#and then i got to thinking about it again because i saw the poll. creep is much closer to my answer but this is my full response to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bonnibuckets · 1 year

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— party boyfriend | leon kennedy

700 follower special!!

pairing: bbf leon x afab reader

warnings: smut! brother best friend leon, a little ooc leon, party setting, mentions of SA!, mention of alcohol!, pet names, degradation, praise, oral (m receiving), size kink, rough, almost getting caught, unprotected sex :0, creampie, public sex, leon saying no and stop a few times

synopsis: you get grabbed on at a party and leon is there to comfort you

wc: 2.9k+

note: this poll won so y’all get smut but for the ppl who wanted fluff I PROMISE NEXT FIC WILL BE!! this is also based on this audio, so credit to them for this🙏 (i didnt follow it down exactly to a t but it comes close) also now finishing this i feel guilty posting this bc it’s not 100% original but i hope y’all like it nonetheless

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

You heard the music blaring in the house and your head was slightly dizzy. You walked through the hallway and felt someone’s hand grab your ass. You immediately turned and slapped the hand away— some random creep “Got a fat ass” he smirked, and you felt sick to your stomach “fuck off” you huffed.

You wanted to punch him in the face, but you opted to just walk out of the house to get some fresh air to escape. You heard the creeps' insults as you walked away, but you ignored them. You opened the door and walked down the steps, you didn’t know what to do so you called your brother's best friend— Leon who is also at this stupid party.

“Hey?” you heard the ambiance of the party and could barely hear Leon, “Can you meet me outside please?” “What? Okay yeah, I’ll be there” He gruffed before hanging up. It took a few minutes before you heard the door open and close “What, what’s up?” Leon said a little annoyed— probably because you ruined his fun but you didn’t care right now.

“I need to talk to you,” you said and Leon rolled his eyes “I’m pretty sure I can guess what this is about, last time we came to one of these we kissed” You shook your head trying to explain but Leon cut you off “sure it happened I was drunk you were drunk, shouldn’t have been but we kissed” you felt a little angry at the fact he wouldn’t let you speak but you sighed and continued to listen.

“It happened, I get it okay you know, but I’m friends with your brother I’m not doing that again” you groan “No, it’s not about that! Some guy fucking grabbed on me,” you said frustrated. “Oh…gross, who was he?” “I don't know some fucking creep,” you said looking down.

“Well I'm sorry, just don't tell your brother, though he’ll never let you come to another one of these again” he chuckles and you raise an eyebrow at that, why would he care? “Why not?” you joked “Because you’re cool to hang out with I guess,” Leon said a little awkwardly, “So why did you drag me out here?” he questioned and you felt your cheeks burn.

“I don't know I was thinking maybe if the guy saw you with me he’d leave me alone” You shrugged now feeling a little stupid admitting your plan out loud. “Oh, so now if he gets hella trashed he’ll come to beat me up?” he laughed, “No!” you said panicking a little as Leon shook his head “Nah just saying you know telling you how it feels” you groan and roll your eyes.

“I’m just messing, it’s cool we can stay out here for a little while until you want to go back inside and drink or dance,” he said sitting on the steps and you followed. “Can we drink together?” you asked smiling, “No absolutely not, we cannot drink and dance together” he argued and you felt a little hurt but you scooted closer, “What are you doing?” he said a little shocked you ignored him and leaned your head on his shoulder.

He groaned “Fine. You can lean on me to “sell” the image I guess” You smirked and felt his warmth “Put your arm around me, it’ll sell it more” you teased wanting more. Leon cocked an eyebrow “No, I am not doing that” You frowned and begged “Pleaseeee?” he rolled his eyes. “Don’t frown at me from down there” he laughed.

You gasped “Down there?!” I’m not that fucking short asshole. “Yes down there” he laughed “You have to look up at me when talking, when we kissed I had to lay on the floor-“ you cut him off and punched his arm. “Ouch- okay okay” he laughed before wrapping an arm around you, “just 1 arm okay, I gotta look cool” he smiled.

“What if I want to get laid tonight, you’d ruin the chance” you laughed, he couldn’t be serious “Like someone would want to” he looked a little offended “Um yeah some girl totally would” he rolled his eyes.

You always had a little crush on Leon but you never acted on those feelings fully, the only time you did was once when drunk and Leon doesn’t count it. This time was different. You both were sober and you felt a little confident, you wanted him so you teased him.

“Why don’t we?” He looked at you like you were crazy. “Um, because I’ve known your brother for my whole life, and I'd rather him not catch us,” he said shaking his head and looking off into the street and you laughed, catching us kissing?” you smiled.

“No im not worried about kissing,” he said turning to look at you before leaning into your ear and whispering “im worried about him catching me fucking rearranging you” You immediately felt your breath hitch and your whole body heat up at his words as he pulled away and watched you get all flustered. Your heart filled with hope— maybe he felt the same about you, just maybe.

“And besides he’s inside right now,” Leon said pointing to the door, you both looked back “I don't think he can see outside the glass though, wait,” he said getting up and you followed “I don't think anyone can see for that matter,” he said looking inside.

He turned back and it looked like he had a revelation, “you, you just used this to get me close to you huh?” he said towering over you, you smirked— maybe a little but it wasn’t entirely your plan but you decided to bite the bullet and palm him through his jeans. You knew it would change the subject but also to let him know you wanted him, not like that bullshit drunk kiss.

He immediately reacted and looked down at you, “You cannot do that.” Leon let out a shaky breath, he looked at the door and furrowed his brows looking back at you “I think he’s coming you have to stop it” he said grabbing your wrist and pushing you into the door. Your breath hitched and you felt your heart beating out of your chest as you swallowed your spit dryly.

He pulled it away and looked at you sternly “You cannot be doing that understand? You’re being fucking bad” he said sucking his teeth, you felt yourself getting slick and you smiled looking up at him trying to make him break. “Fine” You smiled and turned around to look inside— pressing your ass against him. You chuckled and got onto your tiptoes and peered inside, “Oh yea? Gotta look inside, and rub that little ass on me huh?” he said, sucking in a breath.

“Gotta get on your tiptoes for that princess?” he teased and you felt your cheeks burn and you immediately turned around setting your feet flat, you looked down and saw his bulge. You smiled feeling beyond confident and he looked down to see what you were looking at and he practically read your mind, “Yes yes I’m hard” he tried to brush it off as if it was nothing, but you wouldn’t let him get away that easily.

“Why?” you smiled, of course, you knew why but teasing Leon was too much fun. “because you’re fucking gorgeous— Jesus okay, but no we cannot I’ve known your brother way longer and our friendship will last longer than any orgasm,” he said shaking his head trying to reason with you.

“Your dick says otherwise” you smirk, “yes okay but that’s not a valid point,” he said looking around to see if anyone was noticing but it was pitch black. “But I need you Leon,” you say squeezing your thighs to try and get any friction. His face immediately changed and you could tell you were breaking him, “huh, really now..how much?” he asked cautiously.

“So fucking bad, I’m dripping,” you said trying to press your body against him, he gently pushed you away “Okay okay— sorry but we cannot be doing this, absolutely not your brother is inside that house, so no” you felt frustrated and this was going nowhere so you decided to spice it up “fine, I’ll just go back inside,” you said turning around but Leon grabbed you “no don't just go back inside the creep is probably looking for you,” he said pulling you back.

“Then what do you want me to do?” you said turning back around, you knew if you put enough pressure on Leon he’d crack “Look- fuck I don’t know okay,” he said before you both heard footsteps and the door handle jiggled. Your heart dropped and you both panicked and immediately ran to the side of the house, Leon grabbed you and pulled you as fast as he could and covered your mouth with his hand “Shutupshutp just shut the fuck up” he whispered yelled.

“Sis? Are you out here?” you both heard and froze, you smirked— the perfect opportunity to test him, you immediately rubbed him through his pants. “Fuck no don't please come on” he whispered, the door closed and Leon let out a breath and you took that moment to get on your knees and unzip his pants. “Oh! my god” he said panicking as you pulled his cock out and looked up at him.

“Stop. Stop it” he said trying to get you off but you smiled and pumped him with your hands before kissing the tip. “Oh, my god, that’s not fucking fair” he moaned, and you smiled. You had broken through, “it’s so big” you teased and kissed the side, “of course you think it is it’s half your god damn size— god stop. stop it,” he said running his fingers through his hair.

“Oh my god, you have to stop” he moaned and shook his head “We can’t no stop,” he said but made absolutely no effort to pull you off. “You won okay, fuck” he said as you pushed up his shirt to see his trail and swirled your tongue at the tip making his knees buckle slightly.

You saw Leon give in to you and you never felt more proud, you popped off and smiled up at him. “Jesus okay fine, we’ll do it okay just— just this once,” he said pushing your hair out of the way “So fucking gorgeous with my cock in your hand princess” he smiled softly.

“Just suck my cock” he said panting and you immediately dove in, “oh shit yea just like that, make it sloppy,” he said closing one eye. You smiled and took him as far as was comfortable and sucked while pumping the rest. You popped off and spat on it before swirling your hand up and down it before paying attention to the tip, he moaned and entangled his fingers in your hair. Your heart was beating so fast, you’d been dreaming about this moment for years ever since you graduated from high school at 18 and left for college.

“Oh fuck, yea just like that— so fuckin’ dirty” he smiled and his core was tightening. You took him deep into your mouth and used your other hand to touch his balls and he immediately sucked in a breath and smiled, “Yeah keep going— come on baby” he moaned watching you devour him. “Ohh…oh yeah” he chuckled as his dick twitched in your mouth, “fucking drool all over it, be a good fucking girl f’me”

You were a mess down there, dripping out your panties, but you weren’t complaining at all. Watching Leon enjoy your mouth gave you validation like no other, you wanted more— no needed more. “Yeah so cute, you feel all that in your mouth?” he asked and you hummed and he winced feeling it, and chuckled. “Yeah well I’m gonna fucking use this cock on you like your a fleshlight— like a toy made just for me” he smiled.

You immediately moaned against him as you felt a jolt of pleasure send straight to your cunt. “Play with yourself” he moaned trying not to get too excited, “come on, rub that clit” he said desperately as you gagged on him. You reached down with one hand and dove into your panties, immediately moaning against him as your fingers met your clit.

You rubbed circles and slapped it gently before plunging 2 fingers in, “atta girl, such a good slut for me” he said as his breath was hitching slightly. “Yea drip all over the grass” he moaned and you kept fucking yourself with your fingers. He groaned and pulled you off abruptly and picked you up to stand on your feet, “turn— turn around fucking bend over” he said kissing your lips.

You immediately did hands pressing against the cold house, “good girl” he smiled and pulled down your panties to your thighs. He aligned his cock with your pussy and slowly went in, you both moaned as he went deeper, “oh my god” you said looking back. “So fucking good, hugging me so good” he smiled a toothy grin.

He shook his head and came back to reality “You’re okay?” he asked a little concerned and your heart swelled at the thought of him caring about you even in a moment like this, “good, so good” you huffed and pushed your hips back into his trying to get more. “Oh god,” he moaned as his hips met yours before pulling back and thrusting again. Your voice hitched and you tried to fuck yourself against him as well, “yea that’s right fuck” he chuckled and slapped your ass.

You went forward a little and gasped as he gripped the red mark before slapping it again, grabbing the fat of your ass roughly. He groaned and struggled to bend down to meet your ass, “fuck, it's hard bending down” he said breathlessly “Do— do you trust me?” he asked and you nodded.

“Good, I’m gonna pick you up and fuck myself into you how does that sound? Yeah, you won’t have to think about anything else but this dick okay?” He asked and you moaned and he pulled your panties to your ankles and spun you around and picked you up holding you tightly. “It's okay I won't drop you” he smiled and kissed your lips quickly, before pushing his dick back into you thrusting up and pulling you down slightly.

You both moaned at the new angle as he hit even deeper inside you, you felt so tiny in his arms but in a good way. It was turning you on so much as he buried his face into your neck, he moaned and pushed your back against the house and you wrapped your legs around his back as your panties fell to the ground.

He reached down and rubbed your clit as you felt yourself getting worked up, you knew if he kept pounding you so good you’d gush. “Yea, yea, shit, so good, you don't even have to think huh? You can just focus on being a whore for me yea?” he smiled and bit your neck as you moaned, he left sloppy kisses all along your neck.

“God wanna fill you up, but it's such a bad idea” he chuckled, you could feel you were losing it, “on birth control” you huffed out. Leon immediately grinned, “yea? Then I’m gonna stuff you full” he moaned and felt his hand cramping up but he didn’t care because he felt you tightening around him.

You moaned and wrapped your arms around his neck moaning his name as he kept pounding and rubbing you, “Oh god im so close” he moaned. All your senses were overloaded— the cold house on your back, Leo’s cock, his warm body, and the adrenaline from the risk of getting caught only fueled you and you felt your orgasm seconds away as he thrusts into you so hard and at the right angle.

Your eyes rolled back as you clawed at his back and squeezed around him gushing, he immediately stopped rubbing your clit and grabbed you by your thighs before ramming into you at an ungodly speed. “Oh fuck.. oh god yesses” you both moaned like a mantra before he sunk his teeth into your shoulder and came deep inside you.

You moaned in pain as you were panting and he groaned before slowly pulling out and setting you down. You smiled and huffed “So fucking good” you teased and he smiled “Yeah”. “Get your panties before anyone sees,” he says, tucking himself back in and zipping his zipper.

You did and looked up at him, he placed his hand on your shoulders and tried to fix your hair, “god everyone's gonna know what happened if you go back inside now” he chuckled “I don't care” You smiled and wrapped your arms around his neck as you stood on your tiptoes.

He chuckled and grabbed your waist, “yea?” he smiled before looking away and looking back at you “I know I only said once but um, maybe… if another boy tries something like that you know, maybe we can do…this again? Only at parties though— I can be…your little party boyfriend and protect you, sound good?” he smiled and you nodded, “yea I’d love that”

taglist 🏷️: @ghostkennedy @adaelines @konigbabe @rat-typewriter @meowsiee @dilucstruelover @antidesire @d34ng3l @alewesker

#leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #fanfic #leon kennedy smut #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy fanfiction #leon kennedy imagine #leon kennedy fanfic #au

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openheartconfessions · 2 years

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No offence to anyone but I seriously think that the hate Ethan got last year was unnecessary (ofcourse not for that scene).

Because whenever I open reddit and check the open heart tag, people are still talking about Ethan and simping over him. And they're many people who are okay with his behaviour in book3. People are even defending him. So I believe that all the hatred that he got last was very much because of the ongoing heat and all that stuff and not because he actually deserved to get hated. Again No offence to anyone.

Its complicated. Ethan was a very popular character in book one and two but for much of book three he was almost unrecognisable because of bad writing and PB's greed.

The 'main' LI always catches heat from those not romancing them (I understand the frustration, I usually don't romance the main LI) but with Ethan it was magnified ten fold because book three became his story instead of MC's. So if you don't like the character, he was unavoidable, and the book would have been maddening to play. This mixed with some questionable diamond offerings by PB, means that if you aren't romancing him he looks like a creep, using MC instead of the deeply caring character we saw in book one, two and the start and final chapters of book three. This may be controversial but I think there is a case to be made that each LI propositioned MC inappropriately at some point during book three but we won't go there.

IMO if they had let us choose an LI after the attack and let the relationships progress realistically book three would have been so much better, even with the shitty writing and plot points. It would have helped keep the characterisation of everyone and kept exposure to Ethan for those not romancing him outside of the hospital to a minimum.

Ultimately I agree with you, he's a complex character who inspires strong feelings from those who both love and hate him. He remains very popular (top three LI based on PB's recent poll, ranked in tumblrs top 100 video game characters two years in a row) and I think much of the criticisms ultimately boil down to PB chasing money rather than caring about their audience and the characters they love. And perhaps hiring a writer who didn't bother to read book one or two and get to know her characters.

There is a writer not on Tumblr who did a really good breakdown of Ethans character and where book three went wrong. If you want the link let me know and I can share it. Its a really long read but it breaks down all three books perfectly, examines Ethans character, plot points and MC’s relationship to him based on different choices.

What do you guys think?

#ethan ramsey #open heart

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babbushka · 4 years

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Hide Your Smile

Flip Zimmerman x Reader

11.5k ; Warnings for: Dark!fic (graphic depictions of violence [drunken violent outbursts, domestic violence, domestic abuse {physical and verbal}], blood and gore, graphic brutal murder, mild stalking, possessive behavior), & NSFW content (Car sex/fingering)

Also available on AO3!

(this fic was written in collaboration with my amazing friends and followers here. Thank you all so much for voting in the polls to determine this oneshot, I hope you enjoy it!)

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You don't own me I'm not just one of your many toys You don't own me Don't say I can't go with other boys

And don't tell me what to do Don't tell me what to say And please, when I go out with you Don't put me on display 'cause

You don't own me...

Darkness, all around.

Nothing but hot wet earth, mud sinking under your feet, swallowing you whole.

Rain, thudding against the ground, against your back as you are chased by a monster in the night, bitter breath haunting the back of your neck, the hair rising on your arms only to be drenched down by the torrential downpour flooding your lungs.

The world blurs around you, and you can’t tell, can’t tell which way is up, which way is forward. Things feel slow, thick, you blink but the spots only multiply. There’s a rush in your ears, a gruesome thud thud thudding – is that your pulse? You don’t know.

Blood stings your eyes, dirt caked into the backs of your molars. You can’t see, you can’t hear, you don’t know what’s going on, you see lights in the distance but when you run towards them they seem farther and farther away. Claws and teeth nip at your heels, you can’t stop running, can’t stop no matter how badly your legs ache, because if you stop even for just a moment, he’ll get you, and who knows what will become of you then.

Somewhere far away, a million miles away, Leslie Gore sings and your friends dance in a cookie cutter house in a cookie cutter town. But there in the woods, as something closes around your arm and drags you down to the ground,

you scream.

The party had been going well enough, hadn’t it? Josh hadn’t taken his hand off of you all evening, and wasn’t that something just dandy. Things had been getting tense between the two of you lately, you try not to think about all those heated arguments and cold shoulders that your boyfriend had dropped atop your head. You could ignore all of that now, he didn’t mean it, you knew that.

Maybe he did mean it, but he wasn’t meaning it now, as he dances with you in the dimly lit living room. You weren’t so sure what time it even was, gosh the rain was coming down so hard and making the skies nearly pitch black; why, it coulda been two in the morning for all you knew!

You give a strained smile to Josh for a brief moment, before laying your head back down on his chest. You think he looks relatively dashing tonight, dressed up for the party. New Year’s Eve 1962, could you believe it? Or well, it’d be 1962 in a couple minutes, but still.

You wore a mini-dress with the grooviest pattern you could find, some bright purple tights and white block heels, and you’d done your hair up so high you were sure you could feel it swaying on top of your head. It was very on trend these days, this sort of hairstyle. From what you could tell, anyway. You knew that this party was important for Josh, was important that he show up and make a good appearance with his football buddies, there were guys here that knew NFL draft scouts and he needed to impress them so he could get on their good side.

You wanted to look nice. He looked nice too, in his letterman jacket and jeans. Maybe he could have dressed up a little more, put a little more effort in. It was alright, it was fine. He gelled his hair down, that was more than you were expecting.

Thunder cracks across the sky and you involuntarily press yourself closer to him – he’ll hold you, won’t he? You wait for his arms to tighten around you, but they never do. Disappointed, but not surprised, you think.

“What’s your problem babe?” He asks, his voice slurred. You realize you’ve stopped dancing, stopped the short back and forth of your feet and he’d picked up on that.

“Nothing Josh. Just you know, the thunder and all.” You shrug, but he only scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“It’s not even real, it can’t hurt you, get a grip.” Josh steps away from you, away from the dance floor.

There are prying eyes there in the dark, and you’re embarrassed by the volume in his voice. He doesn’t realize how loud he can be sometimes, you know that, especially when he’s a little more buzzed than normal. He’s been getting more and more buzzed these days, you didn’t think it was good, was healthy. Just because he was of legal drinking age didn’t mean that you should dump alcohol into your body, not the way he did anyway.

“Right, of course Josh, sorry.” You grit your teeth, clench your jaw.

“Why don’t you go get me another beer, make yourself useful.” He dismisses you, turning towards his group of friends on the football team, towards bigger and stronger boys than he is, an attempt to weasel his way inside their group.

You’ve had quite enough of being dismissed, pushed aside. You’ve had enough. You’d been thinking of leaving him for a while, thinking about telling him what for, for once and for all. It never felt like the right time, something about him always made you feel like something bad would happen if you tried. But you’re at a point where you’re not being given any other choice.

You watch him laugh with his friends, with these college seniors, big boys on campus, and your heart races in your chest. A very small part of your brain fantasizes late at night about killing him, pushing him off some cliff or into traffic, an accident. Always an accident.

You’d never do it of course – of course not. Good girls didn’t kill their star athlete boyfriends.

But.

But maybe…maybe if something were to happen to him, you wouldn’t be so upset, would you?

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink?” The words tumble past your lips without much thought, and you don’t really even register it until the whole group of jocks go silent and Josh turns around slowly, menacingly, to stare you down.

“…What the fuck did you just say?” His voice is low, angry.

“You’re supposed to drive me back home after this, I just want to make sure you’ll be alright to drive.” You’re unrelenting, shoulders square and jaw tight. If he thought he was going to be a jackass to win brownie points, then he had another thing coming.

The jocks only sip their beers, carefully watching. You wonder if any of them would come to your defense, but their silence is telling. You decide you hate them.

“I didn’t ask for your fucking opinion, I asked you to get me a fucking beer.” Josh shoves his red cup into your hand and you decide you hate him too.

Without another word, you accept the cup and with a forced smile, make your way to the kitchen where people are crowded by kegs and bottles.

You give a small sigh while you pour a cup of whatever shitty draft they’d gotten for the party. Part of you wishes you hadn’t come at all, you knew it could have only ended like this, being ignored and belittled all evening.

You wish that Flip were there, and you sigh again.

Philip ‘Flip’ Zimmerman, your best friend. The handsome basketball player, the guy who’s got his life together. A good job at the lumbermill, probably going to be a manager or something, the CEO one day. Smart, so smart! You can’t help but think of how many nights he tutored you for math with gentle eyes. And funny, and kind, and nice to you. He’s a couple years older than you and probably doesn’t think of you as anything other than a friend, but…but for a moment, you imagine what it might be like to call Flip your man.

