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depressedacadamia · 3 years

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The Anatomy of the Sun

Chapter II: One more Hour

A/N: Here’s chapter 2! I think I will be updating this around every 1-2 weeks because the chapters are really long. Anyway, here it the second chap, I hope you like it and please comment!

Word count: 17K

Warnings: Kissing (more like making out), a tad of angst, r!pe mention (the patient is a victm), some mental illness references if you squint.

Chapter I

Tagging: @showtunesandsolangelo

It’s all about lines.

Jason was feeling good, he could feel it- today was going to be great. He finally managed to correct the cute barista who kept on calling him Jack and he had found the perfect parking space. He was excited- maybe he’d even get into an OR today and take back his 007 status. That was until he was almost hit by a motorcycle. He watched as the rider swerved from side to side until finally, they pulled up, leaning their motorcycle to the side as they pulled off their helmet. He watched as Hazel shook her head back and forth, letting her dark curls bounce about as she stretched her neck. She ran past him, shooting him a respectful nod as she entered the hospital with her motorcycle helmet in her gloved hands.

The finish line at the end of residency.

Roommates. Nico was officially putting up a poster for roommates. He didn’t know why he didn’t just ask Hazel but at the same time, he did. Asking Hazel was a portal into too much family drama than he could handle. Having to attend family dinners with his family was bad enough, he didn’t want to start arguing with Hazel. Besides, he just wanted 2 complete strangers that he didn't have to interact with. He pressed his thumb into the pin, securing the poster.

Waiting in line for a chance at the operating table.

And then, there’s the most important line. The line separating you from the people you work with.

Juniper was waiting to get the lift, her bag swinging in her hands. She had made a bad impression on everyone so far- maybe it was because she was a model. She couldn’t lie, people had lacked respect when talking to her in particular and she had a feeling that it had something to do with her ex- career. Finally, the lift pinged and its doors opened, only for it to be full of people. She could tell they were all staring at her, not because she looked spectacularly bad that day (she had not slept properly in a month) but because they clearly all knew of her previous occupation. Juniper mumbled something about taking the stairs and decided to keep her head up high.

At least she wasn't under tons of crushing debt.

Hour 1

Nico slipped off his boots, trading them for some worn out trainers that were much more safe. The boots were old but he hadn’t worn them often due to their uncomfortable nature but for once, he had decided to wear them. Did he know why he chose them? No, he had just decided to slip them on.

“I would ask how last night went, but I think I know and I really don’t want to hear details,” Hazel said as she walked past Nico to gain access to her locker, referring to the bruise at the base of his collarbone.

“You’re just jealous that you haven’t scored an attending yet. I’ll bet you I’m in trauma today,” Nico bragged as he pushed his boots into the already overcrowded locker. Hazel rolled her eyes at her brother's typical behaviour.

“You know that he might think you guys are dating?” Hazel added, slipping on her white coat. Nico snorted as he pulled on his scrub shirt over his long sleeved t-shirt.

“I’ve made it very clear to him that we are not dating,” Nico scoffed, “ Now all I have to do is wait for the chase.”

“The chase?”

“The chase, you know? The whole trying to pursue this person you like. It gets to a point where I will have all the power and he will do anything I want,” Nico explained. Hazel raised an eyebrow at his boastful tactics but decided to make no further comment. She did however want to make a comment about the roommates poster he had put up.

“What's up with the roommates poster by the way? Since when did you want people living with you?” Hazel asked, slamming her locker shut, just as Nico closed his. Her hair was frantic, similar to her brothers who's olive skin was particularly glowly today- she did not want to know what from.

“The place seems empty and I need other people paying rent to afford it,” Nico complained. Now it was Hazel’s turn to snort. It wasn’t quite as big a knowledge that the Di Angelo’s were also extremely wealthy than it was knowledge to know of their surgical legacy- Well Bianca’s surgical legacy. Hazel, who was not in the mood to have a confrontation with her brother, simply nodded and left.

“Please! I’d be the perfect candidate! I’m super quiet and I won’t make a mess!” The intern opposite Nico begged as she told him all the things which supposedly made her a good roommate. Nico disagreed. There many reasons that he did not want her living with him but it came down to one which was she was much too young.

“No,” he concluded unsympathetically. He was about to get up and leave when he heard another plead from the intern.

“But why?”

“Where were you when the challenger exploded?” He turned around, slightly annoyed but nonetheless, still intimidating as usual.

“What?”

“The space shuttle, Challenger- where were you when it exploded?” he challenged.

“Uh, I think I was in kindergarten,” she looked up, trying to remember.

Nico huffed out, “Exactly.”

“Percy! We’re going to be late! We aren't going to be late, we’re already late!” Annabeth shouted as she stood by the door in her scrubs, her bag in hand. Percy, with his bed hair, rushed out of the kitchen in his scrubs, grabbing his jacket from the sofa before heading towards Annabeth and placing a soft kiss on her cheek in hopes of lightening up her mood.

“Come on Wise girl, we gotta go,” he grinned cheekily as he grabbed her by the hand opening the door of their house. Annabeth, unable to stay mad for so long, sighed before giving in and heading to the car.

“We are never having morning sex again if it means we’re going to be late,” Annabeth warned. Percy, feigning mock offence, held a hand to his heart and gasped.

“Your words wound me!”

Annabeth slapped his shoulder as she started the car towards the hospital. Percy stopped mucking about and placed another chaste kiss on her cheek to make sure all was well.

Juniper and Jason were both complaining. Nico didn’t think he could handle one of them complaining, let alone trying to deal with both of them- that was a challenge. They were all leaning by the stairs right next to the nurses station which were next to the elevators.

“But Nicoo, why would you put up a poster for roommates if you don’t want roommates? I swear, I’m a great chef and I clean obsessively!” Juniper argued, slumping her arm slightly on Jason.

“I do want roommates but we’re working together 100 hours a week, you want to live together too?” he shot back. He held 4 mocha latte’s in one of those 4 cup holders you get at a coffee shop. Without asking, Juniper snatched two, shocking Nico.

“That’s for not letting us be your roommates,” Juniper pouted as she handed one to Jason who nervously accepted. Jason leaned forward, trying to convince Nico,

“Please, I have to live with my sister and she blasts her music so much. I’m pretty sure my eardrums have popped,”Jason begged. Hazel, in this exact moment, joined them, giving Jason a sympathetic look before noticing the coffee in Nico’s hand. She casually took one from Nico, not caring about his reaction- she had taken his food before on several occasions (although the Happy meal incident did not go over well).

“Why aren’t you taking one?” Hazel nodded her head towards the last coffee in his grasp as she sipped hers- she frowned. Nico never ordered mocha latte. She had expected to be tasting coffee with way too much creamer or a hot chocolate but instead it was the distinctly strong taste of coffee.

“It’s not mine,” Nico hummed as his eyes searched towards the elevator, waiting for it to open. Hazel knew that Dr Solace was already here so what was Nico so invested for? It can’t have been Percy but perhaps the resident who would come with him

“Oh, you’re bringing bribes now?” Hazel pointed towards the coffee, thinking of Dr Chase.

“It’s not a bribe,” Nico defended, looking away sharply as he listened to Jason and Juniper continue to slander his name due to his lack of compassion with them living with him.

“Look, I just want to live with two total strangers that I won’t have to talk to or be nice to!” he confessed, throwing his free hand about in exaggeration. Unexpectedly, Dr Chase made her way down the main stairs (which surprised everyone as they expected her to be downstairs not upstairs). She quickly assigned them all tasks.

“Jason, you’re running the code team* today. Nico, take the trauma pager. Hazel, deliver the weekend labs to the patients and Juni- you’re on sutures,” She announced before heading back up the stairs, only to be stopped by Nico.

“Dr Chase, I was hoping I would be able to assist in the OR today, maybe even perform a minor procedure. I think I’m ready.” He thrusted the mocha latte into her direction, “ Mocha Latte?”

Dr Chase accepted the drink slowly before taking a small sip. It slightly burnt the tip of her tongue but she appreciated the gesture- however, unfortunately for Di Angelo, this did not mean that Dr Chase had accepted his request for surgery.

“Wait, if he gets to cut, then I wanna cut too!” Hazel insisted.

“So do I!” Juniper squished in between the interns. Jason, off to the side mumbled something about how it would be nice to get a second shot. However, this simply irked Dr Chase even more. She held her hand up signalling silence- at least the interns got this sign right.

“Stop talking,” she started, “Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That’s not your job. Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No. Why? Because my interns are whiny. You know what will make me look happy? Having the code team staffed, Having the trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered and having someone down in the Pit doing sutures. No one holds a scalpel until I’m so happy, I’m Mary freakin Poppins!”

The interns, as clueless as ever, all stood staring at her with hopeful eyes as if they were baby birds expecting Annabeth to just feed them. She climbed a few steps before turning around and calling out,

“Why are y'all standing there, move!”

Quickly, all the interns scattered to their assigned jobs.

Hour 2

Will was waiting for an elevator as he noticed a short mop of black messy hair pick up a few files off the floor and clumsily place them on top of the overwhelming pile they already had in their small arms. Nico going to an elevator. Trying to not turn around and offer his help, Will kept to himself, smiling slightly at the small grunts the doctor beside him made. Nico finally managed to take a few more steps into Dr Solace’s eyeline, so he was standing next to him instead of behind. He tapped his foot as he decided to further his plan along.

“New york has ferry boats. There are also ferry boats where I come from. I didn’t know there were ferry boats here,” Nico mused. Will, slightly amused by Nico’s lack of geographical knowledge, retorted.

“New York is surrounded by water.”

“Hence the Ferry boats,” Nico concluded before admitting, “Now I have to like it here ya know. I wasn’t planning on liking it. I’m from Italy- genetically engineered to dislike everywhere- except Paris.”

“I have a thing for Ferry Boats,” Will decided to add, smirking slightly as they entered the empty elevator. Nico being the stubborn person he was, attempted to press one of the buttons with his elbow and Will had to practically force the floor level out of Nico. It involved a lot of bickering back and forth until they finally agreed and the elevator doors closed.

Out of nowhere, Nico quickly said, “I’m not going out with you.”

Will, already wounded that his attemp- could he even say attempts? Nico had cut him off before he had even gotten a chance to say anything but he was determined to get to Nico.

“Did I ask you to go out with me?” He turned around, smiling slightly so he only showed some of his sparkling teeth, “Will you go out with me?”

“I ain’t dating you and we aren’t sleeping together again. You’re my boss,” Nico decided to cut to the chase.

“I’m your boss's boss.”

“You're my teacher, and my teacher’s teacher,” Nico pretended to resist only resulting in Will mocking him.

“I’m your sister, I'm your daughter.”

“You’re sexually harassing me.”

“I'm riding an elevator,” Will protested. Nico glanced at the back of Will’s head and thought

His hair looked particularly neat today- it would be such a shame if it got messed up.

“I’m drawing a line. The line is drawn. There’s a big line. Don’t cross the line,” Nico breathed heavily, as if he was holding his breath. Will, still hellbent on teasing the cute intern, turned around, with his arms crossed and his hair as perfect as ever.

“So this line, is it imaginary or do I have to get you a marker?” he smirked, his voice low and teasing- Nico could tell. His crystal blue eyes were going all hazy and his baby pink lips were slightly tilted to the side as if they were just mocking Nicp by being there. They looked soft, no they were soft- Nico knew that from experience. He could see a small mole on the side of his neck as well as a purplish bruise that he may or may have not left there.

Overcome by his lack of impulse control, Nico flung himself onto Will, dropping all the files in his arms and mashed his lips on his- a gesture that was returned just as harshly by Will. The files flew across the elevator floor as Nico’s hands came up to desperately weave themselves into Will’s hair. They fought for dominance in the kiss slamming each other into the elevator- it was hot, needy and totally inappropriate. But it seemed that neither of them cared. Their lips just couldn’t get enough of each other. It was like a fire was getting ignited, a fire that couldn’t be put out. It was in both of them, absolutely raging, uncontrollable. Will was tempted to tell Nico, mind the hair but just then Nico slightly bit at Will's bottom lip, pulling it backwards gently and sucked ever so slightly, before returning to the kiss that had Will plastered against the elevator wall.

So you want to play dirty Di Angelo?

Nico was not going to give Will the chance though. Absolutely consumed by the kiss, he slightly pulled at Will’s hair evicting a small, but low, growl out of Will’s throat. Nico wasn’t sure if he heard that correctly but just as he was about to test it again, he heard the ping of the elevator. The fire within was smaller but it hadn’t died. Nico quickly pulled away and started scrambling towards the floor, trying to grab at the files as the elevator door slowly pulled itself open. Will, still a tad shocked, also helped, trying to organise the files into the right cases before handing them over to Nico. They stepped out of the elevator in sync, just like their pagers. Since Nico was also in trauma, he figured that whatever Dr Solace was getting paged for, he was also meant to be helping.

“I’ll join after I finish with these files,” Nico called out, as Dr Solace nodded and hurried off. Nico smiled to himself as he noticed that Dr Solace’s hair was sticking up in several different directions.

As Nico made his way into the Pit, he noticed a large crowd of doctors all looking slightly concerned- he hoped it was not for his patient- the more gruesome the injury, the more surgery required. However, the second he was told that it was a rape victim, he understood the facial expresions- they were disgusted at the crime, not the injuries attained.

“Dr Solace has gone to prep for surgery along with Dr Jackson,” a nurse informed him as he entered the room.

“Okay, we’ve got a 25 year old female, found down at the park, status post- trauma. She came in with a GCS* of 6. BP* is 80 over 60. Exam is significant for blunt head trauma, as well as unequal breath sounds, her right pupil is dilated and she’s ready for X-ray,” the nurse recited as Nico entered the room. He scanned his eyes across the room before his eyes landed on something familiar.

Were those his boots?

No, they were obviously not Nico’s boots, but they were the same boots. He wanted to shudder, knowing a potential rape victim was wearing the same shoes as him the day she got attacked. It was weird right? It felt weird, it was like there was some weird unknown connection and that in a way, these 2 people were very much connected- as if they were the same people who were living parallel versions of each other's lives. During Nico’s quick zone- out session, a nurse continued to try to call his attention- something he only noticed when they snapped Dr Di Angelo!

He quickly nodded as he grabbed his flashlight from his pocket and pulled her eyelids open, looking for a reaction from her pupils.

“Call ahead to clear a CT, let them know I’m coming,” Nico commanded, “Load up the portable monitor and call respiratory for a ventilator*. I will get X-rays while I’m down there.”

As he helped wheel the patient out of the trauma room, he glanced back at the boots identical to his. There was a blood splatter at the front of it, the laces where messily undone and the heel was the same height. He wasn't acting paranoid right? He couldn’t help but think that this was a weird coincidence.

Nico was slightly surprised to see Dr Zhang scrubbed in on the surgery with them rather than Dr Mclean- after all he was the head of Cardio and she was the head of General surgery- but even then, why any other attendings other than Percy and Dr Solace were required, Nico truly did not know.

“What is she? 5’2, 180 pounds? And she took a beating like this,” Will mumbled.

“They should castrate the guy,” Percy announced from the other side of the table, trying to stop the swelling of her brain

“Look how shredded her hands are, she tried to fight back,” Will pointed out.

“Tried to? The rape test came back negative, she kicked his ass!” Percy told them. Nico was invested to see how Dr Solace was repairing her hands while the 2 attendings talked about the bravery of the patient.

“So we have a warrior among us, huh?” Dr Zhang joined in. Nico couldn’t help but feel a tinge of annoyance. She had a name. She was a person. He didn’t know why he felt so strongly about a patient all of a sudden but he had a faint feeling that it had something to do with those boots.

“Allison… that's her name…. Allison,” Nico cut in the conversation. All the attendings stopped to look at him. Percy, being as supportive as ever, smiled and nodded before returning to fixing her skull. Will looked at Nico, his eyes calm, like the ocean at rest. To an extent, it reminded Nico of Percy’s eyes- something that could always calm Nico down. He watched as Will’s lips slowly parted as he murmured Allison's name under his breath. Dr Zhang took a pair of clamps from the nurse before slowly pulling his arm back.

“I think I’ve found the cause of our rupture….more suction.” As he drew his arm back, the surgical interns and residents crowded by his arm to have a look at the cause of the rupture. However, once the foreign object was removed, the surgeons became more and more confused- what exactly was this, a tumor? A mass?

