head pops up from behind the counter, “You too Buckely.” Steve warns, but it’s in vain as Dustin pipes up again, “It was kind of embarrassing.” “I didn’t do anything!” Steve waves, “If you’re gonna try to make a move, you’ve gotta stop being so scared around her.” “Henderson, I do not need your advice on girls, especially ones who hate my guts.” “I would hate your guts too if you gave me nosebleeds.” “Sinclair, I thought I told you to shut it.” “I don’t think she hates you.” Max decides to pipe up, “Oh no, she does, she’s told me. Many times ‘fuck I hate that Steve Harrington kid’” Robin uses air quotes to do her best impression of you, but Max continues, “I mean she probably did but I don’t know if she still does I mean she was blushing when you gave her a paper towel.” “She wasn’t blushing,” Steve tries to redirect but can’t help the way his heart soars with the young girl's words, “Was she blushing?” He asks the group who all murmur “Not sure” or something similar apart from the redhead who shouts an esperacted “YES.” She continues, “I don’t know why though, you shouldn’t have a chance with her- she’s way cooler than you.” “Thank you Maxine.” Steve grits his teeth, “Hey!” Max tuts at the nickname. “I guess we will find out on Wednesday?” Lucas looks between his ex and Steve, “I guess we will.” Steve sighs lost in his blossoming feelings of fondness towards you.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve x reader #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things masterlist #stranger things x reader #stranger things ship #steve harrington one shot #minx answers #minx writes #a second chance #contentconsumer

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michaels-office-hours · 26 days

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6 months shy of a decade ago, Jewels saw a picture in Mark Crilley’s Mastering Manga, that no joke started her entire art career, and is also why she’s online today.

She had a whole comic planned off of a scene she thought up. But never got around to drawing it.

Figured, since it’s nearly been a decade and I can actually write romance now, that it’s time to give it the revamp it always needed. But in fic form. Here’s the first draft, I’ll post the rest to AO3 once it’s done. But yeah. Enjoy.

The girl sat by herself, looking out the window into the gray bleary day.

Rain pattered against the window lightly, almost playfully, taunting.

The gray outside was seeping into the small apartment, making it seem even smaller in ways. Darker. Even the girl, who would be pretty in any other light, was just gray and smeared against the backdrop. Her fire red hair was the only thing that made any difference in the color pallete. Fighting back against the bleary doldrums with a rage that went unmatched by anyone who interacted with the normally quiet, Julia Smith.

"Julia? Juju?"

The man's voice pulled Julia out of her daydream, into the warm living room with all the lights on, the sun shining in through the windows, and his smile glowing brighter than them all.

"Dang, you were really on cloud nine that time. What's today's adventure?" the lopsided smile creeper across his handsome face, driving her crazy.

"Are you mocking me? Or do you actually want to hear?!" she shot back with mock offense, "If you keep saying I'm an airhead, maybe I just won't tell you my little worlds' adventures!"

The man leaned back in his chair, grin finally set straight on his face, as he put his hands up in front of him as if staving off an attack.

"I meant no offense, kind lady," he said with a mediavel flare to his accent. "I merely wanted to partake in the world you were so rudely keeping to yourself, as a dragon hoarding it's treasure."

Julia laughed despite herself, her boyfriend never failed to make her smile and feel welcome.

She leaned forward, her fingers laces together as her elbows rested on the table between them. Looking from some to side as if she were sharing top secret information from the government.

"I..." she started with a dramatic pause. Causing her boyfriend to lean forward, eyes widening, already hanging on every word she said, a chuckle already at his eyes.

"... was a tiger girl," she whispered dramatically.

Her boyfriend leaned back, putting his hand to his chest in a dramatic showing of how shocked he was.

"MY darling? A fury? I would never!" He exclaimed, keeping her whispered volume, as if the appliances hearing them would bring ruin on both their names.

"Not like that!" Julia giggled uncontrollably, his face was too much! And it didn't help whenever she looked up, he somehow exaggerated his expression to be more and more horrified and hilarious.

"More like," Julia finally choked out, whiping away a tear, "More like Thundercats. Remember? The old 70s cartoon that got remade?"

"You're saying that like it helps your fury accusations?" His tone was incredulous now, and after he had finished saying the final word, they both died laughing together, having to lean on the table for support.

(None of this is grammar or spell checked. And it will change a bit. But yeah. Rough draft go brrr)

#Julia smith #💎 smith lol it’s her story but not her as the character #🔥#I wrote it after all

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violettelueur · 3 years

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— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE ONE || RYOMEN SUKUNA

↳ featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + gojo satoru + ryomen sukuna from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mentions of blood + mention of killing + mention of mass murder (word massacres is mentioned) + mention of death + swearing and EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 07 february

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 3.8k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ next episode : for myself

↳ barista’s notes : to be honest with you guys, this little imagine here is such a mess and i had fun writing it since it have me an excuse to watch the first and a tiny bit of episodes one and two of jujutsu kaisen again ʕ￫ᴥ￩　��

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. all the ‘curse spells’ mentioned in this are related to Bleach (their use of Kido - credits go to: Tite Kubo) so these ain’t my original ideas since i started this at like 11pm on a saturday night.

2. there is some dialogue missing since this is from your perspective as a reader and not Fushiguro’s or Itadori’s

3. as you all know, the storyline isn’t mine, it belongs to Gege Akutami

4. this whole thing might be confusing and please don’t expect a part two because i will do it when i am ready or feel like i can at the right time ʕ ᵒ ᴥ ᵒʔ

5. i don’t know, if i am going to add this onto my masterlist since this was just for fun to be honest!

thank you so much for taking the time to read this and i hope you enjoy your free cup of classic black coffee (jujutsu kaisen) ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡

“L/N, are you going to come with us?”

Looking away from the window you were viewing out from, you paused sipping from your carton of orange juice before turning your head to quickly discover two female students looking at you with anticipation in their eyes only for you to look at them in some sort of confusion.

“Come one, don’t tell me you didn’t hear about it? Coach Takagi and Itadori are competing!” one of the girls complained, obviously slightly annoyed at your oblivious nature to the news that was going around the school at this moment in time.

“Competing for?” you then questioned, as you stood straight from your leaning position causing the other female student to then rapidly answer by saying, “Coach is trying to requite Itadori for the nationals, so if he wins then itadori has to join the track club to compete!”

‘Huh? What a drag’

“So do you wanna come to the track field with us to see who is going to win?” the two students asked again in a desperate tone, leading you to look at the window you were previously looking from to see the exact location that they had stated. “I’ll watch from here, it has a higher and wider view, so I would have a better look” you replied, before pointing at the track field that was on the other side of the glass causing the students to look out before nodding.

“We really want to see it up close, so we’ll see you tomorrow yeah?” the first female student asked, leading you to smile and nod at them before seeing them rapidly take off to the track field trying to make sure they arrived before the competition started.

Turning your smile back into a straight line, you turn back to the window that you were looking through before being interrupted while placing your drink’s straw between your lips letting the sweet but citrusy juice flow down your throat. Admiring the view, you decided to let your eyes roam free for a bit to see if there was anything interesting to observe before the supposed ‘competition’ started, which then led you to pause at the sight of the closed rugby field down below.

Coming out of the ground was a horrific creature with four arms before climbing up the pole revealing its large teeth leading you to stare at it with complete boredom as you then mentally took a quick note to exorcise it later when the school closed. However, what also came into your sights was a single male student down before staring at the same curse you were observing causing you to continue analysing the situation.

‘Can he see it? I don’t recall a student here having any curse energy’

From what you could tell, the student had black erratic hair with his hands in his pocket but from what you could see that other’s couldn’t, there was a faint but noticeable aura of curse energy surrounding his body generating a feeling of curiosity but nervousness within your stomach as you place your empty carton away from your lips. Suddenly, the male turned around leading you to have somewhat a clearer view of him, only to discover that he also had a pair of emerald eyes which then made you come to the conclusion that he wasn’t a student from the school. How could he? You could tell this ‘student’, and yourself was the same age meaning you would have at least seen him once or twice down the hallways and there was no new information about a student coming in, if there was, it would have been a buzz.

‘Don’t tell me one of the clans managed to find out about me?’ you anxious thought, leading you to take a short step back ensuring this sorcerer didn’t have a vivid view of you when you did of him. Hearing some cheering, you turned your head to the other side to find a small crowd forming with a metal ball being flung as two students ran out to measure the length between the dip of the sand from the coach indicating to you that the competition had started.

“14 metres!’ the one student shouted, leading to a round of applause from the audience spectating the event. However, from what your ears were managing to pick up, there were cheers for Itadori leading you to wonder if you could recall the classmate they were shouting for.

“Ah~ Itadori Yuji ha?” you rhetorically asked the air around you, not expecting an answer in return. Itadori Yuji was a first-year student like you were, member of the small occult research club with second years Sasaki and Iguchi when he could be in any athletic club if he wanted to. However, understandably you knew some people would rather do something than what their natural talents indicated. Once again, you saw the metal ball being thrown - this time from the pink-haired students - only for it to land that the corner of the football goal, yet what was the shocking thing was that the metal of the goal was bent leading you to look at the sight within widened eye - of course, you knew Itadori was fast and strong but not to the extent of what you had just witnessed.

“Wow, no wonder he was called ‘Tiger of the West Middle’,” you muttered under your breath before quickly reverting your eyes to find the sorcerer you were wary of. Surprisingly, he was now on the track field looking upon the competition mixing well with the other students like a little chameleon. Although, before you could continue to observe the student trying to see what his intentions were, Itadori suddenly ran past him with his large backpack on, only for the erratic-haired sorcerer’s eye to suddenly widen the second they crossed each other leading him to reach out for your classmate. However, there was only dust to be collected as Itadori was suddenly out of reach.

“Just what are you trying to gain, sorcerer? It’s already a drag that you’re here,” you quietly mumbled irritation before turning away from the window you were gazing from to collect your school bag from your classroom since you left it there to not have the burden of carrying it on your shoulder. However, what you didn’t notice was the same sorcerer peering up at the same window you were looking from with perplexity painted on his face.

‘Was someone watching me?’

ꕥ

“Don’t tell me someone got a hold of that damn finger?” you angrily stated, as you suddenly felt an immense amount of pressure invade the school causing you to wonder if there was anyone within the school with you right now, as you began to increasingly worry about whoever got a hold of the special-grade object that you found a few nights before.

“I put a protective seal on it, who the hell broke it!?” you muttered, as you panicky ran up the stairs trying to follow the presence of the object you were desperately trying to get a hold of before forcibly pushing a door open leading it to smash against the wall as you continued to sprint across the halls.

As you quickly turned the corner, you saw a large curse blocking the path leading you to instinctively flow your curse energy flow to your hand to the tips of your finger as you began to confidently recite the spell you were about to cast after you had finished drawing the symbol with your curse energy in the air.

“Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with the horror and then claw out your own throat! Binding Curse Spell number nine: Geki!” you chanted, leading to a thin light aqua aura of curse energy to surround the curse causing it to become completely paralysed. However, before you could cast another spell to destroy the curse, there was a sudden interruption causing you to look at the person in complete shock as they flew into the corridor from outside the window only for you to discover it was your own classmate.

“Itadori!” you screamed, only for him to grab what seemed like two people away from the curse as it was still immobilised from your spell leading you to turn to the side to find that it was both Sasaki and Iguchi in his arms causing your eye to further widen only for you to be then distracted by the curse being blown away to your direction leading you to use another spell to make sure you were caught in the process.

“Binding Curse Spell number eighty-one: Danku,” you hurriedly stated, leading to a large rectangular defensive wall to shield you away from the decapitated parts of the curse as well as the technique being used for it to explode the way it did. Unexpectedly, once the pathway was cleared you suddenly came eye to eye with the sorcerer you were peering down on the track field this afternoon causing a wave of uneasiness to consume your body.

“Who are you?” he questioned leading to the two dogs beside him to growl at you showing their sharp canine that could easily pierce your skin if he commanded them to. Slowly, your hand moved to the hilt of your katana that was hanging horizontally on your back, before quickly coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t difficult to slice the two dogs down if you desired to.

“Shikigamis huh? I should just cut the user down before they could reach me, then they would disappear’

“Oh L/N? What are you doing here?” Itadori asked in shock, leading you and the sorcerer to look at him before the sorcerer suspiciously asked, “you know who she is?”.

“She’s a student at my school, she is in the higher class since she’s smarter than me,” Itadori explained, as he took the time to check on his two club members with a sincere look on his face to then discover that they were unconscious with Sasaki in a decent state with Iguchi in somewhat the same condition but with injuries to his face. Letting your shield gradually disappear, you slowly walked up to your senior as you crouched down to hover a hand over his face letting a flow of curse energy begin to heal his wounds.

“Itadori, how the hell did they get the finger?” you angrily questioned the boy while continuing to heal your upperclassman causing him to look at you in shock - due to your acknowledgement of the object - as he caught the cursed object that slipped out of Sasaki’s pocket once he picked her up in a bridal style.

“How do you know about it?” the sorcerer then asked, only to be quickly silenced when you gave him a heated glare only for itadori to then explain that he was the one that picked it up for them since they wanted to sneak back into the school to unwrap the talisman for research for the occult club leading an irk to appear on your forehead. “Wasn’t there like a talisman paper placed on the door? You know like those like sheet of paper with Ancient Japanese writing painted on it?” you asked in a stern tone as you completed the healing process only for itadori to give you a questionable look.

“There was a hint of paper being there, but it seemed like it was ripped off,” itadori answered wearily, leading you to look up at him with enlarged eyes as you let out a breath of complete shock.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN RIPPED OFF?” you screamed as you rushed to your feet before grabbing the collar of his classic yellow jumper. From what you could recall, there was no possible way for the seal to be completely ripped off by the hands of a normal person, not even a simple sorcerer could even go through the barrier you had placed on it leading you to turn to the sorcerer, who was looking at the argument that was occurring right in front of his face.

“Was it you? No, from what I can see, you ain’t even a high enough grade to even go through it...Ah shit,” you cursed as you let go of Itadori’s collar before beginning to try to think of all the possibilities that could have happened that led to this accident.

“So, is this it Fushiguro?” Itadori asked the sorcerer, completely ignoring you as you were in a state of shock and confusion on what was going on. “Yeah, that’s the special-grade curse object, Ryomen Sukuna’s finger,” the sorcerer confirmed with Itadori as he then quickly mentioned, “it’s a miracle that it didn’t get swallowed, thanks to L/N curse technique back there.”

‘Fushiguro huh? Not Zenin, that’s a relief’

“Why would anything eat it? Does it taste good?” Itadori asked in curiosity, leading you and Fushguro to look at the boy with a questionable look on both your faces.

“Don’t be stupid,” you and Fushiguro simultaneously stated causing both of you to look at each other in shock before you then explained, “you’d do it to gain stronger curse energy. It’s dangerous, so hand it over to Fushiguro, it’s best to have him keep hold of it since the seal I placed was broken.”

“Sure, sure,” Itadori casually said, as he outstretched his hand to pass the finger to Fushiguro. However, before the sorcerer could take the object away from Itadori’s gasp, a large hand began to reach down below the two people causing you to look up in fear before instinctively pushing the two boys away from the area it was trying to target.

“RUN!” you screamed, before the ceiling crashed down between both of you, leaving you completely alone and vulnerable as the dust invaded your sights. In a panic, you swiftly grabbed the hilt of your katana to release the blade from its casing revealing an all-black weapon your hands, but once the smoked clear you found Fushiguro trapped in the hands of the curse before being forcibly through to the concrete wall causing a few hints of blood escaping from his mouth, to which lead to the two dogs that were protecting Itadori as well as the two second-year to disappear.

‘Shadows? Don’t tell me…’

However, before you could even complete your sudden thought, there was a sudden flash of lights blinding you before the whole side of the school to be destroyed along with Fushiguro, who was thrown across. In a state of terror, you rushed outside before using your speed to jump up the height needed before stabbing back of the curse’s head with your katana before quickly retreating back, leaving it there as the curse screeched in pain while preparing another curse spell to use to finish off the monstrosity.

“Destructive Curse Spell number seventy-three: Soren Soka-” you screamed, but you were interrupted once you suddenly found Itadori aggressively punch the curse’s head leading Fushiguro, who was laying down on the ground with blood pouring down his face to angrily shout, “Itadori! Why can’t you understand to take those two and run?!”.

“You’re in big trouble yourself!” Itadori screamed back, before being swung around as he then suddenly was being dragged along the metal railings of the balcony before his body was then swung into the air.

“Only curses can exorcise other curses! You can’t beat it!” Fushiguro argued back, only for this attempt to fall on death’s ears as itadori continued to fight against the curse as he masterfully dodged its attacks before playing his own as he kicked its ruby eye.

“Besides, I have my own troublesome curse already!” Itadori declared, causing you to look at your classmate in complete annoyance since you didn’t have a single clue on what he was rabbling about. As of right now, all you were wondering was where the cursed finger was since the last time you had seen it was in Itdori’s possession.

Suddenly, before you realised it, the mentioned cursed object had slipped out of Itadori’s grasp causing you to quickly stand up on your feet to jump across the cure to reach it. On the other hand, it seemed like the curse was blocking your way by how it used both its arms to capture Itadori leading to the student to jump as high as he could to catch the finger by the grip of his teeth.

“You idiot!” you screamed, as you tried to concentrate your curse energy to flow to your palms as your katana was still within the curse’s head. “Hand it over to me or you'll be eaten, too!” Fushiguro yelled in a panic as he finally got up on his feet to chase after the wanted object.

Slowly, you raised your right hand before using your index finger to use it as a guide to where to aim your next spell at the finger without damaging your schoolmate in the process. “Destructive Curse Spell number one: Sho,” you quickly chanted leading to a small amount of curse energy in a concentrated manner to shoot from the tip of your index finger, yet before it even had the chance to hit the finger away from Itadori’s teeth, he threw thing finger up in the air using the force of his head leading your curse spell to be a futile attempt.

“There is a way to save everyone! I just need some cursed energy right. Fushiguro, L/N?!” Itadori cried out, leading you to again attempt to shoot the cursed finger away from where you assumed Itadori wanted it to go, while Fushiguro looked upon the situation in complete fear of what was going to happen.

“Don’t..Don’t do it!” Fushiguro shouted in a hostile tone, only for Itadori to swallow the special-grade cursed object causing you and the other sorcerer to look at the scene in complete disbelief.

‘He’s going to die, that’s a deadly poison..but...there’s a one in a million chance’

Suddenly, the arms of the curse disintegrated into small particles of flesh before Itadori landed on his feet, only for the curse to attempt to attack the salmon-hair boy again, leading to being completely destroyed with a single wing of an arm to which caused your katana, which was stuck within the flesh of the curse, to fly into the air before landing with a loud ‘clunk’.

Yet, that wasn’t your main concern.

Your feet were glued to the ground as you looked upon the sight right in front of you. Fushiguro was staring at the same scene with dread flooding his green eyes as Itadori was now covered with the black markings of what you both come to know from basic jujutsu knowledge.

‘Y/N dear, I’m so sorry for putting you through this, if Sukuna ever comes into this era, it is your duty as a sorcerer and the only offspring of the L/N clan to exorcise him, promise me that please?’

‘Why.....why did you have to die mother?’

“Ah, I knew it! The light feels best in the flesh,” ‘Itadori’ declared, as he then processed to rip his yellow hoodie in excitement before brisking his flesh to the moonlight that was shining right above him. “A cursed spirit’s flesh is so boring. Where are the people? The women?!” ‘Itadori’ questioned before jumping onto the railings as he continued his speech, “what a wonderful era to be in, women and children are crawling everywhere like maggots. Marvellous! It’ll be a massacre!”

Without the acknowledgement of who you deemed to be Sukuna and Fushiguro, you slowly raised your right hand with an open palm as you began to whisper another curse spell to make the exorcism a little easier for you, “Binding Curse Spell number sixty-three: Sajo Sabaku''. As you closed your palm, there was a sudden manifestation of a yellow electrified chain being created as it loosely surrounded the King of Curse before tightly securing its place around his body.

“Ah-” Sukuna said in surprise before taking a step back from the balcony to observe the yellow chains that encaptured him. “L/N!” Fushiguro shouted as he looked at you with widened eyes surprised at how you figured out how to retain him so fast.

‘At this rate, he should be somewhat easier to exorcise, Itadori has only one finger within his system, it’s going to be okay right?’

However, before you could even comprehend what to do next as your tactic you suddenly heard a change in tone of voice. “What do you think you’re doing with my body?” Sukuna asked, only for you to realise that it was Itadori who was speaking at this moment in time, “give it back”.

“How are you able to move?” Sukuna questioned his vessel back, as he was in pure confusion on how the human still maintained some control of his body. “I mean, it’s my body,” itadori answered back, only causing you more confusion on what was going on since Sukuna’s markings were still visible to his body.

“Don’t move! You’re no longer human,” Fushiguro stated in a serious tone, as he crouched down before moving his hand in front of him as he processed to make fists.

“Under Jujutsu regulations, Itadori Yuuji, I will exorcise you as a curse!” Fushiguro announced, causing you to look at him with surprise painted upon your face. However, since you were beginning to lose a certain amount of curse energy, your chains slowly began to disappear leading Itadori’s hands to now more freely while Fushiguro’s worries about you begin to increase.

“Wait, really. I‘m just fine!” Itadori stated in innocence, as he raised his now-free hands as if he was surrendering to the sorcerer while his markings began to fade gradually. “More importantly, you and I are both pretty beat up, let’s go to a hospital,” Itadori declared as he was worried for the male right in front of him. On the other hand, you suddenly realise that there were shadows slowly swirling around Fushiguro leading to your assumption earlier to be true.

‘Fushguro is a Zenin...I..have….to’

“What’s the situation?”

All of a sudden, a new voice came into the area leading you to turn your head to the side to find a rather tall male standing next to Fushiguro. From a quick glance, you could immediately inform yourself that had spiky white hair with a black blindfold covering his eyes, as he carried a paper bag on his arm while wearing a similar outfit to Fushiguro meaning he was another sorcerer.

“Gojo-sensei?! Why are you here?” Fushiguro asked in surprise, as he turned to look at what you assumed to be his teacher leading to the shadows around him to immediately disappear from sight.

“Gojo…” you muttered under your breath as you looked at the two male sorcerers right in front of you in horror as you came to the realisation on the situation you were facing.

‘Mother…..I’ve been found…..’

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sourwolf-sterek32 · 3 years

Text

Welcome to the End

Summary: Y/N Winchester was a hunter like her brothers, following in their fathers footsteps. Saving people, hunting things, the family business.

During a case in Georgia, you meet the Dixon brothers and after saving Daryl’s life against a Chupacabra, the two of you become close. But, when the zombie apocalypse starts, life as you know it changes forever.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Winchester!Reader

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: Language, descriptions of blood, injury and violence.

Chapter 18-

"Jesus! It pleases me to see you, old friend." A voice shouted from across the room as you walked inside.

"It pleases him, indeed!" A different voice added causing you to chuckle softly before everyone suddenly came to an abrupt stop a few metres inside the theatre.

"Jerry." The first voice muttered.

You looked across the room to put a face to the voices and figure out why everyone had stopped walking and that's when you saw it.

The tiger.

They had a God damn tiger.

A pet tiger with a chain laying beside the man with dreadlocks who was sitting on a large chair on the stage. Straight away you knew that was the King. Where the hell did he get a pet tiger from though?

"Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've bought me?" The King questioned, his eyes scanning the group of you as you took a step forward until you were beside Jesus, but you couldn't take you eyes away from the tiger.

"Indeed, they are, Your Majesty. This is..." Jesus trailed off as he glanced over his shoulder at the group who were all still standing a few metres back with wide eyes staring at the tiger. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention that-"

"Yeah, a tiger." Rick mumbled, nodding slightly as the tiger roared as if on cue.

"This is Rick Grimes, leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people." Jesus introduced as the group of you walked further into the room until you were standing in front of the stage.

"I welcome you all to the Kingdom, good travellers. Now, what brings you to our fair land? Why do you seek an audience with the King?"

"Ezekiel- King Ezekiel." Rick corrected himself. "Alexandria, the Hilltop and the Kingdom – all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviours. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told you have a deal with them, that you know them. Then you know they rule through violence and fear."

The King didn't say anything for a moment. Hell, he wasn't even looking at Rick anymore, he was glaring at Jesus who quickly raised his hands defensively.

"Your Majesty, I only told them of the-" Jesus quickly tried to say before the Ezekiel cut him off.

"Our deal with the Saviours is not known among my people, for good cause. We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share-" Ezekiel started to explain, but now it was Jesus who cut him off.

"We can help each other."

"Don't interrupt the King." The man in the red jacket ordered who you thought was that Jerry guy.

"We brought you into our confidence. Why did you break it?" Ezekiel asked.

"Because I want you to hear Rick's plan." Jesus simply answered and the King nodded, turning his attention back to Rick.

"And what plans have you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria?"

"We came to ask the Kingdom, to ask you, to join us in fighting the Saviours, fighting for freedom for all of us." Rick said, motioning towards the group of you as you spoke and you forgot how good Rick was at doing this.

He was good at talking, good at negotiating with others. That's what made him stand out at the King County Sheriff's Station when you and your brothers rolled into town for that vampire case all those years ago. Rick was a smart man, he knew what to say to people to get them to listen to him and he clearly had an affect on the King who seemed to be taking in what he had just heard.

"What you are asking is very serious." Ezekiel commented.

"Several of our people- good people- were killed by the Saviours, brutally." Michonne said.

"Who?" Morgan suddenly questioned and you only just realised that he would have no idea about any of this. He hadn't been back to Alexandria since, he had no idea what had happened.

"Abraham. Denise. Spencer. Olivia. Nearly Glenn. Eugene was taken. They took Daryl and Y/N, but they escaped. Every second they're out here, they're a target." Rosita explained, looking over at Morgan who stared at her in disbelief.

"Negan murdered Abraham, beat him death. Nearly did the same to Glenn in front of his pregnant wife." Rick added.

