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#and i love female on female violence sometimes
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Maybe pt. 5
Pairing: Norm MacLean X Female Reader or OC if you squint
Former friends to a relationship?
Life is pretty easy in Vault 33 until you're trying to rekindle a former friendship and Raiders attack. Now, our main characters are trying to navigate newfound feelings, all while undercovering the mysteries of Vault 33. Stay tuned. Follows the main storyline of season 1; some events may be reordered for plot.
Something seems off with these dwellers from 32, what's their deal? Time for our favorite couple to find out.
Part 1 Here
Part 2 Here
Part 3 Here
Part 4 Here
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Norm knew why he was sitting alone at a table of mainly residents from Vault 32, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He’d much rather be conversing with his family or (Y/N). Hell, he’d take even Chet, who he was sure would go on about his infatuation with his sister. He’d prefer that level of awkwardness to the awkwardness associated with playing host because he was the Overseer’s son. He wasn’t cut out for this. 
He looks up from the table and across the atrium to see your eyes locked on him, he offers back a wave to break your concentration on him. You return the gesture with a beaming smile. His heart thumps a little quicker. You’ve had that effect on him lately. He’s not quite sure when his feelings evolved past friendship-maybe back then, maybe in the last couple of weeks- but there’s no denying them now. He was hopeful that you felt the same; some of your interactions with him seemed more than friendly, flirty even. He just couldn’t be sure he wasn’t projecting his desires onto these situations. 
His dad steps up to the stage to deliver his remarks. Thank Goodness. He was eager for any excuse to leave his assigned table. 
“Good evening, and welcome to the proud denizens of Vault 32. We are bonded not just as neighbors but by a shared duty. To keep the candle of civilization lit. While the rest of the world has been cast into darkness.”
Norm can’t help but turn his attention from his father to the Overseer at his table; her intense focus on his dad’s words seemed out of place. What was her deal? 
 “Soon, if our measurements are correct, radiation levels on the surface are dropping fast enough that the next generation, Lucy and Monty’s children, will be able to recolonize.” 
The atrium fills with cheers and applause from those in Vault 33 jumpsuits. The 32s seem less enthusiastic about the concept of recolonization. Was he reading too much into this? He feared the surface; maybe these people did, too. Perhaps he’d fit in better if he were in Vault 32. 
“After 200 years, we don’t know much about what’s up there: desperation, violence, lawlessness. These survivors will need to be shown a better way. I’ll admit sometimes I’m afraid that mean old world will change us instead. But then I look at my daughter, who’s such a beautiful bride, and her new husband. And I am not afraid. I feel hope. To Lucy MacLean. And to this marriage. And to hope!”
The actual celebration could begin with the closing of his father’s remark. The music started, and everyone was soon captivated by the sweetness of the father-daughter dance. His dad and Lucy swayed back and forth to the sounds of “Some Enchanted Evening” emitting from the jukebox on stage. After a few moments, the two broke away. Norm knew what was coming next; this was typical of his family. His dad and sister plead for him to join them on the dancefloor. He begrudgingly concedes it was his sister’s wedding day after all. 
Now, the three embraced and rocked back and forth on the dancefloor. At this moment, Norm was grateful for the bond he shared with his family. Through all the teasing between siblings and the disapproving glances from his father, they loved each other very genuinely, and moments like this one were the manifestation of that. 
As they broke apart, Lucy went to tousle his hair affectionately. He noticed her eyes widen at something across the room as she did. Lucy motioned at someone, and Norm followed her gaze. Please no. But it was already too late. Lucy was closing the distance towards (Y/N). The two excitedly embraced. Hopefully, they were just exchanging congratulations. They were friends, after all. Norm watches as Lucy whispers something to you, and suddenly, the pair is heading back in his direction. Lucy, what did you say? Norm thinks as he puts his hand up his forehead while his dad nudges him with his elbow. 
“I saw (Y/N) by herself on the edge of the dancefloor and thought someone might like to invite her to dance.” That someone was him, apparently, as Lucy offered (Y/N)’s hand to Norm. 
“I’d be happy to,” he replies. Norm was frustrated that his sister had to be one to ask you but wasn’t about to lose the opportunity to dance with you. With a surge of confidence, he takes hold of your hand to lead you onto the dance floor, making a little show of pulling you into position in his arms. He was hoping it impressed you.   
“Sorry about that,” he confesses to you after a few moments, shooting his sister a steely glance as he does. She didn’t need to confirm that he was too chicken to ask a girl to dance. “You know how she can be when she gets an idea in her head—unrelenting.” 
“I don’t mind; I was actually hoping you’d ask. Your sister just guaranteed the odds.” 
Norm smiles, looking up into your eyes. You wanted to be here with him. That was enough. He eases into the moment, focusing on his dance steps and trying to burn every aspect of this into his memory. The way your perfume lingered in his nose, how your body felt leaning into his, the beating of your heart in rhythm with the music—he wants to remember it all. 
The sound of a throat clearing behind him brings Norm back to reality. Please don’t let it be someone else wanting to cut in. Turning around, it was just his father, but he did come bringing bad news. “Sorry, I will need to steal Norm away for a second,” the Overseer states as he places a hand on Norm’s shoulder. “Just one family photo, and I’ll give him back,” he reassures (Y/N) with a wink. 
“Not a problem,” you reply. Norm believes he can detect disappointment in your tone. 
“Find you after.” Norm declares, keeping a loose grasp on your hand as the two of you pull away. He wasn’t ready to let go just yet. 
______________________________
You set up camp by the main stage to people-watch and wait for Norm to return from his family obligations. Initially, you hoped to catch some laughable moments from your neighbors of Vault 33. There was just something about weddings that brought out peoples’ impulsive natures. Still, it was the behaviors of the residents of Vault 32 you couldn’t look away from. 
Not even Norm’s presence back in the main ceremony space shifted your attention. Soon, he was slotted into the spot next to you on stage. You assumed he must have picked up on your body language and noticed precisely who you were observing because, without any prompting, he spoke up and asked, “Is it just me, or are the Vault 32 dwellers just a little  …” 
“Off?” you offer, not giving him a chance to finish. 
“I noticed it first while my dad was giving his remarks; their Overseer seemed to be picking apart every word,” he said, replaying the interactions in his mind. 
Without warning, he hops down to his feet from the stage and turns to you, offering his hand. “Come on.” 
You take hold without a second thought. “Where are we going?” 
“I think we need to explore how the other side lives.”
The two of you set off in the same direction you returned from hours ago, trying to act inconspicuously. Hopefully, the sight of two young people walking off holding hands gave a different impression than the reality of snooping around Vault 32. 
Hands still interlocked, you make your way down the vault corridor, the sounds of the party in the atrium fading into the background, faintly echoing down the metal hallway. As you approach the end of the hallway, the vault door welcoming you to 32 is still open and rolled off to the side. There are no guards; all seems completely ordinary. You look to Norm and nod, confirming your commitment to enter and cross the threshold hand in hand. 
The sight that greets you immediately sets off alarm bells. A breathless “Whoa” was all you could manage. Norm stays quiet, taking it in, only offering a squeeze of your hand as reassurance.  
 Vault 32’s primary outdoor space appears before you in stark contrast to 33’s. The Vault’s wheat crop is laid out across the atrium as a sea of decayed brown, brittle, and rotting wheat. Their Overseer mentioned a blight that had wiped out their supply, but seeing the scene before you was chilling. How did these people survive? 
Continuing further into Vault 32’s atrium, you have to watch your step to avoid pieces of furniture grouped together in small huddles. The lack of lighting makes this task more difficult. Was there no power? Norm provides a steady arm as you two navigate the miniature obstacle course before you. 
“Something isn’t right,” he vocalizes as he helps you avoid the plastic lawn chairs and bedding blocking the small opening to the remainder of the living area of the Vault. You’ve now moved both hands to grasp onto his bicep and forearm as you walked, nervous about the potential jump-scare awaiting around every corner. 
The Vault’s living area seemed worse than the atrium, with equipment and furniture strewn haphazardly into the hallways, tables overturned, and trash littering the floor. Yet you continued. Curiosity drove each step forward while the heartbeat creeping up into your throat signaled to turn back. 
“Hello?” Norm calls out as the two round a corner into one of the disheveled nursery rooms. 
Panic strikes you when you realize he was calling out to what looks to be a person occupying a chair in a room ahead of you. What are they still doing in here?  Panic then turns to horror when you get a better look at the occupant in the chair. The sight of the rotten, decayed skin leaves no room for interpretation, sending you and Norm scurrying to get back to Vault 33 in a hurry. 
“Stay close,” Norm shouted over his shoulder from his position slightly ahead of you. As you returned down the hallway to get out the way you came, you heard the distant sounds of alarms, screams, and gunshots echoing into Vault 32. Something serious had happened since the two had left. 
Norm speeds up and passes the last intersecting hallway before exiting the Vault; however, your escape becomes blocked as a knife-wielding Vault 32 dweller lunges out of the hallway junction in the space separating you from Norm. You react by putting your arms up in defense as the momentum from your body sends you crashing into your attacker, the backs of your forearms making contact with the large knife. 
Your scream stops Norm dead in his tracks. He spins around frantically to see the cause of your distress, seeing you bloodied and wrestling to escape your attacker. He starts back down the hallway to intervene, but the appearance of two more 32s stops him. 
“Get after him. I’ve got this,” your attacker encourages, causing the two newcomers to rush down the hallway after Norm. 
“Keep going. Don’t look back!” you shout, hoping to prompt Norm to flee as you writhe free, creating space between you and your assailant. Your words have the intended effect as your friend springs to action, taking the additional aggressors out of the corridor with him. 
Escaping your attacker's hold, you now need a plan to save your life. Think you need to come up with something, anything! You urge your brain in desperation. 
The man comes at you again, lunging through the space between you, trying to make contact with his weapon. You narrowly dodge in time, ungracefully slide rolling to connect with maintenance equipment piled in the hallway's corner, the contact with the floor winding you slightly. 
The clanging of metal tools falling on the floor draws your attention and will hopefully give you a chance. You pick up the nearest object, a pipe wrench, you think, and position yourself as your attacker comes at you again. From the ground, you lunge at their legs, knocking them off balance, and, using your body weight, pin them to the floor. It all happened so quickly that they had no time to react. The pipe wrench does the rest of the work. With a two-handed grip, the wrench rises over your head, comes back down, and connects. One. Two. Three. Four times. That was all it took to turn a human head into a bloody pulp.
 You breathe out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, and your body relaxes as the adrenaline leaves. You wince, now realizing how bad the damage to your arms was. The gashes were deep and still oozing blood; you had enough medical knowledge to know you needed to treat these wounds ASAP lest you be able to use your arms again. One of the hallway storerooms was your best bet. 
___________________________
Norm can’t believe he took off down the hallway without a second thought. You were in trouble and needed help, but now he was in trouble sprinting down the connecting corridor with two, who he would assume were raiders hot on his tail. Maybe he could shake these guys and bring back reinforcements. At that thought, he urged his legs to give him more speed. 
Thankfully, he was quick, leaving the raiders scrambling to catch up as he exited the corridor and hid low amongst the corn stalks. Upon seeing the chaos in the atrium, that was his new plan. The raiders had descended on anyone in a Vault 33 jumpsuit, killing them indiscriminately and with a level of violence he thought was unimaginable until now. 
Norm realizes his best chance at survival is escaping the atrium and hiding somewhere deeper in the vault. He just hoped you were able to do the same. He stays low among the corn and vegetable garden, paying attention to opportunities to make a break. He makes it to the central open space, ducking for cover under a picnic table, hoping for one more chance to clear the room. He has no such luck. A female raider spies him under the table and grabs his legs, pulling him out into the open. This is how I die. The raider pulls Norm up to his knees, intending to silt his throat, and Norm fights back with all the strength he can muster. It’s not going to be enough. Then, suddenly, the raider goes limp, and he can push her body off to the side as she comes crashing down. He didn’t realize what had happened until he was embraced in his sister's arms. Lucy saved him. And now it was Lucy ushering him across the lawn and assisting him into the safety of the bunker. Norm climbs down into the claustrophobic space and turns to do the same for Lucy; at least he can save her. She simply shakes her head–no. She’s not coming down without Dad. She helps Norm shut the bunker door and heads back into the fray.
Norm dwells on one thought in the confided pitch-blackness of the bunker against the backdrop of commotion from above. I let them all down.
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blackpilljesus · 6 months
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Beware of fake sisterhood. Female solidarity isn't real. Yes we need each other but we also need real mutually beneficial relationships.
Motherhood discourse with the whole "but single childfree women need to help we're all in this together🥺🥺🥺" bullshit is proof that even women wouldn't leave women who go their own way alone. Everyone needs & uses women for labour, as a scapegoat, or as a sacrifice.
It is underestimated how much women use other women to survive under maIe supremacy. The trads use the likes of feminists presence to virtue signal being the "better" women. The mothers who expect labour from other women to pick up the slack of their children's father (only to still prioritise him anyways). Sex-posi feminists encouraging other women to have dangerous 'sex' with maIes or offer themselves to help with "maIe loneliness" even though most times they won't do the same. Women in relationships with moids use their -typically- single friends as therapists/emotional dumpsters only to return to him anyways & even throw her friends under the bus for him.
Many will talk about "sisterhood" and how we're all in it together but the dynamic is often one-sided. Single childfree women aren't strong soldiers; they're also vulnerable especially as the amount of single/childfree women grows in size because that means less moids having slaves & reproducing. That means less people for the government to grind, less believers for religious institutions to exploit and keep the system churning. The economy makes it difficult to survive alone. Being a single childfree woman makes you an easier target yet other women wont help you, they want to use & discard you. They say we're all in it together so we dont leave them behind.
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ozzgin · 2 months
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okay, hear me out: mean girl!reader x nerdy/sub!yandere
nerd!yan who gets bullied by you all the time, with harsh name calling and forcing him to do your homework.
nerd!yan who grows intrigued with you. you’re so confident, so pretty, so cool! how can he not like you?
nerd!yan who’s slowly growing more obsessed. his breath hitches whenever you loom over him with that annoyingly hot smirk of yours, calling him such mean, degrading names
nerd!yan who gets jealous whenever he sees you targeting someone else. you can’t bully them!! you should pay attention to him and only him. oh well, he’ll just have to eliminate the competition, so you can go back to “tormenting” him again.
nerd!yan who’s really such a pervert! he followed you home and was pleasuring himself to your scent that lingered on your clothing… such dirty behaviour!
mean girl!reader who returns home to find one of her classmates in her bedroom, and how can she not smile at the sight? he’s so pretty, such a cute little plaything…
mean girl!reader who had always been aware of nerd!yan’s obsessive tendencies, and played along. but now that he’s been caught red handed…
mean girl!reader who degrades poor nerd!yan for being such a disgusting pervert, but submits to nerd!yan’s fantasies anyway. she plays with him, leaving harsh love bites and scratches over his soft skin, reducing him to a moaning, whiney mess.
nerd!yan who’s basically your pet now, obediently following you throughout school, happily accepting all your orders, no matter how demeaning or gross they are.
people who even dare look your way with romantic interest? they get disposed of in…well, let’s just say, messy. oh, but not that nerd!yan will ever let you see it happen! your precious, beautiful eyes should be shielded from such violent acts. but if you ever ask… tilt your head playfully with a soft smile and ask him to let you watch, he might.
tldr; mean girl and a nerdy yandere that are both equally toxic for each other
have an awesome day!! I would really like to see you write a concept like this <3
-Ash
A/N: I'm including someone else's request as I think they mesh well together: "a mean bully!reader with a yandere!loser, where reader basically just uses him like a pet and has him do whatever she wants" I'll be doing my best, but do keep in mind this is written by a loser nerd so I can't guarantee accuracy. I also don't want to be too mean, even if it's hypothetical, y'know? 😭
Nerd! Loser! Yandere x Mean Girl! Bully! Reader
They say being in the right relationship motivates you to strive for the best version of yourself. Sometimes, the opposite is true. What happens when your soulmate brings out your most depraved self?
Content: female reader, mildly NSFW, obsessive behavior, violence, bullying, loser is meant in a loving way, yandere consents to everything
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You really aren't that bad of a person. Or at least you weren't before you met the odd man you now call your boyfriend. How did it all begin? For the sake of full disclosure, alright, you have always been somewhat on the mean side. A little too sarcastic, a little too blunt, perhaps a little too harsh. You don't like soft people and have little patience for their stumbling attempts. But, you can hold your tongue as long as it doesn't involve you.
The meeting, at least from your point of view, was entirely accidental. Despite just starting your university year, your charisma had quickly gained you enough friends and acquaintances to have a stable sample of potential group partners. Except for one class. One single missing person, and you were asked to include a name you didn't recognize. Some young man who almost never showed up to class.
Oh, but he did. He was there for every lecture, for every seminar. His, and yours. His first encounter with you was not what most would call romantic. On day one he'd gotten lost. The crowded halls, the new environment, the noise, the smell, everything overwhelmed him, and he found himself wandering in a panic, until at last he bumped into you. The impact sent him straight onto the ground, books pathetically spilling from his trembling arms. You, on the other hand, remained standing as if nothing happened. "Pull yourself together, dumbass", you hissed through your teeth, looking into his eyes for one brief moment before moving on to your friends: "You have to give it to them straight, otherwise they'll think we're still in high school and someone will hold their hand all the time. It's embarrassing! Grown adults!"
He can't remember anything else from that day. Only your voice, your expression, your stance. Somehow, for whatever reason, that "dumbass" went straight to his heart. To think you'd look after him, a complete stranger. You were right, he needed to recollect himself and figure it out. Something even his own mother omitted to mention.
How he wished he could be like you. The way professors relied on you for discussions, the way your friends flocked for advice. But see, he knew you were faking most of it. That overly sweet smile and exaggerated politeness, all of it was a mask you'd learned to wear at any time. It only came off when dealing with people like him. There was a certain pride in that fact: he'd seen the real you. Not your "friends".
The more he thought about it, the more plagued by need he became. The need to hear you speak to him again, in that raw, unfiltered voice, with that disgusted glare piercing through his entire being. Thus, he did his best - as per your advice - to find another opportunity. The group work. One glance at him was enough for you to remember: "Ah, fuck, you're that dumbass from first day", you whined in frustration. Instant arousal.
And so, your unusual partnership began to develop. Or rather, your game of tormentor versus tormented. (Un)Paid actors and nothing more. It didn't take you long to notice his strange reaction to your verbal aggressions, almost as if the man relished in your ruthlessness. He seemed to know exactly what buttons to press in order to anger you. In return, you decided to see how far you could go until he'd finally cave in. From insults, to flicking him in the forehead, shoving him against the wall, ordering him around like a collared dog. You had your suspicions, but it all culminated when you went over to his little dorm room for a final project review. You'd gotten so upset - what did he even do? - that you pushed him hard into the ground and straddled him, holding onto the collar of his jacket and shouting profanities. A horrified grimace struck his face, and you froze. Have you gone too far? Was he finally going to ask that you stop, and put this strange charade behind? "P-please give me a moment, I..." he panted, frantically trying to move you aside. "I need to take care of myself. I'm so sorry." You hesitantly stood up and noticed the obvious erection in his pants.
You have a strange effect on him. He is not incapable; he knows it very well. And yet, the temptation is too great: to pretend, to exaggerate, to fail, anything to have you take the lead and lovingly scold him in the process. "What do you mean you're too anxious to present your part? Christ, you're useless. Utterly, completely useless." He can't wait to pleasure himself later to the memory of your words. Truly addicting. He doesn't mind being a doormat if it's your feet keeping him down. You bring out his most pathetic, perverted, deplorable self.
The same can be said about you. You've never been this mean to anyone. You hadn't even intended to reach this point, yet something keeps riling you up. Maybe it's his pleading pout whenever he's being reprimanded. The hooded, lustful eyes gazing up at you submissively and waiting for the next burning whip of your tongue. He brings out the worst in you and he loves every second of it.
You unlock the door and march into the bedroom (you've since moved in together). Without a warning, you grip his chin tightly and give the man a firm tug, forcing him to pay attention. "You did something, didn't you? I was supposed to meet with a classmate for coffee and he vanished without a trace. Won't answer my texts or calls." He shakes his head in denial at first, wide innocent eyes glistening in fear. Ah, he can't help it. His lips curl in a crooked grin. He's been caught. You shove two fingers in his mouth, and without delay he twirls his tongue around them hungrily. "What a psychotic bitch you are. You want to be the only one, huh? Is that what it is about?" Between the slurps and the whimpers, you can discern a hurried nod.
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nyxwoodstone · 2 months
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Televangelism | Part 1
Part 1 | Part 2
Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x F!Reader
Summary: Simon offers Johnny a place to stay the night after a deployment, and Johnny gladly obliges. Much to his surprise, there's more to Simon Riley's home life than he previously thought.
TLDR: Soap doesn't know that Simon has a wife...he finds out when he goes to his Lt's house. :)
Word Count: 3.5k
Warnings: mentions of canon-typical violence, female reader, pregnant!reader, Simon and reader already have a toddler..., maybe a little OOC Ghost but allow it, no smut all plot, still MDNI I swear to God, idk like minor swearing but if you're from the COD fandom I feel like you should know that, let me know if I missed anything.
A/N: if you saw this previously posted to another account, no you didn't :) I don't really know what to call this type of fic, it is a Ghost x Reader, but it's got quite a bit of self-reflection and characterization from Soap. very little beta, but msg me if there's any horrendous spelling or grammar issues. i'm not American, hence the spelling differences. let's just ignore the fact that Ghost inviting Johnny to sleep at his house is more than a little too friendly for special forces guys, let's just ignore that plz!!!!!
Dictionary: SO - superior officer Civvies - civilian clothing NOD's - them night vision goggle thingo's Padre - colloquial name for Bristish Army Chaplains
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It was done.
Another successful operation. A difficult operation.
The entire squad had returned with just minor scrapes and cuts, and more shit to compartmentalise. Not that there was much compartmentalisation these days, the missions just rolled into each other. Sometimes there was a week break in between, sometimes a few months. Never enough time for Soap regain his footing in civilian life. Never enough time to get past the 'disruption' phase of reintegration that the chaplains were always talking about.
Every time he flew back to base, he'd get the same bleeding rundown from a different Padre. Every. Time.
"Now, there are five stages of reintegration after deployment, Sergeant."
"I know that."
"Humour me."
He'd fight back the urge to roll his eyes. Sometimes, he'd just do it. The chaplain would continue.
"Pre-entry, you've done that already, psych evals and such. You know the drill. Then, reunion, you'll see your family again-"
Shit. He needed to call his sister.
"-and take some time for yourself. Next is disruption, you'll realise not everything is the same as when you left it, people will have new routines, new hobbies, it's normal to feel resentful during this stage-"
And they'd go on. Tell him about communication, then normalcy. But he never got that far. He'd go home to his apartment, visit his mother, go to coffee with his sister (she worried about him, always did), and then he would be off on his next operation. He'd get a visit, or a call, and he'd be off, with little word to family. There was never enough time. Soap wondered why the task force needed the same spiel every time they returned, it wasn’t as if this was new. It was old. This runaround was old now: United Kingdom, to some forsaken country, to back home, with more memories and less connections. It was what he loved. But it was also what he despised. 
"Johnny."
Most of the squad had dispersed, each finishing psych evals and heading off to the on-base housing,  their cars, or the mess hall. He didn't actually know if the mess was open at this time of night, he supposed it was only the wee hours of the morning, but God-knew. Johnny had just finished his packing, and was heading towards the unremarkable block of small apartments on the far side of the base. It was a fair hike, but he'd do it. There wasn't another choice, but his flight wasn't until tomorrow, and he staunchly refused to stay awake all night. He'd sleep tonight, then go to debrief, then go the fuck home.
"Johnny."
It was Ghost, in civvies, hands in his jacket pockets. Mask gone. Johnny supposed that was just the way it ought to be, he couldn't wear it everywhere, and wearing it in civvies would certainly give any onlookers, soldiers or not, reason to be curious. Attention was not what men in their position needed. Still, seeing his face was…almost unsettling.
"Lt.?"
*************************************
Simon hung up the phone and tucked it in his back pocket. He felt God-awful calling at this time of night, but he had to do it. He'd sworn to, every time he got back to base, he had to call. Johnny was staring out at the quiet base, the parade grounds just a few hundred metres away, still lit up in the night.
"Johnny."
He'd never really thought about where Johnny must go after operations, he didn't even assume anything, once they were back on the ground, once they were out of the shit, it wasn't any of business, or any of his concern.
"You're allowed to like the men you work with, love." His wife's voice rang in the back of his mind.
