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#because I’m always told by my parents that I can’t be pissed at laws made against me community because it doesn’t affect them
pumpkin-magpie · 5 months
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Reminder to everyone ( especially young people in minority groups ) that you are allowed to be angry at injustices towards you and your community. Please don’t ever let someone say that your struggles aren’t worth being mad about just because they’re privileged enough to look away from those problems. Be angry. Be upset. Defend yourself and your community.
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To be really honest, I don’t understand where I stand with my family at this point.
Things got weird around christmas, even for my family...my mom had agreed to my sister’s weird plan of only celebrating christmas in a small group consisting of my sister, brother in law, their kids and both sets of grandparents, leaving all 3 of us sisters out of the christmas celebrations - and I was still supposed to be their driver. Luckily that didn’t happen because my brother in law ended up with covid, but she agreed to it nevertheless.
Then my parents were starting disrespecting my time off...my dad requested me to drive him grocery shopping daily despite our agreement that I would not be going to any stores between the holidays because I don’t feel comfortable with how packed they are those days and I had deserved my time off. They know I can’t say no, and they made use of that. They never ask either, they always expect and then put me on the spot. I was so angry that day because I had said no the day before but when I arrived he was fully clothed, his grocery bag and everything ready by the door and the words “I’m ready, we can leave.”. I told them that day I wouldn’t be doing anything anymore unless they asked me properly.
Then new year’s eve was already the next issue. My parents were weird about whether or not I was invited to spend it with them until like a day or two before. They ended up inviting me for 7pm for dinner but I wasn’t welcome to sleep over just like the year before. I wanted to resolve the issues we had the days before and asked if they needed me to come by earlier or if I was really invited for 7pm dinner. Now I’ve been making some part of our NYE dinner since I was like 13. But nope, they said I didn’t have to come earlier. And I was actually excited about that, thought we’re meeting in the middle to resolve this. So I got there at 7pm, dressed nicely and more than ready to eat. And what was I greeted with? My dad still on the bed watching tv in sweats, my mom only just starting on dinner, not even the table was set or cleaned off. So yeah, I was a bit pissed then because I had skipped lunch in order to get everything done at home and still make it in time. And I was told I’d come over for 7pm dinner, no help needed...and since I was the one that made that dinner for the past 15 years, I knew that it would be well over another hour until I could finally eat. I said hello everywhere and then went to sit in the living room where we would be eating. Not once did someone come in to check on me or to ask for help...but you could hear my mom mumbling about how I wasn’t helping her. I stayed stubborn though and waited for her to ASK for help. She didn’t. She was in a bad mood, I was in a bad mood. NYE wasn’t really fun, I went home after the fireworks. Just a reminder: Three people live in that apartment, I was the only guest. But I was the only one being bugged for not helping.
I figured maybe new year, new luck? There’s a programme I traditionally watch with my mom and sister every January 1st at my place. This time my mom didn’t want to come, claiming she had to work early the next day although that never stopped her, and the programme would have ended at 9.45pm, so even if she had to work at 7am, she wouldn’t have gone to bed until like midnight because she never does.
So I was really trying to play nice and somehow deal with this issue. But my family doesn’t argue, we don’t argue, we don’t talk about our feelings and we do not ever apologize. I agreed to go grocery shopping with my dad on that friday despite it being sprung on me again because he offered to buy me lunch as a repay. He bought me lunch, unpacked his groceries and left to watch tv, and I sat all alone in their kitchen for 45 minutes. No one came to sit with me, no one came to talk to me, nothing. My mom never even came out of her room to greet me even though I always share my chinese food with her because the serving sizes are way too big for me. So after 45 minutes I had already made up my mind that I was more than hurt because apparently I was only good for doing stuff for them. They had made me feel unwelcome and unwanted for ages at this point and I had already gathered my stuff. Then the bell rang, signalling that my sister was there to bring her kids. And within less than a minute not only did my dad gleefully open the door to her, but my mom immediately came into the kitchen to greet my sister and talk to her. And I just sort of said bye and left in tears because that felit like a punch in the face.
They didn’t bother, they kept expecting me to go shopping for them on wednesdays and fridays, they kept asking and expecting me for dinner on the weekends but then either didn’t wait for me if dinner was done earlier or they were mad when I didn’t offer ideas of what to eat. They expected I say yes to whatever they sprung on me, no matter how short-notice. Wednesday evening, I usually cook for my mom and sister and we’d watch Gilmore girls or a movie. But even there my mom seemed like she’d rather be somewhere else and it was so tense.
I did what I felt like I had to do, they kept disrespecting my time, they kept making me feel unwelcome (and unwanted), they kept being controlling of me, they kept making me feel like I was only welcome if I did something for them. So I stopped coming over regularly. I said I wouldn’t go grocery shopping on Fridays anymore without a few days notice so I can work it into my schedule. I made plans for the weekends a bunch of times so I wasn’t trapped at dinner with them...I figured they will end up missing me and realise how much of a help I am for them.
One week my mom suddenly brought me lunch for work that my dad had prepared for me and informed me they’d be making my favourite soup on Friday and that I could come over. And I genuinely thought my plan had worked and they realised that they’ve been awful to me lately. It was nice, they waited for me with dinner, we actually talked over dinner, we joked and everything was good. My dad left the table to go watch tv and I went to say goodbye, he shot me a dirty look and wouldn’t say goodbye?? I didn’t do anything, I wasn’t rude, I wasn’t reserved. I knew he was hinting at wanting to go grocery shopping but he didn’t ask me and I didn’t need to go to the store, so I didn’t offer. Why would I if he didn’t straight up tell me he wanted to?
This entire loop started again...and I kept having trouble sleeping whenever this got really bad, to a point where I slept maybe 10 hours within 3 days. I either didn’t fall asleep until the early morning or I woke up after only a couple hours of restless sleep.
So I withdrew myself further from them...didn’t try to start a conversation via text every other day, didn’t come over to pick up a package that arrived at their place until I was going to their place for the weekly shopping trip anyway. I wanted THEM to reach out to me, not me having to keep up all the contact. But nope, no calls, no more messages from my mom, no invitation for dinner. Only contact if I initiated it and sometimes it took my mom days to answer a simple message despite constantly being on her phone.
Last week was hard on me. I was lacking sleep, I had a horrible toothache, my ordered furniture arrived 3 days late and my tooth eventually had to be pulled. I was on pain meds and told to rest. But because it was my dad’s birthday the next day, I knew how important grocery shopping that day was. So I said I’ll do it anyway but earlier and quicker. First my sister didn’t get ready in time. Then my mom took so long in the store that I became dizzy from the local anastesia wearing off and just switching to pain - I hadn’t eaten anything more than overcooked noodles in 2 days because my tooth hurt so badly. I still cooked dinner that evening for us because it was wednesday and that’s what we do on wednesdays, I didn’t want to un-invite them. my mom came late and told me she’d be leaving right after dinner because that’s when my sister would arrive in town. I was left to do the dishes, the trash, somehow get my new furniture up on my own while in pain and on pain medication.
On my dad’s birthday I had my long day at work - meaning work from 7am to 6pm. My sister’s car broke so I offered to pick up my grandma after work and bring her with me. Picked her up, stayed mostly at the side for dinner because I was still in pain and eating was weird, nearly fell asleep, brought my grandma home and then toasted to my dad’s birthday with the others. When I read a text message I must have made a mumbled comment to myself out loud because my aunt asked “Talking to yourself already?” and I joked “Yeah, at least I listen” and my mom said, in the worst and most spiteful tone I have ever heard from her “We’ll pity you when we have time.” And that was somehow really the final straw for me. I was so hurt, she’d have to have her eyes closed in order not to see me fight with tears. I left like 20 minutes later, again in tears. I genuinely couldn’t believe she’d say that to me in front of everyone when I was having such a shitty week and still ran for them despite being in pain and OFFERING to drive my grandma back and forth despite nearly falling asleep at the table. They could’ve just gotten her a taxi.
Ever since then I only go there to pick up my car and leave right after grocery shopping. I feel so incredibly lonely. I always thought that sure, all my friends had left this town but I still had my family. But now I realise that I don’t actually have my family, I’m only good when I do stuff for them, they don’t care outside of that. I’ve slept horribly for days, I’m dreading the weekends these days because that just means I’ll be entirely alone from Friday noon until Monday at 6am when I greet the cleaning lady at work, and that leaves my head too much time to think and I’ll end up crying and sleeping bad again because I feel so lonely. But I just can’t do it anymore with them. I’m not their personal driver, I’m not their personal shopper, I’m not their chef or their waiter, and I sure as hell am not a punching bag for their moods.
My little experiment of only doing things if I’m asked for help? Well I started walking away from my car with only my groceries when I’d usually picked up what my mom couldn’t carry, wanting to see when my mom will ask for my help and finally talk to me properly. The answer? She won’t. She’d rather complain and mumble that I’m not helping than ask for help.
Honestly, if any of you has read this until the end, I apologize dearly. I just had to write this entire thing down once to wrap my mind around it and maybe, possibly, see where exactly I went wrong in order for this to go so horribly wrong. Talking to my parents is no use. I tried asking my dad why he wouldn’t say goodbye to me and he didn’t even budge. If a simple question is too much, I won’t even have to try getting into the bigger things. I tried getting my mom to talk to him and ask why he was acting weird all of a sudden...and she just shrugged.
I’m just at a loss here, I’m tired of trying. I’m tired of this family never addressing issues. I’m tired of living my life around their schedule.
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darkmulti · 3 years
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(Yandere and non con warning)
Def not the only one who wants a 18th century h.c of possessive and controlling, husband!Jungkook x forced wife!reader. Jungkook gets jealous after witnessing another man asking you out and when you come back home at night, he breeds you. Please make it rough and non con. Thank you❤️‍🔥
-> you’re definitely not the only one. I can assure you that I’ve thought about this too many times😫
⚠️: NON CON, YANDERE!JUNGKOOK, Squirting/piss play, Physically, mental and emotional abuse, spit play,
-> sorry for any mistakes
Your parents owned a local bakery store
All the recipes were from your late grandmother
You spent almost all of your time there because you were in charge of everything
The store was under your parents’ name but you were the one running it
Sometimes, you even slept there because it’d be too late to walk home
Your dedication to the bakery made it successful
Although, you were the one doing all the work, you parents took all the credit and money
They weren’t paying you because you’re their child
They don’t need to pay you
“It’s a women’s place.” Your father said
You wanted to go back to school however, your parents laughed in your face
“School aren’t for girls, Y/N. Learn how to cook and clean. That’s all you need to know. Let the men handle everything else.”
You were tired of fighting with them and eventually stopped because they threatened to set you up in an arrange marriage
Now, it was just you and the bakery
You had many loyal customers and recently, one has been coming everyday, at the same time
He’d always buy a loaf of banana bread and if he was in a good mood, a blueberry muffin as well
Then, he’d sit in the corner table and eat two - three slices before getting up and leaving
He’d always leave a tip behind and you always kept it for yourself
One day, he didn’t come and you were surprised
For a year straight, he came and bought the same two things
Now, he hasn’t visited in 4 days
Tonight, you came back home for the first time in a while
Your parents had visited the bakery to collect “their” earnings and told you that you have to go somewhere with them that evening
After closing up and cleaning up, you went home and got ready
Your parents were taking you out for dinner as a treat for all your hard work
You were really excited because they were finally acknowledging your hard work
Once you arrived at the restaurant, your parents lead you to a table that already had three people seated
You immediately recognize one of them
It’s that guy who buys your banana loaf!
You sat in front of him while your parents greeted the two other strangers
“Oh, so this is your daughter? She’s gorgeous! Come here and give me a hug.”
You awkwardly chuckled and got up to hug the middle aged women
“Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Jeon F/N, this is my husband, Jeon F/N and this is our son, Jeon Jungkook. We’re your soon to be in laws!”
You heart dropped to the floor
“I-in laws?” You asked, confused
“Yeah, honey. Is this your first time hearing about this? We’ve been talking to your parents for a while now.”
You snapped your head towards you parents and they looked emotionless
“No, no they didn’t tell me anything.”
Dinner with them was hell
Your parents were talking about your wedding arrangements right in front of you
You didn’t know what to do
You wanted to rebel but then your parents would disown you
Just like that, you’d be homeless with little money to survive
In the end, you’d be paying the heavy price
You looked at Jungkook who was staring at you the whole time
You wondered if he knew about this
Maybe, that’s why he came to the bakery everyday
“Did you know anything about this?” You said loud enough for him to hear
“I did.”
“For how long?”
“Since last year.”
You eyes widen, in shock
You were right!
“Why didn’t you stop it?”
“Why would I stop it when I’m the one who wants it?”
You scrunch your eyebrows, in confusion
“What’re you talking about?”
“Since the first day I met you, I wanted to marry you. I told my parents and now, we’re getting married.”
Now, you were mad
You got up and stormed off, catching everyone’s attention
You walked to the bakery and locked yourself in
Here, you thought your parents were acknowledging you for first time, when they were actually setting you up for a marriage so they don’t have to take care of you
You cried yourself to sleep that night
The next couple of weeks, the bakery was closed due to your wedding
The wedding was spectacular
You would’ve love it if you weren’t being forced into a marriage
After the wedding, Jungkook took your precious virginity
He made sure to pleasure you until you passed out
He was so in love with you
Now, he was finally able to show you how much he loved you
And mark you as his
The next couple of months, he was attached to you
He took over his family’s business and you took over your family’s business
He’d visit you every day at work to check if you’re with another man
He was so paranoid about it, sometimes he’d come by 3 or 4 times to make sure you were not cheating
You thought he missed you and that’s why he kept stopping by (which is half true) however, you had no idea that he was possessive and controlling
You had to learn the hard way
Sometimes, you wouldn’t leave work until midnight
You had so much things to do like preparing for the next day, making a to-do list, making a grocery lists, and cleaning every area of the shop
It’s time consuming, so obviously you finish up pretty late
Jungkook absolutely hates that
Although you stay late in the shop once in a while, he can’t stand it
He wants you to be in his arms every night
Jungkook gets angry when you’re not
This was your fourth time staying out late in the shop and he’s had enough
He couldn’t help but feel paranoid about what you were actually doing in the shop
What if you lied and went on a date with another man?
What if you were running away from him?
Or even worse, what if you were having sex with another guy?
He raced to the bakery and banged on the door, which scared you
You saw that it was him and let him in
“W-what’s wrong?! You scared me!”
“Grab your stuff, we’re going home.”
“But I’m not done yet! I only have a couple more things to do and then I’ll come home. I told you already-”
“I don’t think you fucking heard me!” He yelled and grabbed your hair
“Grab your shit, we are leaving right now.”
He pushed you towards the counter and crossed his arms
You let your breath out in shock but scurry to get your stuff
You’ve never seen him like this and it terrified you
“I have my stuff.”
“Good, let’s go.”
He helped you lock the door and wrapped his arm around your waist
The walk home was silent
You were scared shitless
All you wanted to do was run back into your parents’ house
But he didn’t let you move an inch away from him
Once you got home, he started pushing you around and arguing some more
“Jungkook, I told you this afternoon when you came to visit! I said I have to stay late so I don’t have to stress myself out in the morning!”
“Don’t fucking lie to me! Who were you fucking seeing?!” He screamed, frightening you more
“No one! I swear, no one!” You whimpered
He corned you into your shared room and locked the door
“Jungkook, I swear! Nothing happened!”
He didn’t believe a single word coming out of your mouth
It was like you were talking to a wall
He pushed you onto the bed and stripped you naked
Jungkook pushed two fingers into your cunt and pretended to scoop out cum
“If nothing happened, why is your cunt full of cum?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I didn’t have sex with anyone!”
You weren’t very educated about sex, so Jungkook had an advantage
You began apologizing even though you didn’t have sex with anyone
You just wanted peace between you two
“I’m sorry! I didn’t cheat or anything, but I’m sorry if it hurt you! I really am!”
Jungkook slapped you and spat on your face
“Dirty slut. Telling me that you’re not cheating but still apologizing.”
“No! Please, I didn’t do anything!”
Jungkook pulled his cock out and shoved it in without warning
You were still new to sex so when he didn’t let you adjust, you automatically started screaming and crying
“Please, slower!” You cried, holding onto his biceps as he went faster and deeper
“Stop! Please!”
Jungkook loved the sound of his balls clapping against your ass
It honestly made him harder
All night, he was on top, fucking you hard
Your legs were spread apart, tears in your eyes and sweat dripping down your forehead
You looked like a hot mess
And he loved every second of it
“Mmh- Jungkook!”
You squirted around him and had a trembling orgasm
You couldn’t stop releasing your liquids on him and he couldn’t stop pounding you
The bed sheet was soaked by the end of it
He pushed his cock deep inside and came
After Jungkook fell asleep, you cried for while
How were you supposed to tolerate him for the rest of your life?
The next morning
You woke up in severe pain
You lower region was begging for some pain relief
But there was nothing you could do about it
Jungkook was still sleeping next to you
You decided to leave before he wakes up
After getting ready by leaning on everything, you slowly walked to town
When you arrived at the bakery, you saw a big “for sale” sign
You panicked and went inside the store, only to be greeted by your parents
“Mother, father! Why is there a “for sale” sign on the bakery?”
You parents looked at each other in disappointment
“You see, we have to explain the obvious to your daughter. Be grateful that someone willingly married your idiot daughter.” Your father said before walking out
His words did hurt but you cared about the bakery more than your father
“Why’re you selling it, mother? Can you not afford it anymore? Why-”
“Shut up, Y/N! You’re married now, you have wifely duties. You don’t have time for this bakery so the best option is to sell it.”
Your world fell apart right before your eyes
“But mother-”
“Save it. You already made your father upset. I’m warning you now, you don’t want to get on my bad side.”
You cried the whole morning
After you opened the bakery, lots of people gathered in line
All breads, cakes and muffins were going on sale
After you served the people in line, you went up to the tables and took their order
After you served them, a regular customer who was sitting alone gestured you to come over
You went over to the man and asked him if he needed anything
He told you to take a seat and accompany him
Since the crowd died down, you sat down in front of him
“You look a bit stressed and sad. What’s on your mind?”
You were touched by his words
Finally, someone cared about you
You told him you were upset about the bakery closing
He understood and even offered money to help you keep it open
You were flattered but didn’t accept the money
“Money’s not a problem, my parents just don’t want to keep this shop open.”
You talked with this guy for a couple of hours
Although this was your first time talking to him, you talked to him like he was your best friend
When closing time came around, he got up and asked you out on a date
You didn’t know what to do
You were married but you really liked this guy
You were considering saying yes when someone pulled his shoulder back and punched him across the face
“Jungkook! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“You think I didn’t see that?! I saw it all. I saw you flirting with my wife for three hours straight and then asking her out on a date!”
Jungkook beat the crap out of the guy and pushed him outside
He then came back in the store, looking at you with devil eyes
“Yesterday’s punishment clearly wasn’t enough.”
The entire way home, he was yelling at you, slapping you, spitting on you, pulling your hair, pushing you to the ground and choking you
You were crying the whole time, apologizing over and over
When you arrived home, he seriously had no mercy on you
No foreplay, no lube, no adjusting
Just a raw, thick cock being forced into you
You were begging him to let you go but tonight, nothing was going to stop him
He was moving his hips insanely fast, not giving you enough time to breathe
You were choking on your own sobs
“Jungkook, please no! I’m sorry!”
“Why did you hesitate to deny his offer? You are a married fucking women!” With each word a hard thrust followed, knocking all the air out of you
“Answer me! Is he better than me? Does he take care of you? Does he provide money for you? TELL ME!” He was yelling so loudly, it was making you cry harder
“N-no, he doesn’t. He was just the first person to care about me.” You whispered the last sentence but, Jungkook was able to make it out
“Are you saying that I don’t care about you?”
He got more aggressive and fastened his pace
“Tell me, Y/N! Do you think that I don’t care about you?!”
You couldn’t answer him because you couldn’t catch your breath
He was going too fast and you were crying so hard, you couldn’t breathe
Jungkook noticed how much you were struggling and added onto your struggle by holding your neck down
“Apologize, right now Jeon Y/N!”
You softly apologize but it wasn’t good enough for him
He lifted your legs a little, giving him better access and fucked you till you squirted
This time you sobbed your apology and begged for forgiveness
“I’m so sorry, Jungkook! It’ll never— ah! It’ll never happen again! I’m so sorry! Please for- forgive me for my dumb m-mistake. Please! I’m begging you.” You held onto the bed sheet, praying he would stop
He huskily growled and pushed his cock in deep
“For the next 9 months you’ll be swelling with my baby. Now, everyone can back off.”
He shot his hot cum right into you, filling you up to the rim
Sorry for any mistakes. It’s 3:41am 😄
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venomous--fics · 3 years
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Anon asked: maybe a continuation of the peter b parker kid thing where they finally confront the mom and get the readers things back 😩💞💞
a/n: ask and thou shall receive! this spent so long in the drafts bc i felt so insecure about it tbh, so any feedback is appreciated! I love seeing messages about what you guys think! really keeps me motivated! also, requests are open
Warnings: mentions of past abuse
Peter was sitting at the kitchen table, constantly looking at the clock. It was almost 5pm, you were supposed to be home an hour and a half ago. Yes, he keeps track of everyone's schedules, yes he knows the exact second you should be walking through the door. He's already texted you, but maybe you had detention. Nah, you were a good student, he highly doubted you'd have to stay after school.
His phone finally rang, and he was way too quick answering it.
"You okay?"
"I need some help."
"What is it?" he was already out the door.
You sighed, knowing he was probably going to give you an earful later.
"Well, it's a really long story, right.. But my mom showed up after school-"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I think. Anyways, we got into it on the way home, which is no- Not normal." you adjusted how you were sitting, "And since she was dragging me back to the house, I figured I'd just get my crap and come home, right? Makes sense, saves us the tri-"
"She took you without permission?"
"Technically she is my m-...Parent. I guess, y'know, legally she can do whatever- But..Okay." you began to feel bubbles of anxiety and pain and even resentment form deep in your core, "She locked me out." You rubbed your neck.
"Are you," he paused, looking around at all the faces passing by him, "Still there?"
"Yeah. Unfortunately. I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? Don't apologize, you didn't do anything."
"I keep causing problems for everyone."
"Not for me. Or Mj."
It was quiet on your end.
"You still there?"
"Yeah."
"I'll be there in like ten minutes."
"You probably shouldn't."
"Nah, nah." He said, having a sudden wave of anger rush over him, "Let me take care of this."
And true to his word, Peter was there in ten minutes. You hopped up from your spot on the porch as he made his way up to the door and knocked on it as hard as he could. He gave you a reassuring pat on the back.
The door swung open, and your mother seemed awfully surprised and confused to see some random man just standing there. Peter held no emotion has he looked her dead in the eye, "Can we come in."
She opened the door wider so that way you two could step in.
"Go get your stuff." is all Peter said to you.
Wasting no time, and not wanting to be in the middle of a potential argument between the two, you skedaddled to your room. It almost felt like too much to be in there. It looked so empty and barren compared to your room at Peter and Mjs place. Seems really dull. Lifeless, almost. Dust covered every surface, which meant that nobody had ever even bothered to see if you were even still in there.
You heard their voices from the living room, but they seemed so distant, seeing as all you could focus on was every shitty thing that woman put you through.
You remember the day that you got bit. It made you deathly ill, and you just thought you were dying from some sort of allergic reaction to the spider bite. You tried to get her to take you to any doctor or anywhere that could help because all you could seem to see were stars.
Everything then was so loud. Everything was so bright. It was all too much, and you were certain that the reaper was waiting for you. What did she say?
"Suck it up and stop pretending. Everything has to be so dramatic with you."
Or that time you forgot a single item on the shopping list. You got this whole speech about how stupid you had to have been. To forget one item. It was the world's most useless item.
Everything else seemed to play all over again, all at once. Like a waterfall. It should've made you sad. It should've made you cry, or scream.
You recounted all the times you wanted to fight back, or just run away. Leave everything behind and just run until your legs gave out. But you never did. You always found some reason to linger.
The conversation was growing louder where Peter was.
"You aren't going to do this to them ever again. Sign the papers."
You nearly dropped your last belonging on the floor as you scrambled to your door. Papers? He wasn't serious. Well, obviously he was. He just said it.
"Fine. It's not like the-"
"Zip it. Sign the papers."
"Who are you anyways? The law? If so, whatever they've told you is a b-"
"Listen, lady. I didn't ask for any attitude. I told you to sign the papers." he seemed to huff in annoyance, "That doesn't require talking."
"I'm a good mother."
"And I'm the king of France."
"Really. I gave them a good home. I have fed them and kept them warm-"
"Really? You think you did all that? Or are you convincing yourself that you did all that?"
"I am-"
"Can I be honest with you?"
"Ye-"
"I've never said this about anyone, ever. I don't like speaking to or about anyone like this.. Ever, but, you? I think you're a piece of shit."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, look. You finished signing the papers. I'll take those. Thank you."
Realizing that it was your time to go, you stuffed your blanket into your duffel bag and rushed out the door and down the hall. Peter looked at you, expecting to see at least three bags. But he only saw the one.
"Where's the rest of your stuff."
"Uhm," you shuffled around, pretending as thought you dropped some, "This...This is all my stuff."
"That can't be ri-" He laughed a little, and noting the expression on his face, you saw that he was NOT happy. "That? That single duffle bag is all you have? That's it?"
"Yes..." you took a step back, "This is all.."
"I can't believe it." he said, "You're joking! One bag worth of stuff?"
He turned his attention back to your mother, who, for the first time in your life, actually looked like she got caught red handed, "You're pathetic. Absolutely pathetic."
"But they're so u-"
"No! No, you don't get to talk anymore. You've done enough."
You awkwardly shuffled behind him, in the event that you two had to make a mad dash out the door. That and you needed to not be seen as you tried to hide your almost evil grin.
"The hell is wrong with you? You have this amazing kid, and THAT'S all you've ever gotten for them? And you sit there and call yourself a mother? Absolutely, without a doubt, bullshit. I'd be ashamed of myself to call myself a father if that's all I've provided for my kid. Don't even get me started on you as a person, we made that clear."
It almost felt cursed to hear him swear, seeing as he made it a point to tell you to not swear. Every time you did, you have to give a quarter to the swear jar. Mj was always on your side, though. She'd say a swear that was much worse and have to pay a dollar. Each word had a value.
"Maybe we should just go." you suggested, tugging on the sleeve of his arm, "She's not worth it anymore."
"She was never worth it, it seems."
You finally made eye contact with her, and the look in her eye. It's like she understood, but was choosing to not do anything about the situation. She could look sorry all she wanted, but you knew she wasn't.
"I'm sorry, Y/n. You know that right."
"That means nothing to me."
"I can change."
"If you can change now, that means you could've changed then. You just chose not to."
"But I'm your mother, you should realize how I feel. You should want-"
"You're not my mom. You stopped being my mom the first time you-" You turned towards the door and started walking towards it, "Whatever. You mean nothing to me."
You practically kicked open teh door just to leave, and Peter was right behind you, shouting about how he'd make sure to egg her house everyday, just to piss her off.
"Do you really think I'm amazing?" you asked, the walk home feeling rather quiet.
"I think you're more than that. Just can't put it into words."
"Did you really mean it...That we could egg her house?"
"You want to? There's a store right on the way home."
"How about tomorrow."
"I'll have to clear up my busy schedule. See if I can work in a drive by egging. Well, swing by egging."
"You promise?"
"You kidding? I haven't egged anyone's house since college."
You had so much more you wanted to get off you chest, but you opted to just talk about it at home, with everyone present. You wanted to talk about how you felt about everything, and the papers. Whatever those were. But you were, for the moment, busy laughing about Peter's story about how he used to Egg this one reporters house. Someone named Jonah.
You wonder if Jonah ever put two and two together.
208 notes · View notes
neesieiumz · 3 years
Text
6 Months {Izuku Midoriya x Reader}
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(Pro-hero!Izuku Midoriya x Former Pro-hero!Reader)
[PART ONE] [PART TWO]
L E A V E.