“What is this?” Dr Zhang turned towards the doctors. They all scooted closer to get a closer look. Nico took a glance for a couple of seconds before opening his eyes wide in horror as he realised what exactly he was looking at. He was in a state of horror and curiosity.

“Oh my god… she bit it off,” Nico started hesitantly. Dr Zhang, Dr Solace and Dr Jackson all looked to him, stopping their individual procedures, waiting for Nico to continue speaking.

“Well, come on- spit it out!” Percy told Nico. Utterly conflicted, Nico decided to just spit it out- just as Percy had told him to.

“That's a..that's a…. um that’s a penis.”

Almost on instinct, Dr Zhang called for a kidney bowl and practically flung the castrated appendage away from himself. Will couldn’t tell if he should laugh or be alarmed at how Nico was the only person able to identify the penis.

Hour 5

The water ran over the surgeons hands as they scrubbed between all the crevices in their hands with soap. In between fingers, around thumbs and nail brushes scrubbed at fingertips. Dr Zhang and Dr Solace both stood side by side as they washed their hands practically in sync- just like their miraculous surgical skills.

“I can’t believe she made it through that surgery,” Will began as he switched off the tap by nudging it slightly with his elbow.

“She has a long road to recovery. Fighting off infection, physiotherapy and not to mention therapy itself,” Frank, in his honest nature, responded. He copied Will, turning off the running water with his elbow as he reached for some paper towels to dry off his hands.

“And she needs to wake up in the next 72 hours if she wants a chance at fighting. She’s a fighter, I believe she can make it.”

“Speaking of making it to places, we should get a drink later and you can tell me the long story of what makes a hot shot doctor leave a big apple for New York,” Frank offered as he threw his paper towel into the bin.

Will shrugged slightly, “It’s a short story really- your Chief of surgery made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Chiron asked you to come?” Frank asked, genuinely shocked.

“Yeah, why?” Will turned around looking at Dr Zhang. He watched as Frank’s expressions twisted before he shook his head, gave a small smile and mumbled never mind.

“Do you know what the Code Team does? They save lives- yeah, I know. I shock a heart and another patient gets to live to see another day, pretty cool huh?” Jason slightly bragged, trying to make conversation with Hazel - who he knew was overly competitive. He was leaning over the shoulder of Hazel who leaned over the desk at the nurses station, organizing the patient files and lab results.

“Bambi, don’t say another word until after the hunter shoots your mother,” Hazel’s voice drawled with boredom. Jason practically speechless only managed out a meek,

“I don’t like you.”

Hazel sharply turned around, “You know, I have a BA* from Smith, a PHD* from Berkeley and an MD* from Stanford and I'm delivering lab results. It's gonna take me ages to get through these-”

“-Well then you better get a move on with it,” Dr Chase walked past, surprising the doctor. Hazel slightly intimidated, tried to protest that she wasn’t complaining but it seemed that Dr Chase didn’t really care. A doctor behind her with thick curly hair and a smug expression stood, trying to keep his expression neutral.

“This is Dr Underwood. Lucky Valdez got to get rid of him so now he’s got Mccaffrey and I’ve got Underwood on my service. Levesque, have him shadow you and show him how we run things on my service,” Dr chase commanded before walking off, slightly sashaying.

“Hey, I’m Grover Underwood, nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to Hazel who looked at it and recoiled slightly before looking at it in disgust. Jason was still trying to figure out if he liked this guy, he seemed quite polite so far but he truly wondered what Underwood did to get kicked off Valdez’s service- he had heard that Valdez was a pretty chill resident, getting kicked off his service would seem pretty hard.

“You’re the pig who called Nico a nurse.. Yeah, I hate you on principal,” Hazel admitted looking him up and down.

He did what? Jason thought as he eavesdropped on the conversation beside him.

“And you’re the pushy, overbearing kiss ass… I hate you too,” Grover grunted.

Okay, I defo don’t like this guy, Jason decided.

“Should be fun then,” Hazel sarcastically smiled as they both set off just as Jason's pager beeped signalling another Code Blue.

Jason ran around the corner, nurses following him as he found the patient's room. Immediately, he introduced himself. He had become more and more familiar with this procedure and while it had taught him that Hades was enjoying his job a bit too much, he was also hopeful for the patient in every room he had to run to.

“I’m Dr Grace and I’ll be running this code. What do we have?”

“57 year old male with an asystole pulse*,” A nurse from beside the bed answered. Jason ordered the defibrillators to be used as he had another person put on compressions, another on the ambu bag and someone administering drugs.

“Charging to 200, clear!”

The Pit was quite full as Dr June walked in, searching for her next patient. She picked up a chart from the nurses station that was positioned next to the emergency entrance and flipped the page to see the name. Mrs Lu, Bed 3

“Hi Mrs Lu, I'm Doctor June. I'm gonna sew up your wound, you’re going to need around 6 stitches.” Juniper turned around to start setting up the equipment from the tray only to hear a frantic cry of words coming from behind her. She only recognised the chinese word for hurt but even then, she could not decipher what Mrs Lu was saying. She sighed, wondering how long it would be until she could get a hold of a translator. She was tempted to ask Dr Zhang but she knew it was selfish and plain old rude of her to assume that Dr Zhang would be able to help her. She decided to wait for a translator.

Nico and the penis in a box. Yes, you read that correctly. Nico was holding the penis in a box or how he would like to put it, the forgein object in a cooler. They were making their way towards the office of the Chief Of Surgery. He slightly remembered the walk up to the room, the carpet and walls seeming familiar, like a second home. As he walked into the office, he was surprised to find Secretary Hedge there instead of Chief Chiron. He rapped his knuckles on the door gently, grasping the attention of the man sitting in the chair.

“Hey, I was told to leave this with the Chief.” He raised his arm with the cooler in his hand.

“Is that it?” A seriously over eager Secretary Hedge asked. Nico slowly nodded, trying to not fuel the secretaires curiosity. In a complete turn of events, Hedge asked,

“Can I see it?” Hedge watched as Nico struggled to keep his facial muscles under control- laugh or cringe, Nico did not know. Just as Hedge muttered a small, forget I asked, Chiron walked in with his white jacket and a large smile on recognising Nico.

“Nico! It’s good to see you!”

At this, Nico smiled. He had known Chiron for very long but the mass majority of the time that he had seen him, the attention was entirely focused on the potential for his sister- not much for him. He felt a bit guilty that he was enjoying the shine of her mentor while she was struggling but he finally felt noticed.

“How’s Bianca? I heard she was leaving the Mayo Clinic. Is she going back to the UN?” Chrion asked almost immediately. Nico could feel all the happiness and life in him slowly drain.So nothing had actually changed. He was still in his sister's shadow despite the fact that she wasn’t even here. Gods, she wasn’t even in this time period! Bianca was in a nursing home thinking she was reliving her surgery days and here was Nico somehow still under her shadow. If Bianca’s mentor wasn’t willing to see Nico’s potential as a surgeon- how many other Doctors thought that he was only here due to his Di Angelo status? Percy? Dr Chase? Did Doctor Solace think that?

Why does it concern me the most if Dr Solace doesn’t see past my status?

Nico decided that it must be because Dr solace was the head of his favourite department- Trauma.

“Uh, no. She’s taking time off-”

“-To write another book I suppose?” Chiron cut in, smiling as he picked up some papers off his desk and moved them underneath a folder. Nico simply attempted a smile in return, a gesture that did not alarm Chiron- he had known Nico Pre-Bianca and her alzehmiers. That Nico had been a very smiley person. Nico, who could have sworn his facial muscles were deteriorating as he smiled, decided to move the conversation to the matter at hand- the penis in a bo-

- The foreign object in a cooler .

“Well, I’ve got it,” Nico said half heartedly, lifting the cooler in his hand up slightly. Chiron turned to his secretary, conversing a few words with him, as if Nico had never entered the room.

“Uh, Hedge, how long did the cops say they’d be?”

“You know how slow they always are so he better take it with him-”

“-Take it with me? You want me to take a penis around the hospital with me?” Nico cut off Hedge, with growing anxiety- he did not want to have to babysit a penis. Gosh, being on Solace’s service was meant to result in fun, not this!

“It's the chain of custody rules. All medical matter in a rape must stay with the person who collected it until its placed into police custody,” Chiron ,who was secretlty relived to not have to keep the penis, recited.

“So I have custody over a penis,” Nico deadpanned. Sheepishly, the secretary nodded trying to not laugh at the poor kids' situation.

“Until the cops come from it, of course,” Chiron reminded Nico, as if knowing that the police would take their sweet time was any more re- assuring.

“And what am I meant to do with a penis?” Nico frantically asked, his cool persona falling and being slowly replaced by one of panic and desperation. Chiron and Hedge simply gave obscure looks at Nico’s question before looking back down at the papers in their hands.

Hour 10

Hazel sighed. She had been sighing all day. Every patient either had a benign tumour* or a condition of no interest to her. When was someone going to be seriously ill? They were surgeons for god's sake, not lab running rats! Both Hazel and Grover made their way to the next patients room, seriously disappointed. On entering the room, they both saw the family crowded round the patients bed, holding their hands together like there was a prayer commencing.

“You have a disorder called multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma. It's not a cancer or a sarcoma, it's very rare but minor. You will be discharged today,” Hazel, slightly bored, attempted a smile. The family, still taking in the good news, were catatonic for around 5 seconds before all hell broke loose. There was crying, cheering, claps and laughs. Grover and Hazel both looked at each other with the same expression- Get me out of here .

“Wait wait, does this mean I don’t need surgery?” The patient ,still propped up by his elbows in his bed, inquired. Hazel simply nodded before getting pulled into a bear hug, against her will may I add, and practically almost suffocated to death. Her eyes widened as she stared into Grovers soul trying to get him to help her. Unfortunately for Hazel, Underwood was much more invested in watching her uncomfortable encounters.

Jason was sitting in a chair, letting it spin it around and round. The nurses station was quite empty with only the occasional nurse in and out. He stopped his spinning to bury his head in a very interesting chart that consisted of a case to do with a-

- Clink!

Nico set down the cooler on the desk with a loud sound that jolted Jasons’s head out of his head before letting his eyes land on the cooler. Jason, curious and wanting to engage in conversation with Nico began questioning the contents of the cooler. Nico who really did not want to tell Jason attempted to warn him

“Ooh, what’s in the cooler?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“No.” Jason got up from his seat and came to stand next to Nico, “ No, I do wanna know.”

Nico, who really wasn’t about to greatly resist, decided to tell Jason. Afterall, if it ruined Jason’s day as well, it would mean he wouldn't be the only miserable person moping about in the hospital.

“It’s a severed penis.” Nico shrugged quite nonchalantly as he gained amusement from the horrified expression slowly growing on Jason’s face. He watched as Jason's expressions contorted between fascination and disgust, trying to figure out which emotion to settle on. He wanted to prove Nico wrong but at the same time didn’t want Nico to not like him.

“I don’t think I wanted to know that.” Jason looked back down at his book, with a meek expression and his head slightly bowed as if he was praying. As Jason entered a world of truly unnecessary overthinking, Grover and Hazel came in arguing, what about, Jason did not know and in all honesty, after what Nico had told him- he did not want to know. Deciding he wanted to shift his discomfort to someone else, he looked to Hazel.

“Do you know Di Angelo is babysitting a penis in a jar?” he pointed towards the cooler sitting on the table top. Hazel, with piqued curiosity, quickly made her way over towards the cooler and opened the lid, taking a quick peek at the bitten off contents before shutting it.

“It’s a cooler, not a jar,” Nico whined slightly, not really directing his comment towards anyone.

“Talk about taking a bite out of crime,” Hazel commented as she picked something out of Nico’s hair. Nico didn’t really know whether to thank her or to resist the gesture. It felt weird- right? It was weird that Hazel was filling Bianca’s void. It was weird that Nico first thought about Hazel when people talked about his sister. It was weird that Nico was completely okay with this. He felt it was simply not right but at the same time, he didn’t want it to stop. Was he being unfaithful to Bianca? Was he betraying her? Or would she want him to move on from her, grow closer with his family who were actually lucid.

Jason watched Nico’s facial expressions with intensity- such intensity that had Nico not been stuck in a hole of problems, he a hundred percent would have noticed and even been creeped out by Jason’s intense stare. Despite only knowing Nico for around a month, he cared deeply about him. He wanted to know what was so concerning to him so much that he froze up and his eyes went all glazed like he was on autopilot. Nico was a closed off person who wore all black and covered up his secrets with wicked smiles and sarcastic quips but Jason could see the vulnerable child within Nico. He felt responsible for him and everything that happened to him.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jason asked tenderly, making Nico lift his head- effectively stopping him from daydreaming. For a second, when Nico lifted his head, Jason saw a glitter in Nico’s eyes that reminded him of innocence. Youth, life and calamity- instead of the empty, cold and lifeless onyx eyes that could give even Lucifer nightmares.

“The rape victim I had today, Allison, she had the same shoes as me. And ever since… It just doesn’t sit well with me, ya know? I never wear those boots normally because they’re so uncomfortable And it’s… stupid and I’m tired so nevermind, just leave it.” Nico batted his hand, dismissing the subject. Jason raised his eyebrows at the abrash statement and gesture before attempting Nico’s wicked smile.

“Do you know what you need?” Jason wiggled his eyebrows, letting the secret into the open like a breath of air. Immediately, Nico caught onto what Jason was talking about. He was offended and shocked that Jason had been doing it without him- This was their thing and Jason was doing it behind his back without him? The betrayal was heartbreaking. What next? Solace sleeping with someone else?

“No! It’s sick and twisted and we said last time was the last time,” Nico firmly said. He watched as Jason’s face contorted between guilt and excitement.

“You’ve been doing it without me?” Nico released. Jason shuffled his feet together nefor mumbling a ‘maybe’.

“Do you know what would happen if anyone knew?” Nico huffed out but Jason had made up his mind.

“I’m doing it- you can come with me or you can sit here and be miserable,” Jason confirmed as he dragged Nico by the white collar, which was considerably easy when you realised that Nico was an entire head shorter that Jason- and some would argue even more.

Nico and Jason had their faces pressed up onto the glass staring at the cute babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or as the doctors would simply call it- the NICU. Nico couldn't help the overwhelming smile that made his way onto his face as he stared at the cute babies as they attempted to talk, throwing their limbs about cluelessly. He listened to Jason who urged them with non-existent words and funky sounds that was considered the universal baby language. Nico looked at Jason- his platinum blonde hair and faintly light blue eyes reminded him to an extent of Will but at the same time- there was a clear difference. Will had faint freckles that decorated his face like a cake being decorated by icing sugar- whereas Jason had a pale complexion. Will’s hair was more of a golden blond and reminded of Nico of sunrise on a summer morning- hot, warm and some may even say beautiful and then there was his eyes-

- Why was he reciting this like he memorised it in the shower for fun?

Nico decided to put Wil- no, Solace out of his mind. He listened to the absolutely adorable sounds that Jason was making- he reminded him of Bianca when she used to babysit Estelle- Percy’s younger sister. Estelle was absolutely adorable and Nico considered her to be his younger sister as well, considering the amount of time she spent with the Di Angelo’s- especially during Percy’s med school and residency years when he was meant to be babysitting Estelle and had instead handed her to Nico and Bianca.

“You are such a softie,” Nico said, giggling slightly at Jason who was still cooing at the babies. For a couple of moments afterwards, Jason froze. Was Nico complimenting him? Or was it an insult? What on earth did the word ‘softie’ mean here? Did Nico like sofites? Or was ‘Softie’ Nico’s equivalent of ‘ absolute loser’? However, before Jason was able to come to any sort of conclusion, his pager beeped, signalling another Code Blue that he had to respond to.

“Ah shit, I’ve got a code to run, I’ll catch you later.” Jason waved before breaking into a jog and leaving. After Nico said his goodbyes to Jason he continued watching the babies for some more time. He was fascinated- how did humanity get from there to here. The babies were pure and new and hadn’t been exposed to the harsh realities of the world- how will they turn to what Nico has become? How did they get from Point A to point B? As Nico pondered over these philosophical thoughts, he carried watching the babies but something caught his eye. He could have sworn that baby he just saw went blue momentarily. It was crying and thrashing about but maybe Nico was only seeing things. He was tired, sleep deprived and if he had to be honest- this wouldn't have been the first time Nico saw things that weren’t actually there.