He did…like them. They were good lads. Got the job done. Stitched each other up. Didn't leave each other behind. But liking them outside of work? Their job was far too dangerous to make close attachments like that. In his younger days, when he wasn't in the special forces, he'd made…’friends’ wasn't the right word for it. He'd made…acquaintances with some of the soldiers on his unit, they'd go out for drinks, egg each other on in the pub, take each other home after a long night out. But special forces were another world. Here, everything mattered. Every little thing mattered. And perhaps he was just older now, he'd matured more. Back then, he hadn't had anything to lose. Now, though-now he had everything to lose. A family, a home - a life.
But despite all of that, he had grown to appreciate Johnny. He was a good man, in the shit, and out of it.
They'd talked a few times about their lives outside of the army. Nothing important, nothing below surface level. Soap had a mother who had health problems, and a sister who worked in a hospital (he hadn't told Simon what she did, or even told him her name), and who worried about him constantly. Johnny joked that she would end up a patient one day if she kept stressing so much. Simon had told him that he lived far enough from the base that he wasn't constantly thinking about work, he'd told him that he played football as a kid; that was it. Not a lick more.
Johnny gave up far more information willingly than Simon ever could. But they got along. That was enough.
The Scot stood across from him, still staring out at nothing. 
"Johnny."
Soap turned his head.
"Lt.?"
"Going home?"
“Sleeping on base tonight, sir, then got a flight tomorrow night.”
On base? After that operation? Simon sighed inwardly and observed the bent hunch of his subordinate's shoulders. He knew that feeling. Finishing a mission alive, but with more red in his ledger. That was all good and well, but the final fucking straw was those damned prison cages that the military called bedrooms. It took a moment to debate, no longer.
"Mine’s 15 minutes from the airport.”
Soap’s eyebrows raised at the Lieutenant’s offer.
“It’s alright, sir, I’ll survive here.”
“After that shit? You need a real bed, Johnny.”
The sergeant ran a hand over his face and dropped his shoulders.
“Y-yeah, alright, Lt. If that’s alright with you.”
“Let’s go,” Ghost turned on his heel and began towards the car park, taking out his phone to shoot off a quick text.
'One of the boys needs somewhere to stay. He's a good man.'
****************************************************************************************
'One of the boys needs somewhere to stay. He's a good man.'
You groggily shot back a text.
'Get home safe, love you."
Simon had been due back for a few days now, but you'd been trying to get used to the unpredictability of his work schedule.
This was nothing new, though. You knew exactly what you were signing up for when you got married to him. He had sat you down when you had first gotten serious, and showed you his will.
That had been an aggressive wake-up call. You knew how dangerous his job was. No one on the planet Earth was foolish enough to think that special forces meant 'safety.' You knew he could die any time he went away. But the long-term reality of that fact didn't set in until you sat beside him and scanned your eyes over that document. You didn't feel connected to your body. It was as if you were peering in on some other person's life, quietly staring through the looking glass to see some insane woman who was desperately in love with a man whose life meant very little up against the interests of international security. To your credit, you hadn't cried when he showed you. How badly you had wanted to. But you didn't. You grit your teeth and clenched your fists. He could die at any moment. So you had better make the most of every second you had with him.
You'd told him as much and he had accused you of not taking his job seriously. A method of self-preservation you recognized from your years of being with him. You had told him he wasn't going to push you away so easily. He had left in a huff and came back the next day with an apology on his lips, and a ring in his hand.
There was no pomp about it, just simple, and practical. So very Simon Riley. 
Simon had never been a particularly romantic man, and God, was he difficult to read. But he loved you. He did. And you adored him. And you'd made it this far, a few years of marriage, one kid in, and one on the way; you'd done it. You would keep doing it until the day you dropped cold. So would he, he'd told you so hundreds of times. 
No, he was not romantic, but he showed you in other ways. He would rub your back when you were tired, he would open doors for you, or kiss you gently when you needed it. Simon Riley was a man of few words, but frequent action. You loved him for it.
The first time you'd met him, you'd nearly gone weak in the knees. Cliché. He teased you for it endlessly, you never should have admitted that to him. But how were you to help yourself, he was a handsome, well-muscled man with a scowl that you found endearing. You still found that deep scowl endearing today, and on more than one occasion, you had gently pinched his cheek when he pulled that face. He would always chuckle and bat your hand away, biting the inside of his mouth so there was no looser skin for you to pinch again.
Simon Riley was, in your (biassed) opinion, the most handsome, most incredible, most loving man to ever live. And he was yours. Whenever he came shopping with you, or took you out somewhere, it was impossible to escape the stares that other women gave him. Part of you despised it, part of you basked in it. You'd lean in to whisper something in his ear, or pat him gently on the chest, anything to mark him as yours. See this man, he's mine. He'd swear other men did the same to you, but you didn't believe him. He certainly believed himself though, placing a hand on the small of your back or tucking a piece of hair behind your ear whenever he thought he saw eyes on you. It was sweet.
You two had this little…thing. This cocoon for just you two. The comfort and safety that flowed between the both of you had been years in the making, and had taken many, many arguments and discussions to solidify. And you had argued, sometimes into the night hours, going back and forth about trust, and patience, and understanding. You had often had to fight for his agreement, or for his trust, but you had never had to fight for his love. That had come without question, but you'd had to fight for him to show it to you, for him to allow himself one good thing in life. He was different now, all those years of being with you, and working on himself, and all the absolute hell that he had been through. He was different, and you loved the man he was, and the man he had become. No one at his job knew how gentle he could be, the softness he was capable of. No one.
Although, you supposed that was about to change. He was bringing 'one of the guys' to your house, to stay. You had told him before that you had absolutely no problem with him bringing his friends - he wasn't a fan of you calling them that - over. If they needed somewhere to stay, you were more than willing to house them, they were strong men facing down the worst of the world's threats, they deserved somewhere to feel safe, if only for one night. He'd told you he might - although you'd always suspected that he wouldn’t - allow one of his squad mates into his home, and you'd encouraged him to do so if it was necessary. Tonight was the night.
Simon had called you as soon as he could, like he always did.
"I've landed, love, I'll be heading home soon."
"Good. How are you feeling?"
"Tired."
"Hungry?"
"Just ate here."
"Alright, I'll be in bed, please wake me up."
"Will do. I love you."
"I love you too. Drive safe."
He sounded exhausted on the phone, nothing out of the ordinary though, he was always tired when he came home. You were remiss to admit to yourself that you were tired too. You ran a hand over your stomach. It had swelled up in the time that Simon had been gone. What a difference just a few weeks made. You'd had to attend your scheduled scan alone, and had the photos in the drawer next to your bed, ready to show Simon when he got home.
This baby had been something of a surprise. Not an enormous one, though. Simon and yourself had been significantly less careful in the months leading up to when you found out, and you'd talked about it: another kid, the whole thing. He had been apprehensive to say the least, so you had waited without resentment. He needed time, and God knew, you needed time, so you had both taken time. It had taken a year or so of discussions, he was terrified to become his father. He would never be his father, never. He was nothing like him, nothing. And he had come to his own decision. Being a father would be new, terrifying, different, but he put an ounce of faith in himself, and-
- And then you were late.
You wished you could be like those women in movies who have no idea, and have a whole revelation about being pregnant. But you were not stupid, you were practical, it was one of the things Simon often told you that he loved about you. So practicality it was. You were sure you were pregnant. Three positive pregnancy tests later, and that sealed the deal.
Then you'd burst into tears in your bathroom.
God, who were you to think you could do this? He was due to leave for a three-week operation in two days. You'd be alone in your first few weeks, with a young toddler as well, who's needs were more important than your own.
You didn't hear Simon come home from his run, you'd hardly heard the jagged tone to his voice when he pushed the door open. What a sight it must have been for him. You, curled into the bathroom wall, crying hysterically and hugging yourself. He did well to hide his panic, the soldier in him must have taken over for a few seconds. He scanned the bathroom floor, then checked you over for injuries, asking what was wrong the whole time. Then he'd scanned the bathroom counter and found the three tests lined up. He knew what they were, but bless him, he didn't know if they were negative or positive, the lines meant nothing to him.
"You're pregnant?"
You'd barely managed a nod and to his absolute credit, he did not clam up. He did not shut his mouth, or grit his teeth, or sink back onto his heels. He had reassured you, pulled you into his lap on the floor and talked you out of your hysterics. He'd waited patiently until you could talk. And you had been fine. You loved him, he loved you, and you both loved this baby. You would be fine. It had never been so hard to say goodbye to him as he left for his next mission. You'd never been so panicked whilst he had been away. You had to call your friend to come and stay with you for the time he was away, so she could help you stay out of your thoughts and help with the little toddler who was always asking where her Daddy was.
But all of that panic always subsided when he came home, when he lay beside you and breathed quietly as he slept. Everything was better when he was there. And he would be in an hour or two, so you allowed yourself to get some rest until you heard his tires in the drive.
************************************************************************************************************** 
Every few seconds, the car was forced into the dull yellow shine of the street lights. Soap wanted to ask how much longer they would be travelling, but for lack of better words than ‘are we there yet,’ he remained silent, watching identical rows of darkened townhouses amble by. It had been a long drive though, long enough that Johnny had glanced at the clock on the car's electronic display once or twice, just to make sure he wasn't losing his mind.
Suburbia was not quite what Soap had imagined when he thought of his lieutenant's home, although he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he thought Ghost might live. Far from base was all the information he had to guess from. Everyone has to stay somewhere, right? Guiltily, John realised he hadn’t much considered that Simon did in fact, live a civilian life. For weeks or months at a time. The task force wasn’t on duty 24/7, but Ghost, as a normal person? Someone you might see crossing the street? Carrying groceries? It hasn’t crossed his mind.
Strange.
Strange to think of such a deadly man in such a domestic sphere.
They were the same though, he supposed. Just as deadly as each other. Just as domestic, too.
The low rumble of a flight path ahead served to calm Soap, so used to noise as he winded down. Silence was deafening, silence was dangerous. Deep down, although he struggled to admit it, the long string of silence that met him in his own home terrified him. The emptiness, the void that greeted him when he first entered his flat, before the click of his fingers on the light switch, before he turned on the industrial fan beside his couch and before the kettle started to whistle. The silence would grip him around the neck, trying to pull him into his thoughts.
Close-knit housing soon dropped off into plots of land, with sparser houses and longer driveways. The expected pricing of these blocks didn’t escape the sergeant.
Another hour or so later, when the modern street lights had long since faded out into antiquated street lamps every hundred metres, the car began to slow.
“We’re here.” Ghost ripped the quiet in two with the gruff edge of his voice, turning off onto a lined driveway. In the dim light, the house stood modestly. Perfectly normal. Far enough away from other houses to be private, but close enough to be watchful of the neighbours. How fitting.
The ignition rumbled to a stop as Ghost turned the key and exited the car.
Boots hitting the stone, Soap immediately felt at odds with this house. It wasn’t his. It was Ghost’s, a man he knew very little about. It wasn't enemy territory, perhaps this was worse: friendly territory. Too friendly territory. A peaceful space, one that he shouldn't be encroaching on.
He followed said man to the door, crunching quietly up the drive and swinging his bag over his shoulder, a more comfortable hold for his exhausted muscles.
Ghost grunted quietly as he unlocked and pushed the door open, swearing and muttering something about getting it fixed.
“Boots off.” He spoke rather quietly and Soap responded immediately, shrugging out of his boots and sitting them next to a few others at the door. His first sign that something was…amiss, was that there were a few pairs of shoes far too small for Simon, stacked neatly on a wooden shelf next to the door.
He was greeted with a long hallway as he followed Simon through the quiet house. His second sign that something was amiss, was that this house smelled, to put it kindly, feminine. It did not smell like an empty house, nor one that was inhabited by a lone man. Unless of course, Simon Riley had a penchant for vanilla-scented candles. Soap suspected he did not.
A few photographs and decorations adorned the walls but they were impossible to make out in the dark. Soap’s fingers twitched towards his head a split second before he was pulled back to reality and realised that there were no NOD's to help him out here. A stupid instinctual move that he found himself doing more and more these days.
Compartmentalisation, his ass.
Ghost pushed a door to his right open, it creaked quietly in the silent house.
“Spare room’s in here, bathrooms to the left-“
“Thanks, Lt.”
“Take a shower, but keep it down, the missus’ll be asleep.”
And as if he hadn’t just flash-banged Soap, Ghost left, turning on his heel and heading further into the house. 
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peachesofteal · 5 months
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Simple Math / Part Four
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Ghost/Soap/female reader 4k words - AO3 Warnings-tags: 18+ no smut but this fic contains mature themes. Descriptions of past domestic violence, past abuse, past sexual assault, SANE exam. Death scene in relation to reader's job. Stalking. Feelings of fear and anxiety. Trauma. PTSD. Medical inaccuracies, hospitals, medical procedures, medications, nurse!reader. Comfort. Soft dads. Johnny is a shameless flirt.
“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday sweet Penny-“ 
Their baby shrieks at the crest in the song, smile shoving her plump cheeks upwards, little fists banging on her highchair tray. She has no idea what’s going on, Johnny imagines, but he knows she’s excited that everyone is singing to her, looking at her, celebrating her. “happy birthday to you!” She swings a hand forward, plunging into the buttercream icing of the cupcake, fingers digging in as much as she can. Johnny can't help but give her the biggest kiss he can manage while trying to dodge the flying food, and Simon laughs over his shoulder. 
“Atta girl.” Simon encourages, trying to peel the wrapper so she can get more in her mouth, icing and cake all over his fingers now too, and Johnny wanders for a second, imagining something certainly not appropriate for their daughter’s first birthday. 
“Can’t believe your kid is a year old.” Kyle says from behind him, two beers in his hand. “Feels like yesterday you were even tellin’ us she existed.” 
“Time is movin’ too fast.” Johnny agrees, taking a long sip as Simon pulls Pen from the highchair, white and blue icing all over her face, arms, and hands. Kyle is right, it is hard to believe it’s been a year, hard to believe that their baby is already one, growing up right before their eyes, taking her first steps, saying her first words. He knows it won’t be long until she’s really talking, running, riding a bike, going to school… thoughts of the future forming a lump in the back of his throat that sticks like taffy. 
Simon steps into his orbit with Penny in his arms, keeping her turned outwards away from his body, half tilted to avoid the sticky smear of icing that’s painted all over her. 
“What is it?” he murmurs, leaning in to brush his lips against Johnny’s cheek, warm breath fanning over his skin. 
“Nothin’ ah-“ Penny babbles, head tipped back, gazing at him with wide, pretty eyes, and Johnny rubs a knuckle across her messy cheek. “she’s gettin’ so big. Feel like ‘m missing it, sometimes. Like I should be here.” Simon sighs. 
“Johnny-“ 
“I know, I know.” They made this decision, together. They chose what was best for their family, even though they both knew the distance, the time apart, would sting.  
“The option is always there if you want to swap. Though I think we both know you’d lose your head behind a desk.” He nods, but the longing lingers, and Simon reads him right through to his heart, like always. “After this next op, let’s sit down and talk about it. Maybe we can make some adjustments for next year.” 
“Ah love ye.” 
“I love you too.” He shifts Pen into his side, inclining his head towards her grubby hands. “Can you wash her up?” She reaches for him, trying to latch around his neck, and he rubs her back, cooing into her hair. 
“Whit happened to my precious bairn, eh? Where’d she go?” Pen giggles, fingers finding his nose, long strands of his hair with a tug, and he playfully lifts her, mouth against her tummy, blowing loud raspberries over her shirt that has her absolutely screaming with glee. 
“Da. Dadadada-“ she babbles at him. 
“C’mon wee lamb, let’s go get ye into some clean clothes.” 
There’s an envelope shoved under your front door.
The shitty carpet in the hallway is too high, threads jagged, so it sits a little crumpled, half wedged beneath the bottom and the floor.
It’s manilla. Letter sized. Stepping over it to get inside, you immediately notice the lack of postage. Or addressing. Or anything at all, that would signify that it had been delivered by proper authorities.
It’s from him. 
You know it is, even though you try to find any other rational reasoning, anything that could explain the mystery behind the envelope and how it got here.
You know. You know it’s probably a letter. Handwritten. Signed in perfect penmanship. You know it’s probably something foul, sick words twisted into terrifying sentences.
You kick it inside and let it sit there for a few minutes. You get changed, get into comfortable clothes, start your kettle. You wrap your sweater tight around your body and lean against your countertop, staring at the offensive tan-beige paper that lays in the middle of the floor.
It’s from him. 
He knows where you are. 
“That’s impossible.” You answer yourself aloud, fingers curled so tight into your palms that they make little crescent moon shapes in your skin.
Your illusion, delusion, of safety, anonymity, is easily washed away by the appearance of the envelope, and whatever lurks inside it.
It’s too soon. 
You didn’t make it.
It’s not a letter inside the envelope at all.
It’s a photo.
A photo of you, taken in harsh hospital lighting, dated over two years ago. It’s taken from the shoulders up, skin bare and exposed, fresh impact bruising around your neck, eye starting to swell, lip crusted with blood.
You remember this photo. You remember the awful experience of the SANE exam, the drive to the hospital that took over two hours because you had to go to another state, just in case.
You hadn’t changed. Hadn’t showered. Your white eyelet blouse, one of your favorites, was splattered red, bright ruby dried a dark wine by the time you pulled into the little county hospital.
You remember the way it felt, to have your clothes put in a bag. To be handled by gloved fingers, with care and attention. The same way you had done for others before that day, and since.
“What’s your name?” your nurse had asked you, so cautiously, so kind. “It’s okay. You’re safe here.” She tried to promise, but you knew the truth. There was nowhere you could run, not a single place you could hide, where a shadow wouldn’t find you.
The girl, the woman, in the photo is the same person that looks back at you in the mirror every day, except now she’s buried beneath layers and layers of function, schedule, consistency. She’s silenced by distraction. By work.
By fear.
You flip it over with trembling hands, looking for the note or signature you know will be there. Like a greedy, starved pig; he cannot help himself. 
Found you. 
Bile rockets up your esophagus and into your mouth. How long will he toy with you this time?
“Hey, you okay?” Nia asks, frowning at you from her locker.
“Yeah, just slept like shit.” You roll your shoulders, emphasizing the half-truth. You really did sleep poorly, fragments of nightmares keeping you suspended in twilight sleep, clips of memories morphed into the snapping. bloodied jaw of a monster who reared their head every time your REM cycle started, and it shows. In your face, your posture, your skin. You look awful, the only thing really holding you together the resolve you have to push through, to get it together, to leave the envelope and its contents behind in your mind. You’re safer inside these walls above anywhere else, that you know is true. Your safety. Your sanctuary. Nothing can hurt you here. “You know how it is.” You add, and she chuckles.
“Tell me about it. Thought I was going to love overnights, but the sleep schedule is brutal.”
“You get used to it.” You assure her, the two of you making your way down the hall to the pit, and she shrugs.
“If you say so.”
You stand outside of two sixty-eight for too long. People pass you in the hallway, eyes curious, and you pretend to scroll through the tablet, decidedly trying to distract yourself from the dread that’s gathered like a sailor’s knot in the pit of your stomach.
You’re a professional. This behavior is definitely unprofessional. Get yourself together. 
You try, filling your lungs with a deep breath, but you can’t shake the shame, the mortification that is curdling in your stomach at the idea of facing Simon and Johnny after the code black situation last week.
“Go sit with Johnny.”
“Ye’re shaking, pretty girl.”
Will they be angry that you were so rattled? Could they tell? 
Your watch alarm beeps, and you uncurl your spine.
Buck up. 
You’re both anxious, and relieved, that Johnny is asleep when you finally step inside. Simon sits in his usual spot, paperback book’s spine split in the palm of his hand, and at first… he doesn’t even look up. Not until you clear your throat, and he startles in the chair, eyes snapping up to find yours. “Hi.” He frowns.
“What day is it?”
“Uh, it’s Wednesday?”
“I thought you start your week on Thursdays.” That makes your eyebrows raise, uncontained surprise filtering through you. He knows your schedule? Butterflies thrash in your stomach at the notion, something hot flooding your veins as you blink at him.
“I’m on OT.” You drift towards the other side of the bed, eyeing Johnny’s monitor before lifting the blanket to peek at his elevated leg. “How is he?”
“Uncomfortable. The burn debridement has been… difficult.”  You chew on the inside of your cheek. They better not be letting Simon even stand outside and watch that through the window, you think. You’ll have to follow up with whoever is on days.
“Healing burns can be a long and painful process.” You tell him, pulling back the blanket a little further. “I’ll be quick, try to let him get enough sleep as possible.”
“He’ll be sad he missed you.” Simon answers, still watching your every movement, eyes dark and focused above the black cloth mask. The intensity in them catches you off guard when you meet his gaze, hair on the back of your neck standing up straight, and you swallow.
“Well, I’ll still be here in the morning when he wakes so…” you trail off awkwardly, choosing to direct your attention to the scaffolding that’s supporting his femur and hip, checking his sutures for any redness or swelling.
“Do you work a lot of overtime?” Simon asks at the same as he leans forward to brush a stray lock of hair from Johnny’s forehead. The touch is so tender, so gentle, it makes your heart bleed inside your chest, blood warming beneath your skin, captivating your attention until he’s tearing his eyes away from Johnny, and latching onto yours with an expectant expression.
“Oh. Um. Sometimes?”
“Seems like a lot.” He comments, words lazily pulled from his lips, his tone soft, nearly a whisper. “Must make it difficult to spend time with your family, or partner.”
“Oh, I don’t have one of… those.” You immediately refute, pulling up short before the word those, embarrassment making your nose burn. Why are you telling him this? Why are you announcing to a stranger that you’re practically a recluse loner? 
Simon’s head tilts, and he looks like he’s about to say something but your tablet chimes, insistent and loud, signaling a vitals issue in another room.
“E-excuse me.” You stumble, and he nods, turning his attention back towards Johnny.
One… two… three… four…One… two… three… four… One… two-
The count in your head is second nature at this point, turning over and over after four as your arms, back and core start to scream, your breaths coming in shorter. Where the fuck is he? 
The count continues to roll on, lactic acid building up through your muscles, and you take another deep breath, as much as you can manage. The pain is familiar, it’s necessary, it’s a part of your job, but today, it’s burrowing itself beneath your skull, tugging and tearing at the memories that you’ve buried deep.
Pain. Gnarled and knotted strands of associations pull free from the confines of compartmentalization, stretching out across the front of your mind.
One… two… three… four…
You think about the photo. About being on your back, in a bed like this, lost inside the maze of a panic attack while the NP took photos between your legs. While they swabbed for DNA inside of you, under your fingernails, in your mouth. It’s funny how certain things can stick with you, the sound of the plastic bag crinkling as your bloodied clothes were shoved inside, how you can’t sleep on your back now, the way you counted the ceiling tiles over and over that day. One… two… three… four…
“How long has it been?” Nia asks from the other side of the bed, hand steadily squeezing the bag at the correct rate, still watching the monitor like a hawk.
“At least ten minutes.” You glance at the shade pulled over the window, grateful you remembered when you came running in here, the patient’s family standing just outside the door, holding their breath, hoping you’re in here bringing their beloved granny back, when in reality, you’re just traumatizing her body. You’ve already broken one of her ribs, and you’re worried if you keep going, her sternum will fracture too. It’s not fair. “Where the fuck is he?” you hiss between breaths, anger starting to heat your skin, irritation clear in your tone. This isn’t even your patient. Lazy, slacker, pompous ass, where the fu-
“How long has it been?” The nervous voice just inside the door calls, and your head snaps up.
Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. 
“Eleven minutes and twenty-two seconds. Where is Marshall?”
“He- he sent me.” You shake your head. Nia sighs.
“Have you pronounced before?”
“Um. No.”
“And where is Marshall?” You ask again, just to clarify, and the resident swallows.
“I uh, don’t know.” Normally, a resident’s first pronouncement would be supervised by their attending. But since this one’s attending is Marshall, a grade A prick that you can’t stand, it looks like he’ll be on his own.
“Great. Okay.” You take a huge breath, trying to flex your wrists without losing your position. “It’s been twelve minutes now, and no response. Do you want to check?” He nods, and you chew on the inside of your cheek when he doesn’t verbally respond. “I need you to say it out loud.”
“You can stop compressions.” You immediately wilt, stepping away from the side of the bed, the motion of Nia’s hand also slowing until it stops, and she slumps. Marshall’s resident physically checks for a pulse, listens for breath sounds and then finally, does a sternum rub, to no avail.
“Sh-should I…” they trail off, looking back down at the elderly woman in the bed. The deceased woman, whose family is waiting, desperately. You nod.
“Yes.” You tell the resident gently. You can tell he’s unsure, nervous even, and for a moment, you’re transported back to your first code, when you were a baby nurse, a terrified, bumbling mess that needed help, just like he does. And since Marshall is a piece of shit… “No pulse?” You ask, and they nod. “No breath sounds? No sound of a heartbeat?”
“None.” They answer you confidently, and you manage an encouraging smile.
“No response to painful stimuli, no reaction to the sternum rub?”
“Right. No.”