Summary: You were done. Done with everything. So what do you do? You move on. What's new? What's old? And who makes an even bigger space in your heart?
A/n: So this isn't based on another song, well technically it's still based on Sorry, but it's more like a part two to sorry than it being it's own separate part, you feel me? I know it took longer than expected, but there were so many paths I wanted to take and I didnt feel like rushing it. I really wanted to focus on flashbacks for this final part, your decision to leave the pro-hero scene, when Izuku and Melissa started to see each other... etc... I always made a gateway... in case I wanted to continue you and someone else's romance if I ever felt like it... So enjoy!
Support me on Kofi! Commissions are open!
Word Count: 8.0k
Warnings: Implied NFSW, but no deed is actually done, light drinking, (all in good fun)
___
Falling into your mother’s arms, you spilled everything from last night and this morning. On how you eavesdropped on his conversation, the confrontations from both this morning and at the brunch. Your father wasn’t home, left earlier this morning for his job. Both you and your brother moved out not too long after high school, him going on to college to become an engineer, and you moving into an apartment with Mina and Jirou while you worked for the same hero agency. Your mother was your closest confidant, she was the only one who could come to mind to tell her about what happened. She just held you, rocking you as you cried, cried about your broken marriage, and seeing the girl your husband abandoned you for. You cried about how both she, your dad, and your brother were right. How you should have never listened to him about giving up everything you worked so hard for. She held you in her loving arms, whispering sweet things in your ear.
“I should have listened to you,” you sobbed, holding one of the throw pillows close to you as you sat up on your couch, leaving her hold on you.
Your dress was bunched up to your knees so you pulled the wrinkled material out from under you as you shifted around on your mother’s leather couch. She pulled you into one last hug, the warm embrace making silent tears fall down your face. Your mom pushed the braids falling out of your now-loose bun from your tear-stricken face. Continuing to caress your face slowly, her slightly rough hands provided a familiar comfort from your childhood.
“This is not your fault, you can not blame yourself for his infidelity, nor can you blame yourself for sticking by your husband’s side and decisions. You did what you thought was right and absolutely no one can give you shit for believing in your marriage.” Her soft voice provides extra comfort to you.
“WHAT?!?”
You were in your family home, six years ago. You still had a couple of bandages around your face and arms. Recently, you just completed physical therapy, nearly regaining full control over your limbs. The fight you had was brutal, nearly leveled the entire city. However, you came out successful from it, even if it put you out of commission for over a year. However, since you’ve woken up, you and Izuku have been having intense conversations about the two of you and your futures together, which led you to the decision you’ve made today.
“YOU’RE RETIRING?!?!” Your brother yelled, standing up swiftly out of his chair.
You took a deep breath, keeping your head down as you nodded your head. It was just you, your parents, and your brother here, Izuku currently being in the top 25 heroes, had a lot of work to do so he could join you as you broke the news to them.
“Izuku and I have been talking and seeing how fast he’s going in the Hero Charts. This incident caused us to do some major thinking. The two of us worrying about each other on the job isn’t healthy. Having two heroes in a relationship, especially two who are going as high in the ranks as us as quickly as we are. Considering how there are a lot more people expecting Izuku to go higher since he’s All Might’s prodigy. So, I’ll be retiring and helping Izuku with his career from the sidelines.”
You let out another deep breath as you finished your monologue, your fingers twitching in your lap. You knew this was a decision your family wasn’t going to agree with, after all, it’s not like you don’t have your legacy to meet up with. Your mother, before Miruko, was the highest-ranked female pro hero in all of Japan. You had her legacy to go after since your brother decided to go into the family business with pro-hero gear.
“You can’t be serious!! After everything, you’ve worked for?!?! You’re just gonna give it up BECAUSE IZUKU SAID SO?!”
Your brother was the most pissed, after all, it was always both you and his plan that the two of you would live up to our parent’s legacy. He would become the best support gear inventor and you would become the best pro hero. So saying this puts a damper on the dreams you both had.
“You had one bad fight with a villain, but the doctors said you’re going to be cleared right?” You nodded your head at his question, “so why? Why would you need to retire after that one fight?!”
“Izuku proposed.”
Gasps of shock flew from heri mouths, you smiled sadly as you pulled your hand from under the other, revealing the small, silver ring with the pure cut diamond sitting perfectly in the middle of it.
“He’s the love of my life, and he’s the man who I want to spend the rest of my life with… to have kids with. We both understand how difficult this job is, and we both know how much I wanted to become a pro hero, but since he’s my endgame… something had to give. And so I did.”
Next was your father, having raised you since you were 3 years old. He saw how much you looked up to your mother, and to your grandmother as well. You come from a line from female pro heroes, and it was always your dream to continue that. He’s always supported you throughout the years, remembering all the times the two of you would work in his workshop on new hero gear, both with your brother and without as well.
“Y/n, don’t you think you’re rushing into this decision? This is everything you’ve been working for, and you’re gonna throw it away?”
“I know your concerns but this is for the best for me and him. I know being a pro hero was what I wanted, but…” you trailed off, looking away from your trembling hands.
Your mother, who was sitting beside you, could only stare at your trembling hands. Almost reminds her of the time she told her mother who she was marrying. How nervous she was, not because she was putting her career on the back burner, but because of what happened the last time she decided to pursue a romantic relationship with someone. She got you out of it, but it was still a painful journey. She took a deep breath, before shifting herself to where you were. She placed her hand on top of your own, making you look down at them before slowly turning your head to look at her.
“Are you happy?”
The question caught everyone off guard, their heads turning towards your mother. You slowly nodded your head, smiling at all the memories you’ve made with Izuku. When you first met as a transfer student, your first date and everything else.
“Yeah Mom, I’m happy.”
You took a deep breath, leaning forward as you shook the memory out of your head.
Meanwhile, your mom tried to lighten the mood, “Well, let’s hope your father doesn’t get to him… you know he doesn’t play about you… or your brother either.”
“He won’t be able to land a hit on him unless Izuku lets him.”
“Well, he better let him then!”
You laughed out loud at that, throwing your head back against the back of the couch. You could feel your mom get off the couch, leaning up as she headed to the dining table. Looking through the papers stacked on the wooden table, she pulled out a business card before walking back to where you were still seated on the couch. Your mom sat back down in her original seat, before handing you the same card of laminated cardboard paper.
Renai Miya, divorce attorney at law.
“Renai is a good friend of mine, she gave me that in case anyone I knew was getting advice soon. I’m sure she didn’t expect my daughter but I’m sure she’ll be able to help you out.”
You looked over at your mother, who just gave you another knowing smile. She just rubbed at your shoulders in comfort as you pulled out your phone.
---
Izuku was sitting at his office, ignoring the texts from both Shoto and Katsuki. After the argument and confrontation from this morning, he decided to stay in the office today and complete some overdue paperwork. Typing away on his computer, his mind began to shift from the email he was sent to the hero commission to the argument that happened between him, Kacchan, and Shoto.
“I’m sorry, YOUR WIFE JUST TRIED TO KILL YOU! We don’t know what would have happened if we hadn't come when we did!” Katsuki yelled, throwing his jacket off of his body.
“Izuku, this is a serious matter. We need to know what happened,” Shoto explained next, kneeling in front of Izuku’s crouching figure.
Izuku just shook his head, diving his head into the insides of his elbows. Shoto and Katsuki looked at each other, the concern shining in their eyes. They looked back at their trembling friend, who was now starting to rock back and forth while whispering “I fucked up.” over and over again.
“Izuku,” Katsuki started tentatively, “what did you do?”
Izuku stopped trembling and his rocking ceased as he raised his head slowly, locking eyes with his childhood friend. Katsuki’s leg began moving up and down in anticipation, waiting for him to say something.
“I don’t want to report this, trust me. So just pretend you never saw that.” That was all he said before standing up, pushing past them.
Izuku shook his head, focusing back on his emails. He sent the long paragraph he was typing, after making sure there were grammatical or spelling errors. He then leaned back against his office chair, throwing his head back. A gross, yet very familiar feeling was arising from his stomach, it was slimy, it was painful, it was guilt. He felt guilty, remembering how his wife looked at him at breakfast and right before she left. How the look in her eyes felt more painful than other villains could ever inflict on him.
Closing his eyes, his mind slowly drifted to a memory, a memory from three months ago.
It was dark, and Izuku was tired, so very tired from the shift he worked. However, he needed to do this. He needed to end whatever the hell he and Melissa had. The way they were conversing over private messages was getting too much. In a week would be his wedding Anniversary, and how his wife, Y/n, surprised him, reminded him about what he and Melissa had.
And how wrong it was.
He wore a black, sleeveless turtleneck, paired with a dark coat along with dark jeans. He had fake glasses on his face and his curly was positioned to cover his face so people wouldn’t recognize him. He kept his head forward as he approached the apartment complex Melissa mentioned she was moving into. After living on I-island for all of her life, she wanted a change of pace, especially since what happened with her father way back when. So she got a job as a top hero support inventor at the company where Izuku got his extra gear from. Since it’s also where Hatsume worked as well. He opened the door and walked into the lobby. He looked around the expensive-looking area, seeing the receptionist, and only one other person sitting on the complementary couch talking on the phone. He walked to the receptionist, who greeted him with a smile.
“Are you here to see someone?”
He nodded and gave his fake name, the one he told Melissa he’d be using, along with the apartment number that she gave him. The receptionist simply smiled before typing in her computer, before reaching over to the phone and pressing a couple of the buttons. Izuku could hear someone pick up, a muffled voice through the phone.
“Yes, Ms. Shield, A Iseada L/n is here to see you.”
Izuku took a deep breath, hearing the fake name he gave along with his wife’s maiden name. The receptionist gave off acknowledging hums to the person on the phone, who Izuku knew was Melissa. He rocked himself against his heels, feeling his fingers twitch around in his pockets.
“Alright, I’ll send him right up!” She ended the call, placing the phone back in its holder.
She then smiled at Izuku before pointing at the elevators behind him, “you can use an elevator. Ms. Shield lives on the fifth floor.”
Izuku nodded and thanked her before turning around to the elevators. He picked on towards the left and stepped inside of it, waiting for it to close before choosing the button that said “five.” The doors closed as generic elevator music played throughout the rising mechanical box. Izuku sighed, pulling off the fake glasses, before pushing his curls out of his face.
Third floor…
Fourth floor…
The elevator dinged as the door opened, revealing the fifth floor. Izuku stepped out of the elevator, using the signs on the walls to find his way to Melissa’s apartment. Walking past all the other doors, of the patrons of the apartment, who were currently sleeping to the world. Unaware that their number one hero was sneaking past them, claiming to be ending an illicit relationship.” Seeing the apartment number up ahead, Izuu could feel his heart beat faster. Taking another deep breath, he stopped right in front of the pitch-black door. Swallowing his spit, he closed his eyes before knocking on the door a couple of times. Almost immediately after he knocked, the door opened, causing Izuku’s eyes to shoot open, jumping back a little as Melissa stepped into the doorframe. Izuku was about to speak when his eyes drifted down to what she was wearing. It was a simple white t-shirt, ending right at her upper thigh. Izuku licked his dry lips, before looking back up at Melissa’s face who was giving him a knowing smile, that looked smug as well.
“Izuku,” her usually peachy tone came out a little subtle, silky and sultry, “I’m so happy to see you after so long. Come in.”
Izuku simply nodded as Messlia stepped to the side, allowing him to enter her expensive apartment, which could be classified as a penthouse. Izuku looked around, his eyes landing on all the decorations around her living room. He walked toward her wall, where she hung pictures. There were pictures of Melissa with her dad, her mom, All Might, and a couple of her friends from I-island. He continued looking around, before his eyes landing on a picture of the two of them, back when he was a first-year.
“You were so short back then,” Izuku heard Melissa say, as she came to stand next to him.
Izuku just nodded, continuing to look at the frames. He was enveloped in the nostalgia he was facing when he didn’t even notice Melissa coming up behind him. He only noticed her when he felt a hand coming up around his waist. He froze, his heart pounding away in his ears. She then stood right behind him, before pressing up against his back next, her hands now circling his waist.
“Melissa…” he started, feeling her fingers mess with his zipper and belt under his overcoat jacket.
God, was she wearing anything under that shirt? He could feel her breasts, her hardened nipples pressing against his back. He took another deep breath, licking his lips before moving his hands to where her own was and prying them off his belt, just as she was beginning to unbuckle it.
“Melissa, we can’t do this. I’m married. Happily married at that. I can’t keep doing this to her.”
Melissa only hummed, moving her body from behind his own, stepping in front of him. She was wet, her long wavy dripping down her face and body. The water from her wet hair dripped onto her shirt, her white, very thin shirt. Izuku’s breath hitched as he slowly glanced down her body, her nipples visibly being shown through the fabric.
“Yet, you can’t keep your eyes off me Izuku.” Hands grabbed at his jacket, pulling him closer to her.
Izuku gasped as Melissa brought her hand, cupping his face before bringing it down. Izuku gasped once again as he felt lips upon his own, feeling her other hand reach inside his jacket to pull him closer by the waist. Izuku was about to push her away, he needed to push her away. God, he was married for fucks sake, to someone who loved him dearly. But her lips, they felt so good to him. Glossed from the shower she took, they tasted of mint and strawberries. Izuku, taking a deep breath, went to push off his jacket, never letting go of the kiss. Mellissa, smirking into the kiss, helped him out of the jacket before squealing as Izuku scooped her up before slamming her on the wall.
“This is a one-time thing,” he mumbled against her lips, using his hips to hold her up against the wall as he took off his shirt next.
“Yeah…” Mellissa said with a skeptical tone, feeling his hands go under her wet shirt next.
“A one-time thing…”
Izuku groaned, throwing the papers in his hands across his desk. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself out of his desk. He stood up from out of his chair, walking over to the wall which was replaced with windows, looking down upon the city of Mustafa. He could hear the faint sounds of cars driving and honking, he could see the civilians, everyone he protects. Looking across the street, he could see a cafe. It was one that he frequents since it’s so close. The door opened, and it revealed a couple. A laughing couple. The man was holding a medium-sized bag, with the logo of the cafe plastered across the bag. He was wearing a dark brown suede jacket that was buttoned shut. The woman was wearing a matching jacket, wearing as a dress, her curly hair pulled up in a bun. She held their coffees as they walked along the sidewalk. Izuku smiled sadly, before looking over to the couch in his office.
Laughter rang out inside the office, the sun had already gone down a long time ago and the night shift heroes were all out patrolling, leaving Izuku, a couple of sidekicks, and a couple of more janitors. It was your anniversary, but unfortunately, a string of villain attacks happened today. This pulled Deku out of his day off and kept him away. So, you decided to surprise me with dinner at his office. You cooked shrimp alfredo, packing it in pretty containers, before stopping by a couple of stores, buying a fancy cake that said “Happy Anniversary.” The last thing you bought was some expensive alcohol, a bottle of wine and champagne just in case. She then dressed up, a dark green silk dress paired with a matching coat and heeled shoes. She brought a few decorations before carrying all of that, using your clouds. Izuku smiled once he walked into the office with everything, abandoning his work and helped you set up the table.
The two of you enjoyed dinner together, talking about your day, specifically on how Izuku was swamped with back-to-back villain attacks. To the point where he was the same police officer twice in two different scenes. After dinner, the two of you move to the couch, still holding your wine glasses now filled with champagne.
“I have a gift for you,” Izuku mentioned, pushing himself up off the couch before going behind his desk, going through the drawers.
You giggled, shifting around the couch to get a little more comfortable, your jacket long discarded. Izuku hissed out a “here it is!”, before pulling out a neatly wrapped box, closing the drawer with his foot. You took another sip of your bubbly alcohol as Izuku skipped over to you with the box in hand.
“Here you go, darling!”
You smiled, placing your glass on the small lamp table to the right of you before sitting up and taking the box from your husband. He smiled at you as he sat beside you, seeing you begging to open up the carefully placed wrapping paper. Once all the wrapping paper was removed from the box, you gasped, seeing the logo on the box. BVLGARI. A smile slowly appeared on your face as you untied the golden silk ribbon. Slowly lifting the top of the box, you pulled out of the pure white tissue paper. This revealed one of the most beautiful necklaces and earrings you’ve ever seen. It was an emerald necklace, it had two emeralds, and also was decorated with mini diamonds along the border, and considering the brand, you knew it was real. The earrings were dangly and matched the way the smaller emerald looked on the necklace.
“Izuku… it’s beautiful…”
He smiled, taking the box out of your hands before taking the necklace out of the box. He whispered at you to turn around. Following his instructions, you swept your goddess braids to the side as he placed the necklace around your neck, the cool feeling of the metal tingly against your warm skin. Izuku then connected the chain, letting the necklace fall against your nape before leaning over your shoulder and placing a light kiss on top of her almost-bare shoulder. You shuddered, leaning into his touch as his hands moved from your shoulders, trailing down your body to rest them on your hips. You let out a moan, feeling him give your neck a nip, reaching up to grab him by his messy curls. You smirked, before sighing into the neck kisses he was leaving on your neck.
“You smell,” he inhaled slowly, “really fucking good.”
Giggling at his words, you placed your own hands on top of his own before turning around. You lifted yourself off the chair. Izuku lifted an eyebrow as you placed your hands behind your back.
“I have a gift for you too, it’s not a material gift but…” you trialed off as you reached up the straps of your dress, before beginning to slowly pull them down, revealing the thin straps of your expensive lingerie.
Izuku’s eyes sparkled as your dress trailed down your body, revealing the expensive material cut and crafted to fit your body perfectly. The way the emerald green clashed perfectly with your deeper skin. Your manicured hands trailed down your body as your dress pooled at your feet, leaving you in nothing but the sinful lingerie and the heels to match. Izuku licked his bottom lip as you slowly walked over to him, dragging your heels with each step. Lifting yourself, you slowly placed yourself on his lap, feeling Izuku’s hands immediately attach themselves to your hips. He gave you a sly smile, looking up at you.
“And you look so amazing,” he gave your body another glance, making you smirk and lean back, using your arms and hands to steady you.
You smiled, wrapping your arms around his neck before diving into a kiss. His lips tasted of mint and strawberries, it was a new taste but one you didn’t mind. Deepening the kiss, you gasped as you felt Izuku’s hard on all the way through his pants.
“I love you so much, Izuku Midoriya.”
A moment of silence went by.
“I love you too, Y/n Midoriya.”
Izuku took a deep breath and was about to open the next one when his phone, his personal one, started ringing. He reached in the drawer and pulled it out and looked at the screen. Sweetheart was calling, a picture of you and Izuku at your wedding anniversary plastered across the screen. Izuku was less blacked up back then, and you still had a crutch from your physical therapy from your incident. But god did you both look so beautiful and happy. Izuku was wearing his suit from the wedding but without the jacket and a couple of buttons unfastened. You, however, changed out of your wedding dress into a white velvet dress that was strapless and came with these long gloves in the similar fabric that you only wore for official pictures. Izuku was carrying you bridal style along with the rest of you and his family and his closest friends.
Izuku simply smiled sadly, before answering the call.
“Y/n?”
He heard nothing at first, nothing but the phone static so he called out your name again. This time he heard someone take a deep, trembling breath as if they had been crying for a long time.
“Izuku.” Your voice was scratchy, and hoars too. Izuku could feel his heartbreak and drop to his ass all at the same time. He did that.
God he was supposed to be a hero, save people and never let them down.
Now he may have just ruined his marriage.
“Y/n.” He said again, “how- how are you?”
“I’ve called a divorce lawyer.”
Oh. Straight to the bullet.
“We can’t- we can’t talk about this?”
“What’s there to talk about? You did this to me. You did this to us. Now face the fucking consequences of your actions.” Your voice was scratchy, the rasp appearing with each word you say.
“I know what I did.”
“And yet, you still did it.”
Izuku took a deep breath, leaning back into his chair. He looked up at the ceiling of his office, looking at the dazzling, overhanging chandelier in the middle of it.
“So there’s nothing I can say or do to convince you to stay?”
“You can have the house, as long as you pay me alimony for the next two-three years, for a reasonable price of course.”
You completely ignored his question, going straight into what was going to happen next. Izuku took another deep breath, this time leaning against his hand as he placed his elbow, pointed up, against his desk.
“So this is it?”
“This is it, Izuku. I told myself I would never lessen myself for a man, and I already broke that when I quit my job. I’m not gonna keep doing that to myself.”
“I-I love you.”
You gave off an airy chuckle as if you couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. And with that you ended the call, those being one of the last words you’ll be saying to him until the meetings between the two of you and your divorce lawyers.
---
“Y/n?” A muffled voice called out, pulling you out of your sleep along with knocks on your door
You pushed yourself off the bed, throwing the hotel blankets off your body. It was late at night, you went back home after your impromptu visit with your mother. You packed up what you could in one go before stuffing it in your car. You couldn’t see Izuku after that, so you tried your best to remove any trace of yourself from that house. You were just about to fall asleep, the tv playing a random 90s show for background noise. Digging through one of your suitcases, you found a robe to wrap around your body before moving towards the door.
You summoned lightning in one hand as you checked who was at the door. Seeing red-and-white hair, along with a bright blue eye and a dull grey eye, you took a deep sigh of relief before slowly opening the door. Standing there, wearing a raincoat and holding a closed umbrella was Shoto Todoroki. His hair that grew since high school was pulled back in a ponytail as he looked down upon with concerned eyes.
“Y/n…”
You took a deep breath, closing your eyes as he said your name. You then opened them back up before giving him a sad smile.
“Shoto… can I help you?” You leaned against the doorway, placing a hand in your waist.
“I heard from Izuku, the two of you are getting a divorce?”
You leaned into the hallway, looking to see if anyone saw him before pulling him into your hotel room. You closed the door and locked it behind you immediately before turning on the light. Shoto looked around the luxury rented room, seeing all of your suitcases and other items stacked up against a wall. Feeling your hands tremble, you sat on your bed, folding your hands underneath themselves.
“How did-“ your voice came out raspy and dry, so you cleared your throat before speaking again.
“How did you find me? I didn’t tell anyone where I was.”
Shoto simply smiled, “being the #3 hero has its perks. I figured you didn’t want a lot of people crowding around you so I said I’d talk to you.”
Hearing that, you lifted your head swiftly, “people already know about the divorce?”
Shot shrugged off his raincoat, revealing the long sleeve black turtleneck he was wearing. He placed his umbrella in a random corner before going to sit beside you on the bed.
“After what happened this morning, Izuku only told us that you’re leaving him… and wouldn’t tell us why. We called everyone, Uraraka, Iida, Kirishima, we even called his mom and All Might… all he said was that his marriage was over. No reason as to why…”
You let out a slight chuckle, your shoulders jumping slightly at the irony of the situation.
“So the only person you could come to was me, right?”
Shoto simply nodded his head, shifting his body closer to you.
“Y/n… I know you… you aren’t this rash person. You wouldn’t come to this decision on a whim. I thought you and Izuku were okay?”
Taking a deep breath, you spoke, “I thought we were okay too… Shoto I… he…”
Your body shuddered and shook as sobs flew out of your mouth. As tears fell, you covered your face and turned away from Shoto, hunching over yourself. That’s when you feel hands, one warm and the other cold, pull at you, grabbing at your waist before pulling you into a warm body. Shoto’s comforting hands and his placing you on the fireside of his body allowed him to let it all out once again. He didn’t say a word, only letting out soft shushes in your ear as you continued to cry.
You could hear nothing else other than the air conditioning and your cries echo throughout your room. It felt like an eternity before you slowly started to quiet down. Taking a deep breath, you slowly pushed yourself out of Shoto’s hold before getting up to get a water bottle. Shoto, his eyes still shining with concern, said nothing as you twisted the cap open and drank half the bottle.
As the pudding of your head slowly went away, you placed the bottle on the desk before sitting back on the bed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to cry my eyes out all over you,” you apologized, grabbing one of the pillows to hold closer to your body.
Shoto shook his head, waving off your concerns, “it’s okay, it’s black anyways.”
You just nodded your head and looked away.
“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong? Why are you and Izuku getting a divorce?”
You took a deep breath, your mind racing with everything you’ve been through… the day you met Izuku, the day you asked him out for the first time, the day he asked to be your girlfriend, the day he proposed… the day you two got married… everything.
“Izuku… he cheated on me…”
It was silent after that, the buzz of the air conditioning and the beeps of the cars below the two of you filling the tense air.
“He… he what?”
You bit your bottom lip as you spoke again, “he cheated on me, with Mellissa, you remember her right? Melissa Shield? All Might’s “niece”?”
Shoto nodded his head, shifting his body to face forward as he leaned forward, using his hands to steady himself. He lifted his head to the ceiling as he fully processed your words.
“Oh… oh wow… I never thought that he would do that.”
You scoffed, flopping back into the bed, “well me neither, and yet… here we are.”
You started to laugh, laugh at this situation, laugh at here you are now. God, everything was so fucked, wasn’t it? Feeling the bed shift, you could feel Shoto lay down on the bed beside you. He wrapped his arms around you before pulling you into him once again, this time leaving you on his right side so you could cool down. The feeling left sighing, leaning into his touch even more.
“Izuku is an absolute idiot, and I’m glad that you’re leaving him at the first sight of disrespect.”
Coming from Todoroki and his background, those meant a lot to you. You smiled before lifting your head to look at him.
“Thanks, Shoto, that means a lot.”
He smiled, before slowly removing his hands from your waist.
“I should let you sleep, I just wanted to come to check up on you.” He bent over to grab at his umbrella before turning around to grab his raincoat.
Sniffling, you nodded your head, wiping away your tears before getting up to see him off, “thanks for coming to check up on me… even though the way you found me was a little creepy.”
—-
You officially divorced three months after that day, Izuku tried to hold out as long as he could but soon enough even the number one hero couldn't hold out that long. The number of times you had to tell him you weren't going to come back to him was astounding, his stubbornness knew no bounds. You allowed Izuku to keep the house and he was to pay you a hefty amount of alimony along with the money he was to pay you for spousal distress.
When news came out that the number one hero and his wife would be divorcing, the media went into a frenzy. Even bigger than the one about your wedding. You had to rely on your family to help you out until the news and paparazzi left you alone. It was even worse on Deku, being the top hero and not even able to save his marriage? Talk about a blow to his reputation, it almost cost him the #1 spot. If it wasn't for the Incident at the Kasona Mall, where a villain decided to blow up a mall, where he saved over 50 people in one swoop, Bakugo would have finally been able to claim that #1 spot.
Speaking of pro-heroes.
H/n is back on the scene! Officially signing with The Todoroki Agency!!
You were a pro-hero again, stepping back into the spotlight after over six years. After not much deliberation, and encouragement from friends alike, you decided to come out of retirement once more. You had to retake the licensing process and test of course, but you passed with ease. Being a hero was almost like riding a bike, it was ingrained within you. After The Hero Commission reinstated you, you got so many offers. From Fatgum to LeMillion, and Gang Orca. However, you already promised a certain person that you would join up with him.
“You sure you want me Shoto?” You were sitting in his penthouse, visiting him after he got hurt in the Incident at Kasona mall.
The two of you had gotten closer ever since that day he found you in your hotel room. He helped you get back on your feet, helped you pick out a new house to live in, (since you left the house to Izuku), and helped you study to retake the test. He nodded, shifting his position on his couch. The movement however, caused him to wince as he had to move his arm, which slung into a cast. You immediately got up and helped him move into a more comfortable position without straining himself. He thanked you for the help as you sat back down, grabbing your glass of wine.
“Yeah, you were an amazing hero when you were active years ago. I know this is a decision I’ll lose no sleep over.”
You chuckled, sipping on the wine he put out for the two of you. He smiled softly at you, his intense stare causing your body to heat up slightly, or that could be from the alcohol, you honestly didn't know. You licked your lips, shifting your legs to help lessen that heated throb between your thighs.
“Alright, I guess I’m joining your agency.”