He watched it again, more intensely. With an analytical fine tooth comb. There- the baby turned blue again! So he wasn’t hallucinating! He rushed into the room, quickly taking out the chart of the baby and scanning his eyes over the info. He was aware that if he was caught, the consequences would not be great. That was probably the understatement of the year. After finishing with the chart, he set it down and took his stethoscope and started listening to the heart of the baby- something there wasn’t right, Nico could feel it. Nico did not often have such strong feelings but he had learnt that when they occurred, they were never wrong.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing here?” a doctor with pink scrubs walked in.

“There were no tests ordered and the baby has a heart murmur-” Nico began, taking the stethoscope out of his ears.

“-I know and you’re surgery, you are not authorised to be here. Do you know what could happen if you were caught?” The intern pressed on but Nico refused to step down here.

“Are you going to do any tests to confirm?” Nico asked, his tone clearly one of concern.

“It’s a benign systolic ejection murmur*. It will go away with age.”

“So you aren’t doing any tests.” Nico realised that he couldn’t win this in any way- well for now. He started to make his way towards the door before the intern decided to slam another attempt at a guilt tripping insult at him but in reality just made Nico doubt their abilities. He seriously felt bad for the Valdez resident if these were the meatheads he had to teach.

Hour 15

Frank felt betrayed. He had to say, he was never truly familiar with such a feeling. He had experienced the odd chance of it but in reality Frank was used to succeeding- in fact he had dedicated all his life to it. Many people saw him as soft, simple and easy to beat opponent but in reality that was one of his greatest strengths- people underestimated him until they met him. To an extent this had made Frank slightly arrogant- but he wouldn’t say it wasn’t necessary. The truth is, every surgeon has to be arrogant to believe that they can cut open another human and somehow fix them as if they were a god like deity but right now, Frank wasn’t thinking that he was arrogant, no. He was thinking that Chiron was being arrogant- believing that he was all so big and mighty and could just throw Frank about with his lies and schemes.

“Oh Chiron! So you asked Solace to come here?” Frank confronted, his hands resting on his hips.

“Yeah, Solace was an old student of mine...” Chiron trailed off, unaware of the purpose of the conversation.

“Oh so he left a private practise in Austin, Texas just because you asked?”

“Yes.”

“No other reason? Just a favour for an old professor,” Frank said with a hint of sarcasm lingering behind the words.

“It will be years before I retire,” Chiron began to reassure, understanding the nature of the conversation of the root of Frank's passive aggressive attitude.

“ Chief of surgery is mine, you told me so,” Frank reminded him.

“It was yours, now I'm not so sure.”

“I am the best surgeon here! I have the lowest mortality rate, you can’t just bring someone-”

“-Ask me why. Ask me why I'm not so sure of you," Chiron repeated, trying to get Frank to understand his motives. Chiron liked Frank, they had done a lot for each other. In fact, it had been Chrion who had helped Frank get over his low self- esteem, something that had bothered Frank for almost his entire life.

Frank, feeling defeated, almost stormed off. He knew he shouldn’t feel guilty but he couldn’t help letting a bit of it creep in as he remembered how somehow, he led Chiron, his mentor, to believe that his low self-esteem no longer existed. Maybe it was Chiron’s great desire to no longer see Frank suffer that made him see past it but Frank knew better. He wasn’t mad because the job may not be his, no- he had only wanted the job due to the benefits that came with it. Frank was mad because Chirom bringing in another ex-mentee of his simply brought his low self-esteem back all over again.

It was like med- school except this time, there were actual lives at stake. Did Chiron truly feel that he wasn’t good enough- that Solace would be a better Chief of Surgery better than Frank? He didn’t want to admit it, but Frank knew that he had become somewhat arrogant in an attempt to lie to himself and hide the lack of self esteem. The arrogance had only started when he was in residency but over the years, as he saved more lives, it accumulated. Yet, somehow, Frank still did not think it was good enough. Clearly Solace was. Why else would Chiron bring another threat to Frank’s anxiety if Chiron didn’t believe Frank's anxiety had gone? Surely Chiron wouldn’t do this knowing how badly it would hurt Frank.

Would he?

Hazel was bored. She knew it, Grover knew it and so did every nurse in a 1 metre radius of the stretcher that she sat in with the charts of her patients in a stack in front of her. This was New York Presbytarian! They were meant to have the best surgical residency in the country and here she was delivering lab results to over joyous patients- none of which had any sort of interesting condition. You’d think that someone in a hospital would be close to dying but no, it seemed that all of her patients were in ‘tip top’ condition.

“People need to get sick because I refuse to spend my residency doing this,” Hazel complained as she flipped the pages of the chart.

“Exactly. How can we be in the OR if people are just gonna live?” Grover agreed. They continued complaining, depressed about their current state. Hazel wanted to get this done and over with. The quicker she finished the job, the quicker she could get into a surgery. She took the 20 case files and separated them into 2 piles, each with 10 files.

“Here.” She handed one pile to Grover as she got up, “ You take 10, I take 10. We go in, we go out- no hugging, no laughing, no crying. Don’t be slow,” she instructed.

“Slow? If anything you’re the slow one,” Grover retorted as they made their way to the hallway.

“You wanna bet?” Hazel challenged, stopping a second to look at Grover. He mumbled a ‘You’re on’ before they both ran off, trying to finish first.

“You literally aren't letting anyone live with you!” The psychology resident complained. Nico turned on them.

“Favorite 80’s band?”

“That has nothing to do with this!”

“I’m still waiting.” he tapped his foot impatiently.

“I don’t know, the Bangles?” They shrugged cluelessly while Nico scoffed.

“Yeah, absolutely not.” Nico began walking away- he had to babysit a penis after all.

“Is there even a right answer?”

“AC/DC, The rolling stones, Guns N’ Roses,” Nico called out, not looking back, as he walked away.

“You will be free to leav- OOF!” Grover was cut off by an enormous bear hug from almost the entire family. He wanted to push them all away from him- after all, 3 families had hugged him so far and he had only visited 4 of the 10 patients he had. If he continued at this rate, Hazel was for sure to win.

“You have a cyst on your lymph node- but tests have confirmed that it was not cancerous which means you probably have some sort of infection- we will put you on broad range antibiotics before discharge tomorrow,” Hazel recited as she dodged a hug aiming for her resulting in 2 family members in an embrace. She quickly slipped out of the room without notice and smiling to herself- 5 down, 5 to go.

“Clear!” Jason called again, it had been 26 minutes into a code without any reaction to CPR, drugs or shocking. Jason knew what was coming next. He could feel it, like it was hanging over his shoulder waiting for his patients to walk into their arms. Death hung at the shoulder of every doctor as their guardian angel- something he remembered Nico saying. When he had said it, he didn't remember. He put his arm out, signalling the nurse to stop CPR. He took a shaky breath.

“Time of death, 15:45.”

Hour 20

Nico watched as the heart monitor stayed stable, reaching the apex before dropping and repeating. Allison. Attempted rape. Boots. Those were the words just floating around his head. Here she was on a vent, alone, like a vegetable and only hours ago she had been alive- smiling, talking, fighting.

“I've called every hospital in the country. Sooner or later the guy who did this is gonna seek medical attention and when he does, that penis you’re carrying around is gonna nail him,” a voice coming from behind Nico said. He turned his head slightly to see the golden curls that he had messed up this morning. Nico’s eyes were cast back onto the lonely woman. How could anyone so vulnerable be so alone?

“Where's her family?” The words slipped out of Nico’s mouth before he could stop them. Will shook his head slightly, his hair bouncing slightly from the impact.

“Doesn't have one.”

“No siblings?” Nico asked, thinking of Hazel and Bianca.

“Nope, both parents are dead. She moved to New York 3 weeks ago. Welcome to the city,” Will took a bite out of an apple miserably. Nico too was miserable- they both had good reason to do so. What kind of world did they live in where the system was so disadvantaged to anyone who wasn’t white, male, heterosexual and neurotypical? What kind of system forced minorities to work in society's most unwanted but vital jobs? What kind of system forced women to be terrified of walking home alone- day or night?

“Nico? Are you okay?” Will’s soft and concerned voice broke into Nicos thoughts. The question left him speechless- was he okay? The cynical, sarcastic and natural answer was No- obviously no. But for some reason, Nico did not want to say no, but rather leave his own pain to himself- not burden anyone else with it.

“Yeah.. I just gotta do something.” With that, Nico ran off looking for Dr Zhang.

Nico found Dr Zhang climbing the stairs. The hospital had a comfortable endless buzz, something that all the staff were used to- Frank was hoping to get a calm and perhaps even silent moment to himself. Instead, he got an intern.

“Dr Zhang, there’s this patient. It’s a baby in peds and they had a tetralogy spell with a heart murmur,” Nico started, his legs struggling to keep up.

“Did Ped’s ask for a consult?”

Nico stayed silent, partially because he didn’t want to feel guilty for lying and partially because he did not have a lie on him- not one that he could pull off at least.

“Di Angelo, you’re a bright kid but we can’t just walk in there without a Peds consult. It’s not like I’m the Chief of Surgery,” Frank said sympathetically as he walked off.

“Hehehee, you’reee hott,” the drunk slurred as they leaned slightly forward in a terrible attempt to flirt with Juniper. Juniper still stood in the Pit, it’s fluorescent lights giving her a headache- along with the noise levels and annoying patients. Slightly disgusted by the stench of alcohol on their breath, she pushed them back gently, making sure they didn’t flop onto the stretcher.

“You’re drunk,” she deadpanned as she prepared the sutures, “And you also need to hold still.”

Juniper was sick of the Pit, she was sick of the flourecsant lights that made her skin look like puke and most of all, she was sick of her patients; drunk and disorderly were the mass majority and since the morning, not one major casualty had come through those doors other than the rape case Nico had been assinged to.

“I know you! You’re that lady from the magazine with the red bikini..” they trailed off, their voice in a musing and questioning tone. Juniper had to physically stop herself from scoffing- It was a pink bikini. She didn’t hate her fans but sometimes people made it weird, especially drunk ones who enjoyed invading her personal space a tad too much.

“It was a pink bikini.”

The seats by the hospital doors were the perfect place (other than the vending machines) to hide from your residents- so naturally, Nico and Hazel were there, camping away during lunch. The penis in a box sat in the chair next to him as he nibbled at the rainbow sour gummy strips.

“Watcha doing?” Hazel asked as she made her way towards him.

“I’m sitting with my penis.”

“Which one?”

In response to this, Nico scrunched up his face in a sarcastic, sardonic smile that read No <3.

“I kissed McDreamy...in an elevator. I was having a bad day,” Nico started with his voice relatively quiet.

“So what do you do on your bad days, make out with McDreamy?”

“Yeah that and carrying around a severed penis just makes everything so shiny and happy,” He retorted in response to his sister.

“Jason said Allison was wearing your boots.”

“…. It's weird right? “

“It’s weird that you care so much. They’re boots and popular ones too- anyone could have them,” Hazel argued. Nico opened his mouth to respond but in that moment a bunch of frantic shouting cut them off. Behind them, right outside the hospital a man had pulled up. His skin was sickly pale, there was blood all over his legs and groin and he was struggling to move.

Nico looked at his facial features and did not expect for the man to look… well normal. For some reason, he had envisioned the man to look evil- to resemble hate itself but he just looked normal. That's when it hit Nico- rapists don’t look like rapists. They look like average people because that's what their best advantage is- the trusting nature of humanity. They don’t look evil because they need to fit in, to gain the trust of others and protect their reputation. They look normal because anybody could be a rapist- they don’t wear posters pointing it out and it’s not written on their foreheads. That's what they do best- hide.

Nico and the transport staff rushed the man in the gurney towards the operating room, their legs moving as fast as possible. The police were going to arrive soon but for now, he would have to be handcuffed to his bed. The rapist was found, Allison was alive, now what? There was no way they’d be able to re attach the penis and honestly, Nico did not want to- in his eyes, the rapist got exactly what he deserved

“Call reception and tell them we need security up here ASAP,” Nico ordered, finally taking charge. As the gurney was charged into the surgical department, Dr Chase caught on.

“What dya have Di Angelo?”

“Take a look for yourself.” He nodded towards the middle of the man's body, more specifically his groin. Annabeth quickly lifted up the drapes before letting them drop- here eyes widened and she looked at Nico with disbelief painted across her face.

“Page the Chief and Solace and tell them we’ve got the rapist,” she commanded as she took Nico’s position on the gurney and continued wheeling him to an OR.

The heart monitor was beeping steadily. The heart was moving- beating. Nico and Hazel, stood side by side watching Dr Chase performing surgery- unfortunately, they weren't assisting however they were still getting tested on their medical knowledge. The OR had it’s regular flicker of lights, the smell of antiseptics and the hues of blue across the room.

“I saw Allison, you can't believe the beating that she took and then you see this!” Nico whisper-shouted towards Hazel.

“It's like that old saying- you should see the other guy.” Hazel nodded.

“Why aren't we attempting to re-attach the severed penis?” Annabeth's stern but questioning voice cut through their conversation.

“Teeth tear not slice- you can only reattach when there's a clean cut. If she had sliced it off with a knife, perhaps then we could re-attach,” Hazel quickly recited.

“And the digestive juices didn't leave a lot of the flesh to work with,” Nico added on.

“So what are we doing?” Dr Chase asked, a hint of boredom lingering in her voice.

“Sewing him up minus a large part of the family jewels,” Nico snorted slightly.

“What will his outlook be?” Dr Chase asked while holding her hand out for the nurse to take the instrument out of her hand.

“He will be urinating out of a bag for a very very very long time,” Hazel said, slightly pleased.

“Not to mention he will never be able to have sex again,” Nico said, not in least bit sympathetic.

“Oh too bad, what a shame,” Hazel drawled.

“Let's all take a moment to grieve,” Annabeth said sarcastically before immediately asking for a clamp.

Hour 25

“Chief!” Frank jogged, trying to catch up with Chiron while waving frantically. He had taken time off and realised if he wanted this, he had to think about everyone- not just himself. He needed to learn his faults and how to get over them.

“Frank.” Chiron nodded, “Do you need something?”

“Why can’t I be chief? You helped me before, you believed in me, what changed?”

“You really want to know?” Chiron sighed looking at Frank who nodded. “You’re too comfortable in your job. You never go the extra step. Your arrogance isn’t impressive- if you want to be chief Frank, you have to earn it.”

The words knocked Frank back- My arrogance isn’t impressive? If I recall correctly, you told me to be more arrogant and now it’s a problem? You tell someone to do something and then you tell them to do the exact opposite. What in the name of Pluto is his problem?

The interns were all pretty different but they could agree that they hated their job. They were sitting on the stretchers by the vending machine (which at this point had become their hangout away from the attendings) and were complaining- which apparently makes up 80% of all human conversations.

“My head hurtss,” Grover groaned, throwing backwards against the wall.

“Maybe you have a brain tumor,” Hazel said after sipping some coffee.

“No, you want me to have a tumor.”

“I'd personally rip your face off if it meant I got to scrub in,” Hazel confessed, not feeling guilty in the slightest. Juniper made her way from the vending machine, holding a snickers bar like her life depended on it.

“I've been suturing all day, my hands are numb and I'm regretting not taking foregin languages in high school,” she sighed as she plopped her bottom onto the stretcher, leaving space for Nico and Jason.

“At least you’re helping people,” Jason called as he put his hand up the vending machine in an attempt to retrieve his chips which had decided to not obey the laws of physics and get stuck. Nico who stood behind him shuffled Jason out the way, gave the vending machine a violent kick before the packet of chips fell out, directly into Jason's hands- that was until Nico literally stole them from him.

“At least you get to practise freakin medicine!” Grover called out, sick of delivering lab results to patients.

“Mrs Lu, the chinese lady, I had to send her away. I mean I stiched her up but she stayed camping in the Pit- she left in the end though,” Juni said in a defeated tone.

“The police can't send some crime person down so I have to spend the night with a penis,” Nico complained before looking over to Grover, “ Grover don’t make the joke.”

Grover tutted, “It was too easy anyway.”

Finally, Jason cut in the conversation. They were all sick of being used and not actually learning. Gosh, did the hospital not realise that they were also doctors- not useless med students who couldn’t find their heads from their ass!

“Who here has no idea what they’re doing?” Jason cried. Everyone, except Grover, shot their hands up. Nico was not ashamed to admit he did not know what he was meant to be doing- saving lives or babysitting penises?

“Are we meant to be learning something? Because I don’t think I'm learning anything!” Jason added as he slumped further in the stretcher that they were all sharing.