You wonder if Flip would hold you tight when the thunder cracks across the sky, and a small smile threatens to creep up on your face. He definitely would, he’s done it before, hasn’t he? Given you his jacket to keep you dry from the rain, strong arms around your shoulders. Your cheeks begin to warm at the thought, at the way you can practically smell the cologne he wears whenever you’d rest your head on his shoulder.

You wish Flip were here. Or maybe no, maybe you just wish you were with him alone, were with him anywhere that wasn’t here. You wish you were cozied up on the couch in his Ma’s house, watching some scary movie and tucking yourself under his chin while you share a bowl of stove-top popcorn.

Lightning splinters across the clouds through the window in the kitchen, and you sigh again.

You had asked him to come, you really did try. But he said he was busy with work stuff, and he couldn’t. You admired that about him, his work ethic. He was so dedicated to everything he did, and even though you wanted to be selfish and whine and complain about needing his attention, you respected when he put his foot down.

Watching the froth begin to fade from the top of the beer cup, you think to yourself that tonight’s it, the last night you’d deal with Josh. You decide that you’ll go over, give him his beer, and then as soon as he drops you home whenever this party is supposed to end, you’ll tell him not to bother calling you ever again.

Something inside of you lightens up at the thought, like a weight slowly slipping off your shoulders. You can’t help but smile a little bit, at the thought of no longer being with him. Maybe…maybe if Flip saw you were single, he’d make a move of his own. Your head is in the clouds thinking about Flip, when you accidentally bump into someone on your way back to the living room.

A little bit of beer sloshes onto a boy’s shirt, and you recognize him as one of Josh’s new pals.

Before you can even open your mouth to apologize for the mess, he grabs you by the arm. His grip is harsh, and he yanks you around for a second, the beer spilling everywhere, all over the floor, onto your new white shoes.

“Hey J, are you gonna control your woman or what?” The guy – was his name Tommy? – sneers down at you. He’s tall, and he’s strong, you can start to feel a dull ping of pain on your arm where his fingers are digging in deep.

“I’m not his to control.” You wrench yourself out of the guy’s hold, stumbling backwards a few feet from the force of it.

Josh is up off the couch in an instant, infuriated with you.

He’s drunk, eyes glassed over like some shark, dark and empty. He backhands you across the jaw, sends you falling to the floor despite your best efforts, the crack of your skull against the wooden panels calling spots to your vision.

“Don’t ever speak back to someone like that, are you out of your fucking mind?” He wrangles you back up off the floor, grabs you by the front of your dress and hauls you up roughly, unkindly.

“Don’t touch me!” You shout, your nails scratching at his face, teeth bared in a rage of your own, pent-up anger that you’ve been swallowing for six months as you smack him across the face back in retaliation, angry and spitting, “Get off of me!”

Josh doesn’t let up, in fact he doubles down, kicks at your ankles so your knees cave in to try and support yourself as his hand shoots up from the collar of your blouse to wrapping around your throat. He drags you like that through the party, and you can’t help but wonder why no one is saying anything, doing anything? Do they not hear you? Do they not care?

“I’ll make you regret that – I’ll make you regret everything.” Josh hisses lowly in your ear as he forces you through the house by the scruff of your neck, sour breath of a drunken stupor stinging like a brand across your cheek.

“I already do.” You choke, struggling against his hold, against his hands.

You manage to elbow him in the stomach, hard, hard enough that he doubles over from the wind knocked out of his lungs, and you run.

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Don't try to change me in any way You don't own me Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay

I don't tell you what to say I don't tell you what to do So just let me be myself That's all I ask of you

Shoving through the crowd of people, a hundred faces you don’t recognize, smiles fading into confused glares, you run.

Thunder, rain, lightning, music deafens in your ears as you look for the door. Why is it so dark at this party? Where in the house are you? Hallways lead to doors that lead to nowhere, and you can hear his footsteps, can hear him running running running after you.

Didn’t you pass through this room before? Where was a telephone, surely whoever’s house this was, surely they had a telephone. But who would you call? You couldn’t call your parents, couldn’t let them know you snuck out of the house. You could call Flip, yes, that was it! You’d call Flip, if only you could find a phone.

They laugh at you, the people at the party. Laugh with their drug addled eyes, high off mushrooms and LSD, acid trips going wrong wrong wrong. They dance and laugh and laugh and dance, chugging spiked drinks with wild abandon, lights flashing red yellow purple green blue, a cacophony of psychedelics.

He’s there, somewhere among them, he’s there, you know he is. The smack of your footsteps sound like gunshots against the wood, your head throbs. You want to sob and scream and shout and cry cry cry but you can’t do that until you are safe, and if you stay in this house, there’s no telling where you’ll find safety again.

Or at all.

You try every door, locked ones, unlocked ones, looking for a way out. Eventually you lock yourself in a bathroom, lucky that there’s a window. It’s a single story house, the jump isn’t far.

You abandon your shoes, they don’t stay on your feet that well anyway, and you don’t have the time to groan about the frigid mud that squeaks between your toes as you splash down onto the ground from the window.

“Help!” You cup your mouth and shout, hearing something, a twig snapping not too far away. You see him, he’s coming after you through a side-door, and you have to run, you have to go. “Oh fuck – ”

You bolt, freezing rain soaking your clothes.

You don’t know where you are, don’t recognize this part of town.

Josh knew the area, not you, not you. These were his friends, not yours, not yours.

You just run, hoping your legs carry you to safety, carry you away. There’s woods, in the distance. You whip your head around, try looking for a road, any road. Where’s the driveway? It must be on the other side of the house, it must be –

Josh is gaining on you, athletic legs more powerful than your own.

“You can’t outrun me, don’t even try, don’t bother, get the fuck over here!” He hollers at you, voice guttural and deep, primal in a way that strikes fear into your heart.

You wish you had something, a weapon of some kind, any kind, to fight him with, but you don’t.

So you run.

“Shitshitshitshitshit – someone help!” You toss your voice to the wind, the howling wind which carries sheets of rain, pounds it down sideways against your back, your face, hair sopping wet and sticking to your eyes, nose, getting in your mouth as you pant pant pant, sobs of terror spiking through your chest, salty tears whisked away by the rain.

You don’t know how far you’ve gotten, you don’t know if anyone can hear you, don’t know if anyone would even come if they did. You need to form a plan, need to put enough distance between you and this monster of a man, need to catch your breath.

Your adrenaline pounds in your ear as the earth slips and slides underneath your feet, your nylon stockings not doing anything to help gain traction. You skid your knees on rocks and trip over gnarled roots, but every time you get up, each and every time you have to get up, otherwise he’ll get you.

You can feel how close he is, his hands reaching out to tear away at your clothes, can feel the ghost of his fingers trying to hook around your dress, and you can’t help but let out a high-pitched scream, something that pierces into the blackness of night, something that sends the birds from their branches.

“How dare you! How dare you embarrass me like that!” Josh manages to snatch you, the both of you tumbling down to the ground from the momentum, rolling in the mud. It’s in your eyes, mouth, a sharp hot pain at your temple makes you think you’ve hit your head, maybe on a rock? You don’t know, you taste copper in your mouth. You feel hands, no, fists, hard against your jaw. “I’ll kill you, you whore, I’ll fucking kill you for embarrassing me.”

“Don’t touch me – !” You scream, searching the ground for something, for anything, relief flooding through your body when your hand closes around a rock large enough to do some damage.

“Quiet, just be quiet!” He’s annoyed with you, annoyed with how loud you’re being, as if you’re inconveniencing him by not taking a beating politely. You take in a deep breath and muster all the strength you possibly can, to slam the rock against his face, making him knock backwards with a loud, “Fuck!”

“Someone – please!” You cough and sputter as blood streams down your face, washed away by the heavy rain which does not relent.

In an instant, the hands are yanked away from you, and you scramble to get away as fast as you can to catch your breath. You cough and hack up blood, dirt, mud which grinds between your teeth, the pounding against your temple making you dizzy, making you sick. You feel like you’re going to be sick, the adrenaline rising up up up your throat.

“Who the fuck are you – ” You hear Josh start, before the sound of punches and grunts cuts through the air again, and you squint in the dark to see who came to your rescue, who heard your calls.

“Flip?” You nearly can’t believe it, can’t believe your widened eyes, but there he is – you’d recognize those broad shoulders and the pattern of his breathing anywhere. Despite all better judgement, you rush back to his side, slipping and sliding on mud as rain beats down with such fury as your best friend’s fists, “Flip!”

“You don’t get to touch her, ever again.” Flip does not yell, he does not scream.

He does not raise his voice, he is calm, eerily calm, unnervingly calm.

You almost don’t hear him speaking at all, from how softly his voice comes out as he kicks the shit out of Josh, as he holds his head in place and knees him so hard in the face once, twice, three times, hard enough that the sick crunch of bone and cartilage echoes the thunder all around you, and he goes limp.

But Flip doesn’t stop, he doesn’t stop beating Josh’s face in with his fist until the man is a mess of blood, teeth coming loose, broken nose and busted lip bubbling hot, steaming in the freezing cold air. He doesn’t stop still, and you watch in awe, in twisted admiration as Flip hauls the ragdoll of your former boyfriend up enough to get him in a chokehold and snap his neck.

Only then, does Flip drop him, face down into the mud.

You look at the lifeless body, and then up at Flip, who you find is already looking back at you. His chest is heaving, he’s panting, out of breath and exhausted. The rain has soaked him through too, but he’s not shivering, not the way you are. He must have ran too, had to have ran to catch up with you. You don’t know how deep in the woods you are, how deep he had to go to find you.

But he did, he did.

You’re numb, standing there. Numb from the cold, from the shock, you don’t know. You want to comfort Flip – and isn’t that fucked up? You wanting to comfort someone else right now? But you do.

Everything feels like it’s going to be okay now, now that Flip’s here.

“Oh my god.” You say, because you don’t really know what else to say, don’t really know what else to do other than stand there. You’re frightened, you can feel the fear bubbling up in your stomach, but there’s calm now too, a calm that’s got you more afraid than anything. You look at Josh, then back to Flip once again. “Do you think…”

“Are you okay?” Flip pushes the hair out of his face with a bloody hand and takes a cautious step towards you.

“Me? Yeah – yes I’m…Do you think you killed him?” You ask, holding a hand out to Flip.

You know he’s worried about scaring you, and warmth cuts through some of the chill in your bones at the thought. You extend a hand and encourage him to take it, smearing blood between your palms which the rain washes away, carries down into the wood in thick muddy rivers.

You’re not afraid of Flip, could never be afraid of Flip.

“Look at me,” He’s hung up on it, presses his forehead against yours and goes nearly cross-eyed in the dark to peer into your eyes, your soul, “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” You finally answer truthfully, taking another step closer to him, trying to get as close to him as possible. You feel safe, your brain screams safety with this man, with your friend, your Flip. “But I’m better now that you’re here. What are you doing here? I thought you had work.”

Confusion dawns on you, and you frown a little bit, just because it doesn’t make sense for him to be here right now, it doesn’t make sense for him to be here at all. Flip’s eyes widen a little, and even in the scant moonlight you can tell he’s blushing. He tries pulling away, but you don’t release your grip on his hand, warm and solid and real against your own.

“I just – I’m sorry I – well I got off early and I wanted to make sure that you would be okay so I came over and just kind of watched from the car in case you needed me for anything.” He rushes out in one big breath, winces, waits for you to berate him.

“Do you do that? Watch me from a distance.” You ask him, the both of you standing there in the rain.

You know it’s absurd, somewhere in the back of your head a small voice tells you it’s absurd to have a conversation like this while standing over a body in the middle of the woods, but you push it away, push it away and step closer to Flip. You’re not accusatory when you ask, you’re not condemning him – you’re just curious.

“No – I – well yes, sometimes, but only when you’re out with him.” He admits, nudging Josh’s back with the toe of his boot. His voice is dark, low, gritty in the back of his throat but he doesn’t yell, you sigh against him, your heart breaks for the anger in his voice, the sadness. You wish you never started dating this schmuck, wish you never said yes to him, wished that it had been Flip who asked instead. “I don’t trust him, (Y/N), I don’t like how he treats you. I worry, and I know that it’s creepy I know, I’m sorry, I’m not a creep I swear, I just. I care about you.”

You’re quiet for a little while, and then you move away from him only far enough to plant your stocking-clad foot onto the back of Josh’s head, push him deeper into the earth, the mud. The body gives no resistance, and a sick satisfaction makes your vision go blurry.

“Have…have you done this before?” You ask, that numbness starting to fade, the tremble of shock at what you witnessed, experienced setting in.

Flip looks like he would fall to his knees before you in that moment, as he blinks water out of his eyes, as he trembles too.

“No, I swear. I don’t even know what came over me, but I heard you screaming and begging and I couldn’t stop, I had to help you somehow.” His voice breaks, and all you want is to be close to him, so you go, go rushing into his arms, and he holds you tight.

He holds you and you hold him back, two people under the moonlight as lightning illuminates the body with picture-perfect clarity for a split second. He’s face down in the earth but you can tell, you can just tell he’s brutally mangled by the damage Flip did to him, and as you shove your face into Flip’s chest, for the briefest of moments, you smile.

“We have to get rid of him.” You say softly, trying to think of a plan, trying to think of what to do.

Flip gently pushes on your shoulders to separate the two of you, and shakes his head with a frown.

“We? No (Y/N), you can’t be involved at all, you can’t, just please go to the car and get dry and warm, I can handle this.” He’s sweet, so sweet with the way there’s sincerity in his eyes, but you’re not having any of it.

“I’m already involved, Flip, I’m not going to let you do this alone. Whatever it is, we’re in this together now. We can’t go to the police, they wouldn’t understand, they wouldn’t believe us. I’m with you.” You squeeze his hand lovingly in your own, and you can’t help but think how good it feels, how right it feels, to hold his hand.

“I think I have an idea, but first, we need to get him to the car.” Flip chews the inside of his cheek, a nervous tick of his that you always scold him for.

You don’t scold him now, there’s no time, that’s not what’s important now.

What’s important is hauling dead weight down the woods without a trace, without any evidence other than what will be washed away.

---------------------------

I'm young and I love to be young I'm free and I love to be free To live my life the way I want To say and do whatever I please

And don't tell me what to do Oh, don't tell me what to say And please, when I go out with you Don't put me on display

The body rolls around slightly, in the trunk. You’re in Flip’s dad’s '58 oldsmobile, the heat is blasting, and you hug your knees in the passenger seat, as Flip maneuvers through the winding Colorado roads. It had taken quite some time to get back through the car, out of the woods.

He had been parked out front, only a few feet from the driveway the whole time. All evening, sitting, watching, waiting. Hoping you wouldn’t need him, but prepared to do anything for you if you did. He’s silent on the drive to wherever it is you’re going, the radio is playing softly. The music helps calm your nerves, and you’re thankful for it, you try not to freak out.

The little clock on the dashboard says it’s only about midnight, but you feel like it’s way later than that. The rain fucks everything up, you think, the rain’s been pouring for hours and hours now, but it feels like days.

Every time the car makes a sharp turn, or goes up and down a hill, the body thuds against the walls of the trunk, and you just hug your knees tighter.

“Where are we going?” You ask eventually, voice soft. You’re afraid if you raise it, you’ll scream. Your throat hurts, you’ve done enough screaming already.

“Hospital.” Flip replies easily, not taking his eyes off the road, his hands at perfect ten-and-two. You wonder if he’s afraid of screaming too.

The thought of the hospital sends a spike of fear through your blood, makes all the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

“What? Why?” You demand immediately, confused, scared.

“You still haven’t stopped bleeding and I need to make sure you’re okay.” Flip says evenly. You can tell he wants a cigarette, you can tell. But this is his dad’s car, and he can’t smoke in it. You wonder what his dad would say to knowing that there’s a dead body in it, wonder if smoke would be more of an issue.

“No!” You shake your head, turning yourself towards him fully, a hand on his arm. “No, Flip please, they’ll call my parents and they don’t know I’m out this late, please just – let’s just get rid of him, and then take me home, Flip I’m begging.”

“But what if you’re seriously hurt? What if he did something severe?” Flip’s grip on the steering wheel is white-knuckled, and your stomach flutters as the windshield wipers beat back and forth, whisking the rain away.

“I’m okay, I promise I’m okay, I’ll be fine.” You don’t know if that’s the truth, but you have to believe that it is, you have to. “Philip, please.”

The use of his full first name convinces him, you don’t think you’ve ever said it before, not out loud anyway, not like this. He chews on his lip and sighs, nods his head to your supreme relief.

“Thank you.” You want to kiss him, want to embrace him desperately, but now isn’t the time. He’s driving, there are more important things right now, more important things to deal with. “What are we going to do with him? We can’t bury him in the woods, the rain’s logged all the dirt.”

“Logged – we can go to the mill.” Flip snaps his fingers, and it’s like a light bulb has gone off inside his head.

You just sit back and press a bundled up wad of wet napkins against the wound on your temple, hugging your knees, knowing that you’ll be okay, as long as you’re with Flip.

---------------------------

The lumbermill is a family-owned and operated affair. Flip’s grandfather had founded it sixty-two years ago way back during the turn of the century in 1900, and it had remained in the Zimmerman hands ever since. Once a small business, now stood a proud industrial center for logging and clearing away trees to produce more logs and square away neat pockets of land. Where there used to be only hand-held tools and traditions, now there were the highest-end types of machinery.

You thought Flip was brilliant, absolutely brilliant – you knew exactly what he was thinking.

Just last month, Flip’s dad had been bragging about the new woodchipper that had finally been ordered. You remember sitting at Flip’s Ma’s shabbat table and listening to him go on and on about the new sharp blades, how much more efficient it would make everything, not to mention how little waste they would have, considering the wood chips could be sold for all kinds of uses.

At the time, you had thought it was a little annoying how he wouldn’t let anyone else at the table get in a word, but now you’re thanking your lucky stars that you had been paying attention.

It’s strange, being here this late, being here at all. You’ve visited before of course, Flip has always been eager to show you around. It never felt like you were sneaking about or anything, not considering his family owned it, considering he’d own it one day too.

But it’s strange, with the flood lights filling the night sky with a brilliant white, the usually bustling lumbermill quiet, nothing but the sound of harsh rain clanging on machinery and metal roofs. Flip parks the car in the lot, reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out a key-ring. There must be a dozen keys on the little circle, but Flip seems to know exactly which ones are for what.

“Emergency backups of all the gates,” he explains, jingling it on his index finger for a second, “No one will suspect anything.”

You nod, chew on your cheeks. The thought of going back out into the rain is unpleasant, but you suck it up and open the car door, bracing yourself for a minute before the icy water plunges down the back of your dress once again, body already shivering.

He meets you at the trunk, pops it open. With the flood lights, you can see the extent of the damage to Josh’s face – if you could even call it a face anymore. It was nearly caved in completely, soaked with blood and mud, all the planes of a face that should push out were indented inwards. You manage a glance at Flip’s knuckles, and you see they’re busted wide open, and you suck in a sharp breath.

“Follow me.” Flip says, hoisting the body over his shoulder like a fireman would rescue someone from a burning building, and his boots splash in the mud towards where he knows the woodchipper is set up.

You regret not going back for your shoes now, as more freezing mud stains your tights. You regret dressing up at all, dressing for fashion instead of comfort. Flip is in a flannel and jeans, and normally you tease him for being like a cartoon character always wearing the same thing, you wish that you weren’t in a fucking miniskirt and tights in the dead of winter.

Lightning backs the machine dramatically, after a few minutes of trudging. The ground here is much more substantial than the woods, and you push your legs across a developed terrain instead of through the wilderness of the mountains. It stands tall, proud, the woodchipper, and you swallow a lump around your throat.

“Is that it?” You ask, close enough to Flip that you only have to raise your voice a little bit to compete with the sound of the rain.

Flip dumps the body onto the ground, goes over to the woodchipper and turns it on. You can tell that using it in the rain is a poor decision, but it’s the only option you have. Flip adjusts some settings, and the thing roars to life, metal blades whirring whirring whirring.

“Yeah but it – he’s too fucking big he can’t go in all in one piece, it’ll get jammed.” Flip runs a hand through his hair as he comes half-jogging back over to you, and you just blink for a moment.

“Okay then we cut him up.” You say matter of factly, your heart pounding in your chest, aware that time is not on your side, that you have to get this done and get out, have to get this done and go as quickly as possible, in case someone comes, in case someone sees.

“(Y/N), are you sure you want to do this?” Flip asks you seriously, puts his hands gently on your shoulders and looks into your eyes.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.” You whisper, eyes wide, feeling more liberated and free, feeling so light, determined. Maybe it’s the shock, maybe you’ve lost your fucking mind, you don’t know. But you can’t stop now, you’ve done this much, you can’t stop now. “It can’t be too hard, like breaking down a chicken, right? Split at the joints.”

The analogy is lost on Flip, because as much as you love your friend, he cannot cook to save his life. Flip isn’t one to smile, and he doesn’t smile then, but you know he’s agreed with you because he looks around, tries to find something.

“Hold on.” He runs across the yard, finds one of the sheds that’s tucked against the back wall of one of the main buildings.

You stand there and wait, arms crossed, staring down at Josh. While Flip searches for whatever it is he’s looking for, you just grow more and more angry, watching rain flood the spaces in the dips of his shoulders.

“Fuck you.” You say to his lifeless body, “You say I embarrassed you? You tormented me. I wish I could have killed you myself. You’re lucky Flip did it, I wouldn’t have been so merciful.”

You don’t know what’s come over you, but the words sound like the most truthful ones you’ve ever told this boy, this husk of a monster, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You can’t help yourself, spitting onto the ground in his direction, sneering through the rain, blinking it and the shocked fury out of your eyes.

Flip returns with an axe, brand new from the looks of it. The blade glints in the floodlight, freshly polished metal dripping with silver rivers of water as Flip swings it lightly in his hand.

“This should work, fuck, okay. Okay. Okay alright okay, you come over here, stand over here I don’t want you getting hurt accidentally.” He’s steeling himself, psyching himself up for this, and you put a hand on his back to calm him.

“Want me to do it?” You offer, not knowing the first fucking things about even how to hold an axe, let alone swing one.

“No, no let me.” Flip huffs out a laugh, shakes his head. You can’t help but feel silly for asking, you know there’s no way you’d have the upper body strength to cut through a person. You’d never even chopped wood before, and well, Flip was an actual lumberjack.

“Okay, I can count to three?” You acquiesce with a tremor in your voice.

“Please.” Flip whispers, getting the body into position.

You stand where Flip tells you, a little ways away, as he raises the axe high above his head.