You grew out of your old outfit, so with the help of Hatsume and other designers, you got a whole new outfit. Instead of the original leotard/bodysuit you had when you were younger, along with the thigh boots, it all connected into all one large jumpsuit. It was black with purple accents adorning all across the outfit along with a brand new cape. You turned around, summoning clouds to lift you as you twirled around. Hatsume, the designer who made your new hero costume, Hokkaido, and Mina, who you also told about the true reason you and Izuku got divorced, all smiled as you felt out your new outfit.
“Well?” Mina asked, smiling as you landed on your feet.
You turned around, trailing your hands down your body, feeling the aft fabric and metal accents clash together on your body before smiling at yourself in the mirror.
“I love it.”
Your office was on the same floor as Shoto’s, him constantly relying on your knowledge and wisdom on other matters. The two of you were the leaders in the recent missions the two of you had taken together. This whole process was a lot like riding a bike, coming back easily. You had missed this, you had missed this so much, and you could tell the world and missed you too.
The media accepted your return with open arms, jumping right back to the top 20s. You were a very powerful hero after all.
After three months of coming back, making it six months since your divorce, your parents decided to throw a party for you. To celebrate you coming back, and ranking high on the Billboard Chart in so little time. You tried to get yourself out of it but they took no excuses. So you decided to make the most of it, you felt like a whole new woman. Placing your braids in a bun, you wore a strapless black velvet dress with matching long-sleeved gloves. You slipped on some ankle-strap, black stilettos, and pearl jewelry set to complete the look. The party was small but it was filled with life, all of your old classmates and even your old co-workers from your old agency even came. Mina, Jirou, Tsu, and even Yaomomo, as busy as she is, came. Kirishima even got Bakugou to come. Everyone was so excited to see you come out of retirement and take to the streets again. Some did try to pry into your broken relationship with Izuku, but you just ignored them and told them to enjoy themselves at the party.
“Y/n.”
You turned around to see Shoto standing there with two champagne flutes in his hands. You smiled and walked up to him, hands extended out for a hug. He wrapped his arms around the best he could with the two drinks in his hands. You giggled at his struggle as he tried to step back without spilling the drinks.
“I see your hands are full, Boss.” You winked as you took one of the flutes of champagne out of his hands.
He just chuckled as you guys cheered, clinking your glasses together before taking a sip. As the sweet liquid hit your tongue, your eyes trailed down his body at the suit he was wearing. All black suit with the jacket, with a white dress shirt, red tie and tailored to perfection. You licked your lips as he breathed in, seeing his chest press up against the white fabric. Clearing your throat, you pulled your eyes away from his chest as you looked up at him finishing his drink. You smiled at him and he returned it as he placed the glasses on an empty table.
“You seem so much happier.” You heard Shoto comment behind you.
You turned to face him and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
Shoto walked up to you, the proximity between you two making your heart pound this a little faster. He leaned down, using his right hand to make you look in his eyes.
“When you first announced your retirement, and when I saw you after that… I do not doubt that you were happy but…” he trailed, his grip on your chin tightening slightly.
“But… but what?” You let out a whisper, feeling his thumb softly move against your skin.
“There was still this sadness in your eyes, that I could never pinpoint but now… I can’t see it at all.” He let go of you after that, taking a couple of steps back.
You took another deep breath, pressing a hand against your chest to feel your beating heart.
Smiling at Shoto, “thank you, that means a lot.”
The two of you continued to drink together, whether it be champagne or something stronger. The more the drinks came around you two, the two of you drank, and the more you two drank, the more handsy the two of you got. Shoto’s arms never left your waist and would find themselves trailing lower and lower down your body. You would find ways and excuses to slowly caress his face or his chest. The two of you would just get closer and closer. Luckily, most everyone around was drunk so even if they did notice, it was unlikely that they would notice. Soon enough, people began to leave, wishing you the best of luck and congratulations.
Then it was just the two of you. Shoto, despite being as drunk as you are, helped carry you to your bed upstairs. As he laid you in the bed, you reached out to him, pulling him down onto you and your bed. You giggled as he flopped on his back, allowing you to quickly straddle him.
“Y/n,” he giggled, he was more emotional, happy drunk, “Y/n why are you doing?”
You smiled, licking and biting at your lips as your hands trailed down his body. Feeling at his chest, before trailing down his abs, your hands and fingers going ever ripple and ridge on his body before landing right in the top of his pelvic area, feeling his hard-on poke out through his slacks. You hissed slowly as you began to rock into him, your dress riding up with every movement you made. Your movements caused him to whisper curses under his breath, his hips buck as he grabbed onto your waist tightly. You gripped at his shoulders as he guided you up and down his waist, his touch leaving your skin electrified, the opposite temperatures causing trembles throughout your body. You then leaned down to plant light kisses against his neck
“You’re so fucking handsome,” you whispered against his skin, your fingers fumbling with the buttons on his dress shirt.
He just smirked before flipping you on your back, using his knee to spread your legs.
——
It was a week after the party and you had just gotten back from your shift of patrol. It was early in the morning, say almost 4 am, and you were ready to go home and get some sleep. Saying goodbye to your sidekick, you walked towards your office to get some final papers before going home. As you opened the door, you could feel dull light entering your vision. So you turned and followed where it was coming from only to find yourself right outside of Shoto’s door. That’s where you could hear the argument.
“Izuku I—”
“NO— I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU, YOU’RE SLEEPING WITH MY EX-WIFE!”
“I think you’re the last person to be concerned about what she does now!”
“You’re one of my closest friends, I’ve known you the longest! And you just stab me in the back like this!?”
“I think that you should leave Izuku before I make you. What Y/n and I have, it’s none of your business.”
You could hear a slam, and hear something break before hearing heavy stomps echo throughout the room. You hoped it didn’t come to them full-on fighting, you knew Shoto could handle himself against, however, when Izuku was mad, Lord did he get mad. You hope you won't have to face him again, after all this time.
“I don’t want to hear a word you have to say!! I should have known, you’ve ALWAYS been chasing after her! Since our time at U.A!
You tilted your head at that, confused at what he meant. Shoto has been chasing after you since high school? You thought that Shoto always had a thing for Yaomomo, despite her and Jirou getting engaged recently. It was because of that, you believed Shoto had shifted his focus onto you…
“So what? I thought I left her in good hands, out of all my friends, you were the ONLY one that I thought could give her a good life. I thought you could love her and only be with her! Now I see that I couldn’t even trust you with that! So you don’t get to decide how she spends her time and who she spends it with! Not after what you did to her!”
It went quiet after that, but you could still see the heavy breathing out of both of them. You bit your lip, heart pounding as you grasped at the wall, staring to hear to see if they speak under their breath.
“What… what are you talking about?”
“She told me… she told me what you did... How you cheated on her with Melissa. Don’t give me that look, I’m not gonna tell anyone. She asked me not to, it’ll do no one any good if it got all. They’ll just hound her for months for this.”
You could feel your body begin to rock back and forth, you could feel the tension rising all the way from the place where you would stand.
“So I say again, you have no right to have any say about what she does in her own time. Even when she was married to you, she was never yours! She’s her own woman, and after being suffocated by you, she deserves to do whatever she wants. I’ll be here, no matter what, and I’ll stick by her because that’s what people who truly love someone do!”
You couldn’t help but smile at his words, you could feel tears swell in your waterline. Taking a deep breath, you stood up slowly, brushing off any dirt or dust collected on your lap before walking towards the door. You gave a knock on the door, before slowly turning the doorknob to reveal a trashed office. Plants turning upside down, smaller tables flipped around, and books spread all across the floor. Your eyes then landed on the two of them, standing behind the bigger office desk. Izuku was holding Shoto by his shirt, and the two of them had intense looks on their faces. You took another deep breath, seeing the way Izuku looks after so long. He grew out his beard, despite him hating it so much. His already scruffy, curly hair grew even more unruly. His eyes turned towards you, the shock after seeing you so long causing him to lose his grip on Shoto.
“Y/n…”
You closed your eyes and rolled your neck before closing the door behind you.
“Shoto is correct, what I do with my time is absolutely none of your business Izuku. We’re done, we’ve been done for six months. If I’m going, to be honest, we’ve been done for a year… since you had an affair with Melissa for six months as well,” you stated, slowly walking up towards the two of them.
“So what I do with him, what I do with anyone… is no longer your business. Now get out!”
Izuku stood there, shocked at your words, slowly turning his body to face you.
“Y/n I…” You made a motion with your hands, quieting him.
“Izuku Midoriya, get out now!”
He jumped back, before turning back to Shoto, giving him one last glare before walking past you towards the door. You kept your back towards him, and the door as well, as he opened it before walking out, shutting it behind him. With that, you then turned to the last man standing in the room. You gave him a soft smile, slowly shaking your head as you amble across to him. You placed your hands on his biceps as he wrapped his arms around your waist. He smiled down at you, before leaning in for a soft kiss. You chuckled and smiled into the kiss, tightening your grip on his arms. You could feel the grip you had on you tighten with every second of the kiss. Once you let go, you slowly reached up to caress the side of his face with the scar with your hand.
“You look stressed… is it because of your day? Or because of the walking trash that just walked out?”
He chuckled softly at your words, shaking his head. You smiled as you walked towards his desk, moving some of the papers off before sitting on top of his desk. Shoto gave you an up and down glance, before walking towards you and standing in between your legs.
“So… why was Izuku here?” You asked him, rubbing at his shoulders and arms.
Shoto took a deep breath before leaning forward and laying his head on top of your shoulders.
“He came up here, accusing me of different things. I never found out he found out that the two of us were seeing each other… I was more focused on other things…”
Izuku was always so stubborn, that could be a good or bad thing depending on who side you were on. You sighed, nodding your head as you wrapped your arms around him.
“Let’s go to your place? I’m really tired and I honestly just want to get as much sleep as I can.”
You could feel Shoto smile into your shoulder, before nodding. You were about to push him off of you, so you could both get what you need and walk out together, a sudden force whooshed you off your feet, arms grabbing at you and carrying you in a bridal position.
“Shoto!” You squealed, holding on to his shoulders.
He just softly chuckled once more, as he carried you out of the office, nothing but smiles on the two of you’s faces.
___
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heejojo · 3 years
Text
thirteen: how it really is
pairing: yang jungwon × female reader with txt and itzy appearances
genre: fluff, angst, crack, smau, flowers shop au
summary: y/n is used to getting what she wants, even if the person is in a relationship because as far as she’s concerned, the person isn’t married yet, but why is it frustrating when the flower shop owner doesn’t pay any attention to her?
wc: 1.3k
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Jungwon tried to stop the way his heart raced faster anytime someone said they needed to talk to him. He searched his brain trying to look for a moment where he had upset you. Did you want to leave? Although you caused trouble a lot, you still helped him when orders got too much and he was grateful for that.
You had been out of it lately, zoning out and forgetting orders. You knew whatever Mirae had said about you wasn’t true in the slightest. You feared that if Jungwon knew, he would be like the rest and think of you in a different way.
Everyone else already had their fixed perception of you in their heads and who were you to ruin it for them? As long as you looked good in the image they had in their heads, it didn’t bother you. For Jungwon, it was different. Not only do you work for him, you already regarded him as your friend.
Jungwon closed the store and sat down next to you. Wiping his hands by the side of his trousers so they wouldnt feel sweatier, he cleared his throat.
“Something was going around on Twitter and I wanted to let you know before you got the wrong idea.”
“I haven’t had the time, let me check now,” he says and brings out his phone and scrolls. He comes across one of Mirae’s comments and turns to you with a confused look on his face.
“That’s what I was talking about,” you tell him with a strained smile.
"Why is she saying those things about you? Are they true?" the emotions on his face are unreadable so you're not able to tell what he's thinking.
"They're true and at the same time, it's not true"
"It can't be in the middle. It's either it’s true or it isn't true"
"That's why I wanted to tell you now. Are you willing to listen?"
"I'm here already, aren't I?" he asks. Seeing your crestfallen look, he tries to reassure you, "I'm willing to listen"
You take in a deep breath, thinking everything through again. You were about to expose one of your most painful memories to him so he wouldn't have the same misconception others had of you.
The air that surrounds both of you becomes tense. Your hands reaching over to hold the handle beside you before beginning the story.
“The people that you see around me now are the people that have been by my side for the past five years. You’ve had this shop for almost four years haven’t you?” he nods and you continue. “I studied law because of my parents. Back then, I had no aspirations and didn’t know what I wanted to be. All I knew was that I enjoyed working. My dad convinced me to study law and I agreed because it was better to do something like that than nothing at all. I had worked as a criminal lawyer for almost a year before I quit my job.”
“I met Yuna in university. She was the first person I talked to and we clicked ever since. At that time, Niki's parents kicked him out for not wanting to study engineering so he stayed with Sunghoon off-campus and worked many jobs and studied hard so he could attend that particular school. He got a scholarship and is studying animation now. He forgave his parents later and talks to them now”
“Jay studied business to work with his dad and he enjoys what he does because he can work from home. He enjoys what he does since he gets to work from home” the thought of your best friend enjoying his life made you smile.
“We all met each other at different times. Jay met Niki and Sunghoon at a convenience store and at that time, it was a friend of mine that introduced us all. The irony was that we’re no longer friends anymore” you stated with a bitter laugh.
“What happened between you guys?”
“At that time, I had a crush on him and everyone knew it. It’s not like it was obvious but I told him about it and he told me that he reciprocated them. Things went well at first, with Sunghoon and Niki faking disgust anytime we did cute things together or Jay and Yuna fawning over it. Then one day, I started getting texts from random people who would call me a homewrecker and when I’d ask them, they wouldnt respond. I told Jay about it and he tried contacting the girls that sent those messages himself but they wouldnt respond to him. I showed Heeseung and he brushed it off saying that they would leave me soon”
“Even though I tried not to show it, I hurt a lot from those messages. After a while, we swept them under the rug. I changed my number and they had stopped the messages. At that time, Heeseung still hadn’t asked me out. Anytime I asked him why he’d say, ‘I’m waiting for the perfect time to do so’. I let it slide. When I’d take the initiative, he’d say we should wait instead. He was messing with my feelings and I let him,” Tears were already welling up in your eyes and your hands started to itch. Gripping the handle of the chair even harder, you decide to continue talking.
“He would get pissed if I talked to other boys and say stupid stuff. Niki was the first one that noticed the way he was treating me and tried to talk sense into me but I wouldnt budge. Jay and Yuna knew because I told them how upset I was over it and tried to counsel Heeseung but nothing was working. I didn’t tell Sunghoon because he would get angry and want to retaliate”
“Heeseung later apologized and things went back to normal. It was nearing the end of that particular semester and Sunghoon took us out for drinks. At the restaurant, I could feel that people were watching me but I couldn’t tell who.”
“After that day, Heeseung took me to the movies to celebrate me getting my summer job but we didn’t even make it into the cinema before a girl came and started calling me names. I was very unsettled because I didn’t know her and yet she said those types of things and Heeseung didn’t bother to defend me. He stood there and when I tried to explain myself, she shouted at me even more. She didn’t shout at the boyfriend that cheated on her, instead of at the person that was unaware of it all. Believe me, if I knew he was in a relationship I would have not gone for him”
The tears that you were trying your best to control came down in full force. All that time when you and he would talk about how much you wanted to be part of each other’s future, he had a future with someone else all along. With a gentle touch, he lifted your hand from the chair and gave it a squeeze which made you cry harder.
“You don’t have to finish the story. I trust you” he said. More tears streamed down your face. It was the first time someone apart from your friends said that they had believed you and it felt satisfying. You didn’t have to continue hiding under your facade anymore. You gave him a soft smile and continued speaking.
“I called Yuna to pick me up and I stayed with her for a month. She told the boys what happened and said I needed to be alone. I cried the whole time I was with her. The boys gave me space for about two weeks before they came to check up on me. They were so angry and wanted to go out. Sunghoon was the scariest. I had never seen him that annoyed before. Jay had to cool him down. That day, we all promised each other that we wouldnt do anything to him and forget about it. After all, he was now with his girlfriend so there was nothing else to worry about. Since then, we’ve been even closer and even if they irritate my soul, they’ll always be like family to me”
Jungwon felt sorry for you and angry at himself. Angry for not being nice to you when he met you and sorry that you went through so much. To date, people still thought of you as a homewrecker or a mistress when you were nothing of the sort.
“He deserves to a beating up” he stated wanting nothing more than to hit Heeseung.
“I’m over it, I wanted to tell you.” Jungwon could tell that you were still not over it, considering the way your body shook.
“Do you want a hug?”
“Yes please,” and he took you in for one. Even if he worked with soil all day, he smelt good. He smelt like comfort and wait...baby powder!?
After a while, you had to ask, “Do you use baby powder?”
“It makes my skin soft” and you giggle.
You don’t know for how long you stay in his arms, all you know is that you feel better.
118 notes · View notes
1engele · 3 years
Text
daybreak | sal fisher x fem!reader - 4. questions
Previous | Next
[warnings: cursing, smoking, death mention, sexual discussion, drug mention]
"every mile further, there's a part of me that slips away."
At lunch, you and Sal eventually locate the group's spot in the cafeteria. It felt almost like a walk of shame as the two of you approached and cautiously sat down at the table.
Todd, Ashley, and Larry all turn their heads toward you both. Normally, they'd most likely greet you as if nothing was wrong—which, to their knowledge, nothing was—but this time they were hesitant in saying anything. You could only guess they'd caught the wave as soon as you'd both sat down.
Larry looked calmer than he did in the car. You hoped Ashley and Todd talked him down.
"Alright, something's weird," Ashley's suspicious eyes flitted between you and Sal. "What happened?"
Sal looked you in the eye, before returning his gaze to Ash. "Nothing, we-"
You should have let Sal lie about it, but the fact he still wanted to be selfless and keep the peace made you angry on his behalf and was enough to make you cut in. "Something happened in class that pissed Travis off. In the hall, he fucking cuffed Sal in the face."
Larry jerks forward in his seat. You take advantage of his shock to keep speaking. "His shirt had blood all over it. That's why I gave him my sweater."
"What the fuck?" Ashley's eyes were wide, her entire expression forming into something furious. "We need to report him."
"No, we don't," Sal shakes his head. "It makes things worse. It wasn't even that bad. The blood was superficial. It didn't even take more than a minute for her-" he looks to you, clears his throat, and corrects himself. You guess he doesn't want any questions being asked about what happened in the girl's bathroom. "-for me to clean it up."
Todd swallows a bite of his sandwich and speaks up. "Sal may be right. It would make things worse. That doesn't mean it's justified, though—no matter what Travis is going through at home."
"You know what is justified?" Larry is seething in his spot. "Him getting his shit beat. When the day's over, I'm taking him behind the school and knocking the lights out of his fucking head."
Sal inhales beside you.
"Yeah—that's not going to do anything," you breathe. You feel the blue-haired boy shift beside you—like he'd turned his head your way. "I actually spoke to him on the first day of school."
Ashley's eyebrows fly up. "What? What did he say?"
"We were all in the hallway," you began to explain, slowly and steadily. "I'd seen him giving Sal weird looks earlier in class—and at that moment, he seemed off, too—just standing there at the far end of the hall."
You paused. "I don't know. I've seen it before. It was like he was gearing himself up to walk over and say something. So I took it upon myself to beat him to it. I went over, asked him what he was planning on doing—told him to pick his battles. He almost went over anyway, but I put my hand on him and told him how that wouldn't end well."
You swallowed and glanced around anxiously. "He looked at me, scoffed, and walked away."
Your hand raises to your neck. You absentmindedly drag your knuckles over your throat—a nervous habit. "I hope I didn't make things worse. If I'd known that maybe that was the reason he was pissed off today I wouldn't have done anything."
Sal hadn't looked away from you the entire time you'd been speaking. Carefully, he shifts in his seat to face you and starts: "No," he shakes his head. "He would have hit me anyway. What you said didn't make him do that. It's about what happened in class."
He glanced over the table before meeting your eyes again. "He's jealous. I think he wishes he had something like we- he wishes he had a friend. That's all. So don't blame yourself for Travis' actions like you caused them when all you were trying to do was defend me."
Tears form but you blink them away quickly. Something flashes behind Sal's eyes and he looks as if he's going to say something to console you but someone's speaking before he can. You look away first, settling your eyes on the table.
"What happened in class?" Ashley asks, slowly reaching for her bag of chips.
Sal's eyebrows twitch downward. "Nothing. I tried giving Y/N another answer and Mrs. Packerton gave us detention. That made Travis mad, for some reason."
Larry lets out a bittersweet laugh. "As funny as Mrs. Packerton giving you detention is-"
Sal rolls his eyes in your peripheral vision.
"-why would that make Travis mad? It's not like he's a goody-two-shoes. He barely gets by in school."
Sal shrugs. "Who knows. I really don't care what he thinks, anyway."
Larry is beside himself with frustration. You can tell it. He's tense and his jaw is hard. You know he's ready to get up and talk to the other side of the cafeteria and beat the fuck out of Travis but he knows he can't—because Sal doesn't want that.
"If I were you, I would have killed him already," Larry mutters. "Don't know how you do it, dude. I don't think you aren't capable of it."
The boy beside you falters. "I don't care about what he says to me. It's really about what he says to other people. When he started saying shit to Y/N—I, uh- I'll admit, I did sort of feel like hurting him."
Your heart skips a beat. Immediately after this happens, you feel like slapping yourself in the face for letting your hormones get the better of you.
You watch the rest of the table exchange glances you would've missed—had you blinked—before Ashley speaks. "Whatever. I just don't get why he lets his anger out on somebody who's done nothing to him."
After that, the conversation steadily drifts into something more lighthearted. Larry makes fun of you and Sal for getting detention for something you nearly got caught for the previous day. Todd recites facts about medieval times and Ashley for some reason thinks that it's hilarious and laughs.
You enjoy the rest of lunch, despite the earlier topic.
You've come to realize this school absolutely does not give a shit. You and Sal are accepted into detention without any further notice for your parents. As far as you know, the faculty hadn't contacted nor your mother or Sal's parents.
"Let me call my dad," Sal mumbles, as you both approach the door to detention. "When I'm not home in time he always thinks something bad's happened to me, haha."
He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and flips it open.
"I'd call my mom, but I don't think she'd care," you laugh. It isn't bitter, really—you just couldn't care less. "From how you turned out, I bet your mom is really cool."
Sal looks up from his phone. "Thank you. Uh, yeah. She was good to me."
You falter at the 'was' and ask a question even though you shouldn't have. "Are your parents separated, Sal?"
He falters, waves the phone in his hand a little. "My mother, ah- is dead, Y/N."
Dread plunges to the bottom of your gut like a heavy rock and weighs your insides down. You feel like the biggest idiot known to the world—and you feel even stupider now that you can't muster the words up to apologize to him.
Eventually, you collect yourself—only to spiral yourself downward into further shame.
"Sal, I am so sorry," you breathe. "I should have caught on sooner."
He seems almost surprised concerning your sincerity, eyebrows raising and his eyes widening. Sal quickly raises his hands and waves them, his demeanor appearing distraught. "No! No, don't feel bad. There's no way you could've known. I don't talk about family much."
You breathe in slowly. "I'm such a horrible person. Here I am, complaining about calling my mother, and.."
He blinks down at you sincerely, glances both ways down the hall, and returns his gaze to you, and speaks: "Do you want to just get out of here?"
Your head jerks upward. You swallow the saliva that had pooled in your mouth and fumble for a response. "What do you mean?"
Sal breathily laughs. "We'll get in a lot of trouble for this—but you only live once, right?" He shifts his weight and takes a step closer to you. "Let's just ditch the detention. Me and you."
Your heart jumps. "Don't you have really good grades? Sal, what if-"
"That doesn't matter," he blurts. You meet his eyes. The blue in them cast something familiar onto you—exhaustion. Numbness. The want to feel, the want to be exhilarated.
You don't know this boy very well—but you see something of yourself in him. A person who's kept between the lives most of their life, but they're just itching to break through that wall.
Sal is bored. He's sad. And he wants the thrill.
"Let's do it."
You and Sal both escape the school in a matter of a few minutes. Leaving involved a lot of unnecessary running and giggling and navigating through halls—but you make it out and breathe in the crisp, autumn air. It further dries your parched throat and rustles your hair.
"Wow," Sal breathes, beside you, as you both stand with feet firmly planted on the concrete. You're a few yards away from the school, enough distance between you and the building to where you can feel comfortable. "Never done anything like that before."
You laugh. "We ditched detention, Sal. We didn't run from the law."
"To my standards, we may as well have." He meets your eyes, the breeze blowing past his blue hair. "What do you want to do next?"
You take Sal to a playground. It takes a little while of absentminded walking and searching for something to appear, but eventually your eyes catch on that swing set and you can't resist.
"Come on!" You grin and run towards it.
He laughs behind you, and follows you a little less excitedly, taking his time with walking.
You sit side by side. You dig the toe of your shoe into the ground and push yourself into a steady rock, back and forth. The chains squeak which each movement of the swing.
"Hey, Sal?"
He looks over at you, his hair rustling with the autumn breeze. The more you look at it, the more jarring the contrast becomes—the blue against the backdrop of orange and red trees and the dull sky. "Yeah?"
"Wanna play 20 questions?"
Sal blinks toward you. He brings his hands up to grip the chains attached to his swing. "Sure."
"Okay. Just one rule-"
"Don't ask for your bra size?"
You laugh. "No. If you really want to know, it's-"
He waves a hand hurriedly. You notice the strain in his voice when he replies. "I was just kidding. What's the rule?"
"No boring questions. That's it."
Sal chuckles. "I'm a boring person, so I can't really promise that."
No, you're not, you thought.
"Prove me wrong. You go first."
"Favorite color?"
You chuckle, kicking dirt up from the ground as you push yourself into a steady rock, back and forth. "Wow. What a question. Uh... I don't know. There's a lot of great colors." You glance toward him, shivering as a gust of wind brushes your clothed shoulders. "Blue."
He inclines his head toward you. "It's your turn, now."
You pause. "I'll ask you the same thing. What's your favorite color?"
"Yellow. If you could choose a way to die, how would you? Old age or something peaceful doesn't count."
The abruptness of the shift in topic makes you laugh. "I'd like to be struck by lightning."
He peers at you curiously. "Why?"
"Does that count as one of your questions?"
Sal fingers at the chains of his swing. "Yeah, sure."
You shrug your shoulders, sucking your front teeth behind your lips. "I don't know, honestly. I'd like to know how it feels. It would probably just feel like fire, and it would fucking hurt—but wouldn't it be kind of cool? Have you seen a photo of someone after being struck by lightning?"
He giggles, lifts a foot and presses the bottom of his shoe against the other one. "Does that count as one of your questions?"
"Shut up. Have you?"
"No. What's it look like?"
You grin. "It's like.. tree roots. Or a branch with leaves on it—but it's a scar. You'd have to see it to understand."
Sal looks as though he's about to say something else—probably tease you for your strange fixation on lightning strike victims—but you beat him to the punch. "My turn. What's your favorite song?"
"Memories and Dreams, Sanity's Fall."
You raise your eyebrows. "Metal? Well, now that I think about it, you seem the type."
"Larry actually introduced me to it. I didn't really listen to anything before I met him. Alright, I'll ask you the same question. Favorite song?"
"Wonderwall, Oasis."
"That one's pretty recent," he hums, pauses, and thinks about it. "Yeah. That sounds like you. I like it."
You smile shyly. "It's not metal, sorry. Can we still be friends?"
Sal exhales through his nose amusedly. "No. You don't like the same music genre as me. Friendship over."
You laugh. "Well, I never said I didn't like metal. Anyway, my question is.. when's your birthday?"
"December 20th."
Your eyebrows raise. "Holy shit. You're nearly a Jesus baby."
Sal chuckles. "I'm far from being the second coming. It's 5 days off, anyway."
That makes him a Sagittarius. You're pretty familiar with the general traits of the zodiac signs—personality traits, physical traits, sexual tendencies—like a lot of teenagers nowadays.
Well, if he's true to the zodiac, he has a high sex drive.