“Okay. So normally, you could also use a thumbnail to press into their nailbed, if you feel like you need it, if you’re not comfortable with the sternum rub, but-“
“No, no. I’m. Yeah. Okay.” They too, take a deep breath, and check their watch. “Time of d-death… twenty one forty five.”
“Great job.” You tell him, pulling the blanket back up around her shoulders. “Do you feel comfortable speaking with the family?” He blanches, and Nia’s work phone dings, signaling another patient’s needs. You sigh for the eightieth time tonight. “Okay. Come on, we’ll do it together.”
The supply closet welcomes you with open arms. It hides you in the low light of it’s forgotten space, and when you fall into the chair, your face drops into your palms, pressing so hard into them that you start to see stars. The curtain falls. The walls of your sanctuary start to feel frail. 
Found you, found you.
He found you. 
Get it together. Get yourself together. 
“Hey, there she is. Missed ye.” Johnny coos, eyes half shut, sleepy and sweet.
“Johnny.” Simon rumbles his name like a warning, one your patient doesn’t seem to heed, still blinking slowly at you with a sly look on his face.
“Had a dream about ye, pretty girl. Dreamt ye were at ho-“
“Alright.” Simon cuts him off, swiftly. Patients often have vivid, weird dreams when they’re all dosed up on medication, and it’s not the first time someone has slurred out some weird vision they’ve had of you in their sleep.
“Good morning to you too.” You quip, glancing at the catheter bag before putting your hands on your hips. “How are you feeling?”
“’m alright. Stomach hurts.” You frown.
“Can you tell me where the pain is?” He motions to his upper right, the area where his newly repaired liver is sitting, and you nod, pulling out your phone immediately to update his doctor. Could be nothing. Could be something. Not for you to determine, but you won’t let it go unnoticed, and you’ll make sure it’s top of mind during shift report. “Can I check your side?” You motion to where his burn is lightly wrapped, and he nods with a sheepish smile.
“Aye, sure can. Ye can take my clothes off anytime.” You roll your eyes, unbuttoning his gown at the shoulder, peeling the gauze away very slowly. The wound looks better than you were expecting, if you’re being honest, and it relieves some of the anxiety that curled up in the pit of your stomach after his admission of upper right quadrant pain. “Yer hands are warm, bun. Feels nice.” Bun? You opt to ignore it. Probably still a little floaty.
“Good, that’s… good. Better than them being icicles.” Your hand brushes across the center of his abdomen when you pull the rest of the dressing away, and he tenses, ab muscles becoming clearly defined, enough that you stall out for a second before turning away to grab fresh gauze for his wound care, hands just a little unsteady. “Oh, fuck.” You mutter when the pack slips, sliding halfway under the little table that’s along the wall, and you sigh, whirling away from both of them and bending at the waist to tiptoe your fingers across the floor until you feel the corner of crinkly plastic. “Gotcha!” When you straighten, turning back towards the bed, Johnny and Simon are staring at you, and there’s a glee filled smile on Johnny’s face, it’s presence both mischievous and beguiling, fingers of his good hand slowly rubbing circles into the inside of Simon’s forearm. “What?”
“Nothing. Ignore him.” Simon deadpans, and then shoots his partner a very serious look, one that nearly has you straightening like you’re in trouble.
“Ach.” Johnny huffs, stroking a gentle touch upwards across Simon’s jaw as you start to reapply his dressing, taking your time to ensure everything looks good and he’s comfortable. You smooth over it once you’re satisfied, checking for any precarious pieces of tape. “Ye take such good care o’ me.” Johnny murmurs, accent soft and scratchy. It’s decadent the way his voice sounds sometimes, enough to make your throat dry and the room feel too hot. “Got lucky, didnae we, Si?”
“Well, it’s m-my job.” You answer, trying not to look down at where his chest and stomach are still exposed, or get caught in the cerulean blue waves of his eyes. They’re such a stark contrast to the intense, velvety hue of Simon’s, the pointed focus of his gaze that’s able to stun you, throw you off kilter the same time Johnny’s makes you feel overheated, and lightheaded. Both of them together could drown you. Overwhelm you.
Balanced. A yin and a yang. 
Get it together. This is your patient and his partner, for gods sake. What is wrong with you? 
Something warms brushes along the skin of your knuckles, a fleeting touch, and when you look down, you see Johnny’s hand, two fingers barely stroking yours, the lightest touch catching your breath in your chest like time is slowing to a crawl, and you’re freezing along with it.
Everything goes quiet in your head.
Simon’s watching you, methodically studying you like he’s trying to decipher every twitch in your expression as Johnny’s fingertips move over your knuckles to the back of your hand, thumb slipping into your palm, blazing heat sparking beneath it.
What… what is happening? 
A phone vibrates. The noise snaps you free from your near statuesque state, and they both divert their attention to its screen. 
“They’re here.” Simon tells him, glancing at you before looking back to his partner. “Be good.” He warns, and Johnny rolls his eyes in response, but he looks almost… desperate now, eyes wide and anxious. 
“Hurry?” he asks, hopefully, Simon leaning down to press mask covered lips to his forehead, his eyes shuttering closed, deep breath passing between their two bodies.
“I’ll be right back.”
“I’m really concerned about the pain in his upper right quadrant. I already sent a text, but if his doctor isn’t on this floor in the next hour, page him again.” The dayshifter nods, tapping a note into her phone. “And Marshall’s resident is practically unsupervised, so keep an eye out.”
“Okay, sounds good.” You mention a few other things, details you noticed throughout your day, and she thanks you for the extra eye, sending you off with a parting wave into the cold, crisp morning, your mind already skipping over your commute to when you’ll be able to sink into your bed one last time.
You’re busy compiling a list as you wait for the elevator. Necessities, things you’ll need indefinitely as you bounce back and forth between a rotation of hotels and on-call rooms, all the usual stuff, clothes, toiletries, and all the important things that can’t be left behind, your birth certificate, passport, other things that could make or break you if lost.
Deep breath. You can do this. It’s not the first time. You’ve done it before, and you can do it again. 
The elevator dings. You take a step forward, not paying attention, and then pull up short when you see who’s getting out.
It’s Simon stepping towards you, with a baby girl in his arms. She’s situated on his hip, nestled into his side and for a second, you falter because… you recognize her. Or at least you think you do... she looks just like the little girl you saw last week.
“Um. Hi.” You blurt, failing to notice at first that he’s not alone, the man from the first night you met them, the one with the mustache standing behind the width of Simon’s body, his arm curled around the woman you saw last week. They step into view, and you give them all a polite smile, one you really hope doesn’t betray your confusion. 
“Hi,” he says your name next, says it so softly it feels tender, and then takes another step closer. “This is Penelope. Our daughter.” Oh. Oh.
They have a baby. A girl. They have a little girl. You don’t know why, but something inside you stumbles, melting into a frazzled, awkward mess, heart thumping in your chest. They have a baby, and Johnny almost died. They have a kid and he’s been trapped in this hospital, miserable in pain, missing his kid. “Pen, this is your Da’s favorite nurse.”
“Bunny.” The baby, Penelope, says, little finger stretching out towards your badge, which is facing outwards with the giant sparkly sticker. Simon chuckles, genuinely, masked lips pressing to her cheek, and you see a glimpse of a father, a protector, a provider. It makes you feel dizzy.
“We’ll see you tomorrow?” He asks, and you nod like a robot, unable to really form a word with your tongue. “Alright baby girl. Let’s go see your Da, yeah?”
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writtnbyhan · 6 months
Text
NFWMB.
PAIRING: bang chan x female!reader
TAGS: protective chan, idol!chan, non-idol!reader, established relationship.
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WORD COUNT: 1945
PROMPT: person a gets into a heated argument with someone. person b starts threatening them, so person a picks up person b and carries/drags them out of the room before anyone gets hurt.
warnings: what the prompt says, lol — arguments (not between chan and reader). very very minor violence (arm grabbed), bruising, swearing. Let me know if I missed a warning.
author's note: well, baby's first post. I really hope someone likes this ? my goal is to participate in nanowrimo in my own way so expect weekly posts from yours truly. I was nervous about what to write about bc of it being my first post but I needed to write something or I'd never do it. starting with chan feels right, though I wish I can get to write more fluff soon 😭 this was fun tho! I really like protective and possessive chan&lt;3
You didn’t intend for him to hear. Mostly, because you thought you could handle things on your own, but also because you knew it would somehow end up like this.
You have been visiting the building where the boys work for as long as you remember being in their lives. It’s not your fault, given that they spend almost every waking moment there, working. And the one whose time was taken the most by it happened to be your boyfriend. It was a Saturday and he was working, which wasn’t uncommon, but it also wasn’t healthy. You let it slide sometimes, when you knew time was pressing on him and he needed to be there, for his own peace of mind. But everything was ready for the comeback, there was absolutely no reason for him to spend his weekend locked up in that so-familiar room.
So, you did the only logical thing: went there to drag him out, knowing only you where capable of doing so. No amount of puppy eyes from his kids could do what you could with just asking — you were his girlfriend, after all, it was expected that he’d have a soft spot for you.
You felt the problems creeping on you as soon as you stepped foot in the building. There were new people there, new workers. You hated when new staff started working, because they were still too nosy, and because they would ask too many question, some of which you wouldn’t be able to answer without one of the boys by your side to prove your credibility. It was okay, though, you could only imagine how many girls could go to the front desk and claim what was your truth — “I’m looking for my boyfriend”.
Luckily, the girl at the front desk, Sun Hee, already knew you. She only smiled at you when she saw you enter the building, and her tired smile should’ve been warning enough. You walked to her with a matching smile of your own, she knew you were there to pick up a overworking boyfriend, but you still needed to sign your name in the records.
“hi, lovely! what’s got you tired today?” you asked, curiosity so strong you couldn’t help asking.
“new staff’s first weekend. sometimes I wonder how they got hired in the first place”, she answers truthfully, sighing. She sends you a look you know it’s a warning — beware, idiots walking around feeling entitled!
You sigh, too. That’s going to be troublesome, especially today.
“hope I don’t get to met them today, at least until I find Chan. The boys didn’t warn me, or I would have brought one of them with me”
She showed a sympathetic smile, nodding.
“Prince charming is on studio 3, same as always”, she rolls her eyes playfully.
It says something about your overachieving boyfriend that not only the staff knows where he is all the time, but also that you have almost made friends with said staff. God, you needed to convince him to spend less time working.
After thaking Sun Hee and promising to chat more later, you walked to the elevator, setting to find Chan. You could amost picture him — black hoodie, black beanie hiding his messy curls, and headphones in. You smiled at the image in your head, a much too familiar one, one you loved so much.
Smile still present in your face, you stepped out of the elevator on the corresponding floor, checking different doors that had lights on. You were here to pick up Chan, yes, but you didn’t rule out finding Hyunjin or Felix overworking themselves too. The blondes were quick to follow their leader to the building any day, claiming they always “needed” the extra practice. Jeongin would be just as annoying as they were to you, if it wasn’t for his baby status, which meant everyone took a little more care of him (Minho more than anyone, checking that the boy didn’t overwork himself regularly).
Of course, checking every room as if you didn’t know where you were going to may have looked suspicious, you will give the man that. You were glad he was doing his job, just — well, maybe you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe he was.
“Excuse me, miss, who are you and where are you going?” He was at least 30 cm taller than you, and he was almost as buff as Changbin. You weren’t intimidated at first, you knew your presence had been cleared for, you had a right to be there, and you had got through the entrance desk, so he must know you were allowed there, right? Maybe he was just trying to help.
“Oh, hi! I’m Y/N. I’m looking for my boyfriend and checking to see if one of his friends is here as well”, you explained.
He stepped closer, almost invading your personal space. You took two steps back.
“Who are you looking for?”, he was eyeing you as if you were suspicious, a threat even. You, who was dressed in a skirt and probably looked like a mouse next to him.
“My boyfriend”, you repeated, “Christopher Bang Chan. He is in one of those studio rooms”, you added matter-of-factly.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to escort you outside. You shouldn’t be here.” The man said, loudly, like he wanted to be heard. Ah, you thought, he is one of the new ones. It was common, you have seen it happen one too many times — new staff is always trying to prove themselves as good.
You smiled, though you were a little intimidated now. After all, you were alone in a hallway with the man who kept getting closer.
“Why is that? I am allowed here”, you tried to keep calm.
“Look, I don’t know how you passed the front desk, but fans should not be inside the building!”, the man yelled at you, his arm reaching out until he could take you by the wrist, his hold tight enough to bruise.
“Hey! You’re hurting me, stop it. Let me go!” You started struggling, trying to force your arm out of the man’s hold.
“Stop fighting or I’ll call security”, he threatened. You were about to tell him to do so, you’d wait by him until security came there and showed the man that your info was in the system and you were, actually, allowed there. You didn’t get a chance, though, for your boyfriend’s voice reached your ears as soon as the man stopped talking.
“You let her go or I’ll call security myself”, Chan’s voice showed his anger, and as he got closer you saw the determined look in his eyes that made you worry a little. You didn’t doubt Chan was capable of hitting the man if he didn’t let you go right now.
The man, apparently, didn’t notice that, for he did not let go of your wrist.
“I’m so sorry, sir, I’ll have her removed from the building immediately, I don’t know how she got inside.” He was tugging at your wrist, to which you kept quiet. If you expressed how much it hurt, the situation could escalate more than you wanted it to.
“She got inside because she’s allowed to. Now, I said: let her go.” Chan’s voice was ice cold, almost spitting the words at the man’s face. Finally, your arm was free, and you rushed to take your own wrist so as to cover the red marks, evidence of the strong hold the man had on you.
“Why doesn’t she have a pass, then?”
“She doesn’t need one because she’s not a guest. Did you even care to ask about that or check the system? You know, that type of irresponsible behaviour could get you fired — you can’t just go around the building threatening and grabbing people by force!” Chan’s voice got louder near the end.
“It’s okay”, you quipped, putting a hand in Chan’s chest as an attempt to calm him down. He was protective, you knew as much, but he was also a lovely person who you knew didn’t want to get anyone fired. Still, you knew he’d do something like that for you if you asked for it.
That was a wrong move, apparently, because it meant letting him see the marks on your arm.
“what the fuck?” his words were whispered, but it was obvious the anger that came with them. “Man, what is wrong with you? You should have checked before bruising her arm like that! What gives you the right to decide who is and isn’t allowed here?! That’s the front desk’s job, if she’s on the fucking third floor, then I think it’s fucking obvious she passed security. I need your name for I will have to file a complaint about this, grabbing someone like this is violent and no excuse of security can make it right because you are not supposed to even touch here — if you think she is not allowed here, you call security, you do not bruise my girlfriend’s arm.”
Chan’s voice is loud, and he is so close to the man you could tell it is some kind of threat, or maybe show of strenght. The man’s jaw was tense, as if he was ready to argue with the idol himself. You looked around the hallway, not knowing what to do or how to stop this. The man that had grabbed your arm clearly felt too entitled for his own good, and you worried that he might try to turn things physical.
Lucky for you, he didn’t even get a chance to answer before you heard a door open and close quickly, someone rushing out of one of the practice rooms.
You think you have never been happier of seeing the freckles in Felix’s face.
“Chan, everything okay?” sunshine boy asked, putting his arm around you as soon as he was close enough. His voice seemed to get Chan out of whatever state he was in, for he took a few steps back, still not breaking eye contact with the other man.
“Yeah, this dude just grabbed y/n’s arm and bruised her wrist because it’s apparently his first week here and he already feels too entitled.”
Felix looks at you, looking for something in your eyes, before getting closer to his friend.
“Okay, let’s go grab our things and go home to see if she needs to put some ice on her wrist”. He doesn’t let Chan answer before taking his hand with his smaller one, intertwining his fingers and almost dragging him out of there. You’re quick behind them, taking Chan’s other hand to give him some peace of mind.
Felix looks back at you and you smile in thanks. You know your boyfriend is way too protective, but a situation like this had never happened before. It’s good to know he’d do anything to defend you, but you still didn’t want him to get in a physical fight in his workplace.
“Don’t you dare think this gets any of you out of the hook for working on one of your free days, boys.” You reprimand them, hands still intertwined while entering the studio. Chan’s calmer now, his cheeks blushed with what you guess is something akin to embarrassement; you know he doesn’t like getting like this, but sometimes his emotions overpower him. You kiss his cheek, deciding to not comment on the subject until he does so himself. After all, you achieved what you came here to do — collect whichever stray kid had wandered their way to work on a weekend and get them home.
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acourtofwhatthefuck · 8 months
Text
Practice On Me — Part Two — Azriel x Reader.
Summary: Azriel comes back for a little more practice. But this time, he wants to learn more than just kissing.
Word count: 7k.
Warnings: Some violence, injury detail, mention of blood. Smut 🌶️ some touching and fingering 😏
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“Is that painful?”
“A little. Keep going.”
Rhysand’s hands are gentle when, a week later, you lay face-down on his couch, naked from the waist up. You wince as his fingers skate over jagged, poorly healed scars. You can picture the look on his face without needing to glimpse it; pursed lips and a furrowed brow and barely contained rage.
But he doesn’t let that rage seep into his hands as he smooths a pleasant, cooling salve into what remains of your wings. Which isn’t much.
“Sorry,” he murmurs at your slight jolt. “Almost done.”
There are very few people you will trust with touching your back. It’s too personal for you to visit the camp healer for such treatment, however trained and skilled he may be. But Rhysand—
“I swear to you, Y/N.” His voice is deep, stoic, warm breath fanning your shoulder. “When I’m High Lord, this will be outlawed. Females will not go through this under my rule.”
He promises it every single time he helps you with this. And he means it. Which is why you trust him implicitly with the act.
“I know.” You murmur against a couch cushion. “Thank you.”
“All done.”
As he wipes his hands on a rag, you ease yourself into a sitting position, clutching your shirt to your bare chest. As always, a crackling fire breathes heat into Rhysand’s mother’s home, and the feeling is pleasant, soothing.
“I haven’t seen your mother recently.” You mention, waiting for Rhys to turn around so you can slip your shirt on. It’s not that he hasn’t seen more private parts of your body over the years, nor that you particularly care, but he does you the courtesy, anyway. “Is she well?”
A soft, loving smile curls at his lips. “She is.” And then the smile widens into a full-blown grin. “My father wants her closer to home. She’s with child.”
“Seriously?” You blink, and then you’re throwing yourself at Rhys, sheer happiness and excitement filling you. “Rhys, that’s amazing. You’re going to have a brother or sister.”
“Sister, I hope.” He snorts, squeezing you, and yet also minding your still-bare back. “We need more girls around here.”
“Well, boy or girl, you’ll be the most incredible big brother. I just know it.”
And you absolutely do. Rhys has always been that sort of presence in your life; caring and loving and protective. Stern sometimes. A shoulder to cry on. A giver of warm, much-needed hugs.
You lean into one of those hugs now, not caring nor thinking about the fact that your top half is naked and pressing against him. That is, until the front door opens behind you, sweeping a gust of icy air indoors.
You turn just in time to see Azriel kick the snow from his boots. And then he pauses in the doorway, staring between you and Rhysand.
There’s been no mention of the kiss that night a week ago. Things haven’t been strange nor awkward. Just…normal. As if it never happened.
You’ve combed over it in your mind a little, though. Maybe more than a little.
“I told her the news.” Rhys announces, pulling away from you. A beaming grin still lights up his face.
Azriel’s mouth immediately tilts up, matching his enthusiasm as he smiles at you. “Exciting, isn’t it?”
“Oh, incredibly.” You shrug your shirt on. “I’m bound to get far more stimulating conversation from a newborn babe than I do from you three idiots.”
Rhys swats you and Azriel snorts, and then you’re pushing to your feet and heading towards the small kitchen area. “I’m making tea. Do either of you want some?”
“No, I’m heading out to visit my mother.” Rhys stands. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, though.”
“Give her my love.” You tell him.
Azriel dips his head. “And mine.”
With a chipper goodbye, Rhys is dipping out of the cottage. Shutting the door behind him seals the heat inside once more, and already you have some soothing release from the pain in your upper back.
“Tea?” You offer again over your shoulder.
“Please.” Az approaches you from behind, stopping mere inches away to tie the strings at the back of your tunic. “Cass won’t be joining us. He ran into Sacha on the way here.”
You snort. Cassian’s most recent fling is coming up to a week-long stint, now. It won’t be long before cracks begin to show, and the whole thing is called off, and another female or male takes Sacha’s place. Rinse and repeat.
“I wonder which one of them will break it off. My money’s on Sacha.” You ladle a generous helping of sage tea into two cups and hand one to Az. “How are things with Kaeda?”
You can’t lie — you’ve wondered it a fair few times over the past week. Which is only natural, right? To question if the…help…that you gave Azriel was of any use. But so far, he hasn’t mentioned a damn thing.
He takes a long, pensive sip of his steaming drink. And then shrugs. “I’ve not really had the chance to see her.”
Immediately, you cock an eyebrow. Because Az seems to have had plenty of time for you and Rhys and Cass over the last seven days. Even spared one of those days to fly you to the local market to pick some things up for your father. It hasn’t been a particularly busy week for any of you — slow, even — and you’re almost positive he’s had a spare few minutes to land a kiss on his romantic interest.
Leaning your back against the wall, you shoot him a look. One that says, that’s not going to fly with me, Shadowsinger. “Wanna try that again?” You say. “The truth this time, please.”
He sighs, pressing back against the opposite wall. It must be so annoying for him that you can read him so well. Azriel doesn’t like being read. At all.
“I’m just…not confident enough yet. So, I’ve been avoiding her.” He admits. “I think I need more practice.”
You stare at him. Study him. You’re not sure if he’s implying what…what you think he might be implying. “You’re a good kisser, Az.” You tell him. “Trust me.”
The firm, truthful tone of your voice has his cheeks reddening slightly. He lowers his gaze to the floor. “But I don’t feel like one. And that’s the key to it all, isn’t it? Confidence. I’m just not there yet.”
Fair enough, you think. He’s not wrong. But the direction in which this seems to be going has your heart doing a strange, anticipatory flip in your chest.
“So…” You drag the word out. “Are you asking to practice on me again, or? Because I can totally steal one of the sparring dummies from the training ring and guide you that way—”
“Forget it.” He cuts your teasing off with a roll of his eyes.
“No, wait, I’m sorry.” You bite back a laugh. “I’m taking it seriously, I promise. Tell me what you need.”
He purses his lips, eyeing you for a long moment. You allow him to do so, even if it makes you feel a little naked.
“All I know,” he says, “is that I’m comfortable with you.”
The words are…strangely heavy. Vulnerable. He means them, and you know that, but they’re so weighty that for a moment, you can’t speak.
You suppose you’re so accustomed to your friendship with him — the familiarity and comfort of it — that you don’t think too often about how good it feels to be such a support for somebody. It makes you feel good. Useful. You want to always be able to help him like that.
So, you know you’d offer him anything, do anything he needs.
“If you need to practice on me some more, Az...” Your voice is strangely raspy. “I’m right here.”
He swallows. “But I don’t want it to seem like…like I’m using you.”
“It doesn’t.” It really doesn’t. You keep it to yourself that you need this in your own, little way. “I’d tell you if I felt like that.”
His eyes scan your face, and he seems satisfied with the truth that’s displayed there. He licks his lips and swallows and shifts from foot to foot. And then he says, simply, “Okay, then.”
And you guess this is happening right now, like it happened right then a week ago. So, you place your mug of tea on the counter and push away from the wall. Azriel does the same.
He steps a little closer. Pauses. “Do I need to do anything different to what I did before?”
“No.” You answer, probably a little too quickly. “No, you were great.”
He blushes again, and he seems to be fighting the urge to look away. But he maintains the eye contact like a champ and closes the space between you.
His scent, his warmth, is like a blanket that’s draped over you. You want to wrap yourself inside it, build a fort out of it, hide in it.
Azriel’s hands tremble as he lifts them to your face. He seemed to enjoy that last time — the feel of your skin beneath his. You enjoyed it, too. You tilt your head up just a little.
His thumb makes contact with your cheekbone, brushing a gentle sweep over the area. He leans down—
But then the door flies open, and a snow-covered, pissed off Cassian stomps in.
“Sacha and I are finished.” He announces, not seeming to notice yours and Azriel’s compromising position. “Let’s go to the mead hall.”
✧: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚
The mead hall is packed and noisy, exactly how Cassian wants it. He’s in a foul mood, and so a higher volume of people means he has a good choice of who to pick a fight with.
When he gets like this, there’s not really any stopping him.
Luckily, your father isn’t there tonight, so you’re comfortable sitting wedged between Az and Cass without his paranoid, judgemental stare. But you don’t want to be here — the males are too drunk and boisterous, and you seem to be one of very few females present. It makes their leering gazes far more apparent.