It was weird hearing people call your father 'Negan' because in your head he was your dad, but at the same time, it wasn't your father. Negan was a different person. Your father would never do any of this. Neither would your brothers, but they were a threat. They needed to be dealt with and if you had to kill them... you didn't want to think about that.

"I used to think the deal was something we could live with. A lot for us did. But, that's changing. So, let's change the world, Your Majesty." Jesus said, bringing you out of your thoughts.

"I want to be honest about what we're asking. My people are strong, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns, not enough at least. Not a lot of weapons, period." Rick added, looking up at the King.

"We have people. And we have weapons. If we strike first, together, we can beat them. Your Majesty, no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle. We set things right. The time is now." One of the Kings soldiers responded.

Again, the King didn't say anything for a moment as he stared at his soldier before he looked back at the rest of you, his eyes flashing over the group before landing on Morgan.

"Morgan, what do you say?" He asked.

"People will die. A lot of people, and not just the Saviours. It... If we can find another way, we have to. Maybe it's just about Negan, just capturing him, holding him. Maybe..." Morgan trailed off, shaking his head.

"That won't work." You said, speaking up for the first time which caught the King attention.

"Why is that?" He asked curiously and you could feel the rest of the group staring at you, waiting to hear what you were going to say and you sighed before taking a step forward.

"Because they are all Negan. You take Negan or kill him, another will step up and take his place. That's how it works there. My brothers... they're with the Saviours. That's how I know." You answered, shaking your head trying to get the image of Dean with the gun out of your head.

"Your brothers are working for Negan? How do we know that you aren't on their side?" The King suddenly questioned and well, realistically you should have seen that question coming.

"She ain't one of 'em." Daryl quickly said defensively.

You reached out and grabbed his hand, trying to silently calm him before you continued talking.

"Do you believe in God, Your Majesty?"

"Y/N." Rick warned, seeming to realise where this conversation was going.

You glanced over at Rick to find him already looking at you with an uneasy expression and you didn't blame him. It took him a while to come to terms with the Supernatural the first time you met him way back when, but the King needed to know.

"God is real. Well... God was real. But, he's dead now and he created Negan." You started to explain which caused a few of your own group members to look over at you in confusion and you had completely forgotten that not all of them knew the whole story.

"What are you trying to say?" The King questioned in confusion.

"Negan isn't really Negan. He is a man named John Winchester. John died over 14 years ago, but God bought him back and turned him into Negan. I know how it sounds, trust me, I do. But, I'm telling the truth. My brothers... I don't know what happened to them, but they're not themselves, they would never fight with the Saviours. But, they are-" You continued to explain before you got cut off.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ezekiel asked, his tone stern as he leant back in his throne staring at you with a masked expression.

"No, but-"

"I've heard enough. Richard, escort the people of Alexandria to the gates-" Ezekiel suddenly ordered.

"She's telling the truth. I know how crazy it sounds. I've been in your position before when I first learnt about it. But, she's telling the truth." Rick quickly said.

"The supernatural is real. God, caused all of this. He bought the apocalypse upon this world before he died and he killed off all the supernatural creatures too. It's just humans and the dead. With a few exceptions." You added which just caused the King to look even more confused and pissed off.

Okay, you understood why he was staring at you like that. What you were saying sounded absolutely crazy, but there was no easy or gentle way to say it.

"The supernatural? Like creatures we talk about in children's bedtime stories?" Ezekiel asked in a blunt tone and you nodded.

"Werewolves, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, wendigos, you name it. The supernatural is real and before all this my brothers and I used to hunt supernatural creatures, but when the apocalypse started, all the supernatural creatures just disappeared-" You continued to explain before Jerry started speaking.

"I like cool stories as much as the next dude, but you don't expect us to believe all that, right? That's crazy."

"Crazy as dead people walkin' around?" Daryl questioned, appearing beside you, resting his hand on your shoulder as you glanced over at him to find him giving you a small reassuring nod. Daryl had your back with this, so did Rick. That was all you needed.

"I can prove it. I can prove the supernatural is real." You suddenly announced, catching the Kings attention.

"How?" Ezekiel questioned, sitting up straighter in his seat.

"Because I'm not entirely human." You started to say, glancing back at Daryl with a questioning look and he just nodded.

It was either show them what you were or let them think you were crazy. This was the only way to convince them and you needed them on your side.

"My father was human, but my mother was an angel. They had me and I'm what they call a Nephilim. Half angel, half human." You explained, closing your eyes for a second before opening them again, your eyes now glowing a bright purple which caused Ezekiel to quickly stand up, his soldiers all reaching for their guns.

"Don't." Daryl and Rick quickly shouted.

Daryl took a step forward until he was half standing in front of you, blocking you from the Kings soldiers.

"She's not a threat. She's friend. She's family. And everything she has said is the truth. Her brothers are with Negan, but she's not and we need you and your people to fight with us." Rick quickly said as you turned your eyes back to normal and grabbed Daryl's shoulder, noticing how tense he was.

"It's okay." You whispered, but Daryl didn't move from in front of you.

"The hour grows late. Rick Grimes of Alexandria, you and your people have given the King much to ponder. I invite you all to sup with us and stay till the morrow." The King announced, motioning for his men to relax and they all lowered their hands from their weapons.

"Yeah, we need to get back home." Rick responded.

"I shall deliver my decree in the morn." Ezekiel simply said.

None of you spoke as you followed Richard to the spare living quarters where he allocated everyone a bedroom and told you where all the facilities you needed were.

Once Richard left Rosita, Sasha, Michonne, Tara and Carl all disappeared into the rooms, claiming their bedrooms, leaving you, Daryl, Rick and Jesus standing in the hallway.

"That was risky. Showing him what you are." Rick said, breaking the long silence as he looked over at you and you just nodded lowering you head slightly. "But, it worked. It's gotten him thinking."

"Ya think he'll join us?" Daryl asked, but Rick just shrugged his shoulders before looking over at Jesus.

"You know him better than us. Will he join?" Rick questioned, but Jesus just shrugged his shoulders too.

"Maybe. He knows the Saviours need to be dealt with, but he doesn't want to fight."

"Could you do it though? If it came down to it, would you fight Negan? Would you fight your brothers?" Rick asked turning his attention back towards you.

You didn't say anything for a moment as you thought about it, but deep down you knew you could never kill Negan, not when he looked and sounded exactly like your father. You would never be able to hold a gun to John Winchesters head and pull the trigger and the same goes for Sam and Dean.

"She ain't gotta answer that." Daryl responded, grabbing your hand. "C'mon." He muttered and you didn't argue as you let him lead you down the hallway towards one of the spare bedrooms.

It was only a small room with a queen bed, a wooden desk and chair inside, but it was more than what either of you had at the Sanctuary.

Daryl didn't say anything as he closed the door behind the two of you before he walked over to the bed and immediately collapsed onto it, laying on his back as you stared up at the ceiling.

"As much as I hated Rick asking... if it came down to it, ya know what needs to happen." Daryl suddenly said, still staring at the ceiling and you silently nodded.

There was no way in hell that you could kill your father, even if it technically wasn't John, you wouldn't be able to do it. And there was absolutely no way you would be able to kill your brothers, you would rather die than do that and the thought of actually doing it... no. You had seen your brothers die more times than you'd like to count, you couldn't do it again. You had seen your father die once and that was the worst day of your life..

You still had nightmares about that day in the hospital. You and Sam left to get your dad coffee and when you came back... when you came back he was dead on the floor.

You still remembered Sam's screams as he sprinted into the room, dropping to his knees beside your dad while you just stood in the door way, coffee cup dropping from your hands as you stared at your dads lifeless body lying on the ground.

You remembered Sam crying out for help and all the nurses running into the room past you. You remembered Sam leaving for a moment before he reappeared with Dean, both the boys standing beside you in tears.

You remembered collapsing into Deans arms when they announced the time of death and cried. You remembered that day so clearly and there was no way you could do that again. Your dad was back, whether he was Negan or not, he was back and you couldn't lose him again.

"Hey." Daryl's voice suddenly called out, snapping you out of your thoughts as you looked over at him to find him staring at you from where he was still lying on the bed. "Hey, ya okay?" He asked, and you nodded, rubbing your eyes, hating the fact that you could feel tears rising in your eyes.

You were stronger than this, damnit.

"Come here." Daryl said and without saying anything you walked over to the bed and laid down beside him, staring at the ceiling before Daryl propped himself up on his elbow and turned to face you. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me, angel. What's wrong? Ya worried 'bout ya brothers?"

"I'm worried about everything. My brothers. You. Rick. My dad... I can't lose them. I-I can't lose my family again." You whispered unable to stop the silent tear from falling down your face.

"Come here." He whispered, pulling you into his chest as you cried into him.

You woke up the next morning in Daryl's arms. He was still asleep, snoring softly from beside you as you laid there enjoying the small peaceful moment while it lasted. You hadn't slept a full nights sleep in weeks, but you clearly needed it.

You thought back to the days where you'd wake up in with Daryl in his bed in the trailer he shared with Merle. You always woke up before him, not needing as much sleep as normal humans. You'd end up just laying on the bed in his arms in the early hours of the morning, waiting for him to wake up.

Or the times the two of you would go hunting in the woods and camp out for the night under the stars. You missed those days where life was just simple. You missed going on hunts with your brothers and Cas during the week and spending the weekends at Daryl's trailer. You missed sitting under the veranda of the trailer drinking beer and listening to Daryl and Merle bicker about stupid shit. You missed the old days.

You laid in bed for another hour before Daryl woke up and the two of you met back up with the others who all seemed to wake up at the same time.

Ezekiel shouted you all breakfast in some kind of mess hall, but the King himself wasn't there and you had a bad feeling that he was going to say no to Rick's plan.

After breakfast, Richard lead the group of you outside where the King was waiting in the middle of the courtyard near the group that was practicing archery. You watched the kids that were shooting the bows and you quickly realised that most of them had a missing arm or leg. Some with prosthetic metal limbs in their place, others with nothing at all, but that didn't stop them from shooting dead centre every shot.

"This is life here. Every day. But, it came at a cost and I wanted more of this. I wanted to expand. To create more places like this. Men and Women lost their limbs. Children lost their parents because I sent them into a battle against the wasted when I did not need to." Ezekiel started to say while watching the group shoot the recurve bows before he turned back towards the group of you.

"This is different." Rick responded, but Ezekiel shook his head.

"It isn't."

"It is. The dead don't rule us. The world doesn't look like this outside your walls. People don't have it as good. Some people don't even have it good at all." Rick argued, but again Ezekiel shook his head.

"I have to worry about my people."

"Ya call yourself a damn king. Ya sure as hell don't act like one." Daryl muttered, which caught Ezekiel's attention as he took a few steps towards Daryl until he was standing right in front of him.

"All of this... came at a cost. It was lives, arms, legs. The peace we have with the Saviours is uneasy, but it is peace. I have to hold onto it. I have to try." He stated, but you just shook your head.

"Although, the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friend Daryl asylum for as long as he requires it. He will be safe here. The Saviours do not set foot inside our walls." The King responded.

"How long do ya think that's gonna last?" Daryl muttered before you both turned around and started walking towards the front gates.

The others all followed behind you as you reached the gates. Daryl called out to the men on the watch platform to open it up before Richard handed back Rick and Carl's guns which he had taken before you entered the community yesterday.

"You're not going." Rick suddenly said before you even had a chance to take a step towards the now open doors.

You quickly turned around to find Rick talking to Daryl causing you to frown in confusion.

"I'm not stayin' here." Daryl responded, staring at Rick like he was crazy.

"You have to. It's the smartest play. You know it is." Rick replied, but Daryl just shook his head before he looked over at you and Rick followed his line of sight.

"The Saviours would be after her as well. Why the hell am I stayin' 'n my girl ain't?" He questioned, slight anger rising in his tone.

"Because Ezekiel didn't offer it to her. He's cautious of her now that he knows the truth. We can hide Y/N at Alexandria, she can teleport out of there in the worst case scenario, but you can't." Rick explained, but Daryl just shook his head as he looked away from Rick, but Rick just moved to the side so that Daryl had no choice but to look at him. "Try to talk to Ezekiel. Or stare him into submission. Whatever it takes. We'll be back soon."

Rick rested his hand on Daryl's shoulder before he glanced over at you with a small nod and started following the others out the gate.

"Hey, I know you don't like this. But, Rick's right. This is the smartest play and the safest for you. Please, just listen to him." You said, walking over to Daryl as you pulled him to a hug before he had the chance to say anything.

Daryl just sighed before melting into your hug, wrapping his arms around your back as he hugged you as well.

"Don't like ya bein' out there without me." He whispered and you just chuckled softly with a small smile as you pulled away from him, your hands still on his shoulders.

"I can take care of myself, Dixon. Just be careful, okay?" You asked and Daryl nodded.

"You too, angel." He replied before leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss to your lips.

"Y/N, c'mon." Someone shouted and you sighed, pulling away from Daryl who nodded softly giving you a tiny smile before you turned around and followed the others out the gate.

MASTERLIST

Next Chapter

-Gifs used are not mine. Credit to rightful owners.

#Daryl Dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon fanfiction #The Walking Dead #twd #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead fanfiction #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #castiel #Destiel #supernatural #spn

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forgottenpasta · 4 years

Text

Dulce Periculum Pt. 1

Summary: Devious and devilish, your two new impish hybrids never miss a chance to torment you for your hopeless attraction to them, knowing exactly what they do to you. But is sly sexuality and enigmatic allure all there is to the tiger and wolf hybrid, or do the depths of their eyes hide something more for you? Part 1/2.

Genre: Smut, Angst, Fluff

Word Count: 7.2k

Pairings: Tiger Hybrid!Taehyung x Reader X Wolf Hybrid!Jeongguk

Warnings: Taehyung and Jeongguk have no shame, arrogance galore, filthy smut in part 2, swearing, mentions of blood, mild violence, anime style nosebleeds.

Part 1 | Part 2 (complete)

A/n: Enjoy!

****

The sickening sound of Jeongguk’s foot connecting with the bear hybrid’s face in what was a flawless display of a spinning wheel kick made you flinch in your seat. The crunch of bones breaking could be heard by even your inferior human ears. The hulking bear hybrid went down like a sack of potatoes, hitting the hard floor of the ring with a dull thud.

Jeongguk huffed out a laugh as he assumed a neutral position, wiping a hand down his sweat soaked washboard abs as he smirked down at the hybrid who was clutching his jaw with both his hands. “I thought bears were supposed to be aggressive in the ring and shit. You fight like a pussy.”

The man on the floor groaned in pain and anger, but try as he might he couldn’t get up, the rivulets of blood dripping down his nose, staining his hands and white of the ring floor indication enough of the result of the fight, but just so it was clear enough the bear hybrid tapped out nonetheless.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath to control his laboured breathing. “Put a band-aid on it and stop whining. It’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

“Does he really have to do that?”, you mused out loud from where you sat on the bench beside the fighting rings. You watched Jeongguk help the hybrid stand up. “I get that he’s the trainer, the teacher and all that but still. His words make me feel like a pathetic fighter and I’m not even in the ring with him.”

You hadn’t really expected a response from your bench co-occupant, seeing as ignoring you was the norm with the tiger hybrid, hence the snort startled you into turning your head to stare at him.

“That’s because you are a pathetic fighter.” Taehyung didn’t look at you, busy scrolling through his twitter feed on his phone.

Despite your resolve, which you had tried so hard to harden ever since the two insanely attractive hybrids had come into your life, you found yourself sighing. And it wasn’t a frustrated sigh either, as it should have been considering his totally unwarranted barb about your non-existent fighting skills, it was the dreamy kind. You didn’t understand how he made slouching on a bench, bored out of his mind while staring blankly at his phone look like a cover spread straight out of a bougie magazine. He unintentionally modelled every little thing he did, like right now you could take a picture of him and photoshop an ad of the device in his hand and no one would blink an eye. You could understand why so many brands clamoured to get him to model for them, though he was particularly picky and selective about who to lend his divinely handsome face to.

“Thanks, Tae.”, you replied, because what did you say to that really? You were always hard pressed to come up with a clever response whenever one of them were in close proximity to you. You swore up and down you were a quick witted person when your two new hybrids weren’t there to cloud your confidence with their sex-on-legs charm and mysterious aura.

“Don’t mention it, Owner. I’m always here to offer you some encouraging words.”, Taehyung muttered with a straight face, his striped tail swishing languidly beside him.

A shiver ran through you, even though the temperature in the gym was completely normal.

Owner. You had told them countless times to call you by your name ever since they came into your life three weeks ago, but every time you did they just smiled at you and went right back to calling you owner. You were convinced they got their kicks off watching you turn red or sputter or stumble all over yourself whenever one of them uttered the word. They knew what effect it had on you and they revelled in it.

You were about to ask him for the nth time not to call you that when the brownish orange ears atop his head twitched and he looked up. You followed suit, making eye contact with your wolf hybrid sauntering towards the two of you with a lazy grin on his face.

Shirtless. Sweatpants riding low. Underwear band showing above the top of the waistband of his sweats. Long hair wet from a shower. Fuck.

From the amused expression on Taehyung’s face you knew he could hear your thundering heartbeat.

“Don’t go getting a heart attack now, Owner. Who’s gonna feed us if we lose you?”

Jeongguk took that moment to reach the two of you. “Who’s getting a heart attack?”, he asked, pulling out a towel from his duffel bag beside the bench and towel drying his hair with it in that way guys did that should not look hot but did.

“No one. Are you ready to go?”, you diverted the conversation, willingly breathing deeply to tame your heartbeat. You did not need their ribbing over your obvious attraction to them right now.

“Yeah, just need to clock out for the weekend. Then we’re driving down to Lean Raw to have lunch.”, Jeongguk informed, chuckling when you made a face at the suggestion. The restaurant he was talking about only served tasteless “healthy food”, no sight of grease or artery-choking deliciousness anywhere.

“We went there last Friday as well.”, you complained under your breath, getting up to follow both of them out of the gym, trying not to stare at Jeongguk’s flexing back muscles as he pulled on a white T-shirt that might as well be see-through, his sleek yet fluffy dark grey wolf tail swaying gracefully behind him.

Jeongguk turned back and you quickly averted your eyes, feigning immense interest in the potted plants lining the gym’s exit.

“You should thank me then. I’m making you eat healthy at least once a week.”

“I eat fine. Not my fault normal is not upto your standards.”, you mumbled as you all reached his black Mercedes parked in the small parking lot for gym employees.

“If you consider subway sandwiches and Chinese takeout six days a week normal, Owner, then you’re asking for that heart attack you were about to get back in there.”, he quipped, winking at Taehyung when the elder hybrid’s amusement broke for a laugh at the stricken look on your face.

You hurried to duck inside the car, going for the spacious backseat because they never let you drive when one of them were with you, even when you insisted to take your own humble and ancient Honda Accord. Taehyung got in the passenger seat and Jeonnguk in the driver’s, smoothly pulling out onto the road.

Seeing you three together the way you were, it was hard to figure out whether you owned the hybrids or if it was the other way round. People never believed you when you told them the two luxurious, predator hybrids were yours. And they wouldn’t have been had your great-aunt, who remained unmarried throughout her life and amassed a considerable wealth writing books about hybrids, had not unexpectedly died by slipping in her apartment-sized bathroom and breaking her head open on the corner of a marble countertop. Even more unexpectedly, she had willed the two hybrids that she had raised since they were teenagers to you of all people and all her wealth to them. You often thought that she must have had no idea that she’d die so suddenly and unexpectedly, because her will have to have been an interim joke while she figured out exactly who to actually give responsibility of her hybrids to in case of her death.

Or maybe she thought you were the only one who’d not try to extort the wealth she had endowed on her two “kids”. Technically, hybrid inheritance and property laws still prohibited ownership of property by hybrids if their owner hadn’t sanctioned it or gifted it to them, and in the eyes of law everything that belonged to the hybrids belonged to their owners as well. In your opinion, it was well past time such medieval and discriminatory laws were repealed but it didn’t matter anyway because your timid, tongue-tied self was incapable of extorting even an unwilling apology or “thank you” from the two spoiled hybrids, let alone their money.

Maybe your great-aunt was a genius. She knew exactly who would never be willing or able to curb her hybrids’ freedom.

“You guys are so mean.”, you pouted, looking out the window at the slow-passing buildings and dramatically leaning your head against the glass like you were a pitiful, wronged protagonist of an angsty movie.

“You’re just so prone to even a little bit of teasing, Owner. You get all nervous and fidgety, it’s honestly so funny to watch.”, Jeongguk supplied helpfully.

You rolled your eyes. “Glad I could entertain, but stop calling me owner, please. Just call me ___.”

Taehyung smirked at you from the review mirror. “As you wish, Owner.”

Giving up with a huff, you slipped in your earbuds to effectively shut out their teasing and showcase your disgruntlement. The name was an irony at this point, an oxymoron, because you anything but owned them. They had known what effect they had on you from the moment you’d first met them in your great-aunt’s lawyer’s office. You’d given away all your cards from the first meting like the inexperienced, naive idiot you were. You’d toppled over the carpet because you were staring at Taehyung instead of watching where you were going, signed the wrong documents because Jeongguk had flashed a smile your way and literally broken the glass of the table with a jerk of your knee when you’d felt Jeongguk’s hand accidentally brush your denim covered thigh. Even the lawyer tried to cover up his laughter with coughs and sympathetic looks towards you. In short you had been a rambling, awkward mess at the thought of two of the sexiest men/hybrids you’d ever seen living with you and that day had been marked as the most humiliating one in your life, one you’d likely reminisce for years to come whenever you couldn’t sleep late at night and your brain started playing the movie of all the embarrassing moments of your life. And it would be a long one, because even after three weeks living with them you continued to make a fool out of yourself at every reminder of how out of your league they were and how bad of a crush you had on them.

Even though you had earbuds in, you weren’t actually listening to music, too preoccupied with thoughts of your lameness to press play. You could hear everything when Taehyung and Jeongguk started talking.

“You helping me with the shoot tommorow?”, Taehyung asked him. He had a photoshoot for a luxury watch brand coming up which was going to be featured on multiple billboards and magazines. You always did a double take when you spotted Taehyung’s face around the city, on banners, screens and subway ads, had a hard time believing the same man slept across the hall from you.

“Nah, hyung. Jackson asked me to help him out at the club downtown, one of his bouncers quit recently and you know how the weekend rush is.”

Taehyung chuffed in disappointment, the sound so tiger-like you almost smiled. He couldn’t purr like small cat hybrids could, but his chuffs were so damn adorable it didn’t matter.

“Why don’t you take Owner with you?”, Jeongguk suggested, a small tilt to his lips indicating he was joking. Maybe. Nevertheless you shrunk down in your seat to make yourself as small as possible. You did NOT want to go to one of Taehyung’s photoshoots, for many reasons but mainly because you knew what seeing him in his element would do to you and you had clowned yourself enough to last a life time.

Taehyung frowned, running his long, slender fingers over his bottom lip in contemplation. “I would but I don’t want her to get nosebleeds watching me pose for the camera.”

Death. You wanted it.

Staring wide-eyes at your lap you willed spontaneous combustion to incinerate you right then and there. The nerve of him! He was so fucking arrogant but so fucking…spot on, and he said it with such quiet resignation too, like it was the truth of the matter universally accepted that you would, in fact, get nosebleeds watching him pose. But still, was humility not in fashion anymore? You had half a mind to connect your bluetooth to Jeongguk’s car and blast Humble by Kendrick Lamar.

Jeongguk laughed. “You are a smug motherfucker.”

Taehyung was affronted, he shot the wolf a glare. “That’s ‘You are a smug motherfucker, hyung’ to you, brat. Besides, you have no room to talk after that shirtless, just out-of-the-shower thing you pulled on her back there. You knew what you were doing.”

Jeongguk shrugged shamelessly. “Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that as much as I did.”

Enough.

“I can hear you two animals.”, you said hotly, glaring at them as you crossed your arms across your chest.Jeongguk snorted.

“Animals? Thats what the playground bully called me in kindergarten. You gotta come up with something better than that, Owner.”

Taehyung peeked back at you with mischievous eyes, a playful smile on his face. “Aww, Owner, we knew you could hear us. There’s no music playing in those.” He pointed to the earphones you clutched close to your chest. Of course, how could you forget their superior hearing that just outed you in the gym as well. The pissed off glare you’d aimed at him faltered when you noticed his gaze linger on your chest for a second too long but his eyes were back to yours before you could say anything.

“I would love to take you to the shoot with me, you know. Nosebleeds or not.”

His eyes went hooded and his voice dropped an octave lower than it already was, his baritone rich and deep and sensuous. You stilled, involuntarily bracing for whatever he was about to say.

“I would love to let people know who owns me.”

********

Snatching a pristine white paper napkin from the holder, you stuffed it up your nostril, letting it hang from there as you smacked away Taehyung’s hands when he tried to help you.

“You have to tilt your head Owner or the bleeding won’t stop easily.”, he whined, trying to grab your head to make you tilt it. You shrugged him off.

“I don’t need to listen to you. You should be able to see what you did to me.”

“Flawless logic, Owner.”, Jeongguk snickered from where he sat across the two of you. Taehyung had immediately claimed the seat beside you upon entering the restaurant, hovering to make sure you were alright. Jeongguk had also tried to approach you with his hands outstretched but a glare from you had him sitting where he was now.

Taehyung sighed, leaning back in his seat to give you a look of concern but finally leaving you alone. “I was just joking. I had no clue that would happen.”

You didn’t want to talk about yet another one of your now infamous daily embarrassments, not having the willpower to confront your failings at the moment. You changed the subject. “Can we order please? I’m starving.”

Jeongguk signalled for a waitress but kept his eyes on you, a frown coming on to his beautiful features. “Did you skip breakfast again? I made you an omelette and cut up some fruits before leaving for work in the morning.”

“Oh did you?”, you asked sardonically, raising your brows and turning to look pointedly at your tiger hybrid. “I didn’t happen to find it.”