“Except how not to sleep,” Juniper retorted.

“It's like there’s this wall and the attendings and the residents are over there being surgeons and were over here being-” Hazel started passionately but was cut off by her brother.

“- Suturing, code running, lab delivering penis minders,” Nico finished.

“I hate being an intern,” Grover concluded. Nico seated beside him grunted in agreement. The interns continued their mindless complaints until Dr Chase walked in, her expression stern and her arms resting on her hips in a manner that screamed And what exactly do you think you’re doing? All it took was a raised eyebrow from Dr Chase and the interns were scrambling off the stretcher and rushing off back to their jobs. She snatched the unopened pack of chips that Nico had left on the stretcher and helped herself.

Nico often made very bad decisions. It was something the people around simply expected of him at this point- if it wasn’t Bianca then it was Hazel or Percy (but normally Percy would also join in on the bad decisions). Despite being warned not to, Nico found himself staring at the baby from the NICU earlier. As Nico looked up slightly, he saw 2 people cooing towards a baby and Nico could only assume that they were the parents. He could feel the dumb and stupid thoughts brewing and bubblinmg in his mind. He tried to stop them, he tried to tell himself to not move towards them but he couldn’t help himself- he never could in all honesty. While Nico was a very patient person sometimes, some impulses just couldn’t be left on stand-by.

As Nico finished explaining to the parents what he believed to be wrong with the child, the intern in pink scrubs from earlier who had specifically told Nico to leave walked into the communal area. Nico was absolutely busted- car lights on, bambi style busted.

“I warned you to not come back here,” They snarled before beheading into another room and practically grabbing Leo Valdez by the arm. Leo slowly retracted his arm out of their grasp before dusting it lightly.

“Hi, can I help you?” Leo started, his lips parted in a gorgeous and genuine grin- something that even Nico had to admit was cute.

“If our baby is sick, we want him treated,” The parents started, their voices thick with worry and concern. Nico could practically hear the tremble in it.

“Of course, which child is yours?” Leo asked with his professionalist front- he’d have to deal with the interns later.

Frank hated the interns. He hated Chiron and he hated his life. Not necessarily in that order. He was used to the incompetence of the interns. He was used to them making mistakes or hesitating but the one thing he wasn’t used to was pure disobedience. He had directly told Di Angelo to not approach peds or any of their cases. So what exactly Di Angelo was doing with Valdez and his intern talking to a pair of seemingly very concerned parents, Frank honestly did not know and would have liked to have kept it that way.

“Dr Valdez, can we speak for a second?” Frank asked. He and Leo were good friends, he knew that Leo wouldn’t get offended or turn it into a scandal.

“Sure, I’d like to know what on earth is going on though. No offence, but your intern shouldn’t be here,” Leo started, his hand brushing his curls out of his face.

“I told you earlier to not come back and look who’s here!” The intern snarked in Nico’s face.

“The baby had a tetralogy spell* earlier and a heart murmur- they aren't consistent with a benign systolic ejection murmur!” Nico argued. Frank turned to the intern, he could already see them faltering. He wouldn’t call himself scary- it was mainly just him being tall and built like a marine, not that he really cared.

“How sure are you? How sure are you that it is a benign systolic ejection murmur? 100 percent sure?” Frank turned to the intern. He watched as their face twisted, like they had just realised that they had been a fly trapped in a spider's web.

“Are you 100 percent sure about the diagnosis?” Leo turned towards his resident, a look of hesitation and slight horror creeping up onto his face. His previous interns from the past 2 years were so much easier than this. Everyone listened to him, barely anyone died and there weren’t sneaky, semi- famous italian legacies sneaking into his department. Not that he blamed Nico, in fact he had to admit that he was secretly impressed with the doctors observation skills- especially considering he was an intern. But after all, he was a Di Angelo.

“I dunno...like 75 percent..” They mumbled towards the floor. Gods, if his intern was wrong, it would be on his ass! How on earth was he about to mess up so badly? This was his 3rd year in residency- he couldn’t afford to screw up.

“Can I see the patient's chart?” Dr Zhang held his hand out towards the intern who hastily handed it over- as if it was a ticking time bomb. Dr Zhang flipped through a few pages, pretending to read them. In reality, he had already made up his mind and was just humming the tune to Stayin alive .

“Valdez, the patient's on my service now. That chill with you?” Frank concluded. Leo gave a thumbs up, slightly relieved to have some sort of work off his back but also slightly saddened that an interesting case was snatched out of his hands by his ignorant intern.

“I want an EKG*, chest X- ray and an Echo*, let's make it quick, we don't have all day,” Frank told Nico, who nodded before quickly running off.

“He can do that?” They whispered into Leo’s ear with an astonished tone.

“Yeah, he's attending.”

“So is your girlfriend.”

“She is not my girlfriend!” Leo protested as the intern raised an eyebrow. Leo did not have a strong case here, considering Calypso was always seen with him or vice Versa. In fact, they often arrived and left the hospital together, worked on similar cases and they knew each other's coffee orders like the back of their hand. It wasn’t like anything could happen between them. In reality, they arrived and left together due to their apartments being in a close proximity, they had similar cases co-incidentally due to their specialties and well, the coffee orders… Well that was hard to explain- how would Leo say Oh yeah, I just watch her everytime she orders her coffee because her lips look very very nice and soft and when she takes a sip, her eyes flutter a bit and it makes her eyes look magical and then there’s when she’s getting mad at me because I’m taking ages to leave my apartment and she just looks like she’s about to implode but in a very sexy, cute and beautiful way.

Yeah, no way was he saying any of that.

Hour 30

Was there anything left to do? Juni had been here for so long she could practically feel the fluorescent lights in her head. The Pit was empty, the blue stretchers all cleaned up with no patients walking in. There was officially nothing to do- empty emergency and waiting room. For the sake of checking, Juni walked into the waiting room one more time, looking around for any injured souls- alas, there were none.

Except Mrs Lu, who stood in the middle of the hallway, waving her hand towards Juni as if she was gesturing for her to follow her. Juni looked around- it wasn't as if there were any patients here, what could go wrong? She tiptoed outside into the brutal thundering of the rain, which plastered her hair to her face and her white coat to her scrubs. The wind was chilly and strong- whispering to her temptations and desires. The wind was always so ethereal- it could destroy but it could also be beautiful.

“Mrs Lu? Where are you taking me?” Juniper called out as she jogged blind in the dark while the wind whipped around her face. She found herself crouching behind the large industrial hospital bins. A young girl, barely into her early 20s sat there with a large bloody wound across her forehead. On viewing it, Juniper immediately hissed. The gash looked deep and Juni could already see the edges of it forming a scab. There was blood stuck to her face, some infiltrating the tip of her eyelids and the girl herself was trying to not screw her eyes in pain.

“Oh my gods…What.. What happened?” Juni was speechless.

“A big machine in the factory.. it .. it fall on us,” the girl explained. Juniper was relieved- she knew a bit of english, enough for Juniper to understand.

“It’s going to be okay now, you can come inside an-”

“-No! No, no inside. Here!” The girl protested frantically, shaking her head back and forth which made Juniper think Ouch .

“But, I need to stitch you up and she went inside.” Juniper pointed to Mrs Lu.

“She allowed, me not allowed! I will go jail!”

Juniper realised what she was trying to tell her. Mrs Lu was a legal immigrant but the girl was an illegal one. An overwhelming amount of sympathy and admiration surged inside of Juniper. The amount of bravery this poor girl must have and all the stuff she must have gone through. Juniper knew that if she helped the girl and was caught- everything would be over. A small voice in her head was telling her to help- she was doctor after all, she took the hippocratic oath which stated I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required

“The injury is deep but I think I can fix it. I need to go and get some stuff first so you have to stay here okay. Stay here.”

The girl nodded, the corner of her lips turning into a grateful smile, “Thank you.”

As Juniper was about to jog back to the hospital, she remembered she did not have one piece of information that she got from every patient- illegal or not.

“One question, what’s your name? I’m Juni,” She asked.

“Nuwa. Nuwa Lu,” the girl responded with comfort settling onto her face.

Nico didn’t like that he was short. He constantly had to push to the front of crowds, people were often belittling and it also meant he had to walk twice as fast to catch up with people who were like 6’4- Like Dr Zhang. He was not afraid to admit that he was short- he simply didn’t like that for some reason it was a bad thing; if anything, it meant he was an eco-friendly version of a human.

“Dr Zhang,” Nico sounded slightly out of breath, “ What’s the diagnosis?”

“It was the tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary atresia*. I’m booking an OR,” he confirmed.

Nico stopped walking as Frank stood by the elevator. Normally, Nico preffered to simply nod at people when they expected a thank you. It was just 2 words that he would never expect to come blurting his mouth and honestly he did not expect the words Thank you to come out when he spoke to Dr Zhang so of course, he did not say thank you. Yes, he was grateful but Thank you? To Nico, that was almost as close to I love you on the list of forbidden words.

“I appreciate you backing me up here-”

“-Nuh uh. Listen kid, you were right one time but what you did, going behind another doctor's back and speaking to the parents, trying to steal a patient from another service. Don’t ever pull that again, you got it?” Dr Zhang reprimanded him. He knew that Di Angelo had a lot of potential but if he was gonna think with his head in his ass all the time, there were going to be problems

Nico knew this was Dr Zhang's version of- you did good but also you did bad. In all honesty, Nico couldn’t care less. In fact, he was so smugly obsessed that he was right that he was very much beyond okay with being told off if it meant he was right, it was worth it. Especially since that smug little intern thought that they were so right in their gloriously pathetic little mind.

Will did not like feeling like this. He had been lucky to avoid it all his life but for some god forsaken reason, depression had started to chase him. So he took a job where he would have no time for depression- if you’re working 24/7 you don't really ever get the chance to listen to your thoughts. But as he sat down at the desk by Allison trying to focus on his charting, he could feel himself slowly losing all motivation. The beeping on the heart monitor, which normally drew a large smile across Will’s face, wasn’t helpful- it was depressing. The entire room felt bland, empty and he could feel his mind and thoughts going numb. He was trying to hold his head up, trying to be strong for his patient, trying to finish the day without having a slump. His eyes flickered back up towards Allison, whose eyes had remained closed- as if she was vegetable.

“Okay, you’re all sewn up!” Juni finished up the last touches of the stitches of Nuwa’s forehead before rolling back the squeaky old chair that she was sitting on.

“Nuwa, you might have a scar and you have to come back in 5 days okay? I need to take out the stitches and clean the wound to make sure it doesn’t get infected. So you need to come back. We will meet here, same place at 7pm. 5 days okay?” Juniper informed, trying to not rush her words all out in a panic. She watched as Nuwa gave a small nod with a shy smile indicating she understood. As Juniper packed up, she realised she had to remind Nuwa of something else.

“Oh but you can’t tell anybody that I helped you outside the hospital. I might lose my medical license and my job. Do you understand?”

“Come back in 5 days and dont tell.” Nuwa nodded eagerly towards Juni who gave her a brief hug.

“Dr Chase, do you think I’m too confident?” Dr Zhang anxiously asked. He didn’t think he’d ever have to ask such a question. To him, it seemed obvious- no. Frank recalled all his life, simply never having the confidence to do things and sure, he had boosted it up a slight notch by becoming a surgeon- a world renowned one none the less- but he wouldn’t call himself overconfident.

“No,” Annabeth answered bluntly but Zhang knew her better than she thought he did.

“Don’t lie,” Frank mumbled slightly.

“You are my boss,” Annabeth retorted. Anyone who had been nearby would have immediately snorted at such a comment- When did Annabeth Chase actually care about her bosses opinions?

“Fine, in the next 30 seconds anything you say, I will not take to heart, starting now.” Frank raised his watch before diverting his eyes to his resident who immediately started talking.

A bit eager, Chase?

“I think you’re cocky, arrogant, bossy and pushy. You also have a god complex,” Annabeth started which caused Frank to frown. God Complex? Since when?

“You never think about anybody but your damn self- “

“- Hey wait a-”

“-I have another 22 seconds and I am not done.”

Frank scratched his head while rethinking his life decisions. The most prominent thought at hand was-

Oh shit maybe this wasn't a great idea

The interns were serving their last hour on call and it had gotten to the point where they were all desperate for their lives at work to come to an end. Jason, Juniper and Hazel were all in the locker room, freshening up and looking forward to leaving the hospital.

“I need a drink, a man or a massage or a drunken massage by a man,” Hazel mused. A short ‘ew’ came from Juniper as she brushed through her knotty hair. Jason on the other hand, did not respond and instead was violently harassing his teeth with his toothbrush. Hazel took one short glance at Jason before an alarmed look creeped onto her face.

“What's wrong with you?” She asked, slipping on a new scrub shirt.

“I lost 5 patients today and I feel like the angel of death,” he spat his toothpaste out, as if he had a deep vendetta against it.

“Hey at least you're not the actual angel of death. I’m pretty sure there’s a serial killer with that alias,” Hazel responded thinking about her conversation with Nico. For some reason The angel of death reminded her of some conversation they’d had.

“Charles Cullen- convicted of 40 murders, suspected of more- currently in prison on life sentence and is 60 years old,” Nico recited as he walked into the locker room. Juniper and Jason both stopped dead in their tracks, slightly alarmed at the information that was spilling out of Nico’s mouth like he memorized it for fun.

The best part was he actually did memorise it for fun.

Casting her eyes away from her brother, who in no way surprised her with that information, Hazel sighed, “Jason, 95% of code patients can't be revived. Most are already dead by the time you get there.”

“What! Why didn't you tell me that when I was going on and on about how great it was gonna be!” Jason cried, embarrassed about his bragging. Hazel took a deep breath as she made her way to exit the room.

“Because, you’re Jason and I’m Hazel.”

Hour 40

Nico was getting really sick about the penis in a box. It literally had to follow him everywhere and worst of all, people asked him what was inside it. What kind of conversation starter was ‘oh, just a bitten off penis’? So when Nico saw Dr Solace still in the room of Allison he felt slightly relieved- at least Dr Solace wouldn’t ask him what was in the box; mainly because Dr Solace was in the surgery where the penis was retrieved.

As Nico approached Dr Solace, he noticed that he wasn't really there. His eyes seemed less alive, less sparkly and more like the dull blue hues of the hospital. It was just something about the way his hand had propped up his face as if he had no further energy to continue anything that made Nico slightly alarmed for him.

Alarmed? You’re just worried that he may pass out because then it would mean no more surgeries.

At least, that's what Nico told himself. Besides, he had other things to worry about- like how he was going to lead Solace on. Afterall, there was a reason he was putting up with him.

“Hey, how’s Allison?” Nico asked, standing directly behind Will. Will, depressed as ever responded in a small tone.

“So far, nothing’s changed.”

“Have you been here all night?” Nico asked in slight astonishment and borderline concern.

“Yep. I have 3 brothers and a sister. They’re all doctors as well. If I was in a coma, they’d all be here- I’d want them here because having nobody… I can’t imagine that.”

“I can.”

Nico hadn’t meant for the small comment to slip out of his mouth. Wills face scrunched up immediately as he turned his head to look at the intern.

“What are you on about? What about your sister?”

For a fraction of a second, Nico was horrified at the thought that somehow Will had figured out that Hazel and Nico were siblings. But then Nico remembered that Hazel levesque was not an infamous name within the world of doctors and Bianca Di Angelo was.The first person to come to mind was Hazel, not Bianca. The guilt was overwhelming- did this mean Nico was forgetting his sister? He couldn’t do that, not when she needed him! Hazel was just a girl who happened to make sarcastic quips like him, who just happened to stand up for him, who happened to be slightly related to him. So what? Did it make them family? No! In Nico’s eyes, they weren’t even siblings. Just 2 people who had to get on with each other for the sake of others around them, Bianca was his real sister.

“That’s true, I do have my sister,” Nico said but even as the words left his lips, he knew he wasn’t talking about Bianca.

“She’d be ordering surgeons around and flying cowboys* from Prague to do amazing medical procedures,” Will continued as he got up to throw a wrapper in the bin. When he returned, he leaned against the door frame slightly, as if he was a bad boy in one of those high school cliche films.

“So we’re kissing but we’re not dating, huh?” One of his eyebrows raised slightly resulting in a ridiculous face that Nico believed to be hilarious- not that he’d ever let Solace know that he thought that. Nico fell back into scheming mode- if the conversation was heading where he thought it was, he needed to have his manipulative little plan out and ready.