“It was a total misunderstanding.” Cassian says from beside you, leaning over you a little so that Az can hear, too. “Yes, I might have called her the wrong name—”
“I would have thrown you out on your ass, too.” You cut him off, rolling your eyes. “At least know the name of who you’re fucking before you dive between their legs.”
“I do know her name. I just got confused—”
He stops mid-sentence and looks up as, from behind, a pair of rough, meaty hands land on your shoulders and squeeze. You immediately recoil at the touch, turning to glimpse the mammoth of an Illyrian male whose name you think is Tanin. Not that you care.
He stinks of ale and sweat as he leans down and smells your hair. You tense. Cassian tenses. Azriel tenses.
“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N.” Tanin slurs. “When are you going to let me dive between your legs?”
And there it is. Cassian’s excuse for a fight.
He’s out of his seat and on him quicker than you can even register, slamming Tanin down on the adjacent table amidst plates of food and goblets of ale. Blood goes flying as he pummels his fist into the bastard’s face, and then he’s grabbing a goblet of ale and pouring it over Tanin until he’s coughing and spluttering.
“How about you wash your filthy fucking mouth out?” Your friend snarls, diving in to land another punch. “Piece of shit.”
You turn to Azriel in mild alarm. Usually, he would have jumped in by now, pulled Cassian off before he can do too much damage. But the shadowsinger merely watches the affray with something akin to satisfaction on his face. You sigh in exasperation. This will quickly get out of hand.
“Cass.” You stand, reaching for your friend. “Cassian—”
But your voice is barely heard beneath all the yelling and jeering, and then Tanin is fighting back, landing a hit on Cassian so hard that he stumbles backwards — falls into you and knocks you to the floor, right amongst the gathering, boisterous males.
There’re feet everywhere in all directions, catching you in the side and stepping on your hand and knocking you back down whenever you try to get up. Suddenly, the fight is no longer between Cassian and Tanin. Males are punching each other for the sake of it, and more and more of them join in, not even knowing why they’re brawling. It’s the Illyrian pastime.
Just before another foot can swing into you, you’re aware of strong arms lifting you and plucking you straight from the centre of the chaos. Azriel shoves a drunken lout who backs into you, and then he’s dragging you away, his eyes fierce and blazing.
“You’re alright?” He asks over the shouting, his gaze roving your dirtied, creased tunic.
Your hand is throbbing from being stepped on, but the ache is already dulling. You nod. “I’m fine. Where is Cass?”
“Here.” Cassian suddenly appears behind you. His hair has mostly escaped the knot he’d tied it into, and his lip is badly split, blood gushing down his chin. He spits some onto the floor, and his words are thick and almost unintelligible as he cups his mouth and says, “Pieth of thit got me good.”
You scowl, knocking his hand away to grip his chin. “Serves you right. That fight was completely unnecessary.”
“I dithagree.” His eyes glitter, but then he grimaces and pulls away to spit more blood out. “Dammit. I think I need thitches.”
He definitely does. The gash in his lip is deep and pouring. And with the fight still merrily going on around you, it won’t be long before someone tries to drag him back into it. And Cass will happily oblige.
“Go to the healer and get that seen to.” Azriel tells him, not unlike a stern parent. He grips him by the shoulder and steers him out of the door, dragging you with him by the other hand. “And then sober up. I’m taking Y/N home.”
“And apologise to Sacha.” You add.
Cassian grumbles, but the fact that he doesn’t protest is a positive. He can sometimes be so stubborn that it makes you want to split his lip yourself. It would seem he’s had enough drama for one night.
“Fine.” He spits blood onto the dirt path. “Maybe Satha will take pithy on me.”
The fact that neither you nor Az agree is downright hilarious. But nor do you correct Cassian’s drunken, skewed thinking. Nights like these are a common occurrence, and to some degree, you just have to let your friend get on with it.
Cass turns, and you catch him quickly by the hand. “Thank you.” You tell him, because he was defending your honour, after all. “Love you.”
He grins a bloody grin, and then winces as it tugs at the wound. “Loveyouthoo, thweetpea.”
✧: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・゚✧・゚: *✧・ You don’t feel like going home and facing your father tonight, and with Rhysand’s mother’s cottage at your disposal, you don’t have to. It’s not unusual for you to spend nights away from home; usually he doesn’t care enough to even question it. But if he does, you always tell him the same thing — you spent the night with one of your many female friends. No males present. Such a little liar, you are.
But you’re content with that lie as you sink into the couch, your eyes flicking over to Azriel in the kitchen. He stirs a cup of tea silently, pensive as always. He’s asked about your wellbeing at least seven times since you stepped through the door.
You’re fine, you’ve answered each time, and it’s true. With him, you’re always fine. It doesn’t stop him worrying, though.
His footsteps thud against the floor as he approaches you, and he holds out a steaming mug. “Drink this. I put plenty of honey in it.”
Your lips twitch into a fond smile, and you accept it, taking a warm sip. “I was on the floor for a matter of seconds, Az. I have a bruised hand, that’s all.”
He knows this, of course, but trying to get him to stop fussing would be like beating a dead horse, and you really don’t mind being taken care of, anyway. Azriel settles into the space beside you, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. You lean into his side.
For a few moments, it’s comfortably silent. And then he snorts softly. “Cassian’s going to have a hard time apologising to Sacha when he can barely form a legible sentence.”
You laugh, tipping your head back against his shoulder. “Maybe she really will take pity on him.”
“If only she’d been there to witness his gallant display of coming to your defence. It might have impressed her.”
“Or put her off him for good.”
“The heartbreak would drive him into someone’s bed, I’m sure.”
The two of you share another laugh, and then silence blankets the small cottage. You’re always content like this, just…existing with Azriel. No need to be a certain way or do a certain thing, like you have to in your own home. With your closest friends, you have the freedom of being yourself unapologetically.
You finish your drink, and then Az is pulling you down with him, his wing draping around you. You’ve fallen asleep like this countless times — with all three of your friends at least once — and it’s one of the few places you feel truly safe.
But as you lie there, basking in Azriel’s warmth, your eyes don’t grow heavy. Rather, they continuously creep over to that spot in the kitchen you stood in with Az earlier, your bodies inches from each other, your lips very nearly meeting but not quite touching thanks to Cassian’s abrupt arrival.
A strange sense of disappointment hits you. Disappointment that you didn’t get to feel that heated kiss a second time.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” you murmur, knowing Azriel is just as awake as you are. “That we got interrupted.”
He turns his face slightly, chin brushing the top of your head. “It’s not your fault that Cassian has terrible timing.”
Your shoulders shake as you give a little laugh. No, no it isn’t. But amongst your disappointment — which is selfish, really, because the kiss was never for your sake —you feel guilt, also. Guilt that you didn’t get to help Az, despite that being what he needed.
You tip your head back enough to look up at him. “I’m still happy to help, you know. The offer is still there.”
For a couple of seconds, he merely stares down at you. His fingers absentmindedly twiddle a strand of your hair. And then he says, a hue of pink colouring his cheeks, “I still need the help.”
And in that moment, he looks so genuinely perturbed by his own inexperience that you can’t bear it. You’ll do anything, say anything, to put him at ease. To help him realise that these things are different for everyone. There’s no time frame he should be keeping to. Twenty years of age or thirty or forty or fifty, he could have come to you with these things worrying his thoughts, and there would never be any judgement. Only understanding. Only what he needs.
So, you slowly sit up, folding your legs beneath you and turning so that you’re facing him. “Would you like to practice now?”
He eyes you and swallows. And then he nods. “I would.”
You offer him a reassuring smile. “Come here, then.”
Just as you had, he pushes himself up into a sitting position. You can tell he’s tense by the way his wings fall about him; his shoulders squared. You reach for his hand and squeeze it gently.
“We already did this once, Az.” You remind him. “Just do what you did before.”
He nods — more to himself than to you. And then he’s scooting closer. His palm settles at your jaw.
He doesn’t go in for the kiss immediately. You allow him to do whatever he needs to do, whatever feels right. He seems content, for the time being, with dancing his fingers over the skin of your cheek, your jaw, your neck and the shell of your ear. His hand, scarred and callused, climbs and falls, explores each area with rapt attention. He takes note at the way your eyes momentarily flutter closed — an inadvertent reaction to his fingers skating over the pulse point of your throat.
“Is that pleasant?” His voice is deep, husky.
“For me, yes.” You clear your throat. “But I suppose not for everyone. Everybody has sensitive areas. That’s one of mine.”
You’re shamefully disappointed when, after a moment, his hand moves back up. It finds its place at your jaw again, and Az cups your cheek.
“Okay,” he whispers, and leans in.
There’s no chance for you to utter a word as he dips his head and presses his lips to yours. This time, there’s no quick, chaste peck to test the waters. Azriel dives straight in, capturing your mouth in a kiss that robs the breath straight from your lungs.
His mouth paws at yours, and you give yourself to the sensation, submitting fully to the practice. You want Azriel to take what he needs — to get a desired result from this — but as you kiss him back, you can’t help noticing the stiff, tense set of his body.
He’s not relaxed, not at all, and it shows. Something about this is bothering him, holding him back. Nerves, probably. Maybe even second thoughts. Whatever it is, you want him to communicate it, be honest about it.
So as much as you really, really don’t want to, you pull away, your face hovering a mere hair’s-breadth from Azriel’s. He seems to blink, and he licks his lips and stares at you with unguarded concern in his eyes. You know he’s already thinking a million things at once, wondering if he put a foot wrong.
“What is it?” You ask, making a grab for his hand. “You’re…tense. This is no different to what we did last week.”
Your friend stares back at you, conflict a war on his face. And for a split second, you start to think that he is having doubts, that he’s regretting having gone along with this.
And that…that would hurt. You’d understand, of course, because he’s your friend, and this is simply about helping him — but it would definitely hurt.
You don’t want to think too much about why that might be.
Rejection is never pleasant, you suppose.
“Az…” you chew your lower lip. “You can tell me. Whatever it is. If you want to stop this and just…talk…or do nothing at all…then that’s fine, too—”
“Kissing isn’t the only thing I’ve never done.”
The words leave him in such an abrupt gust that you’re stunned into silence.
You stare at him wordlessly.
Of course, it’s not that you haven’t considered that over the past seven days. Up until a week ago, you’d simply assumed that Azriel must have had a whole wealth of experience when it came to kissing people. And you’d turned out to be wrong. It wasn’t unusual to question whether there was more you didn’t know.
But you also knew perfectly well that sex didn’t require kissing. Az could have slept with a whole host of different people, and yet chosen — for whatever reason — to not kiss a single one of them.  He could have built up knowledge and experience in plenty of other areas without ever having explored what many would consider to be the first step.
You’d considered that Azriel might not have any sexual experience. And then you’d surmised that he most likely had.
That, it would seem, is not the case.
He looks more uncomfortable than ever, lowering his gaze and rubbing at the back of his neck with his hand. You want to tell him that none of that matters, that it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, but the words simply will not come.
“I’m just…completely inexperienced. In every way.” He admits gravelly. “I’ve come close to doing things, but…I always overthink it. I don’t know how any of this is supposed to…to progress.”
Makes sense. It’s a daunting thing to explore, and even more so when you don’t trust easily. It’s perfectly reasonable that Az has protected himself from that pressure.
“Have you…” You clear your throat, desperate to make sure you’re handling this correctly, decently. “Have you ever done anything at all?”
His eyes flick up to meet yours. “I’m completely well-versed where my own pleasure is concerned, Y/N, trust me. It’s with another person that I have no fucking clue.”
Right. Got it.
Swallowing down a ridiculously huge lump in your throat, you give a slow, pensive nod. “Alright. Well…these things just…evolve naturally. One thing leads to another. The absolute worst thing you can do — with kissing or anything else — is overthink it. Do that, and it’s over before it begins. You just…follow your body’s lead and do what feels natural.”
Good fucking advice, if you do say so yourself. Azriel’s still-unsure expression is the only thing that stops you from giving yourself a well-earned pat on the back.
“Right. Follow my body’s lead.” Az sounds like he’s trying to convince himself. He clears his throat. “Can we continue?”
“If you want to continue, Az, we’ll continue.”
A small, soft smile lifts his lips, and it melts your heart a little. He’s genuinely grateful for your patience and understanding; you wonder if he truly knows that you’d give him, his kind heart, the entire world if you could.
But before you can sink too far into your mushy thoughts, Azriel’s hands are at your face once more, and he’s angling it up towards him.
You wait. Allow him to make the first move. He does.
He kisses you like your lips might disappear before his very eyes if he doesn’t. His mouth slants over yours, and that coiled tension is no longer making his body rigid and unnatural. He’s heeding your advice, relaxing into it, and this time, he doesn’t hold back.
His thumb sweeps your cheek, and his tongue sweeps your lip, and you’re opening up for him, allowing him to slip it inside to meet yours. At once, his taste is overpowering you, mixed in a little with the mulled wine he drank at the mead hall. It’s a song to your senses, and you’re desperate to hear it, feel it, from start to finish.
Perhaps that’s why you’re not really aware of the way your bodies move. Az is shifting on the couch and so are you, and while one of his hands remains at your face, the other moves down and slides gently to the scars on your back. It seems, for a moment, that he might tug you closer, but in one swift movement, he’s laying you down, and he’s tucked between your legs and hovering over you so closely. He cushions the remains of your wings, always concerned about your comfort.
Kissing him like this feels wildly different to kissing him sat up. It feels…intense and yet tender. Fast and yet slow. Like this could go anywhere and everywhere all at once. And part of you wonders if it should go nowhere. Perhaps you should stop. Helping Azriel gain confidence is one thing, but he’s your closest friend, and never before have you had your closest friend more or less lying on top of you, his body moving against you, while his mouth dances over yours.
Bizarre, really.
But you still continue to kiss him back.
Your hand moves up to cup the back of his neck, and you kiss him harder, graze your tongue over his lower lip—
He pulls his face away from you abruptly. Perhaps that was a step too far—
But something in the way he stares down at you, panting heavily, tells you it wasn’t.
“Where do you like to be touched?” He asks you, so gutturally that the words vibrate through you.
And they damn well catch you off guard.
You blink up at him, flustered, not sure you heard right. “I…what?”
Azriel then licks his lips. “I mean…where do you think Kaeda would like to be touched?”
Kaeda.
You’d forgotten about her. The reason that Az is even kissing you in the first place. Because he wants to be good for her.
The thought stings a little. You try to shake it off. “That…that’s something you’ll have to learn from Kaeda herself.”
He stares back at you. Studies your face. And he looks so…so genuinely daunted, that you search for something, anything, to put him at ease.
“But me…” You clear your throat. “I like to be touched in lots of places.”
He’s still staring at you in that strange, intense way. After a beat, he asks, “Will you show me?”
It’s your turn to stare at him then. You’re starting to think that perhaps the world has been turned on its head. You and Azriel, to each other, are familiarity and comfort. You’ve seen each other at your best and at your worst, been there for some damn near humiliating circumstances. This is the male who has bathed the blood of your own cycle from your skin and held your hair back when the cramps have turned your stomach. He’s listened to some of your most embarrassing stories without humour or judgement; just understanding. To him, you are an old, well-worn, well-loved pair of boots.
And he wants you to show him how to touch.
Never, under a million fucking sunrises, could you have predicted this would happen between you.
But you’re not recoiling from the request. You’re just…surprised. You’re not balking from it, nor running out of there screaming.
Nor has Azriel ever balked when you’ve asked for his help, his guidance. Not once.
You angle your body up slightly, just to get a better look at him. And you study him a moment longer. “…Az, are you…”
“I know what I’m asking, Y/N, and I’m sure.” He says without pause. “Show me how a female should be touched.”
Suddenly, you feel like the nervous, inexperienced one. You can totally say no, of course — Azriel would put a stop to it immediately if you did. But you don’t want to.
You want to do this. Want to help.
Your hand cups the back of his neck once more, and then you’re tugging his face down, pulling his mouth onto yours.
The kiss starts out slow and soft. There will be no rushing this for either of you. It’s an exploration, a way to trace the maps of each other’s mouths. You’re both desperate to know more, feel more, before this goes any further.
So, you follow your own advice. You told Azriel to trust in his body, follow its lead, and you now do the same. You want this to progress naturally, like…like it isn’t a transaction. Isn’t something that you agreed on beforehand.
There is no breaking from the kiss this time, even when you’re panting into each other’s mouths. Azriel’s hand is firm and pleasant at your jaw, and your tongues are intertwined, and you’re kissing like you want this specifically with each other. A fact you will not ruminate on,
You nip gently at Azriel’s lip, and this time, he does not pull away. He hums quietly — seemingly unaware of doing so — and applies a little pressure to your mouth. Kisses you harder.
And it’s then — then that you reach for the hand that’s settled at your jaw. You curl your fingers around Azriel’s wrist, and slowly, you drag that hand down.
You think you might be shaking a little, but you don’t give the nerves too much thought. Azriel allows you to guide him. His fingers brush over your neck, content to explore the soft skin there, but you keep that hand moving. The warmth of his palm permeates the fabric of your tunic, and the feeling is pleasant against your chest.
When you finally close his hand over the swell of your breast, you break away just to whisper onto his mouth, “I like being touched here.”
Azriel’s eyes bore into yours, heated and blazing. He swallows.
Clothed you might be, but there’s no undergarment between your shirt and your breast. The weight of Azriel’s hand falls heavy over the swell, and there may as well be no barrier of clothing with how delicious it feels.
His gaze remains on yours as he cups you in his palm. And then his thumb inches in, grazing over your nipple. You suck in a short breath at the contact, your back arching a little.
Azriel pauses. “Is…is this okay?”
“Yes,” you say, a little too quickly. “It’s more than okay, Az.”
A soft smile appears on his lips. You smother it with yours, pulling his face closer once more. You’re not sure if you’re supposed to kiss him again, or what you’re supposed to do amidst any of this, but it feels like the right thing.
This time, there’s no hesitation. Your kiss is hot and needy, and you find yourself bunching the fabric of Azriel’s shirt in your fist as he begins to more confidently explore your breasts.
He squeezes them, palms at them, traces the turgid peaks of your nipples, and you happily arch into it all. But then, without any guidance from you, his hand is leaving your breasts. Travelling down.
And you don’t breathe a word. You figure if he has a question, needs direction, he’ll ask. You kiss him as if you were always made for kissing him, and his fingers are dancing over your stomach, down and down.
“What…” he tugs his lips from yours, his fingers now at the waistband of your breeches, “what about here? Do you like being touched here?”
You stare up at him. And you’re supposed to be guiding him, aren’t you? So, panting, you fold your hand over his and move it down. Away from the waistband. Between your legs.
You fold his hand over the very centre of you. And you wonder if he can feel your heat through your breeches. It feels blazing to you, and torturously so. Like a fire has been lit between your thighs. You’re growing wetter by the second, and your scent must be filling the room.
“Here.” Your voice doesn’t sound like yours. It’s deep, smoky. “Right here.”
Azriel watches you closely. Watches your face as he applies pressure to your heat. His thumb presses down.
And you’re not thinking about his intense stare as a soft moan falls from your mouth. Your brow is furrowed, lips parted, and you want more.
“There?” The shadowsinger murmurs, repeating the action. Your moan is louder this time.
“Can you…” Already, you’re panting, but he’s not…not close enough. You grab his hand again, and you’re moving it back to your waistband. To the button on your breeches.
His eyes meet yours. He doesn’t need to be experienced to know what you’re asking from him. Sure, he could probably do this through your clothing, but surely skin-to-skin is better for his experience.
That’s what your selfish mind is telling you, anyway.
“You don’t mind?” Az asks. “I appreciate your help, but…I want you to be comfortable. I don’t want you to feel you have to do anything—”
“Azriel.” You clasp the back of his neck. “I really, really do not mind.”
For him, it will always be about making sure that you’re positive.
Your needy expression must tell him that you are.
You capture his mouth with yours, and this time, the moan comes from him. Kissing seems second-nature to him already. This one is fast and passionate and desperate, and yet he leans into it, gives himself to it entirely.
You don’t know how long you kiss for, but it’s possible that Az needs the time to build up to the moment. To get the nerve to actually cross that line.
You don’t push him or rush him. If he decides that this can’t go any further, you’ll stop immediately. You can see to the ache between your legs yourself.
But then, as his tongue rolls with yours, you feel his fingers at that button. Azriel pops it open. Your breeches part.
You lift your hips a little — a small encouragement. Az follows it. His touch is warm against your skin. His fingers slip past the waistband.
He pulls back to look at you. And he rasps, “Tell me what to do.”
“You can’t do anything wrong,” you pant. “Just…explore.”
He nods. Nods again. Draws in a slow, steeling breath.
And then he explores.
Not once does he look away from you. Not once, as his fingers slip between your folds. You bite down on your lip, not wanting to startle him. This is about him. This is about him.
His fingers dip tentatively through your damp heat. He drags them upwards, drenching himself with your wetness.
“You’re soaked…” He seems surprised by the fact. As though it’s unthinkable that your body would react in such a way to him. He explores more. “Really soaked.”
“Yes, Az.” You breathe. “That’s a good thing, trust me.”
He pauses his movements. And he’s entirely serious as he says, “I always trust you.”
And fuck, the sentiment makes you want to kiss him again, so you do. You yank him closer and slide your mouth onto his, and then his fingers are moving between your folds again.
They inch upwards with ease. And then one of those fingers is brushing over your clit.
You have no control over the way your hips jerk, bucking up into Azriel’s touch, or over the noise that rips from your throat.
Azriel pulls back to study you yet again. And repeats the action with more intent. “There?” He asks, and then adds, “Your scent reminds me of…of pears.”
“I don’t know whether I should say thank you, but yes, gods, there.”
Once more, his finger presses against your clit, and you’re gasping. His head cocks slightly, like he’s genuinely intrigued by your reaction. He watches you closely as he begins to circle the sensitive little nub.
You’re not wholly aware of the fact that you’re tipping your head back — not until Azriel is guiding it forward with his free hand and fastening your eyes on his once again.
“Can you look at me?” He clears his throat. “I just—want you to look at me.”
You swallow, and you nod. And you stay looking at him.
Even as his finger circles your clit again, and you feel the sensation like a lightning bolt through your entire body.
The pleasure is shocking. Your hips buck up into the sensation, and it seems to reward Azriel with confidence. His hand moves into a steady rhythm, his palm seeming to cup you and rub against you as his finger works at your clit.
You will not last like this. You never do. The stimulation is far too much, and you’re writhing beneath him, already feeling that tight, warm coiling in your lower belly — the sign of imminent release.
“Fuck,” you pant, rocking against Azriel’s hand. “Gods, Az, I’m gonna—”
Your words are lost, swallowed by his mouth closing over yours. Azriel kisses you, and he begins to move his finger in quick, flicking movements, and you’re gone, gone, utterly fucking gone, your body a swirling, weightless form as stars burst behind your eyelids.
The climax hits you so thoroughly that you shout into Azriel’s mouth, and you're grabbing at his shirt, simply needing to hold onto something as your hips undulate, desperate for more of the sensations he’s wringing from you and yet so incredibly sensitive that your body is already beginning to tremble.
And the second Azriel notices that you’re shaking, slumping back down against the couch cushions, his fingers cease their movements. He tears his mouth from yours and drinks in your expression.
“Are you okay?” He breathes heavily. “Was that…good?”
Good did not come close to describing what it was. There’s something magic about those fingers that still linger between your folds. You’re sure of it.
“More than good.” You gasp, your head falling back. “I just…need a moment.”
He pauses, before slowly, gently, tugging his hand out of your breeches. You think a whimper leaves you at the loss of contact. It’s an effort not to grab his hand and put it right back where you want it.
But instead, Azriel moves it up to your face. He brushes a strand of hair from your eyes, and his chest is heaving as much as yours as he leans down and brushes his lips over your cheek — an affectionate gesture. One he’s done a thousand times before.
It kind of…rips you from the moment, just a little. Reminds you that this is your closest friend who’s hovering above you. Who’s just made you come so hard, you saw stars. Who’s only doing this to learn.
You open your mouth — to say what, you’re not sure — but you’re stopped in your tracks by the door bursting open behind you.
You and Azriel move away from each other just as Cassian waltzes in. His lip is stitched up, but there are fresh marks at his neck; ones he seems incredibly proud of. You quickly fasten the button on your breeches before he can notice.
“Sacha and I worked things out.” He announces with a shit-eating grin. And then he pauses. Frowns. “Why does it smell like pears in here?”
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wife-of-all-dilfs · 8 months
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bioluminescence | b. blake
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masterlist
summary: season one — you thought all bellamy blake wanted was sex and other women, but when you sneak outside of the camp walls at night, bioluminescent plants are not the only shocking discovery you make, and not everyone is happy about it.
warnings: fluff, swearing, jealousy, mention of sexual themes, (L/N) use, roma
pairing: bellamy blake x reader
word count: 4.1k
Sleep was a rare luxury after you and the other Ark prisoners were sent to Earth, especially since you were all crowded in a small camp surrounding the drop ship. Teenage hormones, anger, violence, and trauma were not a great combination for peace. So, it was either crying, fistfights, or the incessant moans of couples who couldn't keep it in their pants for more than five minutes that usually kept you awake at night.