A guilty look crossed Taehyung’s face immediately, his orange and black ears almost folding over on his head. He rushed to explain himself. “I didn’t know it was for her! In my defence I offered to make her some pancakes to compensate but she refused. I did manage to get some cereal in her though.”

You were already speaking before Jeongguk could impart another one of his healthy eating lectures on you. “I was getting late to meet my friend, I didn’t have time to eat.”

The wolf hybrid shook his head in disappointment, making you feel strangely guilty. You were an adult dammit, you didn’t need to explain your eating habits to your own hybrid.

Thankfully the waitress took that moment to come take your order, saving you from any more chastisement from the hunk of muscle and soft fur sitting across from you. But a look towards the cute blonde standing beside your table, bending down low to show her modest cleavage, smiling at your hybrids like she was a kid in a candy store (or a waitress who’d just won the hot customer table lottery), had your mood tumbling right back down in the gutter.

It really shouldn’t have, you should be used to this by now. People, women and men, stared at your hybrids wherever they went, you had first hand witnessed a woman run into a pole whilst almost turning her head 180 degrees to keep staring at Taehyung and Jeongguk. You didn’t blame them, they were a hard pair to ignore. Especially when they were together, they oozed a confidence and charisma so magnetic that along with their otherworldly attractiveness, it tended to leave the people around them slack jawed, awed and/or jealous. But the most befuddling part was that they didn’t have to do anything for it except be themselves. If they noticed the attention on them, they were either used to it or consciously ignored it because you’d never witnessed them giving a fuck about what others thought about them or saw them as, and that just added to their charm even more.

Like now. They were doing nothing out of the ordinary but a sweeping glance around you informed you that almost all women and some men seated inside the healthy-crap selling establishment were either blatantly staring at them or trying to steal glances in between conversation and eating. They turned heads wherever they went, this was nothing new. So why did you feel a headache oncoming?

“Hi, my name is Lea. What can I get you boys?”, the waitress chirped, her million watt smile illuminating your table and worsening your headache.

You sighed in resignation, not at all surprised by your exclusion in her greeting. Whenever you were with your two hybrids, you might as well be thin air, except that one time when that pre-pubescent kid in the park had asked you if you were their maid.

Jeongguk smiled at her, and you swore even you could hear her heartbeat double up. “Just water, while we decide please. Thank you.”

“Of course.” She wrote something on her notepad, making you scowl. Did she really need to remember something as simple as water? You saw her surreptitiously glance at Taehyung as she made to leave, and apparently the tiger hybrid noticed too, a smirk curling on his lips before he shot her a wink. The waitress stumbled over nothing, almost face planting in someone’s food. Felt good to not be the only one making a fool of herself over the two men. You ignored the irrational irritation simmering deep in you at the sight of one of them semi-flirting with a woman.

They were very respectful towards your home space in terms of never bringing anyone home for the night, even though you hadn’t said anything to the effect, but you were hundred percent sure they more than got their needs fulfilled without you ever coming to know of their escapades, it was impossible that they didn’t, looking the way they did and the sheer number of propositions they got on a daily basis.

You snapped open your menu in search of the least healthy option available when Taehyung addressed you.

“I wasn’t joking about you coming with me to the shoot, you know.”

When you said nothing, he grumbled out, “Owner, I’m talking to you. You look absolutely ridiculous with that napkin stuffed up your nose by the way.”

You gave him the stink eye, ignoring his last quip. “Why do you want me there? You always have your agent and staff with you.”

Jeongguk answered for him, leaning back to rest his arm across the back of the bench in a way that did wonders for his biceps and had you momentarily distracted. “He gets restless when he’s around strangers for a long time. Ideally hyung can manage it but during long shoots it helps when someone he has scented accompanies him.”

“Scented?” You frowned, not understanding. Your knowledge of hybrids was embarrassingly scant and whatever you knew about their behaviours had been acquired in the last three weeks of living with the two.

Jeongguk looked at you, surprised, before sharing a look with Taehyung that you couldn’t quite comprehend. “Um…”

“If you’re worried about getting more nosebleeds, you don’t need to. You can stay in the trailer during the whole thing and I can come get you when I need you.” Taehyung cut off whatever Jeongguk was about to say, speaking to you in a tone that bordered on placating. Pitying.

The mercury was rising on your temper thermometer. One thing you absolutely hated was being pitied. It was bad enough that they knew how you felt about them, how helplessly attracted you were to them. You could even excuse their teasing words and occasional jokes at your expense. But pity, you could not take. An idea formed in your head as you sat there stewing in your vexed emotions.

“No, thank you.”, you snapped, a little more crassly than you perhaps should have but Taehyung’s surprised face was worth it. You normally never spoke in anything but a diffident manner. “I have plans this weekend.”

A frown replaced his surprise rather quickly. “What plans? You didn’t say anything about any plans.”

“You normally stay at home during weekends to read those steamy books you love so much.”, Jeongguk added, looking at you with curiosity. At your shocked face he smiled crookedly and felt the need to further elaborate. “You know the ones with the ripped dudes on the cover.”

You sucked on your tongue, internally enraged but forcing yourself to not react and rise up to his bait. Anger and embarrassment were not a good combination for you, so when you spoke your voice was sharp enough to cut. “How would you know what I “normally” do on weekends? You two have only been living with me three weeks. Don’t presume that you know the first thing about me.“

It was Jeongguk’s turn to look surprised, likely because you’d never spoken to them that way. He shared a glance with Taehyung and because you weren’t looking at him you missed the “tone it down” gesture he made to the younger with his hand and Jeongguk’s subtle nod to it.

The wolf hybrid slowly reached across the table and picked up your hand. Looking contrite, he apologised. “I’m sorry, Owner. You’re absolutely right. I spoke out of turn. Will you please tell us what are your plans for this weekend?”

You almost answered them but the words stalled in your throat when a thought occurred. “Why do you guys want to know?”

Jeongguk looked like he was at a loss for a second. Smoothly, Taehyung picked up your question, saving the younger from coming up with an appropriate excuse. “For security, Owner. We just want to know you’ll be safe. Can you really begrudge us your mere whereabouts when we’ve recently lost our previous owner so easily?”

He knew he was being underhanded playing the dead owner card, but Taehyung had never been one for propriety.

As expected your eyes softened at the mention of your deceased Aunt. You shrugged, giving in. “I’m gonna go clubbing with some friends.”

The truth was you hadn’t been out partying in a long while, hadn’t had an orgasm given to you by someone else in even longer and you felt that this painful attraction to your two hybrids might just be more exasperating because of these factors. A night of drinking, dancing and maybe a good lay just might help. Or not. But you had to try and get over your unrequited crush over your hybrids, who were way out of your league.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t notice how the they had suddenly straightened to give you all of their attention, until Jeongguk broke the silence with a bark. “Who?”

You raised your brows.

He cleared his throat, voice calmer when he repeated. “Who? That girl who works under you? What’s her name? Mary, Maddie, err, Maggie? I can’t remember.”

“My assistant, Masie? Ugh, no. Just some people I’ve been friends with since college I guess.”

They frowned at your vague answer but before they could question you further the waitress returned, a suspicious new sheen of bright red lipstick on her lips which wasn’t there before. Taehyung noticed you roll your eyes at her, making him smile secretively.

Jeongguk turned on his charm on her, something you’d noticed he couldn’t help but do with people, but you were hundred percent certain what he presented was a front. Like a computer which produced the same output every time you give the same command, no matter who gave it. You could shuffle his interactions with strangers interested in him with each other, and it wouldn’t make any difference. They all fell for it hook, line and sinker.But you didn’t feel like watching him make the poor girl more flustered than she already was today.

You turned your gaze to the menu, tuning out the sound of the waitress going on an in-detail spiel about her favourite dishes available when Jeongguk was gonna order the same thing he did last time.

Taehyung’s shoulder nudged you softly, and you looked up to see his soft smile directed at you. It disarmed you for a second.

He leaned down to whisper in your ear, making you shiver slightly. “Do introduce us to your friends.”

You promptly glanced back at the menu. Hell, no.

********

The next day you found your luck shining on you. Three flyers for a downtown club named Lithium which was offering free drinks for the code printed on them, were stuffed in your mailbox along with other junk. As usual, when it came to actually going through with your plans you had been dithering, both laziness and your mild agoraphobia making a simple task such as going out with some friends seem like a herculean effort. As if the huge amount of money you’d spent on getting therapy for your anxiety wasn’t reason enough to enjoy your better state of mind once in a while.

You messaged some of your friends, the ones you knew were unlikely to turn down an offer of drinking and partying. Your college friends Naeun and Sooyoung accepted immediately. Giddy with excitement, you spent your day flitting about the house and pampering yourself with every skin care product you owned and scrubbing and waxing yourself down to a polish, not one prickly hair in sight.

It helped that Taehyung was out for his shoot and Jeongguk was out doing god knows what, it’s not like you pried into their lives. Even though it was the more heedful thing to do to know about their whereabouts because if hybrids got into trouble with the authorities out on their own, nobody could save them except their owners. You felt a little relieved that they were prudent enough to wear their collars whenever they were out on their own, though Taehyung wore his wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet.

At the thought of Taehyung you stopped rummaging your closet to rub your chin in contemplation and a little guilt. You could swear he was pouting when he left home this morning for work, looking at you out of the corner of his eyes when it became absolutely apparent that you would not accompany him to the shoot. You also remembered Jeongguk’s soft murmer of appreciation because you’d woken up early to make him breakfast just how he liked, he’d touched your waist lightly while doing so, making you almost drop your plate.

Sighing you glanced back at your closet, your gaze flitting to the deep blue number you’d bought on impulse but never worn. You didn’t feel like you had the confidence to carry risqué clothing, so your more revealing purchases almost always remained untouched in your closet. But you still remembered the happenings of yesterday, you would not pity yourself like they did. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? Ending up looking like a literal clown was better than making a fool of yourself every other day. You pulled out the deep blue halter dress that moulded to your curves like a second skin and ended at mid-thigh.

Sooyoung and Naeun brought a bottle of vodka for little prep drinking before you went out. Naeun looked absolutely gorgeous in her slinky black dress and sky-high heels, towering over you as she hugged you. Sooyoung was dressed like she was going to a bdsm club. She was pushing past you to get to the kitchen and pulling out shot glasses before you could even say a word in greeting to her. Naeun and you followed her.

“So who are we getting over?”, Naeun chirped as she grabbed her shot.

“What do you mean?”, you asked nonchalantly, cutting up a melon and getting some salt.

You could feel Naeun stare even though you weren’t looking at her.

“You don’t fool us, ___, we’ve known you since college. You would never willingly go out unless it was absolutely imperative. You’re clearly looking for a distraction.”, Sooyoung gave you a knowing look before downing her first shot like it was water and she a fish.

You laughed, but even to your own ears the sound came out as awkward. “Can’t a girl just let loose with her friends once in a while just for the heck of it.”

Sooyoung exchanged a troubled glance with Naeun, the action reminding you of the subtle glances your two hybrids often exchange with one other, instantly putting a damper on your mood. You were sick of feeling like the butt of some inside joke you were never privy to.

Sooyoung saw your scowl and touched your hand.“We just meant it is unlike you. Even once in a while.”, she assured while reaching for the bottle.Naeun narrowed her eyes at you, making you go tense.

Ever the straightforward one, she never minced her words. She had a reputation for reducing many a guy and girl to tears with her honesty, including you. “I’m sure its got nothing to do with the two hybrids you now own. I saw the pictures in the living room by the way, they’re certainly a sight for sore eyes. Did you fuck them yet?”

You should have expected it but her crass words made you immediately defensive anyhow. “What?! No! I don’t- it’s not like that between us.”

“Between you and them or between them and you?”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” You downed your shot then, already itching to get out there and forget everything happening in your life.

Sooyoung answered for Naeun. “What she means, in Naeun-speak, is if it’s you who wants to keep it “not like that” or them? What’s the tea? C’mon tell us. ”, she imitated your voice, sounding way more annoying than you did. You hoped.

You rolled your eyes on an exasperated sigh. “You guys are looking for “tea” where there is not even a drop of water.”

Naeun pretended to check her one inch glittery gold fake nails. “If that’s so, you don’t mind me asking for their numbers right? It’s been a long time since I’ve been the filling in a sexy hybrid sandwich.”

After a few seconds of you staring at your two friends wide-eyed and them looking at you expectantly, you threw in the towel. “No, I’m not gonna give you their numbers. Can we go already?”

“Sure.”, Sooyoung got up, swinging an arm around your shoulder as she led you to the front door. Naeun followed behind with a smug expression you wanted to slap off. “We’re gonna get you a good lay and you’re gonna forget all about them. Good dick is good dick, no matter where it comes from.”

You made a face. “There’s so much wrong with that sentence.”

******** Club Lithium was jam packed, the weekend crowd clearly evidenced in the long queue of dressed up people that had greeted you outside. You had fully expected to wait outside till your toes went numb in the blue suede pumps you had selected to go along with your dress, but seeing you three approaching the entrance, a bouncer had broken away from his guard at the door to tell you about the random selection for entrants they were doing from people in the line. Which was odd because you hadn’t even joined the queue yet.

You eyed his suspiciously but Sooyoung was jumping at the chance before you could second guess anything, expressing gratitude by bounding upto him to clutch his bicep as he led you all inside.

“I think the girls are doing their job.”, Naeun observed, adjusting her cleavage for maximum potential. You laughed as you entered the club, darkness surrounding you immediately as strobe lights in red and blue occasionally flashed and gave you a glimpse of a crowded dance floor and a bar spanning the entire left side of the club. The mix of bass and thrumming drum beats was already making you itch to move to the rhythm even with just one shot in your system.

You absolutely loved to dance. It didn’t matter that you weren’t all that good at it, you could dance to anything and everything, even silence when you were alone in your apartment with an imaginary song playing in your head. Even if you didn’t find anybody to go home with today, if you were able to dance till your feet hurt you’d consider it a successful night out. Your friends knew this.

Sooyoung took your hand to drag you to the bar, shouting over the music. “Let’s get more shots so we can dance already.”

An adorable looking cat hybrid was manning the bar. His fluffy tail flicked as you signalled for his attention, a wide smile immediately coming on to his face as he greeted you. “My name is Yoongi. What can I get you guys?”

As Sooyoung answered him, you couldn’t help but stare meanwhile. He really was adorable. White tail and ears and a head full of platinum hair, he looked unreal. His black collar shone with a big circle cut diamond hanging from the centre. He was clearly much appreciated by his owner. You wondered if you could get away with gifting something like that to your hybrids. As much as they called you owner, you never got an inkling that they truly acknowledged your ownership enough to accept a symbol of it from you. You didn’t want to step on any toes.

“You look a little lost.” Yoongi’s voice made you snap your gaze to him. He slid your drink towards you.

You downed the shot as quickly as you could before answering him. “Just thinking about my hybrids.”

Yoongi didn’t look surprised, though he leaned his elbows on the bar top in curiosity. “What kind of hybrids do you own? I’m my owner’s only hybrid, I can’t imagine having to share his attention with another.”

“Tiger and wolf.”

Yoongi wrinkled his nose, looking even cuter if that was possible. “Wild predators. We got a wolf h—“

A cheery voice cut him off as a handsome man came down the other side towards Yoongi to fluff up his hair. “I hope you’re not getting distracted again, Yoongi.”

Yoongi huffed as he swatted away his hand. “I’m not. I’m just talking to the customers, Jackson.”

Jackson reached for his hair again, smiling deviously, making the hybrid duck away to escape. You tilted your head, a small smile on your face. What would happen if you made to ruffle Taehyung or Jeongguk’s hair? You had a sudden inexplicable urge to find out.

Leaving the bar you joined your friends on the dance floor. Hip thrusting and body rolling your heart out to the hip hop and EDM fusion beat. As the night progressed, you downed three more shots, thoroughly tipsy when Naeun grabbed you from behind for a less than platonic dance with her, grinding on each other and making many men on the dance floor drool over the sight of you two.

After your sixth shot, you were officially gone to the world as you moved on the dance floor. When an unfamiliar pair of hands snaked around your waist, you didn’t do anything to stop them, didn’t even turn around when a distinctively male, unfamiliar voice whispered in your ear from behind.

“You’re so fucking ho—hghk.” And just like that the hands disappeared and the presence gone from behind in a rush of air.

“Huh?” Slightly confused but the alcohol in your system muddling your intelligence, you made to look over your shoulder but another pair of muscular hands were replacing the previous ones before you could.

The body that moulded to yours thrummed with testosterone and something dangerous, the heady musk of maleness and something wild but eerily familiar making you simultaneously a little scared but comforted. You moved languidly together, though the music was anything but.

He towered over you, you could tell, his chin brushing the top of your head. He didn’t say anything, just held you impossibly close and danced with you like he had all the time in the world. The alcohol you had consumed was making you uncharacteristically bold, you leaned your head against his shoulder and when the music switched to something more sultry, you slowly took his hands in yours to trail them up your waist.

For a few seconds he didn’t do anything, but soon enough he was taking your prompt and running his veiny hands up your body. When his hands brushed the underside of your breasts, a sigh escaped your lips even as your failing inhibitions tried to contain it. “Yes.”

You threw caution to the wind when one of his fingers almost touched a nipple through the fabric of your dress. Taking his hands in yours, you placed them firmly on your breasts, undulating your hips to the beat to rub against his pelvis.

A curse left his lips that he muffled against your hair, hooking the the curtain of it that fell over your right shoulder with his fingers to bare your neck to him. He pressed his mouth to the sensitive skin there, and you had inkling he was also doing it to not let any more sounds escape him.

Reaching a hand behind you, you grabbed a thick thigh, urging him to not let any space between you. He bit your neck at the action, sucking on the skin to leave a bruise there.

“Fuck yes!”, you moaned, closing your eyes. You were unbearably wet in your lace panties, your thighs rubbing together to alleviate the sensations his touch on your breasts was causing.

When you couldn’t take it anymore, you swiftly turned around to attach your lips to his. Not caring to take a look at his face, the only thing illuminating your surroundings were occasional flashing strobe lights anyway, you went on your tip toes to deepen the kiss, licking his bottom lip for more. He obliged with equal eagerness, clutching the back of your head so that his tongue could explore your mouth.

He tasted divine, smelled even more amazing. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, certain you were going to spend your night in the arms of a strange man that felt like home. You hadn’t expected to actually get laid tonight, but were thoroughly satisfied by how the night was turning out.

Biting his lip, you trailed kisses up his jaw as your hands inched up to card into his thick hair. You were about to whisper into his ear a proposition to leave for somewhere less crowded when your fingers encountered the distinctive shape of ears on his head, the soft fur tickling your skin. You had no clue you were kissing a hybrid.

Surprised, you pulled back to look at the hybrid you’d almost been vertical fucking in front of so many people. The man tried to pull you back in to his lips but you resisted, curious, and when next the lights flashed to illuminate the club momentarily, your heart almost lurched out of your chest in shock.

Jeongguk was staring back at you with heavy lidded eyes, lips swollen from your frantic kisses and a hungry look on his face.

“Won’t you ask me to take you home, Owner?”

You gasped, stumbling back as some sobriety filtered back in. What had you done? This was not supposed to happen. You had promised yourself you’d never let either of them seduce you just for the sake of it. Your heart couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t handle being a notch on their belt when you had to live with them, and knowing your tendency for attachment it was downright dangerous for you to delve into any kind of physical intimacy with them.

But of course, why would they care about your heart. They were as cruel with their inconsiderate handling of your feelings towards them as ever. He could have easily told you who he was, or better yet never approached you in the first place, but they could never pass up a chance to torment you, could they? Your lips were already craving for more, your body still tingling in all the right places, even though you’d done nothing but make out. This is why you never wanted to go down this path, if you didn’t know what you were missing, you wouldn’t want it as much. Now, Jeongguk had ruined even that for you. He likely thought it’d be fun to prank his owner, making your vulnerability the butt of the joke as always. And now you couldn’t go back to just imagining what it felt like kissing them, he’d gone and given you a taste of what you couldn’t have. All for a joke. He must be laughing at you internally for falling into his arms so easily, even without looking at his face.

Self pity and humiliation were a depressing combination, forcing tears into your eyes even as you tried your best to keep them at bay.

Jeongguk had started closing the distance between you again, lust evident on his face, when the sudden suspicious shine in your eyes made him go stock-still.

A horrified, confused look dawned on his beautiful face. “Owner, what-wait—!”

Not letting him speak and fuck up everything more than it already was, you turned to flee the club.

A/n: let me know what you thought, feedback keeps me writing.

#jungkook smut #taehyung smut #bts smut #bts fic #bts angst #bts scenarios #bts imagines #jungkook fic #taehyung fic #jeon jungkook #kim taehyung

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ill-skillsgard · 3 years

Text

His Mistress - Series Finale

Warning: 18+ smut, mentions of cheating, coarse language, mature themes.

Author’s Note: I am terrible at ending stories because I never want them to end. The ending I initially wrote wasn’t good enough, so I started again until I felt it was right. I’ll keep it brief, but I want to thank all the readers who fueled this crazy fire and inspired me to flesh out a dark love story that I’m proud to say I wrote. I’ll miss Mr. Deaver and all the smutty, angsty, drama of his life with his mistress. Thanks for tolerating the never-ending POV shifts and filling my inbox with love and support for the story and for me. You guys are the BEST. I’m forever grateful!

I hope you enjoy the 9K series finale. It’s been a slice!

Henry X Mistress Masterpost [x]

Henry's company held an office party to bid farewell the building that had brought them growth and success over the last few years. Once again expanding, the company added a brand new customer-relations department, a slew of employees fresh out of university and interns to fill in the gaps. The celebration took place on the evening of their last workday and boasted live entertainment and enough luxurious fare for each employee and their loved ones. They rented a bouncy castle and ball pit for the kids and set up an open bar next to two seminar tables' worth of catering.

It wasn't only a farewell party for the company, but the first time Henry showed off his girlfriend in front of his colleagues and employees. Word of Henry's divorce had already made its rounds, his colleagues begging for gory details after the documents were signed and filed. Rumours fluttered in and out of ears and mouths, but never while Henry was in the room—Henry had cheated on his wife with a coworker, Henry screwed the cleaning lady and his wife caught him in the act, Henry picked up a venereal disease, and poor Mary. The speculation rose tensions, but like all rumours, faded into irrelevancy once news of the company move surfaced. People forgot all about Henry's ugly divorce for the next round of gossip. Word of his mistress died down.

Although the tension had mostly evaporated, she felt eyes crawling on her when she showed up on Henry's arm. Of course, everyone recognized her—she was the secretary for a time, the only line to get an opening with Mr. Deaver. She had spent months parked next to his office, taking his appointments, booking his days, answering his phone. They remembered, and they leaned into the nearest ear to whisper, "I knew it all along."

If Henry noticed the curiosity, he chose to ignore it, but she couldn't. She felt every woman in the place wringing her silently, scrutinizing her moves, her hand in Henry's. People who knew Mary tended to side with the older woman, and the nattering reinstated in hushed exchanges. She was alone at the party save for Henry, but he could only guard her for so long before his colleagues whisked him into conversations littered with business jargon that lost her attention.

Still, she clung to his hand, and once in a while, Henry would break from stock discussions to turn in for a kiss. He surrounded her ears with his fingers, tilting her face up so he need not crouch just to show some affection. When he buried her mouth with his, she savoured the taste of wine, the power in becoming the first lady, the stares from Henry's subordinates.

Henry pulled back an inch, staring drunkenly, though he'd only had one glass of pinot noir, and nipped her bottom lip. "Having a good time, sweetheart?"

"Sure. I love catching all the cattiest office workers glaring."

Henry smirked as though he too tasted a dollop of satisfaction from the envy. "You know what I say to that?"

"What?"

"Fuck them," Henry whispered.

She feigned a gasp, swatted his shoulder, and he pulled her even closer. "Gosh, you look beautiful. I want to undress you later and do all the things they're thinking about me doing to you."

"My, my, Henry. You better take it easy on the vino."

"I'm not tipsy. I'm excited."

She checked his pockets for bulges, hoping Henry's intentions weren't to propose in front of all these near-strangers. The lines of his suit were smooth, and when she hugged him, she only felt his cellphone, wallet and keys, no ring box. She sighed with relief and sweltered under another one of his long kisses. He moaned against her, stroked her neck and back until she interrupted him to say, "Jesus, Henry. What's with the PDA?"

"I'm sorry. I just don't care anymore. Let 'em look."

"Easy, tiger. You're the star of the show. People want to talk to you without lipstick all over your face."

"Mm, I'd fuck you right now if I could," said Henry.

She squeezed his shoulders, holding him off for a moment before he swooped in for another peck. "Okay, okay, I'm done. For now."

"Don't make me spank you when we get home," she warned, mouth curved in jest.

"I'll behave," he assured.

With children running about, the catering service making rounds in the nearly empty office space, more employees and their significant others piling in by the minute, it was easy to get lost in the bustle. Henry's colleagues whisked him away into a conversation she had no business understanding, leaving her stranded, drink in hand, smoothing out the wrinkles in her blouse to distract herself from her friendless reality. None of Henry's employees came to talk to her. She stood alone, a flag on a pole reminding everyone that Henry had upgraded in every way. Some people went by, nodding respectfully, while others bypassed her like a piece of furniture.

Just when she felt the pressure behind her eyes saying she was tired, Frank stepped out of the elevator with his wife and two boys. The children bolted for the bounce house, leaving their bickering parents in their dust. Frank travelled through the crowd rolling his eyes and sneering at his wife, who looked upset about something, but retracted her frown as soon as a colleague's wife greeted her. The loud businessman honed in on Henry, and she watched her helpless boyfriend go limp when the man slung his meaty arm around his shoulders, thumping his back with a ham hock fist.

She mused over Henry's embarrassment as Frank launched into a story designed specifically to draw attention to him in the worst way. Frank's baritone floated above the music, and soon, others gathered to listen to the man tell the story of how Henry got too wasted on sake on a business trip to Japan because he didn't want to seem rude to the host and didn't know how to decline.