“One…”

There’s a ringing in your ears, a pounding in your chest. You’re doing this, you’re really doing this, you can’t help but think. Flip plants his feet firmly on the ground, takes in a deep breath. You can see his hands flex and grip the handle, as he liens himself up.

“Two…”

Your face shakes, teeth rattling in your skull from where your jaw chatters, shivers in the cold. It’s so bright, so bright with all the floodlights, you feel like you’re being watched, you feel like you can hear the whispers, the murmurs of ghosts all around you, the ghost of this monster you’ve killed.

“Three!”

Hot blood sprays from Josh’s shoulder as the axe swings down, cleaves into his shoulder. The blade is bran new, terribly sharp, and it nearly goes all the way through. The bone splinters, you can hear it, can hear it slicing into pieces. Flip pries the blade out and lines himself up again, does not wait this time for your count before taking aim and slamming it into the body again.

Blood hot and thick bubbles up, gurgles around the wound, and when Flip tosses a severed arm away from the rest of the body, despite yourself, you turn around, brace your hands on your knees and throw up. Everything you ate and drank at the party comes back up in an acrid stinging cough that has you nearly choking, but you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and get yourself together.

You don’t know how Flip has the stomach for this, for it, but he has a steady hand as he works on the other arm, separating it from the body.

The machine is still on, the machine is hungry.

You want to give it what it wants, you want to see the spray out the other end. Without waiting for his instruction, you pick up the arm, grab it by the wrist. You make sure there’s no jewelry, no watches or anything that could get jammed, and you rush it over to the woodchipper, drop it into the basin.

The sound it makes is horrific, the sick squelch and crunch of bone, the shredding shredding shredding of the blades. Mincemeat blasts out the other end, and even as some of it sprays back against the wind, even as some of it lands on your face, speckles of blood and guts and shards of crushed bone, you find that you’re grinning, because it worked.

“Another one, give me another one.” You say eagerly, holding a hand out to Flip.

He smiles too, eyes too bright, as he gives you Josh’s other arm, hacked away in nice clean segments. He watches as you dump the second arm into the machine, gets to see as it eats up the flesh, grinds and slashes it into nothingness, watches as the bits of this man land in wet smacks on the dirt.

Piece by piece, you obliterate the monster that had tormented you for months.

Piece by piece, you free yourself of the hurt and pain, the lies and manipulation he shackled you with.

Piece by piece, you destroy the evidence, watch as it washes away, watch as the rain carries it down the drain, into the sewers where he’ll rot among the rats like he deserves.

The rain absolves you and Flip of the muck and grime of the deed, and now that it’s over, now that he’s gone, you close your eyes and tilt your head up towards the sky, letting the rain patter down onto your cheeks, your forehead. You feel clean, though you are cold, so so so cold, the only thing you can focus on is the cleanliness, the relief.

“You never should have fucked with her.” You hear Flip say, and that makes you open your eyes, makes your turn towards him.

Flip looks down to the drain, and you smile, because he looks lighter too.

---------------------------

You’re leaving the lumbermill, when it hits.

You’d been so caught up in the euphoria of getting rid of him, of this man who had made your life a living nightmare for far too long – that you hadn’t stopped once to think of the consequences of these actions.

“I – holy shit I can’t believe we did that.” It slams into your chest, the realization that you’re a murderer, you’re both murderers, you’re going to go to prison for this, they’ll send you to the chair for this, they’ll kill you for this the same way you killed Josh. Your heart races, pounds pounds pounds as dread and terror and fear all come rushing back, all come slamming down inside your brain. “What the fuck did we just do? Flip what did we do?”

Flip must have willpower of steel, because he doesn’t even blink when you whip around to face him, when you immediately freak the fuck out, when you start to hyperventilate, holding the sides of your head.

“It’s okay, it’s fine. Things like this happen. It was an accident that spiraled out of control, it wasn’t your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Flip is calm, so calm, and that almost freaks you out more, maybe you were going to scream, maybe you were already screaming, you don’t know, you don’t know anything except you just murdered a man.

“Oh my god what are they going to say when he doesn’t come back to the party? Or go home?” You panic, shifting around too much in your seat, legs bouncing, back aching from the way you keep twisting and turning, “What’ll they do if they find the pieces of him?”

“You have to breathe it’s going to be okay, we’ll be okay – fuck, what was that?” Flip is cut off by a loud thud, the car coming to a complete stop.

Your eyes begin to well up with tears as you hiccup out terror, hands shaking. You want to slam your fists against the window, want to throw yourself onto the street and beg for forgiveness, you want to be sick, you want to tell Flip to drive and never look back.

“Oh no, oh no no no this is it, this is the karma catching up to us already.” You can feel the tethers of reality start to slip, black splotches dancing in front of your vision – will you pass out? Are you at your limit? You don’t know, you don’t know but the car isn’t moving, it’s not going anywhere no matter how hard Flip pushes on the gas pedal.

“Stay here.” He says, and you’re in no mood, no state to defy the instructions now.

Flip puts the car in park, gets out and shuts the door so water doesn’t come pouring in. You watch him through the warped view of rain on the windows as he walks around the car, his hands on his hips, trying to figure out what the fuck happened.

It doesn’t take him too long to find the problem, and he comes back into the car with a sigh, soaking wet and unsure of what to do.

“We’re stuck.” He tells you, and that’s the last thing you want to hear. A flat tire you knew he could change, even in the rain like this, but being stuck left nothing to do except wait for someone to come un-stick you.

“So we’re stranded out here?” Your voice creeps up higher and higher in octave as the consequences of that stab you through the chest.

You never should have snuck out of home, you lament, hot tears finally stinging the rims of your eyes. You never should have left home through your window, never should have agreed to the party. You never should have agreed to date this fucking guy, you think, because if you hadn’t maybe you’d be safe and warm somewhere, maybe you’d be asleep soundly in your bed and not stranded in the pouring rain, in the middle of you don’t even know where.

“Yes but – but this is good. This is good, this is our alibi. We don’t know anything, because we were stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere in a ditch.” Flip knows you’re freaking out, he knows, he can feel it, can see it, it’s happening right in front of him.

“Wh—what will we say that we were even doing out here? What if someone asks why we’re here in the first place?” Your whole body wracks through with terrified sobs. “They’re going to kill us for this, Flip if they catch us they’re going to kill us – I don’t want to die, I don’t --”

He collects you in his arms and holds you tightly against his chest, rocks you to soothe you, calms you. The rain is unrelenting, and you wonder how much water the sky can hold, how many clouds are up there to maintain such a downpour. Flip’s arms are so warm around your shoulders, and his neck is blazing hot where you tuck your face against it.

“You called me to pick you up from the party, I came, we got lost, wound up here. It’s dark and raining, that’s all the truth.” Flip whispers, “We don’t know anything, we’ve been here, waiting for someone to pass by.”

You nod, because it’s all you can do right now. You had almost forgotten how cold you were, the stark comparison of your own body temperature compared to Flip’s making you feel even colder.

“I’m f-f-freezing.” You say, because you don’t have anything else to say, and Flip hums in the back of his throat.

“I don’t have any spare clothes, I’m sorry.” He frowns, but then you pull away for a moment, begin stripping off your dress. You peel away the layers until you’re in your bra and underwear, just wanting the wet cold fabric off of your skin. Flip’s hands drop from your body, and he nervously looks away with a very gentlemanly, “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry – I just – I figured maybe if we use body heat – ” You explained, suddenly feeling stupid, feeling unwanted, feeling --

“Don’t stop, I’ll do it too, if you want. I’ll keep you warm.” Flip nods, understands what you’re doing now, what you mean. He looks at you cautiously, not ever wanting to be imposing, not wanting to make you comfortable. “Only if you want.”

You lick your lips and nod, and in mere moments, he’s shedding his clothes too, until he’s just in his underwear.

Flip climbs over the bench seat and lands in the back, laying down on his back and spreading out. There’s significantly more room in the back seat, and without another thought, you unclip the straps of your bra, letting your breasts breathe, before arranging all the clothes in the direct line of the heater so they might have a chance to dry, before climbing over too.

Flip welcomes you with open arms, and as you settle against him, body flush with his, your heart pounds. He rubs your back, warms you with his palms, palms which feel like the most comforting iron brand, heating you through.

“You know…” You whisper, listening to the sound of his breathing and the rain that pitter-patters onto the roof of the car, “I’ve been thinking about doing something like that to him for a long time.”

“Yeah?” Flip asks, voice thick.

You’re nuzzled against his chest, feeling the most safe that you ever have. The panic has subsided for now, for now at the very least.

“Yeah. It was never a real idea that I had, at least not in the beginning. But more and more lately, I’ve been thinking about how good it would feel if he were gone forever. I don’t know what I ever saw in him. I guess I just…I liked that someone liked me, wanted me. It felt good to be wanted, for a minute there.” You’re honest with Flip. Sometimes it feels like Flip is the only person you can ever be honest with.

“Just a minute?” He asks softly, teasing and playful in a way that makes you want to cry.

“Yeah, just a minute.” You whisper back, propping your head up onto your hands, looking at him.

“There are…other people, you know. Who are out there, who like you. Want you.” He looks back at you, eyes filled with apprehension, but hope.

“People like you?” You ask, hope in your own lungs, in your heart.

“Yeah, people like me.” Flip nods, caresses the back of your head with his strong, capable hand.

“You know, the entire time I’ve been with him, I wished I were with you.” You confess, because now feels like as good a time to confess something as any, doesn’t it? What’s this admittance, compared to the thing you have just done together?

“This isn’t the shock talking, is it?” Flip’s hand smooths around to hold your cheek, pinch at the apple of your smile, because you are smiling now, smiling how he hasn’t rejected you, how he never would have, now you know.

“No, no I promise. This is me talking.” You turn your face into his palm and press a light kiss to the creases in his hand, those hands, the hands which have only ever protected you, defended you, loved you.

“Why are you crying?” Flip frowns, confused, worried, but you shake your head, unable to stop, unable to quit the smile, the tears.

“Because I’ve dreamt about being in your arms like this for what feels like forever, and I – I kept thinking that there’s no way you could ever want me, I thought I was just delusional for thinking maybe we could be something. And here you are, coming to my rescue, the way you always do, and we’ve just killed a man but all I want to do is kiss you.” You huff out a laugh, a laugh that’s tinged with regret for the past, all the time that could have been.

“Can I?” Flip asks suddenly then, innocent and gentle, “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh Flip, yes, please.” You nod, pushing yourself up a few more inches so that your lips can meet.

They press together in the softest, sweetest of kisses, and all at once it feels like the gates of your heart have been unlocked, and all the love you feel flows out with wild abandon.

Flip deepens the kiss when your mouth opens in a small gasp, and you let yourself be rolled underneath him. The car rocks a little from the effort, but you don’t care. A kiss or two becomes making out, and you feel your head fill with the thick perfume of lust, your whole body warm now, on fire almost. His mouth is hot, tongue thick and heavy against yours, but he tastes delicious, tastes like home.

He kisses you until your breathing begins to quicken, until the smallest noises start to moan and hum in the back of your throat. Your nipples are stiff, so hard from where they’re brushing against his chest, your arms looping around his shoulders, legs parting so he can settle between them.

“Did…did you two ever…?” He pulls away, lips kiss-slick and flushed, and you blink, forgetting all about your boyfriend, or one you used to have.

“No, no I didn’t want to, it didn’t feel right. Not with him.” You tell him honestly, suddenly feeling inexperienced, feeling self-conscious, “Have you?”

“No, I’ve been waiting for the right person.” Flip shocks you by blushing out his own truth. Your eyebrows shoot up, you really would have pegged him for a womanizer type, he was certainly handsome enough for it. But thinking back, you realize in all the time you’ve known him, he’s never once mentioned a girlfriend or even a fling, nothing. It’s always just been you, and him. Flip blushes deeper when you don’t say anything right away, stammers out, “I know it’s cheesy.”

“It’s not cheesy.” You shake your head quickly, dismissing the idea that you’d make fun of him for something like that. You’re relived, it means you can be together for the first time truly together.

You kiss him, invigorated, no longer feeling shy or inadequate. He kisses you back, and when your eyes close there’s nothing but the welcoming embrace of his warmth and affection to pull you in. Your mouths and tongues slide against one another, and your hips raise up, your underwear rubbing against his, wishing there were no barrier between you.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to, I don’t ever want to pressure you or – ” Flip shakes his head, so caring, worried, nipping at the corners of your mouth.

“Maybe, maybe you could just touch me? Just for now, touch me and then, then we can see where we go.” You’re desperate for him though, desperate for him in every way.

He smiles against your mouth, and you smile too, his hands sliding down your body. He shuffles back a little, straddling your hips, knees digging into the upholstery as his hands roam your body, touch where he didn’t have permission to touch before.

He’s drawn to your breasts immediately, kneads them. He licks his lips and rolls your nipples between his fingers, and your back only arches for him, pushes your chest up into his hands further. His breathing is heavy, and you decide that you’re tired of holding yourself back from the things that you want – after this, after tonight, you won’t deny yourself anything ever again, you’ve spent so much time bending to the will of other people, from now on you are going to ask for what you want.

You cup the back of Flip’s head and push him down, gently nudge him. He takes the hint, immediately nuzzles his face into your cleavage, rubs against your breasts. His mouth latches around one of your nipples and he kisses and licks and sucks, and you moan, the pleasure going straight to your pussy.

So does his hand, tentatively skimming over your panties until your legs spread enough to give him permission. He tugs the cotton aside and you hiccup out a little cry of pleasure when he reverently pushes his fingers through your folds, pushes his way through into the tight wet heat of your cunt.

“Oh, oh, that feels good.” Your eyes fly open, hand tangling in his hair where he makes out with your breasts, grunting and groaning with need that the praise spurs in him. His fingers are more insistent, more purposeful, and his thumb swirls over your clit making your hips lift up up up against his hand. “Yes, yes! Flip – do that again, please do that again.”

“Good?” Flip lifts his head from where he’s been smothering himself in your tits, eyes so big and brown, eager to please.

“So good! Phil, it’s so good, I’ve wanted this for so – ah!—long.” Your head tips back against the seat as your toes curl, his fingers moving faster, your stomach expanding with each deep breath you take, trying to suck down the air, trying to lose yourself in the bright white hot light of pleasure.

“This doesn’t count as our first time, okay?” Flip bites a mark around the bottom of your ribs.

“Okay.” You grin, elated that this means maybe maybe maybe he’ll want to have sex with you again, maybe he’ll fuck you with his cock. Maybe he’ll want you forever, maybe he’ll ask you out and take you on dates and do all the things that you’ve always hoped but never dared to dream for.

“I want our first time to be sweet and good and gentle, and not in the back-seat of this car.” He fingers you faster and faster, and you struggle to pay attention to his words because his fingers are so thick and so full and they know just where to touch you to get your feet searching for purchase as you moan and whine and gasp. “I’m going to take you out to dinner and then a movie, and then I’m going to make love to you on a big bed with rose petals like you deserve.”

“Oh fuck – I’m – I’m gonna – ” You gasp out, hips rolling, undulating against his palm, grinding your pussy against the warmth of his hand to chase your orgasm, your body thick with pleasure, sweet and sticky like molasses in your veins.

“Come on my fingers, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Flip encourages you, presses a little harder, moves a little faster, the car shaking shaking shaking from the way your body trembles, rain thudding against the roof as your orgasm crashes through you, a wave of nothing but good, nothing but love.

“Fl-Flip!” You shout, eyes shut tight, the first couple hints of tears clinging to your lashes.

“You’re so beautiful, holy shit.” Flip strokes your pussy through it, coaxes out come that shines on his palm, shimmers on your inner thighs. He kisses your neck, your chest, bites and sucks and marks you so thoroughly, marks you as his, you’re his you’re his and he’s yours and, “(Y/N) you’re – you’re so beautiful.”

“Can I, I want you to come too, I want you to feel good too.” You try, you offer, but he’s still sliding his fingers through your pussy, two – no, three? -- stretching you wide, stretching you for him, for his cock. You want it, you want it so badly, want to be filled, but an aftershock of pleasure builds builds builds and you’re not sure it’s just an aftershock anymore, as your toes curl again, knees shaking, bones aching to come again, “Flip I’m, I think I’m – oh!”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to do anything for me, this is more than enough, you’re more than enough, thankyouthankyouthankyou.” He smudges the words into your chest, your throat, litters you with sweet nothings and gratitude, and you want to ask for his dick right then and there –

But there’s a sound, coming from the window.

A knock on the window.

Someone is there, knocking.

“Wait – what was that?” You freeze, the rose-tinted glasses ripped off.

Flip carefully pulls his hand away from your pulsing cunt, sucks your come off of his fingers until they’re clean. He reaches for something, anything, to cover you with, to cover himself with.

“Cop.” Flip says quietly, and you want to panic but he shakes his head, “Don’t, it’s okay, follow my lead.”

You are suddenly very very aware, of what you both look like. Flip with his torn up fists, you with the split lip and wound on your temple. You’ve both finally stopped bleeding, but you know – you just know – that this officer is going to question you on it, normal people don’t go driving around in the rain with head wounds and split knuckles.

Fuck, you think, you haven’t even cleaned the car yet, there’s bound to be blood in the trunk from where the body had been stashed, what if the officer decided to search the car? There were no weapons in the car, but there didn’t need to be. Your stomach does little flutters of panic as the impending anxiety drips cold down your spine, and just hide yourself behind Flip’s denim jacket, cover up as much as you can, cover your face.

Flip rolls down the window, and a flashlight peers inside the car for a few moments, before you hear a resigned sigh.

“Alright you kids, come on, break it up.” The cop says, tapping his flashlight on the roof of the car. “The middle of the road isn’t the place for this kind of shit, let’s go.”

“Our car is stuck, we’ve been waiting for someone to drive past to ask for help. Could you help give us a push?” Flip asks, and the officer looks at him like he’s crazy.

“No.” The man scoffs, before sighing again, realizing that he can’t just leave the two of you out here. “But I’ll call someone. Then off you go, okay? It’s late.”

“Thank you.” Flip says, and then, like some miracle, the cop goes back to his car, radios for a tow, and leaves.

---------------------------

You both are dressed by the time the tow arrives and pulls you out of the mud. Leaving the clothes in front of the heater did wonders, and though your dress is still fucking filthy and caked in mud, it’s not freezing, or soaked. You feel awful, Flip’s dad is going to be pissed when he sees the car like this, but Flip assures you that he’ll have Jimmy help deep clean the whole thing before his parents come home after the weekend.

The tow truck driver doesn’t ask any questions, doesn’t really talk to you at all. By the time he arrives, the rain has stopped, slowed enough as the storms moved across the mountains. You don’t say anything, just sit there and wait for the wheels to come free, holding your breath until the tow driver leaves too.

The radio is soft and gentle, the time on the little clock reads just past three. Flip drove all the way to your house with a hand on your knee, reassuring, comforting. You can’t help but think it feels so different from Josh’s hand, how gentle Flip’s hold is on you. You wonder if he’s trying to ground himself, or keep you calm. Maybe it’s both.

He shuts the lights off and the radio when he rounds the corner. Puts the car in park, and the two of you walk the last few yards to your house. It’s not raining anymore, not at all. That feels like a good sign, somehow.

“Will you come in?” You ask him softly, standing under the streetlamps, careful not to step on cracks in the sidewalk.

“If you want me.” Flip nods, and you smile, and he smiles, because you both know that you always will.

The climb up through the window is a little difficult because of how wet everything is from the rain, but you both manage easily. Your bedroom is warm, and you both shed your clothes in the tub of your private bathroom, knowing your parents wouldn’t ever look in there. You want to shower desperately, but doing so this late would raise suspicion, so you don’t, you’ll have to wait until morning.

But that’s alright, because for now it’s enough to be in clean clothes. Sheepishly, you offer Flip some of his own clothes, clothes that you’ve accumulated over all the time you’ve known him; jackets accidentally forgotten on your couch, sleep shirts and pajama pants he let you borrow that you never returned.

Flip doesn’t tease you for them, he only accepts them gratefully, and the two of you lay down on your bed in the dark. You face one another, so close that your noses almost touch. He’s so handsome, you think. You’ve always thought it, but up close, this close, it’s like the thought consumes your whole mind.

“We can’t ever tell anyone about this, ever. Not even when we’re old. This is something we take to the grave.” You whisper, rubbing the tip of your nose against his.

“Agreed.” He breathes, tucking some of your hair behind your ear. You lean into the touch, lean into him.

“I don’t want to think what would have happened if you didn’t show up.” You confess, and in the silence of the room, the thought of what might have been is more terrifying than anything you two had done together. Flip is quiet, but his jaw clenches as he gently touches the closed wound on your temple. You don’t know what prompts it, but suddenly you’re asking, “Do you believe in alternate universes?”

“Hm?” Flip frowns, and you shrug in the dark.

“You know, like, a different version of our world, existing in some other dimension out in space.” You explain, shuffling close to him, tucking yourself under his chin.

“I never thought about it.” He admits with a shrug of his own and you close your eyes against his throat, warming yourself with his heat as his arms wrap around you.

“Maybe there’s a world where this never happened.” You whisper, “Maybe there’s a version of us out there that never had to do this. Maybe there’s a universe where we’ve always been together.”

“We can be together now, here in this one. If you want.” Flip whispers back, and you can feel the rabbit of his pulse jump jump jumping in his chest, and you smile.

“Phil?” You ask, not opening your eyes, not moving, barely breathing, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He responds right away, with enough feeling behind the words to make you think that maybe he’s loved you just as long as you have loved him, maybe even longer.

A grin spreads across your face as you snuggle up closer to him, impossibly close, suppressing a thrilled little bubble of laughter as he cards his fingers through your hair.

“You’re stuck with me now, you know that? Forever.” You tease with a smile in your voice – but you both know there’s some truth to it. No matter what happens, you’re bonded by this, this nightmare of an evening.

“Happy New Year, (Y/N).” Flip teases right back, kissing the top of your head, before you reach up to kiss him properly.

---------------------------

When the sun rises the next morning and you find him gone from your bedroom, tub empty of soiled clothing and the car driven away to the cleaners, you aren’t afraid, because there’s a note on your nightstand written in the most incomprehensible handwriting that could only be Flip’s, asking you on a date, and a brand new pair of heels to wear for it.

And when they ask about Josh you’ll say you don’t know, and when they launch the investigation you’ll testify lies, and when you attend his funeral you might shed a tear, but only only only if Flip’s there by your side, so you can stand behind him, and hide your smile.

You don't own me

I'm not just one of your many toys

You don't own me

Don't say I can't go with other boys

You don't own me

You don’t own me

You don’t own me.