You were certain it was Bellamy Blake and his two model-looking female companions who were often to blame for that last subject. Although to everyone in the camp, it was very obvious that their relationship was solely physical, neither Roma nor Bree seemed to appreciate when other women talked, interacted with, or even sat near him. Clarke was a heavy target because of her co-leadership with Bellamy. And so were you.
You were within the inner circle, the informal 'Earth council'. You were also handy with a rifle and knowledgeable in tracking, so it wasn't exactly surprising whenever Bellamy took you with him on various missions and hunts. Sometimes though, he would bring you with him even if the task wasn't within your skillset—those were the times you were left feeling a little confused.
Nevertheless, a small friendship sprung from it. You weren't best buddies, but you weren't opposed to each other's company either. That was a big no-no to Roma and Bree and they frequently expressed that fact through passive-aggressive tactics.
This night was no different from others. Thankfully, it was the never-ending fistfights that kept you awake instead of other's carnal endeavours. You opened the flap of your tent and stepped out into the crisp air; autumn was definitely approaching. Hugging your jacket closer to your body, you looked around the camp, unsure of where to wait out the commotion. Everywhere was taken, so you decided a brief walk in the woods wouldn't hurt. Well, you hoped it wouldn't. At least if the Grounders killed you, you would finally get some undisturbed rest.
As you made your way over to one of the fence-wall openings, you ran smack-bang into a barely dressed girl with long brown hair. Roma.
"Watch where you're going, bitch," she spat, scrutinising your appearance from top to bottom.
Ignoring her lovely remark, you eyed her jeans and the way her upper half was only covered by a grey sports bra. "Aren't you cold?"
"Not now I'm not." She smirked, eyes flickering to Bellamy's tent.
You grimaced. I so didn't need to know that.
Right on cue, Bellamy emerged from his tent, fully clothed. He scanned the surroundings before his hardened gaze briefly landed on Roma and then settled on you; it was impossible to miss the way his face softened when your eyes met. Strange.
"Jealous?" she asked, regaining your attention.
"Unlikely."
You brushed past her, though she made an effort to forcefully knock your shoulder and spit another curse at you. Classy.
Bellamy took a step toward you. "Hey—"
But you simply moved past him, continuing toward the wall and saying, "A real gem you've got yourself there."
At least Bree was all bark and no bite.
You could hear him sigh as the distance between you both grew.
Truth be told, you were a little jealous. An unfortunate truth but still a truth all the same. You knew you were beginning to feel something deeper for Bellamy and it was becoming difficult listening to other girls brag about their nights with him. Not like you would ever tell him though—he wasn't a relationship type of guy and as far as you could tell, his feelings for you were platonic.
Never mind. You could settle for his friendship... for now.
You had made it outside the camp walls. At first, you planned on circling the fence for a while, but when your eyes caught on something glowing from the opposite side of a tree, you strayed from your path. Rounding the tree's trunk, you found a glowing neon-pink flower; the species of which you were unsure, but it was beautiful. Then, in your peripheral vision, there was something else lighting up your vision, something blue this time. There was another flower just a few trees away.
And again, you walked over to the strange plant, only to find yourself now on a journey that kept leading to more and more glowing flowers the deeper into the woods you trekked. They were almost everywhere and at this point, you were practically running with an excited grin on your face. In the near distance, numerous radiant colours lit up an area covered by a thick cluster of trees. You wove yourself through branches and leaves, pushing your way into the bright section of the woods.
Once you emerged from the trees, amazement morphed into your expression. You had stepped into a small meadow filled with glowing flowers of various colours that covered the forest floor. There were countless species, but they all shared the same mesmerising radiance. Much to your disbelief, there were even electric blue luminous butterflies that concealed the tree trunks and fluttered in the air.
"Bioluminescence," you whispered to yourself.
It was so beautiful, you could have cried.
Maybe you should just leave the camp and build a hut here. It would certainly beat living with the others.
As you moved further into the small clearing, the butterflies flew closer around you. Holding out an arm, one butterfly tentatively circled your hand before landing in your palm. You laughed in amazement, watching as the small creature curiously crawled across your hand and ticked your skin. Okay, that settled it—you were definitely a Disney princess.
The sound of branches snapping and leaves rustling suddenly pulled you from your amazement; it was coming from where you had entered the clearing. You reached down to your belt only to find the knife holster on it empty. Of course, you didn't bring your knife. You had left the camp's safety and didn't even think to bring a weapon. So stupid.
Before you could reprimand yourself any further, a tall figure emerged from the tree line. The tight dark blue shirt was an easy identifier as to who the figure was. And so were those deep brown eyes.
It was Bellamy. "Woah."
You let out a sigh of relief, feeling your tensed body relax again.
His gaze swept across the vivid tree-encompassed meadow, sharing the same wonderous expression you once had. The overpowering glow from the butterflies turned his tanned skin a light blue, defining the contours of his face and arm muscles. He sort of looked otherworldly.
"What are you doing out here?" you asked.
The incident before you left camp quickly returned to mind and it was evident in the slight irritation etched on your face. He didn't need to respond for you to realise that he had followed you. Great. His little girlfriends were going to have a field day tomorrow if they saw him come after you.
Bellamy's eyes found yours, taking note of your negative reaction. His steps were cautious as he began walking towards you. "I could ask you the same thing."
He stopped in front of you, peering down through a few stray strands of dark brown hair whilst wearing his infamous lazy smirk. No wonder girls were always fawning over him; he was gorgeous, and he damn well knew it too. Even you were falling into the very same trap. Unlike them, though, it was the moments you shared with him when you were alone that conjured your attraction to him. Sure, he was easy on the eyes, but you had also learnt that he was surprisingly a decent human being. More than decent actually, despite how he presented himself to others.
He treated you with respect—a lot more than many others had ever done. You had learnt to trust each other, communicate effectively, and work as a team. Sometimes, you would even find yourselves discussing things that you both intended to keep within till the day you died, things that felt too intimate to share with anyone else.
No matter how much you hated it, you couldn't help but develop feelings for him. Even when it seemed he was preoccupied with other women.
Bellamy eyed you, waiting for the snarky retort he knew you were putting together.
You sighed and turned around, crouching on the floor to inspect one of the neon-pink flowers. "Shouldn't you be teaching Roma and Bree gun handling safety in your tent right now?"
That line was dangerously close to sounding like jealousy and you knew it. You bit your tongue because Lord knows you were most likely to expose your feelings for Bellamy through word vomit.
If only you had been facing him to witness the shame washing through his eyes.
"Funny," he said. "But no. I've got more important things to do."
"Like what? Making sure your best hunting partner doesn't get killed by glowing plants?" you joked, glancing over your shoulder to see his reaction.
It wasn't a grin or smirk like you expected. Not even a little chuckle. Instead, he simply stared at you with this intense look in his eye; it was almost sad but also like he was trying to communicate something to you telepathically.
"Something like that," he murmured.
After those words left his mouth, something about the atmosphere shifted. You suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion and his soul-piercing stare was not helping. There wasn't a wide selection of movies on the Ark, but you had watched them all, including all the romance movies. The only thing you could compare Bellamy's gaze to was Mr. Darcy's in Pride and Prejudice. Reluctance. Longing. It was all there. Had you been completely wrong about his feelings for you? Or were you just imagining it?
The likelihood of Bellamy sharing your same feelings seemed impossible, so you chalked it up to your wishful imagination.
You stood back up, facing him but avoiding making eye contact. "Well, I—uh," you stammered. "I'm not going back. Not yet."
"I didn't come here to take you back."
That made your gaze meet his.
Why did you come then, Bellamy? you thought.
He side-stepped you and you turned to see him wandering deeper into the meadow. He began observing each and every beauty and oddity the small sanctuary held, touching the petals of every flower with a delicateness you had never witnessed before. Soon enough, you felt compelled to join him.
The two of you must have spent an hour in that meadow, inspecting each species of flora, hovering your fingertips through the glowing cusp of each plant as if you could feel its light on your skin, laughing together when a butterfly landed on the tip of your nose. Sometimes you caught Bellamy watching whenever your face lit up with excitement as you discovered something new. He never really looked at what you had found; he just looked at you, but you were too overjoyed to even contemplate why.
You felt like you had entered a dream, protected from the outside world where there were Grounders, war, and bitchy brown-haired girls. Everything real was forgotten, even your unrequited feelings for Bellamy. You just enjoyed his company in this dream and pretended it would last forever.
Somehow, you had both ended up lying on the forest floor side-by-side, surrounded by flowers as you stared up at the starry night sky through the tree crowns. It wasn't as cold as before; you guessed it was because of Bellamy's close proximity to you. One of his hands was behind his head, the other on his stomach. His warmth was radiating off his skin and onto your own.
You could have fallen asleep if you closed your eyes. Probably not the most logical idea though.
Bellamy's quiet, yet deep voice disrupted the silence. "It's just a distraction, you know?"
"Hm?"
"Those girls," he clarified, and you watched as his words turned to mist, carrying into the black sky. "If I focus too much on the fact that I have to control an entire camp of teenagers, fight a war against the Grounders, while taking care of Octavia and y—" he cut himself off, closing his eyes with a sigh. "I just feel like I start to lose myself."
Your focus shifted from the sky to him. Even he didn't seem to be looking at the sky anymore, despite his gaze still being pointed straight upward. He looked lost in his own thoughts. Serious and sombre—much different compared to how they had been just a short while ago.
"Well," you began softly. "We can't have that. You already seem a little rough around the edges, Blake."
A grin slowly formed across his lips and he shook his head. He turned his head to the side, looking down at your smiling expression from where he lay. The weightiness from before had melted from his demeanour. Because of a little distraction.
You had thought those two girls he spent most nights with were there purely for his own physical needs or because his attraction to them was greater than his self-control. Never had you contemplated the fact that it might have been because he was mentally struggling with the hardships of being a leader. Of course, how could you have? He had never told you before now.
Your brows furrowed. "Why tell me?"
The muscles in his jaw clenched and the grin fell from his lips. A sense of seriousness returned but this time it was less heavy. It seemed more like a weight was lifting from his shoulders. Like a declaration. Like a long-awaited confession.
You felt something warm brush against your hand; it gently grazed over your knuckles, lighting a fire beneath your skin. In Bellamy's dark eyes, you could see the reflection of his hand caressing your own and your heart leapt to your throat.
"Why do you think?" he murmured, his eyes flickering between your own, urging you to connect the dots instead of making him say it aloud.
Your lips parted and the crease between your eyebrows deepened. 
Every time he picked you first to be his partner on a mission, every deep conversation you shared when no one else was around—they all had a hidden meaning. All the times his hand brushed against yours as you walked in sync side-by-side, the times you caught him staring at you through a one-hundred-person dense crowd, or the way he would step in front of you as if to shield you whenever there was even a hint of danger—it was all because...
"Oh," you whispered.
"Yeah." His eyes flickered between yours before he turned back to the stars. "And I—I understand if you don't feel the same way; I know I haven't given you much reason to. From those girls to the... the radio, and the culling on the Ark. If I could take—"
His sentence was cut short as you leaned over him, pressing your lips to his. You could feel his pulse racing in his lips. Or was it your own? Probably both. Your hair fell to the side and his mouth started to move against your own. He began to rise, moving you up along with him until you were both kissing in a sitting position.
Bellamy's hand moved to cradle your jaw, his lips slow and tender. Everything felt like it had fallen into place, like this was exactly how things were supposed to be, with his lips on yours in the middle of a fairy-tale-like meadow whilst surrounded by a field of glowing flowers and beautiful winged creatures.
The butterflies weren't just circling you now, they were somehow fluttering around in your stomach too and it felt exhilarating.
Unfortunately, the kiss did have to come to an end at some point. Even so, the warm fluttering in your stomach never ceased. Bellamy had pulled away first, his hands gently falling from your jaw and back into his lap. He was looking at you and at first, you were afraid he would get up and leave, or tell you he had changed his mind. But he didn't. A smile crept across his lips—not a self-satisfied smirk or a tantalising grin, but a genuine smile.
Forget the butterflies; your stomach was doing somersaults now. He found your hand once more and interlocked it with his own in your lap. His thumb drew small circles on the side of your palm almost as if he knew you needed a reminder that this moment was really happening.
"That was my first kiss," you admitted.
His smile became a little nervous. "Was it okay?"
Was it okay? This boy was a little clueless if he couldn't tell that you thoroughly enjoyed having his lips on yours. So, you answered him with another soft peck to his lips, then pulled back again to see his reaction. He chuckled, nodding his head to say he understood.
"We can always come out here to practice if you want," he said, this time with a smirk.
You laughed. "I think that's a good idea."
He tucked a lock behind your ear and gently brushed pieces of hair away from your face. You could feel warmth creeping into your cheeks, turning them a rosy pink. Well, it was probably more of a violet hue due to the intense blue glow from the plants and butterflies. Either way, it still revealed how nervous he made you feel.
"It's getting late. We should probably head back and sleep," you said. Bellamy raised an eyebrow, creating his own little innuendo with your words and your eyes widened. "Not together! Alone, I mean. In separate tents. With clothes... on..." you trailed off, realising you were only digging yourself a deeper hole.
You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose in embarrassment.
He just chuckled and rose to his feet. "Come on, (L/N). Let's go sleep."
You rolled your eyes with a smile as he helped you stand up with him.
For a brief moment, you gave the area one last look, imprinting the memory into your mind. Who could have guessed that when you left the camp walls you would enter a fairy tale of vivid colours and electric butterflies? Or, even more surprising, that Bellamy Blake would later confess his feelings for you? All you had wanted was an escape; instead, you got a dream come true.
Bellamy pressed a hand to your lower back, guiding you with him towards the tree line in comfortable silence.
The walk back to the drop ship was pretty quiet. No more words needed to be said; a conversation that clarified what you two were now could wait for tomorrow when your brains weren't clouded by fatigue and the fresh excitement from confession. Some things hadn't changed though. Bellamy still stole glances at you every now and then, as you did him, earning a nervous smile and blush each time either of you got caught. Your hands alternated from brushing against one another to ever-so-slightly linking pinkies.
Okay, maybe things had changed a little.
You passed each flower that had led you to the meadow and this time, they became less and less as you grew closer to the drop ship. As you came up on the camp walls, the sound of fighting and conversations had died down and was replaced by the faint crackling of dying fires.
Finally, you both stepped through one of the openings and were within the camp. There didn't seem to be anyone awake; with the way the moon was shining down straight overhead, it was clear why. 
Your pinkie fell from Bellamy's and you moved in front of him, taking a few slow steps backwards. "Uh, that's my tent over there," you said, gesturing behind you.
His eyes never left yours as he continued to walk toward you. "Yeah, I know."
"Oh, you know, do you?"
A grin stretched across his lips as he hummed and reached for your waist, pulling you against his body. Your hands wound around his neck, a smile present on your face as he leaned in, his lips mere inches from your own. His lips had just brushed against your own when someone behind you cleared their throat and you both jumped apart.
Bellamy peered beside your head, semi-glaring at the interrupter behind you.
What a surprise it was when you turned around to see Roma, arms crossed—clothes on, thankfully—and looking severely unhappy.
"You have got to be kidding me," she said with a scowl.
Perfect. Great. Absolutely fantastic. Looks like her field day had come early.
No way. You were too tired to deal with this. You gave Bellamy an apologetic glance before attempting to slip away through the gaps between tents. Unfortunately, it wasn't in Roma's best interest to let you off so easily. She caught your wrist and jerked you back toward her.
Bellamy looked like he was about to step in, but you beat him to it.
You tore your wrist from her grasp, words dripping with bitterness as you said, "Never do that again."
For a split second, she looked the slightest bit intimidated, but then quickly covered it up with disdain. Her gaze flickered from you to Bellamy; it was hard to miss the way she straightened her posture and tried to look more presentable for him.
And for a split second of your own, you felt the slightest twinge of fear that Bellamy would change his mind about you and leave with her again. But at that very same moment, he gently grabbed your hand and guided you back to his side, dissipating all your previous worries.
Both you and Roma looked down at your interlocked hands in disbelief.
"Listen, Roma." He sighed, sounding like he was desperately trying to keep his cool. "I think it's best if you and Bree find another tent to sleep in from now on."
Her disbelief turned into pure astonishment. "What? Are you serious?"
Bellamy lightly squeezed your hand.
God, he was putting this girl through the five stages of grief. You almost felt bad. Then you remembered the daily torment she had been putting you through just for existing and the remorse immediately washed away.
"Because of her? She's not even—"
"Choose your next words very carefully," he warned in a dangerously low voice.
Her mouth opened and shut a few times before she realised any insult thrown at you would end badly for her. It's not like Bellamy would hurt her, but he did have power over the camp, so he would probably force her to share a tent with Myles or something. His non-stop babbling would drive her to insanity.
She gave him a defiant look. "What if we don't want to leave?"
"I'll take the tent down and move it somewhere else."
"Then Bree and I will make both your lives a living Hell."
You could hear Bellamy suppress a laugh. "Unlikely," he echoed your previous words.
Roma looked to you as if you could help her case—the audacity. You gave her a sarcastic 'what-can-you-do?' shrug which just enhanced her seething temper. It was obvious that she was getting nowhere and the moment she realised, you swore you could see her ego literally deflating.
She made a short high-pitched noise of frustration and spun around, her hair whipping melodramatically through the air as she practically stomped back to Bellamy's tent. You could hear her call out to the other girl inside, telling her to 'pack her shit' and that they were moving tents. Not long after, the blonde-haired girl emerged from the tent flap holding a bundle of clothes. Roma must have explained to her what happened because they both shot a venomous glare in your direction and then walked off in search of another tent.
You sighed in relief as they disappeared out of sight. You were about to walk back to your own tent, but Bellamy tugged you back to him once more, his arms wrapping around your torso as your hands fell on his chest.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I thought she'd handle it better."
You fiddled with the material of his shirt, half-smiling. "I told you she was a gem."
"Yeah." He chuckled. "My taste of women has been a little... questionable."
Your hands moved up to his shoulders, pulling your body up against his. His fingertips grazed the exposed skin of your waist, sending a wave of goosebumps across your body.
"You should really try breaking that trend."
He had that same intense look in his eye as when you were both in the meadow. This time it didn't hold any sadness or longing, but rather a sense of finality and affection, like his greatest wish had finally come true—that would make two of you. One of his hands moved to cup your cheek, stroking your cheekbone with his thumb as his face grew closer to yours.
The heart thumping in your chest almost gave out as you reflexively leaned further into his warm embrace.
"I already have," he murmured before his soft lips descended upon yours.
And the butterflies returned.
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buckys-wintersoldier · 2 months
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Always loved you | Bucky Barnes
𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 -> Roommate!BestFriend!Bucky Barnes x Roommate!BestFriend!Female!Reader
𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 -> After another argument with his girlfriend Bucky comes to you, looking for comfort and love. And he tells you more than just his about the argument with the girl, he tells you about the feelings he has for you.
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 -> 1.258
𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 -> (G) arguing, past trauma, a lot of fluff
𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 ->
Build-A-Bucky-Bingo | BABB055 | March | 3AM Talks | @buckybarnesevents | AFG AU Bingo | G2 | Roommate AU | @anyfandomaubingo | Fandom-Free Bingo: Valentines Edition | Row Two-Three | Secretly a dork | @fandom-free-bingo | Fandom-Free Bingo: Wild Edition | O3 | Fighting | @fandom-free-bingo
Masterlist | Bucky Barnes Masterlist
Divider made by @firefly-graphics.
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The door slams shut, and you flinch softly on your bed, tears streaming down your cheeks. You’re curled up, arms wrapped around your legs. Not even the voices coming from the television stop you from hearing the loud argument between Bucky and his girlfriend. They often shout at each other, they slam the door, and sometimes you hear someone punching the wall, probably Bucky. You grew up in a family where violence was always a thing to get the kids under control, or your dad made your mom do things he wanted her to do. But since you’re living with Bucky, you feel better, and you know that your best friend takes care of you. His girlfriend is really jealous, and Bucky likes to spend some time with his best friend.
When you hear a loud noise and something breaking just behind you, you know he punched the wall and probably broke it. Then you hear a groan and him opening his door.
“You- Do you think you can tell me that I can’t spend time with my best friend because she is a girl?” he asks loudly, and you flinch even more, whimpering softly.
“I’m your girlfriend, but I feel like you prefer her, do you?”
For a moment, it’s quiet, and you listen, wanting to know if he prefers you before his girlfriend. It would make you happy, especially since you’re in love with your best friend but never admitted it in front of him. He has his girlfriend, and you really don’t want to be between those two. Even though you’re in love with him, you always comfort him after an argument with his girlfriend, making sure he feels better, and he often just falls asleep with you in his arms or with his head on your stomach while you run your fingers through his hair.
“James?”
“Fuck- Yeah. I do prefer her, oke?” he says, quieter, and he runs his fingers along his stubble, looking at his girlfriend.
You swallow hard; did you hear him right? Your heart beats loudly against your ribcage, and a small smile forms on your lips. Your belly starts to tingle softly.
“Do you fuck her?”
“No. Do you think I betray you? Can we talk outside? We don’t need to let everyone know about our arguments,” Bucky says, knowing about your past with your dad.
When you hear a few footsteps, you breathe out softly, turning toward the television before you hear the door closing, and you continue watching the movie. But you can’t really focus on the movie; your thoughts are filled with their conversation. Will she convince Bucky to move in with her? Is she really forbidding him to spend time with you, or will she be there then? Does Bucky really mean that he prefers you? Your mind is running wild, and you groan softly.
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In the middle of the night, you hear the door opening and closing quietly. You are still awake, so you hear when Bucky walks through the floor, then he opens your door, looking into the room and seeing the television, which is still on. He smiles softly when he sees you in one of his shirts, wrapped in your blanket, lying on your bed.
“Doll, are you already asleep?” he asks as quietly as possible.
“No, you can come in,” you mumble and turn towards him, slowly sitting up with your back against the headboard.
Bucky walks closer, taking off his pants and hoodie before he gets into bed next to you. You lift your blanket, and Bucky slides under it, his leg touching yours softly. He sits next to you, looking at you, before he smiles even wider, his hand making its way to your cheek, and he captures it before he strokes his thumb over your soft skin. He often does it, and the feeling his touches leave makes your knees weak, and the tingling feeling just grows inside of you.
“Are you alright? I’m sorry for punching the wall and that we shouted,” Bucky says, his thumb caressing your cheek.
“It’s oke. But why did you two argue once again?” you ask softly, so he knows he doesn’t have to tell you when he doesn’t want to tell you about his girlfriend.
“We- You know she is so jealous; I just don’t get it. Maybe I do, but I don’t tell anyone, you know?”
“Mhm, do you mean you have feelings for someone else who isn’t she?”
Bucky nods. You know him better than someone else, and he doesn’t even have to say so, but you know he has feelings for someone who isn’t his girlfriend. You don’t know if you feel excited or want to throw up because he could like you, but maybe he just sees you as his best friend and loves someone else?
“You know, it’s the difference between both of them. I don’t want the jealousy anymore. I prefer comfort, love, and spending time together. Not just someone who is mad because I love my best friend,” Bucky says, and you smile softly.
“Have you told her that you like her, or does only your girlfriend know it?”
“Ex-Girlfriend. And both know that I love the other girl, the one that makes me really happy.”
“What did she say?”
Bucky chuckles; his beautiful blue eyes light up even though it’s almost dark. They glisten when he licks with his tongue along his lips. His thumb is still moving slowly over your cheek, and his eyes are piecing in your eyes.
“She asked me if I told the girl that I liked her or if I just told my ex about it,” he says, and you gasp, recognizing that it’s you he is talking about.
“You- you love me?”
“I always have. I have never not loved you. You were always my priority, my safe place, my home, and the one I loved. But I didn’t know you felt the same way for me,” he says, blushing softly.
He looks adorable with the slight red on his cheeks, and the soft and shy smile underlines his sweetness once more. You smile softly, parting your lips softly, while a shaky breath leaves your lips. The warmth of his hand is rushing through your body, and you pull yourself more against your best friend.
“I-I love you, too,” you mumble, still looking into his beautiful steel blue eyes.
The moment those words leave your lips, he is grinning like the Cheshire Cat. His eyes light up like the stars at night, like the sun, and you know that smile, that embrace, that man - he is your home, the love of your life, everything for you.
“C-Can I-“ Bucky stutters, feeling so insecure now.
He never felt like that with a girl around, but with you, it’s different. You really mean something to him, and he doesn’t want to mess things up. For him, you’re everything, his world, his whinging stars. And being unsure isn’t something he is used to feeling, but you adore his shyness and cuteness around you.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks quietly.