"This fuckin' guy—pardon my French—is rolling on the floor in his hotel room, has ten minutes to get dressed and downstairs for the conference, but can't even hold his head up straight. How many did you have, Henry, seven? Eight?"

Henry blanched, shaking his head. "Eight, yeah, I think that's about right."

"You've never seen a guy so drunk in your life! He did the conference, slurring the entire time, stumbling over his shoes, but the folks loved it! Didn't they, Deaver? You really got their attention when you started hiccoughing between every word."

"Different times. We were younger. We were boys."

"Ah, yeah. Young and dumb. Now, look at you! Much older now and just as dumb, eh?"

The gaggle surrounding Henry burst into laughter and carried on as Frank surrendered his grip. She tried to picture Henry staggering, too drunk to string together a sentence, but couldn't imagine him as anything less than poised. The image reminded her of the conversation she had with Mary in the parking garage. Before the divorce had been finalized, Mary told her Henry had done questionable things abroad with his colleagues. Frank's story, although comical and meant as a harmless jab, filled her with suspicion.

Henry had denied the accusation that he cheated before that night he invited her up to his hotel room. With desperation on his face, he vowed on his love for her that he was never unfaithful, barring their affair. She believed him, with reluctance, and stowed it away in her mind with the rest of Mary's dubious claims. Now that stories of shenanigans and unprofessional conduct were in circulation, she tried not to let her suspicions gain traction.

The night played on, and as more of the families left to put their hyper children to bed, the heads of business brought out the top-shelf Scotch and sat around picking at sandwich trays and hors d'oeuvres. Frank caught Henry's assistant-turned-girlfriend in his cross-hairs and approached her with a drink in hand. Red-faced and loud as ever, Frank asked her why she wasn't enjoying herself.

She cleared her throat and offered her best smile. "I am having fun. I just don't have a rich enough history with the company to offer any entertaining stories."

"Oh, come now. You were Henry's assistant for months! You don't have anything to share about banging the boss?"

Frank's announcement only fell on her ears, but it was enough to make her blush and want to escape. He apologized and sidled up to her, clinking his whiskey tumbler with her wine glass.

"Gotta get you a refill, Whaddaya say, toots?"

"I'm fine for now," she said. "I offered to drive home."

"That's right. You two live together now in that little condo."

She blinked, unsure of how anyone might think of the condo as little, then realized she was standing among wealthy men whose homes spanned acres, who owned Summer cottages bigger than the average townhouse.

"I gotta say, Deaver's got that colour back in his face since he started on with you, doll. What do I gotta do to get me a woman like that? He's a whole new man. Is that all it takes is a nice, young honey to roll back the decades? I bet the old bastard gets it up just fine. Just fine."

"Thank you, Frank. I'll try to sift through that to find a compliment," she scoffed and sipped her wine.

"Aw, I mean it with love, darlin', you know that. Ol' Franky just talks, right? I don't mean any harm. Maybe I come from a place of envy, who knows? Not every day a dry old fella gets his hands on something pretty as you. I can see you're good for him. He sure smiles a helluva lot more! Christ, can't chisel the grin off that face. Loopy as a damn circus clown since you came around."

"Really?" She tittered.

"I'm serious. Shit, when Henry was with Mary, you couldn't pay the guy to crack a joke. Now, he's nothing like the shlub I met all those years ago."

She ran her finger along the glass rim as Frank droned on, her eyes on Henry across the room. He had been having a good time, his cheeks aglow with cheeriness. She'd never seen Henry interact with his coworkers for more than a quick trip in and out of the conference room to deliver him a printout or progress report. Tonight, Henry hadn't complained about people talking his ear off. Even after Frank's unflattering account of one of his rare blunders, he hadn't whined or wished they could sneak out unseen. Henry was at ease.

"He's planning on proposing to me soon," she said.

Frank cocked his head and rose his glass. "Here's to hoping he makes the right decision, and quick, before you realize you can do better!"

She clinked glasses with Frank once more, and while he drained his whiskey, she set her glass down on a table nearby.

"I was wondering what his coworkers might say about him remarrying."

"Anything to get him away from that soul-sucking ice queen of an ex-wife."

"Frank? Can I ask you something and get a sincere answer?"

Frank read her serious tone, shifted his brows and angled in, unaware of his alcohol-laden breath fanning over her face. "Anything, love. Franky tells no lies. That's what they say. With me, it's pure honesty."

"I heard a rumour about Henry in Thailand. Somebody said he cheated on Mary. Do you know anything about this? I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into, being young and all. I don't want to end up wasting my best years with a man who might cheat on me down the road."

Frank scoffed, slapped his leg and howled. She waited for him to wipe an invisible tear from his eye, hoping nobody asked what was so funny.

"Oh, doll. You can't believe all the rumours you hear in this place. Thailand... Shit, that was so long ago. I can hardly remember what happened. It's true, we did some partying, but when in Rome, right?"

She grimaced as Frank went on, "Ol' Deaver never left his hotel room on that trip. Me 'n a couple of our work buddies cruised around, got ourselves into a little trouble, but not Henry. He spent the whole week hunched over his laptop, putting last minute touches on some PowerPoint crap—never was good with computers, myself. And don't get me wrong, there were offers made during dinners—generous offers. You know the type. They like to show their hospitality. But Henry was the professional. We call him Dad since he's always keeping us in line. Even us old guys, eh? No, no... Company is rock solid 'cause of him. We told Deaver a million times to drop the ball 'n chain, but the kid stuck it out, he really did."

"Am I stupid to marry him?"

"Doll, I think if you want someone to treat you right, it's my man, Henry Deaver. The Kid can't contain himself. And who could? He's a lucky man, really fortunate to have a dish like you."

"Oh, stop," she gestured at the opposite corner of the cleared out office space where the wives gathered. "You know, if I marry Henry, I'll have to join the wives' club and stand over there with Phyllis and Dorothy."

Frank beamed at her. She decided not to loathe the man for his praise, both for her and Henry. He was a bumbling idiot at times and unfiltered, but she had seen much worse. Before the corporate job with all the nice clothes and gadgets she used to pine for while browsing fashion websites, she worked her food service job. With every type of asshole and gentleman coming through the hotel bar, Frank was the loudmouth who'd changed her mind on Henry Deaver.

"You're a different kind, ain'tcha? I bet Deaver has his hands full with you."

Warm, wine-drunk confidence slid off her tongue, "Oh, I keep him busy."

"I'll kill him if he doesn't marry you, kid."

"I'm sure you will."

"That's Frank's Guarantee."

She tipped glasses with him once more and excused herself to use the washroom. The night was drawing to a close, and she enjoyed the quiet of the bathroom and its 3 stalls. Many times she had retreated to the washroom to text Henry while he was in his office. She couldn't risk getting caught exchanging dirty messages with the boss, so when she wanted to make him blush, she snuck off to the lady's room. Many nude photoshoots happened in the safety of the last stall on the right, and all of them fed to Henry's phone at inopportune times—mostly during meetings or video calls with clients across the world. Now, she laid her head against the cool metal and thought of marrying Henry.

Back then, falling in love with him was forbidden, tingly, like a shot of alcohol at an inappropriate hour that she hoped nobody could smell on her breath. Now, it was pure. There were no more walls, no need to hide in the stall to talk to him. Henry was hers, and everyone knew it.

Henry waited for her by a stack of chairs. Behind him, the catering company was clearing away serving trays, stacking cups and folding tablecloths. The band had long since packed up, and anyone with children had taken them downstairs to the shuttles the company had arranged to drive them home.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey, indeed. How're you doing? I thought I saw you getting along with Frank." Henry chuckled. "What was up with that? I thought you hated him."

"I don't hate him. Maybe I wasn't keen on him hitting on me back at the hotel, but I think he's smartened up. As uncouth as he may be... He has your back and cares about the company."

"He's the drunk uncle of the business."

"You'll have to teach him some manners, though. One day, you'll have a female big-wig to schmooze, and she might not take kindly to pet names."

Henry's eyes bugged as he nodded. "Frank doesn't get to talk to the women in the industry, and don't worry, I'll whip him into shape."

"Hm, is that why they call you the company dad?" She asked, tracing one finger down Henry's lapel. "You just keep everyone in line, don't you? Lay down the law. Tell all those silly men how to act."

Henry shivered as her hand travelled lower, coasted over the front of his pants while nobody was looking. He puffed his chest, a crafty look taking over his visage. He snatched her wandering hand and stepped closer, eclipsing her as he slouched over to whisper in her ear.

"Yeah, I'm the Daddy around here."

"Is Daddy ready to head home soon?"

"Let's say our goodbyes, then we'll get out of here. Come on."

Henry gave her directions that took them in the opposite direction of home. When she questioned him, he patted her thigh, assuring there was a surprise waiting at the end of the line. She tried to pry it from him while they cruised the highway in the dark. The radio played low while Henry tried changing the subject.

"Where am I going?" She asked.

Henry pointed ahead. "Get off at the next exit."

The roads narrowed, and the street lamps spread farther apart outside of the city. She slowed the car, flipped on the high beams and guided Henry's BMW over gravel hills. There were houses along the quiet strip of country line, but they were hidden behind spruce and maple trees.

"Henry, we're so far from home. I'm tired. Please tell me what we're doing."

He pointed at a driveway tucked behind a line of birch and a dented metal mailbox standing crookedly on the side of the road. "Down there. It's close now, don't worry."

They curved through a loose gathering of evergreens and pulled up to a sprawling ranch house with a double garage and topiaries along the sides. The place was dark, but a motion light illuminated the paved driveway as she pulled up and parked. Henry pulled a set of keys from his pocket and exited the vehicle. He waited for her to catch up, breath turning to vapour in the crisp night air.

"Care to explain what we're doing at some random house?" She asked.

Henry took her hand and guided her toward the front door. In the dark, she sailed by the realtor's sign and stepped onto the first stone slab leading to the front door. She watched Henry fiddle with a key, shove it into the lock and turn the handle. The door opened with a whoosh, the scent of fresh paint and lacquered wood spilling out of the massive wooden door. Henry hit a switch, and fractals of light exploded from a chandelier on high in the foyer.

"Check this out. It's so open in the center, you could drive a truck through to the backyard. And the kitchen! Oh, you gotta see the kitchen. It's lovely," Henry said as he grabbed her hand and led her through the house. "All stainless steel and marble. The island is bigger than our bed! And come this way, down here."

They journeyed down an echoing hall, footsteps casting off the hardwood floors and glass light fixtures. Henry threw open a door and ushered her inside a furnished bedroom. A sleigh bed domineered the far end of the room, all dark wood, plush duvet and pillows.

"I know you're not keen on beige, which is fine. We'll paint it. But, look at this bed! And this window overlooks the backyard—Well, I wouldn't say 'yard.' It's more of a...field. Look, look, look!"

"Henry, what is this?" She asked, peering out the window at the blackness beyond the dim orange halo of the bedroom light.

When she turned back around, Henry placed his hands on her hips, excitement simmering. He smiled, wry and lustful, and bent down to kiss her.

"Isn't it obvious? This is our house."

"What are you saying?" She gasped. "You bought this place?"

"Mhm. I've had my eye on it for a long time."

"And just how long exactly were you planning on keeping this a secret?"

"Only until I bought it."

"Henry!"

He jingled the keys in his pocket. "Well, you can't just walk into a place that's not yours."

Suddenly, she realized Henry had put this in motion weeks before, masked it under the search for a new office building. Realtors had rung Henry's phone off the hook, and she had answered them all, oblivious to his underlying motive. When it clicked, she dropped her jaw and swatted him playfully.

"I can't believe you. Right under my nose!"

"It was good timing."

"But...why? What's wrong with the condo?"

Henry guided her to the room's centre beneath the carnival glass light fixture that had to go, along with the drab paint job. "Nothing is wrong with the condo. It's just not ours. There are too many memories preventing me from letting go of the past. I want to let it all go, but I can't when I look around and remember where I was just a year and a half ago. It served me well as a place to escape, but now, I don't need to hide. I want new memories. I want to walk outside with my coffee and see you in the backyard, doing whatever you want—gardening, reading, lounging. I want to pull up after a long day at work, see this place, and know that you're inside, all of our things, our memories, our smells."

"And what if I hate it?" She asked, stifling a giggle.

"Then I'll sell it, and we'll find a new place."

"I don't hate it, Henry, but...This was such a risk."

"It paid off. I knew you'd like it. It's the perfect combination of vintage and modern. The structure is old and strong, but the renovations give it that modern class. It's like that chalet we stayed at in Sweden. Remember?"

"Of course, I remember. We didn't leave bed for two days."

Henry smiled fondly at the memory and stroked her hair back, smiling with her in his arms. She laid her cheek on his chest and breathed in a contented sigh.

"There are two offices, one for me and one for you. Two other bedrooms. One for guests and one for a kid."

She looked up at him, and all the playfulness fled from his eyes. He kissed her to avoid the inevitable questions. When will we see a doctor? What is the plan if we can't conceive? They didn't need answers, only trust that whatever battles stretched on, they would meet them hand-in-hand.

"I can't wait," she whispered. "I love you. And I love this house."

"There's one more thing," Henry cleared his throat and stepped away from her. "It's kind of important."

"What is it?"

"I'm old, babe."

"Henry, you're not that old."

"I'm an old man. I'm head of a multi-national company, y'know. I wear suits and talk to people who hemorrhage money day in and day out. I like to style myself as a professional."

She cocked her head, wondering where Henry was going with his monologue.

"It's awkward when people ask me about you, and I have to refer to you as my girlfriend. Guys like me aren't supposed to have girlfriends. It just sounds creepy. Plus, you're so much more to me than that. You're not my girlfriend; you're the love of my life. My soulmate. My queen. I want you to be my partner."

"Henry—"

He cut her off and fetched something from the table next to the bed. When he rejoined her in the middle of the room, he bent at the knee and presented her with the ring box she had already seen, yet she fluttered as though it was the first time.

"Baby... I could have flown you to a tropical island or put this in a glass of champagne. I could have done this in front of everyone at the party tonight, but all of that seemed silly. Don't get me wrong, I still want to take you to every corner of the world and give you all the nicest things, but I wanted to propose to you in our house, just you and me. So... Will you quit being my girlfriend and become my wife instead?"

Henry separated her ring finger from the rest and slid the band down to the knuckle as she blotted her sobs with the other hand, nodding and fighting joyful tears.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" She asked as he rose to his feet and clamped her in a bone-cracking hug.

"I know I'm clever! You thought I would propose to you in front of all those people? No way."

"You hate being the center of attention."

"That's right. And although I want to shout it from the rooftops, I thought you'd prefer me asking you to marry me someplace quiet."

She gazed at the stone glittering on her finger, and a fresh wash of tears wet her cheeks. "I'm marrying you... You're going to be my husband."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to skip fiance altogether and get right to the wife thing."

"You're my husband."

"You're my wife!"

"We're getting married!"

"That's right," Henry beamed. "And we move in next month."

Breathless, she ripped her eyes off the ring and looked up at the man who gave it to her. She threw her arms around his neck, pressed her face into the column of his throat and breathed in the scent of old hotels, of pastry and coffee and drying ink on newspaper. She had a vision of him seated at a table across the room, smiling in her direction, tapping his silver pen on the spine of his planner. Two eyes, one green and one brown, drinking her in like fine wine, full of secrets and passion, indulgence and guilt. Her good Christian boy who was anything but pure or chaste.

"I'll worship you until I die, you know that, right?"

"Henry, I can't. You're making me cry. There's probably mascara all over my face!"

"I don't care," he pressed the words to her temple, swaying in languid step. "You'll never be rid of me. Think about that."

"I believe you, Henry."

His eyes flooded and no amount of squeezing suffocated the tears. The streams met the cuff of his suit jacket. He questioned why he still wore the suit and slipped out of it as her hand tugged his tie. Leash in hand, she pulled his face to her level and touched the tears coasting his cheeks, brushed her thumb over the scar two inches from the lips she kissed.

"Are you sure you want to marry me?"

"Shut up."

"I'm serious."

"And I'm telling you to shut up, Henry. Don't ask those kinds of questions."

"I just can't believe you're mine."

"That's right. So stop wondering if I'll change my mind. I've had many opportunities to reconsider. I stuck it out through times I should have walked out, and now we're standing in this gigantic house, and there's a ring on my finger... And you still think I'll back out?"

"I hope not. You're everything I've wanted my whole life. I have it all. Now I can spend the rest of it happy."

"I love you," she whispered against his bottom lip.

Henry crouched, circled her hips with his arms and carried her to the bed, murmuring, "I love you, too, baby. So much."

"Are we gonna fuck right here?"

"Right here, right now," said Henry, perching her on the bed so he could work open the buttons of his dress shirt. She lifted her legs, slipped off her heels, then wrestled her blouse off. The struggle to undress ended with their tops off, Henry standing with his knees pressed into the plush mattress, between her legs. He ran his hands up and down her thighs, nylon sighing between skin as he stroked.

"I didn't think I'd make it out of the office without fucking you. Gosh, you looked so good in that outfit. All those guys were looking at you... Especially when you dropped your phone and bent over to pick it up. That fabric stretching over your ass. You should've seen 'em staring."

"You think they're jealous of you?" She asked as Henry bunched her skirt around her hips, revealing satin and lace panties pasted to her crotch with arousal. His palm traversed her thigh, paused at the edge of the panties. He sent out two fingers to stroke the stitching along her groin, satin running like water across the tips. Henry wanted to take his time, but she was restless. He subdued her with a kiss.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm in control tonight, and I want to feel and lick and taste every inch of your body before I even get my pants off, understand?"

She returned his sly look and rolled onto her stomach, parting her legs so he could admire the shiny material ruched between her cheeks.

"To answer your question... Yes. Of course, they're jealous."

"Oh, yeah? How do you know?"

Henry snickered, like a bully cornering his prey. "Those old bastards can't keep their mouths shut. Even when you were my employee, they'd hound me for details... Ask if you were single, if I was tapping you, if I'd thought about it. I'm not one to boast, but they all knew. Henry Deaver doesn't kiss and tell, but then you'd come in and smile at me like just an hour before I was balls-deep in your pussy... Like my cum was still dripping down your thigh. They knew. We weren't as covert as we thought."

"It's that naughty little smile of yours that gives it away. You flashed me that same smile a few times at the hotel, and I just thought maybe you didn't realize how seductive you looked. But you know, don't you? You know what you do to me. How hard you can make me with just one look."

Henry lifted her leg over his shoulder and kissed her ankle as he squeezed the sole of her foot, admiring the coloured polish on her toenails peeking out of the semi-opaque stockings.

"I do enjoy getting you worked up, sir."

"Let's not tonight. I'm supposed to make love to you, not treat you like my office pet. I'm marrying you, for fuck's sake."

"Then make love to your future wife. That doesn't mean I can't be your slut anymore."

"Oh, my God," Henry growled.

"Look at what I'm wearing for you. I know how much you love the way my pussy looks wearing this fabric. Thigh-high stockings aren't practical, but I figured you might fuck me in your office one last time, and I wanted to torment you."

"Not so predictable now, huh?"

She simpered and ran her toe in a line down his chest and didn't stop until she grazed his belt buckle. "Yeah, and you've been thinking about filling me up all night."

Henry grasped her ankles and pulled her to the edge of the bed to meet his groin. He gathered her up in his arms, pressing his entire weight on her frame as he kissed her desperately. When her legs grew weak, he clamped them around his hips and undulated. Hardness strained against her crotch, pulsing from the heat between her legs.

"You're right. I've been aching to fuck you. How long has it been? Gosh, this week has been so busy, I've hardly had any time alone with you. And you've been occupied with your new job. It's been a while since I've come."

She made a coo of sympathy. "Aw, my poor baby. You're probably so sensitive."

"I want you to do something for me," Henry muttered, adjusting his crotch, then giving up and undoing his belt and pants altogether. "I'd love it if you sucked my cock."

"Oh, Mr. Deaver asking for a blowjob? A rare sound to my ears."

He shook his head, grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed to kneel on the floor. With feet spread wide, his fingers tangled in her hair, Henry waited for her to make the first move. His view of her from on high was angelic. In the prismatic light, her eyes twinkled, and he thought of whiskey in a glass, poured by a dangerous woman he'd grown to admire. She always wore a smile, but for the right person, that smile turned luscious and dim. Her eyes would relax on him, soothe him, delight if he made small conversation instead of only demands.

Henry did not demand, but as her smiling lips tightened around the midway-point of his cock and sank, he couldn't help aiding the way to her throat with one firm thrust. "Oh... Oh, Jesus fucking Christ," he droned.

"You can use my mouth, sir."

"Just suck that dick like a good girl. Do your magic on me, baby."

With free reign, she slathered his shaft with her tongue, side-to-side, up and down. She met his eyes and smiled, the tip nestled between her puckered lips. Her grasp on the base sent waves of hot blood pumping through the veins, filling him out entirely.

"I can't wait to feel this big cock pumping my pussy full of cum."

"Oh, I know, baby. We'll get there. For now, I need your mouth. All over me, please. Balls too. Come on... Eat that cock, you hungry little slut."

She chased Henry up on the bed where she could kneel between his legs in comfort. Henry enjoyed the position, too—back against a mound of pillows, his long legs spread to the lower corners of the bed, her crumpled form nestled between his thighs while her lips and tongue worked in a circuit on his length. He leaned his head back, arms thrown over the pillows. In this position, Henry bucked his hips a few times to touch his tip to her tonsils. Each time she brought up a wave of saliva that coated him and made it easier for her to slide down.

"What about that ass, big boy?" She asked after popping up from a harsh series of head-bobbing. "I know how much you love it when I play with that pretty hole of yours."

Henry sucked air in through his teeth, chin dimpling and lashes fluttering. "Mmph, not tonight. I want that pussy. Yeah, I wanna taste you."

They flipped positions. Henry pulled her onto her back away and snatched one of the pillows to wedge under her tailbone. With both hands, he hooked the back of her knees and spread her thighs wide, elevating her pelvis until his breath stroked the front of her panties. Henry nipped the fabric, pulled it into a tent and let it snap back against her lips. He nuzzled it, faint stubble scratching the delicate fabric. She let out a gentle sigh, a whimper of lust. Henry kissed the satin once, twice harder, then a third time like he'd met her mouth in a fevered touch.

She watched his long fingers sneak the fabric away, how he made shapes with his mouth like he wanted to say something but lost his voice. Henry bit his lip, kissed where he knew her clit was hiding, then prodded her folds with a long lick. He repeated the motion on the right side, along her labia, and again on he left side.

For a while, he would only meet the crest of her entrance with light kisses and whispered promises.

"Do you like it when I tease your pussy? Giving you just enough to make you wet, but not as much as you need?"

"Henry, please," she begged.

"Please, what?"

"Please give me more!"

"More of this?" Henry asked, ghosting his breath over her clit.

"No more teasing."

"You sure?"

She clutched some of his hair and pouted. He chuckled, laid his cheek on her thigh and brought his hand up between her legs. "What if I'm not done teasing? What if I want to torment you a little longer?"

He spread open her lips, applying pressure on both sides. She could almost grind against his fingers if he didn't have her at his mercy, arched over a pillow, thighs splayed wide and vulnerable. Henry tapped her clit with three fingers, stippling with gooseflesh from the wet noises the pads made on her vulva. "Oh, I love that sound," he sang. "You're so wet for me."

"Please, sir. I need your mouth."

"Is that right? Well, you've been so good and helpful. I'm sure I can give you what you want... but you have to promise me something."

"Yes, yes, I will. Anything."

"Promise you'll tell me before you come?"

"Uh-huh. I promise."

"Okay, I trust you. Don't get too close. I have other plans for your pussy."

She groaned out loud, relieved when he finally licked her clit. His tongue was a warm blanket, weighted and placed perfectly on top. He undulated the muscle, coaxing out the sensitive parts for adoration. That's how she described his attention in her mind. When Henry ate her out, it was like he'd infiltrated her head and knew the precise amount of pressure, the proper motions, when to flicker his tongue and when to envelope her clit between his lips. He kissed, sucked, lapped and moaned like a symphony, only opening his eyes once in a while to catch her staring in awe between her legs.

"Mm, baby," Henry moaned against her slit. "I can feel you getting close already. Don't go over the edge."

"I'm sorry, you just look so good eating my pussy."

Henry pulled off her, smirking, letting her glimpse his full lips shining in their glory. She couldn't stop herself from lunging for him. The taste of her own fluid on his mouth set off a carnal urge to feel his cock too. She told him to fuck her hard, to spank her ass and make her squeal like a knifed animal. She wanted that deepness, the full stretch as his thighs bounced her up and down. They laid on their sides, and Henry entered her from behind, arm hooking her leg up so he could gaze over at her exposed breasts, her glistening clit forgotten for a moment too long. In his clutches, she was helpless, and Henry used his advantage to squeeze and rub her until more of her liquid soaked between their groins.

"Can you come like this?" Henry puffed next to her ear. "If I rub your clit like that and keep fucking you, can you come?"

"Yes," she peeped. "Yes, keep going."

"Yeah? Gonna come like a good girl all over this dick?"

Again, she nodded, biting down on her lip in concentration.

"'Cause I'm gonna shoot so much fucking cum inside you, but only after you get all tight around me."

She begged him not to stop, to never stop being hers. Henry rushed his movements until she bucked once, legs fighting to fold inward.

"Is that it? That spot right there?" Henry asked. "Keep rubbing you just like this?"

He didn't need an answer; it was written all over her flushed face, denting her lip where her teeth bore down. Henry exerted every inch of stamina he had in his body until her muscles seized hard enough to snap. Mewling as she came, Henry didn't stop pestering her clit with his fingertips or pull out after he emptied as deep inside as he could fit. He gathered her up in his arms, locking fingers and lips, breathing each other's air. Pieces of his hair clung to his sweat-dampened forehead while he pulsed and shivered.

"I need you to get your panties on right away. We can't leave a mess behind."