---------------------------

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#flip zimmerman #flip zimmerman x reader #flip zimmerman/reader #flip zimmerman x you #flip zimmerman/you #adam driver character #adam driver fanfic #blackkklansman #flip zimmerman smut #flip zimmerman angst #flip zimmerman fluff #darkfic #my writing #heed the warnings please #flip zimmerman imagine #flip zimmerman fanfic

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 3 years

Text

Fandom Thoughts

First thing I want to say is this post is just me speculating and expressing my thought on things. I’m sure many people will disagree with me or have a different interpretation and that’s ok. I could be totally way off base with everything I say but like I said this is just my interpretation of and my thoughts on things, also just want to say that I mean no disrespect to anyone or anyone’s fandom so yeah.

So we all know that B*ghead is the largest fandom and the most popular ship. There’s no lying about that. I think it became so popular out of a combination of things, I think Cole’s popularity from his time on the Disney channel did bring across a lot of fans. I mean I could be totally wrong about this but I do feel like alot of the B*ghead fans were originally Cole fans. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch Riverdale when it first aired, it was about 6 episodes in when my sister told me it was a good show about a murder mystery and that I’d never guess who was on it? Cody from suite life. I myself originally started watching the show because I was curious about the fact that Cole was on it and then stuck around because I got invested in the mystery and because from that very first episode I was hooked by Barchie and saw so much potential with them. I do think another contributing factor to the B*ghead ship’s popularity was the fact that the actors themselves became a couple and so people weren’t just invested in the ship but in the actors’ relationship too. I also do think that the fandom was very ‘loud’ on social media and there was alot of engagement. All of that combined with the fact that they did have some cute scenes together I think was the perfect storm to creating a popular ship.

However V*rchie doesn’t actually seem that popular to me. In fact from what I can tell its a much smaller fandom and I would argue that after B*ghead the most popular ship out of the three is Barchie. Barchie has always won out in fan polls against v*rchie and I feel like I see more comments from the Barchie fandom than I do the V*rchie fandom. To me it has always been more of a B*ghead vs Barchie thing than a V*rchie vs Barchie thing. It always felt more like V*rchie got support because it kept Archie out of the way of B*ghead. In fact I see quite alot of support for Veggie and for Archosie and alot of people admit that they liked those parings over V*rchie. I myself loved Veggie together far more than V*rchie and I didn’t mind Archosie I thought they were cute, I didn’t like them as much as I did Veggie but I still thought they had some really nice moments together. I think after Betty, I liked Archie with Josie best.

But here’s another thing to bear in mind. Whilst Riverdale and its ships are popular online and get alot of chatter on social media and has its fandoms which are very vocal on social media, there is also the general audience. These are the people who just watch the show every week, they don’t talk about it on social media, they don’t look up interviews and obsess over every little crumb of info the writers put out trying to figure out what might happen in the next episode. They are the silent part of the audience, I suppose you could call them. And I would say that this part of the audience far outnumbers the part that are involved in the fandom side of the show. Of course its very difficult to really know what this side of the audience really thinks of the show because they aren’t out on social media telling people what they think. The best way is to know what they think is to look at the ratings and the netflix streams.

I mean I know that the ratings don’t really matter a whole lot when it comes to whether or not the network will renew a show and that streams mean more nowadays anyway. But in my opinion I do think the ratings can still give you an idea on how interested the audience is in the show. The way I see it is that if I am really excited by a show, I spend all week looking forward to the next episode and you can bet your ass that when that show’s next episode airs I am sitting down in front of that tv and watching it live if I can, because I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to when I want to see it. With this season all the Barchies know that the most live viewed episodes of the season were 5x05 and 5x06, the two episodes that were promoted with Barchie. The lowest two episodes not just for this season but in the shows history were 5x08 and 5x09. These were the two episodes that had the V*rchie and B*ghead content.

I also discovered this website flixpatrol that tracks the top tens on Netflix in various countries each day of the week. You can also look up specific shows to see where in the top ten they come each day of the week and I think I found something interesting. Now obviously because its week by week I could only really get information for episode 9.

So what can this information tell us. Well episode 9 aired on the 24th and appeared on Netflix in alot of countries on the 25th. This chart shows where in the top 10 Riverdale fell this week, I’ve outlined those two dates in red. A dash indicates that it didn’t appear in the top ten that day. Now we can see that Riverdale most definitely does better on Netflix than it does in the live views and is consistently in the top ten in most countries. However, as I said, I did notice something. On the days it appears on Netflix we can see that in most countries it doesn’t appear in the top ten and in the countries it does it is very low on the list coming in at mostly, 8,9 or 10. To me this suggests, like with the live ratings, that people just aren’t rushing to watch it. Some of this can be explained by the fact that it airs on a week night and it does fall high on the list on the Saturday after it airs on Netflix which could suggest that people are waiting until the weekend to watch it. But again, maybe its just me, but when I really want to watch a show, when I am really excited by a show, I will stay up late or I will get up early to watch it. I mean when 5x05 and 5x06 aired I was up early on the Thursday morning refreshing my Netflix page over and over waiting for the episode to become available because I was that excited to watch the episode.

*Edit: I’ve learnt that I have read this chart completely wrong as there is a one day lag, so the ratings on the 26th show that people were tuning in on the 25th which is the day it becomes available on Netflix in those countries. So ignore everything I just said in the paragraph above. I am going to keep the chart in for those who are interested in those numbers though. But yeah apologies for that.*

To me this doesn’t really line up with the whole B*ghead is the most popular ship. I mean with B*ghead being the most popular ship then this last episode should be the most watched and I’ll admit I was a little surprised that it didn’t have more views. So why is that, we know B*ghead is popular so why aren’t we seeing it in the views. Well I think the answer is whilst they are popular, whilst it has a large fandom, its not popular or big enough to save the show by itself. And to be clear this is just my opinion which I’ve based on what I’ve seen people saying on social media and in YouTube reactions and reviews and from this data from the amount of people tuning into the show. But I think as much as many people like B*ghead, more people dislike/ are bored of V*rchie, are bored of the repetitive plotlines, are getting frustrated with the nonsensical plots. I think it has just gotten to the point where the things they don’t like about the show, or the things they’ve become bored with, far outweigh any appeal one ship might have. Basically I just get this overwhelming sense that people have lost any excitement they felt at this show. And this goes beyond any ships, whilst I do think alot of people tune in because of ships, there is more factoring into it than just that. I feel like all the excitement that came with the time jump and with seeing something new with Barchie and seeing something new with them being adults and dealing with adult themes, has worn off. It happened so fast too. I mean after episode 8 aired it was like a dementor had come along and sucked all the happiness out of the fandom. All of that energy that had existed before was just gone in the space of 45 mins.

But here’s my question. I did notice a little bit of that energy come back when the promo for ep 10 was released and it showed that shot of Jabitha together. Again I do think that alot of people like this idea of Jabitha together or at least are intrigued by it. Although I know there are quite a few B*ghead fans who think the romance is unnecessary. But again I think this interest in Jabitha is because it is something new and therefore it is something interesting. I’ve also seen some Veggie fans creeping out of the woodwork over the last few weeks. So what I am wondering is if the show decided to go the route of Barchie, Veggie, Jabitha, Choni and Kangs would that generate enough buzz and would all those smaller fandoms together be enough to revive the show a bit. Especially if they couple those ships with some interesting new storylines to go with them as well as keeping the interactions between characters varied. I mean I am not expecting the views to suddenly jump up massively back to what they used to be in like season 2 but I do wonder if it would be enough to breathe life back into the fandom again.

#barchie #jabitha #anti bughead #anti varchie #anti v*rchie #anti b*ghead #riverdale

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blueroan-equestrian · 3 years

Text

Natural

Eskel and oc

Warning talk of miscarriage and pregnancy slight smut

I have always been stronger than most if not all people I have ever met. I have been trained to fight by various people along my way through life. I have never met my father he died according to my mother protecting her and their unborn child aka me from some kind of monster she could not identify. She said that, and I severely doubt that he’s a Witcher from the cat school like my mother said he was. I think she’s just trying to cover up the curse she no doubtedly somehow got put on me so that I have many similarities to the Witchers.

My mother is a sorceress and raised me to be trained in it too so my aging is nonexistent and unsurprisingly so. I don’t serve any kingdom, I don’t belong to anyone but myself. I was walking around the woods collecting herbs for pain medicine, when I heard something... someone coming through the woods towards me, I climbed a tree. Not because I was afraid but rather I prefer to avoid people if I can. A man with muddy brown hair on a horse that matched the mud in his hair. ‘What was such an unkept man doing in such fine quality armor?’ I thought to myself. I followed the man with my eyes curiously, his eyes were much like my own, cat like, only his eyes were yellow and mine a deep ocean blue like my mother’s father. He kept his eyes on the path ahead of him, unconcerned with any dangers that could be around him. I watched him until he was out of sight. I climbed down from my place and finished my gathering and headed back for my current home. It was in the perfect spot on the edge of town, right next to the woods were I can find the best herbs. I had been home crushing herbs and mixing potions for a few hours when a knock could be heard at the door. I answered the door to a local who runs the local inn stammered out “He’s your kind he should stay with you!” He gestured to the handsome but dirty man or rather the Witcher from the woods.

I raised my brows, “Doubt that... what’s wrong with your inn? Full?”

“He’s not welcome.” The local man grumbled before turning and stomping off.

I roll my eyes but step aside, “Come on, it’s going to rain.” He steps in and I close the door.

“I don’t want to be a burden, I thought he was just taking me to another building apart of the inn .”

“It’s fine, he’s a rude ass bitch and I’m not going to leave you out in the rain. I just ask that you clean yourself up. I’ll show you to the wash room and then find you some clean clothes, I don’t need dirt being dragged all through out the house.”

He nods and followed me to the wash room and waited patiently for me to bring him a towel some spare clothes I had from a previous lover and soaps. I showed him where he could leave his dirty clothes and armor before I left him to bathe.

I returned to my kitchen where I continued to work on my potions and spells. I had gotten so preoccupied with my work I hadn’t noticed the Witcher had finished his bath and had stepped into the kitchen until he cleared his throat giving me a bit of a start. I look him over and with his dark wet brown hair and cleaned up appearance, he was even more ruggedly handsome man. “Oh uh Mr.....”

“Eskel, you can call me Eskel.” He smiled.

“Eskel... I’m (y/n) and let me show you the spare room and then you can roam freely about the house.”

I led him up the stairs and down the hall to the spare bed room. He nods and turns to me and says “Thank you Miss. (Y/N). Your hospitality is greatly appreciated. If there is anything I can offer or do for you, I will gladly repay your kindness.”

“There is no need for that, if you require anything I will either be in my room which is right across the hall or the kitchen where you last found me. If you are hungry, feel free to help yourself to anything in the pantry. If you’ll excuse me I need to finish my work.”

I walk back and start to finish up potions and spell work. He soon appeared in the door way, standing awkwardly “Um pantry?”

I point him to the door that is currently to my left. I mill about and he sat down with an apple in hand. “So... you’re a sorceress huh? Is that where you got your eyes?”

I turned swiftly on my heels with a snarl, “I was born with these eye! They are not an accessory to be flaunted! I don’t judge others for their decision with what they do with their own bodies but I was born perfect as is!”

He raised his eyebrows, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you... but you are a sorceress aren’t you?”

I nod cautiously still guarded, “I am...”

“So I could possibly run into you in a decade or so as if time had sat still.”

Was he... was he flirting? No he has to be talking to me like he thinks I’m some kind of loon... right? Keep calm, put on your your poker face girl, “I suppose...”

“Well l don’t want to get in your way... but uh thank you. I guess I will be going to bed...”

He went back to his room but I could still hear him due to my sharp hearing. “Way to make the girl think that you’re a creep Eskel... god I would fuck her so hard. The only thing that could better is if she had some horns to grab onto... damn way to go she wouldn’t want to touch ya with a ten foot poll now Eskel... we could have had some good times.”

He was flirting... my cheeks turn bright red at the thought of him having his way with me. I clean up and retire to bed for the night. When I woke up I went into the kitchen to make breakfast for both myself and the Witcher but I found that he had already done it. He smiled widely when he spots me, “Good morning, I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of making us breakfast.”

“You cook?” I asked surprised, I wouldn’t have expected him to be able to do much more than out door survivalist type cooking.

He smiles again, “I do, just a bit.” He hands me a plate and sat down with me. We ate together, side by side.

“So are you just passing through or are you going to stay a bit?”

“Would it be wrong to say I would like to stay?”

“Not at all.”

He chuckles, “Well I was just passing through looking for work, had heard there was a bruxa problem hear but from what the man from the inn has said I have been miss informed.”

I glance at him nervous he’d find out it was me who took care of it and then get weird about it just like everyone else, “Oh? Well I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time.”

He clears the counter saying, “I wouldn’t call meeting you a waste of time.”

I smiled and we continue to flirt throughout the day till I was called out for a family with a sick son. When I came back however, I found him holding my silver sword, the one my mother had said belonged to my father... the very sword I learned to slay monsters with when needed like the Bruxa. He turned to me with fire in his eyes, “Where did you get this? This belonged to (your dad’s name)! I knew him and he was last seen with... what did you do to him?!”

He was beginning to stalk towards me and rather than backing up and explaining, I found myself ticked with him accusing me of harming a man who died before I was even born. I stomped towards him with matching animosity “He died before I was even born!” I snarled taking advantage of his ignorance and floor him before disarming him and pinning him, I throw a solid punch to jaw throwing my weight behind it causing him to groan. “You know nothing about me!” He dislodges me and it’s an all out brawl till my mother like she had been watching appeared.

“Enough! (Y/N) stop messing around and either finish him or let him go enough playing!” Mother growled.

I threw one last hard punch before shoving him away. Eskel is now watching my mother in some kind of way, “(your mother’s name) you know this woman?”

“I ought to she’s my daughter. Now why have you made a mess of my daughters house?”

“He saw the sword.” I mumbled pointing at it,

“You’re father’s sword? What happened to it?”

“He thinks I killed him for it.” I scoffed.

“Eskel,” mother says as if he hadn’t accused me of murder. “I assure you that (y/n) had nothing to do with my late husband’s death. I was pregnant with her when he died insuring that his daughter could come into this world safe and sound.”

He gives her the same look I give her when she retells the story to me, “But how?”

“Carefully planned alchemy, and a bit of luck.”

I roll my eyes but Eskel seems intrigued, “So if I ever wanted to have a child with someone I could?”

She smiles, “If that day comes you just let me know... or (y/n) I taught it to her not that she believes me. Now clean this up.”

I roll my eyes yet again and snap my fingers so that it fixes itself. We sit down and mother babbles on to Eskel until it’s late and turns to me, “Well it looks like you are doing just fine I’ll see you next time alright?”

“Okay mother see you next time...” and she’s gone.

Eskel stood up and cleared his throat, “Well I’m sorry for what I accused you of I just need to grab my things and I’ll be out of your hair.”

I get up and stretch, “don’t be stupid it’s late there is no reason to be going out. You need to sleep just like the rest of us.”

He smirks, “Damn girl you are something else.”

I smile and shake my head and without saying another word I go to bed.

I don’t see him again until a decade passed and I had moved towns.

I was gathering herbs from my personal garden when I heard him call out, “Well look who it is!”

I look up at him before returning my eyes back to my garden. Eskel leans over the fence, “What’s with the silent treatment?”

I pick up my basket and rise up with a straight face and then simply walk out of the gate and over to my house’s door pausing to look at him deadpanned and then stepped inside leaving the door open for him to follow behind me. He does and he follows me into my kitchen much like an awkward duckling, sitting at my kitchen table while I busied my hands as I tried to work out my thoughts. “...so... Why are you here? What do you want?”

He smirks and leans back, “I was just passing through... headed to Kaer Morhen for the winter but I saw you and figured maybe we could have a little fun now that we already got the awkward things that could go wrong out of the way.”

I roll my eyes, “Your here for a booty call? Such a typical male.”

“Oh come on! How can you an imortal being, be such a prude?”

“What? Okay(sarcastically) I am a prude because I won’t spread my legs for some guy I met once and spent most of the time accusing me of shit like with my eyes and with my dad’s death! Yeah total prude! Fuck you.” I chide.

He raises his brows, “Alright Alight, then why did you let me in?”

“Because! Because ... before you all I knew about my dad was that he was a Witcher from the school of the cat. That’s literally it. You put a name to it! I don’t know I was kind of hoping you could tell me about him.” I say bashfully.

He smirked “Well first and foremost, he was sterile.”

“And yet here I am.” I know I said I didn’t believe my mother but that doesn’t mean he can! Besides he didn’t question my mother so why is he now?

He paused, “Okay moving on... (y/d/n) he was... I don’t know but I know he was a good guy to get a drink with and a good guy to team up with when dealing with certain jobs.”

I look at him and I can see he’s feeling uncomfortable so I decided that would be enough for now. “Thank you... um so if you are just passing through then where’s your horse?”

He smirks, “Okay you got me there.” He shifts, “I know you’ll be mad but when I heard about where you were I couldn’t help but... well you know.”

I step closer to him, “I’ll admit I have thought about it...”

He too stepped closer so that we were only a breath away, “playing hard to get, I like that.” But then abruptly he turned and began to walk about the house like were friends or something. “Nice place, do you always settle down?”

“I only have three places and they are quite far apart.” I grumbled as I followed him about.

“Oh? Tell me about them.”

“Well... this one was where I was raised so I guess that doesn’t really count but still it’s home, then there’s the one in the Far East and that’s the one you met me and I got it because the other was the house I had with Lance and when he passed away I needed some space....”

He stops and looks at me, “Were you married?”

“Yes...I was.”

“I’m sorry for your loss...”

“Don’t be, I loved him and I knew from the start I would lose him but what can I say, he was the first to teach me to wield a sword... and I had asked a lot of people and all said no. Lance was the son of one of the men I asked, I was almost out of town when he chased me down and offered to teach me in exchange to travel with me...he was something else. Mother never liked him she didn’t want me in my father’s world but I always was.”

“I could teach you to use that silver sword you got.” He bounced his eyebrows up and down with a cheeky smile. I playfully swat at him.

After that he would stop by before he would go back to Kaer Morhen. Slowly but surely we became friends and some times with benefits.

“So did you ever have any children?” He asked.

I look at my feet, “No... I honestly don’t know if I can... I kept miscarrying.”

“I’m sorry... If it helps I can’t ever have any of my own.”

“Unless.... mother was telling the truth about my conception.”

“I knew it! You don’t believe it either. Want to try and see what happens?” I give him a look, “Oh come on, it’s not like you will get pregnant. Just a bit of fun and a bit of experimenting.”

I smirk, “Alright but if it turns out to be true you’ll be on the hook, I’m not some farm girl who can’t track your ass down.”

“You can track me down when ever you want, little one.” He practically purred (It’s the closest word to what I am trying to say but I can’t think of a better one).

I kissed him firmly and with unrestrained passion that I have never been able to do before him. “Tonight it’ll be just for practice, it takes a few hours to cure, so let’s get it going before we go to bed.” I hummed.

He stood behind me, hands on my hips as I created the supposed fertility potion.

Eskel was a dominant lover. He was the kind who liked to take you from behind. He had me with my ass in the air and face planted in the sheets, but every once in awhile he’d reach down to tug me up by my hair so he could nip at my neck only to push me back down again. He doesn’t ever finish until I have had three of the best orgasims in my life and he was a snuggler after he too came down from his high which surprised me the first time he did it.

When I woke up his arm was still wrapped firmly around me and his nose buried in my hair. He hummed happily when he realized I was awake, “Good morning little one, how are you feeling?”

“Mmmm satisfied.” I giggle as I stretched.

He smiled and turned me so that I was facing him, “Good I’m glad.” He kisses my shoulders before hopping up and walked to the door, “How about a bit of breakfast before we do some experimenting?” His eyes were dancing and his smirk seemed to have a softer meaning to it.

I smile and followed him completely bare. “What are you in the mood for I can make anything.” I hummed as we stepped into the kitchen.

“Hmmm.... surprise me.” He hummed happily.

I made us breakfast and we ate while we chatted. “So do you want kids? I mean if you truly believed this could work would you want them?” I asked.

He looks at me very serious, “Yes... I wouldn’t play at this if I didn’t. Because stranger things have happened and I am not going to nock a girl up and abandon my child. Plus we could make some beautiful babies.”

I smile, “Then let’s get started. I first find the potion I need to start my ovulation again and then handed him the potion we made the night before.

He picked me up and took me to bed, laying me down on my back, “I’m going to make love to you like never before.” He smashes lips into mine before moving down my body, kissing my skin as he moved his way down my body until he reached my most intimate place sucking and licking until he deemed me wet enough for him to enter me with ease. This was different than any other time we’ve had sex. We have only fucked before but today he was making love to me. Kissing me gently and ghosting his fingers over my stomach, “You would look so beautiful swelled up with my seed. You feel so good.”

I clawed at his back as my walls squeezed around his cock. And with one last squeal of ecstasy I reached my peak pulling him with me over the edge filling me with his seed. “Oh Eskel, is wrong that I want it take?”

Before he pulled out he rubs my belly, “I don’t want you to get your hopes up... but I would like that too.”

Eskel left a week later and I was left not knowing if I was pregnant or not. It wasn’t until my stomach started to protrude was I sure. “Lord what have I done... do I go find him now or do I just wait for him to return the following winter?”

I ended up deciding I could use portals and educated guesses to find him; and after a few failed attempts, I found him.

I stepped into the local bar where he was already pretty buzzed when he spotted me. He smiles, “Look who it is! There’s my girl!” He cheered.

I smiled at him claiming me as his even though his tongue was loose from the drink. I stepped up to him and whispered “Can we talk in private?”

He smiled widely, “I am getting lucky tonight!” The bar filled with hoots and hollers.

I roll my eyes and dragged him out, “Where are you staying at?” He stumbled to the inn and into his room and almost instantly tried to jump me. “Eskel! Eskel! Stop it.” I say as I swat at his hands.

“What’s wrong little one?” He kissed drunkenly at my head.

“I’m pregnant!” I blurt. Now that seemed to sober him up real quick.

“Your what?”

“Pregnant... it worked...” I gasp as I stepped forward reaching for his hands but he pulled away and sat down on his bed.

“I can’t believe it actually worked... now what?”

“Well I would appreciate it if you came to stay with me until the end of the pregnancy... I can’t be alone when I miscarry this one too.”

His eyes snapped up as he looked up at me, he gets up and takes me into his arms and whispered, “You don’t know that, maybe this will be the one. Let’s go grab my horse and goat then we can go.”