“I’m all for the kissing. In fact, there should be more kissing,” Will hummed.

“I don’t know how or why it happened,” Nico admitted.

“Is it gonna happen again?” Will asked before lowering his voice, “ I need to bring some breath mints. Put some condoms in my wallet.” Will winked and Nico could physically feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. He had never blushed this badly in his entire life- not even when Percy winked at him.

Abort! Abort! This was not part of the plan. Why are you blushing you incompetent good for nothing nincompoop!

“There’s this baby upstairs in peds. It’s new and not neglected. It hasn’t been disappointed by anyone or rejected. How do we get from there to here? Alisson is wearing my boots and someone has beaten the crap out of her and here she is with nobody.” Nico was practically counting down the minutes left before he could leave at this point. However, before Will could respond, a rapid beeping came from one of the machines hooked up to Allison. Will scurried forward in a panic.

“Her ICP* has doubled. Page Jackson and get an OR ready- tell them to prep for a craniotomy*. Hang a mannitol and take a blood gas*!” Will shouted over the frantic beeping of the machine.

Nico was pacing back and forth. He felt like he was Allison’s mother. There she was in surgery all by herself and he- someone who had never met her- was pacing back and forth like they had known each other their entire lives. His head practically shot up as he saw Will and Percy come through the doors he had been waiting in front of. Solace shot him a sympathetic smile as he walked past- Percy on the other hand had stayed in front of Nico and his expressions looked grave.

How was Percy meant to say this? This was his childhood best friend of his entire life and he was somehow meant to tell him that his patient was most likely now a vegetable. He didn’t know why it was going to be so hard- Nico was someone who knew how to take news. Sure, Nico never took it well and would often just isolate himself until someone forcefully dragged his butt out but he would never break down. Well, Percy had never thought he had.

“I had to leave a flap of her skull open until the pressure and swelling in her brain goes down,” Percy confessed nervously, ruffling his messy hair that had been matted down under his scrub cap.

In a pained voice, Nico whispered, “She isn’t gonna make it.”

Percy hadn’t heard Nico use such a voice since his mother had passed away. Nico had been a bit different after that- as one would expect- but the tone that he had adapted when the tragedy occurred was a tone that truly inspired fear in Percy. It was the voice of calamity combined with pain. It was like destruction without the anger, it was like love without the trust, it was like a human with no soul. It was heart wrenching.

“She’ll be fine,” Percy insisted as he pulled Nico into a hug, letting the shorter boy rest his head on his shoulder. Nico wondered if Percy was right. He liked the possibility, the chance that it was true.

But Nico realised that she’d only be alright if she ever woke up.

Nico and never been happier to sign off the custody of something away from himself. Finally, the penis he had been carrying around owud no longer be his possession- he already had a dick, thank you very much. Just ask Solace.

Will and Percy did not really interact with each other much. It wasn't anything personal but they just both run such busy departments that hanging out was something much easier said rather than done. Despite this, they were together as they stormed into the room of 312. Percy and Will were not violent people- they were surgeons, doctors, sworn under the hippocratic oath to do no harm. But it would be an understatement of the year if one were to say that they did not look like terrifying bloodthirsty hungry beasts as they slammed the light on and snarled as they walked into the room of the rapist.

Will slammed his hand onto the side of the stretcher. Once, twice and a third time. It startled the man in bed to jump awake. Threateningly, Will slammed his hand above the man in the stretcher so he was practically leaning over him while Percy stood on the other side with both hands resting on the other handle of the bed.

“We have good and bad news. The good news is that my unbiased girlfriend who is also an exceptional surgeon managed to stop you from bleeding to death,” Percy snarled.

“The bad news is we’ve given your penis to the cops. Have a nice life,” Will growled as both men left the room with Will slamming the door so hard, the hinges rattled.

Nico enjoyed watching the babies. He however, did not enjoy watching the babies with Jason, Juniper and Hazel. Watching a cooing to babies was a very private matter- if word ever got out to his attendings that this happened… well Dr Zhang had already warned him. As he watched them, he realised they get the chance to start afresh. They may have no knowledge but they give people the chance to start afresh, to be something else and change opinions.

“All right, you guys can move in,”Nico groaned, giving up. Jason and Juniper squealed, jumping up and down celebrating.

“I can't believe I caved,” Nico admitted.

Hazel snorted, “I blame the babies.”

Hour 48

The world felt groggy as her eyelids fluttered. This wasn't her cheap New York hotel room, the lights wouldn't be on. She wanted to breathe but she couldn't do it alone-she could feel something obstructing her throat. It felt like something had been forced down there and immediately memories had come flooding back. The rapist, how she had been forced to her knees, the beating. She realised this must be the hospital and if she could think and her eyes were open, then she must be alive. She watched as a doctor with curly blond hair looked at her with astonishment before grabbing the arm of another doctor- with sea green eyes and a mop of balck hair on his head.

The elevator always took ages to arrive and always took even longer to get you to the floor you wanted. Will did not mind this. Nico on the other hand, definitely minded this. He had beds to sleep in and mythomagic cards to nerd out with.

“It's intense, this thing I have for ferry boats again,” Wills voice cut straight through Nico’s thoughts. Nico turned his head to look at the source of the voice.

Of course it's you

Nico knew what would happen if they climbed the empty elevator and he was tired. Part of his plan was revived around Will Solace pinning after him and this was the perfect chance to start it.

“I’m soo taking the stairs this time,” Nico decided.

“You have no self control!” Will called out knowing Nico’s reason for not boarding the elevator, “ It’s sad really!”

Hour 49

“Hey Reyna, pass the coat next to you,” Percy asked as he grabbed his bag off the floor and kissed Annabeth on her head. Reyna tossed the coat towards Percy before grabbing her backpack and zipping up her jacket. The attendings and residents filtered out slowly, one by one leaving Leo in there by himself. Leo didn’t mind being alone. In fact, he enjoyed it. There was something about being able to hum songs while you worked with no distractions that simply appealed to him. He was currently humming a song his Tia Callida had taught him when he was little.

“Are you humming?” A voice came from behind him. Normally, Leo would have ignored the voice or made a snarky remark but he recognised this voice.

“What! Uh, no?” He shrugged sheepishly as he turned around to look at Calypso who had her eyes half closed as if she was enjoying the tune.

“Oh don’t try lying to me Leonidas . I liked it anyway,” she admitted as she leaned forward to access the coffee machine. Calypso was the only person who knew Leo’s full name and the only person he’d ever let get away with calling him that. Leo could feel a rush of butterflies from Calypso's compliment. While it seemed minor, Leo rarely got compliments- so he appreciated them but he also did not know how to properly take one without blubbering.

“What are you still doing here?” Leo asked.

“Hoping to get rid of me I see?”

“No! No, it’s just we came in at the same time and your shift is over so you’re probably tired so you should probably go home and relax,” Leo rambled.

“You also came in at the same time you know. You shouldn't be here as well.”

That shut Leo up. He sat himself on the sofa, not wanting to move. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t tired and sleep sounded so nice right now but he did not want to go home. Every time he went back to his apartment, the nightmares would come rushing back and he would wake up covered in sweat. It was like he was cursed.

“Are you okay?” Calypso’s voice sounded concerned.

“I should be asking you that mi amor.” Leo winked before mentally slapping himself. Why on earth did he call her that? Everyone knows that mi amor means my love- it's practically common knowledge!

“You aren’t going to sweet talk your way out of my question Leonidas.” Calypso’s eyes narrowed slightly as she sat on the sofa next to Leo. He sat with one leg slightly bent on the sofa and the other dangling off it whereas Calypso had both her legs crossed as if she was back in nursery.

“I’m tired Callie. Aren’t you?”

“We’re surgeons. It’s what we signed up for. And I’ve seen you tired before Valdez, you aren’t like this.”

“Like this?”

“So… distant. You’ve barely gone on any rants or tangents since forever. You only order black coffee or an almost suicidal amount of espresso now. Everytime you smile, you only do it because someone just approaches you, otherwise your face is unreadable or miserable!” Calypso cried, throwing one of her arms up.

“Just because I’m less talkative Callie doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. I need to coffee to stay awake,” Leo defended himself calmly, holding both of Calypso’s hands to help keep her from exploding.

“What is keeping you up that you need so much caffeine? Is it work, family… a partner?” Calypso’ face physically scrunched up at the idea of Leo losing sleep over doing the deed with another person.

“I...I’m just not getting as much sleep as I should be getting. You know how tough work can be on residents especially because I’m looking for a peds fellowship,” Leo lied through his teeth. He could feel the empty pit of anxiety inside of him calm slightly as he saw the stressed out facial features of Calypso relax. While he felt guilty for lying, he felt better that it wasn’t stressing her out so much. It was only then that he noticed how close their bodies were. They weren’t extremely close but they weren't exactly far away either.

“I've got to tell you about this couple I had today. So the mother is all excited because she wants a boy and the dad is really really excited because he wanted a girl and they’re both arguing back and forth about which one the baby will be. So I do the ultrasound and guess what!”

“What?” Leo asked, practically smitten with her features. The way her eyes widened with glee as she talked about her patients, or how her smile was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her cheeks had these dimples that would appear every time she spoke but when she smiled, the ones under her eyes would show up and it was always endgame for him then. Her eyes were like pools of honey- sweet, delicate and magical. There was just something about the way her curly hair would always be in a tropical hairstyle as if she was on a beach that made him want to kiss her.

“They had twins! Yeah, so it was a case of twin to twin transfusion syndrome* and one was a boy and the other a girl. So in the end they both got what they wanted and I got myself a very very interesting case!”

Leo chuckled as he watched her rant. As they fell into conversation about their patients, they got closer and closer until they both had their arms leaning on the sofa and were gazing at each other's faces. Calypso’s eyes drifted downwards towards Leo’s rolled up sleeves- as they always did. As her eyes traveled upwards, she spotted something by Leo’s collarbone- like a flick of ink. She didn’t know if she read it right but it looked like it said Bad Boy Supreme with a small fire around it.

“Is that.. Is that a tattoo?” Calypso asked, her hand reaching forward to pull at his shirt slightly to gain a better view. Caught slightly off guard, Leo froze before remembering that he did in fact have a tattoo. He unbuttoned the first 3 buttons to give her a better view.

“Leonidas… did you actually… oh my gods.” Her hand had accidentally pressed on Leo’s chest which was surprisingly muscle. Leo looked scrawny, wasn’t the tallest (still taller than Nico) and didn’t hang out with any other people beside his colleagues so Calypso was not expecting a firm plate of muscle to be directly underneath her palm.

“Yep. You said I should get Bad Boy Supreme tattooed, so I did,” he said rather shakily. Could you blame him though? You try talking normally while the girl you’re in love with touches your chest and has her face up so close against it you could feel her breath.

“I did not think you had it in you,” she confessed, her face still close to his chest with her finger now tracing the art.

“ Mamacita , I’m offended,” he huffed jokingly. She raised her head slightly to raise an eyebrow only to be slightly alarmed at how close they were. If she moved one millimeter upwards, their lips would touch. Her hand was warm on his chest and she could feel his heart beating slightly faster as she traced the words of his tattoo. Her other hand was in his hair- the luxurious chocolate curls which obstructed his face bothered her- she wanted to see his eyes. She pushed them back ever so slightly. She was so close to his face, she could see the different shades of brown that pooled in his eyes- in a sort of chaotic manner that made his eyes look majestic. She couldn't help but stare into them and draw herself close to him- his eyes were honey and she was a bee. She dared to move her head slightly higher so that their eyes locked. They knew what each other were thinking. They could feel each other's thoughts.

Leo kept his gaze on Calypso’s eyes which had darted down to his lips. She watched as he swallowed and his lips parted softly. She raised her head and moved slightly forward and they could each other breath dancing on their lips. Their lips brushed, like a painter's first stroke on a canvas. They were slow, not desperate- it was like they had all the time in the world. Their lips were barely touching like butterfly wings. Leo could feel her warmth and inhale the coffee on her breath. Just as they were about to truly kiss, Leo’s pager started beeping making them both scramble backwards away from each other.

Without another word, Leo got up and left the room.

All the things that have a little * by it will have definitions down here! Code team: The team on call who are required to respond to a code blue which is when someone's heart has stopped GCS: Stands for the Glasgow Coma Scale. It measures a person's level of consciousness after a brain injury- it measures the function of the eyes, body and speech. BP: Is an abbreviation for the 'blood pressure'. Ventilator: Is a machine that essentially provides air for your body when you cannot do it yourself- often patients who suffer extreme injuries will be put on a ventilator. BA: Stands for bachelor of Arts which is an undergraduate degree- please keep in mind that it's not a literal degree in art, it's just called that. PHD: Stands for Doctor of Philosophy. Once again, this isn't a literal doctorate degree in Philosophy. MD: Stands for Doctor of Medicine- now this is a degree that is literally in medicine. Asystole Pulse: In the most basic way I could put it, flatlining. That means that the heart has completely stopped. Benign tumour: If a tumour is benign, it is harmless or not posing any threat to the body. Benign systolic ejection murmurs: Is normally a harmless condition where the heart makes a murmur because something is obstructing the valves in the heart. Tetralogy spell: When there is a quick drop in oxygen in the body and it makes the skin appear blue. EKG: Stands for electrocardiogram which is when those wires are stuck to your chest so that they can measure your heart's electrical signals. An EKG can also be called an ECG. Echo: An 'echo' is an abbreviation of echocardiogram- not to be confused with electrocardiogram. An echocardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the heart. Fallot of tetralogy with pulmonary atresia: This is a very complicated condition but essentially, it's the result of the 5 defects that this condition causes in the heart. Cowboy doctor: Is a doctor who is so definite in their diagnosis, they refuse to consider any other options. ICP: Stands for intracranial pressure which is just the pressure in your brain. Craniotomy: Not to get confused with a craniectomy, a craniotomy is when a piece of skull is removed temporarily to expose the brain. Mannitol: Mannitol is a sugar alcohol that can be used to decrease the intracranial pressure. TTS: Also known as Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome is a rare condition where twins in the womb share the same placenta- the result of this is one child getting more oxygen and nutrients than the other.

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you-did-well-moon · 4 years

Text

Seventeen reaction to s/o writing a cute song about them

Type: pure fluff kids

Word count: 4,556

A/n: you guys don't know how fat of an uwu I busted seeing this request. Even now my heart is like bursting with love. I also changed up the request a bit. I don’t have many love songs in my playlist so once again it’s research time. I didn’t really make it a idol reader since I wanted it tp be more personal. Don't be afraid to talk to me or to request. Stay safe clowns -Moon

yes, im fully aware you cant write a song in a day but shhhhh

S.Coups

Song: Hypnotized - Years And Years

“I know a place where it's always so perfect and blue And a boy says, Babe, believe me, it's all for you Ooooh the fortune said, Flowers bloom with no regret

Surround me, body and soul Pull me into your glow, make me blush Unbound me, spin me in gold As the story unfolds in your touch”

You were sitting on the couch, your notebook in your lap trying to focus on the essay you were writing, but your eyes kept going back to your boyfriend. He was currently listening to one of his members who was troubled by something. The sweet look in his eyes reminded you much of the same look he’d give you when speaking reassuring words into the shell of your ear as he pulled you into his capable arms. You couldn't stop your pencil from spilling words of love onto the page with a soft smile tugging at your lips.

You were so distracted you didn't notice Seungkwan reading the intimate words over your shoulder until he snatched the notebook from your hands. Thankfully, Seungcheol noticed your predicament immediately moving to save you but freezing when Seungkwan told him you had written a love song about him. He looked at you who was staring at the floor before grabbing the notebook and hitting Seungkwan upside the head with it. He bought you closer to his warm body allowing you to hide your face in his chest leading you to his room. He would softly ask you if he could look at what you had written. Finishing reading the words he turned around trying to hide the huge smile overtaking his mouth. When you reached out to him, he quickly got a hold of you falling gently onto his bed as he hid his smile in your neck squishing you in a tight hug.

Seungcheol would find so much comfort in your sweet words when you couldn't be there to provide comfort yourself. He’d have it somewhere where he can look at it whenever he wants to. If he was particularly missing you, he’d let a tear or two slip.

Jeonghan

Song: I Wouldn't Mind - He Is We

”Carefully we'll place for our destiny. You came and you took this heart And set it free. Every word you write and sing is so warm to me So warm to me. I'm torn, I'm torn. To be right where you are.