"Are you serious?"

Henry nodded his head, unperturbed by the alarm in her tone. "Well, it's not our stuff. It's staging furniture. I just convinced the realtor to let me surprise you tonight. She probably didn't think I'd be fucking you in any of the bedrooms."

"Henry! I'm not sure where you slung my underwear."

He pushed into her one last time and grunted. "Aw, honey, mm. That's where my cum belongs."

"You're such a bad man," she giggled.

"I know I'm dirty."

"Come on, husband. Help me find my clothes. We should get back before we both fall asleep and someone finds us like this."

They gathered themselves, sighing and stretching the tension from their muscles as they dressed and took one more look around the property. She saw the house in a warm light now, as a place they could fill with memories, starting in the master bedroom where Henry proposed. He held her hand as they drove to the condo and flung themselves into bed, drained from the night's givings but wrapped in each other's arms.

The next morning, she woke to the smell of pancakes cooking on a griddle. Henry was up, two coffees deep, and buzzing from cupboard to cabinet, humming under his breath. He lit up when he caught her motion in the corner of his eye and went in for a long hug.

"Good morning, wife."

"Morning, husband," she replied, cheeks and chest prickling.

"Pancake buffet?" Henry gestured at the kitchen island.

"It's not even Christmas!"

Henry scoffed. "Who needs a special occasion to have a pancake buffet?

"I suppose I can't complain," she said.

She sat at the island, studying the foreign object around her ring finger every once in a while. When she made a fist or spread her hand, the rock sparkled and delighted her eyes. Henry caught her staring at the ring and smiling as he launched into the day's trajectory, his plan falling on deafened ears.

"Hello?" Henry waved the spatula. "Are you home?"

She sat up straight and folded her hands. "Yes. Sorry. I was distracted."

"I was saying I have to go into the office today, but only for an hour or two. Are you okay with hanging around here by yourself while I take the car? Can you believe the Beamer is still in the shop? They say take the damn thing into the dealership, we'll fix it up for free, but we'll keep it for half the week."

"Oh, well, I was supposed to pick up groceries, but I can wait."

Henry's eyebrows popped up. "Oh, no. No, no, honey. That's all right. I'll find another way there."

"Why don't I drive you to the office? Unless...You're not actually going to the office?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Henry asked.

"I don't know...You could be exacting another one of your famous covert plans and covering it up by saying you're going to the office. How do I know?'

Henry tipped his head back and laughed as he tended the food sizzling on the stovetop. "Oh, sweetheart. No. I promise, no more tricks for a while."

"Sure," she said with a sly edge on her tongue.

"You can drop me off and take the car. It's nothing secretive, I swear."

Henry piled the last pancakes onto a plate, turned off the griddle and wiped the counter clear of flour and coconut flakes. They put together an extravagant array of dressed-up breakfast food, dousing their plates in maple syrup, chocolate chips and heart-shaped strawberries as they talked and sipped coffee. Henry sat across the island holding his hand out for her to touch every once in a while. He didn't need her to hold his hand, though, subconsciously, he always reached out for her in case she wanted to feel his skin.

The morning melted seamlessly into early afternoon, and the couple ventured from the condo after a quick round of energizing couch sex. Henry thumbed the ring on her finger as they walked onto the main floor from the elevator.

"Mr. Deaver and Madame, good morning!" Johnny, the concierge, greeted them.

Henry held up their conjoined hands. "It's Mr. and Mrs. Deaver from now on, Johnny."

The tall man behind the desk made a small gasp and bowed. "Apologies, Mr. and Mrs... Might I say congratulations to the happy couple?"

"You're the first to hear, officially," Henry said.

Johnny touched his enormous hand to his chest. "What an honour, sir. This position never loses its magic."

Henry twisted his mouth. "I have some other news, Johnny. My wife and I will be moving soon. We won't be seeing you every morning."

"Ah, that's all right, Mr. Deaver. Moving up and up, I hope?"

"Yes. It's a ranch house in the country. No neighbours."

"Beautiful. Well, I wish you both the very best and look forward to helping you out until moving day comes."

"Thanks, Johnny," she said with a smile.

Johnny rose his finger as they meant to leave. "One more thing. A package arrived for you, Mr. Deaver."

The concierge ducked under the desk with a set of keys and opened the security box dedicated to the Deaver property. He pulled out a bulging manila envelope and turned it over with a dutiful grin. When her eyes glanced at the writing on the front, a knot formed in her throat. Henry's name adorned the front in practiced, sweeping hand. Henry. Not Henry Deaver or Mr. Deaver. Just his name written in black ink with flourishes on the capital H and a hand-drawn filigree beneath. She watched his shoulders stiffen as he nodded to Johnny.

"Thank you, Johnny. We'll see you later."

She followed Henry to the parking garage, staring at the envelope in his hands. Henry looked ahead, his bright demeanour trampled upon by the object he carried. When they got into the vehicle, they looked at each other, then down at the package.

"What is that?" She asked.

"I think it's from Mary. That's her handwriting."

She swallowed the knot in her throat, but it had doubled in size and refused to budge. "What now? She's not supposed to bother us anymore."

"I know," Henry breathed. "I can't... You open it."

She tore into the envelope and pulled out a letter accompanied by a DVD in a flat jewel case and photocopies of ruled paper scrawled with notes. Henry nodded at the letter, signalling her to read it aloud.

"Dear Henry... I know there's little chance of getting a private audience with you now that we're legally separated, and the company is in the process of moving. You probably have your hands full and do not wish to hear from me either way. I understand your need to stay away, hence the letter and no phone call. What needs to be said cannot be summed up in a brief call, so I will try to keep this to a few pages.

I wanted to start off by apologizing. It's too late for apologies, and you must think I'm off my rocker to have even considered coming to you with this. Still, I'm not looking for acceptance, sympathy or anything but the need to fill you in on the blank spaces that must have driven you crazy over the last couple of years. The way I scorned you was wrong. A wife should respect her husband in all forms, and answer to him when he calls. I ignored you and purposely drove a wedge between us in order to distance myself from you and our collective failure.

By now, I'm sure your new girlfriend told you what I told her. It should come as no surprise that when I say "failure," I mean our inability to have a child.

When I received the news, and you were nowhere to be found, I felt the clutches of the Devil himself reaching for me. God does not make mistakes, which is how I know we were being punished for our sins, and since the results indicated you were the weaker factor, I can only assume the punishment was meant for you, and by extension, me. I know you have berated me in the past for my strong beliefs, but I cannot compromise my relationship with God for anyone's comfort. I know in my heart, his word is law, and if we couldn't produce a child, lying together would be straying down the path of temptation.

There were things you wanted me to do that I could not, in good conscience, provide for you—sex acts no married couple should have an interest in performing. If I'd have known of your devious tastes early on in our relationship, perhaps I wouldn't have married you. You resisted His word and acted on selfish impulse, spoke of wicked things with your colleagues, and Lord knows what other things I didn't catch wind of. I had to escape your sin yet remain your wife through the bad and the worse, as I pledged before God until death.

I do not judge you, as you are no longer my husband, and I know God will assess your choices in his divine eye. I don't have to worry about the unclean thoughts that live inside of you—they have no power over me; they aren't a reflection of my heavenly worth. If anything, I hope you are happy and have all the freedom one who strays from God can expect to have in this world. I pray for your soul each night and hope you do not meet the eternal fires.

I should have told you, but I was stricken with unbearable grief. I hated you. I fell out of love. I can't describe how, but I felt if I touched you, knowing what I knew then, God would punish me. Please understand everything I did, I did in the name of the Lord and with concern for my immortal soul. Call me selfish. I was and am, to this day, a selfish woman. But you were good to me, up until a certain point.

I cannot forgive your infidelity and can only pray you to seek repentance for your sin, though I will admit I did not care to make it right at the time. My silence was meant as punishment, but only God can dole penance, and in shutting you out, I acted in his name when I shouldn't have. I will spend the rest of my days begging His forgiveness and praying for you, Henry.

This package includes the evidence I've compiled of your cheating. You should know now I no longer seek vengeance. I simply want to scrub my life of all traces of you, and figured you might want to gaze upon your transgressions. Or throw them out. It's up to you now. Sincerely, Mary."

Henry was quiet for several minutes as he digested the contents of the letter. She found a pamphlet for the Evangelist Church of God among the pages and scowled.

"Wow, religion really makes people say some crazy stuff," she muttered, hoping to get a sound out of her fiance. Henry pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He motioned for the letter and gave it a half-hearted scan before crumpling it in his fist.

"Fuck that woman. Fuck that life."

"Sounds like a story."

He puffed, scoffed, burned a hole into the letter written in Mary's graceful hand.

"But you don't have to tell me."

"She's right," Henry said. "I was different back then."

"I know you were."

"How come you've never asked?"

His question nipped the skin on the back of her arms. "The same reason I don't ask other people about their religion. That's their business. You were raised a certain way, but you changed. I know you were put in a cage, Henry. You made a mistake, but it's not the eternal damnation Mary says. Your marriage was practically over. Unless... You cheated before us?"

Henry whipped a look at her, gaping and wordless. She shrugged as a platitude and coughed over a laugh. "Well? How can I not suspect? Mary says you cheated, Frank says you didn't, but I don't trust either of them as far as I can throw them, Henry!"

"Look, I know!" Henry barked, and she pressed her back to the door. "You've gotta believe me, sweetheart. I'm trying to prove to you every day that I'm not this monster she wants me to be!"

"What's on these discs? They don't have labels. Am I going to watch this and find out something you don't want me to?"

His jaw set like he was about to explode. Air escaped his nostrils, and he glared forth at the wet cement wall beyond the hood of her car. Above, the building's pressure crushed out all sound, and Henry became aware of his breath, the tension in his windpipe.

"No. I don't know. I have no idea what's on those DVDs. If she got her private investigator to film me, it's probably just you and I making out in the car. What would be incriminating about that?"

"Did you lie to me that night in Paris?"

A dissonant, heavy silence fell over the man in the driver's seat. His skin turned sallow, and her eyes eclipsed to see the sickly guilt on his face.

"That night, you told me you left her. You said you asked for the divorce, and she just gave up. Was that a lie? Did you say that just to get me to go?"

Condemned by another bout of silence, Henry hid the colour of his ears behind hunched shoulders. "Baby, I was in love. I am in love with you. It's only ever been you! I needed you with me so bad. She knew we were done. She knew it. Divorce was not a foreign word."

"Just tell me straight. Did you put it in stone that night? When you flew me ten hours to Paris to be with you?"

"No. I didn't. I went home, said goodbye to her, she gave me the cold shoulder, I cursed, and she got angry with me. I told her I was finished, and then I left. Maybe I didn't flat out say I want a divorce, but it was implied."

"I'm curious to see what's on these discs," she said.

"Sweetheart, I will watch them with you, totally confident there's no evidence of me with any other woman."

"Good," she nodded. "Because you're mine. Maybe I'm the bad one for not caring. If you're bad, I'm worse. I don't give a fuck about you cheating on her, and this is the first time I've ever admitted it out loud. You're mine, Henry. You belong to me. She knew what she had and uses faith as an excuse for hiding a horrible secret from you!"

"Good Lord, I don't want to cry about this again," said Henry.

"Fuck it, Henry, just like you said. Fuck her and fuck the life you had. Your ass is mine now," she stuck her ring finger in the air. "Like, forever."

Henry pouted and melted into her lap. She quickly ran her hands through his hair as he moaned against her knee. "But what about our family?"

"We'll figure it out, babe. I promise. Until then, just keep shooting loads inside of me, and we'll see what happens."

He burst with laughter and lifted his rosy face to kiss her. "That's such a you thing to say in a time of crisis."

"I told you last night and back at the hotel... I'm with you. I'll back you in everything you do and make sure not a day goes by you wish you were somewhere else."

"I have absolutely no doubt of that, sweetheart. Goddamn it, I love you... Wifey," he giggled.

"But how hot would it be to have sex while watching DVDs of us hooking up in the Beamer and touching on patios and shit?"

"So hot. I've been thinking about it, and I've concluded it is very fucking hot."

"All right, hubby. Let's put this shit behind us forever and get busy getting married and having babies. We have places to go!"

"Yeah," Henry grabbed her hand and nodded. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

#henry deaver x mistress #bill skarsgard #bill skarsgard smut #bill skarsgard fanfiction #castle rock fanfiction #henry deaver

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pterodactylterrace · 3 years

Text

Guys Like You Chapter 4

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 4

Chapter Summary: It’s not a date, but I’m totally calling it a date in my head

Rating: 18+ for later chapters

Warnings: Mentions of blood

{Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3}

So, what are the odds of getting an entire day just canceled? Like, everyone just collectively agrees to go back to bed and skip the entire day for the good of mankind? Or at the very least for the good of one very tired single mother?

Briar had a bad dream the night before and came flying into her room just after midnight. Then the little girl had curled up against her mother in a way that had Faye contorted into an odd position, which led to the backache of the century.

Combine that with Briar's constant rolling and kicking and she also didn't sleep worth crap. Her alarm going off that morning sounded less like a happy little chime to welcome in the day, and more like execution bells leading her to her death. Naturally Briar had hopped straight up, entirely too happy to greet the day, and bounded off to plunder the kitchen for snacks. Faye on the other hand, ended up calling set to let them know she wasn't feeling well enough to come in.

Sometime around eleven in the morning she was met with horrific stomach cramps that had her wondering just what she had eaten the day before. Nothing Briar hadn't eaten, and she seemed just fine. Was this how she dies? A bleak implosion on an unassuming Thursday? Was she really going to go out like this?

It was during her next trip to the bathroom that she realized it probably wasn't death coming for her, the cramps were more likely caused by her monthly visitor showing up to kick her while she was down. Weird, usually she didn't really get cramps. Figures she would get stuck with this mess today. Now her back hurt, her stomach hurt, her head hurt, she felt like a walking zombie, and upon further inspection, she was a tired hurting zombie that had forgotten to replenish her supplies after Briar had mistaken them for candy and stickers. Just what she wanted, a trip to the store while she felt like death, with an energetic threenager in tow.

Half an hour of wrestling with Briar to get dressed and actually put on pants later, her phone started going off. That was when she remembered inviting Henry over for dinner that night under the guise of "wanting to try a new recipe and needing another adult to try it". In all honesty she was just trying to lure him back. She'd gotten a taste of having him around and found herself quickly becoming addicted. In truth, it was a recipe she had mastered while she was pregnant with Briar but hadn't made in a while. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

Unfortunately, it was looking like she was going to have to postpone their "it's not a date but I'm totally calling it a date in my head" for another time. A time when her body didn't feel like it was imploding and when she had slept for more than twelve minutes. A time when she could feasibly pounce and possibly even have a reason to break into the unopened box in her bedside drawer. It had been a going away gift from her sister when she had moved to England, with the explicit instructions to "go and getting that English dick" or something. It had been ten months and she still hadn't opened it. Turns out having a child that you are responsible for running around your house can take a toll on your sex life.

"Hey, Henry." Faye sighed, hitting the speakerphone button and setting the phone on her bed to grab something for herself to wear.

"Hello, Miss Warren. I must have missed you on set today." Ugh, ever since Mrs. Anderson had called her that, he had been a dog with a bone.

"No, I wasn't in today." Faye sighed, grabbing an old ratty bra to throw on along with her "I give up" sweats.

"Did you have the day off?"

"No, I'm just not feeling great. Sorry I didn't call you earlier. I hope you haven't left yet, Briar and I need to run to the store."

"I'm already on my way." Henry informed. "I can grab whatever you need, I'm already out after all."

"I need pads and tampons, Henry. I doubt that's too high up on your list of things you wanted to go shopping for today." Faye sighed, digging her knuckles into her lower back to try and relax the knotted muscles.

"Anything else?" Wait, seriously?

"Not that I need right now?" Why was that a question? Was this some vivid hallucination or something?

"Alright, I should be to your house in about half an hour."

"Uhh... yeah... see you then. Just let yourself in if I don't answer the door, I may be sobbing hysterically into my rubber duckie." Faye really needed to have a talk with that voice in her head that keeps her from saying or doing anything weird. It seems to have gone strangely MIA in the last few months.

"The toddler won't attack me if I walk in, will she?"

"She'll probably be in the bathroom reminding me I'm naked every few seconds."

"She did seem to enjoy that the last time I was over."

"You have no idea."

"I'll see you in a bit, enjoy your bath." Yeah, right. Who wants to bleed into their bathwater?

Naturally, her hyperactive daughter followed her into the bathroom, pointing out everything she could as her mother tried to shower. "Mommy, you look like a tiger!" "Mommy, you have a big butt!" "Mommy, when will I get boobies like yours?" "Mommy, you're nakie!" "Mommy, do you have a boo boo on your butt?" "Mommy, when do I get pictures on me like you have?" "Mommy, are you in the shower?" "Mommy, why are you nakie in the shower?"

Briar, her little womb nugget. Her angel. Her reason for getting up most mornings. The light of her life. The fountain of endless questions.

"Henry! You're back!" Briar gasped from the other side of the curtain, the sound of her little feet on the tile letting Faye know she had left her station at the edge of the tub to greet their guest. "Mommy has stripes, I'll show you!"

"No! No, that's ok." Henry quickly deflected, snatching her up in his free arm before she could scurry back to the curtain. Once was enough of that for right now. It had taken her mother almost a week to look him in the eye after that day. It had taken him almost as long to tear his eyes from her backside every time she turned away. It wasn't even like he was actively trying to stare, his gaze just kept being pulled to it like a magnet. If she caught his rubbernecking however, she never let him know.

"But she's a tiger! RAWR!" Briar giggled.

"I can hear you!" Faye grouched.

"I'll leave this on the sink for you. I forgot to ask exactly what you wanted, so I grabbed a lot of options." Henry called over the sound of the water. "Briar, why don't you show me how you make that tea again?"

He must be an alien. That was the most obvious explanation for him. Guys like him don't make the dreaded tampon run. Especially unprompted. He does realize he's too damn pretty to have to do such things, right? They also don't entertain your tiny clone for you to give you a moment's peace. Nope, he's clearly an alien. The MIB would be by any minute to wipe her mind.

When Faye finally put away the veritable stockpile she had been graced with and redressed herself, she wandered back to her living room, half expecting fire and mild chaos. She wasn't expecting to find Henry reading a Greek Mythology book to her overly fascinated daughter.

"The minotaur! Oh no!" Briar squealed excitedly when he turned the page, a depiction of the beast staring back at her.

"Don't worry, little one. You see that man? His name is Theseus, and he takes care of that mean minotaur." Henry soothed.

"Snaps his neck actually." Faye provided, curling up at the other end of the couch.

"Oh, you're familiar with the story?" Henry chuckled.

"Who's book do you think that is?"

"Just because you own it, doesn't mean you've read it." Henry pointed out.

"Those were my bedtime stories. Now Briar keeps wanting me to read them to her at night too."

"A little mythology nerd in the making." Henry chuckled, poking the toddler's side, making her squeal in delight.

"Books are for nerds!" Briar declared, snatching the book from Henry's hands and racing down the hallway.

"Yeah, don't even ask me what that was about." Faye sighed, shaking her head at her daughter.

"Feeling better?"

"Feeling more human." Faye forced out around a stifled yawn.

"Why don't you lie down and rest? I'm pretty sure I can keep Briar entertained and manage something for you guys to eat."

"You don't have to, Hen. You've already done so much." Faye declined, pushing herself up and mentally steeling herself for the meal prep she had ahead of her.

"Nope." Henry quickly interjected, popping up from the couch and snatching Faye up like she weighed nothing, ignoring her surprised squeal. "You're laying down, I've got this." He insisted, replacing her on the couch.

"Henry!"

"What? Don't think I can handle one toddler? Do you forget I have nieces and nephews? I'm sure one child will be a breeze for an hour or two."

"You don't know my daughter." Faye mumbled.

"I'll handle it. I had to go all morning without my favorite artist. If watching Briar for a little while means you'll be back tomorrow, I'm game."

Clearly someone forgot to inform him he was an incredibly attractive, successful actor. Faye decided she should catch some rest while she could, just in case someone decided to let him in the loop within the next hour or so.

#guys like you fic #henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #multi chapter #guys like you

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

Note

In tHiaM, Renji mentioned a fictional fateful encounter in which he and Rukia met in the circus. I can picture this deeply. The Rukon has circuses. It has gritty knife throwers, it has scrappy beast tamers, it has a lovely doe-eyed tightrope walker who does stunts so dangerous your hair'd turn white just watching her. It is for Renji's birthday so he should get Rukia being extremely badass and saving his life from a rampaging circus bear. Ideally, Kenpachi is there.

A lot of times, I’ll have some idea for a story, and I’ll do a bit of research and find out that the thing I wanted to do absolutely does not exist in Japanese culture, and I was completely sure that when I dug into it, Japanese circuses would not be a thing, or they would be extremely different from Western circuses, but as it turns out, circuses were absolutely a thing in the Edo era, and they had acrobats and strongmen and horseriding and more. I had so many tabs open about circuses, and almost none of it actually made it into this fanfic.

Anyway, THANK YOU ALOPEX, you know what I like to write, and what I like to write is Renji telling rambling stories of questionable veracity. I put in some lifting for good measure. This might be the most perfect Renji birthday story.

If it isn’t immediately evident, this takes place in the middle of the Advance Team Arc, or more specifically, in the middle of my Advance Team Arc story, See You on the Other Side, where Renji tells Chad a different RenRuki origin story that’s basically the desert bandit subplot from Crouching Tiger, and also a story about bees.

Read on ao3 | ff.net

🏋️‍♂️ 💪 🤡 🎪 🐻

Renji hefted the last bumper plate onto the end of the barbell and tightened the collar. Chad watched him with narrowed eyes.

“You sure you want to try this?” Renji asked. “One thousand pounds. It’s the weight limit for this bar. Once you beat this, we gotta go back to Urahara’s place and pick up big rocks.”

Apparently, Chad worked part time at his gym, which meant he had a key, which meant that he and Renji could go in at two a.m. so that Renji could teach him how to lift absurd amounts of weight with his reiatsu. It was pretty convenient, as long as you didn’t mind lifting weights at two a.m. Renji loved lifting weights at two a.m.

“You just don’t want to tell me another story,” Chad replied, flexing his shoulders in anticipation.

“Whatever, I got a million of them.” Renji took a few steps backward.

Chad flared his nostrils and stepped up to the barbell. He squatted down and curled his fingers around the grip. He took three deep breaths as he stared straight again. Leading with his hips, he straightened up in a smooth, textbook perfect movement, the sinews in his neck popping out, the air around him boiling with power.

Renji wished he could drag Chad over to Squad Six, so those spoiled weenies could see what hard work actually looked like.

Chad dropped the weight and a huge breath burst out of him, his eyes widening in relief. “I did it,” he gasped.

“You did it, buddy!” Renji shouted, pointing at the barbell. “You’re a machine! You didn’t even make it look hard!”

“It was hard,” Chad managed.

“I don’t believe it!” Renji continued. “One thousand pounds! You’re incredible, dude!”

“What do you mean, you don’t believe it? You told me to do it.”

“I mean, when I told you we were gonna work for the big one-kay, it was, you know, a stretch goal. I didn’t expect you to get there so fast!”

“You said you would tell me another story when I hit it! I assumed it was a reasonable goal.”

“I keep making unreasonable goals and you keep hitting them, so I’m just sort of winging it, now, t’be honest! I’m actually really bothered how much you are motivated by my dumb stories. If I had any human money, I would just offer to buy you tacos or something.”

“I can make my own tacos. I like the stories.”

Renji sighed. They didn’t have tacos in Soul Society and he was determined to eat as many tacos as he possibly could while he was stationed in the Living World. “Go get cleaned up, and I’ll put the weights away and try to decide which story to tell you this time. I did bring us some protein shakes. I can’t vouch for them, because they’re made out of stuff I found in the Shouten, but it’s important to get some calories in you after lifting. ”

“I’m sure they’re fine. I like your protein shakes. Oh, and I know which story I want to hear--how you met Rukia.”

Of course he did.

Renji was a man of many stories. He had so many good stories. He had Inuzuri stories that were full of mischief and dirtbaggery. He had Squad 11 stories that were full of headbutting and idiocy. He had interesting stories about his clever friends Izuru and Momo and funny stories about his goofy friend Shuuhei and horrible stories about his horrible friends Iba and Madarame. But Chad had asked him once how he met their mutual friend Kuchiki Rukia, a very reasonable and natural thing to ask, and Renji had responded with a ridiculous story that was very obviously not true. Now, all Chad wanted to hear was ostentatious lies about how he, Abarai Renji, had met the incomparable Kuchiki Rukia.

Renji racked his brain as he racked Chad’s weights. This would probably make the eighth or ninth Renji-Rukia origin story, he’d honestly lost count. He was running out of material. There was a bulletin board next to the weight storage rack, covered with flyers for a weightlifting tournament in Naruki City, the Karakura High kendo team, tumbling lessons. Renji stared at the picture of the girl in the sparkly leotard on the last one. He thought about how he and the gang used to make up stories of how they were gonna make it out of Inuzuri some day. He thought about Rukia’s absolute favorite, the one she told over and over, the way it got bigger and sparklier every time she told it.

Chad returned, a tracksuit zipped overtop his workout clothes. “Need help?” he asked.

“This is the last one,” Renji replied, hefting it up onto the shelf. “You can put the bar away, though.”

Chad did.

It was kinda nice, Renji thought, being in a gym in the middle of the night with Chad. It reminded him of hunching over his dorm room desk across from Izuru, cramming for written exams. It reminded him of achy muscles in a dim Fifth Company dojo, trying to figure out the mechanics of Zabimaru’s shikai deep into the wee hours. It reminded him of long runs with Ikkaku as the sun was just peaking over the city walls. The hours between dusk and dawn were a pretty good time for doing things, in Renji’s opinion.

“So, did you remember? How you met her?”

“Of course I remember!” Renji protested. “You think I would forget something like that?”