“You got a goat?”

“Yeah...” he says as he gathers his minimal belongings and leads me to the stables to pick up his animals and then through a portal back to my childhood home.

The larger my stomach grew the more protective Eskel became and the more I held my breath waiting for it all to fall apart. But I made it well into the third trimester.

“I want to call Geralt and have him bring Yennefer over. I want her to check you out again.” Eskel fussed as he “helped” me from the couch to the bathroom for the umpteenth time.

“Eskel, she checked me last week. And I can walk around myself.” I mumbled as I waddled into the bathroom.

“But she said you looked like you were ready to pop!”

“Eskel she didn’t mean it like that I have two more months. We’re having twins so my stomach has stretched out farther than it would have for one. It’s okay. I know you are scared, I am too... but we made it into the third trimester. I have never made it past the first trimester before so I think it’s safe to say that it is going to work out.” I say as I emptied the blatter the twins had been dancing on.

Eskel never stepped hovering even though we all agreed that the pregnancy was going well. And when it became time he was most definitely not ready. “Oh it’s happening what do we do?!” He asked in a panicked voice as he grasped at my shoulders.

I stood square and firm and an unwavering face, “Now you can call Yennefer. Tell her that the babies are coming and I’m going to go lay down in bed while we wait.” Yennefer came gave me something for the pain and helped me deliver the twins. I was blessed with an easy and quick labor for a beautiful baby girl and boy.

“Wow look at them they have your eyes.” He whispered.

“You said you had blue eyes as a boy maybe they are yours and look at them, they are going to look so much like you.” I coo, “come and hold them.”

He stepped back, “I can’t... what if I hurt them? They look so fragile.”

“Come take her they are like sponges they’ll be fine. Come take her, I’ll bet she will be a daddy’s girl.”

He cautiously lifted our daughter out of my arms and cradled her in his arms, “What’s their names?”

“Well I would like to name him Theo, because it means gift of god... and well he’s a gift alright.”

“And her name?”

“Why don’t you name her?”

Eskel smiles down at the baby girl in his arms, “I don’t know... I think Aiyana... eternal flower and I think it was my mother’s name.”

“It’s perfect.” I cooed.

#witcher #witcher fanfiction #witcher smut #eskel #eskel x reader #eskel fic #eskel x oc #eskel smut #eskel imagine #eskel fanfic

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urimaginespimp · 3 years

Text

Michael Gray: Better Man pt 7

Olivia remembers how she longed for an alone time with Michael when their relationship was starting to hit rock bottom.

And now she got one.

The only cons were simple. One, they weren't dating anymore, and Two, everywhere they went, there was this awkwardness in the atmosphere they keep trying to ignore.

They spent the afternoon roaming around Brooklyn, with Olivia telling Michael everything he needs to know about the place, while he would either reply with a simple 'oh', 'okay', 'that's nice', or the occasional "mmm".

Now heading back to their apartment, she was internally panicking on what to talk about as it was a far walk.

"Do you think it's true that Arthur and John were really using you to play catch through the window when you were a baby?" She asked out of the blue, trying to push the awkwardness away again.

"They laugh every time I ask again, but I think that's why I have this small dent on the back of my head." He chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I remember you have that." She murmured.

Getting the idea of what she was trying to do, he decided to go along with it.

"Do you remember the first time we met each other?" He asked in a playful tone.

"Hmmm I don't know what you mean." She feigned innocence.

"Oh it's engraved in here." He pointed at his temple before continuing with a teasing tone.

"You waltzed into my mother's house, started taking your dress off and threw it up in the air, while yelling how glad you were that you wouldn't have to worry about not fitting in the stupid dress Tommy was making you wear for an event." He let out a small laugh at the memory.

"And you sat there, all red, looking down on the floor." It was her turn to laugh at him.

"Hey, you turned red too when you finally saw me." He retorted, smiling.

Michael can remember it like was just yesterday.

He just met his mom, and was having tea with her. He was alone at the table because Polly went upstairs to look for photographs and documents of him when he was a baby.

He was just looking around the room when the door opened and in came a woman in a red dress, with her face made up beautifully, and her hair flowing behind her.

She didn't see him though, because the moment she shut the door behind her, she started unbuttoning her dress, making him panic.

"Poll I'm back, and we can finally get rid of this stupid dress Thomas made me shrink into!"

Michael wanted to stop her, but his voice got caught up in his throat. He's never seen a woman in only her undergarments before and was too shocked to respond.

He looked down instead, already feeling his face getting hot.

"I can eat fucking pastries again!" She yelled happily, throwing the dress up in the air.

It landed on the floor in-front of him.

Olivia, upon seeing where it landed near at, gaped like a fish, let out a small scream, then ran behind the nearest curtain.

"W-who are you and where's Polly?!" She exclaimed, peaking her head out and holding the curtain to her chest.

"I'm polly's son, Michael." He responded, still refusing to look away from the floor.

"Oh fuck." She muttered to herself. "You came!" She exclaimed sounding happy. "I am so sorry you had too see that! I- I'm not usually like this when I go in people's homes."

"What the hell is going on in there?" Polly's footsteps was getting closer.

Upon seeing the both of them - his son was all red and now looking at her, while a familiar red dress was on the floor in-front of him. And Olivia now behind the curtain looking guilty.

"You know what, I don't even wanna know." Polly said, chuckling. "Michael this is Olivia, we treat her like family. Olivia, this is my son."

And that was the start of their friendship.

After getting through a crosswalk, Both of them were thinking of another 'safe' memory to bring up.

"I remember you getting your first drink." She started.

"What about it?"

"It was your 18th birthday, everybody was having too much fun to notice that the birthday boy was making frequent zigzag trips to the bathroom." They both let out a small laugh.

"I'm way better with my drinks now. But why were you being a creep observing people like that during a party, anyway?" He smiled at her.

"I wasn't allowed to drink that night because I lost a bet to John and I had to watch his kids in the morning."

"What was the bet about?"He asked.

She shrugged.

She remember that day though, John laughing hiss ass off for winning a bet between them. His eyes full of playfulness. He then started thinking of ways he could punish her.

"Alright, liv, you think you're so slick, eh?" He was smirking at her.

"What are ya talkin bout, doofus?"

"Don't think that I haven't seen you and me cousin undressing each other with your eyes." He teased, laughing when she turned a dark shade of crimson.

"How about this..." He said leaning closer on the table. "I order you to kiss him tonight in-front of everyone at the party, and tell him it's a birthday gift." He said, taking a puff of smoke.

Not wanting to embarrass herself that night, she decided to downplay it a little.

"Really? That's the best you can do? Not really a punishment there, Johnny. You can't go all soft on me now." She retorted, acting nonchalant about it, leaning back on her chair.

It worked though because John looked like he was now having second thoughts about it.

"Okay, luv, no drinking for you tonight, and you watch me rascals tomorrow."

Trying to hide her victory smile, she started protesting as if it was that bad.

She smiled at the memory.

"I can't exactly remember what it was about. But it was undoubtedly something stupid." She chuckled.

Falling into silence once again, hands in their coats' pockets, they were only a few blocks away.

"Remember when we got bored to the point where I agreed to go with you into trying to find Arthur a woman?" Michael asked.

"He was acting like he had a stick up his ass all week, and I was bored too. It was a two in one solution."

"Yeah except that narrowing down the options available in Birmingham left us with three women. One too afraid to even go near him, another one too eager to be part of the family, and one who turns out, preferred you." They both chuckled

"How about the time we made Tommy go all ballistic when we all pretended that I was secretly dating Alfie all this time and that I had accepted his proposal?"

"I think he was more mad at the thought that the whole family 'knew' and he was never once suspicious." Michael laughed.

"And he didn't know which one to strangle first when we told him it was all a joke, and not once has Alfie made a move on me."

He then remembers having to drag her away to run out of the house when she couldn't stop laughing and started telling Tommy it was his brothers' and Michael's idea.

Laughing about memorable times she had in Birmingham with the Shelbys made her miss them even more. The closest to one she had of them right now was Michael, one whom she shared so much history yet couldn't even bring to talk about them just yet.

"Are you still fond of books?" He asked

"Never grew tired of 'em."

"Do you still French inhale when you're in deep thought?" She asked.

"My body still hates me for it."

"Wine?" "Still think they're overrated."

"Still driving?" "Can do it with my eyes closed now."

"Black?" "Still my favorite coffee."

"Gin for breakfast?" "I've successfully got rid of that habit."

"Still dancing?" "I haven't been to one in years."

"Still making weekly trips to the pictures? "Can't figure out why I haven't been interested in going anymore."

"Any man I should be aware of?" "None at the moment."

"You?" "Still confident that I'm straight."

They both chuckled and shook their heads.

That long walk home wasn't so bad. Both were smart enough to play safe in bringing up memories.

All fond ones, as if the bad haven't been clouding their minds.

#michael gray #Michael Gray imagine #michael gray x reader #thomas shelby #Tommy Shelby #polly gray #michael grey #finn cole #Arthur Shelby #John Shelby #Ada Shelby #Peaky Blinders #peaky blinders imagine

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euphoricdumpsterfire · 4 years

Text

To the Moon and Back (Peter Parker x Stark OC) Chapter 2

Master list

Warnings: Mild Profanity

A/N: Hey guys sorry if I kinda updated late, and for the next few days I’ll be extremely busy being a student poll worker for the elections so Chapter 3 might come out hopefully by next Friday, but do watch out for a link to a playlist that I specifically made for this fanfic! Anyways, have a great day <3

Word Count: 2216

Summary: Nixie meets Peter Parker and makes friends with him. Moonflower goes on a patrol around Queens and finally meets Spiderman in person.

Nixie had stayed up all night researching whatever she could find about Spiderman and the only things that she saw were videos of him on Youtube just swinging around the city and saving lives. There wasn’t anything else particularly interesting about him besides the fact that he can shoot webs, Nixie thought, although she was still curious as to why she’s been seeing visions of this specific hero.

Nixie stared at her screen intently watching the same video of Spiderman over and over again, analyzing every single detail of the video. Then her door creaked, it was Natasha. “Rise and shine early-” Nixie turned her head to look at Natasha, “And you’re already awake!” She exclaimed as she entered the room.

“Actually, I’ve been up all night.” Nixie answered,

“Well that explains the dark circles…” Natasha replied as she looked at the computer monitor, “Have you been watching Spiderman this whole time?” She asked and Nixie nodded.

“Seems like you already have a thing for him.” A smirk formed on Natasha’s face

“What? NO!” Nixie retorted, “I was just simply researching… I was hoping I could find some more info on him, but all I could find are these youtube videos.” She added.

“Well, you’ll find more info if you start getting ready. It’s a long trip from here to Queens.” Natasha said as she walked towards the door and waited for Nixie to get up.

“Ugh, I better be an Avenger by the end of this…” Nixie muttered as she got up and started to get ready for the day.

Once she was all dressed up, she headed straight to the kitchen and prepared her coffee in her travel mug. “Morning Moonie.” Tony would only refer to his daughter Moonie when he’s terribly concerned, “I heard you stayed up all night…” Nixie looked up at her father with a tired stare.

“I did.” She answered,

“Look, when I said I wanted you to find out who Spiderman is, I didn’t mean that you go out of your way and stay up all night looking him up.” He replied,

She wanted to tell him about the visions but something inside of her is telling that it wasn’t the right time, “I know, but... It’s just that... I don’t know. I can’t really think, the lack of sleep is getting to me.” Nixie yawned as she poured a bit of milk into her coffee.

Tony looked at his daughter with deep concern as her face was pale, making her dark circles even more prominent. “God, you look like you came out of a Tim Burton movie.” Nixie rolled her eyes at her dad’s snarky statement.

***

Meanwhile in an apartment somewhere in Queens, a young Peter Parker had just finished getting ready for school. He tied his shoelaces, grabbed his backpack, and made his way to the door, “Hey hey, wait!” his aunt May scurried to the door and handed him his lunch bag,

“Thanks May.” Peter said with a smile,

“Remember, after band practice, go straight home got it?” May said with one eyebrow raised, Peter nodded and waved goodbye.

He walked to the subway station which was extremely packed. He stood next to a guy whose armpit hair reeked of rotten vinegar which Peter had to endure for the rest of his trip. Once he got to his stop, he breathed heavily before he could start walking to the campus.

The campus was surrounded by huge trees and a few bushes here and there. Peter walked through the courtyard as he listened to music, he kept walking and didn’t even realize that he was about to bump into someone. Once it had already happened, he finally snapped out of reality. He bumped into a girl who was holding a few books and a travel mug, the coffee spilled everywhere and mostly on the tree that she was standing next to.

“Oh no, are you okay?” Peter thought the girl was talking directly to him but his eyes were fixed on the fallen textbooks and did not notice that she was actually talking to the tree.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Peter asked as he picked up her books and the girl turned around to look at him.

“Uh... Right, uhm yeah I’m good...” She awkwardly answered,

“It was my bad I wasn’t looking...” Once Peter got up, he finally got a good look at the girl, he tilted his head realizing that he had never seen her before.

“Well, I didn’t get a stain on my clothes so it’s all fine.” She answered,

“I don’t think I’ve met you before...” Peter said as he handed the girl’s textbooks.

“That’s cuz I’m new,” the girl chuckled, “I’m Nixie.” the name sounded so familiar but Peter could not point his finger at it until after a minute of registering it. His jaw dropped in astonishment.

“You’re-” Before he could even actually say a full sentence, Nixie nodded.

“Yup. I’m Stark’s kid.” She replied.

“But I thought you went to Knox?” Peter asked,

“Wait, people knew which school I go to?!” Nixie exclaimed,

“Well yeah... You’re dad’s famous, that makes you famous.” Peter replied and just when Nixie was about to open her mouth, the school bell rang.

“What class do you have?” Peter asked and Nixie showed a piece of paper showing her class schedule.

“We both have the same classes together, I’ll just walk with you to show you around if that’s fine with you.” Peter said and Nixie smiled,

“Great, thanks!” She replied.

Eventually, they were joined by Peter’s friend Ned who was a bit more outspoken and had expressed his love for computer games. All three of them had the same classes and Nixie was lucky enough to sit next to them in almost all of their classes except for Art, where she sat next to a girl named MJ and Liz.

Because of her world famous father, everyone couldn’t help but look at her and start whispering which made her feel uncomfortable and awkward, but thanks to Peter and Ned she the discomfort and awkwardness faded away as she felt welcomed and appreciated by her two new friends.

When it was lunch time, Peter, Ned, and Nixie sat down and ate their lunch. Nixie couldn’t help but notice that MJ was sitting one table away from them. “Shouldn’t we... Like invite her over here?” Nixie asked the two guys who sat across from her.

“Nah, she always sits there by herself.” Ned answered,

“Yeah but-”

“I’m just a table away, I can hear you guys loud and clear.” MJ said, she then turned her eyes to Nixie, “And I’m fine sitting here, thanks.” MJ went back to reading her book again.

“See?!” Ned whispered loudly

“So Nixie, how does it feel like being around the Avengers?” Peter asked,

“Well... Steve’s like an old grandpa but you can definitely count on him for some good old timey music, Natasha’s like an aunt to me and she’s extremely cool, then there’s the new people, Wanda and Vision. I haven’t really talked to them but that’s mostly because Vision creeps me out.” Nixie answered,

“Whoa... It must be chaotic when they have missions...” Ned said

“Trust me, it is...” Nixie replied, and then it was time to finally ask the million dollar question, “So, what do you guys know about the spiderman dude?” she noticed that Peter dropped his fork and froze right after the question, but Ned shrugged.

“No one really knows his identity, but I do know he’s pretty cool.” Ned continued, “Why’d you ask?”

“Nothing… I just thought he’s really cool, Moonflower’s better though.” Nixie said as her eyes were fixated on Peter’s reactions to the discussion of Spiderman, he remained frozen, as if he was guilty of something.

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen some of her videos on youtube too. She’s pretty cool.” Peter finally spoke.

“Is she part of the Avengers? I can’t remember…” Ned replied,

“Nah, she’s just roaming around Manhattan, basically like Spiderman.” Nixie answered.

“How’d you know that? Have you seen her before?” Peter raised an eyebrow at Nixie,but she couldn’t answer. Thankfully, she was saved by the bell and they all went to their classes.

A week has passed and Nixie still doesn’t have information on Spiderman, but she suspects that her friend Peter might know who he is. So one day after school she runs after Peter. “Hey Pete!” Peter was startled by Nixie that he was ready to throw a punch, “Whoa there… If I were you I’d think twice about that.” Nixie said while her hands were raised as if she was ready to block him.

“Sorry, I thought you were a thief…” Peter replied as he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“It’s all good, I was just wondering if you could help me with my literature assignment. I’ve been struggling with some parts and I could really use that brain of yours.” Nixie asked expecting he would say something like,

“You know what… I would if I could, but I-I have plans…” Peter stuttered,

“Oh, so where you off to?” Nixie asked,

“Just some part-time job at a… Deli! Yeah, I just got a part-time job at a dei.” Nixie immediately knew that Peter was lying but she went along with it.

“Oh that’s totally fine, I’ll probably just ask MJ. I’ll see you around!” Nixie waved goodbye,

“Yeah, see ya!” Peter waved back. Once Nixie turned and left, he let out a sigh of relief immediately ran to the subway station to finally start his evening patrol.

***

“Are you sure about this?” Happy looked at Nixie wearing her usual suit who planned to go around Queens as Moonflower in hopes of finding Spiderman and hoping that whoever she’s suspecting is indeed the masked hero.

“How else am I gonna get information on him? And besides, it’s good publicity!” Nixie teased and Happy rolled his eyes.

“Fine, and if you don’t come back to the car by 10 pm, I WILL LEAVE.” Happy emphasized the last three words and Nixie just nodded as she put on her mask.

“Alright, see ya later.” Nixie winked and stretched her arms out, thick vines grew on the brick wall that she was facing and climbed onto it to get to the top. She walked around hoping to get a sight of Spiderman but there was nothing. She moved from building to building, until she saw a woman who stood closely next to a man with a ski mask. The man had a gun pointing at the woman’s head waiting for her to open up her bag, and all of a sudden, a string of web sprouted out of nowhere leaving the man unarmed. It was Nixie’s chance, she immediately used her vine and slid down to the bottom of the building and hid in the shadows.

“Who’s there?” The man yelled as he pulled out a back-up knife and pointed it towards the woman’s neck. “Give me back my gun or she dies!” The man yelled. Then, the person that Nixie’s been waiting for stepped out, Spiderman shot out another web taking the knife from the man and threw a punch at him. The man laid unconscious on the ground and Spiderman stood in front of him with his hands on his hips.

“Not so scary now are ya?” Spiderman scoffed. It was Nixie’s first time hearing his voice and it sounded really familiar to her, but figuring out who he was wasn’t the priority right now as she saw a group of men whom she assumed was with the other guy were cracking up their knuckles and were ready to ambush Spiderman who was completely clueless.

It was finally her moment, Nixie touched the ground and vines with sharp thorns started growing out and wrapped around the legs of the men, one was close enough to throw a punch but before they could even do it, Nixie yelled, “YO SPIDERMAN WATCH OUT!” Spiderman immediately swerved making the other man fall to the ground. It wasn’t long until the other men got rid of the vines so Nixie threw small grenades that would release a pungent odor similar to the corpse flower once thrown at the target and would immediately make them lose consciousness. It released green smoke and once the scent hit their noses, the men dropped to the ground like dead flies.

Spiderman was already busy making sure the woman went home safely as Nixie tied all of them together with her vine rope. “So… Moonflower eh?” She turned around to see Spiderman.

“Glad we could finally meet, Spiderman.” She replied.

“I must say, those stink bombs are pretty impressive.” Spiderman said as he crossed his arms against his chest.

“I know right?! They’re pretty sick!”, “The cops are on their way to pick these losers up.” She had a huge smile that seemed familiar to Spiderman. “But I must say Peter, those web shooters are far more impressive than my stink bombs.” She added.

“Well, I mean they did take much work but I don’t think…” Spiderman paused and looked at Moonflower who had a smirk on her face. “Did you just call me…”

“That’s right, Peter Parker.”

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qscvgyum · 3 years

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mayquita · 4 years

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Damn You For Making Me Love You (12/15) - Memories

Thank you so so much, for your likes, reblogs, kudos and comments. It means the world to me.

Beta-Reader: Thank you so much, @ultraluckycatnd I couldn’t have asked for a better beta. Thank you for all your effort, your suggestions, your advice and for always being there when I needed you.

Special mention to @saraswans and @onceuponaprincessworld, thank you so much for your perpetual support and for believing in me and in the story. Thank you again to the moderators of the event, @captainswanbigbang for giving us this opportunity and making this possible. You all are the best :)

Summary: Emma Swan and Killian Jones are close friends and co-workers. And both are in love with each other. The problem? They keep their feelings secret not only to the other but also to the rest of their friends. When Elsa, Emma’s best friend and Liam, Killian’s brother and Emma’s boss find out, they decide to form an alliance and work as a team with a clear goal, to get Emma and Killian to take the next step in their relationship and confess their love for each other.

Rating: M

Word count: ~ 7800 (98k total in 15 chapters)

Ao3 / FFnet

About this chapter: Christmas is coming... That means a perfect setting to face the consequences of their first (second) kiss.

Chapter 11: Memories

Killian - December 2019

What do you think if we include a current hit in the poll to choose our song for the duet next Saturday? - ES

Emma's message was the first thing Killian saw when he woke up that Sunday morning. He was laying in bed, his mind still dragging from the vestiges of sleep, so he had to read the contents of the text a couple of times until he was able to understand its meaning. Or rather, understand the only thing that mattered to him at that moment. Emma was still planning to sing with him next Saturday.

He was tempted to send a reply including that topic, but in the end, he opted for a less risky approach.

Hi, love. I see no problem with it. I guess you've already thought about a specific song - KJ

Yeah, what do you think about Memories? - ES

After reading the message, he sat up abruptly, dropping the phone in the process. Bloody hell... Memories? Seriously? What the hell was Emma playing at? Was it a way to mess with him? Or her way of telling him that she also remembered? Or was it just a damn coincidence?

A deep breath escaped between his lips as he grabbed the phone again, leaning his back against the headboard of the bed, his fingers sliding across the screen while he debated whether to call her directly and question her or, on the contrary, continue getting the lay of the land. He was about to press the call button, he really was, but in the end, he decided on a simple message. He was nothing but a coward, after all, afraid of what Emma would tell him.