Your face feels hot. You're a creep, your brain says.
A few questions pass by. He asks about your birthday, you ask him his favorite movie, etc. You're nearing the end of the game, and it's been a decent amount of time. It feels almost too soon when the sun begins to drift down in the sky.
"Alright, my turn," you say after you've answered the question Sal had just asked you.
"Shoot."
"Are you a virgin?"
A tense moment passes, and you seriously regret asking. All you can hear is your heart thrumming in your ears and your blood rushing towards it and through all of you.
He meets your eyes evenly. "Yeah. Obviously."
"I don't believe you," you reply, immediately.
His eyebrows raise. "Why not?"
You hope he can't hear your pulse. "Because. You answered that way too smoothly."
"That makes no sense. If I were lying, I wouldn't have been as cool about it."
You narrow your eyes. "That's not just it, though. Why hasn't someone fucked you?"
If the abruptness of your question shocked you, it certainly shocked him. Sal laughed loudly like he was in disbelief—swaying his head away from you. His knuckles grow white around the swing chains.
His head turns back and his eyes meet yours straight on. "What are you trying to say?"
"Oh my god," you slapped a hand over your mouth. "I sounded so ignorant just now. Sorry. I'm not shaming you—that would make me a hypocrite. I'm a virgin too."
Sal huffs out another laugh, breathily this time. "No, I didn't think you were being ignorant. That's not what I was asking you."
You pause. "Then.." You plant your feet on the ground and stop the sway the swing is in. The sun continues to drop further down in the sky, and it's golden light warms your face.
You look away from him, your heart beating against your ribs. "Hey, I have an idea."
When you turned your head Sal's way, his attention was already on you. "Yeah?"
"You said that you drive, right?"
"Yeah. Not legally. But I can drive. Why do you ask?"
You grin.
By the time you've arrived at the apartments, the sun has fully dropped out of the sky and the heavens were completely black—save for the full moon and the speckles of bright stars. This is one of the things you love about Nockfell—it's so far out. The lack of air pollution and chemicals below the clouds made the celestial bodies out there so much clearer.
"My dad's going to kill me," Sal muttered, as he forced his personal key into the door to his apartment.
"Hey, Sal, you know we don't have to-"
His head turns to you. "I never said that. I want to."
Sal pulls the key out and slowly turns the knob beneath his long fingers. Instead of easing the door at a steady pace, he holds on tighter to the knob and pushes it open quickly. For a moment, you almost scolded him for his recklessness—until you realized he'd done this so the door wouldn't whine on its hinges.
"Have you snuck in or out before?" You ask him, voice low as you watch him lean down to take his shoes off before he enters the apartment. "Why are you doing that?"
"These floorboards are shit. They creak under the carpet. Wait here."
He leaves his cornflower blue sneakers at the foot of the door and walks inside. You watch the back of his head as his figure disappears into the darkness of the room. Sure enough, he was right. His feet only emanate soft pats against the carpet and don't disturb the wood beneath—because he's only wearing socks. You hear the sound of keys before he returns to you.
"You didn't answer my question," you murmur with a teasing lilt, as he slides the door back into its place in the frame. He locks it back and turns to you.
"Not like this. I especially haven't stolen his car."
You laugh. "I hope I'm not becoming a bad influence on you. We've already ditched detention today.."
"Yeah, but that was my idea," he reminds you.
"I guess you're right. Do you think your dad will be mad at you?"
You loom over him as he forces his feet back into his sneakers. "Honestly? Probably. I've never done anything like that before. Getting detention is one thing, but leaving the school before actually attending it is something else entirely."
The both of you enter the elevator instead of going down the stairs. It's late, this complex is shit, and the stairwell wouldn't be lit.
Somehow, it hadn't crossed either of your minds that taking this elevator so late wouldn't be exactly wise either, but you'd stepped inside of the compartment anyways.
You stepped to Sal's left and watched him press the button for the first floor with his knuckle. As soon as he'd done that, and the elevator doors had slid closed, the singular light that illuminated the compartment flicked off and the both of you stood in abrupt darkness.
"Holy shit!" You exclaimed, jutting yourself into Sal's side and grasping the material of your sweater that he wore. "I'm sorry, but what the fuck? Did it just break?"
"No," he laughed, shifting his weight towards you. "It always does that in the night. I think it's to conserve power so the elevator doesn't break altogether."
You let go of him, embarrassment fluttering in your gut. You weren't sure whether to feel relief as you felt the elevator make it's descent downward. "I mean.. shouldn't there be a sign? I don't know.. that says something like.."
"'You aren't about to plummet to your death, the building's just really old?'" Sal finished your sentence for you and chuckled. "Yeah. If someone had a heart attack, they could sue. But the guy that runs this place is really old and doesn't really have family—so that would just be sad."
You're close enough to him to where you can feel him shrug. "There's an awful lot about this place that's rundown and weird and honestly sketchy, but Addison doesn't care. For instance, the college kids that live in 301? They spend all of their free time doing coke and heroin."
Your eyebrows raise into your hairline as you listen along.
"They're super nice people, and I don't mean to be rude at all, but god, you can smell the body rot inside of that apartment. It's really sad."
You look to him. "You've.. been inside of there," It wasn't a question—more of a statement.
"Yeah. I did coke with them once or twice."
You get whiplash, that's how fast your head whips toward him. "Sal," you breathe. "I don't mean to sound overbearing, but please don't do that. Ever again."
He huffs, but not of frustration. It's of resignation and understanding and shame. "I.. I'll admit it to you, Y/N, that shit is a lot more addictive than it's made out to be. I'm not going to tell you how I felt because I don't want to make it out to be enticing—but I can understand why they're addicts. I'd only done it a few times and it felt like any time I wasn't doing it I itched for it. Eventually, I got busier with school and other things—so after a while, I.. guess I sort of forgot."
You hear him turn his head to look at you. You barely make out his prosthetic face in the black. "I'll smoke cigarettes with you, Y/N, but I'll never introduce you to something like cocaine. By the way you reacted when I told you I'd done it, I hope you won't do it yourself."
You meet his eyes amidst the darkness. "You know, Sal," your gaze wanders to the elevator doors. The compartment shutters as it reaches its destination on the ground floor. Your fingers brush his with purpose. "I know of a lot better feelings that don't come from drugs."
Your heartbeat sounds like gushing blood in your ears. You feel his burning blue eyes on the back of your head.
At the same time as you're stepping out of the elevator, you've stepped into something else.
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let-it-raines · 3 years
Text
I Hope We Never See October (8/12)
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When his personal life and football career go up in flames, Killian Jones escapes England for America, finding seclusion in Martha’s Vineyard in order to hide from his demons. It’s a fresh start, or at the very least a paused moment in his life, and all he needs is a few months alone to allow his heart to heal. He doesn’t count on meeting Emma Swan.
Emma’s life depends on tourists who come to the island every summer. It’s how she makes her money working in restaurants and clubs across the vineyard, but every year, she cannot wait until autumn comes and her life returns to normal. She especially cannot wait for Killian Jones to leave.
Rating: Mature
a/n: Okay, so that cliffhanger, huh? I thought our mystery guests were obvious, but then again, I'm writing the story. But We'll answer all those questions here!
AO3: Beginning | Current Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
-/-
Killian’s side of the bed is cold when Emma’s alarm goes off. She expects him to still be there either sleeping or on his phone – he seems to do most of his work in the mornings when he doesn’t want to get out of bed – but he’s not there.
She hates herself a little bit for even noticing the cool feel of the sheets beneath her fingertips.
Emma groans and stretches her legs out, wondering how much time she has to go back to sleep before she absolutely has to go into work. She squints at her phone. She’s got two hours before she has to be at work. She could definitely sleep for another hour and a half and then look like shit at work. That might be nice, actually.
But then she smells something cooking downstairs, and almost on cue, her stomach growls.
Slowly, she gets out of bed, and the floor is cold against her bare feet. She should really go take a shower before she goes downstairs, and despite the good smell, she goes into the bathroom and quickly showers, leaving her hair dry. It’s curly and a bit frizzy from leaving it wet after her shower at the Nolans’ last night, but that’s a problem for another time…tomorrow. She’ll make it look better tomorrow. Emma grabs a pair of shorts and a button-down, putting them both on, and she pulls out a pair of sandals from her closet for later. She’s not as presentable as she should be, but maybe she can stay in her office and away from customers.
Besides, this is better than what it could have been had she not at least rinsed off the remaining sunscreen and sweat from her skin.
Emma smooths down her shirt and fluffs her hair. There’s the slightest bit of red on her chest from Killian’s beard, so she buttons up one more button before heading downstairs. From the smell of it, Killian is either cooking pancakes or waffles, and she’ll take either.
As far as her seasonal friends with benefits go, Killian is definitely the winner.
For the breakfast, the sex, and maybe the conversation. She thought about that for too long yesterday, and it’s too damn early for her to be thinking about any of this today. All she wants is food and coffee, so that’s all she’s thinking about. It’s all she can.
“Damn, Jones,” Emma shouts from the top of the stairs, “something smells delicious.”
She’s at the bottom of the stairs when she hears other voices. For one brief second, she thinks Killian is on the phone, but she’d know those voices anywhere. One haunts her nightmares, the other is the voice of her dreams, and neither was supposed to be here for three weeks.
Three fucking weeks.
Shit.
Holy shit.
What the hell has Neal done that he has to show up like this without even giving her any kind of heads up?
And how does she fix this? Killian was never supposed to know about Henry. He was the one question she’d never answer. He would have been her veto had it ever come up. When he got home from spending the summer with his dad in New York City, Emma was going to start phasing Killian out. They’d only ever spend time at his place, she’d never spend the night unless Henry was sleeping over at his friends. Usually, she doesn’t have this problem because the guy leaves way before this. He doesn’t have the chance to ever know about Henry, and Emma likes it that way.
The last guy that met Henry was Walsh, and that was only on accident. Or at least that’s what Walsh said, but Emma’s always thought Walsh showed up at the Blue Dog at that time on purpose because he knew Henry would be there with Emma. The guy never understood why Emma didn’t let him meet her son, but when you’ve never been able to trust a man besides David and possibly Graham with him, you have reservations.
His dad’s a full-blown asshole who has upended her life more than once, and she’s already so done with whatever bullshit excuse he’s got for bringing Henry home early.
Emma jumps in place, trying to breathe without really inhaling, and then she turns the corner into the kitchen.
The sight is as bad as she expected. The first person she sees is Killian, and if it were any other morning, this would be a good view to wake up to. His joggers hang low on his hips, he’s standing by the stove shirtless, and his hair is sticking in several directions from where her hands tugged on it last night. Then she sees Neal, who is standing in the corner with his arms crossed, frown on his face. He looks older since she saw him at the beginning of June. His beard is filled with more gray, his hair unruly in a purposeful way. He looks pissed, and Emma already knows this is about to be hell.
And then she sees Henry, and the tenseness fades from her shoulders when she sees his smile and the giant backpack he’s wearing. He’s got to empty that damn thing out.
God, she’s missed him so much.
“Mom!” he squeals, running toward her.
Emma opens her arms and embraces him, holding onto the back of his head and breathing him in. As much as Emma sometimes likes the freedom her summer affords her, she does miss her son. A lot. Him being gone is the entire reason she picks up shifts at The Oaks. She needs the distraction, not so much the money, until the summer is over and Henry comes back home for school.
“Hey, kid,” Emma laughs as she keeps hugging him. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. Can I have the waffles?”
“What?”
He pulls back and grins. “The waffles Killian made. Can I have them?”
“Killian,” Emma slowly repeats. She looks over Henry’s head toward Killian who is furiously scratching behind his ear, and she realizes just how much he has a deer in the headlights look going on. As confused as she is right now, she knows he’s just had a few bombs dropped on him. “Uh, yeah, why don’t you and my friend Killian eat. I’m going to talk to your dad in the backyard for a minute. Neal.”
“What? I don’t get a hi?” Neal asks.
“Backyard. Now.”
He smiles, and once upon a time, she would have found that charming. Right now, she wants to slap it right off his face. Whatever he has to say, she knows it won’t be good. Emma closes the back door behind them and moves far enough across the deck to keep Henry from hearing.
“What the hell, Neal?”
The smile falls, and Emma crosses her arms over her chest. She has to put up a barrier with him. “Why are you so angry? Are you not excited to see Henry? He has been gone all summer, you know.”
“Of course I’m excited to see my kid. But I wasn’t supposed to see him three weeks from now. And with a head’s up. We have a schedule, Neal. Like, a court-mandated schedule that you made us get, and you’re not sticking to it.”
“That I made us get?” he scoffs. “What’s that supposed to mean? If I recall, you’re the one who kept my son from me for seven years and then didn’t want to give me custody.”
How is he such an ass? Seriously. How does he still not get it?
Emma steps closer and straightens her back. She doesn’t need to make herself taller, not for him, but she does anyway. “I got pregnant with Henry when I was sixteen. You were twenty-four. Do the math on how that’s wrong in about eighty-two different ways. And if I recall, and trust me I have a pretty good memory of this day, when I told you I had something important to tell you, you disappeared off the face of the planet. That doesn’t really seem like a guy who deserves to know about his kid.”
“Oh, come on, Ems. You can’t still be mad about that, can you?”
Is it still considered assault if Emma punches someone who deserves to be punched? There must be a law making that okay.
“Why are you here early, Neal?”
She doesn’t want to get into this with him. He’s never going to understand how much he fucked up Emma’s life. There’s no need for her to try to get him to understand now when all she wants is to know why he just showed up early.
“Who’s that guy in there?” he asks, evading her question.
“A friend.”
His mouth crinkles when he laughs, and she hates it. “A shirtless friend who fixes you breakfast? I hope you don’t make a habit of this when Henry’s home.”
“You don’t get a say on my dating life. Or my parenting skills. Now answer my question.”
He blows out air, and rolls his eyes, like she’s the one inconveniencing him. “Look, Tamara wants to go on vacation before summer ends, and she didn’t want to bring Henry with us. So I thought I’d bring him back to you and it wouldn’t be an issue. I’m sure you can keep him entertained until he goes back to school.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God, Neal, are you serious? You are breaking the rules of our custody agreement because you want to go on vacation with your girlfriend? How is it possible that you’re so selfish? I mean, God, seriously.”
Emma groans and buries her face in her hands before screaming. Or at least screaming as loud as she can without Henry knowing.
“Henry is a good fucking kid,” Emma continues, slowly breathing to calm herself down, “and he loves you. He doesn’t see all the shit I do because I’ve hidden that from him, but you can’t just do this, Neal. You can’t decide you’re done playing dad and give him back to me when you nearly made me go broke fighting to keep custody of the kid I’d raised since he was born. That’s not how being a parent works.”
“That’s rich coming from the woman who has used her time away from her kid to fuck British tourists and is upset her kid is back early because her vacation has to end.”
Emma looks up into the eyes of the man she once loved, the man who gave her son his eyes, and she says, “Go say goodbye to Henry and get the hell out of my house. I’ll see you next June, if you still decide to show up then.”
It’s a dismissal, and Neal never takes those. Not sitting down at least. She’s sure there will be arguments and petty jabs for the next few months. He’ll make her life hell while playing as the good guy. He has this act where he says things like “he’s a good person now, can’t she just move on from the past?”
There’s a difference between forgiveness and moving on that not a lot of people get. They say you have to forgive to move on, but that’s not true. You can move on without forgiveness because some people don’t deserve it. At all. Sometimes all you can do is stop letting them live in your head rent free, and you have to forgive yourself for ever falling for the lies.
Emma’s chosen that route. She’s forgiven herself, has moved on with her life even with Neal constantly trying to pull her back down, and she’s not about to stand here and let him criticize her personal life when he has no business in it.
Through the window, Emma watches Neal hug Henry goodbye. It takes less than a minute before he’s gone and Henry is back to eating his breakfast. Emma would laugh, she wants to at how ridiculous this all is, but she’s not finding anything about today funny. Because while Neal will go back to New York and will be happy, she’s stuck here cleaning up the mess he just made because she has to do everything in her power to make sure her kid never knows the version of his dad she knows.
A phone call would have been nice. At least then she could have gotten Killian out of the house. She still would have been pissed, but at the very least, she would have been able to make things a little better than they are now.
“Shit,” Emma breathes out, looking toward the sky. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Emma inhales and exhales several times before forcing a smile and walking inside where Henry is eating the breakfast that was meant for her and talking to Killian about soccer of all things.
Well, not of all things. Most of the time, Emma forgets that Killian plays professionally. Hell, they talked about it yesterday, and it still isn’t at the forefront of her mind. That part of his life has nothing to do with hers…except for right now when Killian is talking to her son about it.
He still doesn’t have on a damn shirt.
“Mom, did you know Killian used to play soccer? Like, as a job. That’s so cool! Do you think he could coach my team?”
“I did know that, kid.” Emma kisses his forehead, and he squirms away. It’ll take him a week or two to get used to her kind of affection versus Neal’s, so she’s not too offended. “How do you know that?”
“I recognize him.”
“Since when do you watch a lot of British soccer? Or football as Killian calls it.” She mimics Killian’s accent, but she also knows she did a terrible job with it.
Henry shrugs and stuffs a large bite of waffle in his mouth. “Dad doesn’t have anything to watch on TV but sports channels. All I did during the day was watch old soccer matches.”
“Wait. Where was your dad?”
Henry shrugs again. “I don’t know. At work I guess.”
Neal works from home most days of the week. What an ass. Emma bets he didn’t even get someone to watch Henry. He just used old sports reruns to keep him entertained.
“Hey, kid,” Emma says, finally looking to Killian, “can you stay in here and eat breakfast while I talk to Killian in the other room?”
“Sure.”
Emma flashes a tight smile and then nods her head toward the stairs. Killian gets the message and walks upstairs without being asked, immediately heading toward the bedroom. He stands by the window, arms crossed over his chest, and Emma watches his jaw tick, the smile he had on for Henry a moment ago, gone.
Softly, Emma closes the door behind her.
“I have my personal question of the day, Swan. You have a son?”
Okay, great, so this is how it’s going to be. Emma opens her dresser drawer and pulls out a shirt for Killian. He catches it after she tosses it and tugs it on. It doesn’t help as much as she’d like it to.
“Okay, look,” Emma begins, “you were never supposed to meet Henry. He wasn’t…his dad was supposed to have him for three more weeks.”
“The contract on my rental house has more time on it than that.”
Emma runs her hands through her hair and sighs. “I don’t know. I would have figured it out. Only go to your place, spend less time together. I mean, it’s only natural, right? Because you’re going to leave, and it would make sense for things to die down between us.”
Killian laughs, but Emma gets the sense he doesn’t find any of this funny. “Yeah, it makes perfect sense. This was only about sex, right?”
“Killian.”
“No, no.” He holds his hand up. “It’s fine, Swan. I get it. It’s my fault for thinking we might be mates on top of that.”
“I mean, we are – kind of, maybe. I don’t know.” Emma sighs and sits on the end of her bed. She doesn’t know what to do. Even more, she doesn’t know what to say. She definitely doesn’t know how to feel. “It was never supposed to be like this. I’m usually better at not blurring the lines. I don’t know what happened with us that made me drop my guard.”
“I knew you found me charming.”
Emma laughs and falls back on the mattress. “I have a kid, Killian, and he’s back. I can’t be like I was. We can’t just fuck whenever we want or stay out late or eat pizza at three in the morning. I’ve got to make sure Henry has a place to stay and Mary Margaret is across the country visiting her parents so that’s out for awhile. And I’m still working two jobs because I thought I had time to do that. I don’t, God, I don’t know what to do about anything in my life. Plus, you know, I want to spend time with Henry, and I don’t have a lot of free time.”
“I could watch him, love. He’s a bit older than what I’m used to with my nieces, but I’m sure I can find ways to entertain him.”
Emma sits up. Her heart is beating way too fast, and suddenly, the true reality of this situation hits her.
The man she’s been sleeping with has met her son.
And he’s offering to babysit.
What the actual hell?
She needs time to think. And scream. She definitely has to scream into her pillow for at least an hour because she literally cannot think of another thing to do. This is all too much, and she needs Killian to leave. He makes this all too complicated. She needs to go downstairs and eat breakfast with Henry. That she can do. That’s not complicated. That’s something she’s done every day for ten years, even if it’s usually Pop Tarts or a bowl of cereal, not homemade waffles and eggs.
“Can you, uh,” Emma starts, biting her lip, “can you go home? I need to spend time with Henry. He won’t show it, but I know he knows why his dad brought him home early. I’ve got some crap to deal with, but I’ll text you later.”
His eyes narrow, and Emma knows that look by now. He knows she’s lying, but she doesn’t expect him to call her out on her lie.
And he doesn’t because as quickly as his eyes narrow, they widen and a slight smile creeps onto his lips. “I’ll see you later, Swan. I’ll get my clothes out of the machine downstairs and go.”
“Thanks.”
Killian doesn’t move, and Emma has a hard time looking at him until she does. His eyes are so damn blue. It’s ridiculous.
But then he moves. Leaves, actually, just like she asked him to, and she hears every single step as he leaves the house and gets into his car. Emma breathes out a sigh of relief, maybe a little confusion, and then she grabs her phone of her bedside table.
Not a single warning text or call from Neal, just like she thought. Ass.
ES: SOS. My house. 10 minutes.
RL: Are you dead?
ES: Yes, I’m texting you from beyond.
RL: I am hungover. Give me 30.
Emma tosses her phone on her bed and heads downstairs. The life she was living is over. Henry’s home, and she is his mom. That’s what she has to do, and right now, that means putting her anger at Neal and confusion with Killian behind her to go eat breakfast with her kid.
She can only partially ignore that Killian was making this breakfast for her.
For them.
-/-
“King Harold,” Ruby says when she walks through the door in her pajamas and immediately sees Henry, “welcome back to your seaside palace. Come give me a hug.”
“Only if you never call me Harold again.”
“I can’t agree to that, Harold.”
Henry rolls his eyes, but he hugs Ruby anyway. “My name is Henry.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ruby kisses the top of his head. “You smell like waffles.”
“Killian made waffles for breakfast.”
“Killian did?” she asks, looking over Henry’s head toward Emma. Emma shrugs and cocks her head.
“Kid, why don’t you go unpack? When you’re finished, we’ll go to the beach before I have work.”
“Really?”
“Mhm.” Emma hums and nods at the stairs. “I told them I’d be late today. Get your bags and go.”
Henry quickly grabs his suitcases. They’re nearly bigger than him, but he manages to drag them up the stairs. Emma waits until she hears his bedroom door close, and then she moves to the kitchen and collapses on a barstool. Ruby fixes herself a plate of leftover food and starts eating. “I have eight thousand questions.”
Without lifting her head from the counter, Emma tries to answer at least half those questions. “Killian slept over and was making breakfast when Neal and Henry walked in, so they both met him, which went over as well as you’d expect. Neal didn’t tell me he was bringing Henry back early, but apparently his girlfriend got tired of having him around and wanted to go on vacation. Neal thought ambushing me was the best way to go about the situation, and then he got pissed about me having a guy over.”
Emma peaks up to see Ruby blinking. Slowly. Did she not process anything or is she just so hungover that it’s taking her a long time to figure out what to say?
“Was Neal charming or something when you guys were together?’
Emma laughs. “I was sixteen, and he paid attention to me. He might as well have been Prince Charming.”
“He’s the worst.” Ruby scrunches up her nose. “And you’re not a Prince Charming type of girl. I get more of a rebel vibe from you.”
“Yeah, because mom and restaurant manager means rebel.”
Rub leans over and pokes Emma’s nose. “I don’t think you know how badass you are, Emma Swan. Give me a minute to get some coffee and make more food because I definitely need to dissect everything that’s going on with you. Baby daddy and new boyfriend not included.”
“Not my boyfriend.”
“Oh, right. Just sex friend because you totally invite sex friends to parties at Marg’s place. That seems normal.”
Emma narrows her eyes. “I invited you here to help with a crisis. Not create a new one.”
“I’m just saying,” Ruby sighs, “Mr. Jones is a hell of a lot better than most of the guys you shack up with. Your unfortunate sperm donor included. I’d think about that if I were you. I mean, we both know you’re about to ghost him, but at least think about it, Emma.”
Yeah, maybe she will.
-/-
-/-
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sleepysnk · 3 years
Text
this wasn't requested, but it has been on my mind all night! i decided to give you guys some angst, this will he set in a modern high school au and Eren is the classic bad boy, while reader is the good girl. i'm not gonna share too much, but here ya go! i hope you guys enjoy, this will be manbun Eren btw!
Eren x Fem!Reader: You Don't Need Me
Warnings: angst, some mentions of violence (not to reader), police involvement
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(Y/N) giggled as she got into the car with Eren. He was picking her up from her job at the cafe. 
"Hey.. thank you for the ride," she said and looked at him with a smile. 
Eren smiled and ran a hand through his hair. "No problem.. don't ever hesitate to message me when you need one," he said and began to drive the car. 
Eren and (Y/N) had been talking for a pretty long time, the girl who had a crush on the boy since junior year. Now as a senior, she finally got the opportunity to get to know him, with the help of her friend Armin who was friends with Eren. She never thought she would ever get this far in speaking or being this close with him. Eren was always so closed off. 
"You want anything to eat?" he asked and looked at her. 
She sighed. "Not really.. I gotta get home to study for this exam. It's crucial for me," she replied and leaned back in the seat. 
Eren nodded. "Exams are stupid, why let a score determine what you're gonna be in life?" he said, shrugging.
She laughed a bit and looked on her phone. "Easy for you to say, you never are in school," she said. 
He laughed. "Okay, that's true," he replied, glancing over at her.
(Y/N) was the perfect student. 4.0 GPA, was on the dance team, had multiple college scholarships offered, was in AP classes, and had an amazing report card. It was no overstatement to say she was set for greatness in life. 
Eren wasn't the best student. The boy never really was in school, he had bad grades, a bad temper, got into trouble with the law, fights, drugs once or twice, and has gotten suspended multiple times. There was almost a time where Eren got into so much trouble that he almost got expelled, thanks to Carla and Grisha, his parents, that didn't happen. 
Thing was, Eren never mentioned any of the bad to (Y/N). As far as the girl knew, Eren was just a simple lazy guy who didn't come to school. He kept her out of that shit, he felt like she didn't need to know. 
"Alright.. we're here" he said and put the car in park. 
(Y/N) gathered her things and looked at him. "Thank you for the ride, it means a lot" she said and smiled at him. 
Eren smiled. "No problem, I'll see you tomorrow? Text me" he replied and gave her a hug. 
She nodded. "See you later" she said and got out of his car. 
Eren waved as she got out, he waited for her to get inside and he drove off. He had to go do something for someone he knew, and he had to do it fast. 
His phone began to ring and he noticed it was the guy. "Hey.. I'm on my way" he said. 
The guy who's name was Porco, sighed. "Good.. you need to hurry your ass up, we have to get this shit in your car and out of here" he said. 
Eren nodded. "Okay, I'll be there soon" he replied and hung up. 
He drove about 15 minutes away and arrived at the place. He sent a text to Porco, and waited for someone to come out. Eren felt nervous, realizing it was now past curfew, cops would be crawling around. Especially at this time of night and where he was. 
He heard a knock on his window and saw a hooded figure, Eren got out and looked at the guy. Porco removed his hoodie. 
"Finally you got here, take it. Hide it and don't show anyone" he said and handed Eren a bag. 
The bag felt heavy and he felt the metal of the handgun through it. "You got it" he said and looked around. 
Porco nodded. "Alright man I believe in you, don't get caught" he said and tapped his arm. 
Eren got back into the car as Porco walked off, he began to drive back to his house. He had to hide this gun as quickly as possible, he heard his phone go off and he noticed (Y/N) texted him. The text made him smile, he knew how much she liked him, she was so cute. 
As Eren was texting back his worst fear was now facing him as the red and blue flashes appeared behind him. 
"Shit!" Eren yelled and looked around for a place to pull over. 