“You do get hit on the head a lot,” Chad rumbled gently and it took Renji a moment to realize he just got dragged. Chad was actually a really funny guy, you just had to pay attention.

Renji plopped down on a pile of mats and started rummaging around in his backpack for the two bottles of questionable nutritional substance he had mixed up earlier. “Well, I certainly remember the time I ran away from home and joined the circus, I’ll tell you that.” It was a good opening line, and he paused a few seconds to get the full effect.

“The circus?” Chad echoed skeptically, sitting down next to Renji and accepting his smoothie.

“The circus,” Renji replied after taking a long swig. It was very, very strawberry flavored. “So. I think I mentioned once that when I died I got sent to the shit-end of Rukongai. District 78 of the Southern Quadrant, where your best hope is to die soon and catch an express trip back to the Living World. I was too dumb and stubborn for that, though, so I was always on the lookout for a way out. Now, it’s pretty hard to move between districts in Rukongai-- it’s illegal without a special permit, see, and special permits get harder to get the further out you go. But there are a few kinds of permits that allow you to travel all up and down Soul Society, and one of those is for entertainers.”

This was more-or-less true. It was true in theory, but travelling shows never made it out to the deep Rukon-- there was no profit in it. Rukia used to swear up and down that a circus had made it to Inuzuri once, basically just passing through on their way to capture wild animals from the magical wilderness past the end of District 80, but she had seen it. Rukia was older than the rest of them, and she used to talk about it in such nauseating detail that they had no choice but to believe her.

“When I saw the posters plastered up all over town, my first thought was that it was an opportunity to pick up some quick kan as temporary labor. My primary job skill at the time was picking up heavy objects, you see, perhaps moving them from place to place. Circuses always need help with set up and tear down. I mean, do I look like a theater kid?”

Chad stared at him pointedly.

“I don’t know why I asked that,” Renji quickly corrected, “but also, keep in mind that I am Like This because I was in the circus, not the other way around. Anyway, my instincts were correct, and I found myself gainfully employed, carting crates and also tying and untying knots, another of my many talents. But then two things, or rather two someones made me decide that I needed to hitch my star to this ridiculous pageant. The first, I will admit, was a complete castle in the sky, but what is being an adolescent boy about if not chasing after hopeless dreams?”

Chad frowned. “Well. There’s school.”

“There is no school in Inuzuri, actually, and perhaps that would have kept me out of trouble, but instead, I became absolutely entranced by the glittering star of the show-- a tightrope walker of exceptional agility, grace, and beauty. Her most defining characteristic, though, was her audacity. There was no trick too dangerous for her. She somersaulted through hoops of fire. She juggled daggers. She’d stop halfway across the tightrope, pull out a tokkari, and pour herself a saucer of sake and drink it, while the audience gasped.”

“It was Kuchiki,” Chad guessed, the corner of his mouth tipping up into his shy grin.

“It was Rukia,” Renji agreed, “but imagine Rukia in head-to-toe spangles, with bells in her hair and glitter painted around her eyes, 20 feet in the air. She was unreal. She was an apparition, a spirit. I was desperate to meet her.”

“Did you?” asked Chad.

“Chad,” said Renji.

“What?”

“Did you just… did you just ask me if I ever managed to meet Rukia? Your friend and mine, Kuchiki Rukia? In the middle of this story about how I met Rukia?”

Chad thought for a moment. “It’s two a.m. and I just deadlifted a thousand pounds.”

“That’s fair, and the answer is yes, eventually, I did meet Rukia and she saved me from being eaten by a bear, but we’ll get to that. Are you drinking that protein shake?”

“Oh, sorry! It’s really good, I just keep forgetting because this story is a good one.” Chad took a long sip. “Hey, Abarai?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry to interrupt again, but I have a question about the bear.”

“The bear is later.”

“Yeah, I realize that, but does the bear die?”

“Huh?”

“I’m just asking up front, because I don’t like stories where animals die, and if the bear gets hurt or dies, maybe could you skip over that part?”

“Oh! No, the bear is fine. Well, he’s probably reincarnated back into a living bear by now, he was pretty old even then. I exaggerated a little to make it sound dramatic, he probably wouldn’t have eaten me in any case.”

“Okay, you can go back to the story now, I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.”

“No, no, it’s cool. I’m glad you checked in.” Renji took a deep breath through his nose and mentally rearranged his story so that Rukia no longer defeated the beast in a dramatic knife fight. “Right. So, as I said, there was a second person at the circus who influenced me greatly and that was the most famous strongman in the entire Rukon, Zaraki Kenpachi--”

“Wait, Captain Zaraki? Big guy? With the bells in his hair?”

Oh, shit. “Uh, yeah. That’s a circus thing, you know. Hair bells. You, uh, know Captain Zaraki?”

“Yeah, Orihime made friends with him, and he broke us out of prison, but then we split up because there was someone he wanted to fight.”

“That sounds like him. Anyway, yeah, he’s in this story, too. I used to be in his squad, you know?”

“I gathered that from the way Madarame and Ayasegawa talk to you.”

“He helped me get in the Gotei, you see. Because of our time together in the circus. That’s a different story, though, we’re focusing on circus times, here. He wasn’t even the Kenpachi, yet, actually. One of the reasons he’s so strong is because before he was a fighter, he lifted things, heavy things. He did all the typical strongman stuff-- bending iron bars, biting through teacups, tearing packs of cards in half, but his most famous trick was balancing bamboo poles on his shoulders and then various acrobats and other performers would scramble up on them and do tricks from on top of him. He was wildly popular, pictured on all the posters. People would come to the circus just to see him. I did not have a lot going for me at this point of my life, but I was strong, and when I saw this guy, it occurred to me that if I could get him to take me on as some sort of apprentice, I might finally be able to use my strength to get out of that shitty town.”

“Seems like a good plan.”

“It did. It seemed like a good plan, except that Zaraki had a very busy schedule of getting drunk and napping when he wasn’t lifting things, and he was absolutely not interested in Inuzuri punks who had been hired to move crates around.”

“So, what did you do?”

“Well, speaking of Inuzuri punks, I may have been a fairly honest and hardworking fellow, but one day, a couple of my reprobate neighbors decided to sneak in and try to get a glimpse of some of the wild animals. The fellow who looked after the menagerie was a little guy by the name of Mameji. Very kind and loved the animals deeply, but not very good at standing up for himself. I barely knew him, but I don’t like bullies, and I owed most of those guys a punch in the nose anyway. Mameji was pretty grateful for the solid I did him and asked if there was any favor he could do me in return. Naturally, I asked if he knew Zaraki, but unfortunately, he was terrified of the guy, so I told him I was just happy to do a good deed and make a friend.”

“You should have asked him if he knew Rukia. Rukia likes animals.”

“You’re very smart, Sado, but remember that this story is about me, not you. It didn’t matter anyway, because the next day, he comes to find me and says there’s someone who wants to talk to me. I can’t imagine who he means, aside from holding out hope that maybe he did know Zaraki after all and was just slow-rolling me.”

“But it was Rukia.”

“It was. Mameji leads me over to the area where the animals are kept, and there, in a blue kimono embroidered with silver stars and crystals in her hair, was The Fearless Rukia.” Rukia’s circus stories were usually at least seventy-five percent descriptions of her outfits, and Renji felt obligated to keep up that detail. “‘You helped my friend out,’ she says to me. ‘I appreciate that.’ And I replied something very smooth and suave, like, ‘I like the way you do cartwheels’ or possibly just “Guuuuuuh.’ And then she says, ‘I hear you’re interested in Zaraki, what’s up with that?’ and as you know, I’m much better at talking about muscle stuff, so I explain about picking up heavy things and Inuzuri and my ambition to join the circus and she just listens carefully, nodding from time to time. She makes me pick up a few barrels and then Mameji, for good measure, and finally, she nods and says, ‘You’re pretty strong and I like your hair. Come back here tomorrow. I’m going to help you impress Zaraki.’”

Chad’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“So, the next day, I came back, like she said, and Mameji was there, too and they’ve got this big sack of yams. I’ve told you before about eatin’ in Soul Society, right?”

Chad nodded and belatedly took another gulp of his shake.

“My initial thought was that they were gonna try to bulk me up. Raw yams may not sound very exciting to you, but after years of living on near-moldy rice and the occasional sad vegetable or bony fish, I was watering at the mouth. ‘You’re gonna feed these yams to Sunny,’ says Rukia. ‘Who?’ says I. ‘His stage name is Brawler,’ says Rukia, ‘But he’s a good boy so Mameji and I call him Sunny. It’s a joke. Because he’s a moon bear.’ Brawler, you see, was the second scariest thing in the circus, right after Zaraki-- the biggest, ugliest moon bear you can possibly imagine, probably 200 kilograms. A lot of circus bears do tricks-- balance on balls or some shit, but Brawler’s only trick was looking mean as Hell. Sometimes they’d throw him a deer haunch and he’d eat it in a real gross way, I guess people like seeing stuff like that. I, like most people growing up on the southern border of the Rukon, had a healthy fear of large carnivores, but I had a much larger fear of looking like a weenie in front of Rukia, and I was determined I was gonna do whatever she told me to. The first time wasn’t so bad-- I just tossed the yams in and he snuffled over and gave me the hairy eyeball before snorfling them up. We did that the next day, too, but the day after that, Mameji took me into his enclosure to give him his yams. I was a little surprised, you see, because I would have expected a bear like that to eat meat or something like that, but he sure did like those yams.”

“Moon bears are omnivores,” Chad supplied. “They like sweet things.”

“You’re right, and I later found out that Sunny did get meat and other stuff at other times of day, but yams were his absolute favorite thing. Again, Rukia did not tell me this, because Rukia often neglects to tell me important things. I found all of this to be absolutely terrifying, and I probably would have given up and stuck to my crate moving, except that Rukia and Mameji were just about the nicest and amazing people I had ever met. They let me hang out with them for a bit and they told me stories about traveling with the circus and I told them about Inuzuri. They introduced me to their other friends, Fujimaru, who could do all sorts of knife throwing tricks, and Kosaburou, who had the most beautiful singing voice you could possibly imagine. By the time Rukia asked me to give Sunny the yams right out of my hand, I was doin’ it, not because I was desperate to get out of Inuzuri, but because I was desperate to do anything to stay with my new friends.”

Renji paused and pretended to be interested in his protein shake. Usually, he tried to fill these stories with a lot of daring-do and badassery, but he’d gotten a little off-track when had to junk his big exciting Rukia versus Bear fight scene. All he could think of was lying around the squat on miserable rainy days, one-upping each other with stories about their ridiculous circus acts. He hadn’t thought about those days-- hadn’t let himself think about those days-- in years. What a sap he was turning into. Maybe it was because Rukia was back in his life. Maybe it was because there was a war coming, a war he might not make it through. Maybe it was because it was two a.m.

“I know how that feels,” Chad said very quietly, so quietly that Renji almost didn’t catch it, and it occurred to Renji that maybe sometimes it helped to hear a sappy story at 2 a.m.

Renji snorted softly. “So, the day before the circus was set to pack up, Rukia explains her big plan to me. Up until now, I’ve sort of been assuming that this is all an exercise in building courage or some gonzo shit like that, but it turns out it’s very straightforward. Zaraki’s dream the whole time he’s been in the circus is to pick up Sunny as part of his act, except that Sunny has zero interest in being picked up and ends up chewing on Zaraki’s head every time he tries. If Zaraki had ever bothered asking Mameji for help, maybe he could have tried the old yam trick himself, but then this wouldn’t be much of a story.

“I wait ‘til the big guy is done with his nap and is prepping for the night’s performance, inventorying his lead pipes and such, and I go up to him and I say, ‘Zaraki the Great, I am very strong, you should take me on as your apprentice!’ Now, Rukia had seen people do this to him before, and she knew that he always came back with ‘Oh, yeah? Do something to impress me, then.’ Of course, I was prepared, and I said, ‘I am going to pick up Brawler, would that do it?’ and Zaraki laughs in my face and says ‘If you can do that, I will definitely take you on, kid.’”

Chad’s face had split into a huge grin and he leaned forward in anticipation.

“We go over to Sunny’s pen, and of course, Mameji’s already given him his dinner and he’s feelin’ real fat and happy when he sees his old yam buddy Renji coming. I slip him a yam that I had tucked in my sleeve and I start rubbin’ his side, which is a thing we’d been practicin’. He leans into it, ‘cause he was a big, itchy boy, and I just… flipped him and picked him up like a baby.” Renji made a scooping motion to demonstrate. Chad’s face absolutely lit up. “He was incredibly heavy and also he did not really like that,” Renji continued, “but I put him down right away and gave him another yam and he forgave me. Zaraki was laughin’ his ass off, but he kept his word and got me signed on as a Strongman-in-Training. We went on to have many more adventures, both me an’ Zaraki and me an’ Rukia an’ Mameji an’ Kosaburou and Mameji.”

“And Sunny.”

“Sunny continued to be a hideous, angry bear for the crowds, but I kept giving him yams and never picked him up again and we were great friends for the time we spent together in the circus.”

Chad sat back, smiling his usual inscrutable smile. “Thank you, Abarai. That was a really good one.”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at him. “Was it?”

“Yes. It had friendships and a nice bear and I felt like Rukia would really appreciate the effort you put into describing all her outfits. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t true, but it was a good story.”

Renji heaved a big sigh, as though he’d honestly thought Chad was gonna buy it this time. He stretched his arms and legs out in front of him. “Let’s go home. I could go for a few hours of sleep before the Shouten Shouting starts. You’re taking a rest day tomorrow, but don’t forget to stretch.”

“The last time I had a rest day, you came over and you taught me some stuff about reiryouku.”

“Did I?” Renji frowned.

“Can we do that again? You said you would try to explain how flash step works.”

Shit, he did remember promising that. He’d just gotten overenthusiastic because it was nice to be the guy who knew things for a change. On the other hand, he also remembered the enthusiasm of going to school for the first time and wanting to know everything, and could hardly fault Chad for the same. “Sure,” he agreed. “After noon.”

“Let’s make it noon,” Chad amended. “I’ll make you tacos.”

“That,” replied Renji, “is a deal.”

#renji's birthday 2k21 #my writing #chad-renji brotp #i honestly hope that over in soul society rukia shot awake #she gets a +2 to badassery every time renji tells a story about her

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wallwriterstuff · 4 years

Text

A Little Trouble || Alec Volturi x Reader||

A request for: @tiger-khans-blog

Words: 4225

Warnings: None!

Summary: Alec’s mate is...not what he expected. Between hair dye, brownie mix and kitchen fires they’ve started their very own reign of terror in Volterra, but Alec’s learned that sometimes a little trouble can be a good thing...

When Aro had first seen Sulpicia, she had been selling seaglass on the shore of Greece, the sunlight reflecting off of dark streaks of hair and dark eyes so enthralling he’d been ensnared ever since. He’d brought almost a whole bag of the pretty, frosted glass and spent hours crafting the pieces into a beautiful necklace Sulpicia had done everything in her power to preserve until the centuries just made it to fragile to keep wearing. She had been smitten the moment she met the man willing to craft her a courting gift that looked every inch as precious as the pearls the wealthier women in town wore.

When Caius had first met Athenodora, she had been fire and brimstone in the shape of a woman towering over those who would oppress her. He had been immediately enraptured by the feisty blonde tearing off the arm of a man who had clearly wronged her in some way, the dark crimson of her eyes drawing him in and not letting go. She had easily taken care of the two Romanian lapdogs tracking him to, and as he watched her pale face shine in the flames Caius had known in that moment there would never be another woman for him. They were both such romantic stories and Alec had been inducted into this life hearing them, seeing the way Chelsea and Afton had fallen head over heels almost instantly and Marcus had fallen into despair with Didyme’s death. He knew the importance of the mate bond, knew it was something to be treasured, that his mate should be protected and loved by him at all times no matter the cost.

Imagine his surprise when the first time he met you, you swore at him for being in your way.

Modern women were nothing like the women he had been surrounded by growing up, or even the women in the guard. The old-world ideals of the demure and chaste woman were something the world had outgrown and here you were now, causing trouble wherever you went, the consequences be damned. If it wasn’t your mouth getting you in trouble it was your actions. He still shuddered when he recalled the first time he had presented you to the Masters. He couldn’t just leave you where he’d found you after all; you were his mate and so many things happened to vulnerable humans – and that was without the added complication that you were the mate of a witch twin. You had fought hard despite your obvious disadvantage until Alec had stripped your senses and taken you from your home city.

Aro had insisted on reading your thoughts, intrigued as to who could be compatible with his most powerful Guard. His stare had been intense and his skin ice-cold and, well, these people had just kidnapped you after all so nobody should have really been surprised when you tried to shove him away from you.

“What the hell is wrong with you all! You think you can just kidnap me and do whatever you want with me? You can take your huge ass forehead and shove it man, stop trying to touch me, Dome of Creepiness!”

Caius’s indignation had him pushing to his feet so fast his hair had swung about his shoulders as he spoke down to you, while Marcus only watched with the faintest wisp of a smile on his face.

“Insolent human! You are beneath-“

“I ain’t beneath nobody King Blondie Sparkles! You look like you’re in a damn Loreal commercial or something and you? Don’t even start me on the gloomy dude! This is some kangaroo court stuff right here!” You’d cried out. Felix and Demetri had been very obviously amused by you but Alec had just about died all over again, the embarrassment and astonishment too much for him. The whole room had been stunned into silence until Jane dropped you for your insubordination. His embarrassment had dissolved to sheer horror in moments and for the first time in his life he’d actually snarled at his sister. You’d been a handful when he met you and you’d continued to be one ever since. He could vividly recall your first month with them, where’d you’d endlessly pranked and shouted at them in an effort to be so annoying they’d simply let you go.

Jane had been your first victim, since she had naturally been predisposed to disliking you given your association with her twin. Every little thing you did irked her so it was really no surprise that the simplest of things had been what set her off on your second week in the castle. Anywhere that the Masters and the Guard were not was a refuge for you, and it just so happened that more often than not, the gardens were your chosen spot. Jane had taken to tending a small corner of the garden decades before you’d ever arrived and it was coming to the time of year where she stripped out and replanted it, but that was her job, not yours. Finding you knee deep in mud, her soil strewn everywhere and the bulbs that flowered every year scattered along the path while you tried your best to bury Felix’s journal had set her on a warpath she’d been on for months after the incident. Alec had barely saved you from her and had only ended up covering himself in dirt in the process.

Demetri’s hair had been the first real casualty, in Alec’s opinion. He’d been out for the day looking for trouble of his own, spending his down time how he pleased, and as was his tradition he took a nice, long hot shower when he got home. He had had no idea you replaced his leave in conditioner with bleach and to say he was furious to find the natural colour of his hair gone and the strands drying and brittle was an understatement. He’d screamed so loud the Guard had come running thinking he was in danger, only to find him holding a handful of his own, unnaturally blonde hair in hand and wearing absolutely nothing to cover his modesty. He had worn a hood for three weeks before the venom managed to leach the bleach out and return his hair to its natural luster and volume. It took him three months to consider accepting your apology.

Then you’d set the kitchen on fire.

It had genuinely been an accident on this one occasion, and Felix had been keeping an eye on you so was able to prove it. You had really just been trying to cook yourself some lunch, your usual mischievous mood dampened by three months of captivity in the castle and absolutely no progress in earning your freedom. When the sleeve of your shirt had caught fire on the hob it was perfectly understandable you had panicked…it was just unfortunate that your panic had carried you straight into the tablecloth, oven mits and tea towels, setting small fires everywhere that didn’t mix all that well with the natural wooden countertops. Aro was furious he had had to call the fire brigade and have so many humans in their home. It had drawn more attention to the Castle than there had been in almost two centuries.

“Your irresponsibility could have cost lives far more valuable than your own. Do you understand how reckless you have been? This petulant sulking will no longer be tolerated and you will-“

“Whatever.” You had muttered. Aro’s mouth had snapped closed, Caius’s eyes bugging.

“I beg your pardon?” his voice was soft, unthreatening. Alec knew that meant trouble. You kept your head bowed, your fists clenched at your sides, and he caught the slightest twinge of salt in the air. The truth was, Alec had been keeping an eye on you from a distance, waiting to see if you calmed. You had been given an extended period to see if your wilder tendencies could be calmed before you were changed – no one wanted to deal with a wild newborn after all. Instead, he’d watch your flame flicker and dim, your cheeky spark dying slowly as the darkness of Volterra enveloped it. He hated it. You were supposed to be loud and mischievous, a hurricane in human form; he wondered how he had ever handled the quiet before you came into his life because he couldn’t stand it now it had returned. Your energy was just drained from you and Alec didn’t want this, not for you, not when you were clearly miserable.

“Master. It was an accident.” Felix’s voice had surprised him, but the giant had stepped forward calmly to give him his hand and show him everything that had led up to the dreadful accident. Aro was quiet for a moment, his expression changing drastically.

“Are you alright, my dear?” he asked finally. Your glare had been venomous when you looked up at him then but Alec had decided enough was enough. In many ways he still looked back on that as a defining moment in your relationship, because Alec had done exactly what mates were supposed to do in that moment and stepped in to protect you. His concern had put the Masters off of punishing you as he ushered you from the room and into his. He’d ran you a bath so you could clean the soot from your body, and whilst you languished in his tub he had sat leaning back against the closed door, asking you the first things that came to mind. By the end of the night, as you lay fast asleep on his sofa, he knew all of your favourite things and all your worst fears, but more importantly he knew how to talk to you. It was easier after that, to engage you in conversations that didn’t end in a screaming match, and it had taken him a little under a month to fall completely in love with everything you were.

What you were was a complete menace, of course.

Felix had become your partner in crime and your pranks continued to extend across the castle, your cheeky spark returning once Alec had professed how much he missed it. In the span of three weeks Caius’s hair had turned neon green, the Guard’s robes became tie-dyed with shapes cut out of them, Marcus had had his hair braided quite nicely but Aro’s hair had had multi-coloured streaks woven into it and he’d been forced to wear it that way for a trial…Alec had no idea how you and Felix managed any of this but it had become very clear that you weren’t going to change your ways, much to the Master’s chagrin.

“Why exactly are we doing this?” Demetri sounded exasperated and Alec shot him an annoyed look.

“Y/N has never been given flowers, but Heidi insisted that humans liked receiving flowers and I would like to make it clear that my intentions towards Y/N are romantic.” Alec repeated for the umpteenth time. Demetri sighed quietly and Alec diligently ignored whatever it was he muttered under his breath while they observed the flowers at the stall in the square. There were blooms of every colour, size and shape, with equally as pretty ribbons and papers to wrap them in. It was almost too much choice almost. He knew your favourite colour of course, but he’d never asked about your favourite flowers because you just hadn’t seemed like a flower’s kind of person.

“How about a mixture of these?” Demetri suggested, his fingertips ever so gently lifting the stems of flowers from the tubs of water keeping them fresh as he picked out his samples. Alec tilted his head, quietly watching him work for a moment until he had two large headed blooms and some smaller sprigs of blossoms.

“The small ones look out of place with the bigger flowers.” He frowned. Demetri shook his head.

“Not when arranged in a full bouquet. Besides, the meaning is impressive. These are salvia and the red ones in particular mean forever mine. This yellow one is hibiscus, it symbolizes delicate beauty, and these purple ones are morning glory’s, representing affection. Placed in a whole bouquet you are promising your delicate beauty your affections forever.” He concluded. Alec stared at him in shock.

“You speak the language of flowers?” he questioned. Demetri’s eyes rolled as he handed his stems to the stall owner with a few quick instructions in Italian.

“My lovers do not line up at my door purely for the scintillating conversation, Alec.” His tone told Alec he needed to drop that particular conversation, and since the tracker was doing him a favour Alec let it slide this time. Wrapped in some pretty polka dot paper with a white satin bow wrapped around the stems, he held his bouquet with a small smile, please with how it turned out. He couldn’t wait to give it you, see your face when you realised someone had decided to do something nice for you. It was his first real romantic gesture towards you and he hoped you wouldn’t turn him down.

“Do you think we should have gotten the card?” he fretted. Demetri raised an eyebrow.

“Why go to all of this effort Alec?” he fired back, brows furrowed, “They’ve done nothing but cause trouble since they arrived. How could you possibly find it in yourself to expend the effort to reach out to someone so….so…”

“Demetri. I dare you to finish that sentence,” Alec said coldly, his eyes focused on the tracker in a steely glare. Demetri didn’t cower at much, but the witch twins were enough to make even the strongest men fall to their knees in fright. “Just tell me where my mate is.” Demetri was quiet for a moment as he put his gift to full use, and then he twisted and began to walk away, leaving Alec to follow him silence. Alec understood why so many of them had turned away from his mate, you had hardly made life easy for any of them after all with all your mischief, but Alec saw the reason you behaved as you did where nobody else took the time to. Your most harmless pranks (like dropping a water balloon full of hair gel on Caius who was stuck trying to get his hair to go flat for four days straight) were done for fun, a product of your immaturity and youth, but the big ones were usually reactions to things. You had done your very best to piss them off simply because you were scared of the monumental change you were having to adjust to, not to hurt anyone. You didn’t have a malicious bone in your body, he was sure.

His nose twitched as Demetri led him in the directions of the kitchen, something bitterly sweet invading his senses. What was that? He couldn’t place the scent at all though he did pick up on the lingering smell of gas, indicating the oven was on. Was his mate cooking perhaps? But what was she cooking that was so bitter?

“Ah!” the short, sharp yell had Alec moving at lightning speed towards the kitchen door. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that bang was, what sort of trouble you were getting into now, but come hell or high water Alec was going to save you from whatever hair-brained scheme you –

“Ghost!” Demetri screamed, his pitch so high Alec cringed slightly. It was enough to make him panic, as his eyes raked over the figure before them, a mixture of denim and dark brown that was bordering on black, the white of its eyes screaming at him through the dark sludge. For the briefest moment, Demetri’s own panic had skewed Alec’s perception enough that he didn’t see anything for what it really was. No, no Alec saw the brown sludge as burnt flesh, thick and solidifying and sliding slowly off of the bones of the creature before him. He saw exactly what he should have become all those years ago. A tortured, melted creature. It was enough to make even the fierce witch twin scream, and the flowers Demetri had helped him pick so carefully went flying upward out of his hands so he could use them at a moments notice.