His expression changed from a happy one to an insecure one before changing back to a happy one. Especially when you nod and he leans closer to press his lips on yours. The soft, plumb lips you have always looked at touch yours in a soft and wonderful first kiss. It’s promising so much: the eternity, the love, the trust, the promise to be one another’s forever and ever.
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨
𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
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Taglist: @kandis-mom @sergeantbarnessdoll @nicoline1998enilocin @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @identity2212 @km-ffluv @lunaalovesyouu @blackhawkfanatic @armystay89 @suz7days @randomawesomeperson102 @rogersbarber @bucky-barnes-lover @felicitylemon @cjand10 @bookishtheaterlover7 @lives-in-midgard @casa-boiardi @futurequeen2018-blog @flstrawberry
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blackpilljesus · 2 months
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I saw this from the female separatism subreddit & the responses are some of the biggest reasons for separatism et al (or extinction if I'm being candid here). Moids cant be reformed they are fully aware of the hell they force women to live in. MaIe achievement & happiness is rooted in female exploitation & life. Their glory days are based on our horrific days. No amount of love, kindness or facts will change maIes and we cannot happily or even neutrally coexist with them.
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Main points across answers:
Many want to experiment but not permanently be women
They dont want to be in constant danger or lose their autonomy at the hands of maIes for merely existing
They dont want to deal with childbirth (& periods)
They dont want to have to share spaces with species much stronger than them with ulterior motives
It makes me go crazy seeing people give moids benefit of doubt for their evil like "maIes just dont understand", "we need to teach maIes", or claiming that maIe violence is a result of maIes struggling with (expressing) their feelings. I get that women love maIes and it can be hard to imagine that people can intentionally be so evil but it is what it is. MaIes have no problems expressing themselves, abusing women is what maIes choose to do because they enjoy & benefit from it - that is their expression.
MaIes see the same news of women being abused, raped, and killed like we do except rather than be disheartened or alarmed they're either apathetic or satisfied. It isn't aliens that's committing GBV it's maIes & maIes have no problem reminding women of this when women anger them (such as rape threats & threatening women they'll end up on the news/true crime). The victim blaming, denial, and derailment of misogyny is part of the game to keep the system alive, they know the events occured & are a systemic occurence they just dont care. Hell not only do they not care, they rejoice in it or get off on it.
MaIes set up environments that work in their favour which simultaneously ensures that women will lose. They know women are set up to live in damn near impossible conditions for us. It's normalised for women to defenselessly share personal & private spaces with beings much more stronger than them with ulterior motives for us, it's trap. It's interesting how these moids aren't saying that they'll just cover up and *poof* harrassment gone, or they'll just pick a nice guy & they'll be okay. MaIes know the net negative they are towards women.
MaIes know that childbirth is a painful process & what do they do? Demand it happens and make it even MORE painful for women. MaIes that impregnate women do not love or care for them. Pregnancy itself is dangerous & sometimes lethal, often comes with a range of health issues, to cause someone to be in that condition especially in a environment where abortions are illegal is reckless & unloving. Now imagine how sinister & full of hatred one has to be to impregnate someone and abuse them on top of that. Many women risk their health & lives to reproduce with a Y and they get abused by said Y instead of being taken care of. Deranged.
Realising that maIes are aware of the evil they inflict is one of the things that radicalised me. It isn't a miscommunication or ignorance issue, their violence is intended. They want control. The cruelty is the point. Instead of wasting time & energy trying to change maIes or hope that they "understand" one day, focus on yourself & other women (who prioritise women). Moids aren't oblivious to female pain they enjoy it. A lot of women treat maIe evil like it's a mistake on maIes part but it's calculated terrorism. I know that this will go over many womens heads as they refuse to hold strong negative sentiments about moids as a collective so if you're not a woman like that, take this post as a sanity check. You aren't crazy, it isn't all in your head.
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munsons-maiden · 10 months
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𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮
Here's a little oneshot for you, lovelies! I hope you enjoy 🖤
𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | Eddie Munson x female reader (no physical descriptions, though)
𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 | Based on this request: could i request maybe eddie brings reader to a deal but wants her to stay in the van so she’s safe but the people he’s dealing to see her because she walked out to tell eddie something and it doesn’t go so well. and after the situation eddie and her argue but eddie’s upset and just what’s to protect her 🥺 but ofc it ends well🫡
- I hope you like it, dear!🖤
𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 | fights turning into love confessions, angst with a happy ending, friends to lovers
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 | 3k
𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | angst with a happy ending, attempted (sexual) assault
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝🖤
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You can barely make out your surroundings, the little dirt path leading you deeper into the woods, in the darkness between the trees as you slowly draw closer – the moon and stars have vanished behind the clouds as if they’ve gone into hiding, and the taste of a summer storm already laces the stuffy air.
In all these years of being Eddie Munson’s friend, there’s been one simple rule when it comes to him meeting his customers for a drug deal:
Stay in the car.
The customers are harmless. It’s the cops I’m worried about, he tells you, expression stern, whenever you crack a joke about him being scared you could scare away a customer.
It’s tiny little Hawkins, and the deals gone wrong that sometimes make it into the TV news or newspaper headlines are over coke and heroin and all the hard stuff Eddie would never sell, not over something as harmless as weed or the occasional pill of ketamine.
Tonight has been no different.
It was supposed to be a quick deal on your way to the Carnival two towns over at Sycamore where you’re supposed to meet the rest of Hellfire.
Some new customer sent by Reefer Rick.
But the longer you’ve been sitting in Eddie’s van, in the dark, in the middle of the lonely road that cuts through the woods surrounding Hawkins…this nagging feeling started to grow in your chest. First into worry, then into outright panic when you’d watched the clock on the old van’s display tick, one minute turning into five, and five into ten.
What if something went wrong?
What if something horrible happened to him?
What if Eddie needs your help?
You wanted to tell him, tonight at the fair, beneath the see of glittering lights of the Ferris wheel. That you’re in love with him. That you’ve been, for a very long time. That even if he doesn’t feel the same, you need to say it out loud, how you first fell for all the tiny little pieces that make him Eddie and then wholly and utterly and completely.
When ten minutes bled into fifteen, and your mind had come up with the most horrid scenarios fueled by news coverage of drug deals breaking into violence, conjuring up gruesome images of Eddie bleeding out between the ferns and brambles covering the forest floor, blood soaking the moss, you couldn’t stay cooped up in the confines of his old van a second longer.
You broke Eddie’s one rule. You left the car and went looking for him.
As you’re now traipsing along the small dirt path cutting through the brambles and ferns, the fabric of your summer dress you’ve spent an entire weekend picking out at the mall just so Eddie might finally start seeing you as something else as his friend, sticking to your sweaty skin and thorns scratching at your legs, you realize that even if Eddie needs your help…how the fuck would you even be able to help him?
It’s not like you’re carrying a gun in the little bag you’re clutching at your side.
The sound of voices startles you out of your thoughts, and in the dark, your eyes lock on the two silhouettes in the little clearing ahead of you.
You recognize Eddie first – you’d recognize him everywhere.
He’s standing with his back to you. Even with the remaining distance between the two of you, the darkness of the woods, you can tell that his shoulders are tense.
His whole body is holding a kind of tension you’ve only ever seen on him once before, a few years ago, when his deadbeat father had shown up at the trailer park drunken and shouting curses into the wind before Eddie had dragged you into the safety Wayne’s trailer.
A twig snaps beneath your sneakers, and both Eddie and his customer whirl around to you.
And you realize you’ve made a huge mistake.
The guy in front of Eddie is no nervous classmate, not one of the chill stoner guys always hanging around beneath the bleachers. No friendly family dad or stressed housewife looking for a little relaxation or piece of rebellion.
The guy’s buzzcut does nothing to soften the harsh angles of his face, the lines around his mouth formed by the frown that seems to be engraved there.
There’s something menacing in his eyes as they lock on you.
Something evil and predatory.
The guy licks his lips, and his mouth curls into a lewd smirk, a twisted mirror to the abysmal panic in Eddie’s wide eyes as he stares at you.
You can read them like the pages of an open book.
What the fuck are you doing here? I told you to stay in the car!
The guy slaps a meaty hand on Eddie’s shoulder, hard enough to make Eddie sway a little on his feet with the impact. And contrary to what the jocks at Hawkins High believe, Eddie is strong.
“And at first I thought you’d brought the cops,” the guy laughs – but it’s not a friendly laugh. It doesn’t reach his eyes, either. He’s got muscles. A lot of them, flexing beneath his skin as he lets his arm sink from Eddie’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t do that to your old friend though, would you? Instead, you brought me a present.”
There’s an eagle tattooed across the guy’s throat, wings spread wide. It’s fitting, this bird of prey marking him. You feel like a tiny little robin beneath his gaze.
Eddie’s eyes haven’t left you for a single second.
“I told you to stay in the car.” His voice is strained with barely suppressed fury and, above all else…panic.
“Nah, we’re good,” the guy grins, letting his eyes roam over you.
Making you wish you were wearing something other than a short little summer dress.
“Come on closer, little birdie,” he drawls, “Don’t be shy now.”
“Go back to the car,” Eddie says, louder, the vehemence of his tone flashing in his panicked eyes. His voice is trembling. “Now.”
“What, you don’t want to introduce us?” The man drawls. The threat in his own voice is as clear and tangible as the panic in Eddie’s umber eyes as he shakes his head, the movement subtle, barely visible. Go, he mouths. Now.
At the guy, he adds, “I thought we were here to talk about business.”
“You want me to focus on business when you brought your pretty girl with you, boy?” The guy makes a beckoning motion at you, still frozen like a deer in the headlights, rooted to your spot only feet away from him and Eddie. “Come closer, doll. Don’t be shy now.”
“No,” Eddie interjects, fervor smoothing his voice as it cuts through the rain-laced air of the clearing, despair flashing out beneath the panic, “She’s not part of this.”
You’re scared out of your mind.
But hell will freeze over before you leave Eddie alone with this man.
So you do what the guy told you.
You step closer, coming to stand beside Eddie.
“Tell you what, boy,” the man purrs, tearing his eyes off of you to meet Eddie’s, a flash of yellowed teeth in diffuse moonlight, as his smirk grows into a grin so devilish you wouldn’t have been surprised had they been pointed, “I’m gonna give you a few more bucks and you’re gonna give me a few minutes with your lovely lady here.”
Beside you, Eddie inches closer to you, shifting to place himself between the guy and you.
Trying to shield you with his own body, you realize.
Eddie Munson, who always swore he was no hero outside of D&D, is becoming your hero right now.
“I’ll give you everything I got with me right now, and you leave,” Eddie counters, voice hard.
A desperate attempt to get you out of this situation.
Almost completely hidden from the guy’s field of vision with Eddie having placed himself in front of you, his muscles taut and ready to fight, your hands slowly dive into the bag slung over your shoulder, fingertips carefully feeling for something, anything, to use to protect him, to protect both of you –
“Or,” the man drawls, taking a step closer, with the ease of a predator rounding in on a wounded fawn, “I’ll just take whatever you got and have some fun with your pretty lady.”
It happens too fast to see it coming.
There’s a snapping sound as the flick-knife the guy must have been holding, concealed in his meaty fist and the dark of night, is flipped open, the jagged blade flashing in the obscure beams of moonlight filtering through the clouds and the foliage of trees above your heads – and Eddie pushes you farther behind him.
Placing yourself between you and the knife’s path as he snaps, voice vibrating, “Stay the fuck away from her.”
The man lets out a low, rumbling chuckle. “And what are you gonna do, hm?”
There. Your fingers wrap around something smooth and cool nestled at the bottom of your bag.
And not a second too soon.
Before the guy can let the knife in his fist soar down to hurt Eddie, you duck around your friend, your own hand flying up as you press your index finger down in the spray bottle in your sweaty grip, sending a blast of hair spray straight into the guy’s face.
He screams, hands flying up to cover his eyes as he stumbles backwards, and the flick-knife lands between the ferns.
Eddie doesn’t waste a single second.
His hand finding yours, he pulls you away from the screaming, staggering man and pushes you towards the path that leads back to the road and the van and safety. Together, you break into a run.
You don’t notice the thorns of the brambles cutting your legs, the burn of your lungs, your muscles, because it all fades to white noise beneath the roaring of blood in your ears, the wild pounding of your heart, Eddie’s own racing steps behind you.
Only at the edges of your panic-addled mind you realize that he’s staying behind you to make sure you’ll get away, first.
The van comes up in the distance, a flash of white among the leaves and branches, and you feel the first tender burst of relief wash through you at the sight.
Eddie rips the driver’s side door open, all but shoving you inside and onto the passenger seat as he climbs in after you, and the old engine comes to life with a sputtering roar. The van jerks forwards with screeching tires as your hands shoot out to grab the door’s handle to avoid toppling over into the footwell.
As the vehicle bolts down the country road leading out of the woods, silence descends upon you, heavy and loud even beneath the roar of the engine, your own panting breaths slowly calming.
You cast Eddie a careful sideways glance.
He doesn’t look at you.
His eyes are glued to the road the way his foot is glued to the gas pedal, jaw set, and his knuckles clamped around the wheel are white.
You’ve never seen him so angry in all the time you’ve known him.
You’ve never felt so angry in all the time you’ve known him, either.
When the van emerges from the woods and lights of the carnival come into sight, the twinkling form of the Ferris wheel rising over the rolling fields of wheat covering the landscape, Eddie steers the vehicle to the side of the road.
By the time he cuts off the engine and pushes the driver’s door open with a force that makes you fear it’ll just rip off its hinges, he still hasn’t uttered a single word.
You reach for the latch in your own door, but before you can open it, Eddie has already rounded the hood, and the door is ripped open to reveal his face, unreadable and void of all the usual humor and goofiness.
“Are you okay?” It sounds strangely hollow, the way he says it.
“Eddie –“
“Are you okay?” It’s nearly a shout, but not an angry one. Only scared. So fucking scared that it makes his voice shake as much as his hands coming up to rake through his curls while his dark eyes roam over you in the diffuse moonlight over the field, the dim glow of the lights inside the van, scanning the tiny cuts decorating your face and arms and legs where the brambles and branches of the woods have left their marks during your flight.
You give a tentative nod.
The breath he seems to have been holding leaves in a sharp exhale as he rakes his hand through his dark curls once more, sending stray leaves falling out as he starts pacing at the edge of the road.
You climb out of the car.
And the storm that’s been building the past few minutes breaks lose – not in the sky, but down beneath it.
“I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN THE FUCKING CAR!”
Eddie has never shouted at you.
You’ve never shouted at him, either, but it breaks out of you like a flood-wave.
“ME?! THIS IS MY FAULT?!”
“YES! FUCKING HELL YES IT IS! SHIT. IF YOU HAD, JUST FOR ONCE, LISTENED –“
“ME?! I’M NOT THE ONE MEETING FUCKING KILLERS IN THE WOODS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!”
“THAT’S WHY I TOLD YOU TO STAY –“
“IF I’D STAYED IN THE CAR, YOU’D BE DEAD ON THE FOREST FLOOR NOW!” The thought of it, of Eddie, bleeding out between the ferns, scared and alone and in pain, makes the tears spill over and your voice shatter as you choke out the rest of the sentence in a miserable little whisper. “You’d be fucking dead!” Saying it aloud brings back the fury at him for being so fucking careless. “HE WAS ABOUT TO HURT YOU!”
“AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN WAY BETTER THAN IF HE’D HURT YOU! I CAN’T LOSE YOU, I FUCKING LOVE YOU!”
Eddie’s words shut you up.
They ring through the night, mingle with the soft summer breeze that ruffles the stalks of wheat in the nearby field, the rustling too loud in the shellshocked silence.
The tears which have been glittering in his dark eyes have started running down his pale cheeks.
For a few wild heartbeats, you just stare at each other in the moonlight piercing through the passing clouds, the glow of colorful lights of the fair at the edge of the field sending flares into the night, the stuffy summer night’s air pressing down on the two of you.
In a few quick strides, both of you cross the small distance between the two of you, meeting in the middle.
And then, you’re kissing.
And the world stills, heartbeat accelerating as panic and adrenaline bleed into something entirely else, something that’s been trapped within you for so long it takes a second to realize this, right now, is truly happening.
Eddie’s lips, soft and hot against yours, his palms cradling your face, the metal of his rings warm with the heat of his body as they press gently against your skin.
He kisses you like he’s been waiting for this moment just as long as you have.
He kisses you like he really, truly means it.
Because I fucking love you.
It’s better, so much better than even your wildest daydreams.
You know you’ll never want to kiss anyone else after this.
You know you don’t ever want this kiss to end.
It does, eventually. Eddie pulls away, wide-eyed and panting, lips slightly apart in a gape and curls in a tangled mess – from his own hands raking through it or yours right now, you can’t tell. Even in the half-dark of the night, you can see the blush dusting his cheeks.
“I – I’m sorry,” he breathes, the kiss-dazed gleam in his eyes making room for an appalled expression. “God, fuck, I’m – I didn’t think. I didn’t even ask –“
“I’ve been waiting for you to do this for a very long time,” you say quietly, giving him a soft smile.
For a moment, Eddie just stares at you, as if he’s contemplating whether his mind is playing tricks on him. “You, uh. You did?”
“Yeah,” you whisper into the few inches of between the two of you. “And now I’ll be waiting for you to do it again.”
He does. Not a single beat of hesitation.
This time, when Eddie’s lips meet yours, it’s softer, slower, yet just as intoxicating and feverish as that first kiss.
His hands snake up to cup your cheeks and angle your head as he slowly walks you backwards, until your back meets the side of the van, the metal still warm from the day and the sweltering night air, and butterflies flood your belly, your entire body, a colorful swarm of them making your skin tingle in all the places his body brushes against yours. His chest against yours, one of his knees between yours, his calloused fingertips gently trailing down the column of your throat.
Kissing Eddie Munson is as easy as breathing.
“I meant it,” he breathes into the kiss, before resting his forehead against yours, the curls of his bangs tickling you, “What I said. I’m so fucking sorry I dragged you into this mess. I’m so fucking sorry I put you in danger.” He swallows. “And I’m so fucking much in love with you.”
“I love you, too,” you whisper, placing a kiss to the corner of his lips, feeling his smile. “I’ve been loving you for a very long time, Eddie.”
You place your hands over his, still holding your face.
“I was so fucking scared,” Eddie murmurs, voice trembling again with new tears. “Fuck. I was so stupid –“
“We’re okay,” you whisper, fingers squeezing his, “We’re safe. You saved me.”
“Shit, you saved me. What even was that? Pepper spray?”
You chuckle. “Farah Fawcett hair spray.”
Eddie blinks, before he gives a breathless little laugh, as if he’s not sure he’d rather laugh or cry. Probably both. “Pretty fucking metal.”
“I wanted to look pretty for you tonight,” you amend, and Eddie’s expression grows serious again.
“You always look pretty, sweetheart. I’ve been having a pretty hard time not ogling you every second we’re together.”
“You need to promise me you’ll never ever meet clients in the middle of the woods. Not at night. Not by day either. And –“
“I promise,” Eddie interrupts, voice sincere. “I’m gonna stick to the clients I know. No expanding the business.”
“Good,” you breathe, letting your hands fall away from his to lock them at the nape of his neck, fingertips playing with his dark curls.
“Your hair is really soft,” you breathe, lips not an inch from his, feeling stupid all of a sudden for saying it out loud, but Eddie replies with an adorable little giggle that makes your heart soar and race and squeeze with love all at the same time.
“Thanks. It’s…uh. Don’t laugh. It’s Farah Fawcett conditioner.”
Your own soft laugh fades into the night as Eddie’s lips find yours again, the summer storm brewing over your heads and the glittering lights of the carnival in the distance and the moment of terror in the woods blurring against the radiant joy of knowing the one you love loves you back just as much.
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𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝🖤
Requests for angst/smangst remain open. If you want to check out my works in progress, here's the list🖤
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radio-writes · 2 months
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I Don't Know if I'm Real Without You
— Part 2 of 2 (Read Part 1 here: What is Left of Me Without You)
Synopsis: He didn't love you, but he needed you—that's what he said, at least. He needed you to show him just how deep your devotion to him really was.
Warnings: abusive relationships, power imbalance, some misogyny, heavy manipulation, gaslighting, murder and violence, physical injury to reader, major character death(s), angst
Tags: married, one sided romantic love, Alastor x Reader, female!reader
MDNI
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"Why, just the other day a green fuzzy caught sight of another stiff by the river! Poor green egg went green in the face!" A laugh track followed the voice on the radio.
Alastor sat on the couch as he riffled through his briefcase, making sure he had everything he needed today.
"What poor taste," You commented absentmindedly from behind him. "Is that really any way to start off a Sunday morning?" 
Alastor let out a distracted hum at your words. He hadn't really been paying you much mind. A lazy smile simply played on his face.
Just one body? Seems they missed the other two friends it had in there.
"Well, it takes talent to entertain, my dear. Something these hacks clearly lack," He said casually, waving a hand at the radio's direction. 
"And speaking of stiffs! We've got a fresh one today, folks—" The host's voice was chipper as it came from the radio.
Alastor sat a little straighter, as if on instinct.
"Darling, do you mind fetching my script?" Your husband spoke over the hack radio host. "Seems I might have forgotten it in our bedroom." 
"Not a problem, dear," You replied almost instantaneously. Your hand landed on his shoulder, giving it an affectionate squeeze before you left the room. 
Alastor stood up, cooly making his way towards the radio as he turned the volume down slowly. 
"Glue stuffed in his mouth, chilled off, and absolutely tattered by nails, people! Brutal new body found behind the local—not so secret—juice joint!" The radio continued, but Alastor's smile remained calm despite the gruesome news.
His eyes stayed at the doorway you left through, making sure you had actually gone.
There was no need to sully your little ears with useless chatter like this. You were much more use to him all oblivious and naive, so he'd prefer to keep you that way. 
When the radio host finally finished talking about his the most latest victim, Alastor turned the volume back up to how it was. He made his way back to the couch, hands gathering his script neatly into his hands from the top of his briefcase.
He chuckled to himself before calling out to you. "Never mind, dear! The little bugger was at the bottom of my case this entire time!" 
He wasn't the type to forget these things. He was always so organized, sometimes to a fault.
And you knew that.
And Alastor knew that you knew that.
But he wasn't worried. You'd never doubt him. Whatever pesky little thought you had related to him, you'll just brush off easily.
He'd made sure of that.
Alastor heard you playfully scold him, your soft laughter rung through his home.
"—I guess you can say he really nailed that Chicago overcoat!" The annoying little shit on the radio joked just as you entered the room.
Alastor spared it one quick glare before his sight fell on you once more. You didn't seem to care for the joke much, but your eyes did linger on the dials of the radio for a second too long Alastor thought.
"Does the radio seem a bit louder to you, Al?" You asked him.
Ah, he must have turned it back a tad bit too far.
He looked at you with faux confusion. "'fraid I don't know what you mean, dear. Why would it be louder?" He stood up, closing the briefcase in front of him and straightening out his collar. "But I do have to split now, darling, or the ol' big cheese would have my head."
Your eyes met his warm chestnut ones. Alastor could practically see the way you brushed away your silly concerns in your head, a soft smile once again gracing your lips. 
He knew you were confused as to why his boss supposedly needed him at work on a Sunday.
He knew you wanted to ask why.
He knew that, at least some part of you, didn't fully believe that he was headed off to the radio station. 
If you were smart you'd have listened to it.
But you were his wife. 
So you simply nodded in understanding, moving closer to where Alastor stood. You made to grab for the suit jacket that still hung on his arm but the tall man was quick to pull it high above your reach.
"Not so fast there, darling." He teased, smiling down at you.
"It's cold out, dear. I'll help you put your coat on," You insisted, small, delicate hands reached up for the jacket.
Alastor stepped back from you, briefly tapping his fingertip against your nose. "And who said I was in any hurry to cover up this lovely new shirt my wife got for me?" He teased, snapping the suspenders he wore against the crisp white shirt.
He simply adored it when he made heat color your soft cheeks. He loved seeing proof of his effect on you.
His eyes drifted to the clock behind you, his smile straining just a tiny bit when he realized what time it was.
He'd miss his mark if he wasted any more time here.
"In any case, darling, I really do have to dash," He smiled back at you, already heading towards the door before you could say anything else. "But do keep yourself free, baby. I'll be back before you know it." He shot a wink at you.
He grabbed his hat from the coat rack and plopped it neatly on his head, then he was out the door in a second. 
Alastor let out a short, tired breath.
Sometimes, he did find your love to be a bit tiring. But he supposed, at the moment, it was still worth much more than the hassle it caused him.
He hurriedly strolled down the street, smiling and greeting everyone that passed by him politely. His ego stroked just a little bit with every flustered dame.
He didn't care for any of them, but he never grew tired of knowing the charming effect he had on people.