Eren's anxiety shot through the roof. He already had enough issues with the law, he shoved the gun under the passenger seat and hoped for the best. 
The officer knocked on the window. "License and registration please" he said. 
Eren rolled down the window and grabbed his license, he searched the glovebox for the registration and handed it to the officer. 
The officer looked at it. "Eren Jaeger huh? I remember you, you stole alcohol and I found you drinking" he said and laughed a bit. 
He rolled his eyes and shook his leg nervously. "I don't remember you very much" he replied and tried to seem cool. 
"I'm gonna go run your stuff, remain here" the officer said and walked away. 
Eren felt his heart beating in his ears, he wanted to get this over already. He wasn't even sure why he was pulled over, he wasn't even doing anything bad. 
The officer came back and handed him his stuff. "I pulled you over because you were speeding and you were texting and driving. Considering your record, I'm going to have to search the vehicle. You can refuse but-" the officer stopped when he looked in the car seeing a beer bottle. "Sir.. have you been drinking tonight?" he asked. 
Eren furrowed his brows. "No? I'm fine" he replied. 
"There's a beer bottle right there" he said and pointed at it.
Fuck. 
"Eren I'm going to have to ask you to please step out of the vehicle" the officer said and looked at him. 
He sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt. "It's not mine.. I don't know how it got there" he said as he got out. 
"I need backup" the officer said on his radio. "Wait right there on the curb" he added and pointed at the curb. 
Eren sat down on the curb and saw another cop car pull up, the two officers began talking and one of them came over to Eren. 
"Alright so we're going to search your vehicle, we have probable cause. Is there any kind of weapon in your vehicle we should be concerned about? This is when you should be honest" the officer asked. 
Eren looked up. "No.." he replied. 
The officers went to go search Eren's car, he felt anxiety going through him. He silently prayed that they wouldn't find the gun, he felt sick he wanted to throw up on the spot. 
"What do we have here?" the officer said and looked at Eren. He was holding the bag with the gun in it. "You're going to jail tonight," he added. 
Fuck. 
The next day (Y/N) didn't see Eren at school, she was a bit confused, maybe he was skipping again? 
She was sitting in class with her friend Sasha. "He hasn't texted me back at all" (Y/N) said and looked at her. 
Sasha shrugged. "Maybe he's asleep, Eren is always skipping. You know you could ask Mikasa or Armin, they usually know" she said. 
She sighed. "Armin told me he doesn't know anything apparently" she replied. 
Sasha put her hand onto her shoulder. "Just ask Mikasa" she said. 
The bell rang and students began to exit the classroom, (Y/N) made her way down the stairs and saw Mikasa standing with Armin. The two seemed to be talking about something, she just wanted to know where the hell Eren was. 
"Hey Mikasa… have you seen Eren?" (Y/N) asked and nodded. 
Mikasa looked at her and rolled her eyes. "I know where he is, he's so stupid! I'm surprised you're asking, considering you both are so close" she replied. 
(Y/N)'s brows furrowed. "Huh? What do you mean? Eren said he'd come to school" she said and sounded confused. 
The dark-haired girl looked at Armin. "You don't know?" he asked and nodded. 
(Y/N) seemed genuinely confused by what the two were saying. "No.. I don't, guys can you please just tell me?" she replied. 
Mikasa sighed. "Eren is in jail, he got caught with a gun last night. He's so stupid, this is his 3rd time in jail" she said and crossed her arms. 
She felt her body go weak and she dropped her phone to the floor. "He what? N-No.. stop messing around, that's not like Eren" she replied. 
Armin put his hand on her shoulder. "He didn't tell you? (Y/N), this is pretty normal. He always gets involved with the law" he said and looked at her. 
She picked up her phone. "Thanks guys, I'm gonna go.." she said and walked away from them. 
(Y/N) went to the bathroom and began to break down, what the hell was Eren doing with a gun? She never knew Eren had issues with the law, she always assumed he was just a guy who skipped school and had anger issues. Why would he lie to her? What else was he lying about? 
Things on Eren's end weren't better either. He was on bail at the moment, his bail was about $7000. His mom was pissed and so was his dad. Eren fucked up and he knew Porco wasn't going to be happy either, Eren snitched. 
The officer approached the holding cell. "Good news, you just got bailed out" he said and began to unlock the doors. 
Eren stood up and exited the holding cell, he saw his parents standing there. "You all have a good night now" another officer said and nodded. 
The three exited the police station. "Eren what the fuck!? Do you know what the hell you just did?" his mom yelled as he sat in the car. 
Eren rubbed his temples. "Yes mom I'm fully fucking aware!" he replied. 
His dad looked back at him. "We paid $7000 to get you out of here! Why the fuck did you have a gun!? Who the hell gave it to you?" he asked. 
Eren looked around the car. "I can't fucking tell you! Jesus dad, lay off!" he replied. 
His dad scoffed. "You're in deep shit when you get home," he said and turned back to drive. 
The drive home was quiet, Eren got home and went to his room instantly. His phone had multiple messages from Armin, Mikasa, and (Y/N)... shit (Y/N)! What the fuck was he going to do? 
Eren looked at his phone as it pinged again. The message left his anxiety sky-high. 
Porco: YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD MAN.
He rubbed his head and threw his phone. "Fuck.." he said and looked around his room. 
The night was upon him and Eren decided to just leave his house, he couldn't stay here and risk this. He climbed out of the window and began to walk down the street, Eren looked on his phone and put it into his pocket. 
"Eren?" he turned around as he heard the familiar voice of (Y/N). 
Eren stopped in his tracks and walked over to her. "(Y/N).." he said. 
She backed away from him. "I thought you were in jail…" she said and looked down. 
His eyes went wide as he realized the truth had finally come out. "So you know huh?.. (Y/N), know I wasn't lying to you on purpose" he said and tried to reach out to her. 
(Y/N) wiped away a few stray tears. "Eren why the fuck would you lie!?" she asked. 
He looked at her. "(Y/N)... I did it to keep you away from the shit I do" he replied. "I didn't do it for no reason," he added. 
"You're just a punk huh? What a fucking lie, Eren,” she said. 
His anger began to rush through him. "Why the fuck are you crying!? Huh? You don't fucking NEED me (Y/N)! You have a fucking life ahead of you, I don't. I'm bad for YOU, and you fucking know it. You don't have to deal with cops on your ass, or have to worry about if someone is gonna come fucking kill your family. You don't fucking understand! You're just a fucking perfect daddy's girl. You're so fucking NEEDY (Y/N). You don't need someone like me" he yelled. 
She felt tears pour from her eyes. "W-Wait.. Eren, what? What are you talking about?" she asked and furrowed her brows.
"Just stay the fuck away from me! I don't want you! Go live your perfect life, you don't need me. I need to go" Eren said and began to walk off. 
(Y/N) watched as Eren began to run off. "Eren…" she cried as he walked off. 
The feeling of her heart breaking was suffocating her, and Eren felt his tears burning his eyes. She didn't need a guy like Eren, she deserved better. 
306 notes · View notes
slafkovskys · 3 years
Note
sigh imagine dylan h doing the off limits thing like garrett did in off campus🤪
i been waitin for this one, turn it up
you don’t bother to stop the door from slamming closed as you walk through it, throwing your backpack onto the counter and leaning against it with an annoyed huff. josie jumps from where she’s cuddled against jake on the couch and she stares at you with a confused expression, “you’re home early?”
“did i do something?” you ask, the question somewhat rhetorical and somewhat not. “no guy on this fucking campus will look at me. i literally watched some guy do a full 180 so that he wouldn’t have to walk past me this morning. what the fuck is going on?”
you don’t wait for either of them to answer before marching back to your room and switching your leggings for your pajama shorts. you pull off your t-shirt and grab some oversized pullover that belonged to your ex at one point and he had never asked for it back. your slippers are warm as you slide your feet into the and march back out into the living room, plopping down beside josie and leaning over to rest your head on her stomach. she sighs as jake pauses the movie, reaching his arm over and patting the top of your head. you grunt, “so i’m with my study group, right?”
“right,” they say in sync.
“it’s like, four dudes in there, all of which have been there since the beginning of the semester. i’ve never had a problem with any of them. they won’t even look at me. i’d ask them a question, they'd answer, but only when they were looking at sarah or jacy. they didn’t speak directly to me once,” you shake your head as you cross your arms over your chest and stare at the ceiling. “and you know what happened earlier? i went to get my coffee, the same barista as always. we usually talk after he gives me my coffee because we were in a class together last semester, but he practically threw my coffee at me and ran away to the other side of the room.”
josie sighs heavily, “tell her, jake. i can’t keep watching this happen.”
“tell me what?” you demand, rolling onto your stomach and peering up at the blonde senior who practically lived in your apartment. he avoids your eyes and you send him a glare, “do you know why this is happening?”
“you’re the only one that doesn’t,” he sighs, grunting when josie sends an elbow into his stomach. he lets his eyes connect with yours then and looks at you apologetically, “don’t get mad-”
“i already am. spit it out.”
“holloway put a campus-wide hands-off law on you. no guy on this campus is gonna want anything to do with you now. they may have a thing for you, but they can’t do anything about it because-”
“dylan said that they couldn’t?” you raise an eyebrow and he nods. “well, when is it null and void?”
“what year do you graduate?” his smile is tight-lipped and you can tell that he’s trying to lighten the mood, but it’s not working. you’re pissed, you’re seething, you’re-
“i’ll be back.”
“where are you going?” josie scrambles up behind you and follows you towards the front door.
“take a guess,” you grunt as you throw open the door and head for the elevator.
it wasn’t a task or anything going to dylan’s apartment, he only lived six floors above you. that was how this thing had gotten started between the two of you, more of a convenience thing than anything else. it was easy for him to text you or vice versa that you needed the other and in only minutes, you would find yourself tangled together under the sheets.
you can hear the music blasting from behind the door and you roll your eyes. it had been two weeks since dylan had signed, but they were still celebrating like it had been only hours before. you were there when he put the pen to paper, right beside him just as he had requested. because of canada’s border rules, his parents couldn’t come and watch him, but he had you. he had twirled you in a circle, downed three beers a couple of hours later, and told you how he didn’t want anything serious. you left then, retreating to your bedroom for approximately twelve hours before realizing who you were and blocking him on everything. you honestly didn’t think that he had cared, but your recent revelation stated otherwise.
your knocks were heavy and shay pulls open the door. “hey-”
“where the fuck is he?” you demand and shay’s eyes widen. he moves to the side to let you in and you spot him instantly. you make your way over and he turns his head when you shout his name. “what the fuck?”
“hey princess,” he smirks lazily as he turns his head, shooting the neon-colored ping pong call into a solo cup on the other end of the table. he brings his cup to his lips as he watches mike shoot the ball back towards him, “you haven’t been answering my calls-”
“you put a hands-off order on me?” you spit and he freezes. the girls beside him look at you curiously as he wraps a hand around your elbow and pulls you towards his room. “why would you do that, dylan? you made it very clear that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”
“whose sweatshirt is that?” he leans into his closet and pulls one of his own out, tossing it towards you. “put that on.”
“no. answer my question.”
“i was drinking when i said that, y/n. you can’t hold that against me,” he sighs. you open your mouth to speak, but he interrupts you before you have the chance, “and don’t give me any of that ‘drunk words, sober thoughts,’ bullshit. i didn’t mean it. why are you so pissed off anyway? you seemed to be over it a few days ago when you were with whitlock.”
“are you- calvin? that’s what this is about?” you ask, genuinely surprised by his outburst. “you tell me that you don’t want to be with me, so i move on with my life and you get pissed off and tell the entire campus that no one can touch me?”
“first off, it wasn’t the entire campus. i only told a few people and they got the message across. secondly,” he gestures between the two of you, “it worked out, didn’t it?”
“you got my attention all right, but i don’t really think that you thought this through,” it’s your turn to smirk as you lean against the wall. his face visibly drops and you nod your head, “yeah, did you forget that i’m transferring next year? and you’re leaving in a few weeks anyway. there are some people on this campus that aren’t going to care about a hands-off rule when you’re on the other side of the border. even if they do, me and josie are going to see her brother at superior next week. her brother plays hockey there, did you know that? he’s got friends too that have no idea about your little law.”
“superior?” he spits, eyes blazing.
“you won’t be giving me a second thought in edmonton, holloway, basing off what you told me the other night, but, y’know, let’s look at both sides of the coin,” you sigh, “you obviously aren’t ready to let me go yet, so i’ll play your little game, but you have to play mine.”
he watches as you move slowly towards him, eyebrows raised, “what’s the catch?”
you shrug your shoulders, “prove to me that what you told me that night wasn’t true. show me that you want me and i’ll think about unblocking you.”
“you’ll think about unblocking me?” he scoffs, “so, you want me to come crawling back to you, basically.”
“are you upset that i pulled a you on you?” you pout your lips, raising your hand to pat rather roughly at his cheek before moving towards his bedroom door, “i leave for superior in four days. if you aren’t unblocked by then, then i don’t know what to tell you. also, i don’t like roses, so don’t waste your money on them. good luck.”
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ipuckwithhockey · 3 years
Text
Earned- N. Patrick
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a/n: This one gets angsty, oops. I’m on a NolPat thing right now, but when are we not? I’m honestly enjoying writing again, so I hope you guys enjoy this one!  
warnings: angst, mentions of sex/oral sex, swearing, divorced parents, drinking (i think that’s it)
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Nolan loved his friends and family, hockey, and even on occasion Travis Konecny. This was enough for him. He had his close-knit group that he surrounded himself with and that was all he needed. It’s not that he avoided getting attached to people, he just hadn’t found anyone that he felt was worth getting attached to. He was young and focused on his career. Love would come eventually. He just didn’t realize how soon ‘eventually’ would be until he met you.
You met Nolan at a Post Malone concert. Your friend Grace had gotten tickets through her job and you couldn’t just say no to floor seats for Posty. Your seats just so happened to be right next to Nolan, Travis, and Kevin Hayes. You recognized the hockey players instantly, but your best friend just recognized that TK was hot and definitely checking her out. 
By the time Post was ending his show Grace was agreeing that the two of you would join the boys at a bar around the corner. You weren’t planning on going home with anyone that night, but Nolan Patrick was flirting with you and you were a woman of opportunity. So, you found yourself going home with a Flyers forward while your friend went home with another.
Grace was your polar opposite. She was an undying optimist, bubbly, and most notably a romantic. You on the other hand considered yourself a dedicated realist who was levelheaded and decisive. The thought of finding someone to spend the rest of your life with almost made you laugh.  You had no interest in settling for a mediocre relationship that would eventually combust or at best, just fizzled out.
The first night you went home with Nolan was supposed to be the only night you went home with Nolan, but just like the tale as old as time, it was far from a one time occurrence. Grace and TK kept seeing each other and their big personalities actually seemed to mesh well. Grace was happy and you were happy that she was happy. What you weren’t totally sure about was that their blossoming relationship meant you found yourself in the same room as Nolan more often than not. A couple of drunken nights together turned into a habit neither one of you seemed to mind.
Nolan was just as aloof as you when it came to romanticism. That was what you told yourself was the reason why you kept letting yourself fall into his bed every weekend. When he started texting you to come over out of the blue instead of your usual drunken hookups you decided it was time to lay down the law.
“Ok, so just to be clear, because I don’t want to be the reason for any broken hearts and more importantly, I don’t need any lost Flyers games weighing on me, this is just sex. Like we’re not going to be those stupid kids that say it’s just sex but then end up falling madly in love. I don’t do that, and from what I’ve gathered, you don’t do that either. So, if this is going to happen again, or keep happening, then it’s strictly business.”  You’re barely even looking at Nolan as you explain your position. He had quite aggressively ripped your clothes from your body when you arrived at his place tonight and you can’t seem to locate your second sock as you scour his room.
Nolan was still laying naked on his bed, catching his breath, as he watched you in your adopted routine of rushing out of his apartment. He had met girls who were okay with a quick hookup with a famous NHL player, but you were different. You were bold and definitive. You weren’t here because he’s famous, you were here because the sex was good, and that’s why Nolan was here too.
Nolan didn’t make a habit out of hooking up with the same girls more than a couple of times, max. If you hadn’t been so good in bed and so open to just having sex, he probably wouldn’t have entertained the idea at all. You couldn’t deny that having Nolan between your legs a few times a week wasn’t a good thing. In fact, it was a great thing.  Nolan might not spend much time talking, but he definitely knows how to use his mouth. You both left each other at the end of the night tired and satisfied, and that didn’t seem like a bad thing. 
“Mkay. I promise I won’t fall in love with you. My track record is pretty good, so if you need references, I can probably get you their numbers. They probably wouldn’t be thrilled about you calling to ask them about how I’m a heartless asshole, but you can give it a swing.” You can’t help but laugh as your brain deciphers the mumbles that just came from the half sleeping body in front of you.
The second or third time you hung out with the boys you were at a party. You were teasing Nolan about all the girls who were trying so hard to get his attention, and he replied that they probably wouldn’t try so hard if they knew how their short lived fling would end.  He had a bad habit of accidentally leading girls on, thinking they were on the same wavelength but then being met with a pissed off girl who thought “they had something special.”
“Perfect. And if you somehow end up falling for my stunning good looks and amazing personality, just do me a favor and let me know so I can run for the hills.” And with that you gave him a wink and were out the door. Nolan couldn’t hold in the laugh that fell from his lips as he continued to take in the personality you had begun to share with him.
—————
It’s been two months since the two of you settled your business deal and things were good. Grace and TK had made it official and she insisted on bringing you with her to team gatherings and games. You and Nolan went over to each other’s places when the other called or texted, and the sex was still as good as it was the first time.
The two of you developed a friendship and your post sex talks began to last a little longer on topics that were just a little deeper than the time before. Nolan would ask you about the douche that likes to hit on you at work and you would ask him how hockey was going.  Then he told you about his sisters and and eventually told you a little more about his migraines. When it felt right you would ask him questions that he always provided thoughtful answers to. Nolan Patrick was much more pensive than you initially thought. To be honest you hadn’t really given his personality much thought at all, but as you got to know him you realized his aloof exterior was maybe just misinterpreted.
To his surprise Nolan genuinely liked spending time with you. Unlike most people, you weren’t constantly urging him to be “more social” or outgoing, and even though you were using each other’s bodies for sex, you weren’t greedy. You didn’t ask too much of him or expect certain things because of who he was. He felt like he could breathe around you because he wasn’t constantly trying to satisfy any unattainable expectations.
Even when he talked to you about hockey, he felt like he was just talking about any old 9-5 job; zero pressure to perform for you. You would ask him how it was going even though you already watched the games, and you would let Nolan guide the conversation to where he was comfortable. In many ways Nolan did the same for you. He didn’t press about why you didn’t have a boyfriend or why you didn’t want one. He did query over why you gracefully steered the conversation away from your family. He didn’t pry into things that were too personal, that for some reason, so many people thought they were entitled to.
There was a level of respect present between you that neither of you had experienced with anyone else. In both of your past relationships people always wanted to go fast, immediately trying to see if you were compatible. You and Nolan were just friends having sex with no other expectation, and somehow that allowed the two of you to slowly peel back each other’s layers.
You were oblivious to all of this until one night when your post sex talk didn’t come after sex. It came before. Well, actually the conversation came but neither of you did that night. You were at Nolan’s after a game that hadn’t gone as well as they had hoped. He was tired and you could see it in his eyes. Instead of jumping each other’s bones as soon as he greeted you at the door, you cracked a bottle of wine and settled on the couch.
It was nice. It was two friends having conversation over a bottle of wine. You didn’t talk about hockey or work; it was just talking about nothing. You talked about the lady who gave you one of her extra coupons at the grocery the other day. He explained how he made a sweater once in home ec. ( You’re still not sure if you believe him.)
A couple of hours later, and halfway into your second bottle of wine, Nolan’s curiosity got the best of him.
“So, is there a reason you’re so anti relationship or are you just a serial heart breaker like me?”
Once he asked the question, he realized that he probably shouldn’t have. You hadn’t talked about it before and that probably meant you didn’t want to. You were surprised but his smug joke still made you laugh. Normally you would be a little annoyed by the question, but you felt like you knew Nolan. You knew he wasn’t just trying to get to the juicy part, he just genuinely wanted to know, so you told him.
“Well, if you must know, I am most definitely a serial heart breaker, but that’s just a result of why I’m not thrilled about relationships, not the actual why.”
You take a breath before going on, “My parent’s marriage was horrible. They fought constantly and I don’t think I ever saw them genuinely happy together. They insisted on staying together. Their families, my grandparents, were both pretty ‘well-to-do’ and I’m pretty sure my parents were just staying together to save face with them and their circle of rich friends. I’m not sure why, because none of their marriages seemed any different. They’re all divorced now, and remarried to even shittier people. But before that, it became more of a game than anything else. — it started getting bad when I was in middle school.”
You look out the window in front of you. Through it, you can see the city of Philadelphia. A city you came to for college, with the hopes of leaving your old life behind. 
“My mom started to go out to the country club and wherever else, and then she’d come home in the middle of the night, drunk, after doing god knows what or god knows who. My dad would go on business trips just to get away, and I’m pretty sure he was cheating on my mom too at that point. I never really saw them, and when I did they were always fighting. We didn’t have fun holidays and if my brother wasn’t there no one was in the stands cheering me on at my soccer games. Hell, by that point I preferred no holidays and no parents at my games. They didn’t care about me or my brother, and once Caleb went off to college I was on my own. I don’t blame him, I got out as fast as I could too. All we had was each other and we were always close. He’s in New York now, and we still talk pretty regularly, but being at home alone sucked, and being home alone with them sucked even more. I wasn’t always so pessimistic; I’ve dated a handful of guys but obviously they never worked out. Then I met a guy in college, and I thought wow this guy is unbelievable. He was perfect— Josh was his name. He was in grad school and he was smart and funny and said all the right things. I was young and naive, and I think I just wanted someone to love me, so I let him. And I let him take advantage of my time and energy. I let him lie to me and I let him cheat on me. And when I finally woke up from whatever trance I was in I realized that I had been looking at the world through rose colored glasses. I promised myself that I was never going to let myself do that again. I wasn’t going to rely on anyone but myself… I wasn’t going to give all of myself to someone just to wait for it to fall apart… The proof was in the pudding, relationships just don’t work, and that is why I’m so anti-relationship.”
You hadn’t looked Nolan in the eyes since you started in on your monologue, afraid that you may have just scared off your friend. Nolan was still taking it all in, reveling over the years of your life you had just laid out for him.
He had grown up in a loving family where his parents did everything they could to give him and his sisters the perfect childhood. They spent every weekend driving around Canada for hockey tournaments. He still talks to his sisters almost every day even though they’re thousands of miles away. His mom insists on carry out whatever holiday traditions she can even with Nolan in Philly. And here you were with a childhood that couldn’t have been more different than his. He didn’t want a relationship because he couldn’t find anyone he felt was worthy of his time and energy, but here you were, closed off to the world because you thought that unconditional love wasn’t real.
He didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything he could say, so instead he pulled you from your side of the couch to his, where he wrapped you up in his warm arms. You sat like that for a long time, not saying anything, not even moving, just letting him hold you. You didn’t even realize you had started crying until you felt Nolan’s hands wipe away the tears that were staining your face, and that small gently gesture was what made you snap. That’s when it boiled over, when it became too much too fast.
“I’m sorry... God. I shouldn’t have even said anything. And now I’m crying like a fucking idiot. It’s probably just the wine. It’s late, I should get going. Just forget I said anything, ok?”
And just like that you had grabbed your coat, faceted your shoes, and were out the door of his apartment. Nolan’s brain couldn’t keep up with yours and by the time he heard his door slam shut it was too late to tell you that everything was okay.
—————
Nolan tried calling you after that night, but he couldn’t get a hold of you. You couldn’t talk to him. You knew you couldn’t look him in the eyes, because for a couple of seconds you got too comfortable, you let go and let him in. It was a mistake, and Nolan would surely know that too. You had both decided this was just a transaction of sex, nothing more. You were the one who took it past that. You could have just brushed off the question that Nolan was surely regretting now.
Nolan was regretting asking that question, but not because he didn’t want to know. He regretted it because you were gone now, and he didn’t know how to get you back. You had both promised not to fall in love, not to affect each other’s lives, but that’s exactly what happened. Nolan was in love with you.
Kevin had to spell it out for Nolan as he sat on his couch explaining what had happened. Nolan knew he cared about you, but he hadn’t deciphered what that feeling in the pit of his stomach was when he saw you. He couldn’t explain why he had to constantly rub the back of his neck in nervousness when he caught you staring from across the room. He didn’t know what any of it meant.  
“Dude. I’m dumb. Like I’m big-Boston-hockey-dude dumb, but you’re an idiot. You’re in love with her man.”
“What? We’re friends, I’m just worried about her.”
“Well, she’s in love with you too.”
“It’s just sex.”
“If you were just friends, and if it was just sex, you guys would be fucking right now, and you wouldn’t be mopping here on Saturday night because she told you about her life and won’t talk to you now. She wouldn’t have told you that shit, and she wouldn’t be ignoring you now if she didn’t have feelings for you. You said it yourself, she doesn’t let people in, but she let you in.”
She let me in. That’s all Nolan could think. Maybe Kevin had a point. Maybe he did love her. Maybe you somehow loved him too. Nolan couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it. A couple days later he was getting more comfortable with all the reasons he loved you, but he still couldn’t figure out why you would love him.
He loved you because you were unwavering, absolute, and even a bit brazen. Over time Nolan had found that underneath that outside shell there was so much more. There was a girl who if you were patient and gentle, she might just let you in a little bit at a time. She unveiled her scars and her wounds, and Nolan was going to do anything he could to help them heal. He didn’t know that the feelings you were denying were nearly identical to the ones he was having right now. 
It’s been two weeks since you spoke to Nolan. You had also been ignoring Grace and Travis’ attempts to figure out what the hell was going on. You were telling yourself it was fine, and that everything would blow over. What you didn’t expect to see was a large body sitting in front of your apartment door when you got home from work.
“What are you doing here?” You didn’t meet his eyes as his towering frame rose from the floor. You kept your eyes fixed on your purse as you fished out the keys to your door, and as you stuck them into the door you weren’t sure if you should slam the door behind you or turn to listen to what he had to say.
“I know that you think I’m gonna be like every other guy, and I’m gonna use you or hurt you, and maybe I will, but if you let me try, I’ll try my hardest to never let that happen because it would break me to break you. I don’t need you to give me every piece of yourself right now, I don’t want it right now— “
You scoffed. For an apology or a speech or whatever it was you were listening to, it didn’t seem to be going too well.
“-I don’t want it right now, because I know I don’t deserve it. It has to be earned. Trust is earned and I just want you to give me the chance to earn it. I know what it’s like to feel like you can’t share yourself with people because you think they’ll be disappointed or throw it away because it’s not what they wanted. But that’s not what this is. I’m a huge idiot and I didn’t realize this until recently, but I trust you. I totally and completely trust you. I can’t say that about many people, but I can say that about you. You’ve earned it. I’ve let you into parts of my life and you’ve welcomed them. You brought me closer, and for the first time in a long time I didn’t want to run away. I’m not going to say it, because I know you need time, I know that if we do this, we have to take it slow, but I think you know how I feel about you because you feel the same way about me. Or at least I really really hope you do, because I’m totally falling for you amazing personality and stunning good looks.”
Nolan is practically out of breath after the word vomit that has escaped his mouth. You’re taking it all in. You’re taking him in, and you can’t help but let a smile creep onto your face.  Nolan somehow put everything you didn’t know you needed into words and you still didn’t know what to say, so you didn’t say anything.  Instead, you pulled him close to you and wrapped your short arms around his torso as you felt his own engulf your body. You both melted into each other and for the first time in weeks felt like you could breathe.
Neither of you were sure what was going to happen next, and how this would unfold, but you were willing to give him a chance. You were willing to let him show you what this could be, what you could be together, because you had both earned it. 