It wasn’t until Jane shook his arm that he snapped out of it somewhat.

“Alec what is wrong with you!”

“Jane! I saw – it’s a – a – what?” he stammered.

“It’s a ghost Jane, tell me you do not see it!” Demetri snapped. Jane groaned, her expression exasperated as her arms folded.

“It’s not a ghost you fools! It’s Y/N,” she huffed, turning her cold gaze to his mate next, “And they’ve made a complete mess.” You had the decency to look embarrassed at least. Alec took another look at the ‘ghost’, sighing slightly as he realised his sister was right. The brown sludge was not burnt flesh after all, more…more…some sort of chocolate mix perhaps? Your lower lip came out in a pout and you looked so unbearably sad Alec couldn’t help but come closer to you, tempted to hug you but also not wanting to get your mess on his clothes.

“Y/N? What on earth happened to you?” he questioned. You whined pitifully at him.

“Jane taught me to make brownies with this recipe she knows and so I tried to do them myself, but the oven is too high up and I lost my grip on the tray and now I have a sore head and no brownies.” You had never looked more upset than you did in that moment and Alec blinked in surprise because…since when did his sister spend time with you? Jane huffed quietly behind him as he sighed and gently wiped some chocolate from her chin before it could drip to the floor.

“Oh dear. How about you get yourself cleaned up and I will clean up in here?” he suggested. You lowered your head.

“I didn’t mean it this time Alec, I swear, I just wanted brownies. I didn’t mean to scare your or Demetri.” Your voice was so small, it shattered his heart. You may have been a troublemaker at heart but you were also a bit of a guilty soul, and he knew you felt genuinely bad when you truly upset someone. You’d been trying to subtly make it up to Demetri for months now but the tracker was having none of it.

“I know sweet thing. All is forgiven.” He promised. He watched you trudge from the kitchen, leaving a trail of brownie mix behind you. Demetri was nowhere to be seen though Jane remained standing near the doorway, staring apathetically at the mess on the floor.

“It isn’t your mess to clean.” She pointed out.

“Nor is it a mess she made deliberately. Chocolate will be much harder to get out clothes than a wooden floor; though, as the recipes creator surely you’d know?” the subtle invitation to tell him and the smirk on his face was enough to make Jane scowl at him.

“Maybe Y/N isn’t so bad…but she cannot bake.” She sniffed, turning on her heel to leave the mess to him. Alec chuckled slightly as she left, pleased in the knowledge his sister was clearly trying to get along with his mate now. She had sworn off of you beforehand, so this was an improvement. It didn’t take him long to run a bucket of hot water, scooping up the large globs of chocolate mix before mopping the floor. He’d definitely have to change his shirt today but he had done it in half the time it would have taken you to clean up, and by the time he wondered to your room to find you you hadn’t even left the shower yet. To his surprise, when he poked his head around the door, his nose caught the smell of fresh flowers, because sitting proudly on your desk was the bouquet he and Demetri had bought for you. His brow furrowed, he didn’t remember giving you those, in fact they’d completely skipped his mind.

He decided to read whilst you showered, determined to speak to you after you were done and confess his feelings for you, but he got so absorbed in the pages it wasn’t until his door creaked that he realised you were clean and dry once more. In fact, almost immediately after his door creaked the sound of your feet thudding against the floorboards hit his ears, and Alec’s hands quickly dropped the book in favour of catching you as you all but dived over the arm of the sofa with a grin to reach him. With his strength he easily held you about a foot up from his lap, slowly lowering you down with raised eyebrows.

“Still trying to fly?” he guessed. You nodded.

“You betcha! One day I’ll manage it, you’ll see. If I have to have a gift it’ll be the coolest one, I’ll be the worlds first flying vampire.” You boasted with a smirk that told Alec you knew it wouldn’t happen anytime soon, if ever, as you sat up on your knees beside him. It was yet another thing Alec loved about you, just how refreshing your perspective on life was. You never took anything too seriously whereas his life had been focused around first, surviving, and second, gaining the reputation that ensured nobody dared mess with him or his sister again. He had had little time for games and tricks and fun but you…you were young and free, living the life he had missed out on, a life he could live vicariously through you.

“You know one day you will fall face first.” He said with a chuckle. You shook your head.

“No I won’t, you’ll always be there to catch me.” You sounded so confident and Alec couldn’t help but smile at you.

“Oh, will I?” he teased. You nodded your head.

“Yeah you will, because red salvia means forever mine, right?” your eyes were a little guarded still, a light pink coating your cheeks. Alec’s brow furrowed, his back straightening.

“You know what the flowers mean?” he asked. Your blush darkened, head slowly nodding.

“Demetri speaks flower…actually, Google Maps said quite a few things, actually.” You admitted. Alec felt his stomach curl tight, the anxiety settling in his gut like a ball and making him feel as close to nauseous as a vampire could get. He turned his body to face you, studying your expression carefully. You didn’t seem like you were setting him up for any bad news at least, your expression wasn’t twisted, you just looked…shy. It was a new and rather bizarre look on you since his loud and cheeky little mouthed mate was never shy. Demetri hadn’t been too harsh then.

“Such as?” he prompted. You took a breath, fingers twisting in your lap.

“Such as he’s never heard me apologise and mean it before apparently – which is a lie but we moved past that – and…and you don’t want to give up on me, because you think I’m okay as I am.” You murmured, not quite able to meet his gaze now. Alec felt his stomach flutter, those proverbial butterflies kicking up a storm as he reached for your hand.

“I think you’re more than okay.” He said softly. Your hand twitched as his fingers brushed your own, but you didn’t pull away and instead let him intertwine your hands with a small smile.

“Even if I’m loud? And annoying? And immature? And-“ You were cut off by Alec’s finger against your lips, his eyes rolling.

“Demetri’s personal opinion of you is something I could care less about. I like the noise and the pranks and when you are unapologetically yourself, Y/N. Maybe you do get yourself into a lot of trouble from time to time but you’re having fun with your life, you are living as you wish, you live freely and that is something I envy.” He admitted. Your eyes widened slightly.

“You envy me? But…you’re so powerful!” you exclaimed. His eyes rolled.

“Power isn’t everything Y/N.I know your life changed in ways you didn’t expect, that you weren’t really happy with it either, and I can never really make up for just taking you away from your home like that but I would like to try.” Alec squeezed your hand lightly, his eyes pleading for that one little chance he knew he didn’t deserve but so desperately wanted. You bit your lip, clearly thinking through your options. You hadn’t really been made to feel welcome during your stay, but if one person had consistently treated you like another human being instead of an out of control child it was Alec. It helped he was pretty handsome to, and for whatever reason, he liked everything about you that put others off.

“How?” you asked finally, head tilting. Alec smiled slightly.

“Humans go on dates when they meet their mates, don’t they? Perhaps we can start with that. I’ll take you to this bakery not far from the square and get you all the brownies you desire.” He proposed. You couldn’t quite fight the smile breaking out on your face.

“Deal.”

Alec came to the startling conclusion that sometimes, a little trouble is a good thing.

#twilight #twilight fanfiction #volturi #volturi imagine #alec volturi #demetri volturi #jane volturi #felix volturi #aro volturi #x reader #twilight x reader #alec volturi x reader #he is a sweetheart deep down #he burns for you #sorry #bad pun

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massivelycreepypineapple · 4 years

Text

The Accident

Request: I am here again!! I am so glad your requests are open😍 can I request on Jensen and daughter reader story? Jensen is a doc and reader is in accident. Jensen is her doc after she brought in hospital so no emergency no needed, dislocated shoulder maybe? Ooh ooh Needle phobia also? I wanted to add some more stuff but I am so excited that your req are open that I forgot everything 😂 please write if you can think of some more. Angst, fluffy stuff please? Gracias❤️

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Daughter!Reader

A/N: I hope this is alright. :)

Feedback is welcome!

Word Count: 2059

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You should’ve known that nothing gets past your dad, especially when you show up at his work place with a dislocated shoulder along with a small cut on your side to boot. It wasn’t anything serious really and not to mention it was such a ludicrously gained injury too, but leave it to the hospital staff to page your dad who was head of Orthopaedic surgery.

“Where is she?! Where’s Y/N?!” Your dad’s voice could be heard. The nurse looking after you in one of the rooms turned around just in time to see Jensen storming in.

“Hi Daddy” You grinned at him. You were a little loopy from the painkillers.

“Y/N! What happened, baby?” He looked so worried and out of breathe and he was still in his scrubs. It would seem he ran here after his surgery. He grabbed the clipboard with your details on it and began going through it.

“Nothing big. Just my bone fell out of place when I fell off my cycle. Stupid motorbike dude crashed into me.”

“What?! Y/N!”

“Dad it’s fine. It was an accident. He lost control.” His anger sobered you up a little and you tried to calm him down.

“Lost control?! It could’ve been worse!” He was angry, his baby girl got into an accident and he didn’t know how to process it.

“But it’s not. It’ll be fine. Besides it happened close to the hospital. So some people helped me come here.” You made the mistake of shrugging at him and winced immediately. Luckily the painkillers were doing their job.

“Don’t move, Ms. Ackles. You could make it worse.” The nurse said. She was a sweet thing who was very gentle with you.

He sighed. He didn’t want to argue about it right now. So instead he made his way to you to check on your shoulder. He gently grabbed your arm to check how bad the damage was, making you gasp in pain and tear up.

“It’s going to be okay. We’ll just pop it back in no time.” He said, calming down to not spook you out even more.

“Daddy, it hurts.” You said wincing from the throbbing pain on your shoulder and sides.

“I know, honey. Just try to relax okay?” He said, grabbing everything needed for after fixing your shoulder.

He came back beside you and motioned for the nurse to hold you. You looked at them wide eyed, the fear sobering you up a little. The nurse had a solid grip on your uninjured shoulder while Jensen grabbed your other arm, getting ready.

“Okay, on count of three, we’ll pop it back in.” He said looking into your tear filled eyes.

You didn’t dare move. You sat there stiff as a board.

“Sweetheart, you need to relax.” He whispered worriedly.

“I can’t. It hurts a lot and I’m feeling cold. My left side hurts. I can’t relax.” You said sniffling.

“Okay, look at me baby girl.” Jensen said standing in front of you.

You looked into his eyes and a tiny sense of calm washed over you. Your dad always had a way about him that made you feel so safe.

“Tell me about your day.” He smiled at you.

“I-I didn’t do much actually. I just spent it watching a movie in my room before this.”

“Yeah? Which one?”

“Ice age.”

Jensen laughed at that. “You always loved that one. You used to recite the dialogues by heart as a kid.”

“Hey, it’s a really awesome movie.” You smiled a little.

“I agree.” He was rubbing your arm, trying to warm you up a little. He felt you relaxing as you talked more about the movie and while you were distracted, he motioned for the nurse to hold you once more.

He watched your eyes widen when you realised what was happening. “Hey c’mon. Tell me more, don’t stop.”

“Daddy-”

“I really like the tiger. He’s hilarious.”

“Y-yeah. He’s like you when you’re grumpy.” You said smiling very little.

“Hey now. I always earn my grumpiness.” He said smirking at you.

And as soon as you relaxed some more, Jensen popped the bone back into place making you gasp out in pain and gripping his scrubs tightly.

“Shh, it’s over. It’s over. That wasn’t so bad.” He kissed your forehead and wiped away the tears streaming down your cheeks.

“It was horrible! You didn’t warn me!” You snapped at him, still reeling from the pain.

He put your arm and shoulder in a tight sling and then hugged you tightly to him, placing kisses on your head and summering apologies for not warning you.

“I don’t like you right now.” You mumbled into his chest.

“Aw, man I’ll have to make up for this then” He said pulling back and booping your nose like he always did when you were a child. “Now lie back. Let’s take a look at your bruise.”

You did as he asked and lifted up your top. Jensen pulled back the bandaid stopping the blood to take a look at the gash. He noticed the small bruises around the wound going up to your ribs and he sucked in a breath. He pressed around the area to see how bad the damage was, making you flinch.

“Luckily you don’t need stitches. And no ribs broken.” He mumbled mostly to himself.

You felt him, clean the cut once more before dressing it with a fresh bandaid. You noticed the frown on his face and your heart hurt for worrying your dad like that.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered.

Jensen’s eyes snapped back to yours immediately, “What for?”

“I got hurt and worried you.” You said. “You told me not to cycle during peak hours and I still went.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” He gave you a tight smile. You knew he was still upset with you for not listening to him and you felt really guilty. You were his only child and you were all he had after your mum died and it made him over protective of you sometimes.

Meanwhile, the nurse came over to you with a shot. The second you noticed it your eyes went wide.

“Daddy, no please.” You whimpered. You hated needles. You were so terrified of them and the very thought of something sharp sticking into your body filled you with so much anxiety.

“Sweetheart, this will prevent infections.”

“Please no I’ll take my chances. Get that thing away from me!” You were doing your best to not cry again. You already shed tears over your shoulder and you didn’t want to cry again over a stupid needle.

“Y/N, I know you hate them, but it’ll be over before you know it.” He tried to sooth you.

“NO!” You yelled, trying to get up. But in a hurry you moved your injured shoulder making you cry out in pain.

“Okay, okay. No shots. Just take a breath baby.” Jensen was doing everything to keep you still and not aggravate your shoulder further. He could see you were going into a panic attack and he was freaking out internally. There were only a few times he had seen you get this way and it had killed him.

He coached you through the breathing and you had calmed down a little. The nurse had moved away to give you two some space which you were grateful for. Once you’d calmed down Jensen asked the nurse to place the shot on the table.

“I’ll take it from here. Thank you.” He smiled at her before she left.

“Please daddy.” Your lips were trembling and the sight of you broke his heart. You looked like a little kid all over again and it reminded him of the first time you had to get a shot for getting hurt. You had created a big fuss and he had to carry you and walk around the hospital till you calmed down.

“Be a good girl for me, baby? I promise this is the last one. After I’ll give some more painkillers, the sleepy kind so you can take a nap in my office till I’m done. Does that sound good, baby?” He said wiping away a tear.

You shook your head no making him chuckle. But he knew he had your attention so he went ahead and cleaned your arm with a cotton ball and then reached for the shot. Your hands were shaking at this point and you wanted to run away so bad. Jensen rubbed circled on your arm, trying to show you that he was right there and he’s be as gentle as possible.

You closed your eyes tight as he brought the needle close to your skin. “You’re so brave baby girl. I’m so proud of you.” He whispered as he gently sunk the needle in.

“I hate this. I hate this so much.” You kept repeating it with your eyes still closed.

“There all done. It’s all over.” He smiled at you, rubbing the area with cotton once more. He got up and kissed your forehead once more before disposing the injection. He then brought over the painkillers for you to swallow.

“Let’s go to my office. Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?”

“No, I can walk.” You mumbled trying to sit up.

Jensen came over and helped you up and gently led you to his office where you promptly got comfortable on his sofa till it was time to go home.

_______________

The two of you made it home after a few hours and you went straight to bed. But some time later you made your way back to the kitchen to get a midnight snack. Your shoulder was hurting and the bruises were painful too and you couldn’t sleep.

You reached into the cupboard for some cereal and placed it on the counter. Everything was hard to do with one hand and adding the lack of sleep, you were frustrated beyond belief. You brought over a bowl and tried to open the packet inside the box with one hand. You yanked the thing really hard using your mouth for leverage and the damn thing split open, spilling the contents everywhere.

“Dammit!” You cursed.

You heard footsteps coming into the kitchen and you turned around to find you dad standing there looking amused.

“Fancy seeing you here. Need help?” He asked coming over to you.

You sighed at him. “I can’t do anything.”

“It’s only for a few weeks. You’ll get better.” He said pouring the cereal into a bowl and taking some for himself.

There was silence between the two of you while you ate.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Jensen broke the silence.

You shook your head, a frown still marred your face.

“Same. Night shifts really mess with my sleep schedule.” He tried making conversation.

There was silence again before you broke it.

“Are you still mad at me?” You whispered looking into your now empty bowl.

Jensen stopped the spoon midway, looking at you, and then placed it back in the bowl before talking.

“No, honey. I was upset back in the hospital but not anymore. You just really scared me. You’re all I have left, Y/N. You’re my heart. If anything happened to you I don’t know what I would do. It’s why I expect you to listen to me. And as a dad it feels so unfair that the other guy didn’t get hurt while my baby did.”

“I’m sorry, daddy.” You said.

“It’s quite alright, baby. I’m just glad it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.”

“Yeah…”

“How bout we watch something on the telly for a while since we both can’t sleep?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.” You smiled at him.

He took your empty bowls to the sink as you went to the couch in the living room. He placed a lot of pillows against the arm rest and helped you settle into them comfortably so your shoulder wouldn’t hurt. He then got comfortable next to you, placing your legs over his leg. He turned on the telly and flipped to some random channel. Few mins into the show, you were fast asleep feeling much better with your dad next to you.

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Tags below

@hobby27 @akshi8278 @castiellss @miss-nerd95

#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #spn fic #supernatural x reader #spn rpf #rpf #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles x daughter!reader #jensen x reader #reader insert #female reader #fluff #angst #supernatural rpf

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ofbardsandmonsters · 3 years

Text

Fill for square N3 - “free space” for the @stb-bingo. read it on ao3 here

This is fill number 5 for me AND it gives me my first BINGO!!

***

“Do you have your inhaler?”

“Yes.”

“What about the backup inhaler?”

“Ned has it.”

“Did you pack clean underwear?”

“Dad, come on. Of course I did.”

“How many pairs?”

“Dad.”

Tony holds up both hands, smiling at Peter, who scowls back. But Tony refuses to be sorry for worrying about his only son going on his first overnight field trip. It’s been just the two of them since before Peter was even born. And this would be the first time they’d been apart more than a few hours in fifteen years. So even if he wasn’t an omega, Tony feels like he’d be entitled to a little parental panic.

Peter’s phone beeps, and he glances at it before zipping up his backpack and slipping it onto his back. “Ned and his parents are here.”

The elevator opens without prompting, and the two Starks ride it down to the ground floor. Tony can see the Leeds’s car sitting at the curb, and Ned jumps out of the car as soon as they approach. The two boys perform some complicated handshake that even Tony’s genius brain can’t follow. He rolls his eyes, smiling fondly at the boys’ obvious bond, and goes around to the driver’s side to finalize details for picking up the boys at the school in a couple days with Ned’s father.

He’s standing on the curb with his hands in the pockets of his dress pants, watching the Leeds’s car drive away, when his assistant Darcy comes up beside him. The beta’s got a tablet in her hands, a sight that always means it’s time for him to actually do some work. And with Peter gone for the next several days, she won’t be letting Tony get away with using him as an excuse.

“Kiddo all packed off? Gonna be weird without him underfoot.”

Tony snorts. “You love having him underfoot. You spoil him almost as much as I do.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, Miss Lewis. My mistake. What’s on my agenda for this morning?”

Darcy follows him back into the tower, pulling open his schedule on her tablet as they walk to the elevator. “You have three meetings before lunch. R & D requested you for a demo at 2:30. Tonight is your monthly visit to Maria Stark House, Colonel Rhodes is meeting you there at six to help serve dinner.”

The last item on the agenda makes warmth spread through his chest. He had established the Maria Stark House for Omegas during his pregnancy with Peter, and once a month he goes over to help cook and serve dinner to the residents and their children. Most of the men and women living there have been recently separated from their alphas, whether by death or by choice, and have no support system to catch them. Many are in various stages of pregnancy, and some come with small children clinging to them. The Maria Stark House provides support and housing either until the baby is born or until they’re back on their feet.

It’s his pride and joy, other than Peter of course.

As he and Darcy approach his office, Tony can see a tall figure in what appears to be military dress through the frosted glass of the windows. “Darcy, why is there someone in my office already?”

“That would be your 8:00. The new army liaison? He’s been waiting a little while, but I told him you had a personal matter that needed attending to and he seemed perfectly content to wait.”

Tony groans, dropping his head back to stare at the ceiling before scrubbing his hands over his face. “Rhodey just had to go and get that promotion. Couldn’t be happy spending the rest of his career as our liaison.”

“Do I need to remind you how much you cried at the ceremony? I’m sure I could get JARVIS to project the video on the nearest wall if you just—”

“Nope! No, I’m good, thank you Darcy. But you know how I feel about the military. Bunch of puffed up alpha assholes with an overinflated sense of importance.” Obviously his assistant didn’t know the full story behind Tony’s disdain for anyone in a uniform that wasn’t Rhodey, but she understood nonetheless.

“I’m well aware of your feelings, Tony. But if you want to continue providing tech and armor and medical supplies to the military, then we need a liaison. Just go in, get to know the guy a little, and then I’ll swoop in and save you and send him on his way. Okay?”

Tony sighs, deflating a little as he nods.

“Good. Now, before you go in there, hold still.” Tucking her tablet under one arm, Darcy steps into his space to straighten his tie and smooth out wrinkles in his jacket that only she can see. Then she slides her fingers into his hair to tousle the silvering strands. She steps back with her hands on her hips, admiring her handiwork before nodding in satisfaction.

“Want to tell me what that was about, Miss Lewis?”

“Captain Hottie in there is an entire buffet. And you’ve been starving for way too long, boss man.”

He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the younger beta. “Darcy, I cannot sleep with our liaison. Pepper would string me up by my toes, and Peter is too young to be without a father. Besides, no hotshot army alpha is going to want to waste his time on an aging omega with a teenager.”

“You’re not aging, Tony, jeez. You’re thirty-five.” Darcy’s blue eyes soften, and she reaches out to squeeze his arm. “Look, I know Peter is your entire world, yadda yadda yadda. We all love him. But you deserve some happiness too.”

Before he can respond, she turns him around and nudges him toward his office door, slapping his ass with a resounding crack. “Now, go get ‘em, tiger!”

He glares at her over his shoulder, watching her stalk off on her criminally high heels, probably on her way to torture some poor unsuspecting interns. When she disappears around the corner, he turns back to his office and takes a fortifying breath. Whoever this guy is, Tony isn’t going to let himself be intimidated. He’s Tony Stark. And Stark men are made of iron.

The door opens silently as he steps inside. “Sorry to keep you waiting, captain. I had something that needed to be sorted and it couldn’t wait, so I—”

The other occupant of the room turns around, and it feels like time stops. Between one breath and the next, Tony’s twenty years old again, a positive pregnancy test in his pocket and excitement to share the news with his alpha swelling in his chest. Excitement that dies a swift and fiery death just minutes later when the alpha breaks his heart and walks out the door.

The very same alpha standing across from him in full military dress, hands in his pockets, shifting nervously.

“Hey, Tony.”

Even after all this time, Tony still knows Steve Rogers’s face better than his own. How could he ever forget, when he’s spent the last fifteen years seeing those features reflected in his son’s face? A son that he’s spent nearly two decades raising alone.

Tony does the only logical thing.

He bolts.

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Darcy finds him twenty minutes later in the hidden corner of his workshop that only a select few people have access to. He hears the click of her heels first, before she comes around the corner and inputs her code. The glass doors to the restricted area slide open, and she spots Tony easily where he’s sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, knees tucked up to his chest. She crouches until they’re eye to eye. He’ll never figure out how she manages to execute a perfect squat in those heels.

“Hey, boss. Did the meeting with Captain Hotpants go that bad? JARVIS said you turned tail and ran almost immediately. What gives?”

Tony drops his head against his knees, trying to hide the way tears have started to gather in his eyes at just the mention of Steve. But he knows Darcy’s not going to let it go, and no one else sees through his lies and misdirects the way she does. So he tries to form some kind of coherent response, but all that comes out is, “Peter’s father.”

“What does that worthless nothing have to do with this?”

He clears his throat, gathering his courage to actually look his assistant in the eyes. “It’s him. The-the guy. The liaison, it’s… he’s Peter’s father.”

Darcy rears back like he just punched her in the gut, and she stares at him in wide-eyed shock for a minute. Her features soften as she shifts onto her knees and reaches out with both hands to grip his shoulders. “Oh, Tony. Wow, what a shock. That is some kind of wild—”

A strange look crosses her face before she picks her tablet up off of the floor and starts scrolling through it. As she reads, Darcy’s face slowly changes from confused to startled before her pretty features twist into a mask of rage. It’s a look Tony very rarely sees on her face, and it makes him sit up straight.

“Darcy? What is it?”

He hears a low growl, and that’s how he knows she’s really pissed off. Betas don’t growl like omegas and alphas do, not unless they’re pushed over the edge. His instincts kick in, helpless against the clear distress of someone he cares about, and soft soothing noises emanate from his throat.

It takes the younger woman a few minutes to compose herself, but eventually her scent shifts from furious to simple anger. She takes a breath, and then hands Tony the tablet. It’s open to the file on Steve they’d received from the army rep that had arranged the appointment to SI military liaison. He browses it, but nothing that could explain her anger pops out. When he looks back up at her, confused, she taps on a note at the bottom.

“He requested this position. I didn’t think anything of it when I read the file the first time, just assumed he was a career guy who was sick of combat and wanted something more cushy. And the rep said he thought Rogers was a perfect candidate. Tony, if I thought for even a second that he had an ulterior motive I would have made sure he couldn’t get within even a thousand feet of the building, I swear.”

Tony doesn’t respond at first, too busy reading and rereading the rep’s note. Captain Rogers entered his own name into the running for this assignment before we could even gather a list of acceptable candidates, but it is my personal opinion that he would make an ideal candidate for army liaison. Why in the hell had Steve suddenly decided he wanted a position that would force him to work alongside the omega he had abandoned fifteen years ago?

He was damn sure going to find out.

“JARVIS, is St… Captain Rogers still in the building?”

“Yes, sir. Captain Rogers is still in your office.”

“Good, keep him there.”