Alastor tried to clear his head of you as he hopped into a taxi. He laughed as the cabby recognized him almost immediately, but he didn't pay the man any mind as he yapped about how much of a fan he was.
Instead, he found that his thoughts have annoyingly strayed back to you. He's found that you've been so persistently present in his mind lately.
One would think that sounded so romantic, that he was a cold man finally falling for a sweet little thing.
But in reality he was weighing his options.
You've always been so behaved, so meek.
He found you endearing, that much was true.
You were great company, after all. You loved the same music he did, kept up with his dancing, and sang so beautifully along whenever he tickled the ivory keys.
You dressed up to compliment his style, even if it wasn't to your comfort. Smiled at all the wretched people, even as they gossiped behind your back. Perfectly prepared and happily ate every dish he liked, even stranger ones you found hard to stomach.
Because you shaped yourself to be his partner. You did everything and anything that you could to gain his approval.
And that was indeed endearing. The lengths you went to, just to hear a simple praise from him.
Alastor used to wonder if there was ever a limit to it, but as the times flew by he realized you were just too happy to rewrite even your own logic just to stay by his side.
And it was also true that you were a brilliant cover.
As a taken man, there were much less people prying into his life as opposed to when he was an eligible bachelor. And no odd rumors ever spread about him thanks to how behaved you were.
People saw him as soft, gentle, caring. Because a violent, murderous, psycho could never keep a delicate little thing like you as his wife, could he?
Yes, you definitely had your perks. That much he already knew.
But you've been so restless lately. So oddly, insistent on being by his side more. 
He'd tried to talk it out of you. Whispered how he was so lucky that you weren't like other wives. How you trusted him and respected his space. How you didn't nag him like a terrible partner would.
And it worked...for a while.
Until you've been fixated on getting the darn basement door open, at least. Somehow, you had it stuck in your brain that opening that stupid lock would have proved your worth to him.
You've been visiting that mug of a shopkeep at the locksmiths so often that Alastor just simply had to get rid of him already. He returned the useless tools he sold you last time too of course. He didn't quite like others making a fool out of what was his.
Only he could do that.
The cab stopped by a rather classy bar, the driver letting out a low whistle, going on about how they also wished that they could live up the big life.
Alastor tipped him generously, bidding him a great day as he stepped out.
He tossed his jacket on quickly before he adjusted his bowtie in the reflective glass window of the building. This was, he thought, his second favorite part of it all.
For such a detached man, Alastor loved many things.
He loved meeting his victims for the first time in person. The thrill of so many eyes on him as he clasped their clammy palms in greeting.
He loved talking to them, watching their eyes light up as he mentioned what they wanted the most. That moment where he knew he had hit the nail on the head and found out exactly what made these scum tick.
He loved using it against them, luring them to a false sense of security.
And, his absolute favorite part, he loved dragging the sharp edge of his knife against the skin of their necks. The lovely shade of red bleeding down their stiffening bodies.
He just can't help but love—
"My darling?" A voice—your voice—rung out in the dark alley. 
There wasn't time. There was no time to hide the body, toss the knife, flee from the scene.
There was no time to come up a with a story, a lie, a cover.
Because you were right there, standing in the alley with him. His blood stained hands and the corpse by his feet plainly in your view.
Even with the blood smudged on the lenses of his glasses, he could see the fear in your eyes, the gears turning in your head as you tried to process the scene in front of you.
It's a real shame. Earlier today he had decided that you still had more purpose to serve him. That he could still put up with you. That he would still be able to stomp out whatever stubborn will riled you up lately.
Clearly that wasn't the case anymore.
"Now, now, dearest," He started, hand reaching out to you as he held the knife still in his hand.
Your feet moved, but to Alastor's shock you ran to him.
Your panicked eyes took in the violent red that stained the pristine white shirt as you took his outstretched hand in both of yours.
"We should go," You hurriedly whispered, fearful eyes met his confused ones. "You can't be seen here."
You tugged him along the streets, careful to keep yourself in front of him as you tried to hide most parts of him stained with red.
Alastor's eyes were wide, his long legs working on their own as he tried to understand what exactly was happening.
"Dearest?" He whispered to catch your attention. "I just chopped off a man, you know that, right?" 
Your steps didn't falter as you hurried along, but you didn't turn your head to look at him either.
"Yes," You responded. The tight knot against your throat kept you from saying anything more.
"I sliced his throat open," Alastor continued to prod more. "His blood is all over me, in fact."
You whip your head around in urgency. You meant to shut him up. You meant to warn him not to talk so loud, that you couldn't be too sure who could be around to overhear.
But when your fearful eyes met his calm, warm, sweet, ones you ended up swallowing against your dry throat. Adorning a shaky smile instead.
"And I'm sure you did it to keep yourself safe, dear." You said, although it seemed as though you were trying to convince yourself of that.
It was as if a light bulb lit up in Alastor's head. He finally understood what was happening. He fought against his own body to keep himself from smiling as he stared into your uncertain eyes.
"I knew you'd understand," He feigned a sigh. His hand, that was previously unresponsive in yours, curled its fingers to hold onto you. "I knew I would be safe with you, my darling wife."
Alastor noted the way your stiff shoulders slacked at his words. As if you were waiting for his praise; as if you were waiting for that little bit of confirmation to fully push away all those pesky, silly, little doubts you held.
As if you were begging to have the slightest bit of reason to cling onto, to prove that there was no cause to leave your spot beside him.
"If anyone asks," You said softly, your hand reached out to wipe away the little bit of blood on his cheek. "I'll tell them you came home early to me. You did promise that you would come back quickly, anyway."
Alastor smiled down at you, letting himself lean into your touch as you seemed to love it when he does. "I am so lucky that you love me, doll."
You continued to lead him down the streets, sticking to less lit areas as you did so.
Alastor couldn't stop the grin from spreading widely across his face.
Because you did love him. You loved Alastor with all your sanity it seemed, but he was, unfortunately, far too happy to take advantage of that.
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It was a huge weight off his shoulders really. 
Alastor enjoyed the hunt, the kill, but the clean up? Not so much.
While yes, he did enjoy tricking people into eating up his stories, misdirecting them this way and that, silently mocking how clueless they were. It was still such a pain to have to constantly make sure his stories were air tight. 
He didn't have to do that anymore, though. Not when all his darling wife had to do was smile shyly at people and hint that he was back home all night busy with more usual pleasures.
It wasn't even that hard to convince you to let him stay out late, hunt to his heart's content.
It was all just bad, terrible people. Scum of the earth. Dangers that could hurt you, or others. And Alastor, the dashing, selfless, secret knight in shinning armor was willing to dirty his hands if it meant keeping people safe. He'd taken on the burden so everyone else didn't have to.
Your husband, a great, tragic hero.
And besides, it's not like he asked you to kill someone. All you had to do was lie a little. Nothing grand, nothing elaborate—he wasn't so sure you'd be able to handle it after all—just smile, and hint, and spread a few insignificant white lies. 
It was easy enough, wasn't it?
And your little love for him did everything else. Your own lovesick mind fought your instincts without Alastor even doing much of anything else.
You convinced yourself so quickly that all this blood, all this violence, all this murder, just made your husband an even greater man.
Ah, he truly did love the way you loved him.
You were with him now down in the basement—Alastor conveniently finally figured out how to open the stubborn padlock—and if he was being honest, he never really imagined you joining him here.
Well, not alive anyway.
You watched him as he neatly packed the most latest body into a bag and burn the gloves he used during the act. Going through his simple routine to make sure he could continue to get away scot-free.
Alastor noticed how your eyes always averted from the corpses, insistent on staying on his form instead. He didn't really mind it, but oh did he enjoy that little spark of fear you worked hard to stomp down whenever your glance landed on a limb or two. 
He heaved the bag over his shoulder, before finally fully turning to you. "Well, let's get a move on, shall we, darling?" He smiled cheerfully, motioning with his arm for you to head up the stairs first.
You were glad to do so it seemed, you always were. You didn't have to watch your husband dispose of bodies, but Alastor found it rather cathartic how you've now started to cringe away from the basement door, after weeks of pestering him over opening it.
A little lesson, he thought. Well deserved. 
And look how behaved you were now again.
The walk to the nearby woods was uneventful. Silent. Routine.
Unlike the first time around he dragged you along. You kept wondering and wondering until you finally asked out loud how Alastor knew the streets so well. How he knew where to go where no one would see him. The man you saw him kill was the first one, wasn't he?
He laughed at your unsure smile, brushing your worries off with the flimsiest excuses. How he'd been home late so many times already because of work. How he just preferred to take the quieter roads so as to decompress from all his adoring fans—fans who weren't you.
And it was enough.
Because you foolishly trusted him. You wanted to believe him, and so you did.
Alastor hummed cheerfully as he continued to shovel dirt over his most recent victim. He was certainly far enough into the woods not to care too much about being overheard, anyway.
A sudden soft beeping noise joined his melody, and he looked down at his—rather expensive—watch.
"Would you look at the time! I hadn't realized it was already so late. Time surely flies when you're saving the world, right, darling?" He looked over his shoulder at your unsure form.
You stood hunched over, your back against a tree, and your arms wrapped around yourself, a fair distance from the man burying a body.
Your eyes avoided the hole in the dirt as you painted a strained smile on your face. 
Saving the world.
Alastor could practically see the way you tried to remind yourself that that is what your husband was doing.
"It's hard to keep track when you've got a lot do," You vaguely answer, choosing your words carefully.
It's not that you worried Alastor would do anything to you. But you were, unknowingly, cautious of any single thing that could trigger any more silly concerns within yourself.
Alastor hummed in response, his eyes staring at the mangled corpse he threw in the ditch. "They'll be looking for me at work if I don't show up soon, though." He thought out loud. "But I can't exactly leave this rotten stiff like this, can I?"
He sounded troubled. He looked troubled, with that wrinkle between his brow.
A good wife would soothe him.
A good wife wouldn't stand around watching her spouse do all the hard work.
He didn't need to say it though, not that he had any mind to. You heard his voice in your head regardless. 
Your timid, unsure voice spoke up. "I...I could stay behind and continue burying it?" It sounded like a question.
One that it seemed like you hoped the answer was no. 
Except you'd be a horrible wife for thinking that. You should be praying that he'd say yes.
After all, a good wife would do anything to help her husband.
Alastor froze for a second, his eyes catching yours from above his glasses before he adjusted them up his nose. 
Then you were rewarded with a smile.
"My darling wife, always so helpful," He cooed, walking towards you. He dropped the shovel to the ground and wrapped his arms around your waist, almost lovingly.
Alastor could feel how fast your heart beat in your chest, almost fighting to get out. "But I could never ask a lovely doll like you to do such a dirty job like this." He tsked as he looked down at you.
"I can handle it, my dear," You responded, eyes bright with stars at his praises. It was almost as if you'd forgotten what exactly it was you were agreeing to.
Alastor pretended to think for a moment, but his eyes caught sight of the watch on his wrist and decided he didn't exactly have time to enjoy playing with you more.
"Only if you promise not to get caught, my darling." He smiled down at you, and you quickly nodded, promising you'll do a good job and meet him at home.
He pressed his cold lips chastely against your forehead, and left you with a corpse in the woods to bury.
But it's just that, anyway. Nothing too much to ask for.
It's not like you killed him.
And he was probably a horrible person to begin with.
Right?
You brushed away the heavy, gnawing feeling, as you met the glassy unseeing eyes of the corpse in the ground.
Alastor surely knew what he was doing. And you loved him enough to do this simple thing to help with that.
Just as you shoveled in one patch of dirt to cover the man's eyes, you heard a loud gun shot echo through the early morning woods.
You jumped out of your skin, cold hands gripping the shovel as the sound rung out.
Your heart was at your throat as goosebumps littered your skin. 
Alastor.
You ran. You barely registered your own body moving until you felt the cold air whipping against your face as your legs carried you to where your husband went.
Worry. It all but consumed you, as your blood rushed loudly in your ears and your heart pounded.
Please be okay. Please be okay.
Please—
You didn't know what you were doing. You didn't recall it. You didn't feel any of it.
You remembered seeing your husband's body collapsed and bloodied on the forest floor.
You remembered seeing someone with a gun standing panicked over him. 
But no, you didn't remember when you ran at the culprit.
You didn't remember the feeling of stabbing the shovel into their side, nor the warmth of their blood as it splashed on your cold skin.
You didn't remember bashing the steel against their skull with all your might; the metal dented and morphed as it disfigured the man's face.
You didn't remember screaming until your throat was raw. You didn't remember the tears scrolling down your bloodied cheeks. You didn't remember the horrible, unbearably cold, ache in your chest.
You didn't remember staring down the barrel of a shaky gun.
You didn't remember dying.
All you remembered, was the feeling of Alastor's warm arms embracing you as he pressed his welcoming lips to your forehead. 
And how you knew you'd never feel it again.
At least, you didn't think you would.
You blinked in confusion as you stared up the man—thing?—that caught you in their arms like a bride.
"I guess someone ought to rewrite those wedding vows because death didn't seem to do us part!" It laughed. Its voice sounded as if you were merely listening to it from a radio.
No, wait. Sure the thing that caught you also laughed, but you could have sworn you heard a whole crowd do so as well. Strangely, almost like a laugh track.
It's sharp yellow teeth showed proudly as it grinned down on you, and you couldn't help but cringe away a tiny bit from fear.
What are you? You wanted to ask, but you knew better than to be blunt.
You wouldn't want those nasty paper folk to catch wind of Alastor's little wife being rude—
Except. Were you still his wife? Where was he anyway? Where were you?
The thing that held you laughed cheerfully as it gently set you down onto your own feet. "Darling, I will never get enough of how easy you are to read," The thing said, twirling it's cane—microphone?—in it's hand before it leaned on it to study you. 
You got a strangely familiar heavy feeling in your gut, but before you could think much of it, your arm was looped through its as it pulled you along to a shop window.
"It seems you're a tiny bit confused, my darling," It said with a bright smile. "It's alright, you weren't always the brightest bulb in the room, but you certainly made up for it with your passion." It chuckled, once again a laugh track following its words from seemingly nowhere.
You felt the tip of its microphone at your chin, tilting it so that you'd turn your gaze from him to the shop window.
You almost jumped away, like an animal not recognizing itself in the mirror.
It took you a minute to realize that you looked at your own reflection.
You even waved your hands around and tilted your head to make sure it followed your movements. To make sure this was real.
You looked nothing like yourself. Hell, you looked nothing human.
"Truthfully, I'm a little offended, dear." The thing beside you spoke up, now turning to his own reflection as he adjusted his bowtie and dusted off his red pinstriped suit. Something oddly familiar.
"It took me less than a second to recognize you, and you still seem to not even know who I am." It said, glancing at you from the corner of its bright red eyes.
Your gaze trailed up to the top of its red hair, seeing two small horns—at least that's what you thought they were. 
"The devil?" You asked cautiously, still confused. "Am I in Hell?"
It let out a hum at your response. "One of two. I suppose it's one of your better shots, my dear." It said.
It turned to face you, suddenly leaning down close, so as to have it's mouth right by your ear. Your body freezes on instinct as it spoke.
"Must I really bed you again for you to remember me, darling? Or would watching me bury another body be enough to jog your memory?"
You leaned back, only enough to catch a look at the thing's face. The knowing eyes that seemed so warm, so inviting, so charming, despite how monstrous they looked. The smile that seemed incapable of falling.
The familiar feeling that brewed in your gut.
"Alastor?" You asked, your now clawed hands reached up to caress his cheeks, and the thing—your husband—leaned into it. His eyes briefly closed.
"Took you long enough, really." He said, a joking exasperation in his tone. 
The thing—your husband, you had to remind yourself again—abruptly pulled away, his tone bright and cheery as he began to drag you along the streets with a heavy clawed hand on the small of your back. "Now enough of that! Time for more important business, darling!"
"Wait, Alastor? How? What?" You stammered, attempting to pull away to take a second to breathe and clear your head.
The hand that guided you slid to the side of your waist, pulling you tightly against it's Alastor's side. "Ah, my darling thing. Always so slow on the uptake." He shook his head as if he found it adorable. "We're in Hell, dear!"
The words rang loudly in your ears, your heart sinking to your stomach.
"And we have important business to take care of, yes indeed!" Alastor continued, not letting you process a single thought. "And for this, I'll need a partner I can trust! I'll need a partner who I can rely on! I'll need someone absolutely devoted to me." His eyes met yours but he saw how the alarm still outweighed his words.
His eyes narrowed, lowering his face abruptly to yours, to the point where you could feel his breath on your skin. He wanted your attention, all of it, and didn't really care all that much about what else you had to think about.
"Hellooo? Anybody home?" He joked, tilting his head as he saw your eyes come back to focus on him. "Ah, there you are, dear. Thought I lost you for a moment."
You supposed you could think things through later. Even if Alastor looked terribly different now, this was still your caring husband after all. And he needed something.
A devoted parter? Was that what he said?
"Well, you know I'm always here for you, Al. Whatever this plan of yours is." You tried to paint a smile on your lips as you always have.
"Oh, but how exactly do I know that?" Alastor stood back up to his full height, his head tilting as he smiled down at you.
Your brows furrow. You don't quite know how to tell him that. You swore you've done so much for this man, and yet when trying to think of an example, none came to mind.
You cooked and cleaned and looked pretty for him? Spent time with him? Loved him? Lie for him? Hide a body for him? That's just what a good wife would do.
But you supposed—you think—you killed for him.
"I avenged you?" It came out more of a question than an answer. "I killed for you."
Alastor didn't blink as he responded. "Then do it again."
Your mouth ran dry.
Had you heard him correctly? Was it a joke?
You waited for the laugh track to play but none came.
"What do you mean...exactly?" You asked with a nervous laugh, your lips straining to keep the smile.
"Kill for me again," Alastor casually said. He turned, eyes locking onto a random demon further down the street you walked along on. He raised his microphone to point at them, turning his head—unnaturally—to face you again.
"Like that one. I suppose he'll do." His tone was still as cheerful as ever.
You follow to where he pointed, eyes hesitantly looking at the creature. 
You quickly looked back up to meet your husband's gaze. That feeling was there again.
And you weren't sure if it was the fact that you just died, or the sheer lunacy of the request, but you finally realized what it was.
Doubt.
You doubted Alastor.
"Why?" Your voice was small. "Is he a bad person too?"
Alastor rolled his eyes. "Hell, if I know dear. I've only just seen him now. But we are in Hell, you know?" His shoulders casually shrugged as if he didn't really care. "So, maybe?"
You tried to hide the tremble in your voice. Tried to hide how you doubted him. "But I already killed for you. Why do I need to prove my devotion even more?"
"You killed out of passion, darling. It hardly counts." He laughed, as if you were being so silly.
You're left with even more questions when Alastor grabbed your wrist, and you melted into shadows before re-appearing right in front of your supposed victim.
"What the fuck?" They exclaimed, jumping back.
"Good day, good fellow! The name's Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, quite the pleasure!" Your darling husband stepped in front and forcibly shook the confused sinner's hand.
Alastor waved a hand in your direction to showcase you. "This right here is the Mrs., and she'll be killing you now."
You flinched as Alastor's voice further distorted.
Black tentacles wrapped around the now thrashing demon. And to your horror, you realized they came from your still-grinning husband's back.
His red eyes now consumed by black as he looked down at you expectantly.
"I...I don't have a knife." You avoided his eyes and looked away.
Alastor's head tilted. "You have claws now, dear."
You felt bile raise to your throat at the idea of ripping some stranger apart with your own hands.
"It'd be terribly difficult if these clothes get stained. Who knows where I could get new ones in...Hell." You had to spit the word out. "A-and, we're out in the open. Anyone can see us, there might be police here o-or their friends and family."
"You won't do it." Alastor cut off your rambling, more of a statement than a question.
You didn't meet his eyes.
You heard him sigh in dismay. "Well, it's alright, my dear. I suppose I knew your love for me had its limits."
Your eyes widen in shock, head whipping to look at him in panic. There was disappointment in his gaze as he looked away from you. Even as his smile remained painted on his lips, you could see how he seemed to shrink away from you.
"That's not true!" You half yelled, ignoring the struggling demon still held off the ground. "I'd go to the ends of the earth for you. I'd give up my life for you. I followed you to Hell, even! How could you even think that my love for you isn't boundless, Alastor?"
"Because it isn't." He sighed, his clawed hand gripped his microphone tight as he started to walk around you. "You say you'd do anything for me, that you'd give everything up for me. But I'm asking you for something so simple, and you couldn't even do that."
Your shoulders stiffen, you try to turn your head to follow him around. "This is not simple, Alastor." You said, a tinge of hysteria creeping into your voice. "You're asking me to kill someone for you, again."
"Wrong." Your husband said in a rather, sing-song manner. A jarring buzzer effect played at his words.
"I'm asking you to kill someone who is already dead." Alastor explained, barely paying mind to the sinner who now just looked very uncomfortable. "And you're already in Hell."
He looked at you as if you were stupid not to have put this together yourself. "He won't lose anything. You won't lose anything. There is nothing to give up with this tiny request of mine."
He stopped walking in front of you, but a greater deal of distance away now than when he started.
"And yet you can't even do that, my love."
You glanced down at your hands—your claws—in uncertainty.
That persistent feeling—doubt—swallowed you whole as you stood there willing your body not to move.
You should stop.
Run.
Never look back.
But instead your body moved toward the sinner; sharp, shaking, hands hesitatingly sinking into their flesh.
Once. Twice. Thrice. You couldn't be useless to your husband.
Their muffled screams sounded so far away from you, even as they yelled right by your ears.
You felt it.
Their skin giving way and the blood dampening your clothes each and every time you sank your soft, delicate, clawed hands into him.
The feeling of your long claws coming into contact and tearing through whatever bone or muscle stood in their way.
The awful, gut wrenching, guilt that swallowed your chest.
You hated it.
Alastor's hand clasps affectionately at your shoulder as he watched you cheerfully. Enjoying the conflict in your eyes as your heart died with every drop of blood that spilled from your hands.
"I think I may have just fallen so deeply in love with you, my dear wife." He cooed into your ear.
And your chest didn't flutter, or grow, or skip a beat like you had thought it would at those words.
But it's probably just the guilt, right?
It's just because so much has happened that you couldn't process anything.
Because you still loved Alastor, didn't you?
You loved him with your very soul, but he was a liar, and you may have finally started to see it.
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Taglist @lil-bexie / @mizukikyong / @amurtan / @fokrilove / @fairyv-ice 
373 notes · View notes
rottendollface · 4 months
Text
Pots of kinks.
Character: Jacob Alden.
Warnings: NSFW, female reader, established relationship, Jacob is older than reader, both protected and unprotected sex, slight BDSM, breeding kink, creampie, heavy obsessive behavior, oral sex (+ rimming), shibari, CNC, mention of drugging and keeping hostage, mention of psychological violence, voyeurism and photo shooting without consent, tantric sex, 18+.
Author's note: I made a list of my favorite kinks, and for some reason, I believed in myself and decided to draw the pots by hand. It was a mistake, and they look horrible, for what I apologize deeply.
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Discipline
Jacob isn’t a fan of discipline, mostly because he is the first from your couple to melt into a crying mess and beg for more. Due to this reason, he rarely acts as dominant, but if you ask him nicely, he will make your wish come true. Prepare for the worst: no touching, moaning, and lamenting is allowed for you. He loves the way chokers look on your neck, so he will put one on you for sure. Jacob will treat you like a doll: brush your hair, fix your outfit for you, and inspect your body. Starting by pinching at your nipples and cupping your breasts, then coming to your pussy. Nothing can be more sweeter than your attempts to keep a straight face and stay silent, restrained from clinging and showing any signs of pleasure, as the wet spot on your panties grows bigger. Jacob will do everything to make you fail: he will grope your supple meat, bend you down and finger fuck you. He can even mock you for being so needy and messy. Be sure, the game will end quickly, as his own arousing demands attention – it is impossible not to get overly excited at the way you bite your lips and your chest rises heavily.
Sexual frustration
Age difference
When Jacob is in the mood for edging, he will initiate a long, torturing foreplay. Kiss him the way you love while sitting on his lap and rubbing your clothed cunt on his bulge slowly, your arms stroking his chest. Whisper him your desires, listen to his while Jacob squeezes your ass, then his fingers spreading your leaking hole and brushing your entrance with fingertips… and forget about going further. Jacob will find something urgent to do and leave both of you excited and frustrated to have wild sex a couple of hours after.
Tantric sex
Jacob isn’t into age play and doesn’t pay much attention to the age difference in your relationship, but there is something spicy about being older and more experienced than you. Jacob likes to guide you, give you advice when you need help, and tell you about the things you didn’t know before. It doesn’t have a physical impact, but pleases him psychologically to be your rock.