I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid.”

You chewed at the end of your pencil as you worked on your notebook eyebrows furrowing when you noticed your boyfriend hadn't whined out at you to leave your work for later and cuddle him. Looking up your expression immediately softened at the sight of your boyfriend’s chest lightly rising and falling with his face mushed up against the pillow. You chuckled gently brushing his hair away from his eyes, fingers falling to trace along his cheekbones until they took a hold of your discarded pencil starting to write words that easily came at the thought of your lover.

You couldn't help the rush of warmth that spread across the expanse of your chest when any thought of your boyfriend popped up in your head. You remember distinctly how afraid you were to be with someone like him. Someone so carefree and laid back. Someone with a job like the one he had with thousands of eyes watching every move he made. You also distinctly remember how quickly he has assured you, you would be safe with him if it was the last thing he did. Even if relaxed and easy going, Jeonghan would not hesitate to step up if your safety or happiness was in danger. You were so lost in thinking of the way your relationship had grown, you didn't notice the bed shifting lightly next to you. You weren't really surprised when you felt a body roll on top of yours a chin placing itself on your shoulder. You let him read the fond words grinning when you heard him lightly laugh into your hair arms turning your body around to smother you in light kisses.

Jeonghan would tease you about the song joking about how you must really love him to write such a cheesy song, but he only pokes fun with good intentions. He memorized the lyrics softly singing them at random times not even noticing the words coming out his mouth. If he has any say in it, it's the song he’ll sing at your wedding.

Joshua

Song: Heaven - Exo

“Hello angel, you’re like a painting You’re all I see when I look to the skies City street lights, even if the lights go out And the moon disappears, it’s bright because I have a star that fell from the skies And it’s you

I keep laughing for some reason every night Even when I close my eyes, I can’t sleep I spend the entire night with thoughts of you Your sparkling smile lets me breathe Probably you, you I’m sure you have wings hidden behind your back Anyone can tell you’re my angel I can fly as long as I’m with you”

You couldn't help but laugh as Joshua was fighting with a pigeon who was trying to steal the sandwich in his hands. You had come on a date to Han River riding your bikes with Joshua carrying a blanket in his backpack and you carrying a picnic basket. You had told him to eat his food before the birds caught wind of it, but he insisted on taking pictures because Minghao wanted some. You shook your head lightly when Joshua offered the bird a small piece and it finally left him alone. Giggling to yourself, you looked up at him munching happily on his sandwich features highlighted by the sun’s light.

Getting the little notebook you always carried around with you from his backpack, you started writing a song about your angelic boyfriend. Everything seemed easier when you were with him. Brighter. Happier. Every moment was spent beautifully and every action was laced with love. Even breathing seemed easier around him. Every few moments, you would look up at him, your chest shaking with a quiet laugh, and your eyes sparkling with mirth before clutching the notebook to your chest and continuing to write. Joshua eventually took note of this placing his head on his hands and softly asking what you were up to. You narrowed your eyes playfully giving him the notebook with your heart fluttering nervously. As he read the words, his smile would grow bigger and the blush on his cheeks would deepen. He would reach out to ruffle your hair promising hugs and kisses when you got home. Well, he didn't fail to deliver.

Joshua would be playful but serious about the song you wrote. He definitely grew confidence in your relationship becoming touchier. Randomly rapping trying to rhyme with love around you. He would take a picture of the page looking at it and smiling because he knew no matter what happened, his own angel was waiting for him to be in their arms and he was always ready for endless amounts of love you were sure to shower him with.

Jun

Song: Moon And Back - Alice Kristiansen

“baby to the moon, and back i still love you more than that when your skies are grey and your whole world is shakin' to the moon, and back i love you more than that we may fall but we'll keep on going we may break but we won't say broken through the cracks in the road the flowers grow”

Your hands that were clutching on to the glass of water shook slightly after having to calm down your boyfriend who had been crying for a multitude of reasons. Missing his family and believing he wasn’t good enough for both the group and you were the main reasons. You had calmed him down with a hand rubbing at his back and comforting words whispered into his tear stained shirt. You convinced him to play some games to distract him. Entering his room you saw him now fully immersed into his game fingers hurriedly jabbing at the buttons as he sat on the floor.

You placed the water on his nightstand watching as he sent a small smile your way at the sound of the glass hitting the wood of the furniture. You made your way towards him sitting down knees and thighs brushing against his. You couldn’t stop yourself as you analyzed him before whipping out your phone starting to write what you deemed a song. Junhui had always asked you how much you loved him, and you always answered “to the moon and back”. But both of you knew the love you held for each other was immeasurable. You would be there for each other no matter what life had in store for you. Smiling in satisfaction, you softly nudged Jun with the edge of your phone. You watched as his expression became shyer laughing under his breath. He didn't say anything for a little bit needing time to process just how fast his heart was beating. Taking a deep breath, he’d exhale slowly falling into your body while digging his face into your neck telling you to just stay like that for a little bit.

Jun would always go quiet whenever you mentioned the song, always needing time to fully process the fact that yes, you had written a love song for him. A song that always managed to make his heart stop just thinking about it. He would find himself murmuring the words while lost in thought smiling softly at the thought of the song and of you.

Hoshi

Song: Starlight - Taeyeon Ft. Dean

”Reflected in my eyes is your squinted eyes, yeah You’re smiling behind that awkward face You’re so lovable, I couldn’t hold back, oh I discovered you like a miracle, you always make me smile You are my starlight

You are my starlight, shine on my heart When I’m with you, it feels like I’m dreaming all day You are my starlight, I get so happy Your love is like a gift”

You were laying on your stomach in the practice room working on a present for your boyfriend as he worked on a new choreography for the group. You smiled at the fact that even though he was probably tired and sleepy, his eyes looked as bright as ever. You had been there keeping him company all day, but you didn't mind. You were rewarded with Soonyoung flopping next to you and showering you with love in the form of kisses and tickles every few minutes.

You checked the time on your phone noticing it was close to it being time to go home since Soonyoung never liked staying too late when you were with him. You tried speeding up your writing a bit not noticing your boyfriend approaching you until he was right in front of you. You tried hiding what you were working on by shoving it under your body, but it was too late. Soonyoung was able to clutch on to it and read what you were working on as you whined about it not being finished yet. You would see his hands start to tremble and his eyes shimmering. You asked what was wrong, but he’d shake his head taking your face in his shaking hands softly kissing you while thanking you in between kisses. Soonyoung would feel so touched, but he would smile shakily not letting his tears fall, his hands falling to clutch on to your own.

You bet Soonyoung would make a little dance to your song, and he would make you dance to it with him telling you had to dance since you wrote it. This would lead to many moments of you guys laughing on the floor and randomly hugging each other. Hosh would always have the brightest smile on his face just thinking about the song, and he would get clingy too not being able to stop smothering you in his love because oh wow he loved you so much he felt like he was going to burst.

Wonwoo

Song: Beautiful Feeling - Day6

”Shivers go down my body I’m so happy That I’m shedding tears Some people say love But I think There’s something more than that If you know, tell me If there isn’t, make one up To this beautiful feeling This beautiful feeling

Like and love Aren’t enough To express this beautiful feeling”

You should have expected Wonwoo taking a long time trying to decide between what book he wanted to take home, but sitting there in the book store on a pair of love seats facing each other you were beginning to think you seriously underestimated Wonwoo’s indecisive book choices. You looked at him, glasses sliding down the slope of his nose and eyes focuses on the book in his hands. It was like you weren't even there. Shaking your head fondly, you decided to work on the song you would eventually give to him.

Practically shoving your nose in your notebook, you too became focused on the words spilling across the page. You didn't notice Wonwoo getting up until you felt a shoe softly nudging your leg. Looking up to see him with a bag already in his hands you bashfully smiled when his eyebrows raised tilting his head in question of the notebook in your hands. You waved slightly to the other love seat giving him your notebook when he was settled. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked up at you with a shocked pointing at himself as if questioning how such lovely words could be written about.. him. You nodded with your eyes never leaving his. He took a deep breath. He had so much waiting to spill out in pure adoration for you, but he couldn't do it in public. Getting home and he would tentatively put your notebook down before bringing you into his embrace. He cradled your head in his hand with the other on the small of your back leaning his head against yours, and he’d close his eyes tightly not saying anything. He just wanted to savor the feeling of you in his arms, your scent giving him the most wonderful high, and your hands clutching on to his shirt.

Wonwoo would be distracted for a while, head swimming with thoughts of you. Your words inspired by him flashing behind his eyelids every time he closed his eyes. He scoffed reading a romance novel or watching a tv show because no matter what, nothing would ever be able to compare to the love story between him and you.

Woozi

Song: Let Me - Got7

“It might have been the bright sun My face turned red probably It might have been just a feeling I saw you blush too I’m getting drunk on a good feeling today Neither of us even touched alcohol Can I softly hold your hand If you’re ok, can I go for it? Baby Let me hold your hand

Will you be by my side, by my side Can I hold your hand? Don’t be shy Today we come together Today you are especially lovely to me Tonight is our Just one chance Can I hug you? Don’t be afraid Today we come together”

At this point in your relationship, Jihoon had written tons of love songs inspired by you. Each one always making your heart flutter when you heard it. Almost each one having been softly sung against your skin by him. Each one imprinting themselves across the expanse of your chest and heart. You had never been one to write love songs, when there were already millions of them, but now that you had Jihoon in your life, it was the only thing you could think about. You eventually gave in to the temptation, but you hadn't told him of the song.

Sitting with him in his studio, you watched him totally immersed in his songs bringing the lyrics to life with different beats and melodies. Meanwhile, you were working on your own song. The love song your members had begun teasing you about. You had finished it a long time ago, but you kept changing things because you were nervous. You slipped his own headphones off his head gently smiling nervously when he looked at you with questioning eyes. You slipped your own headphones plugged to your laptop with the song ready to play over his ears. You played with your fingers, but when he looked up you almost jumped back in surprise. You had never seen his eyes hold so much love and adoration before. He was looking at you like you had hung the moon and stars in the sky. He would want to be as close to you pulling you on to his lap and resting his head on your chest.

Jihoon would feel like he was floating because you had just told him you love him in his language. Music. He would not be able to stop himself from using some of your lyrics in one of his own songs, with your permission of course, It would be the song that always bought him strength when he stayed late in the studio, and a song that made him happier in general.

Song: The Way You Smile - NewSong ft. Francesca

“The way you open the door you always see about me Treat me like I'm a princess boy you're so sweet Love the way that I feel when I'm in your arms You whisper "You're beautiful" so safe and warm There's a million more, these are just a few Of the many reasons I love you

But there's something about the way you smile I can see forever in your eyes Telling me I'm yours and you're all mine The way that you smile We're like two lovers in a sweet romance I'm your leading lady and you're my man You can say I love you with just a glance”

You were sitting on the couch with the tv in front of you playing an anime Dokyeom had been wanting to see for a long time finally having found the time to do so. He always moved a lot when watching anime because he just got too excited to keep still, so he had ended up sitting in front of you on the floor with his back to the couch in between your legs watching the tv with bright wide eyes. You had been running your hands through his hair until he didn't notice you had stopped in favor of working on the song in your laptop.

When he did notice, he didn't seem to mind much his laughter almost as loud as the tv when something particularly funny happened. He would tilt his back to beam at you, and you never failed to return the same smile. You got thirsty heading to the kitchen to get water making the mistake of leaving your laptop open on the song. You got lost in thought not hearing the sound of the anime stop or your song start. It wasn't until the song was almost done that you noticed, running into the living room just as Dokyeom looked up at you with flushed cheeks and teary eyes. He asked you who the song was about with a shaking voice and you replied with a simple “you”. He basically stumbled across the room and crashing into your body sobbing into your neck. You could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest pressed against yours. You wrapped your arms around him just as tightly as his were wrapped around you asking him what was wrong. He just responded with “no one has ever done something as beautiful or lovely as this for me”.

Dokyeom would become a bit shy around you for a while after this, bursting out into giggles whenever he saw you. After that wore off, he would get a surge of confidence flirting with you but immediately getting shy and giggly afterwards.

Mingyu

Song: Touch - Nct 127

“Your voice that calls my name makes my heart drop From some point, I started to talk just like you I can figure it all out, once I hold your hand Once I hold your hand, you know

I don’t know how I can withstand you Even I’m shocked over how I’m being, it’s true My feet won’t listen And keeps following you”

You groaned as you made your way to a bench under a tree next to the field Mingyu had taken you to. He and some of the members wanted to play some games outside, and he had decided to bring you along with him. Something about seeing how manly he looked while throwing a ball at Seungkwan’s face. You were grateful to spend some time with him, but you envied the ball being held by his arms as he talked with the members about the rules of whatever stupid game they had made up.

Nevertheless, you found the opportunity to work on the song you had been working on. You preferred the comfort of your studio, but the fresh breeze and warmth of the sun wasn't too bad. You had your headphones fitting your head snuggly, so you didn't hear the boys shouting at you because Mingyu had accidentally kicked the ball too hard, and it happened to be in your direction. It hit the laptop not only cracking the screen but shoving it off your lap and crashing into the ground. Luckily, you had the song saved on your studio computer, but it was still upsetting as you had made some changes to the song. You felt your heart sink as frustration clouded your mind making your eyes water. Mingyu swore he had never run so fast in his life, but when he got to you, you started blabbering about the song he didn't even know existed. You told him to take you to your studio where you showed him the song with a pout and mad puppy eyes. Mingyu felt so bad, but at the same time he felt so good because he was sure his heart was a melted puddle on the ground.

Mingyu loved the song, finished or not. He loved everything about it running at you to pinch your cheeks and call you cute then running away with a loud laugh promising he would cook you a feast at an hourly rate. The feast was never cooked because Mingyu was too busy still thinking about the song and being overwhelmed by giddiness. He would not be able to keep his hands away from you for at least two or three weeks.

The8

Song: I Do Adore - Mindy Gledhill

”Everything you do it sends me Higher than the moon with every Twinkle in your eye You strike a match that lights my heart on fire

When you're near, I hide my blushing face And trip on my shoelaces Grace just isn't my forté But it brings me to my knees when you say”

You were in China. Minghao would be gone for some time while filming a show, so he wanted you to come with him. You agreed since you were on break. You forgot one minor detail. You can’t speak mandarin. Of course, you had your boyfriend, but he wasn't always with you which led to some awkward situations. You really didn't know how to tell the elderly man you were, in fact, not his long lost granddaughter. Minghao was currently filming, and he had left you in an empty room in the building telling staff to leave you be.

Minghao had been so patient and sweet (maybe a bit teasing) with you all throughout the trip, you felt inspired to work on the love song you had started a while ago. The room was empty, and the building had pretty thick walls, so you decided not to use your headphones. You would have to take a step back because the thought of Minghao hearing the song made you feel hot and made you bury your head into your hands shaking the nerve racking thoughts away. You were so immersed in the song nodding along to the beat, you didn't notice the man entering the wrong room until you felt a hand on your shoulder and a voice speaking in rapid mandarin. Turns out the man was a producer and really liked your song. You sat there with wide eyes frozen in your seat as the man spoke excitedly. Fortunately, Minghao wrapped up filming seeing the situation and quickly coming to your rescue. He talked with the man a bit before the producer left telling Minghao his partner wrote great love songs.

He asked you about it, and you would give in showing him the song while shyly hiding behind your hands. Hearing the song, Minghao would have to bite his lip to stop the big smile threatening to take over his face. He’d bury his face in your hair softly kissing your forehead and asking you why you did weird things to his heart while softly laughing. Minghao would ask to hear the song daily, always taking you in his arms as he listened to the sweet song.

Seungkwan

Song: Spring Love - Eric Nam x Wendy

“We fell asleep on a bench, leaning on each other The sweet cherry blossom colors the clear sky I wish it was always like this The name that changed us, spring spring spring I love you, I love you, I love you

Be my spring, I’ll always be your flower I hope we can melt each other and open each other up Our heart to heart that wasn’t visible before Now we’re facing each other The hidden flower is finally blooming I think spring has come”

You were curled up on Seungkwan’s bed working hard on the song you wanted to give to him as an anniversary present. It was basically finished, you just needed to add some finishing touches to it. You didn't notice that in trying to prepare this beautiful present for your boyfriend, you had neglected the poor man. He had enough, coming into the room whining and flopping down onto the bed telling you to pay attention to him while glaring at your laptop. He suggested going for a walk which you happily agreed to practically getting dragged out the building.