He pushes off the wall and stands up, Darcy following with a whole lot more grace, and he hands her back the tablet. She watches him straighten his jacket and do his best to smooth out his hair that’s gone wild from the number of times he’d run his fingers through it.

“Tony, are you sure it’s a good idea to confront him right now? You’re upset, and I don’t need the entire building gossiping about another one of your shouting matches with an alpha.”

“I’m good, I’m fine. I’m going to walk in there, calmly, ask him what his game is and then tell him to get the fuck out. Piece of cake.”

Darcy’s entire face practically screams how much she doesn’t believe anything that he’s just said, but she doesn’t try to stop him. What she does is give JARVIS specific instructions once Tony’s out of earshot.

“JARVIS, blackout mode in the boss’s office as soon as he shuts the door.”

“Of course, Miss Lewis.”

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Tony’s entire plan to be calm and mature goes out the window as soon as he walks back into his office and sees Steve standing there.

“Tony—”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Fifteen years, Steve. You walk out of my life like I meant nothing to you and I don’t hear from you for fifteen fucking years, and now you think you can just waltz in here like everything’s cool and just expect me to work alongside you? What the fuck, Steve?”

“No, Tony, that’s not—”

“I thought this was just some weird cosmic coincidence, the universe playing a joke on me. But you requested this position. Why? What the hell is your game?”

“There’s no game Tony, I wouldn’t—”

“Is this about Peter? We didn’t have to go through all this song and dance. I would have let you see him.”

“Peter? Your son, Peter? What does he have to do with—”

“Oh, don’t play stupid, Steve. It’s not a good look on you.”

“Tony, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I be interested in your son?”

“Just because you’ve been off playing soldier for his entire life doesn’t mean you get to pretend he isn’t yours.”

Steve freezes, then sits down in one of the plush chairs across from Tony’s desk like he’s a marionette who’s just had all of his strings cut. He’s paler than normal, making his bright blue eyes stand out. “He’s… mine?” Steve’s always been a pretty terrible liar, so Tony knows the shock on his face is real. He sits down behind his desk, feeling similarly off-kilter.

“Of course he’s yours. I haven’t, um… I haven’t been with anyone else since… well, you. Raising Pete on my own was a full time job, I didn’t really have time for dating. He’s not really a secret, so I just assumed you knew he was yours.”

Across from him, Steve slumps in his chair, his gaze going far away. But after a minute or two, he seems to shake himself and he shifts forward, blue eyes locking on to Tony’s. “If I had known, I never would have let you go through all of that on your own, you have to believe me. I… why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Tony sighs, breaking eye contact. “I was going to. The day you… the day you left, I had the test in my pocket. I just… never got the chance. When the media got wind that I’d had a child and the news was everywhere, there was no word from you. So I assumed you wanted nothing to do with us.”

Steve looks stricken, and he scoots to the edge of the chair. Both hands reach out, almost like he wants to reach for Tony, but his strong fingers close around the edge of the desk. “Jesus. Tony, god, no. If I had known that Peter was my son, our son, nothing could have kept me away.”

“But you said—”

“I know what I said. Trust me, I remember everything I said. I’m never going to stop hating myself for hurting you like that. Every time I close my eyes, I can see that devastated look on your face. Tony, I’ve missed you every minute of the last fifteen years.”

“Then why—”

“Because I wasn’t good enough for you!”

Tony flinches back like he’s been slapped, and he’s not sure which of them is more surprised by Steve’s outburst. But his surprise quickly twists into anger. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“No, Tony. It’s not. You were so far out of my league, in every way possible, and your father took every opportunity he could find to remind me of it. And I was able to brush it off for a while, but it kept building and building until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Steve, I never thought that. You were everything I wanted and—”

Steve is out of his seat and around to Tony’s side of the desk before he can even think about what he’s doing and whether it’s appropriate or not, his instincts leading him as he recognizes the scent of distressed omega. He sits on the edge and reaches out to tug the smaller man up and against his chest. Surprisingly, Tony goes without resistance.

“I know. I know and I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to keep him out of my head.”

“You should have talked to me.”

“I know.”

“My parents died a year after you left, Steve. Why didn’t you come back?”

Steve sighs, pulling the omega tighter against his chest until his scent starts to soften into something less harsh. “I couldn’t. The idea that I needed to be a better alpha for you was so deep into my brain that I couldn’t shake it. I had to keep pushing, keep working towards higher ranks until I felt worthy. And… part of me thought I would never reach it, not after the way I’d treated you.”

He feels a sharp jab to his chest, and Steve leans back a little to rub at the spot and pout down at Tony, who’s glaring at him.

“You were always worthy, you big stupid alpha. All you had to do was love me to be worthy. I was the one who was lucky that you took a chance on such a messy, broken omega.”

Steve lets out a fierce growl that echoes through the room. He shifts his hands to cradle Tony’s face. “There is nothing messy or broken about you. And I know I don’t deserve it, but if you’d let me, I will spend every minute of the rest of my life showing you.”

Tony shudders at the promise in the alpha’s voice, and he presses his face against Steve’s chest to hide the tears gathering in his eyes. “I shouldn’t. Pepper’s gonna kill me. Rhodey’s gonna kill you. And Peter will be an orphan before he turns sixteen. But…”

He looks up at Steve, and lets his hands come up to twist in the material of the alpha’s starched green jacket. “I don’t wanna do this without you, Steve. I’ve done it alone for fifteen years and I can’t anymore. Not if there’s an option to do it as a team. It’s gonna take work, and you have to give me time to trust you again. I want to, but you have to show me that you won’t hurt me again, Steve.”

Steve tugs him close again, leaning down to press a kiss into his dark curls. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Brilliant, strong omega. Raising a kid i running a company, all on your own? You’re perfect. How did I ever give you up?”

He can feel Tony trembling against his chest, so Steve shifts them around until he’s sitting in Tony’s ridiculously large desk chair and can pull the omega into his lap. Tony lets out an audible sigh, and Steve chuckles when he feels nimble fingers start unbuttoning the large buttons on his dress coat. He doesn’t resist, letting the omega push it off his shoulders and tug it free of his arms. When the coat is off, Steve wraps his arms around Tony and hugs him tight to his chest.

“This better, Tony?”

The brunette nods, and it isn’t long before Steve’s ears pick up the sound of Tony purring softly. The grin that splits his face makes his cheeks hurt.

They stay like that for a few minutes, Steve basking in the warm, comfortable scent of happy and content omega. This was more than he ever could have hoped for. When he requested the assignment to SI as the army liaison, he had only dared to hope that Tony would talk to him. Never could he guess that he would have Tony curled up against him like this, especially not after his initial reaction to seeing Steve after so long. And now, he thinks there’s only one thing that could make this better.

“Hey, Tony?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I… Peter. Can I meet him? You don’t have to tell him who I am right away, I just… I want to get to know him if I can.”

Tony tries to sit up, but Steve tightens his hold, and he settles back down with an amused huff. “Of course you can meet him. He’s your son too, and he deserves to know both his dads. He’s in DC on a field trip for a few days, but I’ve already got a couple days blocked off in my schedule when he gets back. The three of us can spend that time together.”

“You’re sure? I don’t want to get in the way—”

“You won’t be. You’re going to love him, Steve. He’s so smart, and strong and brave and good. He’s the best parts of both of us. JARVIS, give us some pictures up on the wall, please?”

A slideshow of pictures projects onto the empty wall across from them, starting from Peter’s birth and slowly moving year by year. Steve can’t help the tears that form as he watches the little boy, his little boy, grow up.

“He’s beautiful, Tony. I can already tell what an amazing job you’ve done with him. I can’t wait to get to know him. And get to know you again.”

After the pictures, JARVIS starts up some of the home movies Tony’s taken of Peter over the years. Gradually, Steve can feel the omega growing more and more relaxed against him. He loses track of how much time passes before Tony speaks again.

“You’re fired, by the way.”

Steve barks out a laugh, looking down at Tony, whose eyes are still watching the video currently playing on the wall. “What do you mean, I’m fired?”

“It seems unprofessional for you to technically be an SI employee if you’re going to be sleeping with the head of the company.”

One large, calloused finger hooks under Tony’s chin and tips his head back so Steve can meet his eyes. “Tony, I want to make it clear that this isn’t just about sleeping together. When you’re ready, after I’ve groveled and worshipped you and done everything I can to earn back your trust and your love, I want to be your alpha. I want us to be a family. Permanently.”

Steve’s declaration is so serious, so clearly heartfelt and earnest, there’s nothing stopping Tony from melting completely. He surges forward, capturing Steve’s lips in a kiss that’s fifteen years overdue. The alpha startles and freezes in shock, but he returns the kiss before Tony has even a fraction of a chance to second guess it.

The kiss only lasts a handful of seconds, but it leaves both of them dazed and grinning like fools. Tony settles back down against Steve’s chest, and together they watch the memories that Tony had captured play out on the wall, the room overflowing with the scents of warm and happy alpha and omega.

Darcy comes searching for Tony an hour later when he doesn’t show up for his second meeting of the morning. JARVIS directs her to the office, where she finds the two men deeply asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms.

“JARVIS, snap a picture of that, please.”

“My pleasure, Miss Lewis.”

Darcy still plans to threaten the good captain, viciously, with her sharpest pair of stilettos. But her love for Tony goes far beyond the care of an employee for her boss. Tony is the older brother she never had, and his happiness—and Peter’s— means more to her than the joy she derives from threatening alphas bigger than her and watching them cower.

With a swipe of her finger, she clears the rest of Tony’s schedule, and heads down the hallway to her own office to await the email from Pepper requesting an explanation that she knows will be on the way before too long.

When her computer dings, she sends off her response with just one sentence.

I promise you, it’s worth it.

#stony #stony fic #stb bingo

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isitbussinjanelle · 3 years

Text

Raya and the princesses (This is a modern AU)

“Alright, follow me you two.”

A storm trooper leads Namaari, and Raya threw the business of ‘Oh My Disney!’. With Raya and Namaari being the newest Disney princesses, they now had to accompany the other prior princesses in their dressing room for online Disney events. For Raya, this experience was out of this world. With the song ‘Let it Go’ playing in the background while Star Wars ships zoom across the sky along with dumbo, she was overwhelmingly excited. She felt like a kid in a Candy store.

For Namaari however, this was something she struggled to find enjoying. Namaari loves peace and quiet when she has it and will often spend her time reading a book or reading a Fang legend to a bunch of Fang children when she doesn’t have sparring sessions or piles and piles of Fang documents and contracts to sign. Namaari followed alongside the storm trooper while keeping her hands very close to her sides to avoid touching one of the happy square-headed people roaming around. Namaari also happened to be claustrophobic, so this wasn’t helping whatsoever. But when Namaari took one glance at Raya beaming with enjoyment and her eyes glowing, she decided that maybe enjoying her time there wouldn’t be terrible.

“OMG NAMI!!” Raya yelped. Nami was one of Raya’s many nicknames for the fang princess.

“What? What is it?” Namaari said frantically.

“It’s THE buzz light year! THE BUZZ LIGHT YEAR NAMI! Can we please go say hi? I wanna give him my best impression of himself,” Raya said with pleading eyes.

With Namaari being Namaari, she obviously couldn’t say no, because its Raya for Christ sake.

“Ofco-,”

“No. You both are already late for preparation for the ‘Which Disney princess are you’ quizlet. Let’s go.” Barked the storm trooper. Damn, who spit in your congee? Raya wondered.

Raya looked back at Namaari with a, can you believe this asshat, Kind of look. Pursed her lips and rose her shoulders in a, it is what it is, kind of look. Namaari and Raya were great at reading each other like this. They did it all the time when they had fights.

After a few more stops with Raya’s stalling, and more of the storm troopers eyerolling (which you couldn’t tell because of his helmet but it was obvious), they eventually made it too the ‘cast members only’ section. There they found Nick wild, Grumpy the dwarf, tinker bell, and hei hei.

“Ahh ha ha, so these must be the new princesses,” Nick walks towards the trio of the storm trooper and the Kumandran princesses. His words trail off as he looks at them both up and down.

“I gotta ask- no poofy dresses? Whats that all about?” Nick asks, direction his attention towards raya, then Namaari.

“Nah, dresses make it way harder to beat Nami at sparring,” Raya responds as she shifts her wight to her right leg and crosses her arms in a cool way.

“Please- like you’ve ever beaten be binturi,” Namaari blushes and mimics rayas arm cross. Nick gags at the mini flirting session.

“well, gotta hand it to ya princess- I think I like you more without the dress. I guess I owe Flash 10 bucks.” Nick says as he sticks a lollipop in his mouth and puts his shades on and walks away.

“Did a fox just try and flirt with me?” Raya laughed. Namaari was a little mad that anyone except her would talk to Raya flirtatiously, but brushed it off.

“You two are running short on time. You, go through that door, and you through that one.” The storm trooper points at two doors that are directly across the hall from each other. Namaari and Raya find this odd, especially because they’re both princesses- shouldn’t they be in the same room?

Namaari goes off through her door while Raya is ushered by the Storm trooper to go through hers.

“What an ass.” Raya mumbled to herself.

The Moment Raya looks up, she is bombarded with the smell of perfume, and sweet sounds of angelic singing. Raya looks around at the beautifully designed room. She stares over at the other women in the room, primping each other’s hair or mingling amongst themselves. She straightens her hat. She saw one princess playing jump rope with two others. But the jump rope was…hair? Raya was confused. Raya begins to “walk” over too where the other princesses are but struggles to actually move her legs because she’s not great with people. Especially because she hasn’t had much interaction with them for 6 years. She starts rehearsing in her head good things to say to someone, like compliments, and asking, “How’s the weather today?”. Small talk. Raya hated the concept.

She eventually builds up the courage to stop standing in her own embarrassment and walk over to the princess area but fails as she lands back first on the floor. She slipped in something.

The princesses immediately notice this because Raya was quite dramatic about her fall when she did. She groaned in agony as a beautiful princess rushed towards her.

“Oh! Are you okay? I am truly sorry. Raja must have peed on the floor again. Bad kitty!” The princess scolds her giant cat- tiger that lays on the long blue couch. He cocks his head in confusion when he heard his name. He ignores her and licks his left paw.

“OMG. Are you the new princess? Guys! She’s the new princess!” Another princess rushes over. This girl has wet curly hair with a black and white pig by her side. All of the other princesses file in over Raya. They all begin to clap whilst a princess begins to sing angelically in celebration.

“FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for another badass warrior chick to show up. Sick sword girl! Where’d you get it” A girl with short straight black hair grabs raya by the arm and walks with her around the room.

“oh- thanks! It belongs to my Ba.” Raya says as the puts one arm behind her head in nervousness.

“Whats a Ba-“ A princess with long read hair and rosy cheeks asks with a head cock. She’s cut off by the next princess.

“Holy crap! How are you’re arms so muscly??” One of the princesses asks as she squishes raya’s biceps, which makes her highly uncomfortable. Raya begins to back away from the large crowd of girls- which was a mistake.

“Um- yeah I guess so…you should see My girlfr-“ Raya is cut off when she trips over something on the ground and lands on something warm and fury- Raja.

Raja growls and purrs at raya, but then begins to lick her because he senses her fear. Raya leaps up.

“Gah! Don’t hurt me orange serlot!” Raya exclaims as the goes into the sideways feat position on the ground.

“Raja, play nice!” Jasmine says. Raya couldn’t tell it was here as she was rolled up for the sake of her life.

“What’s a serlo-“The same princess from earlier who asked what a Ba was asked. Shes interrupted once more once an unexpected guest makes an appearance.

“Ride Like the wind ya big fur-bug!” A girl with curly red hair flys’ around the room on- Tuk Tuk? He was here! Meredith nocks over a bunch of chairs and startles Raja.

“Fur-bug? TUK TUK!” Raya gets up in relief to finally see a familiar face- a face with a big wet nose. Tuk Tuk stops rolling and galops over to Raya, much to Meredith’s disappointment. All of the other princesses share an “aww” as Raya nuzzles Tuk Tuk with her nose.

“Boo! I was having fun ey? He sure is quite a ride tho. Ought to give the lad that.” Meredith said as she shoulders bumped Aurora. Aurora clears her throat and steps away from Meredith slightly.

“Glad to see you bud!” Raya said. All of the other princesses gather around Raya and tuktuk, who are still near the door. She never got to get fully settled in after being bombarded with questions and perfume.

“Now lady’s, I think it’s about time we all gave the new gal a proper introduction.” Tiana says with her hands on her hips, gesturing her statement towards Mulan and Cinderella, who were the main ones who asked Raya questions. They both giggle in agreement.

All of the princesses introduce themselves and show raya their power if they have one, or just tell her about their past and how they became royalty. Raya listens to each of them in awe but gets distracted during a few of the short speeches only to be wondering how Namaari was doing in the other room. She hoped Namaari was okay. They last few minutes mostly consisted of years and uh-huhs from Raya’s side as she listened to all of the princesses’ backstories. After a while, the very last princess told Raya about her backstory.

“And that’s how I saved the world with my good friend Maui, shape shifter, demigod of the wind and- “Moana goes on but gets cut off.

“Okay but for real, for once just say Maui and drop the formalities.” Anna groaned with impatience as she twirled her red strands of hair.

“Hey, I gotta give my man his credit. Put some respect on his name, you know?” Moana says all hyped up. Mulan screams “PERIOD” from across the room as she sharpens her sword. Pocahontas rolls her eyes at the childish ness.

“Period is so old now Mulan- no one says it anymore,” Pocahontas says.

“You right you right… SHEEEEEEESH” Mulan says as she connects two fingers to the crease of her forearm. She bits her lips and widens her leg stance. Moana dies of laughter at this.

“Maui does that all the time and its so fricking annoying,” Moana says. Raya laughs at all of this; she felt like she almost found her place. Raya loved making others laugh and enjoyed doing it in the form of 10-year-old boy humor. She was glad that these girls matched her energy.

“Guy’s, were kinda getting off track- New girl. How did you become a Disney princess? Who’s your prince? Or were you already born into nobility?” Tiana asks as she brushed Rapunzel’s long gold strands.

Raya pursed her lips. She hated speaking in front of large crowds. She was never the best at presenting school projects in her child days and doesn’t enjoy it now either. One of the many reasons why she is in no hurry to become Chief of Heart. Raya suddenly notices all eyes on her. Oh shit, they actually want me to speak? Fuck no-

“Um…” Raya starts. “Well, I guess I was born into nobility. My father is chief of my homeland Heart, a land in Kumandra,” she said nervously as she looked down and played with dead skin on her finger.

“And as for a prince- I don’t have one? I have a girlfriend named Namaari whos’ a princess of Fang, another land in Kumandra…” Raya noticed all of the princesses staring at her in awe and interest. Even belle put down her book once the Heart land princess mention a female love interest.

“Yeah…We kind of went from enemies to lovers. She sorts of stabbed me in the back when we were kids and caused our world to face 6 years of apocalypse,” Raya Gained some confidence s=once she realized her audience was enjoying her story. “But eventually I had to realize that maybe putting my faith in Namaari was the only thing that could save us. Kumandra. When the druun, which was the cause of the apocalypse, was closing in on me, Namaari, a baby named Noi, A buff winter soldier named Tong, and one hell of a cook named Boun, I decided that the only way to get us out of there was to use the one thing sisu wanted us to do; trust each other. I put my faith in Namaari, and she came through. And she has ever since.”

Raya finished. She looked around to see the other princesses gathers around her on their stomachs with their chins on their hands like little preschoolers.

“Woah.” They all said.

“Damn girl! That’s some powerful shit!” Mulan said as the rapped an arm around Raya’s shoulder in approval. Mulan was slightly taller that Raya, about Namaari’s height. Raya smiled sweetly as the other princesses Hollard in agreement.

“So how did you find all of these people? Noi, Tong, all of them?” Jasmine asked. She was sitting on her magic carpet with Raja purring by her side.

“Oh! I kinda scooped them up with me along the way. You see, I had to travel to each of the four kingdoms, Fang, Talon, Spine, and Tail to get these gem pieces that would save the world. I found Boun in Tail- He was my getaway driver-“

“From whom? Were the druun chasing you?” Elsa asked eagerly.

“Namaari. Namaari was chasing after me because…Actually, I had no idea why. Before she was chasing me, I had just gotten a Gem piece from Tail. Namaari showed up out of no where all of a sudden and mention something about the dragon scroll that I stole from Fang, which was useless to her which makes me wonder why she needed it; She was also holding my hair pin which is also kinda odd- “

“I KNOW WHY! SHE LOVED YOU RAYA WERE YOU BLIND? WHY ELSE WOULD SHE KEEP YOUR HAIR PIN THINGY?” Belle jumped up in excitement. She felt like this was some kind of good book.’

“Nah, it wasn’t love. I think Namaari wanted to get RIPPED TONIGHT-“Mulan shouted as the fake flexed her arms.

“RIP THAT PUSSY AYYEE!” Moana moved her arms and hips to copy the Tiktok trend. Aurora pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned at the immaturity. Raya was Hot red and covered her face to hide it- did Namaari actually like her at the time? I guess it would make sense, seeing as how Namaari always called her Dep la, which meant strangely beautiful.

“Ladies! Let her finish!” Tiana snapped. Raya could tell that Tiana was the mom of the group.

“Anywas, after I found Boun in Tail, I picked up baby noi in Talon, where she conned me- she faked cried so she could steal my gem piece,” Raya shook her head in laughter at the memory.

“That baby new what was up.” Pocahontas chimed in.

“I eventually caught her and her gang of Ongis and helped her earn some honest loot by helping me get the gem piece from the chief of Talon.” Raya concluded.

“We took Noi with us and went to spine, where tong captured me and sisu, and the gem pieces. Tuk tuk, Boun, Noi and the Ongis thankfully came to our rescue, but that was exactly when Namaari showed up in spine.” Raya said.

“Yes! More Namaari moments! Did you guys kiss?” Moana asked eagerly.

“Oh, they totally did more than that moana.” Mulan said with her eyebrows quirked and her arms crossed.

“Shut up! We didn’t do anything! She actually beat my ass.” Raya should choose better wording.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” All of the princesses squealed, except for Meredith, who was busy trying to stop tuk tuk from eating cold beignets Tiana had made so they could go on another joyride.

“NO WAY. NO WAY. YALL DID? SHE DID? PERIOD NAMAARI AHHHH YESSSS!!” Mulan was jumping on the couch in happiness. Raya was blushing so hard that she had steam coming out of her ears.

“Uh, g-guys? If “Beat my ass” means what I think it means, then I think Eric might have beaten mine last night…” Ariel said with a blush. Mulan, moana and Pocahontas had their jaws wide open. Cinderella had her hand over her mouth to try and hold back her laugh.

“ARIEL! YOU NAUGHTY GIRL! I DIDN’T KNOW ERIC HAD IT LIKE THAT! WAS IT GOOD THOUGH?” Moana asked loudly, hoping eric would hear from across the hall. Ariel nodded. Ariel was known at the innocent one of the groups, so this was a huge shock to everyone.

“Same Ariel! Naveen gave it to me good last night if you know what I’m saying…” Tiana said as she poked her lips out. Moana and Mulan couldn’t help but squeal. Raya was on the ground dying laughing with Pocahontas at what Tiana said.

For the next few minutes, the girls all went on rants about their sex life, except for the ones with know love interest. They laughed a whole lot that day. Raya felt lightheaded the entire time she was there due to laughing.

Eventually, the girls decided to settle down and all watch the Lion king. Mulan made the popcorn, while Belle gathered the drinks. Raya had never seen the lion king before because this was her first time actually watching a movie with friends. The movie was great, but the loud commentary about the movie made by mostly moana and Mulan was even better, and the other princess agreed to this with laughter. During the Hakuna Matata scene, Mulan played Timone, and Moana was Pumba, while Raya tried her best to copy Simba’s lines for the mini skit.

“WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG WART HOG,” Mulan sang badly.

“WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WART HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGG!” Moana sang worse, which made the other princesses laugh.

The other princess enjoyed this. Raya didn’t that much, because she had to eat jello and pretend it was the bug Simba ate in the movie.

“WHAT IS THIS TEXTURE?” Raya shouted with a mouth full of goo. Jasmine died laughing from Raya’s response, along with Aurora.

“EAT IT YOU PUSSY!” Mulan shouted, breaking character.

All of the girls got emotional during the, can you Feel the Love tonight song. The all sang in harmony, except for raya because she didn’t know the song. Raya did however cry during the scene where Simba and Scar fought on pride rock and Simba almost died multiple times.

“NO NOT SIMBA!” Raya shouted at the screen.

“Don’t worry, he lives.” Meredith shouted from across the room, still trying to get tuk tuk up.

Raya Couldn’t help but enjoy the time she had they’re with the princesses. She felt at home. Obviously not like Kumandra, for that will always be her home, but she felt like she found her people. Namaari usually tool Raya’s jokes to seriously, or just pinched her the bridge of her nose and chuckle when Raya mad 10-yearold boy humor. Raya was just finally glad to find some girls who were wild like her.

After the movie ended, the girls clapped and cheered.

“Hey, didn’t when have a Disney princess quizlet to attend?” Elsa asked. Everyone else shrugged and ignored it. They actually didn’t have anything to attend, because as we know, ralph broke the internet, so nobody was able to go online and take the quiz.

“Quick question for you Raya- Is Boun Single, I mean, a man that can cook; that’s what I need” Moana said as she pointed to nothing.

“Preach.” Mulan commented.

“MOANA BOUN IS 10- DID I KNOW MENTION THAT?!” Raya said. All of the other girls busted out laughing.

“…I mean…A six year age difference is that-“

“MOANA OF MOTONUI!” Tiana shouted as she threw a pillow at moana. The other girls couldn’t help but laugh. Raya was going to have a fun time with these girls.

Credit: @gioistrying

#incorrect ratld #namaari #moana #mulan #Raya and the last dragon #raya x namaari #raya incorrect quotes #rayamaari #ratld raya #raya fanfic #wreck it ralph

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