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buckysgoldenheart · 3 years
Text
Watching You
Walter Marshall x Reader
Summary: Walter did not like to waste time on stupid things, and being asked by some young troublemaker to start following an ex-girlfriend around fell under that category. At least, it did, until he found out just who the ex-girlfriend was.
Words:  2334
Warnings: Cursing. Slight smut. Not Edited or anything of the sort, so expect little!
Note: This is just something I had saved that I thought I’d post while I finish up the Vampire Henry Series (Unexpectedly Bitten). I plan to post the rest of that fic all at once, most likely this weekend. As always, comments are appreciated :)
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What a no-good loser. That’s what Walter thought the second Jimmy Masters walked through the front door of his office on a Saturday evening. He was a good six inches shorter than Walter, much scrawnier, ten years younger at least, and in desperate need of a haircut. He was the kind of kid Walter hated, the kind of kid that had probably seen the inside of a jailcell for a night or two for some stupid, petty crime, yet refused to learn his lesson.
Walter’s eyebrow arched in disinterest and he sat back in his chair, arms crossed as a coworker led the kid inside.
“We think this falls in your area, Marshall.”
Walter had only nodded and told the boy to sit to explain his reason for interrupting the first moment of peace in the day.
“I got a friend who says detectives know how to follow people real well,” Jimmy said, his voice an aggravating tone that Walter already couldn’t stand.
Walter cleared his throat. “Your friend is rather astute.”
“What?”
The detective blew out a breath, exhausted after speaking with the kid for less than a minute. “Just tell me what you want.” And when Jimmy was done with his pitch, Walter said with a sigh, “You want me to follow a girl that clearly doesn’t want anything to do with you?”
“No, man. She loves me. She does. She’s just confused right now, and I gotta make sure there’s no other guy, ya know? I don’t want her messing around. It’s disrespectful.”
Walter heaved out another long sigh, rubbing at his temples. “But she’s your ex-girlfriend.”
Jimmy shook his head, his shaggy, dusty-blond hair swaying vigorously with the motion. “That’s temporary.”
Snorting, Walter sat up in his chair. “Sure it is. Look, you think maybe she just isn’t interested anymore?”
“Hey, I’m not here for additional commentary. Can you help me or not?”
“From what you’ve said, she’s not breaking any laws, she’s not a danger to herself or others, so I have no reason to—”
“Please, man. Please,” Jimmy said, putting his palms together in lame prayer. Walter was sure this boy hadn’t prayed to anything in his entire life. “I’ll never step foot in here again if you help me out just this once.”
Walter eyed the kid, trying to weight the pros and cons of wasting his time on something so inane, but if it got the little, blond twit to go away, then he figured there were worse things. It had been a slow week as it was. He groaned and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. “Fine. What’s her name?”
------------------------------------------------------
“Walter,” You said, trying to hold back any emotion in your voice as you moved aside to let him pass the threshold into your small apartment. As habit had it, you were much happier to see him than you wished. Walter always had a way of lighting your every nerve on fire from just your bodies being in the same room. You couldn’t help wanting him, missing him, but you hid it well.
As he walked in, his body trailed the outside chill behind, sending a shiver down your spine. Then he pulled the beanie you’d bought him off his head and turned to face you. Though the irritated look on his face was not an uncommon one, you didn’t appreciate it directed at you.
You crossed your arms. “Well?” Walter hung around quite often until you had asked him to quit it, and though he didn’t usually listen to you--putting his own concerns above your wishes--you knew he held a respect for you that made him at least try to keep his distance. If he was stopping by now…well, it could only bring you trouble, but not seeing his face in so long had you more lenient.
“Why is some punk walking into my precinct and asking me to follow you?”
Your eyebrows rose. “What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me. How many punks could you possibly have hanging around?”
Being a decade older, Walter often made you laugh at his distaste for younger adults. You were the one exception, he’d always said, but all others were ‘punks.’ He feared the day Faye had to deal with boys your age, if she were ever so unlucky. “You met Jimmy?”
His fists kept clenching and unclenching, his shoulders somehow broadened, and the frown on his face made his eyebrows pinch and dip deep. “This idiot is really attached to you, Y/N.”
The more he spoke, the more you realized that ‘irritated’ may have been too sweet a word for what Walter really was. “He just doesn’t like his ego being bruised.”
Walter shrugged off his winter coat and tossed it on the couch as if it was still normal for him to do so, then ran a hand through the dark, messy curls you always loved. “Why the hell are you messing around with a--?”
You rolled your eyes. “I’m not messing around with him anymore.”
“Well, he seems to think it’s temporary.”
“It’s not.”
Crossing his arms, Walter shook his head like a disappointed parent would at their bratty, misbehaving child; the way you’d seen him look at Faye every time he found out she was spending too much time on social media. “Stay away from this guy, alright?”
“You would tell me to stay away from any guy,” You mumbled to yourself with a snort.
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing.”
“Do not give me attitude,” He snapped back. “You’re not being safe! If you were, maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation!"
Instantly, your shoulders stooped and the same old headache began to form. “Not this again, Walt. According to you I’m never safe unless I’m in your line of sight.”
“Yes!” He yelled, stomping your way, stopping just short of ramming his body through yours. “Now if only you could stay in it!”
“You can’t have eyes on me all day every day.”
“The hell I can’t!”
“You promised, Walter.” You let out a small whine. “I told you it was too hard for me to keep seeing you around wherever I went, and you promised you would stop watching me.” You wished it didn’t have to be that way. You wished seeing his face didn’t bring on such a potent punch of pain, but it did. Every single day when you left your apartment, you saw him standing by his car, a coffee cup in hand, unashamedly watching you like some creep. Eventually, you stopped looking in the direction you knew he would be, hoping you may forget he was there at all, but you always felt his eyes on you; such a strong stare, he might as well have been touching you. But you couldn’t take it. Months of your every move being tracked by the man you loved but couldn’t have was taking its toll, and so you begged him to leave you alone, to give you some relief.
“I did stop, and what happened? Barely a month after I made that stupid promise, some dumb, obsessed kid comes asking me to stalk you.”
You leaned back against the wall, growing more exhausted by the minute. “Well, with all the past practice you’ve had watching my every move, I’d say he was rather smart to pick you of all people. Shitty coincidence that he would though, since now I’m getting lectured.”
“I am not lecturing you.”
“Fine, but whatever this is you’re doing here, you’re out of line. My business is not your business anymore. It hasn’t been your business for the last five months.”
“Your little boyfriend came to me,” He said, pointing a finger at his chest, “so yes, it is my bus--”
“It is not!” You bit back. “You could’ve turned him away. You could’ve told him not to follow me around unless he was itching to get a restraining order, but you didn’t, did you? You took this opportunity to check up on me. Again!”
He stepped back, looking as if you had slapped him. His aggressive, guarded barrier of emotions cracked, and you could see the vulnerability he hadn’t shown since your relationship ended.
“Walter” You sighed, “You’re the one who stepped back. You’re the one who said it would be best if we weren’t in a relationship. You said I was a distraction and—”
“I said you’d be at risk, not that you’re a distraction.”
“It doesn’t make a difference.”
“Damn it, Y/N, it does! I only did it because I love you!” He said without hesitation, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You know that!”
You blinked. “No, I did not know that! You seriously broke up with me because you love me? That’s ridiculous.”
“I broke up with you to keep you safe, but I clearly suffered for nothing seeing as you put yourself in unsafe situations even without my association.”
You wanted to believe him, so bad, but people don’t leave behind the ones they love. After all, you loved him and the thought of leaving him made you nauseous, even now. When you were together, he may have appeared in love, but after a year he still hadn’t told you and you knew you’d let yourself get a little too hopeful. If you were honest with yourself, him breaking up with you was not as much of a shock as it should’ve been. But as you looked at him now, you could see that he truly believed you already knew.
“It doesn’t make sense that you would do that,” You said. “People don’t just break up with someone they love.”
“Fuck, Y/N, did I ever seem unhappy with you? Did I ever come across like I didn’t want you every second of every day? My every other thought was of you,” He said loudly, like a rant, and you were having a hard time figuring out who he was mad at. “So don’t try to tell me how I felt, and feel now. I still love you and that’s not going to change, but I can’t have criminals, murderers even, coming after you because they are pissed at me for hunting them down or having a case against them. It would take nothing for the average officer or detective to figure out that you and I were together even if we were hiding it. How hard do you think it would be for some psychopath?”
You hadn’t realized a tear slipped down your cheek until you tasted it at the corner of your lips. It was salty but somehow bitter and left a thick burning path along your skin. You quickly wiped it away. “Why didn’t you tell me this months ago?”
“Because, stubborn as you are, you wouldn’t have listened. You would have told me it didn’t matter.” He fell backwards onto the couch, closing his eyes and letting out a groan. “I try to do the right thing. I try to protect you, thinking everything will be fine as long as no one can link you to me, but I can’t…stay away.” His eyes met yours. “And then you beg me to, and it’s excruciating to obey. When I was able to watch over you, it reminded me that I did the right thing. You were safe and I could constantly be reassured of that.”
You walked over to him, your heart thumping with every step, then sat on your knees in front of him, placing your hand atop his own resting on his thigh. His other hand reached for your face and his fingers softly grazed your cheek before they tucked some hair behind your ear. “Walt—”
“That kid…Jimmy,” Walter interrupted as he began tracing the back of your hand with his thumb. “He thinks you���re in love with him.”
“I’m not.”
“You swear?”
“Of course, Walt. I told you--”
“I know,” He said with a single nod of his head. “I know. Maybe I’ll actually get some sleep now.”
You rested your cheek on the inner side of his knee and said, “You could sleep here.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Why not?” You bit your lip nervously. You couldn’t even dare to count how many times you’d had sex during the course of your relationship, but now, asking him not to leave made your pulse thrum in your ears.
He leaned forward and looked down at you. “Because I don’t think I can say no to you.”
“Then why would you bother trying,” You whispered without a second thought and slowly inched up on your knees so you could connect your lips with his.
It lasted only a second or two before he broke the kiss, grabbed you by the arm, and yanked you onto his lap. His grip at the back of your neck pulled your mouth to his as your hand slipped between your bodies and quickly started to undo his belt buckle.
“God, baby,” Walter groaned against your lips when you wrapped your fingers around his thick cock and released it from his jeans. He pulled the ratty, old t-shirt of his over your shoulders and softly settled his hands on your hips. “Damn it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just…missed these,” He said, placing a kiss on one bare breast, then the other. “I missed you, so much.” He placed his lips to the curve of your neck, then met your eyes. “I miss you every fucking day.”
You kissed his forehead, and his arms tightened around you as you lifted your hips and sank down onto him. “I missed you too, Walter,” You said, but the words melted somewhere within the mix of your moans and his groans.
------------------
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Text
Revelation Part 2
Harry Potter Marauders Era- Post Hogwarts 
Link to Part 1 
Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 
Rating: M 
Credit: Song in chapter: I forget where we were Ben Howard and a clip taken from the TV show Rescue Me (it was so fitting)
_________
You stormed back into the house muttering about how much you wanted to kick Regulus in the shins.
“Did daddy already piss you off?”
Sirius said with a smirk as he looked up from his place at the kitchen table. He clearly could see that you were in a less than happy state but he needed answers. The scowl on your face told Sirius that he was lucky to not be killed.
“You know if I didn’t adore you so fucking much I would bitch slap the hell out of you and yes he made me mad.”
You said before sitting down across from Sirius. He smiled innocently before making a drink appear in front of you.
“Is there booze in this?”
You questioned. Sirius nodded.
“It appears that is what you need.”
You laughed bitterly. Hell yes, you needed booze and Sirius needed to make sure that the drinks kept coming. If you got drunk, that would be just fine. Harry wouldn't be waking up anytime soon and if he did, Sirius could tend to him.
“You have no idea.”
You muttered. Sirius was quiet for a moment before finally deciding to speak again.
“Y/n, I normally don’t pry into your life mostly because we know everything about each other but I am feeling a bit left out and confused at the moment.”
You took a drink, knowing that it was time to tell Sirius the truth. All of your dirty and most passionate secrets were about to come spilling out to your best friend.
“We dated for three years.”
You replied. Sirius was clearly surprised. How did he and James not pick up on this? Were they that distracted that they didn’t notice you with Regulus? The better question was what did you really have in common with his little brother (other than an impeccable gift of sarcasm)?
“Wow...so was it some weird sex thing or an actual relationship?”
“It was an actual relationship combined with mind-blowing sex that would make Satan himself blush. Do you remember my friend Samantha?”
Sirius internally gagged at the word “mind-blowing sex.” To him, you were the funny girl that tagged around with the Marauders. Sure, Sirius was aware that you had lost your virginity but he wasn’t for sure to whom it was...now he knew.
“Yeah the girl from Ravenclaw, you used to study with her a lot.”
You shook your head.
“Samantha was actually your brother and I can tell you that there was no studying going on. Most of the time when I came back to the common room I was wondering if I had remembered my underwear.”
You had to stifle a look at the expression on Sirius’ face. He was quiet for a few moments longer before speaking again.
“So both of you are into some freaky shit, huh?”
Taking a sip of your drink, you only batted your eyes at Sirius.
“It depends on how you define the word freaky.”
You said replied with a sly smile. Had this conversation been with James there probably would have been a lot of yelling and screaming. With Sirius, it was a pleasant yet uncomfortable experience that both of you should look back on and laugh.
“Well, you call my brother daddy. That is some information that I could have totally gone without knowing. Now I can’t look at my little brother the same way. I'm going to call him daddy now just to witness his reaction.”
Sirius was relieved when you smiled.
“And that doesn’t surprise me. Let me make sure to find a camera because that will be an uncomfortable experience for both Regulus and myself.”
Sirius grinned.
“It was a very uncomfortable experience for me to hear earlier. Well...more like the rug being pulled out from underneath me. So, all jokes aside, what happened between the two of you?”
Your face darkened. This wasn’t a memory that you ever wanted to think about...the break up a week after graduation. It was like having the rug pulled out from under you. You still felt that way when you thought about it. Something had you convinced that Regulus was the one for you and maybe you still felt that way.
While you were in America, you had tried dating others but it never worked out. You always compared them to Regulus. They were always annoying you, talking too much, and didn't know how to touch you. Unbeknownst to you, you were the lucky one. You hadn’t been bitten during a moment of what was supposed to be exciting.
“Regulus decided that he didn’t want to disappoint your parents. They would never accept me because I am a blood traitor so bye bye Y/n.”
Sirius frowned.
“Is that why you took off to the states?”
You nodded.
“That would be the reason.”
Sirius’ was quiet again. He was trying to think of some “big brother-like” bit of advice that he could give you that might be helpful but he couldn’t think of anything. Everything that he had to offer sounded a bit condescending or downright cold…
Positive one, Walburga Black won’t be your mother-in-law Positive two, we don’t have to worry about James rolling over in his grave. Positive three,...
Sirius was sure that there were positive number three and if you gave him time he could come up with more.
“Why are you sitting here in my brother’s coat if you are so mad at him?”
You realized that you were still, in fact, still wrapped in Regulus’ coat. In your subconscious, you were enjoying having Regulus’ comforting scent around you.
“We were outside talking and he put it around my shoulders before pissing me off. I told him that he wasn’t getting his coat back and he isn’t. I’m a petty bitch and am going to keep this coat like that gold-hoarding dragon from The Hobbit.”
Sirius chuckled. He again realized how much that he had missed you over the past year.
“Alright Smaug junior, go take your gold and hide upstairs because I hear the front door opening.”
You jumped up and ran up the stairs as Regulus stepped in. Sirius took a sip of his tea before meeting his brother’s face. Regulus’ cheeks were pink from the chill of the evening.
“Is that hot?”
Sirius nodded.
“Just pour it on me.”
Sirius smirked as Regulus grabbed the blanket that was on the back of the couch and curled up in it.
“You know, a lesser man would have come back in for his coat. How are you doing, daddy?”
Regulus glared at Sirius before going to pour himself a cup of tea. It took all that Sirius had not to burst out laughing at the sneer on his brother’s face. Regulus looked like Sirius had force-fed him a lemon.
Y/n just missed a fine moment.
“Never call me that again! Maybe I don’t want to get punched in the face. Y/n is mad and I’m an idiot.”
Sirius shrugged.
“You said it.”
Regulus groaned sitting down. He wanted to apologize to you but he knew at the moment he would be better attempting to baptize a feral cat.
“I was trying to do her a favor.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t do Y/n any favors and let her make her own choices or possibly use the balls between your legs to tell mum and dad to fuck off?”
Regulus’ lip twitched at this brother’s comment. It was so easy for Sirius to talk about telling Walburga and Orion to fuck off. He wasn't the one that had to be “the good son.” That was all on Regulus’ shoulders. Sure, now his efforts were shot to hell but Regulus was doing the right thing...the noble thing.
“Have you forgotten what is on my left arm? Y/n is an auror and she is going to be working for Moody soon. What a fucking joke we both would be. A death eater dating an auror...and the other way around. I did her a favor.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
“Well, you aren’t a death eater anymore. You are just acting like you missed your little nap.”
Regulus crossed his arms, reminding Sirius of the little boy that would turn Grimmauld Place into a literal nightmare on Elm Street when he didn’t have a nap during the day.
“She said...well screamed at my face...that she should have dated you because you would have been so much better to her.”
Sirius winced.
“Ouch. To be fair, she and I would kill each other. I would be better off dating you...with our family history no one would bat an eye.”
Regulus didn’t want to think about his family's pureblood history at the moment. He had enough on his plate.
“If you were dating me, I would kill you. Now I get to sit back and watch the two of you play house with James’ kid. Just a thought but you two may want to save some money for the therapy that child is going to need.”
Sirius stood up and shook his head.
“Nah, the little tyke is going to be just fine.”
Regulus wanted to make a snarky comment but decided not to.
“Where did Y/n go anyway?”
Sirius pointed to the stairs.
“Upstairs with your coat that is no longer yours. I would suggest leaving her alone unless you want to lose an eye. If you do bother her and lose an eye, I will forever compare you to a pirate.”
Regulus stood up and moved to leave the room.
“Yeah, well, fuck you.”
Walking upstairs, Regulus poked his head hesitantly into what was your room. When nothing was thrown at him, Regulus figured out that the room was empty. He had no idea what he was going to say to apologize to you. If you didn’t want to hear what he was going to say, you would let whatever words that he has to offer go in one ear and out the other. It wasn’t like things were before. He couldn’t just grab you and have his way with you anymore. Things were different and Regulus wasn’t sure if they would ever be the same.
Regulus stopped outside of Harry’s nursery at the sound of your soft voice singing. Looking into the room, but not making his presence known, Regulus watched as you cradled Harry. He stepped back outside the door with his back against the wall. Had Regulus forgotten how peaceful it sounded to hear your voice? When you weren’t being sassy (and things weren’t tense) you were the most calming person that Regulus had in his life.
Don't take it so seriously, no. Only time is ours . The rest we'll just wait and see. Maybe you're right, babe, maybe. Oh no, and that's how summer passed. Oh your, great divide and range of green green grass. Oh, maybe I hold on fast, to you . Hello love, my invincible friend. Hello love, the thistle and the burr. Hello love, for you I have so many words but I, I forget where we were
Stepping away from the room, Regulus knew it was best that he walked away for now.
Regulus didn’t see you the next morning either. You were gone before he woke up. It was Remus that told him “gently” that you had decided to go back to work as an auror. Regulus hated the thought of that altogether. You had no reason to go to work With the Potter family fortune, you could live comfortably and raise Harry. It wouldn’t be your style though. You were probably doing this just to spite him.
Your choice of being an auror was the topic of the first fight that the two of you had as a couple. It was funny, especially now, for Regulus to think that the first fight happened weeks before the breakup. Now he should have seen it was the beginning of the end.
“You’re what?!”
Regulus snapped. The two of you had met at the top of the astronomy tower. Graduation was a few weeks and you decided to drop the bomb of your career to be.
“You heard me. It's what I want to do, Reggie.”
“You do realize what I am right? I don’t think that it will be looked upon very highly for you to have a boyfriend that is a death eater.”
You smirked.
“No one technically knows anything right now as it is so…
Regulus pulled himself out of his memory when you stepped into the kitchen with Marlene McKinnon on your heels. Sirius quickly leaned over and playful elbowed Regulus in the side with a smile that said, there is your woman.
“I’m an idiot. I never should have broken up with him, Y/n. I’m just a mess.”
Regulus watched as your eyes fluttered in his direction before looking away...as if he were not even in existence.
“Marlene, there is hope. It comes with batteries. Trust me, no man is worth that much aggravation. I understand why Dorcas loves women. Let me tell youI am a big supporter of the lesbian community. I wish that I was a lesbian.”
Sirius, Regulus, and Remus both looked up at that. It took all that you had not to laugh at the expression on the face of every man in the room.
“What?”
Remus questioned. You put your bag down before turning to face Remus and a very amused Sirius.
“Like gay guys, they really have it made. So think about it, you’re a guy and your with a guy who has the same interest as you that's like a win-win situation. First of all, you both like to have a lot of sex and if you’re both interested in sports you can go to hockey games, football games, quidditch matches. It's all blowjobs and ball games.”
Sirius immediately started laughing so hard that he almost fell out of his chair. This was going to be one of those Y/n conversations that he had missed so much over the past year.
“Blow jobs and ball games?”
Remus questioned, stifling a laugh, before turning to Sirius wondering if his lover was going to make it through this conversation. You, meanwhile, smirked over the top of the drink that Marlene handed you.
“Sweetie, no matter the sexual orientation every relationship goes great until the both of you start having secret evil plans to piss each other off. This doesn’t apply to Sirius and Remus because you two are the perfect relationship having freaks.”
Sirius grinned.
“You think so??”
You groaned.
“Buzzkill, Marlene. So what you are saying is even if you and I were doing each other, we would be doomed?”
Marlene nodded before deciding to use your comment.
“There is hope. It comes with batteries.”
You were watching Regulus out of the corner of your eye. He was only blinking with a small amused smirk on his face. Clearly, he had no idea that this was the conversation that everyone in this room had on a regular basis.
“I’m going to take a nap.”
Sirius stood up to take his empty cup to the sink.
“Remus and I are taking Harry clothes shopping. Do you have any requests on what not to buy?”
You shook your head.
“I think that you two will be just fine. Marlene, what are you doing tonight?”
Marlene was gathering up her sweater and handbag.
“Going to find a new boyfriend that runs on batteries.”
You gave her a thumbs up before turning and walking out of the room.
(1 hour later…)
You lay awake staring at the ceiling. From the time that you had laid down, your mind was on Regulus. Being back in the same house was quickly wearing on you. Every moment that you looked at him, you wanted nothing more than to get your hands back on your former lover.
Face it, princess, you still love him and want nothing more than to fuck his brains out.
You could take your own advice and invest in a good vibrator. It wouldn't be good enough though. Nothing would be as good as the real thing.
There is nothing wrong with teasing Regulus and let him see what he’s missing.
That could be the most promising advice that you could give yourself at the moment. Sitting up, you let your eyes fall to the trunk that was in the corner. It was the one trunk that you hadn’t unpacked yet. You knew inside was one of Regulus’ school white dress shirts. After one very steamy sex meet up, you may have just taken it back to the Gryffindor tower with you.
You didn’t want to think about how over the past year that you would wear that shirt when you wanted to feel close to Regulus again.
Don’t be a buzzkill.
You thought as you shook the thoughts from your mind. Grinning evilly, you slid your dress, bra, and knickers off before opening the trunk and looking for the article of clothing that you needed.
Stepping outside of your bedroom door, you stood dressed in only Regulus’ shirt unbuttoned halfway with nothing else underneath. You had sent Sirius a message and told him to take Harry out for ice cream. This would be enough to keep Remus and Sirius out for a bit longer. You would have enough time to work your “magic.”
You peaked your head around the corner before walking into the living room. Regulus sat rather unsuspectingly minding his own business with a book on his lap. You weren't sure what would happen after this incident took place. Were you ready to take Regulus back and risk having your heart broken again? You weren't sure 100%. Time would have to tell on that one but getting laid for the first time in years sounded nice.
Time to put this plan into action
The moment that you walked casually through the living room you were never more thankful to be such a good actress. You were able to keep your face straight without blushing when Regulus looked up and dropped the drink that he was holding in his free hand. The only regret that you had was that you couldn’t see the expression on his face. You have paid money to be able to see what his face looked like.
Casually, you walked into the kitchen acting as though you didn’t see him. You had no idea what you were going to do in the kitchen. After standing still for a moment, you opened the refrigerator to look for some mystery item that would catch your eye. You had been pawing through the refrigerator for all of three seconds when you heard Regulus’ voice.
“One question, is that my shirt?”
_________
@amelie-black @regulusheadcanons @truly-insatiable @fandomsxxregulus @realgaytrash @quuenofblacks @lucasfilms77 @exhsle @hazncalsgal @jessyballet @knreidy1 @teletubiswszpilkach @mimisparkle12 @acciosiriusblack @fific7 @rubyroscoe1 @bennyberry @criminalyetminimal @whymyparentscheckmyphone @brokencasbutt67-writer @authoressskr @fandom-trash-worth-it @hankypranky @summer-novak @emiwrites3reads @shaylybaby2032 @marichromatic @stuckinsaudi1 @untoldshortsofthefandoms @sprnaturallover @wontlookaway @shitfaceddaniel @deanwherescas @mycuddlycorner @shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @knight-of-gleefulness @sparkleofpizza
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consumeconstantly · 4 years
Text
Not a Saint or a Hero
Summary: To civilians, Ladybug is a hero. In the eyes of the law, Ladybug is a vigilante at best, and a villain at worst. 
______________________________________________________
Conquering the Parisian underworld is child’s play for Ladybug and her partner, Chat Noir. The ex-boss of the Parisian underworld, code name Hawkmoth, may have been good at pushing drugs and ruining people’s lives, but he was woefully incompetent at... basically everything else. Which meant that other than Hawkmoth and his direct underlings, there really wasn’t much of a structure at all that Ladybug had to be worried about. No cohesive unit, fighting as one, just easy pickings and an even easier way to convince the drug dealers, homeless, illegal fight rings, and various other under the radar activities to band together to topple Hawkmoth’s empire. 
Ladybug, after all, had experience with overthrowing established mafiosos. She did it once in Wenzhou at her mother’s side, another time in Beijing because somebody made the mistake of trying to push her into prostitution, and twice in Italy with her grandmother, code name Befana.
“Do you really have to leave, m’lady?”
Ladybug shrugs. “I trust you and the team to keep things up and running. We had a good run, but there’s a good structure in place now and Befana wants me to go with her to another country.”
Nobody says no to Befana, not unless they’re bullet proof. Ladybug may have high quality Kevlar sewn into every outfit she wears, but even she isn’t the biggest fan of the impact of a bullet. Depending on the gun, broken ribs are a kindness.
“I know you don’t get along with Queen Bee, and almost everyone else is out of the country, but you’re not going to say goodbye to Rena or Carapace?”
“It’s not like I’m going to be gone forever. Just a few months. A year at most.”
“Promise me you’ll come back, m’lady?”
Ladybug puts a hand on her partner's shoulder. “You know I can’t make promises like that.”
Chat pauses, dull thud of the rave music filling in their silence. 
He swirls the whiskey in his glass. “Stay safe, Bug. Play it smart.”
“I always do.”
#
It comes as no surprise that Befana dumps her in the middle of one of the most crime infested cities world wide without a backwards glance. Her granddaughter is grown up now, after all. 
“Have fun, darling. Black Mask is particularly nasty, make sure to watch out for his assistant, she’s very sharp.” Befana pulls away from the nonexistent curb— nonexistent because there’s no sidewalks in the slums of Gotham, at least, not many of them in good enough conditions to have curbs or whole piece of cement to walk on— and leaves Marinette all on her lonesome with a backpack, a key to a cheap apartment.
Marinette eyes the broken bottles leading to the entryway of her new building and the boarded up windows. Across the street, there’s two women smoking and conversing in hushed tones.