Memories? The one by Maroon 5? - KJ

Yeah, I think it could work since that weekend will be the last of the year. It has a certain festive spirit, with those toast references. - ES

Aye, you got a point, but what do you think if we discuss it later at the bar? We can meet there a little earlier to talk. - KJ

Killian held his breath as he watched as the dots on the screen appeared and disappeared intermittently as if she couldn't decide what to type as a reply. When her new message finally arrived, he couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment.

That won't be possible. I've already talked to Liam about that. I've got an issue to deal together with Elsa so I will arrive later today. - ES

She was lying, which only increased Killian's confusion. Still, he was now sure that the use of that particular song had been deliberate, although he hadn't yet caught the real reason. He had no choice but to continue playing along and see where all this mess was going.

Okay then. I have no problem including Memories in the poll. - KJ

Great. I'm sending you the rest of the candidate songs and as soon as you give me the approval I will upload it to the website. - ES

You don't need to send them to me, Swan. I trust your ability to choose. I will take a look at the website later. And maybe I’ll even vote ;) - KJ

The conversation looked too professional, even distant, so he made an attempt to approach Emma as her friend instead of her coworker, hence the inclusion of the emoji. It was a poor attempt, he was aware of it, but his brain seemed not to be working properly after their kiss and the remembrance of their weekend in Storybrooke. Emma didn't seem to take the bait, though.

Okay. See you later. - ES

After that last cold message, he had to suppress the urge to throw the phone against the wall, a pull of frustration firmly settled in the pit of his stomach. To make matters worse, the bloody lyrics of the song had found their way in his head and he now felt unable to get rid of those verses. A humorless laugh escaped between his lips when he realized the irony of the song.

Here's to the ones that we got Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not 'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories Of everything we've been through

In their case, the drinks worked in the opposite way. Instead of bringing back the memories, the alcohol had taken them away. Killian shook his head as he tried to focus his thoughts on something else, anything that didn't remind him of Emma and the taste of her lips on his.

Emma had definitely chosen the bloody song on purpose.

He was sure about that when he entered the website and saw the poll consisted of that song and its rivals, three insubstantial and little known songs. In fact, the poll had only been up for an hour and several people had already voted, with Memories being the one ahead by a wide margin. He didn't know whether to get excited about the prospect of singing that song with her or, on the contrary, feel annoyed because it seemed that Emma was trying to communicate with him in a language he couldn't decipher.

Hopefully, he would find a moment in the following days to talk to her.

Emma was avoiding him.

Killian had not only not found the opportunity to talk to her privately but he had barely seen her in the past few days.

On Sunday, she arrived quite late at The Kraken and remained busy throughout the evening. She hardly waited for them to close the bar to leave, alluding that she was tired. On Monday, he didn't even see her since the bar was closed and she excused herself indicating that she was going to take advantage of the day off to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. Today, Tuesday, The Kraken would remain open only a couple of hours, since it was Christmas Eve. Both he and Liam had organized a late Christmas dinner in their apartment, to which Emma was invited, of course, but he was no longer sure if she would bother to come.

He wasn't imagining things. Liam had also noticed that something strange was happening with Emma. He had even tried to question Killian about it since he suspected —and he wasn't wrong — that Killian had something to do with it. But Killian wasn't in the mood to explain their current situation, especially when he didn't even know what the hell was going through Emma's head.

Killian rubbed his hand over his face and hair, feeling the frustration creep over him. Although there were still a few hours left before they had to open the bar, he was tempted to go there to play the guitar and try to disconnect for a while and get rid of that bitter feeling that had settled inside him since last Saturday.

He needed distractions and it was clear that he wasn't going to find them in the solitude of his apartment. Not even Liam was here since he had gone to the grocery store to get everything they needed for dinner tonight and Elsa was accompanying him.

The corners of his lips rose slightly at the fact that at least one of the Jones brothers seemed to be on the right track to win the heart of his potential love interest. Not that Liam had confessed anything about it, but Killian had the feeling that his role as a matchmaker wasn't necessary at all. Still, he took a mental note to question his brother in that regard. In addition, he hoped that the Christmas spirit in the form of a sprig of mistletoe could finally push them together. His lips curled up again when his eyes drifted to the strategic spot where Liam intended to place the plant.

Just when he again valued the possibility of going to the bar, the sound of someone knocking on the door caught his attention. His eyebrows pinched together in confusion, since he wasn't expecting any visits. When the person on the other side of the door knocked again with a little more insistence, he hurried to open the door.

Whoever Killian was expecting, it certainly wasn't the person he found on the threshold. His eyes widened in surprise, his heart skipping a beat as he stood with his mouth hanging open, unable to react.

"Surprise!"

Killian blinked a couple of times and then shook his head, noting that she was still there right in front of him. That's when he finally reacted, sort of.

"Belle?"

"Well, are you going to greet me properly or are you going to remain still as if you had seen a ghost?"

A renewed energy seized him at that moment, pushing him forward, a laugh bubbling deep in his chest as he wrapped his friend in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground.

"What the hell are you doing here? We thought you couldn't make it this year!" he said, still amazed by her unexpected presence, after lowering her and loosening the hug so he could look her in the eye.

"Are you going to invite me in first, or do you prefer that we have this conversation on the threshold?" Belle replied, her lips curled into a grin, her eyes sparkling. Gods ! He had missed his friend so much.

He let out a laugh and stepped aside to let her in and then helped her take off her coat and hung it on the rack near the door while placing the travel bag she was holding in a corner of the hall.

"Does Liam know?"

"Nope." She shook her head and then she narrowed her eyes as her gaze wandered around the room. "Where is he, by the way?" Belle then turned her head in his direction, her eyes widened. "Tell me he's with Elsa."

Killian tilted his head as he frowned, giving her a skeptical look. "How the hell do you know about Liam and Elsa?"

Before answering, Belle rolled her eyes as if to imply that the answer was evident. "Isn't it obvious? Because your brother hasn't stopped talking about her lately. So there is something between those two, right? Ha! I knew it!" Belle raised a fist in triumph as her face lit up.

"Slow down, love. There's nothing official, as far as I know. For now." If Belle felt disappointed she didn't show it. On the contrary, she kept an excited expression on her face. He made a mental note of talking to Emma to inform her that they had gotten another ally. The mere thought about Emma caused his smile to weaken but he forced himself to park those thoughts for later. Belle deserved all his attention. "So tell me, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, that!" Belle paused for a moment as she bit her lower lip, a playful spark in her gaze. "Let's say we can blame Emma for my visit."

"Emma? My—" His voice trailed off as he looked away, feeling the tips of his ears begin to burn.

"Yes, your Emma." She smirked at him before continuing. "She contacted me because she wanted to give you both a surprise as a Christmas gift. And also as a way to apologize for her behavior the first time we met. I was really busy, but she insisted and insisted. She even offered to buy me the plane tickets. So I had no choice but to accept. She’s pretty persistent, that girl of yours, isn't she?"

"She's not my..." He trailed off again, uncertain about how to continue. Well, she was his everything, that's for sure, but that wasn't something he was willing to share with Belle. In response, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, giving him a skeptical look: "She is quite persistent and also stubborn," he conceded and then decided to focus on Belle's other words. So if Emma had contacted her, that meant... "When did she contact you?"

"A month or so ago?" The little flame of hope faltered for a moment. Still, he tried to maintain an impassive expression. "We've been chatting these last weeks organizing the trip. The last time I talked to her was yesterday afternoon."

"Is that so?" he asked nonchalantly, trusting that his voice would not reveal his renewed level of excitement.

Belle was too perceptive, though. She tilted her head to the side as she studied him through her narrowed eyes. "Yeah, we've been in touch all this time, even this morning we've been sharing messages. She wanted to make sure everything went well."

He tried not to smile, he really tried, but his lips acted on his own, curling up. His gesture only increased the expression of suspicion on Belle's face. "Why do I have the impression that it's a big deal as to when I've talked to her? Have you gotten into a fight or something?"

"Not exactly," he admitted reluctantly. He hadn't confessed to anyone what happened with Emma, but he wondered if it would be a good idea to share it with someone as a means to lighten the burden he was carrying. Belle seemed like his best option. "She's kinda been avoiding me since Saturday."

Belle's brows furrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What have you done this time, Killian?"

"What? I haven't done anything." It was true, but Belle's expression denoted that she didn't believe him. After letting out a heavy sigh, he finally confessed. "We kissed." A huge smile blossomed on her face, but he hurried to continue. "Well, technically she started the kiss. And then she freaked out. And she's been avoiding me ever since."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

Had he tried? No, not really. Maybe because, deep down, he was afraid too. He didn't even respond, the expression on his face revealing his emotions perfectly without having to express them out loud.

Belle first rolled her eyes and shook her head, but then her features softened, her gaze searching for his as she gave him an affectionate squeeze on his arm. "You have to talk to her, Killian. Whatever is going on in her head, she still has you in her mind. She was the one who started the kiss. She was the one who contacted me because she knew that my visit would make you happy. Don't you think you should take the initiative for once? Maybe that's what she is waiting for. Maybe she needs to know that you are on the same page as her."

"Aye... I... I should talk to her."

"So, what are you waiting for? Go!"

"What? Now?" Killian wasn't entirely convinced, though he wasn't sure if what was holding him back was the uncertainty about how Emma could react, or if it was the fact of leaving Belle behind when she had just arrived. Maybe both. Or maybe he was just looking for an excuse because he was a bloody coward. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to leave you here all alone. I can talk to her later."

"Oh, come on! Stop looking for excuses, Killian," she scolded him, although the expression on her face, with an amused half-smile, never disappearing from her lips, denoted she was actually excited about his current situation. "I'm not going anywhere for the next couple of days. We'll have time to catch up. Now go!"

Her bossy tone made him finally react. He approached her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "Thank you, love. See you later." After putting on his coat he remembered something, so he turned back to her. "About the kiss and other stuff, Liam doesn't know anything and I would prefer that he stay like that for now, until I figure things out with Emma." He preferred to clear things up with Emma without having more people involved around them.

Belle seemed to catch the hint. "My lips are sealed. I like her a lot, by the way. I'm happy for you, you deserve it." She offered him a soft smile to which he responded with a matching one before slightly bowing his head in farewell and then leaving the house. He had a mission to accomplish.

All the determination Killian had felt after talking to Belle went out the window the moment he found himself in front of Emma's apartment door. He felt the palms of his hands begin to sweat as his stomach tightened into knots. But he needed to have this conversation with Emma, so, after taking a deep breath, he finally knocked on the door.

His breath caught in his throat when she opened the door quickly, barely giving him time to school his features.

"What are you doing here?"

Although Emma's words were laced with a harsh tone, he knew that he had made the right decision when he observed the expression on her face, her eyes widened slightly in surprise, the flash of something resembling longing across her gaze. Killian almost smiled to himself as he checked, once again, that she was like an open book to him. No matter how she tried to hide her emotions, her deep green eyes were like a window to her soul.

"Where are your manners, Swan? Happy Christmas Eve to you too. I'm fine, thank you." He winked at her getting the desired effect, she rolled her eyes as she pressed her lips together in an attempt to curb an incipient smile. "May I come in or do you prefer to have this conversation here?"

She ignored him, although he suspected it was more a sign of the reserved pose she intended to hold. Then she stepped aside to let him in and closed the door behind them. "I'm surprised you didn't use the key."

"Well, considering that my presence here might not be welcome, I didn't want to take a chance."

"So, what are you doing here?" she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest, although this time her voice showed curiosity rather than annoyance.

She was so beautiful that morning that Killian got distracted for a moment watching her features. There was no trace of makeup on her face, her hair was in a loose braid over her right shoulder and her eyes sparkled in such a distracting way that he had to blink to force himself to look away. Big mistake, since his gaze then traveled to her lips, causing a soft hum under his skin, while his own began to tingle, craving to savor them once more. She was like a siren inflicting a spell on him that prevented him from functioning properly.

After shaking his head slightly, he looked for her gaze again before speaking. "I'd like to express my gratitude for making that surprise visit possible."

"Oh."

"Thank you so much, Emma. It means the world to me." Her cheeks acquired a soft pink hue as she averted her gaze, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He had to suppress the urge to reach out to her.

"Well, it was nothing. I did it for myself, actually, to apologize for my poor behavior the first time. Besides, I know that, for one reason or another, you haven't been able to see each other during the holidays in recent years. I felt it was time for you to be reunited again at Christmas." She shrugged one shoulder as she gave him a timid look from underneath her eyelashes. "I'm looking forward to meeting her, by the way, and rectifying the impression she must have of me."

"The feeling is mutual. I mean, she's looking forward to meeting you too. And you shouldn't worry about that first impression, believe me. She likes you a lot. Her words," he assured her, earning a soft smile on her part. "You're still coming to dinner tonight, aren't you?"

"Sure, why wouldn't..." Her voice trailed off, the pink of her cheeks turning a more intense shade of red. "Sure, I'll be there."

This was the decisive moment, the moment he had been waiting for a long time. The moment to act. "I was wondering since you have been avoiding me these past few days."

"I haven't been avoiding you. I've been busy," she defended herself, although neither her voice nor the way she looked away were convincing.

"Come on, Swan. I'm quite perceptive. You've been avoiding me. And you and I know the reason, right?" His last words sounded in a soft cadence devoid of recrimination. The last thing he wanted was to cause her to hide again behind her protective wall.

Killian watched as a whirlwind of mixed emotions crossed her face, as if she were fighting a battle inside. He could feel the tension radiating off her, until, after what seemed like hours, the turbulent expression on her face softened slightly as she took a shuddering breath. "This..." she muttered as she waved her hand between them, "... This is too much, Killian. The kiss, the feelings, the sudden memories..."

"So you remember too."

A noise escaped from her mouth, half snort, half groan. "It seems the damn kiss acted as a trigger." She trailed off, as she bit her lower lip and averted her gaze as if doubting whether or not she should continue. "I now know we kissed before. Rather, I have the notion, not the detailed memory." The frustration was evident in her voice, which, despite the circumstances, was a good sign, wasn't it? "And then I freaked out and ran away."

“I don't know if it will help you, but I also remembered that kiss in that instant.” Before continuing, he watched as her features softened and her shoulders sank slightly, shedding part of the tension. It was as if his words had brought some kind of relief to her.

"It's quite frustrating, to be honest, the idea that we don’t remember our first kiss."

Just then, the reminder of a certain poll came to his mind. "Speaking of which, I keep wondering if your unusual song choice for this week has something to do with our lost memories."

Her features twisted in a grimace before covering her face with her hands. "Shit! I'm such an idiot," she whined as she shook her head. When she finally decided to show her face again, her cheeks were flushed and she looked mortified. "I needed to know if you also remembered. It was a desperate attempt to get a reaction from you. Pretty fruitless, I must say." She looked at him in an apologetic — and quite adorable — way.

"It's a good song, Swan. Very appropriate in every way," he hurried to reassure her. "Besides, everything seems to indicate that it will be the winner. But the damn song has been repeating itself in my mind since I read your message."

"Well, you can consider it as a kind of rehearsal for this Saturday," she suggested as she raised an eyebrow in his direction, any trace of her previous embarrassment disappeared from her face. "I haven't yet decided whether I like the song or not, since the lyrics seem quite ironic, with that reference to the drinks bringing back the memories, since with us it was the opposite."

Killian wasn't at all surprised that they had had the same thought about the song. He was madly in love with her for a reason, right? Well, for several reasons actually. Still, the reference to the drinks brought an idea to his mind that, for some reason, he hadn't considered until now. But at least it could offer some explanation to what happened with their memories. "Maybe our brain blocked those memories as a kind of weird defense mechanism, using alcohol as an excuse. We might not have been prepared to face the consequences of that kiss at that time, so our mind blocked that memory or, in my case, transformed it into a kind of very pleasant dream."

Her cheeks blushed and her eyes sparkled in a special way, causing his heart to melt a little in the process. "And what makes you think that now we are prepared to face those consequences?"

"Well, love, you kissed me again. I guess that's enough indication, isn't it?"

She let out a heavy sigh, a reluctant smile blossoming on her lips. "I guess you're right."

"In addition, we can always turn what happened into something positive. Now we will always have two first kisses. The first technical one, and the first real kiss, without alcohol involved."

"If you put it that way..."

"I know you're afraid, Emma. You don't want to get hurt again." He took a tentative step in her direction. Not only did she not back down from his advance but she reached out, looking for his hand and intertwining her fingers with his, a smile of encouragement pulling at her lips and causing his heart to almost stop working. He needed to take a deep breath before continuing. "We don't need to put what's happening between us into words. I won’t even ask you to express your feelings. But, please, don't push me away again."

The look Emma gave him was so intense that he felt how it reached his very soul. After what seemed like hours lost in each other's eyes, she shortened the distance between them even more and, after offering him a tiny smile, she pressed her lips to his in a soft, brief kiss, one full of promises. "Be patient," she whispered, her warm breath caressing his lips.

"Always," he replied. "I'm not going anywhere, Emma."

"Good."

His heart pounded frantically in his chest as he reached out his other hand, cupping her cheek delicately. She tilted her head under his touch as she closed her eyes, a quiet sigh sliding between her lips.

It was a beginning. He was aware that they still had to work not only to build their relationship, but to be totally honest with their feelings with each other. He had waited four years to reach this situation, and the wait had been worth it. He would not change what he was experiencing now for anything in the world.

When Emma opened her eyes again and he met the emerald intensity of her gaze, he had to resist the urge to kiss her senseless. Instead, he settled for circling her with his arms drawing her to him and wrapping her in a tight embrace. He would never tire of the incredible sensation of holding Emma in his arms, feeling her intoxicating scent seeping inside him making his head spin, while the warmth of her body against his caused a pleasant humming under his skin.

After placing a gentle kiss on the crown of her head, he whispered against her hair. "Do you have any plans right now?"

Emma pressed even more against his chest before answering, "I'm waiting for Elsa to come back. We have to start making dessert for dinner."

Although reluctant, Killian untangled from her, but entwined his hand with hers. "I think I have a better idea. Come with me to meet Belle."

"I'd love to, but Elsa will kill me if I leave her alone after she has also taken care of going to the grocery store."

After everything that happened, he was reluctant to separate from her. "Text her and tell her to go to my apartment instead of yours. After all, dinner is going to be there, isn't it? Besides, I guess my brother won't mind helping her at all."

"Okay… Give me ten minutes to get dressed." After turning to her bedroom, Emma seemed to remember something. She approached him again with a suggestive smile adorning her lips. "About the trip to Storybrooke. We've already talked about it on other occasions, but it never hurts to mention it again. I may not exactly remember the kiss and that we shared a bed, but I do remember everything else. It was a fantastic weekend."

"Aye, love. We should return there someday. To create new memories."

"And maybe this time we meet your twin, The Captain." Her eyes suddenly widened, while her face lit up. "We should also invite Elsa to join us; she would love the town and its inhabitants."

"And we would have to make sure we make the room reservations correctly," Killian added as he raised an eyebrow, his lips drawing a smirk, causing Emma to giggle, infecting him in the process. They shared a liberating laugh for the next few seconds, managing to drag away part of their concerns.

"Wow. I needed this moment," Emma said when the laughter subsided. "But I better get ready before it gets even later." She hadn't walked two steps before she turned and approached him again. "And above all, no alcohol involved, please. I want to remember everything." She then placed a quick peck on his lips, a subtle touch, but one full of promises. It was all he needed for now.

Christmas Eve Dinner-Party

Killian was elated. After his conversation with Emma, he began to feel like he was walking on clouds. That feeling, far from fading, had accompanied him throughout the day, with Emma by his side since she had barely separated from him since that morning.

As he had already imagined, Elsa did not mind at all moving the dessert preparations to his apartment. His brother gladly agreed to be her assistant in the kitchen, while Emma was relegated to help Belle and himself to finalize the decorations of the house, mistletoe included.

Belle and Emma got along well from the start. Killian still wasn't sure what had gone through Emma's mind the first time they had met and she had behaved quite impertinently with his friend. Since they hadn't discussed that subject again, he took a mental note to ask her later. Even so, Emma had rectified the situation, making this reunion possible. He couldn't feel more grateful to her.

After leaving everything ready for the dinner party, everyone left for The Kraken, where they would work for a couple of hours. A wave of pride seized him when Belle could see for the first time how the bar had changed in these four years thanks to Emma's touch, giving the place a soul of its own.

Although his friend had visited The Kraken long ago, in recent years she had been busy taking care of her sick mother while carrying out two jobs. Belle's visits to Boston had been very sporadic, with him and Liam being the ones traveling to see her on most occasions. That was why she had taken so long to meet Emma. Fortunately, her mother had managed to recover, so that opened the door to more frequent visits in the future.

After closing the bar early, all of them, Ruby and Robin and his family included, went to the brothers’ apartment to enjoy a special Christmas Eve celebration, with delicious food, relaxed conversations, and even some Christmas carols. It might have been the festive atmosphere around them causing bright smiles and sparkling eyes on all the guests. Whatever it was, the truth was that he had never felt more at peace with himself and with the rest of the world than at that precise moment, witnessing the happiness that emanated from all his loved ones.

"Did you figure out what was going on with Emma these last few days?" Killian had been so focused watching the conversation that took place in front of him between Emma and Belle that he hadn't realized that Liam had approached him until he heard his voice.

Killian offered an elusive response after casting a sidelong glance at his brother. "It was nothing important, I guess. She's fine now, isn't she?" He took a sip of his drink, wishing that Liam would not continue his line of inquiry since he wasn't willing to offer further explanations, at least not until he talked to Emma again. Killian kept looking forward on purpose, reluctant to face his brother. Liam didn't seem to catch the hint, though.

"Have you talked to her, you know, about your feelings?"

Liam had tried to keep up this kind of conversation in recent weeks, but Killian had always answered evasively. It wasn't going to be any different today. Besides, he might have found the best way to divert attention, launch a counterattack.

"What about you?"

Liam's brows furrowed in confusion. "What about me? What do you mean?"

"Do you intend to do something about your feelings towards a certain other blonde?"

The way in which Liam's features changed was almost comical. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Then his gaze drifted for a split second in the direction of Elsa while he scratched behind his ear. Finally, he nodded almost imperceptibly, as if he were convincing himself, before answering. "Maybe."

Killian cocked his head to one side while arching an eyebrow in appreciation. "So maybe?"

"Aye. You know the motto, a man unwilling to fight for what he wants..."

"...deserves what he gets," Killian finished for him, letting the words sink deep into him.

"Life is too short, little brother." Liam patted his shoulder affectionately before continuing, "Sometimes it's worth not thinking so much and simply acting and pursuing what we really want." After those last significant words, Liam offered him a smile of encouragement, before walking away with a clear destination.