You hummed happily grasping Seungkwan’s hand in yours as he laughed and made jokes about stupid things the members had done. He asked about your day contentedly swinging your joined hands. The walk eventually turned quiet with the both of you enjoying each other’s presence and the nice weather. You felt so calm and peaceful you didn't notice yourself start to hum and softly sing the very song you were working on. Seungkwan asked you what song was stuck in your head, and you felt your soul leave your body. You tried lying by naming random songs, but Seungkwan had always been able to read you well, so he knew you were lying. You eventually gave in with slumped shoulders telling him you had made a song for him. He immediately asked to hear it, and you showed it to him returning back to the dorms. His voice trembled as he whispered words of gratefulness against your neck tenderly kissing the skin there as he sniffled trying to get his emotions together.

Seungkwan would demand to be on the song. He wanted to give back to you in some way, and he wanted to be a part of this beautiful song you created. It was a song he would always randomly sing laughing obnoxiously when the members asked him what song he was singing. He would sing it to you when you were near him tracing lines along your skin while smiling adoringly at you. He was just always singing the song.

Vernon

Song: Spring Memories - N.Flying

“Let’s fill each other’s empty spots I’ll comfort you just like we did back then

On that spring dazzling day

It won’t be like the first time but you’re always dazzling It’s like magic, on the same day So spring can eternally dazzle”

You sipped at the drink you had ordered at the café you and Vernon always met at, or more like walked up the counter and got asked “the usual” and you nodded while taking a seat in the corner of the quaint room waiting for Vernon. As always you wore a mask and hat. The café was in the quieter part of the city, but you could never be too careful. The barista who had long ago been able to recognize you had even given a dessert of your choice on the house. Deciding to work on the song you had been working on, your eyes didn't leave the screen of your laptop.

You were confused when your vision suddenly went dark, but you were quickly able to recognize Vernon’s cologne. Grabbing a hold of his hands you turned around being met with his bashful yet bright smile. Slipping your headphones down to your neck, you got up to give him a hug. You had been tinkering with the lyrics, so they were on display on the screen. Vernon was facing the screen, and you didn't notice him reading the lyrics. It wasn't until a little bit after you sat down that he asked about the song. His eyes were filled with confusion. He mentioned that you never wrote love songs, usually being in charge of the more personal songs. “Well now that I have a wonderful muse to inspire me I can”. He asked if you were serious with a growing smile on his face. All your attention was on him now as you rested your chin on your hand softly nodding at him. He took in your answer and the warmth in your eyes not being able to stop himself from shoving his face into his hands to hide his flushed cheeks. You simply laughed taking his hand away to adoringly touch the tinted skin of his cheek before driving the conversation away from the song promising to send it to him when it was done.

When you did send the song to Vernon, someway, somehow, he would make it his ringtone. Proudly smiling when his phone rang and shaking his head when the members asked what song it was. This would actually give him the courage to show you all the raps he has written about you when he was too shy to show you before.

Dino

Song: Life Is Rosy - Jess Penner

“I watch the sun, it's setting in your eyes Can you tell I'm wrapped up in your spell Yeah, it's all good and well I think I realize Beautiful yeah it's so wonderful Oh, darlin' don't you know That life is rosy Hey, look at my heart I think it's the start of something new“

Your knee wouldn't stop bouncing, your feet kept wiggling, and your fingers wouldn't stop tapping on your desk. You were nervous, your tongue feeling heavy in your mouth, and your stomach seemingly pushing against your ribs. Chan was going to visit you in the studio, and you were going to show him the song you had written while keeping him in mind. Of course, you had written many love songs before he came into your life, but this was different. Those songs were always inspired by childish assumptions you had on love because of inexperience.

This song was made with flashes of his smile and touch constantly flashing in your head. You groaned running your hands through your hair freezing when you heard a knock on your studio door. Wiping your sweaty palms on your pants, you opened the door relaxing when you saw Chan’s smile face as he greeted you with a hug and a playful poke at your abdomen. You timidly told him you had something to show him slipping your headphones onto his ears before dropping your hands to rest them on his shoulders. Turning around you caught your reflections on the mirror that rested against the wall. Him, a young but amazing dancer in the industry, and you, a young but talented producer in the same industry. You were so focused on the mirror you didn't see Chan taking off the headphones to turn the chair around and pull you into his lap. He would cling on to you tightly because wow he was so in love with you. Every flaw and every quirk he loved because it meant getting to see your smile and have you in his arms. His talented little producer was someone he swore he would never let go of.

Chan would be a bit quiet for a little bit, because he was just taking it all in. It suddenly weighed on him what you mean to him. You had become someone to him that he would drop anything for. Someone that always made his heart beat faster at close proximity, and no matter how he thought of it, he wouldn't change that for the world.

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missywhomst · 4 years

Text

Just One?

In her post regeneration haze, the Doctor discovers earrings (Thasmin if you squint).

(This is kind of an experimental fic to see if I wanna do a series about 13′s post regeneration antics. Not sure how I feel about it, but I hope you all like it!)

- gif by @queerthasmin -

Time seemed to be moving in leaps and bounds, and she was surprisingly disoriented by it which was funny, really, considering how accustomed she was to hopping around the space-time continuum like it was her own personal playset. And so she laughed, almost a scoff, a bit dizzy at the scenery change as she found herself being guided by Yaz down the hallway to a bedroom.

“What’re we up to now? Lost is my head, there,” she said, turning to look at her new friend. She’d found that she garnered much less concern if she pretended she wasn’t missing chunks of time from the last, well, if she had to guess about six hours. Maybe less. She was fairly certain it was still the same day.

Thankfully, or perhaps not, she discovered that she was able to carry on full conversations while blacked out. There had been a point when she was still on the train being fawned over by someone named Grace and another someone named Graham, telling them that she was fine, she was fine, and she just needed to walk it off. Grace insisted she wait for the police, that a PC Khan was nearby and that she just wanted to have a talk. She distinctly remembered saying great, that she’d love a talk, that she really liked talking, and that she’d gotten a new tongue so she needed to break it in. Then the next second she was stumbling after a firefly in the tall grass of a field, the train stopped behind her and Graham running after her yelling oi, where do you think you’re going, and you just fell through a train, love, and come on, now, have a seat.

Graham and Grace and Ryan, who was friends with Yaz, or wasn’t friends, or used to be friends, took her back to their place for a cuppa because she wouldn’t let them take her to A&E. And though she claimed she only tagged along so she could ask a few more questions and file a proper report, she was fairly certain Yaz was just curious about the person who fell from the sky. Some other things happened that she mostly remembered, and now they were in a bedroom, and Yaz was setting down a duffel bag on a bed. Then she put a hand on her back and led her to a chair, pushing down on her shoulders to make her sit.

“I brought some clothes from my flat. Figured they might fit you. I’m sure you’ll appreciate being out of those ones,” Yaz chuckled, walking back to the bed to unzip the bag. She looked down at her arms. Her jacket was torn and burned and about four sizes too big, the ripped cuffs flopping over her knuckles. Her whole outfit was in tatters, really, and she’d been tripping over her trouser legs for what felt like ages now.

“He liked this outfit. Bit of a magician’s coat, innit? Think he’ll be mad?” she asked, picking at the singed ends with absent fingers.

“Who?”

“Him. Me,” she offered helplessly. Yaz frowned, turning back to the bag without replying. It was a difficult sort of mental gymnastics that she had to perform after any given regeneration. The separating herself from her previous self while simultaneously reconciling the two existences. Bit of a head wonk, that one. She took a breath, turning to the cluttered desk and dusty mirror she’d been placed down in front of. Her eyes caught the little silver things scattered across its wooden surface. “Yaz, what are these?” she called, picking one of the dangly ones up between her thumb and forefinger. Yaz turned to look, and she watched her glance at the thing in the reflection of the mirror. Another frown settled on her face.

“Those are...earrings,” she said, and though it wasn’t quite a question, her voice lilted up at the end as if it was, cocking her head quizzically.

“Are you sure?” she asked back, turning her body to look Yaz dead in the eye. “You don’t seem too sure.”

“I’m fairly certain I know what earrings look like,” she said, tossing a few shirts on the bed. “Been wearing them my whole life. More concerned that you don’t know.”

She hummed, choosing to ignore that as she turned back to face the mirror and examine it in detail. There was a little silver hook and from it dangled a set of beads in warm colors. She flicked it with her other finger, watching them sway back and forth in quick succession, clinking together and tangling. Her eyes got buggy rather quickly and she blinked, setting it back down on the desk.

“What do you do with them?” she called again, frowning as she leaned forward to examine herself in the mirror.

“You wear them. They’re jewelry. Jesus, how hard did you hit your head. Are you sure you don’t want to go to A&E?” Yaz asked, walking to stand behind her with her hands on her hips. She just prodded at her cheeks, lips squishing together.

“I’m perfectly fine,” she muttered, holding her hair up above her head and watching it fall back down to her chin.

“You don’t even know your name,” Yaz sighed, pressing her hand into the back of her chair.

“Which is a perfectly natural response when all your atoms have been instantaneously rearranged,” she said simply, turning to look up at Yaz. Then she gasped, her eyes lighting up as she reached out to run her thumb across Yaz’s ear lobe. “Oh, I get it now! Ear Rings. That is brilliant,” she grinned, prodding the little hoop in Yaz’s ear and stretching the velvety skin there with gentle fingers, little hairs bending under her thumb. Yaz swallowed and grabbed her wrist. She didn’t look quite as certain now as she had a few minutes ago when she’d pressed her palms into her shoulders and decisively pushed her into a chair.

“Can you not do that again, please?” Yaz asked, voice cracking as she met her eyes.

“Okay,” she said, lowering her arm as Yaz let go of it. She remembered that humans were finicky about their personal space, and she could never seem to keep up. Still, Yaz’s reaction seemed odd. She brought her fingers to her own ear, rubbing her thumb over the equally soft skin as Yaz turned back to the bed to organize her pile of things.

“I picked out some clothes for you. Some pajamas, a couple tee shirts and trousers, a sports bra if you want it. Obviously not sure what your size for anything is, but we can go shopping tomorrow morning,” Yaz offered.

She leaned forward to look at herself in the mirror again, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Why do you wear them?”

“Clothes?” Yaz asked hesitantly, not turning around. She glanced at Yaz's back in the mirror.

“Earrings,” she clarified, and Yaz almost looked relieved as she let out a breathy laugh.

“Oh, um, I dunno really. They look nice? My mum did them when I was pretty little. It’s kind of like a thing for girls to wear them,” Yaz shrugged, unfolding a shirt from her duffel bag.

She ran a finger down her nose, over her lips, and down her neck. It was smooth. Sans adam’s apple. Sans facial hair. She examined her jawline and collar bones and ran her fingers down the V of her button down. It was all very soft. And she recognized it as hers. “I think I’m a girl,” she breathed suddenly, wide eyed as she traced her hairline. She’d been told that information already in between that precise moment in Grace and Graham’s bedroom and when she’d crashed through a train roof, but she hadn’t quite comprehended the idea until then. She heard Yaz chuckle behind her.

“Good for you, then.”

She picked up the earring again, scrutinizing it. There were others like it in a little porcelain bowl near the mirror. With eager fingers, she dug through them, sorting through safety pins and paperclips and earrings that didn’t have their other halves.

“I want an earring, Yaz,” she declared, searching Grace’s stash for the perfect one.

“Just one?” Yaz asked skeptically.

“Never had one before,” she mused.

“So you want to be a pirate, then?”

“Never noticed them before,” she mused, pondering what else she might have missed as a man.

“Okay, well, we can go to a piercing shop tomorrow, I guess.”

“Tomorrow?” she whined, deflating and scrunching her nose up. “That’s hours away, and I might not want one then.”

“All the better reason to wait!” Yaz protested, turning to her. Then she paused suddenly, her face going sour. “God, I sound like my mother.”

She scrambled to her feet and took a few large strides forward, hands up to emphasize her point. “Yaz, listen. Sometimes my brain makes decisions that I disagree with, but this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity to get ahead of myself,” she pleaded. Oh, begging, that’s new. She wasn’t sure she liked it yet, but she did need this earring and it felt like she might die again if she didn’t get it.

“Right, there’s a lot to unpack there, but I’m choosing to ignore it,” Yaz sighed, so close that she felt her breath on her nose.

“I’m not all together right now—”

“That’s something we can agree on,” Yaz muttered.

“—I’m still...forming. When I wake up tomorrow, I might not like earrings. Who knows? Everything’s new and different, and I might turn out to be a total bore if I don’t do something about it right now,” she breathed, biting down on her lip. She wasn’t sure if that was true, but it felt true with all the buzzing urgency going on inside her. That might just be the regeneration energy still repairing her internal organs from that landing, not her best one admittedly, but that certainly didn’t matter in her quest for an earring.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Yaz groaned. “How are you not exhausted?” Seeing the pleading look in Yaz’s eyes made her sag just a little, huffing as she sat back down.

“Humans have terrible circadian rhythms, and you should inquire about changing them. I mean, you sleep a third of your life away!” she protested indignantly. Yaz cocked her head at her.

“What do you mean...humans?” Yaz quickly shook her head. “You know what, I’ve had enough weird for the night, so I’m just gonna step out and let you change,” she said, walking out of the room and leaving her to fiddle with loose earrings and wondering if that could be her next project, changing humanity’s sleep cycle. She wondered if they’d make her a statue or something. Did she like statues? Well, she didn’t like ones that moved, and there was no telling which ones could, so decidedly not.

Still bitter, she sulked over the desk, picking up earrings and examining them. She poked at the dull end, wondering how exactly they got them through your ear lobe if they weren’t even sharp. Another shiny thing caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she grinned, picking it up. “Brilliant,” she breathed, opening the safety pin and watching the pointy bit sparkle in the light.

She leaned closer to the mirror, looking herself in the eye and taking a deep breath as she aligned the pin with her ear. In one decisive motion, she shoved it through, and a white hot pain burned across her skin. “Ow!” she yelped with a frown, feeling rather betrayed. Yaz poked her head in to see what was going on and was at her side in a flash when she saw the blood beading on her ear.

“Are you bloody insane?” Yaz asked, looking at the pin stuck through her ear, the skin already bright red and puffy.

“I didn’t think it would hurt,” she admitted, glancing up at Yaz.

“You just tore a hole through part of your body. It’s gonna hurt!” Yaz protested, grabbing a tissue. In the meantime, she grabbed the safety pin and winced as she latched it in place. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re taking that out right now. It could get infected!”

“No, this is the perfect time to do this!” she protested, eyes wide and urgent. “I’m still rearranging. So if I can keep the hole there until things settle down then it’ll become a part of this new body. It won’t ever close,” she said, scrambling out of her chair and inching away from a slowly approaching Yaz.

“I just wanna look at it,” she said, tissue in hand. She eyed Yaz’s posture, ready to pounce, and seriously doubted her sincerity.

“Stay away from me, Yaz,” she warned, inching toward the door.

“At least let me clean it. You’re dripping on your jacket,” she said, motioning to her shoulder. She quickly wiped her fingers along her earlobe and found them slick with dark orange blood.

“‘M fine!” she motioned, wiping her fingers on her trouser leg. Yaz eyed her. “He won’t mind,” she assured her, but that seemed to make Yaz even less assured and she lunged for her. But she was too quick, sliding out the door and running down the hallway to the living room. “I’m serious, Ya—” she yelped as strong arms wrapped around her, and then they were both on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Yaz gasped, rolling off her. Then she turned onto her back as Yaz sat on her heels. “Oh, god, that one hurt. I think you rebruised my left kidney.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to tackle you. Just couldn’t have you running out the door. If you won’t go to A&E, you’re our responsibility now,” she breathed, pressing her palms into her thighs.

“I’m not a madman,” she protested, wincing as she propped herself up on her forearms.

“That’s highly debatable, love,” Grace chimed in, and that was when she realized that she was in the middle of the living room floor, all her new friends peering down at her.

“I’m very serious about my earrings. So I’m learning. Do you happen to have any in gold? I don’t think silver’s my color,” she offered, scrunching her nose as she brushed her hair back to show them all the safety pin secured through her ear and the blood smeared down her neck.