“Well,” Marinette mutters underneath her breath, shifting the straps of her only worldly possessions. “It’s definitely quieter than I expected.”
“Hey, new girl,” one of the women in the group calls out to her. “What’re you in for?”
“School. This is the cheapest apartment I could find.”
The woman exchanges a glance with one of her friends. 
“You’re better off finding a more expensive apartment elsewhere. This isn’t a place for someone like you.”
An excellent line for Marinette to begin to fish for information. “What do you mean by that?”
“This is disputed territory, now. If you can’t afford to stay somewhere else, you better stay with whoever just dropped you off.”
Marinette fidgets. Gina is long gone. Grandmother or not, even though Gina is undoubtedly loyal and will never hurt her, she believes that the best way to inspire growth is through adversity. Like now. The only information she got out of Befana was that she had to figure out a way to keep Gotham in line… whatever that meant. “She’s not going to come back. I guess I’ll just have to try my luck.”
“You really got nowhere else to go?”
“No. I’m from abroad.”
“That explains the accent,” says the one holding a beer bottle. “Then listen up, girlie. If you wanna survive, there’s three rules you’ve gotta learn. One. Don’t cross the Black Mask. Two. Don’t cross Red Hood. Three. Don’t sell to children.”
“Sell to children?”
“Well, I don’t suppose you’d be doing it anyways, given the whole,” she motions to Marinette’s body with a cigarette, “but Hood goes after anyone who sells drugs to kids real bad. Worse than if you fuck him over with anything the Black Mask’s doing, anyways.”
“Red Hood doesn’t sound like that bad of a guy, then.” Maybe she’ll look into a collaboration with him.
The woman with the beer bottle laughed. “Oh honey, you’re a saint. Don’t go fostering any dreams. You just stay away, hear?”
“I hear you,” Marinette says.
But they got something wrong. 
Marinette isn’t a saint, and never has been.
#
The walls of her crappy one bedroom apartment are thin enough to hear the baby upstairs scream at ungodly hours. If it’s not the baby waking her up, her neighbors in the apartment to her right are fucking very, very loudly. The apartment below her blasts rock music at all hours, the apartment to her right is likely selling drugs, given that she sees at least fifteen different people come in and out each day, and they always have a vaguely dazed look in their eye. She hasn’t heard anything from the apartment across, but she’s sure they’ll start up some noisy activity that Marinette doesn’t particularly want to hear soon enough.
She really got pampered in Paris, didn’t she?
Marinette lived a life of relative luxury whenever she stayed with her parents, instead of Gina. While in Beijing and Chongqing with Tom and Sabine, Maman did all of the heavy lifting for her. Well, Beijing had ended rather disastrously, and they had to make a quick getaway, but at least in Chongqing, Sabine managed to get rid of the prostitution ring. 
Back in Wenzhou, Catania, and Bologna, Gina took the reins, and it always turned out to be a sink or swim sort of situation. First off was her mother’s birth place, which had an astonishingly high crime rate and definitely explained why Sabine Cheng was so adept at self defense, and once they were there, of course they had to reform the fight rings. In Catania and Bologna, Gina practically threw her at two of the lowest rank mafia groups and told her to use them to bring order to the warring mafias. During those years, Gina didn’t make a front like Sabine and Tom did, purchasing a bakery and running a business to aid their more behind the scenes work. No, with Gina, it was either war of peace, and there was nowhere in between.
Which, of course, meant that Marinette rarely got to stay in nice rooms or pursue hobbies like sewing or drawing or anything, really.
Now that she is of age, Marinette could potentially try to wrest herself out of Befana’s influence, but that’s almost a laughable thought. Befana has eyes and ears everywhere. If she wants to escape the rat race of reformation, Marinette needs to gather power. 
The best thing she can do for now is try to figure out the situation in Gotham. If it’s not particularly bad, maybe she’ll have an easy time of it, and figure out how to disappear herself. She’s not totally opposed to the whole making-criminals-act-within-the-bounds-of-morality thing, but it’s gotten pretty tiring. Not repetitive, necessarily, but after experiencing an almost normal life in Paris, Marinette does want to have the privilege of not having to worry about her life every hour. Maybe she can even start up a little boutique. 
Marinette dumps most of the contents out of her bag, only leaving her wallet, a knife, and her trademark yo-yos. 
“Maybe I can go back to Paris, eventually.” She has become very fond of the city; the first place where she took fate into her own hands, where her mother and grandmother didn’t push her to reform the underworld. The first place where she chose to change the world around her. The first place where she saw things through from start to finish. The first place she formed her own team. 
The power of change is both incredibly addicting and terrifying. She sort of gets why Befana roams the world, looking for the next place she wants to shake things up in. But Marinette can’t get addicted. This is going to be her last city, then she’s going to return to Paris and settle down. She’ll leave city beautification to the so-called vigilantes that almost every city has acquired, save Paris.
Oh wait, she supposes that Ladybug and Chat Noir were-- and Chat still is-- a type of vigilante back home. But as it stands now, it will be more correct to refer to them as heads of the Parisian underworld; they definitely don’t work on the side of the law, but she and Chat made sure that drug deals were more… regulated. That deaths and the induction of children into such a dark world were curbed. That if people really wanted to get out, they could.
All of that doesn’t matter. Not in the eyes of the law at least. Parisian citizens love the duo for helping keep crimes off the streets and for banning the particularly strong strain of drug that Gabriel called AKUMA off the market, but the Parisian police? She and Chat both have targets on their head. Their whole team does.
She eyes the apartment across from her. There’s blood on the door handle. It’s a good thing that Sabine and Tom never tried to instill those odd customs of ‘house warming’ and ‘getting to know her neighbors’ that most other people teach their children. In good neighborhoods, it’s important to have a cordial relationship with whoever’s living next door. In neighborhoods like these? It’s even more important.
But rule number one of pissing people off? 
Coming over uninvited.
Marinette doesn’t bother locking the door behind her. 
#
“New to the neighborhood?”
Apparently, it really is bizarre for her to have moved into this apartment complex. She’s come across a grand total of five people during her week here, and every single one of them stopped whatever they were doing in order to take a closer look. 
Marinette knows that this is a disputed area. She looked into the two women’s words the day she arrived. But, for a disputed area, everything is remarkably quiet. No fights, nobody on the streets, most people keep indoors, unless they’re out for a smoke, to throw out the trash, or are going to or coming back from various activities outside of the block.
What’s even more odd is that all of her neighbors seem to know each other intimately. Or at least, intimately enough to know that she doesn’t belong there.
“Yeah,” Marinette says, ready to leave this conversation behind. She doesn’t bother getting information out of the people who are in her apartment complex or on this block. To be more accurate, she tried with one of the first people she came across, but it was apparent that someone encouraged them to be tight lipped with information. 
Given the current information she has, she thinks it’s more likely that the one who gave that order is Red Hood, rather than Black Mask.
“Been here a week.” The guy lights his joint and breathes out. “Not so new anymore.”
Over the years, she’s gotten used to the smell of marijuana, though she can’t say she likes the scent. She’ll take cigarettes over weed any day.
“You could say that.”
“Don’t suppose anybody’s laid out the rules for you yet, have they?”
Maybe this will make things easier for her. Mostly, she’s just settled into her apartment over the past seven days. There's no need for her to immediately get to work, and she does enjoy comfort. Taking down criminals is hard work. She wants to come back to an apartment that doesn’t look awful and lets her relax. So what if she spent most of her money on an expensive mattress and a coffee machine? She’s an adult now. Nobody can tell her what to do. (Except for Befana.) “No, not really.”
“Tina and Audrey give you a crash course?”
“Mostly just warned me not to sell to children.”
The man barks, smoke spitting into the stale air. “Some of the best advice around. Let me tell you, Black Mask might have more manpower, but Red Hood has rage. Cross Black Mask by gypping him, he’ll send a lackey after you. Fuck with children, Red Hood himself will come for you.”
He pauses, evaluating her appearance. 
“Though you look like a child yourself. Mighty pretty too. lucky girl. Hood will protect you if you stay around these parts, but if you go south on the diagonal, you’ll be in bad territory. Plenty of prostitution rings around there.”
“Thought this was disputed territory.”
“Not really. Anywhere Hood has claimed is said to be disputed because Mask hates his guts and keeps sending goons to these areas. But anyone who’s dealing under Mask aint gonna take the risk of their lives just to branch out to these spots.”
“Sounds like Red Hood is pretty well liked around these parts, then.”
Perhaps she’ll look into working with him. From what she’s heard of the guy and what she’s found trawling the dark web, his morals seem to align with her own. A little bit more temperamental than she’d like, a little too quick to kill, rather than apprehend, but Gotham prisons seem to have jailbreaks every other week, so she can understand why it may be easier just to make every encounter a one and done.
“Liked?” Blunt finished, he flicks the stub into the dirt, crushing the embers under foot. He wipes his mouth with the scarf around his neck. “Like isn't the question in Gotham, Frenchie.”
Marinette inwardly cringes. She’s tried to minimize her accent because it makes natives distrust her, or think they can take her for a loop. Most people she’s come across accept her as one of their own, but apparently she hasn’t been doing as well as she thought she was. Maybe this is why people seemed a little more reluctant with any information.
“When it comes down to it, liking means nothing. It’s who you trust to watch your back.” He fumbles in his pockets, pulling out another blunt. Marinette notices that his fingers are fairly heavily bandaged and that the man is shaking slightly. Medicinal marijuana, maybe. “Wouldn’t trust that Mask farther than I can throw him. And he used to be a wrestler, so he’s a fat bastard. At least you can trust Hood not to cross you as long as you don’t cross him first.”
Lighting the tip, his eyes sharpen. “You seem like the trustworthy sort. Active, too. I’ll leave you with one more piece of advice. If you ever run into Hood? Don’t mention two things: the Joker, and Batman.”
“I doubt I’ll ever run into him,” Marinette lies. 
The man laughs. “I’m a Gotham native, Frenchie. I can tell what kind of person you are. You’ll be meeting him soon, I know. Hood needs someone to watch his back, and you? You need someone to keep your head above water.”
He flicks the ash off the blunt and turns his back on her, and Marinette can’t tell whether he’s showing her respect or belittling her.
#
 Two weeks into her stay in Gotham and Marinette has finally collected enough information about her surroundings to feel confident about going out as Ladybug.
Guns are infinitely more available here in America than they were back in France, which means she needed more than one costume, and an upgrade to her current one. High quality kevlar is good and all, but it’s heavy, and not everyone in Gotham is high off their minds using AKUMA. Replacing kevlar with polythene, now that it’s available to her, is only a natural decision. She has to be more careful here in Gotham. Not only does she have no support network, she’s also highly inexperienced with the terrain. She’s at a disadvantage here.
With a combo polythene and kevlar bodysuit, a crop top with her signature ladybug embroidery on the backside, an all black domino mask, and a utility belt with two yo-yos , knife, and emergency medical supplies, she’s as ready as she ever will be to witness the nightlife first hand.
And just like in Paris, Wenzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Catania and Bologna, she doesn’t have to go far to find the trouble.
Befana has told her multiple times that Marinette is like a lucky charm for problems. Judging by the amount of time she’s gotten herself into sticky situations unintentionally, she’s inclined to agree, though she’d call herself more of an unlucky charm.
She doesn’t bother speaking, instead hurling one yo-yo at the guy who’s trying to tie up a girl half her age and the other yo-yo at the wheels of his car, to make sure he can’t make a quick getaway.
Ladybug may not use guns, but she never said that her weaponry wasn’t tricked out; yo-yo knocks the guy up the head, sending him down for the count, and yo-yo two slashes through the rubber tire. The man waiting in the car rolls down the window to shoot. Ladybug rolls her eyes. Dumb and dumber. She’s not sure whether he’s trying to preserve his windows or doesn’t realize that rolling down his window leaves him open for her own attacks.
Reeling back in yo-yo one. She hurtles it through the window, presses a button, then ducks. The head of the yo-yo detached and shocks the driver.
“Need help getting home?” Ladybug asks the girl who’s currently edging away from her. 
“Who are you? Why did you help me?”
Ladybug shrugs. She’s never been particularly good at explaining herself; Chat took care of most of the conversions within Hawkmoths retinue. She’s good at making the occasionally public statement and making sure people she’s close to don’t stray, but strangers? Most people back in Paris just trusted her blindly, and she never had to think about how to present her reasoning.
She takes two sets of zip ties out of her pack, then restrains her first victim. After she slaps a patch on the tire-- if she is going to take this girl home, she certainly doesn’t want to walk her back in this neighborhood, and judging by the size of the van, there are probably a few people in the back she’ll need to free as well. Ladybug moves on to tie up the guy in the car, back towards the girl. “If you don’t want my help, that’s fine too.��
As soon as she turns, there’s a sharp intake of breath. “You’re with Hood, then.”
Not yet. “M not, actually. Never met the guy. What makes you say that?”
A bout of nervous, high pitched laughter. “The red, maybe. Or, I don’t know, the fact that he’s here and not knocking you out?”
Ladybug whirls, trying to see where the infamous vigilante is. True to the girls word, he is just a little ways down the alleyway they’re currently in, looking, for all intents and purposes, not about to kill her. How pleasant. Better than she was expecting; his temper precedes him, and she was expecting to have to fight with the guy before even dreaming about having a civil discussion with him.
He doesn’t have his hands on his guns, which she takes as a good sign. Taking a good look at him she’s almost surprised that he’s calming himself the Red Hood instead of the Red Helmet, but she supposes the former sounds better.
“Let me finish tying that one up,” Ladybug says.
Red Hood grunts in response.
“So you are working together,” the girl concludes.
Ladybug shrugs again, tapping another button to reattach the head of her yo-yo and grabbing the keys and phone from the driver’s pocket. She pops the back of the van. There are three girls tied up in the back. 
Her knife makes quick work of the bonds that restrain them. The girls take the duct tape off their mouths themselves; she feels a deep disgust of the men that are currently knocked unconscious. Not only are they traffickers, but they’re new traffickers. Inexperienced. Duct tape isn’t used most times because it damages the goods. Either that, or they’re organ dealers, because people don’t need the bodies to look pretty when they just want the innards. Judging by the fact that all of the people in the back are girls, she’ll put money on the first one.
“You going to let me drive these girls back before we have our talk?”
“Fine,” Red Hood bites out, moving to sit shotgun. “You move one finger out of line, and I’ll shoot.”
Ladybug tosses the unconscious body out of the driver’s seat.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
@jasonette-july-2k20
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Catholic School
Summary: Just some Smutty Smut Buuuuut I wanted to do something fun & different. For some reason I thought it was weird to me that Walker seemed so pissed about his parents putting his daughter in catholic school and of course my mind went to find a strange way to make that sexual.Soooooo yeah here’s my first Walker fic. My little black body isn’t a huge fan of glorifying lawenforcement (like we see oftenly in the show) so idk how many more Walker fics we’ll get but, I had to do this one for my Jared girls!
Word Count :2,714
Pairing:Walker x Emily/you( Idk I wrote it weird)
“Is that all of it?” He asked, mock huffing as he set down the container of things at the top of your pyramid of boxes. 
“You better not knock over my stuff.” you shout over your shoulder. As you reach out to resume setting up your bookcase, you hear a shuffle and crash. The box’s contents cover the floor,and instead of scolding him for what you knew he would do ,you turn back to the shelf, right after shooting him a look to let him know he would absolutely be held responsible for removing the mess. 
“I’m sorry babe that’s my fault.” He chuckled, getting onto his knees to begin the process of cleaning up. You just roll your eyes and return to your shelf.
“ Woah ,woah! What is this ? Why haven’t I seen you in this!?!” He exclaims whirling you around and practically smacking you in the face with the skirt from your old high school uniform.
“Because you didn’t go to Our Lady of Peace”t
You retort smartly,smacking the skirt away from your nose.
“See that’s not fair!” He says ,grabbing you by the waist and pulling you in. Cordell Walker wasn’t always the ridiculously goofy & sentimental type. In fact, he was working his way into being one of the best law enforcement officers this area had ever seen. But, as he held the skirt up to your waist, his strong arms around you, you couldn’t help but feel your stomach flip as he kissed directly below your ear before whispering “please”.
As stupid as it was a small part of you did want to know if you could still fit into the uniform. And an even larger part of you couldn’t wait to use it as your secret weapon later, to get out of doing laundry or some other menial household chore. Moving in together was a big step.It was thrilling and exciting but, so far it hasn’t been without its challenges. You noted this part particularly as you looked down at your pile of items discarded from the box; dusting the edge of your peripheral vision.
“Fine” you breathe lightly, feigning disinterest “but you’re gonna regret it.”
“Em. There’s no way that’s possible.” he calls out shooting you a toothy grin. You allow the door to slam behind you ,cutting him off from sharing whatever fantasies he had worked up with the slam of the door between you. Surprisingly, the skirt slipped on with unimaginable ease, and the rest of your time was spent judging yourself in the mirror. The skirt barely covered your butt, you were aware. And the whore in you absolutely couldn’t wait to rush out and show him. Cordell was a calm Texas boy, a sweet and simple lover, truth be told you had wondered often about how to pull out his dark side and this skirt may be just the thing to do it. You had seen him slam suspects against a wall and tackle down perps. But, that was emotion reserved specifically for when he was angry, and never directed towards you. It wasn’t that you wanted him to be upset with you. But, you had been together long enough to understand sweet Walker and something in you desperately wanted to know what was beneath that. 
You took off your t-shirt and threw it in the hamper, allowing the black lace of your bra to show itself fully in connection with the red and black plaid of the skirt.
“You’re done for Walker.” You laugh as you open the door to see him standing in the hallway, he had been waiting for you, practically on his tip-toes jumping for excitement.
“ Oh my gawd.” The Texas twang in his voice was unmistakable. You smile up at him, stepping into the hall when you are met by a large, veiny hand on the skin of your bare stomach. “No.” He says slowly pushing you back into the bedroom. “ I can’t let you go anywhere like that.” You watch the expression on his face, as his eyes turn hungry and his grip changes from pushing you to his fingers lightly digging into your skin.
“Get on the bed.” He commands. You do as you’re told, looking up at him innocently while sitting on the side of the bed.He sits next to you and begins running a hand up your thigh.
“You know you’re ridiculously hot in this outfit right?” You just look at him,pretending to be entirely unaware of what the outfit was doing to him.
“Tell me something.” he says, rubbing the expanse of your leg again. “What’s the sluttiest thing you did in this outfit?” Your eyes shot up to meet his, and then immediately looked away.  
“Unh uhhh.” he warned, moving his hand up from your thigh to meet your warmth. You gasp lightly at his touch, and your response causes a dark smirk to play at the corner of his lips. 
You can feel him push pressure onto your clit and allow yourself to close your eyes. 
“Don’t tell me you never let anyone bend you over a desk and tell you how good it feels to be inside you catholic girl?” he joked. You let out a light moan as  he pushed two fingers inside.
“Your darkest highschool secret.Come on, tell me.” You can feel his breath hitch as you lightly move your hips, changing your position on his fingers. 
“I-I wanted my history teacher.” you breathe. You had no idea why you revealed that.
“Good girl….tell me more.”
“I’d pull my skirt up so  he could see, then I’d bend over and pick up books, or lean all the way over a desk to help a classmate, anything I could do to get his attention.” Once you started talking you couldn’t stop.You wanted to tell him every filthy thing you had ever done or even thought of. 
“Mmmm he made you wet didn’t he baby?” you shut your eyes even tighter not wanting to see his face, for fear of his reaction. A highschool teacher as a student’s first real crush isn’t out of the ordinary but he had a way of bringing out your dirtiest thoughts. 
“Yes.” you allowed out in a shaky breath. He pumped his hands faster into you.
“But you’ve done dirtier things than that right babygirl?” he asks. Fuck .Why did he have to call you baby girl? He knew that was a weakness, and clearly he didn’t intend on taking it easy on you anytime soon. 
“In class” you whisper “I stayed after to finish a test once.” your breathing is becoming ragged, he has to know you don’t have much longer before his hand sends you over the edge. 
“And what happened?” he asks gently near your ear, the smoothness of his voice now, contrasting with the force he is using to fuck his hands into you. 
“I knew he liked me, he couldn’t say it but, he did.”
“So you teased him.” he pushes his fingers into you, sending you over the edge. Your head drops back between your shoulder blades and you open your eyes, to look at him as you moan your way through your orgasm. Looking up at him as innocently as possible.He gets up from the edge of the bed, running a hand through his hair. You somehow manage to recover, as he moves toward you, setting you up father onto the mattress. He places the pad of his thumb at the top of your bottom lip, running it over the puffy, pink skin of your pout.
“You’re such a beautiful little fuck doll.”he moans , pushing his thumb inside your mouth, you suck on it, submissively. You hear him undoing his pants with his other hand, and soon he’s on top of you, covering your body with his. The skin-to-skin contact is deliciously fulfilling and you want to feel every inch of him over you.
“Open your legs for me princess.” he commands but,your head is swimming with adrenaline and you barely hear him. 
“Don’t make me ask twice, baby.” He says, forcing your knees apart, opening you up wide for him to see. You feel the heat of him next to your opening and roll your hips, trying to get him into you but,he doesn’t allow you to satisfaction. Instead, he leans in, kissing you deeply, exploring your mouth. You watch as he pulls back,your lips graze his adam’s apple slowly kissing down his lightly stubbled neck. Suddenly, you feel his lips close to your ear and he begins questioning you again.
“I like that you’re a good girl.”he says calmly “ But,I know your mind is dirty…...tell me what you really did.”he commands.
“I - I -” he cuts you off from even being able to answer by pushing himself into you, filling you up and causing an involuntary moan to escape your lips. He smiled down at you but,didn’t move his hips. He allows you time to adjust to him, when your breathing steadies, you try to talk again.
“My friend had told me that her boyfriend had fingered her at the movies,I wasn’t really interested in the story but, she did say that it felt good, and I guess I was intrigued or something I don’t know.” He pushed into you slowly, and you could see the  darkness in his eyes. He was revelling in the story,turned on by both your honesty and innocence. 
“I don’t know why, I just couldn’t stay focused on my test.” you tried to return your mind to the story but, you were so enraptured by the pressure he was creating in your body you could barely focus. 
“So I finished the test.” you continued “ and then I just I guess I started day dreaming or something.I don't know-” You trailed off, bucking your hips again, and he moves a hand down to stop you from fucking him, possibly even from making him cum. Every one of his exhales seemed to accompany a moan now and you loved how this was all affecting him. You could tell how incredibly turned on he was and it only worked to make you want to fuck him more. 
“When he came back in the room, my test was finished on my desk but, my hand was down my skirt, and I was moaning out his name.” He started thrusting now, quickly moving from a light pace to a hard pumping into you. “My legs were spread wide, and I remember just cumming all over my fingers.” your voice was becoming ragged now,but you continued. 
“Something about him catching me, and knowing he could see my hand in my underwear peeking out from under my skirt.”you sigh. Quickly, he pulls off out of you, rolling you over and positioning you on all fours. This was new, you had never been opposed to doggy-style but, the good-evangelical texas christian boy he was raised as did have an obvious love for the missionary position.You were jerked out of this realization by his pulling of your hair.He lowers his mouth next to your ear “finish telling me the story.”he commands.
“I don’t remember anything else.” you say trying so hard to balance enough to rub yourself into your next orgasm. He smacks his hips into you, pulling you up even further saying “Good girls don’t lie.You get fucked when you tell the truth.” he whispers. Slowing his pace in you.You feel so frustrated by him denying you your right to orgasm and you start raising your voice at him. 
“I- I liked it.” you divulge “ I didn’t stop when he walked in on me. I wanted him to see, to catch me. It made me so fucking hot, because…… because he didn’t look away.” you exhale roughly. He picks up his pace again, really fucking into you.Grunting hard as he digs his nails into your hips. 
“He liked it babygirl.” he moans out “He loved seeing you in that skirt as much as I do.” he moaned again as, you push your hips back to meet him and he moans again,moving one arm to push your head down,as he fucks into you more forcefully than he ever has before. 
“Fuck Em-”he breathes, right before pluging himself into you. You can feel the coil snap in you,as he fills you with his cum.You become aware of how hard you had been holding onto the bed sheets and how your eyes had blissfully rolled to the back of your head, and caused your entire body to relax. It was amazing how he could do that.The two of you laid there for a few moments just panting in the silence.Eventually, he pulled himself out of you receding to the bathroom, you hear him turn on the faucet, water rushing, turning off the faucet he lightly pads his way back into the room. You had managed to roll over but not change much in appearance.He wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into him, interlacing the fingers on his opposite hand with yours.
“What’s on your mind Cordell Walker? “ you asked from a sleepy haze. He was quiet for a moment before answering, letting the silence sit as you drifted off further. 
“ I just really like that skirt.” You can hear him
Smiling to himself.  You brush a finger over his thumb to let him know you’re still awake and that he won’t get off easily, without something deeper than the skirt inspiring the incredible sexual connections you had both experienced. Your mind danced with the silence again. It was the sound of his heartbeat that brought you back to earth, to Texas, to the bed with him. He speaks quietly, his tone just above a whisper,
“ I’m sorry I didn’t use a condom. I know that’s not our thing.” The uncertainty of his voice shocked you “ I just -I wanted to try-“ 
“ I liked it .” You say cutting him off cheerfully without opening your eyes. 
“ Good.” Silence blankets the room again. “ I just don’t want you to think I’m trying to rush the kids' thing. I know we said we’d revisit it once we moved in together.But, if you’re not ready. I don’t see any reason to push it.”
“Well” you said rolling over, “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.I just hope we don’t have a girl.”You sigh.You can feel his chuckle radiate through your body. 
“Well the one thing I do know is she will not go to catholic school.” he joked.You burst into laughter. You were right, he didn’t stand a chance.
“Catholic school creates sluts,what can I say?”you smile to yourself,snuggling in.
“I didn’t say that.” He smiles. You run your hand down his forearm,feeling the strength in his arms as your fingertips trace the vanes mapped out across his limb.” It was late, and moving in,during a Texas summer had been almost unbearable.This was the moment you had finally allowed yourself to rest, and being curled up next to him you felt safe enough to drift off to sleep. Into a world where you and Cordell Walker had a daughter, that would be some world.She’d be gorgeous just like her father of course.Probably as headstrong and emotional too. You had always pictured yourself having a boy though. 
No matter what the two of you eventually ended up with, it was clear he would be an amazing dad. You fell asleep smiling to yourself, knowing that as long as the two of you had each other, everything would be alright. Moving in, may have been the best thing the two of you had ever done.
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
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Stark Spangled Banner
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Ch41: Drops Of Jupiter Part 2- There’s Still A Life To Live. 
Intro: Pepper finally makes an honest man of Tony, and as the sun sets on, quite possibly, the most horrific year of their lives, the New Year brings a familiar face back into Steve and Katie’s life.
But Tony has some news that puts a smile on his sister’s face. If only her husband was as happy…
Warnings: Bad Language words. Brief mentions of Smut (NSFW, 18+)
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark
A/N: @angrybirdcr​ I LOVE YOU
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Chapter 41 Part 1
Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist
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October 2018
Despite Katie’s protestations to the contrary, Steve refused to believe that Tony and Pepper actually wanted him at their wedding. She had tried in vain to convince him to go but at times like this he was so stubborn and, ironically, the only man on the planet that could rival him for pig-headedness was Tony himself. So now she was doubly pissed at him. He knew that, and if he hadn’t already he would have certainly guessed it by the way she was currently throwing things into her bag after hardly speaking a word to him since the previous night.
FRIDAY informed her that Happy was here to collect her and Katie closed her small carry case. Steve sighed and went to pick it up for her, fully intending on carrying it to the car, but she beat him to it, swatting his hand away.
“I got it, its fine.” she said a little curtly as she did up her jacket. “Baby, c’mon, don’t leave on a bad note.” He pleaded, following her into the living area. “You know I get that you might think Tony doesn’t want you there, but I do.” Katie’s voice was quiet as she levelled him with a look. “And I was kinda hoping that would be enough to make you swallow your pride for once in your God-damned life” His face fell and the expression on it almost made her relent and apologise. 