Killian couldn't feel happier for his brother. It was as if the pieces of the puzzle that formed the life of the Jones brothers had finally begun to fit together, offering a glimpse of a promising picture. Just then, one of the pieces of that puzzle, the most precious for Killian, began to walk in his direction, a radiant smile adorning her face and a special glow in her eyes that had the ability to take his breath away.

"Can you come with me to the kitchen, Jones? I need something from there." Emma didn't even wait for an answer, but kept walking in the direction of the kitchen. He, of course, followed in her footsteps.

This woman would never stop surprising him. At the moment when the kitchen door closed behind them, she practically pounced on him, pressing her lips against his in a burning kiss, one with the ability to set him in flames inside. Any coherent thoughts vanished in his head being replaced by a single image, Emma.

He got lost in the incredible sensation of her lips on his and her body pressed against his, generating a delicious friction in the right places. They devoured each other until they had to pull apart to catch their breaths.

"It's not like I'm complaining. Obviously I'm not. But what was this about?" he muttered, his breath still agitated, his forehead resting against hers.

"Well, I've seen you talking to Liam and for some reason, I thought about the mistletoe that was hanging near you."

"You've lost me, love." His brain was certainly not working properly yet, because he didn't catch how those two aspects were related.

Emma separated a little from him while raising an eyebrow in an amused expression. Then she rolled her eyes before answering, "I'm only going to kiss you when I really want it, not because I'm forced to do it due to a stupid tradition marked by a plant."

"So there will be no kiss under the mistletoe?"

"Nope."

"Okay... No kiss under the mistletoe. I got it." He let out an exaggerated sigh pretending resignation and then his lips drew a small pout. "A pity."

"You're such an idiot," she snorted. "Besides the stupid tradition, I prefer to keep this, whatever it is, just for us. At least until we figure things out better."

Killian realized at that moment that, until now, Emma had been the one to initiate all their kisses. Maybe the time had come to rectify that. "Just to clarify, I'm also allowed to kiss you whenever I want as long as it's in private?"

Emma tilted her head while biting her lower lip in a mischievous way. "I guess you'll have to find out for yourself," she replied before finally turning away from him and opening the door again. The bloody siren had the audacity to blow a kiss in his direction before heading towards the living room, a smile of satisfaction drawn on her lips the last thing he saw before the door closed behind her.

Killian needed to take a couple of deep breaths while waiting for his body to recover before he returned to the living room as well. This woman was going to be the death of him, no doubt.

A couple of minutes later, Killian felt able to return with the rest. His gaze inevitably turned in Emma's direction. When their eyes met, she offered him a soft smile before continuing to talk to Ruby and Mulan. Killian's gaze then roamed the rest of the room until he found his brother who was talking to Elsa. When Killian realized the specific spot they were located in, he couldn't help smiling with delight as he went in search of Emma.

Luck seemed to be on his side that night, finally. Just before he approached Emma, Ruby and Mulan left her to start a new conversation with Regina, Robin's new girlfriend. Killian took advantage of that moment to shorten the distance between them to stand right in front of her. "Swan, about the mistletoe..."

"I've already told you, Jones, I'm not gonna kiss you with everyone around." She cut him off abruptly with a somewhat exasperated tone, although Killian detected a hint of playfulness and perhaps desire in her voice.

"I know, I know, a stupid tradition and whatever, but, you may change your mind now." Killian pointed his head in the direction of Liam and Elsa, a huge grin pulling at his lips.

Emma's eyes widened immediately as she gripped his arm tightly. "Holy shit! They're about to kiss!"

Killian couldn't help a quiet chuckle from escaping his throat. It seemed obvious that whatever prejudices Emma had against the mistletoe, they did not apply to Elsa or Liam.

"You were saying, Swan?" he muttered into her ear, resisting the urge to bite her lobe or slide his lips over her neck. Maybe another time…

"Shut up, Killian, don't distract me now," she mumbled as she pulled her phone from the back pocket of her pants. "Do you think they'll get mad at me if I take a picture of the moment?"

Killian barked out a laugh as he shook his head. He then turned to his brother and shouted, "Hey, Liam. Look up."

Liam - December 2019

"Hey, Liam. Look up."

Liam ignored his brother's words at first, too focused on his conversation with Elsa. They had been discussing the next step in relation to Killian and Emma as it seemed that they both were still reluctant to take the final step.

"Oh my god! You are under the mistletoe!" What his ears did catch was Anna's almost deafening yell. It was then that his brain finally processed what was happening.

Slowly, he looked up, finding himself, of course, with the mistletoe sprig hanging just above him. Bloody hell. His gaze then turned to Elsa. She seemed visibly nervous, her gaze traveling from the mistletoe, pausing briefly on him, and then looking at her sister with a pleading expression on her face.

"You have to kiss, guys. You know the tradition," Anna continued, squealing as she bounced and clapped excitedly.

"Don't listen to her, love. You certainly don't have to do anything you don't want to do," Liam assured her in a quiet voice as he offered a reassuring smile, even though his heart threatened to beat right out of his ribcage.

Elsa's cheeks colored a soft shade of pink, highlighting her innate beauty as she bit her lower lip in a way that was perhaps too tempting. He also felt his cheeks burn but he ignored his inner agitation, looking for Elsa's gaze to make sure she was alright.

Her lips curled up as she shrugged. "It's just a kiss, isn't it?" She moved closer to him, causing his heart to beat frantically as the butterflies in his stomach began to flutter. Before shortening the distance completely, her eyes widened slightly. "You want this too, don't you?"

"Aye, since it's a tradition..." he muttered while his eyes bored into hers. The corners of her lips rose slightly before standing on tiptoe and pressing her lips against his own. It was a brief kiss, just a gentle brush, but enough for him to feel the softness of her lips and the warmth of her breath, causing something to stir inside him while everything around him seemed to fade.

Only when Elsa pulled apart was Liam able to recover his senses. Ignoring the cheering around them, he devoted himself to observing her features, finding no trace of regret, but rather an expression of contentment while the flash of something similar to hope crossed her gaze.

"We're definitely the worst matchmakers ever. Not only do we not get them to kiss, but we fall into our own trap. We are idiots."

Liam couldn't prevent a liberating laugh from escaping from his mouth, getting to infect Elsa in the process. "I’m not complaining at all, love," he managed to assure her once the laughter subsided as he placed an arm on her shoulders. "But we better think of another plan for these two stubborn ones."

"Hey lovebirds, stop whispering and share with the rest." Liam was tempted to ignore Emma's words and remain in his own bubble with Elsa, but he certainly did not enjoy being the center of attention. So, after letting out a heavy sigh, he began to walk away from the mistletoe, keeping his arm around Elsa's shoulders, gently pushing her to accompany him.

"Well, taking advantage of everyone's attention, I'd like to announce something." All eyes in the room suddenly turned to Anna, while Liam noticed how Elsa tensed beside him. Anna's eyes narrowed before she let out a snort. "No, it's not what you're thinking. I'm not pregnant, nor are we getting married. Yet."

"Nor have I proposed to her. Yet," Kristoff added as he winked at his girlfriend.

"What I wanted to announce is that Kris and I have gotten an early Christmas gift and we will also be able to share it with some of you." Anna made a deliberate pause as if she wanted to create tension in the atmosphere.

"Come on, Anna, spit it out."

Anna frowned as she raised a finger in warning in Emma's direction. "Patience is not one of your best virtues, Emma. I guess Killian agrees with me." Anna directed a conspiratorial glance towards Killian who responded by nodding, earning a nudge from Emma. "Anyway, as I was saying before the interruption... We... are going to spend New Year's Eve in a cabin in the woods. And best of all, there is room for six people, isn't it wonderful?"

"What Anna means is that both the brothers Jones and Elsa and Emma, are invited to join us," Kristoff explained. "I'm afraid there's no room for anyone else." He gave an apologetic look in the direction of both Ruby and Robin.

Liam's excitement lasted exactly five seconds, the time he needed to try to add that event to his mental schedule and realize that he would not be able to attend. A sense of disappointment took hold of him, because the idea of further developing the incipient relationship with Elsa in a different environment was too appealing. But he could not ignore his responsibilities.

"Thank you so much for the offer guys, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. We're throwing a New Year's Eve party at The Kraken."

"But having a party at The Kraken doesn't necessarily mean you have to attend, right? I mean, you're the boss, you can do whatever you want!" Anna insisted, looking at the others in search of agreement.

She was somehow right. He might feel obligated to stay but that didn't mean Emma and Killian had to decline the invitation too. Just when he was about to make the proposal, Ruby came forward.

"Anna has a point. In fact, I think you three should go. Mulan will be with me that night. She has experience serving drinks, so she will be very helpful." Ruby looked at her girlfriend who offered her a smile while nodding in agreement.

"And you have already given me all this week off to enjoy the holidays with my family, so I will be there too." Liam was about to reply, but Robin kept talking. "Besides, I literally live three floors above the bar and Regina will be there taking care of Roland. I can take small breaks during my shift to see them.”

"I appreciate your support guys, but there will be a lot of work since we estimate that public attendance will be high. I don't think it's fair to load you with more work than necessary, honestly."

"You could hire more temporary bartenders. You have a week ahead to get everything organized." This time it was Belle who made the suggestion, clearly interested in sending him to that cabin in the woods. Yes, he could afford to hire some waiters, but still…

A deep exhale escaped between his lips, while he felt all eyes on him. He wanted to accept the invitation so badly, not only because that would allow him to spend more time with Elsa, but because it would also be the perfect excuse for both Killian and Emma to continue exploring their relationship outside their usual environment and because he had worked hard during the year and deserved a break.

He cast a sidelong glance at Elsa, who was still by his side. She was looking at her sister with whom she seemed to be having a silent conversation. His gaze then shifted to Emma and Killian who were also sharing furtive glances. It was as if everyone was waiting expectantly for him to make a final decision.

"What do you think, Emma?" Liam had learned to trust Emma's instincts as far as business was concerned, so he decided that if she gave her approval he would cease to be opposed to the idea.

Emma cast a last sidelong glance at Killian before answering. "I have a couple of people in mind who could help. I think there will be no problem at all. Ruby and Robin will have everything under control." To reaffirm her words, she quietly nodded her head, her lips curled upward. "It will only be one night. It will be fine."

His decision seemed obvious. If everyone agreed, who was he to refuse the possibility to spend a couple of days off with his loved ones? "Well, guys, if you put it that way I will have no choice but to accept." Everyone broke into applause but he ignored them, looking for Elsa's gaze instead. The radiant smile she offered him was enough to convince himself that he had made the right decision.

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Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think :)

Just three chapters to go... What might happen when you put six people together in a cabin to celebrate New Year with all those simmering feelings around them?

#cs ff #captain swan #cs au #csrt #damn you for making me love you #captain swan rewrite a thon #cs au ff #mayquita writes #my cs writings

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friendlytrees · 4 years

Text

Stay Here With Me

sebastian stan x reader

summary: you decided to clear your head and take a walk, but someone unexpected crosses paths with you.

warnings: swearing

mountains of paint are scattered all over different cardboard boxes. you take a chunck of the red and smear it on the canvas in front of you like a toddler. As bits if light creep in through your curtains you realize you’ve been painting all day. You get up and look around to see 10 awful and terrifying paintings staring back at you. Although this was a great stress reliever, it wasn't going to help you get over what had happened.

2 weeks ago you walked into your apartment to find your boyfriend Daniel cheating on you. You knew it wouldn't last, you met him at some douchey college frat party and out of all the boys, he was the “most romantic” when you caught him all you could say was leave.

After this incident your friend introduced you to anger painting. Although very effective it consumed you and it was all you could do. When you finished the 10th painting you decided it was time to get some fresh air. You get in the shower and after you change into a flowy dress and jacket, grab your keys and head out the door. You walked down what seemed like a never ending hall until you made it to the elevator. The elevator dings to signal you to go down and when the door opens, your ex smiles at you holding flowers.

“y/n hey look i wan-“

“no, i cant do this right now” you say as you cut him off. You try to walk to the stairs but he grabs your arm and insists you talk to him

“look what happened was so bad. And im so sorry, but thats in the past and we are in the present and thats what’s important”

“ do you think you’re being romantic “

“ i got you flowers”

you shove him, “ look you’re wasting my time. i have to go” you walk towards the elevator and leave him standing in the hall holding flowers. as the door closes you stare at him as he drops the flowers and crushes them.

after getting out the elevator you try to grab the nearest wall to cling on to so you can calm yourself down. All you could think about were the emotions you felt the night it happened. You catch your breath and eventually head out the front doors of the building. As soon as you walk out you are blinded by the sun. You cover your eyes as you think about how you haven't been outside in days.

while you mindlessly walk you can see the the sun leaking through the orange-ish trees along the road. this is the best thing you’ve done in a while, you have never stopped to take a look at the world around you since college started; in this moment you realized that life was beautiful. As the sun is setting you find yourself at a small park next to a library. your eyes wander to a bench with a very muscular man sitting on it. when you get closer you can eventually make out who it is

“hey, long time no see” you say as you stand right in front of him

he looks up from his book “y/n ? wow you look great” he gets up and goes in for a hug

“what are you doing here Sebastian. i haven't seen you here in so long”

“well i just got back from jersey , i was just here to visit family. then i ran into you.. wow you changed so much.”

“is that a good thing” you say with laughter

“ yes thats a great thing wow,” he goes in for another hug. “ i haven't seen you in 2 years. why didn't you call”

you push him off of you and go to sit on the bench “ i had so much going on i couldn't really make time to call anyone”

“ouch” he says as he sits down.

“ no dont take it personally. college is just stressful”

“thats why i never went” he says as he leans back in the bench

“what have you been doing these past 2 years?”

“ive been working, we dont all have money”

you could tell that was suggested towards you. you had been best friends your entire lives and did everything together, but the only difference between you two was that his family didnt really have much. so, the older he got, the less you saw of him since he was working all the time. And eventually when you moved you didnt see him at all.

you turn to face Sebastian “can we hang out today? i dont really have anything planned”

he turns to face you “ well i was going to sit here and read this book, but i guess i have room to hang out” he smiled and began to laugh. eventually you two got up and started walking in the Manhattan streets. the sun had set. the moon light lit up the almost empty street , which was rare. Sebastian turns to face you and begins to speak

“so where are we going?”

“i thought you knew, i was following you” you say with a confused look on your face

“im kidding” he looks over and points to a corner store “lets go in here”

you both step inside and he goes straight to the liquor. he grabs two large bottles and heads to the register.

“that will be $40”

“here you go”

“thank you, come again”

you both walk out and he hands you one of the brown paper bags. “drink up” he says as he opens his drink”

“you want me to drink,,, while we are walking around Manhattan.”

“yeah why not what could happen” he says as he takes a large swig of liquor

you look at him and decide to give in. “fine, but im only doing this for you”

an hour had passed and you were both wasted walking under the street lights saying god knows what. The only thing you could hear was Sebastian yelling every time he saw a taxi. You end up stopping at one of the lights next to a closed theater.

“hold on i need to stop for a minute i need t-” mid sentence he lets half of his lunch out on the side walk. All you could do was laugh at him while he was doing it. When hes done he sits up and swings around the poll screaming to the top of his lungs “do you want to know something y/n”

“what is it” you say taking the last sip of your alcohol

“i love you”

“what”

“Ive loved you since youve came into my life, you just make me so happy.” he drunkingly makes a heart with his hands and walks closer to you. “I needed to see you y/n, youre part of the reason i came back. I missed your laugh, your jokes, i missed the way you smiled. I need you”

“youre drunk you dont mean that”

“Yes i do” he moves his hands up to your cheeks. “ every time im with you i get this feeling that if something ever happened to you id lose you forever. And i want to make sure you will always be okay. Im not saying this because im drunk y/n, im saying this because i love you”

No words were able to come out of your mouth. All you could do was stand there and stare into those bluish grey eyes. he eventually let your face go and started walking away.

“where are you going?” you say as you try to catch up with him

“i have no idea, but im pretty sure ive just embarrassed myself”

you stop walking “Where were you supposed to stay tonight?”

“i was supposed to stay with my mom but if i come home drunk hes gonna kill me” he stops walking and tilts his head up “i could just buy a hotel for tonight”

“or you could stay at my place” you say. he turns his head over to you and smiles. he sluggishly walks towards you and you guide him to your apartment.

you both find a taxi to take you back since youre too drunk to walk. Once you get there you head through the doors and get in the elevator. the ride up to the 3rd floor of your apartment was filled with silence. Sebastian had kept his distance ever since he told you he loved you. Back on the sidewalk under the street light you regret not telling him right then and there that youve felt the same way.

the elevator doors opened and when you walked out you could see someone near your door. you rushed over to see who it was, and when you knew you were disappointed.

“what the hell are you doing here, leave now!”

“please just let me ta-” your ex takes a pause when he sees Sebastian standing 4 feet away. “who the fuck is this, huh, y/n? who the fuck are you” he starts walking closer to Sebastian and shoves him “who are you”

he looks at you and looks back at your ex “ im her boyfriend”

“no hes no-” you were cut off by your ex who became filled with anger

“oh really, your her boyfriend?” he shoves Sebastian

Sebastian shoves him back “shove me again and i swear”

“you swear what. what are you gonna do”

Sebastian throws a punch at him and then gets tackled. You try to tell them to stop and pull them off of each other, but it wasn't working. Your ex wouldn't stop hitting Sebastian. He couldn't fight back anymore all he could do was take the hits. you run up to Daniel and pull him off of Sebastian before he could do anymore damage.

“what the hell Daniel”

“punk deserved it” he said as he wiped the blood off of his brow.

“leave right now”

“im not going anywhere”

“ leave before i call the police”

he looks at you for a moment, then he leaves.

you run over to Sebastian to make sure he is okay and help him up. You grab your key and open your door. you turn the lights on and take Sebastian to the living room to lay him on the couch.

“hey, im going to grab a rag to clean your face”

“y/n” he pauses to catch his breath “ you never said anything earlier, after i told you”

you sit down on the coffee table in front of the couch so you're facing him. “Sebastian. all this time didn't understand why i felt the way i do around you, you make me feel safe and i can trust you with my life.” Sebastian sits up before you can finish “Sebastian i love you” he leans over to you and kisses you “i love you too y/n”

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fanfiction #marvel #Marvel x Y/N #Marvel Comics #bucky #bucky fluff #bucky barns imagine #bucky barns x reader #bucky barns fic #bucky barns #fanfiction #fanfic

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lhs3020b · 3 years

Text

Today, I am enjoying the “shapeshifting creep” thing. Because let’s face it, it’s a perfect summary of what Boris is and what he stands for (insofar as he stands for anything).

In fact, given some of the allegations that were circulating back in December (anyone else remember December? yeah, like 600 years ago, and all that?) the “creep” bit is probably even more accurate that the tweet’s author thought.

I’m hearing rumours that gears are suddenly grinding in reverse throughout Number 10 and related offices. In fact most commentators seem to reckon that the odds of an actual deal with the EU have suddenly gone above water again - I’m not sure I quite believe that, but the thing to watch will be if the Internal Market Bill gets pulled next week. (IIRC it’s still in committee in the House of Lords - it’s been having quite a rough ride in the upper chamber, by all accounts, which is good as it absolutely should have a rough ride.)

If they did pull the bill, then suddenly the Tory front benches will be on collision-course with the headbangers and fanatics in the ERG faction. That could - potentially - get very interesting indeed. (A point to note is that there’s been a lot of Tory whinging about Boris recently. As he’s carried on bumble-fucking the pandemic response into a smoking hole in the ground, a lot of MPs have been getting buyer’s remorse. They’re also having a run of bad opinion polls - now that Corbyn’s perma-cancelled, they can’t play the “Jermey Corbyn is a mad Communard who’s coming to nationalise your buy-to-let apartment and put your public-private PFI provider in a gulag” socialist-hysteria card anymore - and it’s clear that’s making their lives a lot harder.

(If you believe the polls - and that absolutely is an “if” - Labour now have a decisive lead in voting intention.)

It was notable that the last lockdown vote saw a surprisingly-large Tory rebellion - 34 of them voted against it. The Government came very close to needing Opposition votes to pass the lockdown measures (though it’s worth noting that the Tory rebellion here was motivated by greed, spite and stupidity, not any principled desire to curb an over-powerful front bench team). Things are getting tetchy and tense inside the Parliamentary Conservative Party, and you’d need a heart of stone not to smirk at their discomfort.

And now their idol, their beau, the apple of their eye, the pinnacle of the ethnonationalist movement to which they’ve been making cutesy-eyes since 2016 ... has been de-elected. And it looks like he’s been de-elected by quite a substantial margin. And Tories are facing the possibility that actually, they’re on the wrong side of history, and maybe the future doesn’t look like them. It’s hard to quantify, but demoralisation is a powerful force in politics. (This was one of the things that did Labour in last year - compare the mood in 2017 versus the mood in 2019. 2017, people were up for a fight, but by 2019, everyone had got to watch 2 years of Corbyn stumbling and blundering and twisting in the wind after the bungled Salisbury response, and the failure to act on anti-semitism.)

This makes for a very interesting (and febrile) situation. While I don’t think it’s likely, nonetheless there are a couple of possible pathways where Boris Johnson ends up as splash damage from the Biden victory.

Please, please, please...

#UK internal politics #it's not the despair that gets you #it's the hope #LHS witters #I said I wasn't going to do any more of these #but this is an exceptional weekend #so here are a few thoughts

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ohshcscenerios · 4 years

Text

Find Me

Chapter Twenty - Choose Your Own Adventure

Previous Poll Result: Swerve into them

Kyoya’s eyes widened in shock when he saw a metallic cylinder reflecting through the darkness of night. He almost forgot to breathe as he watched the barrel rise to take its aim.

“They’re going to shoot!” He exclaimed, unaware that it was his voice that echoed throughout the car. He couldn’t peel his fearful eyes away from the gun, staring right into his own demise.

“Hold on!” Takashi shouted, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He couldn’t wait for his friends to heed his warning and sharply turned into the car beside them. The car swerved out of the way, missing his direct hit.

A gunshot blasted from behind, forcing Kyoya and Tamaki to take cover in the backseat, crouching out of view. Kyoya couldn’t believe they still tried to shoot, even after they missed their clean chance. Shooting blindly was just as deadly though.

“Takashi what are you doing?” Mitsukuni yelled as he slammed into his car door, reaching for the handle above his head.