Roughness
You introduced this way of intimacy to Jacob. You assured him that it starts far before actual sex and includes intimate talks and spending time together. Not to say he understands it completely, but Jacob likes everything that means being together. At first you are having fun cooking, then watching a film in each other’s embrace. Soft touches, his fingers trailing down your hand, while you leave lazy kisses on his cheek. Jokes and a pleasant conversation, full of nice things to tell. An initiating kiss, your fingers curling into his hair, as the atmosphere gets heated, and Jacob presses you to his body to be closer to you. It grows into sensual, gentle love making: you are lying on your side in Jacob’s embrace, one of his hands holding your throat and other is resting behind your head, giving it support, while he is pounding into you leisurely. You turn your head to him, leaving messy kisses across his face until he finds your lips with his and involves you into a one long kiss. This tranquil sessions can last for hours until the awaited climax.
Sometimes Jacob has that special mood, when lowest forms of attraction take over him. Instead of usual lovemaking he goes straight to destroying your cunt in missionary and your whorish moans only encourage him to continue. He grabs your throat violently and tightens his grip with each thrust, feeling your cunt spasming on his length harder than usual. Jacob adores the way your nails claw into his scalp and skin of his back, as you cling to him. For a next round he will take you from behind, watching with extra pleasure how fat on your ass jiggles every time his hips buck into yours. Jacob will leave slaps on it too and stop only when your ass gets this beautiful reddish color.
Breeding
Expect him to be ashamed of his behavior during aftercare. Probably, he will ask to forgive him for being rude with you, in worse scenarios he will be dying silently, going over and over his words and actions in his head.
Oral
Jacob lives for that. Just one thought of his potent cum stretching your pussy makes him lose all his composure. He wants a classic family with two kids and a housewife, and you fit both roles of caring mother and housekeeper perfectly. He prefers to go on you without a condom, yet you are the one who keeps insisting on protection, because your gynecologist says that you can get pregnant easily. Just because he loves you, Jacob doesn’t want to make you feel stressed in a relationship with him, so he is waiting patiently. For now, he is content with what he has – rare creampies are allowed, when your pregnancy chances are low. Jacob cums so much the biggest part of his seed just oozes out of you down to your ass, leaving beautiful wet traces of his cum and your wetness mixed together. When he is in a kinky mood, he plunges your hole with his fingers to prevent cum from spilling, and finger fucks you until his dick gets erected, only to make a new load inside your womb.
You don’t even have to ask for Jacob to eat you out – he is eagerly asking you for this himself. He loves your holes, and both of them will get attention. Your little clit begs to be caressed with his lips and tongue, and who Jacob is to refuse it. His method is simple, yet effective: licking from your hole up to your clit. He spares some time to circle your opening and tease it with short licks, before letting his tongue inside you. After he is done with your leaking hole, he kisses his way up to your clit and licks it with a tip of his tongue only, before sucking on it and munching it with lips. Don’t be shy and grab his hair, press his face harder to your pussy – he loves some erotic roughness coming from you. You got the prettiest asshole, tight and extremely sensitive, so he can make you cum by eating your ass in seconds, yet he prefers a longer way: while his tongue explores your asshole, his fingers toy with your pussy, making you an absolute mess. Once his fingers plunged inside your soft cunt and his mouth leaves lewd kisses on your ass at the same time, you feel dizzy and your mind can think only about this lecherous torture.
Bondage
Things get different when it is your turn to please him. Jacob can’t think straight (or better say, he can’t think at all) when his cock is buried deep inside your throat and your tongue is sliding along, giving pleasurable pressure on frenulum and just a little stimulation at the tip. You change between deep throating and sucking swiftly, your hands stroke his shaft, as your tongue swirls on the tip. All he can do is blubber your name, while his hands are pressing on your head gently. You can feel Jacob’s approaching climax and you let his dick out of your mouth and stop all the stimulation right before it, changing focus of your attention to his lips instead. You almost fuck his mouth with your tongue, licking and biting at his lips before slipping into his hot mouth in and out. Your tongue caresses and plays with Jacob’s, your saliva mixes together, as you break the kiss and shove your wet tongue into his open mouth, letting saliva flow down. Then you lick his lips playfully and kiss Jacob again. His moans add nice vibration to the kiss. Your hand reaches his leaking cock and you go down again to bring him what he wants the most.
Jacob is a big fan of bondage, and his skill may surprise you. He has always wanted to make a shibari themed photoset, so he will ask for your assistance. Jacob makes tight knots and uses the best shibari ropes to make sure they won’t hurt you and will be comfortable to your skin. In his head, he already has an outfit and location design; makeup, hairstyle, and accessories are up to you. He will make a corset from ropes on your chest, tie your wrists in a prayer gesture, then bind your arms and hang them up, spread your legs, and fix them with a row of knots. His gratitude and appreciation to you for showing interest in his hobby are endless. If you start to feel uncomfortable, he will stop everything and untie you while comforting you. Jacob wants nothing more, but to make it enjoyable and fun for both of you.
Collar & Leash
If you are ready to spice things up, Jacob will bring it to the bed. Nothing extreme hides behind a kinky façade: he just ties your hands to have control over them. Your physical restriction makes his dick harder and sends animalistic impulses down his spine. Breeding you with your hands tied and fixed above your head makes Jacob cum even more – his seed is leaking out with his dick still inside, as no more room is left for it.
CNC
Jacob is blessed to see both of them on your pretty neck. He cums instantly just by pulling the leash and bringing you closer to him. Tight black band of leather on your delicate neck and a leash, contrasting with your skin, is a sight of pure erotic. You were created to feed his demons: Jacob usually doesn’t let dark fantasies roam inside his head, but when he has you all exposed, left with nothing but a collar and leash on your body, he can’t control this voluptuous fever. His favorite way of using it is when you take a condom inside your mouth and put it on his cock by using your throat, as Jacob gradually pushes a leash.
Obsession
Jacob has a shameful fantasy that he will always keep as a secret. He is against violence and degradation, but not in this case. This absolutely horrifying thought appeared in his head since the first time he met you. Struck by your beauty, Jacob wished to have you no matter what. He fantasizes of inviting you to his place and then drugging you to lock you in his basement and take advantage of your sleeping body. He imagines his hands groping your breasts and plump flesh of your waist, touching you everywhere he wants. Jacob wishes to corrupt you, force his dick inside your unprepared cunt and just rape you. Thrusting into you at a sinister pace, pulling you on his dick so hard it hurts for both of you. If you wake up he will give you a drink that will make your head clouded, refuse – and he will pour it down your throat himself. Your cries and laments to stop are the best aphrodisiac to him. Jacob is afraid one day he will lose his mind and let that demonic part take over him, but that fantasy of you unconscious on a cold dusty basement floor with your legs wide open and drool leaking down your face excites him. You are already perfect, but Jacob will finish your transformation into a pure perfection by breaking you and making you an obedient doll who worships him.
Jacob loves you. By that he means that you are a center of his universe and the reason he wakes up every morning. He can’t stay apart from you, he can’t breathe without you. When you are with him everything gets easy. No one can take you from him. Jacob treasures and protects you like a zealot, he knows your every habit and can predict your behavior out to the last detail. He knows everything about you: your cycle, names of all your family members, names, addresses and phone numbers of your friends, and a lot of other stuff that you probably don’t know about your darlings and even about yourself. Jacob is happy that you are dating him: he does everything to earn your love and make you fall for him more and more with every day. You belong to him and you will stay with him forever – your consent is wished, but not required. Try to leave and no one will ever find you: Jacob will lock you inside his house and chain you to his bed. He will destroy you mentally until you decide to stay with him voluntarily.
Voyeurism
Jacob tries not to be clingy, but he needs to hear you saying that you love him everyday. During sex he will ask you to tell him that you belong to him. He likes to mark you as his: matching outfits, accessories for couples, sharing his clothes with you, literally everything to make other people know, that you are his.
Jacob has a telescope and fancy camera lenses that he uses for illegal reasons. You are too carefree and neglect using curtains, so sometimes Jacob can see you playing with yourself or walking naked. You will never notice him watching you, as he is the best at hiding his strange hobby. Jacob knows how to make you cum in seconds by watching you doing so to yourself: you liked stuffing your cunt with your fingers and pressing them close to your crotch so they will rub your clit while you are pounding into your hole. He isn’t only watching you, Jacob is making pictures and recording videos he can use later. Ecstatic shivers are running down Jacob’s spine every time he watches you through the camera, as he massages bulge on his pants. It is a unique secret bond only you and him share.
While spending time together, Jacob will watch you constantly. He can’t get enough of you: he will observe you eating, stretching your limbs, scratching your head… nothing will escape his sight. Expect him to peep on you while changing your clothes or having a shower at his place. Jacob is all-seeing, and when you think you are safe from his careful gaze, know that he is still watching you.
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riverwalsh · 3 months
Note
nicole my love !
where do you stand on brat tamer!frank …… would he be quick to react? grabbing your jaw after you give him attitude, raising his eyebrows at you with a warning “watch the mouth, yeah?” in that thick raspy voice? or is he rubbing a warm hand in circles on your lower back, quietly muttering a “don’t gotta act out for attention, baby.” i need 2 knooooow 🤗
— princessbrunette ♡
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an; thank u for the request princess, sorry it took so long but i love u dearly 🤍 i always seem to take your requests in a little crazy direction so just bear with me (also note to everyone please ignore the verb tense changing like halfway through it turned into something of a drabble and i don’t feel like fixing it. so enjoy.)
cw; female!reader, mentions of blood/violence, cockwarming. that’s about it.
18+ only mdni
i think frank would be pretty good at reading you. he knows what makes you itch; like when he leaves his boots, carelessly splattered with the blood of a lowlife (or three) that will surely be named in tomorrow morning’s newspaper, strewn haphazardly on the living room floor for you to trip over when you get home. or, when you ask him about said lowlife(s) and he brushes you off, mumbling something about how it doesn’t matter anyways, and they got what was coming to them, before disappearing for the third night that week. it makes you feel so goddamn lonely.
it was these things, among others of course. sometimes frank castle was just so goddamn stubborn it made your skin crawl.
buuuut, frank also knows what makes you feel better. knows how to handle you when you start letting your irritation show. he’d just accept your little quips and snide remarks for a while. let you take out just a little bit your pent up frustration out on him—i mean, he kinda deserves it sometimes, right? he knows this, you know this. and yet, he knew exactly when to make it right.
“fuck you, frank,” you muttered as you frantically pulled your shoes on, already late for work. everything had already gone wrong for you that morning—your first alarm didn’t go off, your shower was lukewarm at best, and you burnt your last bagel. and now, as you were ready to leave, frank suddenly decided he wanted to talk.
“whoa, whoa, whoa, hey.” his tone was firm, a hand coming out as if in warning. as annoyed as you got, you hardly ever swore at frank. “what’s wrong with you?”
there he is.
“what’s wrong with me?” you asked incredulously, grabbing your keys off the hook. “wha- what’s wrong with you?! you’re fucking gone almost every night this week, i’m getting calls from karen practically every five minutes-”
“she’s just-“
“don’t you fucking dare play dumb like you didn’t ask her to check in on me,” you cut him off quickly, pointing an accusing finger at him. you knew how you were being but you couldn’t help it at this point. “i can handle myself, frank. maybe if you just told me what the fuck was going on i could just-”
“you could just what? hm?” his voice was quiet, but commanding. his arms crossed in front of him as he postured intimidatingly toward you, eyebrows raised in a silent challenge to keep talking. your mouth snapped shut immediately, heart jumping as you lowered your hand that was still hovering mid-air.
you swallowed thickly, putting your keys into your bag with less of a rush, suddenly more careful of your movements. he watched you thoughtfully for a moment, before slowly making his way toward you, boots heavy as they met the hardwood below. you could do nothing but stare at him as he came closer, irritation suddenly the furthest thing from your mind.
“you, uh…” he paused, not for lack of words but simply dramatics. “you think you’re pretty tough, that right?”
“i never said that,” you replied quickly, shaking your head and averting your gaze. his hand was quick to grab your chin, forcing your head up to look him in the eye.
“‘i can handle myself.’ ain’t that what you just said?” his voice was low and rough, like he’d just swallowed sandpaper. your breath came out trembling, and when you didn’t answer fast enough for his liking, his grip grew tighter, rattling you a bit. “you answer me when i’m talkin’ to you, girl.”
“y-yes, that’s what i said,” you answered, voice wavering slightly. his gaze was piercing, eyes searching yours for a moment before releasing his grip, leaving you stumbling backwards into the front door.
“everything i do is for you,” he starts, adam's apple bobbing as he reaches out to place a more gentle hand on your arm, thumb rubbing your skin in soft circles. his eyes are still ablaze, and the dissonance makes you shiver. “everything, everything i fuckin’ do out there is to make sure none of my shit makes it back home to you, you got that? i’m not gonna let anyone lay a finger on you.” you find yourself nodding, mindlessly, letting his words soothe the irritation that had built up inside you. his calloused fingers find their way back to your face and he rubs his thumb across the plush of your lower lip, gauging the intensifying rise and fall of your chest.
he knows you. he knows what you need.
he nods almost curtly in understanding, letting his touch linger a bit longer just to feel the warmth of your shaking breath. “now you watch your goddamn language when you’re speakin’ to me, sweetheart. go on.” he jerked his head toward the door before turning around and heading for the kitchen without so much as another glance in your direction. “you’re gonna be late.”
you were in fact a few minutes late to work, but you were exactly on time getting home, that’s for sure. maybe even a few minutes earlier than usual.
and frank was waiting for you, of course he was. it was barely five minutes from walking through the door before he had you completely stripped, sitting obediently still in his lap as you wept into his shoulder.
“easy,” he cooed, squeezing your hips to keep you from rocking too much. “you quit all that cryin’ and start talking.”
your tears darkened his shirt as you clung to him helplessly, stuffed full of his thick cock and intoxicated by his voice.
“i-i just wan’you to talk to me, frank,” you cried, grasping weakly for purchase on his shoulders. “you get so distant and push me away…but i just wanna be helpful to you.” your voice was quiet and almost conspiratorial where you whispered into his neck, pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses into his warm skin. “i just-
“hey, hey, hey,” he cut you off, grabbing your neck to pull you back and look into his darkened eyes. his voice was rough with restraint—it was nothing short of a miracle he was holding it together, what with you clenching around him desperately with every breath. “none of that. you wanna know how you can help me?”
you nodded fervently.
“by stayin’ your ass right fuckin’ here,” he grit, eliciting a pathetic moan from you as he drew you in impossibly closer. “by wakin’ up in the mornin’ and goin’ to work like you have been. by doin’ what i say, when i say it. by trustin’ that everything i do out there is for you, it’s for you.” he punctuated his words with a press to your lower back, guiding you to roll your hips against him slowly. “that’s how you can help me. you got that?”
“yes, frank, yes, yes,” you whined, letting his words placate you as you began to move against him with more eagerness. “i’m sorry, i’m so so sorry-”
“shh, shh, shh, you don’t apologize,” he soothed, his voice strained, blunt nails digging crescents into your plush skin. “you don’t apologize to me, girl, you just take what you need baby, you take it from me, yeah? you take it and then we can talk, baby, just fuckin’- oh, fuck- you just take it-”
-
so yeah, frank knows how to handle you and your bratty attitude just fine.
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dante-mightdie · 10 months
Text
thinking about mafia!simon… minors dni!
mafia!simon x female!reader
pt. 2 here!
warnings: little bit nsfw, slight illusion to sex at end, mentions of violence and weapons, mentions of illegal activity, simon gets jealous
i was gonna write nsfw but couldn’t be bothered but let me know if you want it and I’ll write it 👀
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thinking about you being his cute little assistant…
simon wearing black slacks and black button up shirts…
silver rings and… hear me out… a silver chain…
arms, chest and legs are covered in tattoos…
you organise all of his meetings, make sure his files are organised, arrange his flights and hotels when he needs to travel for ‘business’…
owns a club where he conducts shady meetings in the vip lounge…
still wears the mask all the time, only a handful of people have seen his face…
people are terrified of him… you’ve heard all the stories of all the nasty and violent things he’s done to people who fuck him over…
you’ve watched him petrify his men when they come to him with problems…
cussing them out and screaming at them for being so damn incompetent and to get the fuck out of his face before he pulls his brass knuckles out…
imagine… simon… with brass knuckles…
simon has never been unkind to you… not once…
even when you make mistakes and you look at him with glossy doe eyes, apologising profusely…
he just gives you a gruff, “s’alright, lovie. didn’t do it on purpose did ya?”
how could he ever get mad at his pretty assistant who always makes sure he has eaten and makes his tea exactly how he likes it…
how could he ever get mad when you smile so softly at him when you greet him everyday…
giving him a gentle, “good morning, mr riley…” everyday whilst he slyly checks out your ass in the tight black skirt you were wearing…
so how else is he supposed to react when his head bartender, johnny ‘soap’ mactavish begins flirting with you every time you stop by the club to give something to simon…
is he supposed to stand there like some sort of idiot whilst soap talks about how pretty your hair looks today, and how you should let him take you out for a drink sometime, or when he looks down your shirt with little to no shame…
he’s fuming when he realises that you didn’t jot down any of the important notes from his meeting because you were too busy smiling and blushing at that idiot behind the bar…
so he decides to call you over to his penthouse for a ‘job chat’ as he called it…
you use your key to get into simon’s big luxurious home and you see him sat on his sleek black sofa, legs spread wide with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of bourbon in the other…
“good evening, mr riley… I hope I’m not late-“…
“sit.” is all simon says when he cuts you off…
you sit down in silence and watch as simon finishes his drink and stands to pour himself another…
“I like to think I’m a fair boss when it comes to you, don’t you think, sweetheart?” he asks
“of course, sir… I hope I haven’t-“
“I don’t make you work unreasonable hours, I make sure you’re driven to and from work, I pay you well, I’ve never yelled or been disrespectful towards you. Is that fair to say, love?”
You nod your head, gulping nervously…
“so, how do you think it feels when my assistant decides to ignore her duties to flirt with another man?”
you look up at simon through your lashes… you can’t tell if he’s jealous or genuinely upset with you…
“mr riley… please, forgive me… I’ll work extra hard to prove-“
simon walks up to you, gripping your jaw tightly to get you to stop talking…
“I think there’s another way that pretty little mouth can apologise to me, don’t you, lovie?”
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vigilante-3073 · 4 months
Text
Hold Me
Bucky Barnes x Female Reader
PART 1
Summary: If you had the chance to save the one you love, would you take it?
Reader has the power to Teleport
TW: Angst, violence, blood, guns, denied feelings, love-hate relationship, super-soldier serum.
Musical recommendations: Can You Hold Me? By NF (Feat. Britt Nicole).
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Bucky sat on the leather couch in his therapist's office in silence as she searched through his phone. He usually enjoyed the silence, but today it made him want to crawl out of his skin. Bucky turned his head towards the window, the sky was dark and it had started to rain outside. His bright blue eyes followed the raindrops dutifully as they rolled down the glass, Bucky had always liked the rain.
"Who is Y/N?" Doctor Raynor asked, looking up from his cellphone screen.
"My roommate," Bucky stated.
"You never told me you had someone living with you," She said.
"Because it doesn't matter," Bucky said. He couldn't stand Y/N and he certainly didn't want to take up a second of his therapy session talking about her.
"The two of you talk quite a lot. Almost every day by the looks of it... How did you meet this person?" Doctor Raynor asked, pressing the power button on Bucky's phone. She held out the phone to him and he took it, setting it down on the couch beside himself.
"Steve," He said, looking down at his hands.
"Do you know why Steve introduced you to them?" Doctor Raynor questioned, picking up her pen.
Bucky sighed, shifting in his seat, "No," He said.
"Can you tell me about Y/N?" She asked.
Bucky could feel himself getting frustrated, "I'm not here to talk about her," He snapped.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow wordlessly.
"Why do you even care?" Bucky questioned, sinking back into the couch.
"Because you do," She replied.
"I don't care about her. She has made my life hell since the day I met her," Bucky said.
"How has she managed that?" Doctor Raynor asked, scribbling notes down into her book.
Bucky huffed, "She's just annoying," He shrugged.
"How so?" The Doctor pushed, not looking up from her notes. Bucky wanted to toss that notebook across the room.
"Can we talk about something else?" He asked desperately.
"Nope," She stated, looking up at him with a small smile. Bucky knew that there was no getting around her.
He sighed heavily, folding his hands in his lap, "She's always checking up on me... Texting, calling, forcing me into stupid conversations about my day and making terrible jokes," He listed.
"Does it feel overwhelming? Having someone check up on you, I mean," Doctor Raynor asked.
Yes. Yes, it does. Bucky thought bitterly.
"It feels like I'm being smothered... I know she means well, but it's just too much," Bucky stated.
"Have you told Y/N about how you've been feeling?" The Doctor asked.
Bucky sighed again, "No," He said plainly.
"Why not?" Doctor Raynor questioned.
"I don't want to hurt her feelings," Bucky muttered. And it was true, she was a good person, just overbearing sometimes.
"Huh, sounds to me like you care about her," Doctor Raynor said, closing her notebook.
"I don't," Bucky stated.
"Whatever you say," She smiled.
...
"Bucky!" Y/N cried, body colliding with his as she knocked him out of the way when the gunshot rang out.
The pair hit the suddenly sandy ground, rolling down the beach.
Bucky landed on his back with her body on top of him. He squinted up at the bright sky above them.
The leaves of palm trees rustled in the warm breeze, a few seagulls flying by overhead as the sound of ocean waves crashed against the shore.
"Where the hell are we?" Bucky asked, turning his head to see a large body of water with waves gently lapping at the shore.
They certainly weren't in Latvia anymore.
"I don't know," Y/N said, pushing herself up onto her knees with a grimace. She looked down at herself, "Shit," She muttered, Bucky looked up at her.
Y/N pressed her hand against her stomach, pulling it back to see her palm coated in blood.
Bucky sat up, looking down at her, "We need to get you to a hospital. Do you think you can portal us back?" He asked.
"Yeah, I-I think so," She stood up with Bucky's help, keeping her hand pressed against her stomach.
Y/N held onto his arm, closing her eyes as she tried to focus.
Nothing happened.
Y/N opened her eyes, "Bucky, it's not working," She said shakily, her eyes glossing over with tears.
"You can do this," Bucky assured, squeezing her arm reassuringly.
"Bucky, I'm scared," She mumbled, a single tear breaking loose and rolling down her cheek.
Bucky quickly wiped it away with his thumb, dread beginning to settle in his stomach when he noticed how pale she was getting, "I know. But you need to stay calm right now," He said.
"I don't want to die," She whimpered, gripping onto him desperately.
"You are not going to die. I won't let that happen, alright?" Bucky assured, cupping her cheek in his palm. More tears spilled down her cheeks as she nodded.
"I need you to focus, sweetheart. Get us back," Bucky instructed.
Y/N would be going into shock soon.
Bucky watched her as she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. He could feel her trembling in his hold.
Nothing happened.
Y/N opened her eyes again, "I can't do it," She mumbled tiredly, knees buckling underneath her.
Bucky stepped forward, catching her and gently lowering her down to the sand below.
He knelt beside her, "I need you to keep your eyes open, doll," Bucky instructed. His heart started to race as panic set in.
Y/N was going to die right in front of him.
"Stay with me," Bucky ordered, taking her hand. Her body slumped against his chest, "I'm sorry," She mumbled.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for, sweetheart," Bucky assured, desperately trying to keep his emotions in check. He couldn't afford to break down right now, he needed to be strong for her.
"Can you hold me, please?" Y/N asked softly. Bucky nodded, carefully maneuvering her body into his lap with his arms holding her securely against his chest.
Her tired eyes stared out at the glistening ocean, "I certainly picked a beautiful place to die," She mumbled.
"You're not gonna die," Bucky choked out.
"It's okay. At least I'm with you," Y/N said softly.
She may have been a pain in the ass.
She may have been annoying at times.
But Bucky needed her.
Somewhere buried underneath all his fraudulent hate, he had fallen in love with her.
Bucky looked down at her as her grip on his hand went loose. Her eyes drifted shut, head leaning against his chest.
"Hey, Y/N. Y/N, open your eyes. Come on," He called shakily, tilting her head up to see her face. Bucky rubbed his thumb across her cheek, jostling her body in his arms, "Open your eyes," He pleaded, tears gathering in his eyes.
He could hear her heartbeat slowing in her chest. He looked up at the ocean, feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Bucky knew that he couldn't save her on his own, but he'd be damned if he left her alone to die. His body shook as he sobbed, cradling her in his arms.
Bucky looked over as something reflective caught his eye in the sand.
A syringe of blue serum.
It must have gotten swept up with them when Y/N portalled them out.
The serum could save her life or kill her, but she was going to die without treatment regardless.
Bucky reached over, grabbing the serum from the sand. The serum would give her a fighting chance and that was good enough for Bucky.
He stabbed the syringe into her thigh, watching the blue serum move from the vial and into her bloodstream.
For now, he would sit on the beach and hold her in his arms while watching the tide roll in.
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