Almost.
But the Stark stubbornness in her won out and she simply left it at that, slamming the door behind her. 
Steve felt like shit. Absolute shit as he stared at the place his wife had been stood a few moments before, the noise of the door banging shut still echoed round his head. With a sigh he swiped at his face with his hands before he headed into the bedroom, changed and wandered down to the gym to work off some frustration.
****
Katie glanced at her reflection. The bridesmaid dress she was wearing was an Alexander McQueen, as was Pepper’s dress, her favourite designer who hadn’t been dusted. It was a deep, burnt gold, almost brown to look at with a hint of a shimmer, perfect Autumn colours. The dress was plain, with a sweetheart neckline, the bodice drawing in her waist and the skirt was floor length, with a slight flare to it.  Her hair was twisted up and she wore a white gold headband which was studded with diamonds and pearls, her mom’s necklace that Tony had given to her on her wedding day sat flush to her collar bone. But all that aside, what she really loved was her make-up. It was all autumnal colours, eyes lidded under a burnt orange which had a slight golden shimmer to it setting off her green and amber eyes to perfection, and the contouring was amazing. 
Smoothing down her skirt once more, she looked down and stepped into her gold Jimmy Choo heels and stilled as a familiar voice spoke.
“You look beautiful.”
Her head shot up and Steve’s eyes locked onto hers in the mirror before she spun round to face him stood in the doorway.
“I thought you weren’t coming?” She frowned.
“I wasn’t.” He said shyly, stepping into the room “But, after you left yesterday I thought about what you said and you’re right. So I spoke to Pepper and well, here I am.” Katie looked him up and down. He was dressed in his blue suit and underneath it he wore a light green shirt complimented by a tie more or less the same colour as her dress, along with his shiny dark brown oxfords. Exactly the outfit she’d picked for him and left at the front of the closet just in case. With his hair immaculately styled, short stubble impeccably trimmed and a nervous smile on his face, he looked absolutely gorgeous.
“I’m so glad you came.” She smiled, all anger forgotten as she stepped forward and he met her halfway.
“I hate it when we fight.” He muttered, gently kissing her, his strong hands on her back, pulling her to him. “I’m sorry, Doll.”
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” A familiar voice drawled and the pair of them turned to see Natasha leaning in the doorway, two flutes of champagne in her hand. She looked stunning in a knee length figure hugging bottle green dress.
“You look great Nat.” Steve offered, surprised to see a faint tinge of red flushing up the blonde’s neck and cheeks as she uttered a soft thanks before she looked at Katie.
“Came to let you know that Tony’s here.” 
Steve took a deep breath.
“Right, erm…” Katie tugged on Steve’s hand and took a glass of champagne off Nat. “Come on.” “Where are we going?” Steve frowned. “To see my brother, the pair of you need to get this out of the way before the ceremony.” “Baby, I-” “Don’t argue with me Steven.” she retorted, leading him down the stairs and out into the Autumn sunshine, across the lawn which was sporting a banquet tent and down the small path which had been lined with a gold carpet. Tony was stood at the end, under the arch which led into the tent where the reception would be held, directing people. As the Weather was nice, the actual ceremony was going to take place at the end of the wooden jetty. People were already settling on chairs on the banks of the lake.
Steve felt, and looked, like a deer in headlights when he caught sight of Tony. Katie squeezed his hand and whispered for him to relax as Tony, who had seen them approaching, started striding over to meet them.
“Well, don’t you look handsome?” Katie said to him, taking in his dark grey formal tail suit, ivory patterned waistcoat and ivory ruffled tie.
“Errm, shouldn’t you be with Pepper?” Tony asked, dropping a kiss to his sister’s cheek. “You look beautiful by the way.” “Thanks. Your gorgeous bride is just having her hair finished off and then I’m going to get her in her dress, but I wanted to come and see you first, we both did.”
“It’s a err, beautiful house.” Steve cleared his throat as he spoke and looked around. He’d never been before, and he felt ridiculously uncomfortable right at that moment for being a complete jerk. He should have done this months ago. "Well, it’s a bit like you Cap.” Tony replied, his eyes locking onto his brother-in-law’s. “Ancient, but nothing a little modernisation couldn’t fix.”
Steve let out a chuckle and took a deep breath. “Tony, listen, I want to apologize. For everything.” He swallowed a little before he continued.“What went down in Siberia was, well it was harsh, and I was out of order. I should have told you about your parents. I’m sorry, I really am.”
Katie held her breath, she knew how much that would have taken for Steve to apologise, so heartfelt as well and she knew he wasn’t doing it just for her. As she stood watching, she saw Tony bristle and she stiffened slightly.
“You should be.” Tony sniffed, but just as Katie was about to chastise him she saw his face soften, “But all that’s in the past now. You know, I get that Barnes wasn’t in control of his actions but I still can’t-” he stopped himself and took another deep breath ”Look, it doesn’t matter now, so let’s just say I understand why you did what you did even if I don’t agree with it. And I’m sorry too, Cap.”
Steve took a deep breath and gave a small smile. “I missed you Tony.”
“Yeah, well, that goes without saying because I’m so incredibly missable” Tony shrugged before he smiled “I missed you too, buddy.”
The two men shook hands before Tony gave a small huff and pulled Steve into a slightly awkward embrace, the two men clapping one another on the back.
Steve felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. As much as he had tried to deny it, Tony was like a brother to him and he had missed him. Plus, he knew how much it had hurt Katie them both being at odds. And he just wanted his wife to be happy and to move forward, past what had happened. As he looked over Tony’s shoulder he saw Katie watching them both, her eyes shining and she mouthed a thank you to him before she cleared her throat.
“Right, now that’s done can I leave him with you whilst I go do Bridesmaid stuff?” She spoke with a smile on her face that her two best boys were finally over their spat.
“Yeah, go ahead, in fact, I have just the job for you,Spangles.” Tony nodded, and the two men strode off, Tony’s hand in between Steve’s shoulder blades as they walked. Steve looked back at his wife as she strode across the lawns to the house before he turned his attention to Tony as they headed towards the lake.
*****
The wedding was beautiful. And whilst he really should have been thinking this about the bride, Steve seriously thought his wife was the most stunning woman there. As she walked down the aisle first, arm linked through Rhodey’s she caught Steve’s eye from where he was sat in between Banner and Natasha and he smiled at her, a genuine smile which she returned. When it was time for Pepper’s entrance, Steve glanced at Tony and couldn’t recall a time where he’d seen the man so happy, so emotional. 
The small ceremony was conducted, and it was time for Steve to perform the task Tony had given to him-signing the witness register along with Happy. It was a small gesture, but one which meant a great deal to the Captain.
Then, the rest of the afternoon passed in a bustle of photos, drink, food and speeches. Tony’s was slightly self-indulgent, as always, before he gushed about his new wife. Rhodey told plenty of stories about them growing up, and then it was Katie’s turn.
“As all of you here know, Tony brought me up from the age of seven.” Katie cleared her throat, glancing round at the various faces in the room. “Our parents died and suddenly there he is, twenty-one years old with a business to run and a pain in the ass kid sister to look after.” She scratched at her head. “My childhood was happy, I wanted for nothing, and that was all down to you.” She locked eyes with her brother. “Tony, I don’t tell you this enough, but I really am grateful for everything you did and everything you gave to me, least of all the absolute, unconditional love I have always felt from you. I know we have had our differences but you always told me that you could never be prouder of me if you tried, and I want you to know, that the feeling is mutual. I love you, not just as my brother, but as the best substitute father I could have wished for. And it makes me so happy to see you here today, after everything, with the woman that finally made an honest man out of you.” A few more chuckles, but Tony’s eyes were now wet with tears as he glanced up at her.
“Pepper has been a big part of my life for almost twenty years now, and I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d be happier with as a sister-in-law. But, you do know what you’ve let yourself in for right?”
Pepper laughed and nodded.
“Good, because he’s your problem now, good luck!”
Katie sat down as the room erupted into laughs and Steve pressed a soft kiss to her lips, gently wiping at her tears before they could ruin her make up.
As the night closed in, the Marquee was strung up with lights and wooden benches giving the place a warm, welcoming ambient feel. Far too soon for Katie’s liking it was time for the first dance. Tony clearly hadn’t told anyone she was performing as many puzzled faces peered up at her as she took the microphone in her hand and cleared her throat with a nod to the keyboard player who struck up the opening notes to Eta James “At Last.”
Tony’s face split into a grin as he offered Pepper his hand and the new Mr and Mrs Stark took to the dance floor, applause and camera flashes filled the tent as Katie sang, watching her brother and his new wife dance closely. In turn, Steve watched his wife, her voice s powerful and sultry, her eyes shining softly as she was watching Tony and Pepper revolve on the dancefloor. And then, as customary, people began to join them and Steve turned to Nat.
“May I have this dance ma’am?”
Natasha studied him for a moment before she smiled and slipped her hand into his, where he took her into a polite hold and steered them around the dancefloor, catching Katie’s eye causing her to smile.
When the song finished everyone turned to her and she flushed a little, giving a shy smile before she cleared her throat. “I’ve got one more.”
Tony frowned as he looked at Pepper who met him with an equally puzzled look, but when the band started to play, Tony’s face slid into a huge smile as Katie winked at him, before she once more began to sing.
“Now that she’s back in the atmosphere, with drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey…”
As she continued through the verse, Tony looked up at her, his eyes shining as he tossed his arm over Pepper’s shoulders, everyone in the tent gently swaying along to the song, and when the upbeat part kicked in, everyone hit the dance floor again.
Katie was now completely lost in the song that her and her brother had sung together so many times. She allowed the memories to wash over her as she sang, suddenly back in his convertible mustang cruising over the Golden Gate Bridge, then again dancing round in shorts and a bikini by the pool, then she was back in the kitchen, both of them holding wooden spoons to their mouths as make-believe mics. She sang out note after note and as she launched into the final chorus. Tony, who knew the song was coming to a big crescendo had stopped dancing to start winding the crowd up as she belted out the last bit of the song, eyes closed as she dipped slightly, hand extended by her side.
And now you’re lonely looking for yourself out there
The marquee erupted into a cheer and Katie smiled to herself, handing the mic back to the singer of the band who thanked her, drawing another cheer from the crowd. Steve walked forward and offered his hand to his wife to help her walk down the small steps from the stage.
“You amaze me every single day you know that?” His lips brushed her ear as the band struck up into a soul song and he led her towards the bar for a drink. She beamed at him, cheeks flushing from the singing and the adrenaline that had been pulsing through her veins at the fact she’d been stood on a stage, singing in front of a group of people for the first time since she could remember. He dropped a kiss to her cheek and she moved her head to catch his lips softly.
“Kiddo?”
At that she spun to face Tony, who didn’t say another word, simply pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tight, kissing the side of her head. She held him back, happily resting her head against his shoulder until he eventually released her, and then turned to head off over the dance floor to greet someone else.
“I saw you dancing with Nat.” Katie slid her hands up Steve’s chest as he ordered a beer and a gin and tonic, his jacket and tie now discarded on one of the chairs behind him.
“Jealous?” He arched an eyebrow, his hand settling on her hips.
“Not in the slightest.” Her hands connecting round his neck. “I thought it was one of the sweetest things you could have done. She’s been so down lately.” “She seems okay tonight.” Steve turned, watching the woman in question as she stood talking to Bruce. “Maybe she just needed reminding that there’s still life to be lived.” “That’s very philosophical of you, Captain.”
“I have my moments.” He grinned, looking back down at Katie, his hand on her hip pulling her closer. “Are you still staying here tonight or coming home?” “Undecided.” She teased, her hands resting on his chest, muscles broad and tense under her fingers.
“Well if you come back with me I’ll do that thing you like.”  His short beard scratched her cheek as he spoke softly into her ear.
“That’s blackmail.” 
Smirking, he kissed her softly. “I know.”
She did go home with him, and Steve was about as gentle and tender that night as she could ever remember him being. His lips were soft as he made sure to cherish every single part of her body. His hips rolled against hers, keeping them locked together, hands entwined together as he gently pinned them at either side of her head, eyes locked onto hers as he took her apart, piece by piece.
They lay there afterwards, Katie’s head resting in its favourite place on his chest, his hand gently running up and down her spine as she slept. Resting his head against hers, he closed his eyes on what had been a pretty amazing day in all honestly. He and Tony were back on an even keel, and being surrounded by people at the wedding, he couldn’t help but marvel at the love, friendship and happiness that had been present at the event. 
He hadn’t ever thought he’d see it again on that scale after the snap, and it gave him faith that, just like he had said earlier, there was still a good life to be lived.
*******
January 2019.
Steve pulled his jacket collar up against the snow and trudged across the car park towards the store entrance. A soft, white blanket covered the cars that lay abandoned after the snap, something he knew that the Government was going to have to sort at some point. Heading into the shop, he noted that it was reasonably busy compared to how it had been the last time he’d popped in a few weeks ago. He supposed that was a good sign. Grabbing a basket he headed straight for what they needed- milk, eggs, bread, bacon, fabric softener and tampons. Okay, so the last weren’t what they needed, obviously, more what Katie needed. She’d laughed when she had given him the list, remarking that this was the first time she’d ever sent him shopping for shit like this before offering to go instead, but he was a modern man now, they’d been together for almost six years, married for over three, he could deal with buying his wife tampons, right?
Now he was making a mental note, as some woman was slyly eyeing him as he grabbed a box, to remind his wife it’s a fucking good job he loves her as much as he does.
He whizzed around picking up the rest of the stuff and was heading to the till when he heard a loud shout. Spinning round on autopilot he saw one of the security guards chasing someone, a kid dressed in a pair of dirty jeans, a jacket that was far too thin for the weather, and a baseball cap, down the aisle. Steve let out a sigh. Shoplifting and petty crime had rocketed as people struggled to make ends meet following The Decimation. As the kid neared him he gently held out an arm to stop them passing and the child, a girl, gave a loud yell and looked up at him angrily. 
Instantly his heart leapt into his throat. Granted, it was a few years since he had seen her at the last Stark Christmas Party, but he’d recognise those large, deep brown eyes anywhere.
“Gerrroffff me!”
“Emmy?” He frowned, and she paused her struggling to look up at him and he removed his hat. “It’s me. Steve.” “I know you are.” She blinked, and then began to struggle again.
“Stop it.” He instructed, voice full of authority and he turned to the security guard. “What’s the problem here?” 
“Caught her down the aisle back there, shoving packs of chocolate and chips into her backpack.”
“Has she actually committed a crime yet?” Steve asked. “I mean, nothing has left the store. If I pay for it…” “No but she was gonna!” “But she hasn’t actually?” The security guard let out a groan. “Look pal, you’ve no idea what it’s like trying to keep this place straight.” “Oh believe me Sir, I do.” Steve mumbled, before he glanced down at Emmy. She was small, her dark, ebony hair was dirty and knotted, and her olive-skinned cheeks were pinched like she needed a good meal. He looked up at the man. “I’ll pay for the items and then ensure she’s dealt with.” “Dealt with?” The Security guard frowned before he looked at Steve properly and then his eyes widened “Holy shit, you’re Captain-” Steve cut him off, holding his hand up. “I assume that’s an acceptable proposition?”
“Of course Captain Rogers.” He nodded. Steve shook the man’s hand and then turned to Emmy.
“Give me the bag.”
She looked up at him before she sighed, handing it over. Steve tipped it out onto the conveyor belt at the till. A few bars of Hershey, some kettle chips, toothpaste, soap.
“Have you been on your own since, well, since it happened?” He asked and Emmy shrugged.
“Foster parents both dusted. Not that I care like, they were horrible. Better on my own.” Steve stiffened slight as he handed over some cash to the assistant. He studied Emmy as she packed her things into her bag. He couldn’t leave her like this.
“No one’s better on their own.” He shook his head. “Listen, I’ll give you two choices. You either come back to the compound with me for something decent to eat, or I can take you to one of the shelters.” “And if I refuse to do either?”
“Okay, three options.” Steve raised an eyebrow at her sass. “I turn you back over to Mall Cop over there and you can be handed into the police.”
Emmy snorted at his film reference before she looked down and plucked at something on her coat. “Is Katie…” “Yeah, she’s there.”
“Suppose coming to see her wouldn’t be so bad.” The small girl shrugged. Steve smiled, picked up the bag of groceries and gently went to place a hand between her shoulder blades, to steer her towards the car, but he stopped dead when she flinched violently to his touch.
“Hey, its okay.” he said gently. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
She looked at him, with an expression that made her look far older than her years and rolled her eyes whilst giving a snort. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”
*****
Lucky alerted Katie to Steve’s return home as he shot off the couch next to her and headed to the door before it even opened. Katie glanced over the back of the sofa and did a double take as Steve headed in with a familiar face in tow.
“Emmy?” She gasped, getting up off the sofa. The girl smiled a little and allowed Katie to pull her into a hug “What are you doing here?” “He kidnapped me.” Emmy glowered at Steve who rolled his eyes as she stood up from where he had crouched down to greet Lucky.
“That’s crap Emmy and you know it.” He said sternly as he turned to Katie. “She was stealing.”
“Don’t look at me like that, it was that or starve.” Emmy shrugged.
“Starve? What? Wait, have you been-” Katie let out a groan as she realised the implications of what the kid was saying. “Oh, honey you should have found someone, got help!” “Better on my own.” Emmy repeated her earlier sentiment, kicking the floor with her dirty trainers. “And you can’t keep me here ya’ know?”
Katie looked down at the girl. She would be ten now, but she looked a lot smaller than she should be for her age. Katie glanced up at Steve who nodded to the kitchen.
“Listen, I was gonna cook dinner so at least stay for some food?” She asked. Emmy shrugged.
“Suppose so, what we having?”
“Pot roast.”
“Got any mash?” The girl’s eyes lit up and for a brief second Katie saw the cheeky little kid she had last seen a few years back.
“I can do mash.”
“Okay I’ll stay.” Emmy agreed before she looked at them both, a little sheepishly “Could I have some hot chocolate, like they used to do at the parties, please?”
“Sure I can manage that.” Katie smiled.
After settling her on the sofa, Lucky jumping up beside her, Katie retreated into the kitchen and gently shut the door before she set about making Emmy the hot chocolate she had requested.
“What happened?” Katie looked at Steve who sighed, crossing his arm.
“The Security guard at the store was chasing her after he caught her stealing.” Steve shook his head “She’s been on her own since the snap, said her foster family all disappeared.” “Shit.” Katie sighed stirring the cocoa powder and a square of chocolate into the hot milk.
“Yeah but,” Steve gently moved to hand Katie the marshmallows out of the cupboard, “she said something odd, about her being better on her own and she practically jumped out of her skin when I touched her. When I told her I wasn’t gonna hurt her, she said ‘that’s what they all say’”
Katie’s hand slipped at little as she contemplated Steve’s words, and she reached for a cloth to wipe up the liquid she had spilt. “You don’t think…” “I don’t know.” Steve sighed “But I couldn’t just leave her.” “No, course not.” Katie shook her head, reaching up to touch his face. “Just one of the many things I love about you, Rogers.”
He gave a soft smile. “I thought maybe we could give her a good meal, get her cleaned up and she could stay here tonight whilst we can figure out what to do.” Steve shrugged. His wife smiled at him, and grabbing the mug, she stood on her toes and gave him a kiss.
“You know,” she said, opening the door to the kitchen, “you might not be Captain America anymore but you’re still a hero.”
The three ate dinner and then Katie convinced Emmy to have a shower and, after digging her out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, settled her down in the spare room, promising her that neither of them were mad at her. Once she was convinced the eleven year old was asleep she dumped Emmy’s disgusting clothes in the washing machine, before she headed into the living room and snuggled down next to Steve who had poured her a glass of wine.
“She okay?” He asked.
“Yeah. Out like a light.” Katie sighed “I’m so glad you found her.”
Steve sighed a little. “She looked so lost. I can’t believe she’s been on her own for so long.” “Yeah well not anymore.” Katie scratched at her nose. “This is exactly why we need to sort those homes out. I mean there are hundreds of kids out there like that.” Steve nodded and took a long pull from his beer.
“Just seems so shitty.” Katie carried on “That she’s had two foster homes now and, ok, the last one doesn’t sound like it was so great, but we’re gonna shove her back in a home and…” She trailed off, tears in her eyes. “She deserves so much better, they all do.”
“Well,” Steve turned his head to look at her. “I’m sure you’ll make sure she has a good place for when she has to leave.” Katie stayed silent for a moment, before she took a deep breath and decide to just go for it and voice what was on her mind. “What if she doesn’t?” 
“Doesn’t what?”
“Leave”
“What, you mean, she stays here?”
“Would that be so bad?” Katie asked, “I just, I dunno, Steve, I can’t…” She trailed off, simply looking at him, a hopeful expression on her face that made Steve want to kiss the life out of her. He knew she loved the little girl, she’d always had a soft spot for her. And would fostering a kid for the time being be such a bad idea? It would mean changes, a lot of changes and they would be inheriting an eleven year old, with an attitude to boot. But, they had the room and Natasha was always on hand as well…
Maybe this was just another little way they could give something back.
“Why don’t we ask her tomorrow?” Steve suggested. “If she wants to stay then maybe we can look at it, at least until something else turns up.” “You mean that?” Katie looked up at him and he nodded.
“Yeah.” 
With a teary smile she shifted so she knelt up and reached to gently cup his jawline with her fingers.
“Thank you.” she kissed him softly.
***** Of course Emmy wanted to stay. And, after a fortnight of her being at the compound, Katie and Steve made the enquiry into fostering her on a more official basis, which was easier than it would have been pre-snap, officials keen to rehouse children with people that were willing to take them in. 
The first month was full of teething problems. Emmy had refused to go back to the house she had been living in, screaming blue murder when Steve had suggested they collect her things. So Katie had taken her out shopping for clothes and bits and pieces that she needed. Then she had refused to try anything on in the changing rooms. Ever patient, and recognising the signs of trauma and panic, Katie had calmed her down and told her they would simply take the clothes home to try on there, and that it wasn’t a big deal.
It transpired, after a tearful confession later in her room, Emmy was simply frightened that they would see the marks on her back left by the belt her foster father had hit her with and she had broken down, Katie simply laying with her until she fell asleep. 
The girl also had nightmares, and would often wake up screaming, but wouldn’t let Steve anywhere near her to comfort her. He didn’t take it personally, not after he knew what she had gone through with her foster father, but it did upset him somewhat to think that she could be afraid of him. As time went by she became a lot more comfortable around him, but still wasn’t really happy with any physical contact from anyone bar Katie. Steve simply respected her boundaries, Katie assuring that she would come round eventually.
Emmy found a friend in Natasha, the young girl spending a fair bit of time with the woman, often Steve would find them in the gym, Natasha teaching her some boxing move or other. Steve wasn’t completely sure it was a very good idea, but he left them to it as Emmy would come back to the apartment gushing about what she had learnt, keen to show them both her ‘moves’ as she called them. It was those moments that they both enjoyed, the signs of a cheeky young, innocent girl flashed through and it made Steve’s heart swell to see her coming out of her shell more and more.
Maybe more surprising, however, was how much she took to Tony. Katie said it was because they were the same mental age, which Pepper had vehemently agreed with. But Steve thought it was because Tony simply treat her like he would anyone else with his usual sarcasm and bluntness and she was fascinated by anything the inventor would show her when they visited the lake house. Turns out she had a real knack for technology, and the two of them set about on a project, building a small remote control robot which Lucky wasn’t quite so sure about as the dog would run away, bark, come back, and run away again whilst Emmy cackled away from her vantage point on the stairs where she controlled it.
Alongside this, Katie was still working on setting up homes for other kids through SIDE, and when she came home saying that there was a place for Emmy at the most recent one, the Rogers were both forced to face the reality that, whilst they had meant the fostering to be a temporary arrangement, neither of them wanted Emmy to be placed back into care.
So at the end of April, they made the fostering arrangement permanent.
Which was why Steve now found himself in a hardware store with a ridiculously hyper young girl, picking out a colour to paint her bedroom in.
“I don’t want pink.” Emmy frowned, looking at the colour chart on the wall.
“Well, what do you want?” Steve asked patiently.
“Purple. I think. Maybe a lilac.” “Okay there are some over there.” he nodded and she crossed the aisle to study the colour.
“I think I like this one.” 
Steve nodded. “Good choice,” before he found the tin with the correct shade in and dropped four onto the trolley. “Alright, that’s that done.” He turned to look at her “You wanted a new lamp too?”
“I don’t need one…”
“No, I know, but you wanted one.” 
Emmy’s face lit up and she nodded so they headed over to the light display. Her eyes went wide as she made her way straight over to a tall lamp, the shade of which was decorated with tiny, silver stars.
“I love it.” She said gently. Steve nodded, picked a boxed one up off the shelf and dropped it onto the flat bed trolley.
“That was easy.” He smiled.
“Please can I get some fairy lights for round my bed?” Emmy asked timidly “We told you kid, whatever you want, well, within reason.”  
With another face-splitting smile, Emmy selected some fairy lights. And a rug. And a few new cushions. And a throw. And a new bed for Lucky who seemed to have taken up permanent residence in her room when she was in there. Several hours and a couple of hundred bucks later they were on their way home after Steve had been cajoled into taking a detour through the drive-through for a burger.
“Hey!” Katie greeted as they walked through the door, Emmy carrying the cushions, Steve lugging everything else “Wow, you buy the whole store?”
“Is it too much?” Emmy asked, nervously “We can…” “No, I’m teasing, honey!” Katie chuckled, dropping a kiss onto her head. There was a moment and then Emmy burst into tears.
“Okay,” Katie sighed, taking her hand “Come on.”
Steve watched, feeling slightly useless, as he couldn’t help comfort the girl. He followed as Katie led her to the couch and he sat on the arm chair as Katie patiently sat Emmy down and waited until she had stopped sobbing. Lucky jumped up beside her and pushed his face into hers, licking away her tears as she wound her hands into the dog’s sandy coloured fur.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Katie assured her “Do you wanna talk about it?” “I’ve never had nice things.” The little girl wringed her hands together and looked up at Katie from underneath wet eyelashes. “And when I did, then my foster brothers would break them and then he would hit me because I didn’t look after them.” She never used her foster father’s name. It was always he or him. Steve clenched his fists and felt the nerve tick in his jaw as he fought back the urge to go on a rant about the asshole.
“You know we would never hurt you Emmy.”He leaned forward, fighting the urge to reach out and tuck the hair that had fallen over her face behind her ear. “And no one else is gonna hurt you whilst you’re here.”
She wiped her eyes and gave a small sniffle. “I know.”
“So, how about we dry those tears and you help me make dinner?” Katie looked at her “Whilst Steve-O puts your things in your room.”
Steve let out a playful groan as Emmy giggled. “I really wish you’d stop calling me that.” Katie stuck out her tongue as he rolled his eyes and stood up, slapping his thighs with his hands. “The pair of you are a monumental pain in my ass.” “Language!” Emmy shot back as she smirked at him and he gave a snort, picking up the items they’d bought and taking them into her room.
Whilst they were in the kitchen, Steve set about fixing up her lamp, the fairy lights, tossed the new throw and cushions they had bought on her bed and set the remote for the flat-screen TV they had had installed on the wall on her nightstand. He called the girls to come and look and Emmy’s face was a picture, her eyes lighting up as she saw her room. She glanced around and looked at Steve, then to Katie, then back again.
“We can start painting over the weekend-” Steve began but was cut off when the girl threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her forehead to the top part of his stomach. Steve paused for a moment before his hand gently fell to the back of Emmy’s head as he stooped and gave her a hug back, looking up at Katie who was smiling from her vantage point in the doorway.
“She’ll come round in time…”  
His wife’s voice echoed around his head as he dropped a soft kiss to the top of Emmy’s head and smiled.
That was just another time in a long list of instances his wife had been right.
***** Chapter 42 Part 1
**Original Posting**
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