Takashi didn’t pay his cousin any mind. He snapped their car to the side again, this time effectively forcing the other car to suddenly brake. Tires screeched against the asphalt while Takashi tried to regain control of their car. They swerved between the lanes for a second before straightening out and picking up speed again. He looked in the rear view mirror and sighed in relief, seeing the first car had turned sideways and blocked the road, stopping the second car from following them.

He didn’t slow down, continuing to speed through downtown until he neared a familiar exit. He didn’t want to drive back to the Ootori mansion in case they were monitoring their trail. He decided the best choice at the moment was hiding out until dawn. At least in the daylight they couldn’t hide in the shadows of night. They’d be relatively safe in the morning.

Until then, they’d have to hide.

He spotted a fish shop with a permanently closed sign taped across the front door. He figured it would be their best option for now.

He parked inside a narrow alleyway, turned off the car, and turned around to check on his friends. “Is anyone hurt?” He asked worriedly, looking between Kyoya, Tamaki, and Mitsukuni.

They were terrified but appeared to be unharmed.

“What the hell is going on?” Tamaki asked. His voice sounded distant, still hazed by what happened.

“I don’t know!” Kyoya barked back, patting down his chest before checking his rolled up window for any cracks.

Mitsukuni fell back into his seat and took several deep breaths to calm down his rising anxiety. “They want us dead, we know that at least.”

..............................................................................................................................

Haruhi didn’t know where she was. Nothing seemed familiar. She couldn’t place the smells, the sounds... nothing. They kept her hands bound most of the time except when she was granted her one bathroom break per day.

They didn’t allow her in any rooms with windows. The first few days were torture but now she had grown accustomed to the darkness and it doesn’t terrify her as badly. She couldn’t consider that a good thing though.

The cold concrete floor was the one thing she’d never get used to. Every time she was thrown back into her room the floor stole her precious body heat. Beside the thin blanket and flat pillow they’ve provided on the blow up mattress in the corner she had nothing to keep her warm or comfortable. They refused to turn on the lights so it would be useless to ask for magazines or puzzles to help pass the time.

All she could really do was sleep. Sleep and pray.

Faint voices echoed down the hallway, just loud enough for her to hear two or three men talking in the den. Most nights they filled the basement with harsh hollers and petty arguments during poker. One always cheated and one always tried to force the other to lay down more money.

They were pathetic. All of them. Pathetic, spineless, desperate men who were willing to lock her away for-

For what?

She didn’t know. She tried to listen to their conversations, carefully listening for key words as to why they were keeping her alive. She had briefly heard one mention a Hitachiin son the other day and spent the rest of that day praying for his safety.

She didn’t know their plans, their motives, or their next moves. She was completely left in the dark, both figuratively and literally.

The voices were coming closer.

“He won’t pay that much, you need to lower the price.” One said.

“I’d rather hear that from him, not you. The price stays the same.” A second one argued.

“He’s bought one from the south village for one thousand more than our asking price. If anything we should raise ours.” A third voice suggested.

Haruhi didn’t know what they were talking about but she did know they were walking closer to her door.

“I agree, we should squeeze as much dough we can from the bastard. We all know he can afford it.” The second voice said sarcastically.

The first voice sighed, “We can’t change the asking price if we already told him! Besides, he’s sending one of his men to inspect her in two days. If he likes what he sees then he’ll write the check.”

Haruhi crawled into a corner when she heard them standing right outside their door. Her bound hands made it difficult to keep her balance but she managed to kick herself backwards until her back hit a cold wall. She desperately wanted to escape but she was trapped.

Always trapped.

She wasn’t sure what they were talking about but she didn’t like where their conversation was going. Whatever - or whoever - they planned to sell in two days would be worth a lot of money. That wasn’t a good sign.

A loud jingle of keys sounded while someone unlocked her door. They threw it open letting the hallway light crash into the room, forcing Haruhi to squint. She wasn’t used to light at this point and her eyes nearly burned by the florescent shining in her face.

A tall rugged man stood in the doorway. The light shining on his back shadowed him, making him appear as a dark figure. However she could see the sinister smile creeping across his face.

Two figures stepped from behind him and walked toward her.

“Bring her to the bathroom. We need to start prepping her.”

What should Haruhi do? (Click to Vote)

I have my internet back and I’m ready to rock and roll. This story just keeps getting better - or worse, considering how you choose to see it. I felt it would be worth while to write from Haruhi’s perspective this time.

What do you think will happen next? Choose wisely.

I only got an hour of sleep last night so I don’t know when I’ll update because I’m going to try to nap now. But I’ll try to update again sometime today.

#ouran high school host club #ohshc #choose your own adventure #find me #Kyoya Ootori #haruhi fujioka #tamaki suoh #takashi morinozuka #mitsukuni haninozuka #hikaru hitachiin #kaoru hitachiin #poll #vote

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a-singleboat · 5 years

Text

(After) Operation IRL

Word Count: 1531

A/N: i combined a request i got with the polling results and so it made this :)

Now, today wasn’t a day that you normally would have contemplated your entire existence but it was bound to happen sometime soon. During filming that day you had gone and let words slip out of your mouth as you usually did when you were excited. They usually gave you a few minutes of panic but this time.

Oh, how this time was different.

During the time that Damien was pulling items from the giant operation man’s body, you had gotten so excited that you were running around like a lunatic. And, on accident mind you, you had shouted, “I love you!”

Now, normally this wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that you and Damien had been dating for a little over a month and neither of you had said it to each other yet. In fact, love hadn’t even come up. You were both getting back onto the dating scene and had decided that yes, you did like each other enough to go out.

After a few dates and you meeting his cats and him meeting your two birds, it seemed like everything was going great. Great enough for you to even extend the offer of going to dinner with your family the following weekend after summer games wrapped up filming.

At that moment, however, instead of going to find Damien and talk to him about your feelings like an adult would do you were in yours and Mari’s shared hotel room. You four girls had decided long ago that on outings like these, you would rotate rooms if there was a maximum two to a room. For example, the next thing would be VidCon and you and Olivia would be in the same room while Mari and Courtney would share one. The rotation of rooms had started way back to roughly five years ago so why stop the tradition now?

You paced in the space in front of the beds, biting on your thumb and probably annoying Mari who was trying to watch whatever program was on TV. You heard her set her phone down on the stand between the two beds and clap twice.

“Y/n, you just need to go look for him and talk to him. We already talked about all the possible outcomes and I’m one-hundred percent sure that Damien will listen to whatever you have to say,” Mari said with her hands clasped together. It was almost as if she were actually begging you to go talk to Damien though you knew she was giving you command more than begging you of anything.

“Alright,” you straightened out your back and dropped your hands down to your sides. “You’re right, I’ll go right now.”

“Thank you,” Mari fell backward onto her bed so that her hair splayed out all around her head like a halo. “I don’t expect you back tonight.”

You blushed, face heating up the quickest it ever has, “He’s rooming with Shayne, Mari! I would never!”

“Shayne’s in Ian’s room for the rest of the night, not sure why but I might stop by to say, ‘Hi,’ later though.”

You grabbed your phone off the TV stand and tucked it into your back pocket, saying goodbye to Mari before sliding on your slippers and leaving your room.

For a hotel that was in the middle of basically nowhere, you could say that it wasn’t too bad. There were working lights and an ice machine down the hall not to mention that the building itself was about three stories high, which seemed to be the tallest building around. The cons were that the hotel was a little less than an hour out from the filming location and required everyone to be up earlier than they would like to be.

Since everyone was basically on the same floor save for some of the crew being a floor down, some doors were left open and you could see into the rooms as you walked by. Noah gave you a wave as you passed the door and you waved back, the gesture putting a smile on your face.

When you reached Damien’s door, you hesitated. Why you hesitated, you didn’t know but time couldn’t go by any slower. You forced yourself to knock, twice, before taking a small step back. The time you waited seemed like ages before a disheveled Damien answered the door.

He slipped on his glasses and saw it was you, face lighting up immediately. He opened his door wider and let you in. You took in how clean their room was and immediately felt embarrassed due to your’s and Mari’s room being a mess.

He walked over to his bed and sat on it, clearing away the book he was reading and pat next to him so that you sat down. “What’s up?”

“I just came over to talk.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “What about?”

“About earlier,” you bit your lip. “It just kind of slipped out and I didn’t know if you were ready.”

You could’ve kept going but the look on Damien’s face told you to stop. He draped an arm over your shoulder and pulled you in close, leaning the both of you back against the headboard. “Y’know, for what it’s worth, I love you too.”

You held your breath. There were those words again, taunting you. Did you love Damien? Yes, of course, you did. You were going to take him to meet your parents and your sister as well. You exhaled.

“Do you ever think that we’re moving too fast?”

“No,” Damien kissed the side of your head, a gesture that made your heart melt. “I think that we’re right where we need to be.”

Before you knew it, Damien had kissed you full on the lips and you melted into the kiss. You somehow found yourself straddling him through all of that, only realizing when you pulled back for some much-needed air. You peppered his face in kisses, giggling slightly as he squirmed and tried to get you to fall over into the bed. Eventually, you caved and let yourself roll over off of him and to the side.

Damien pulled the blanket over the two of you so that you could lay side by side in warmth. You stayed like that for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company and talking about anything that crossed your mind. When you looked at the clock on the wall and noticed what time it was, you tried to leave to return to your room because you were sure Damien was tired and needed sleep.

He caught your arm and with the most persuasive eyes said, “Please stay?”

You climbed back into bed and cuddled up close to him. He reached behind him and shut off the light, plunging you into darkness. Damien placed a kiss on the top of your head and soon enough, both of you were asleep.

The next morning, you woke up to snickering and a very warm body who was harshly whispering, “Would you shut up, you’ll wake her!”

You blinked the sleep out of your eyes and looked up at Shayne who had his phone out and a wicked smile on his face. “Good morning to the lovely couple!”

He seemed to be recording which caused you to roll your eyes and cuddled more into Damien, “I swear if I see that online anywhere, you will be a dead man, Shayne Robert Topp.”

All giggling stopped and a loud, overly dramatic sigh was heard. “I guess,” Shayne said before starting to laugh again. “Better get up before Matt comes around to get everyone into the vans.”

You groaned and rolled over, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I should probably go get ready,” you kissed Damien on the cheek and said your farewells to the two boys. When you got back to yours and Mari’s room, you were greeted with a cheeky smile and a perky Mari.

“So, how did last night go? I told you you wouldn’t be back last night,” Mari wiggled her eyebrows and opened the door to let you into the room.

“Last night went fine, slept well and had a good talk,” you dipped into the bathroom to brush your teeth.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

She threw a pillow at you, knocking the toothbrush from your hand. You turned to look at her with shock written across your face. “What?” you questioned.

“Next time bring me some piping hot tea!”

“Of course, Evil Stepmother,” you stuck your tongue out at her. “Would you like me to do your laundry while that’s waiting?”

You snickered as she pouted before finally leaving you alone. You finished getting ready before flopping down onto Mari’s bed. “But in all honesty, thank you for telling me to go talk to him last night. I really appreciate it.”

She waved you off, a smile creeping onto her face. “Yeah, yeah. Just name a kid after me, okay?”

This time it was you that threw a pillow at her, knocking her phone out of her hand. You innocently smiled at her with two thumbs up. “I’ll be sure to do that, Mother Gothel.”

TAGLISTS

Permanent

@gretavanyeth @toms-order @starlightfound @lemirabitur @grandmascottlang @lovelyh0lland @positiveparker @bippity-boppity-boopa

Smosh

@andreasworlsboring101

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elizabeth-234 · 4 years

Text

The Hourglass

Previous Chapter Ten: For the Great Good Part Two

Hi All. Thank you for reading. This is for prompt ten of whumptober: Internal Bleeding and blood loss.

References to suicide.

Chapter Eleven: Where in the World is Peter?

???

People were talking around him. They were the type of murmurs you could never hear the exact wording no matter how hard you concentrated. His head lay heavy on the pillow, sunk into the dent worn in it by time. He found the same experience with his limbs. They were all but useless at his side besides the small twitch in the ring finger of his left hand.

Time held no meaning in that state of immobility and exhaustion dragged him back to sleep whenever consciousness creeped back in. Inside the immobile body his cells worked to heal and repair the damage from the attack and fall, though his mind remained unaware. Hours or weeks could have passed, and in some ways they did but Peter wasn’t aware to the consequences of this yet.

He woke up to the sound of voices again. Shaking from the effort, he cracked an eye open. There was a young nurse sitting on a stool near the door. She was on some talking into type of boxed hospital phone. Her intonation rose and fell as skimmed through some paperwork on a clipboard. Peter closed his eyes and panted while trying to ignore the trembling in his neck. He slept again.

Waking moments were more prevalent from then on. He noticed someone was always stationed in his room no matter the time of day. Some stayed in the chair by the door while others came in and watched TV. They sat in the chair beside him and though he would fall asleep, it this strange state of sickness seem less lonely.

The doctor came sparingly but they made sure to give a progress report when they did. “Low urine output still. Give him more fluids” The doctor said much to Peter’s embarrassment. His palms were clammy against the bedsheets but his arms wouldn’t respond to his attempts to move. His mind wanted to claim health, that he was fine and could go back, but his body knew what his mind wouldn’t acknowledge: Peter was hurt and it was taking too long to heal. His heart was beating fast but his pulse pressure remained low. He wasn’t just tired but had full exhaustion and fatigue in his muscles.

Sometimes he pretended they were talking about somebody else so he didn’t have to be embarrassed. Like he wasn’t invisible and they weren’t talking around him. Other times he couldn’t follow the updates from the people. He’d get lost in the numbers and vocabulary, the twisting sentences that almost seemed like they contradicted themselves. A headache formed and he would block out the sounds instead of trying to wake up. Still, Peter slept on.

When he opened his eyes without strain and forethought, it was night. He stared at the moon from his spot on the bed. It hung low and thick in his window. The yellow and dark watercolors of the face casting a strange tint across the room and the blankets covering him. The face stared right back at him all dark eyes and long mouths. Did the man in the moon pity him or was he laughing?

Peter took a mental stock of himself. He tensed his muscles pushing them to see how they functioned after no use. He was breathing hard from his exploration, his legs twitching and restless. With slow, measured movements Peter pushed himself to sit, though his stomach muscles protested the whole way. Hunched over and catching his breath, Peter thought about his next options.

The memories of how he came to be in the hospital were gone, but he knew he had to get out. The more time spent here, the easier it was for the men to come back. They would fine him eventually and such public exposure would work against him. Peter almost caved against the onset of his plans and fell back onto the bed, but he held firm. Rhodey and Tony’s faces appeared before him like apparitions in a ghost story. Their transparent expressions yelling at him to run as invisible enemies attacked them. A branch in the tree outside moved with the wind, disturbing the shadows in his room, and they were gone. He would find a way out for them.

Peter swung his legs off the side of the bed. He gasped as the cold of the tiled floor soaked through his socks and chilled his feet. Some plastic pouch was strapped to his leg. He palpated it and blushed when he felt liquid inside. Pushing away thoughts of his urinary track, Peter tested his balance. He fully placed his feet on the ground and pushed away from the stationary structure of the bed. Back and forth he teetered on the balls of his feet before what felt like the first time in forever, Peter was standing on his own two feet. His muscles burned and shook from the effort, and Peter began sweating but he was standing. It seemed like a time ago he was running on the dock. Had he fallen into the pond? His head pounded. He couldn’t remember what happened next.

Something moved and he saw the heat rustle the papers of the nurse sitting by his door. Her head was bent over to rest on the wall. She was almost asleep. Her eyes kept closing and not even the sounds of Peter’s explorations woke her. He could sneak around her if he moved fast enough. He tried walking but something tugged him back. The IV poll moved forward to catch up with him leaving the metal to scrap on the floor. The nurse woke up with a snort.

“Oh my.” She said when she spotted him up standing. “You shouldn’t be up. Let’s get you settled back in.”

There was no room for argument and he was tucked back in before he knew it. He drooped into the bedding and despite hating to admit it, even to himself, Peter felt like he’d just ran a marathon. Escape stretched further away from him if standing caused this much of an energy drain. He stared at the nurse how was working around him. She was an older nurse, one he might have seen before in one of his brief instances of clarity. She refilled his water and tucked the covers over his shoulders. Before she could move away he stopped her.

“Miss?” He said wanting to ask something that had been bothering him all night. “I’ve been to the hospital a few times when I was a kid and never had someone sit with me. Not that I don’t appreciate it but I don’t think I can sleep knowing someone’s watching me.”  

She gave him a critical eye as she checked the IV measurements with the time.

“Well, Mr. Parker that hasn’t stopped you from sleeping in the past 24 hours with other nurses here. I’m acting as a sitter tonight. I’m here to make sure you’re not a danger to yourself given how they recovered you from that lake.”

She patted him on his arm and his mind reeled with startling clarity of her words. They thought he jumped. They thought he chose to jump into the icy waters and not come back. A shiver ran down his spine. He needed to make her understand.

“That, that wasn’t it. I - someone was running after me and I fell. I - it wasn’t on purpose.”   

She clucked her teeth and pushed the covers up where they had fallen when he tried to get up to reassure her and maybe himself as well.

“Be that as it may, Mr. Parker. I have a job to do until you are cleared with the doctors and you do too. Rest easy tonight and focus on getting better. You’ve had some internal bleeding that they need to look at now you’re awake.”

He nodded and fell back into his pillow all fight and plans of escape forgotten.

“It’s Peter, please. Could you put the TV on? I would feel better with some background noise.” He said.

“I’m nurse Bee. Sleep well, Peter. I’ll be watching over you tonight.”

He closed his eyes and the sounds from the TV filtered into the room. His last thought was he thought he heard a commercial with Shrek come on.

“You’ve got some very unusual markers in your blood, Mr. Parker. It’s the reason it took us so long to find a suitable donor to get a transfusion. Now that it’s all set you should be feeling much better. We’ve removed the catheter as well and stopped most of the pain meds. The goal is to get you mobile now, build up any muscles, and, of course, you’ll have to see a psychiatrist. One will be sent up this afternoon. CPS was called and-”

“I’m eighteen, Doc” He said maintaining eye contact. The doctor raised an eyebrow but Peter didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t believe Peter, never mind that he was right not to trust him. It was that or he didn’t care either way. “Plus, I’ll call my uncle and he’ll tell you. There’s no need for anything else.”

The afternoon was filled with appointments. Just thinking about it left him a state of denial. Question after question bombarded him. He was scanned and poked and prodded. He didn’t even know how he was going to pay for everything.

The talk with the therapist was the worst. The hour dragged on. Every question was followed by another. Peter tried to be as honest as possible. Sticking to the truth was best in a lie and it would be easier to remember later, but Spiderman, that place, and May. No, all of those things were off limits. What he did repeat was he hadn’t jumped. He was chased and fell. The man nodded and wrote down something in his notebook before trying to dive into Peter’s past. He had no past here.

In any other circumstances it might’ve been helpful. If Peter was open to the experience he might have found talking about his life to a stranger freeing. But this wasn’t the case. His past was gone here to all outside eyes. It hadn’t happened because it would be dangerous to talk about it. He was increasingly closed off as the minutes went by. His attention more focused on the plaid sweater vest the man was wearing than their session.

Night came again. They must have believed his story because was finally alone. He was parched from retelling everything he remembered and more during the day. Still, something was missing. Dr. Lang suggested it was the trauma but Peter thought everything seemed off somehow. Everything was different from before.

He stuffed the blanket around his feet so the cold air wouldn’t chill them and grabbed the controller. He almost wished the nurse from the previous night was there before he stopped the thought. Escape. He needed to escape tonight. The CPS had been too late to arrive today but he didn’t think he would be lucky enough tomorrow. They couldn’t make plans about him and take him farther away than he was now.

The IV prickled with blood after he pulled it out. He pressed the corner of his gown onto the small hole and once it coagulated, Peter tossed a blanket around his shoulders as disguise. It wasn’t the most incognito appearance but it was all he had until he could find something, maybe a nurse’s zip-up to use. He also didn’t want the cold to stress his body even more in its weakened state.

The memory of the therapist in plaid confirming his time with the CPS tomorrow was enough to get him out of bed and into the hallway. It was empty. Only his heart racing and machines talking were heard at this time of night. Above everything else, he couldn’t be caught. He walked without sound but he was too slow all his thoughts of daring escapes and only managed one hallway when he heard someone walking. A nurse turned the corner wheeling a cart in front of him. One of the wheels squeaked as it rolled. Peter held his breath and pushed himself into the wall but it wasn’t cover enough. As fast as he dared Peter darted into the closest room hoping the patient was asleep. He leaned against the door not breathing until the squeaking grew too faint to hear.

“What are you doing?”

Someone said from inside the room. Peter swallowed. His assessment of sleep was way off base. With a stolen breath he peered around the door wall and into the room.

Papers were strewn over a spread of open books on the bed. It was chaos but the person sitting didn’t seem to mind. They were hunched over one of the papers. Peter waited for them to look up. He wondered if his eyes would be cold or warm but they were shrouded from view. His brown hair longer than Peter’s haircut. It was grown out from his buzzcut but still not longer than his ears. Peter spared a glance at the boy’s mouth and forehead. Both were furrowed and lined as he concentrated.

Peter felt like he was in middle school again waiting in the principal’s office after getting into a fight when one of the other kids called him a nerd. The principal made him stand in front of his desk for five minutes while he finished work. Peter didn’t have time to wait now.

“Well?” He asked again with a raised eyebrow. Peter realized he’d never answered. While the ground seemed infinitely a safer place to look Peter forced himself to look up.

His breath froze in his chest. In front of him sat an apparition. Peter almost pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. His eyes were the same brown with flecks of black speckled throughout, but like the first time it was the emotion that kept his attention. There was a certain duality to his eyes. They stayed focused completely on him and taking in his face but this time there was no recognition of the distance between them. This time Peter felt as though he carried the ocean in him that separated them and, for a moment, he could almost understand the expression in his eyes the first time they met. Maybe he’d been asleep longer than he thought. Peter continued to stare and the longer he looked the more differences he spotted. The lines weren’t the same around his eyes, age hadn’t touched him yet, and he was missing that familiar edge to the brown pupils that had grown over the weeks of Peter being with them.

“I was just hiding - I mean, I was, Tony? What the hell are you doing here?”   

The man’s – boy’s - eyes hardened but the curiosity stayed.

“Who are you? And how do you know my name?”  

Thank you!

Next Chapter Twelve: The President, Shrek, and Sweater Vests

#whumptober2020 #whumptober 2020 #no. 10 #blood loss #internal bleeding #spiderman #iron man #peter parker #avengers #marvel #MCU #tw: references to suicide #tony stark #rhodey #james rhodes #AU #marvel AU #peter parker AU

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