#doctor who #doctor who fanfiction #dw fanfic #thirteen #yasmin khan #yaz khan #thasmin #13th doctor #thirteenth doctor #graham o'brien #Grace Sinclair #grace o'brien #is her last name O'Brien or sinclair???#ryan sinclair #the woman who fell to earth #writing

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chocafe · 5 years

Text

love shot — lee felix

summary: felix comes to rescue when you had a little too much to drink, but who knew he needed someone else to rescue his fragile heart all because of you?

pairing: drunk!reader x friendzoned!felix

genre: fluff, friends to lovers, social media + bullet points

the moment felix arrives to pick you up

he is immediately greeted by your bubbly presence and the warmness of your soft touches

“my little baby!” you shout out into the void, dashing towards felix as you wrap your arms around his neck

how drunk must you be to not notice your actions?

felix thinks to himself as his face reddens up by your sudden skinship, something his weak heart was not capable of handling

“you need to take y/n home as soon as possible.” woojin sighs, shaking his head in disappointment. “they’ve been embarrassing themselves for the past hour.”

“i swear all minho does is TALK”

“i’m woojin… felix, do you see my point?”

woojin thought he was going to enjoy his friday night by having a few drinks with his classmates

but instead, he was too busy taking care of you (who knew you were so frail to a few shots of soju)

“i wish i had known earlier.” felix grumbles underneath his breath

“trust me, we all wished we knew earlier.”

in a matter of seconds, woojin is no longer by your side

and rather than drinking your night away

felix is holding onto your wrist

pulling you down the sidewalk

in attempt to walk you back home

“let mE GO I STILL WANT TO DRINK”

“the only thing you should be drinking right now is water.” he audibly nags, sounding almost identical to your mother

“oh?” you halt yourself from walking any farther and pull felix closer to you, breaking the gap in between you two. “is my little felix taking care of me now?”

“why do you keep on calling me little?” he scoffs, but still continued to avoid eye contact with you

almost as if…. you were too close to him that he was too embarrassed to look at you in the eyes

“it’s because you are my little baby!”

felix’s fluffy cheeks were then introduced to your hands as you squished them in a playful manner

life isn’t fair

felix constantly thinks to himself whenever he’s around you

for as long as felix could remember, you had always treated him like a child

and no matter what he does, you never acknowledge that he has grown up and is no longer the petite child you used to play with at the playground

there’s a painful aching in felix’s heart, but he doesn’t think much of the discomfort as he has grown immune to it. “stop treating me like a child!” felix yells in annoyance, causing local bystanders to stare in confusion

you’re not going to lie

you were completely stunned by felix’s tone of voice because he has never raised his voice at you before

nor is he the type of person to cause a scene in public

you couldn’t tell if he was super loud or if you were just drunk and sensitive to blaring-like noises,,,,

“felix, what’s wrong?”

“i’m just so tired of you treating me like a little kid.” he manages to express his feelings without stumbling upon his words. “you don’t see me as a man and it makes me frustrated every time you bring it up.”

not taking the situation seriously, you stand on the tip of your toes, softly whispering into felix’s ears. “should i treat you like a man for now on? would that make you happy?”

your cold breath hits his skin and that’s enough to make felix freeze up because

what

were

you

going

?????

“you know, if i start treating you like a man.” you pause for a short moment to charmingly run your fingers through his hair. “i’m going to make you start paying for my coffee!!!!!!!” ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

aight this is it felix is leaving u on the street so u better find ur own way home

there you go again

humorously teasing felix and not taking into account that he’s a person with feelings (for you)

you laugh to yourself, but soon stop as you begin to walk ahead of felix. “i’m being a little too much right now. i guess it really is time for me to go home.”

felix usually keeps everything to himself, but this time, he just had to say what was currently on his mind

as you walked off without him

felix grasps onto the palm of your hand, causing you to promptly turn around to face him

“what do i have to do for you to see me as a man?” there’s a hint of desperation in his voice

“why do you care so much about whether or not i see you as a man?” you furrowed your eyebrows as you were hit with confusion because felix had never done something like this in the past

“you know why─” he’s at a loss for words and it isn’t until a rush a courage surpasses him, which gives him the strength to continue on. “you know i like you, so why do you keep on messing around with my feelings?”

ah, yes

with all of the alcohol running through your system

you had forgotten that felix held amorous feelings for you

since you were intoxicated, maybe you took this whole *~*teasing thing*~* way too far

“i’m sorry, felix.” a rush of wind drifts through and reminds you of how awkward this incident was. “i’ll try my best to refrain myself from now on.”

without properly responding back

felix pulls you in and presses his lips against yours

you’re taken aback by his sudden action

and you remained to stand there, blinking your eyes a few times as you grasped this whole mess

you noticed how sloppy felix’s kiss was

almost as if he wasn’t prepared for this moment

not only that, but it wasn’t like those movie star kisses you see in blockbuster films

but you’ll take this over anything else

because you can feel how real everything is as felix pours his heart into the short-lived kiss

“kissing someone first makes me grown, right? can i finally be called a man?” his voice trembles a ‘tad bit

it was like his braveness washed away like the ocean’s waves

in response to the kiss, you immediately cover your mouth with your bare hands. “what has gotten into that little brain of yours?”

“you can hate me all you want, but i just wanted to prove something to you.”

“i don’t hate you, felix, i never will.” his eyes gleamed with relief after hearing your words. “but seriously if you’re going to kiss me then at least give me a notice, so i can kiss you in return and not look like an idiot???”

too much has happened in the span of two hours …

first, you were getting drunk with your fellow classmates

and now you’re kissing felix underneath the stars

“i really need to go home and sleep, so i could figure out whether or not this is a dream.” you rub your temples, fighting an oncoming headache

“i hope you wake up in the morning thinking that this is all a dream.” he discreetly utters, but does a damn terrible job at it because you heard him loud and clear

felix??? embarrassed??? why yes he is! the main reason why he even kissed you was because you’re drunk, so there’s like a 50% chance that you’ll forget everything that had happened and he’s fine with that

since you distinctly heard felix

you grab onto the collar of his shirt and smash your lips onto his

one last time

“there! we kissed two times, so i’m for sure not forgetting this tomorrow.” you casually say as if it was nothing, proceeding to walk off (fully knowing that felix will be following after your footsteps)

felix was left in a daze

he knew you were mesmerizing, but weRE YOUR KISSES THIS ENCHANTING THAT HE’S CAUGHT UNDERNEATH A LOVE SPELL???

“w-wait for me!” felix chases after you underneath the moonlight

even if felix was drunk, he for sure wouldn’t forget a memory like this as he would forever have it engraved in his mind

#glug glug responsibly bitches #felix scenario #stray kids scenario #felix imagine #stray kids imagine #felix scenarios #felix imagines #stray kids scenarios #stray kids imagines #lee felix #felix #stray kids #lee felix scenario #lee felix imagine

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lovehugsandcandy · 5 years

Text

Fire in the Car (Colt x MC, N*FW)

A/N: Part 3. Follows from Fire on the Floor and Fire in the Bed (I apologize for my lack of creativity in titles). Ok, listen y’all…don’t yell at me because they finally touch in this one!?! OK?!? My Ellie here is more adventurous than canon; canon Ellie might steal cars but your girl here just wants to get laid, am I right?

Pairing: Colt x MC, ROD

Length: 3861 words

Rating: N*FW/Explicit (Still need religion. This is a dirty story, people hook up. Don’t read if you have eyes, which no one paid attention to anyways, etc. etc. etc.)

Summary: Colt finally gets his hands on Ellie.

The dreams wouldn’t stop. Her subconscious was apparently trying to make sure she that she wouldn’t, couldn’t focus on anything else, only able to feel flashes of heat, pleasure, hands sliding all around her body to draw out the sweetest moans, a body in front of her, behind her, all around her, bringing her to the height of pleasure before she woke up, shaking, drenched in sweat with slick leaking down her thighs.

They had been happening for days now and, after the fifth night in a row, she was desperately unfulfilled and cranky and frustrated. She slowly sat up, careful not to wake Logan on the couch, and crept to the break room, still trembling from the intensity of the dreams.

The cold water was a blessing, splashed over her face to dispel the heat, and she leaned against the sink, clutching a glass of it. She needed to get herself under control, silently berating herself, rolling her eyes at the foolish girl she had become. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice the footsteps until it was too late, until Colt was walking in the room and stopping short at the sight of her.

“You’re awake too?” She coolly looked across the room at the reason for her sleepless nights, willing her cheeks not to blush. He looked just like he did in her dreams, cocky, smug, but watching her with an air of confident interest that gave her butterflies.

He shrugged, raising an eyebrow at her. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

“Rude. You always so nosy?” She scoffed and took a sip of the water, trying to cool herself down, separate herself from her subconscious thoughts. “Maybe I was having nightmares.”

“Oh that’s too bad.” His eyes darkened and the look he gave her made her stomach dip. “I would hope you would have nice dreams. Good dreams. The best kind of dreams.”

She breathed out slowly, through her nose. He was impossible. “Colt-”

“Maybe I was having some nice dreams.”

She choked on her water.

“What?” He only smiled, wider, and walked closer. “You don’t want to know about my dreams?”

She knew her face was bright red now and she looked away, focusing on the moon out the window. It was nearly full, casting the room in a pale glow, making Colt’s eyes gleam when she finally turned back to him.

“I was going to go back to bed but I think it would be much more fun to tell you about what I was dreaming about, Ellie.” His smile was predatory, lips curving into a smirk as he moved even closer. She would have backed up but couldn’t, the sink right behind her. “Spoiler alert, you’re in them. In a lot less clothing.”

“I’m getting a little sick of your games.” She could feel her hands starting to shake and put her glass on the counter, never breaking eye contact with him.

“I am so far from playing right now.” He watched her through his lashes, considering. “Was I playing the other night? When you were in my bed?” Another step closer. “When I watched you move so I could remember it for later?”

She met his eyes head on, crossing her hands over her chest. “I think your mouth is making promises you can’t keep.”

“I think you’ll find that my mouth can keep every single promise I’ve made.” He smirked, one side of his lips lifting reflexively as he took a step closer, eyes burning as they traced from her eyes down her her lips and back up, a slow smolder that made Ellie’s stomach clench and dip. “And then some.”

She couldn’t stop the gasp that fell from her mouth as he leaned over, resting his hands on the counter behind her, caging her in, mere inches between them. Ellie couldn’t help but lean back as his eyes bored into hers, all intensity and heat, so close she could see every single lash surrounding his dark gaze. They hung in the moment, staring at each other, and Ellie couldn’t move if she tried.

Finally, Colt leaned back and, eyes making one last sultry sweep down to her lips, the rest of her body, back up again, shot her a wink before walking away, disappearing back into the darkness of the shop.

When she was finally able to inhale and the fog was finally lifted from her brain, she only had one thought.

Oh hell no.

She darted around the pool table, as quickly as she could move on tiptoes, willing her feet to be silent as she made her way to the shop floor. She could barely see him, in front of her, broad shoulders navigating around the cars and toolboxes. She broke into a sprint, following the same path, catching up to him halfway across the floor and clamping her hand onto his forearm, spinning him to face her.

“Wait a min-” The words died on her lips as she caught sight of his face, illuminated by a patch of moonlight through the window, glowing in the dark room. He looked shocked and she watched as his gaze traveled down to his arm, where she was clutching his soft skin between her fingers.

She gasped despite herself when she realized. Other than their kiss, other than that slide of lips amidst the pleasure in his room, in his bed, this was their first touch. It seemed so pedestrian; it was just an arm under her hand, wrapped around skin and muscle and bone. But her nerves, the shock that went through her and settled in the base of her spine? She might as well been touching a live wire. She let go, watching his arm fall to his side.

She couldn’t breathe as they watched each other, Colt looking as surprised as she felt.

Finally, he broke the silence, a murmured “Ellie” falling from his lips as he stepped forward, curving his hand around her jaw and pulling her lips to him. It was softer than the last time, sweeter, his lips folding over hers as his other hand cupped her waist, holding her steady. They stayed like that, their lips mapping each other’s, until Ellie had to pull back for oxygen.

She could only grin as he looked down at her, his eyes wide, cheeks flushed. “You do want me, don’t you?”

“You thought otherwise?” The whisper was incredulous; he was still holding her face, thumb tracing the hinge of her jaw.

She looked away, eyes tracing a crack in the floor. “I mean, you wouldn’t touch me. You wouldn’t-”

He grabbed her waist, hands rough, pulling her to him so their hips met. “There. Can you feel how badly I want you?"

The moment had been sweet but now, feeling his hips roll against hers, that sweetness turned to heat, cascading through her body. All she could do was nod, struck mute.

"I’ll show you how bad I want you.” His jaw clenched and then his hands were in her hair, pulling her forward so their lips met again and Ellie lost the ability to form rational thought, his teeth and tongue demanding her full attention.

He backed her into the nearest car, hands solid and insistent on her waist, his lips never leaving hers. She kissed him like her life depending on it because it did, it did; she would combust into a shower of ash if she couldn’t feel the strands of hair between her fingers, his teeth gently pulling her lower lip, his hips pressed into hers so she could feel how much he wanted her. She couldn’t stop the moan from her throat and would have flushed at the wanton noise if she weren’t so busy trying to pull him closer, hands fisted in his shirt, trying to get him closer than the laws of physics would allow, so they would occupy the same space and breathe the same air and finally be connected in the way she had only dreamed about.

She was trapped between him and the car, unable to move as his lips traced a fiery path up her jaw, stopping to lavish attention on her neck before worrying the sensitive skin behind her ear.

“Fuck, I wanna fuck you right here.” His voice was hoarse and low, puffs of breath sending tingles down her spine.

She answered by grabbing his hips and pulling them together in a slow grind, feeling him twitch against her as the friction made her whine, high in her throat. She felt his hands respond by edging up to grab the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head and throwing it, lost in the darkness, as he bent his head to lavish attention on a nipple, the play of his tongue and scrape of his teeth making her cry out. She could feel the glass and metal on her bare back, the chill a marked comparison to the heat in front of her, his hands and mouth scorching her from the outside in.

She was about to cry out again, to demand he make good on his words and take her right here, when her eyes flew open. Footsteps. Somewhere from downstairs, heading this way. Crap.

Ellie watched as Colt’s eyes widened and he pulled her a step from the car, opening the door. She was still in a fog and let herself be hustled into the backseat as Colt shut the door behind them and draped himself over her, trying to stay out of sight of the windows. It was a tight fit, both of them in the back seat, her legs squished to the side to make make room for Colt to crouch over her.

“What the-”

Ellie trailed off as she could hear, distinctly, whistling, coming from the doorway to the shop. She craned her neck to peer out a window, but Colt pulled her down again.

“Shhhhh.”

“Who is it?”

He only looked at her, eyebrow raised, before ducking his head to suck her nipple into his mouth again, tongue making her nerves dance. Ellie gasped and then quickly covered her mouth with a trembling hand, trying to muffle the sound.

“Does it matter who it is?” Colt looked up through his lashes, between the valley of her breasts.

Ellie shook her head desperately, hand still over her mouth. She could still hear the footsteps outside, the whistling. Someone was heading towards the shop floor.

He grinned, teeth a wicked gleam in the dark. “Can you be quiet, Ellie?”

Without waiting for an answer, he slid back to her nipple, teeth and tongue again leaving sparks on her skin as she realized what he was doing. “Wait, but-”

One more grin and he moved lower, lips teasing her stomach before his hands reached her waistband. She shifted so he could pull off her pants, one leg at a time, leaving her completely bare and trembling in the back seat. He stopped to look at her, eyes traveling up and down her body like he couldn’t decide where he wanted to look first. Any embarrassment she felt died as she watch the heat in his eyes, the way he bit his lip, crouching in the limited space at her feet.

“God damn, sweetheart.” Colt’s tongue edged out to wet his lower lip. “You make me regret not getting my hands on you ‘til now.”

“Oh my God, then do something about it, please.” She couldn’t help pleading, the words slipping from her lips.

“Shhh!” The whistling was still there, footsteps echoing on the concrete. Ellie tried to catch her breath, quiet the sound; it wasn’t working.

Colt smirked at her and grabbed her ankle, slow hands tracing a delicious path up her calf, under the sensitive spot behind her knee. She moaned as his hands reached the back of her thighs, every touch on the sensitive skin there sparking heat up her spine.

He raised his eyebrows, voice low and rough. “That was a sexy noise.” Without waiting for a response, he ducked his head, lips and tongue finding her inner thigh and tracing patterns over her skin as her head fell back and she tried unsuccessfully to silence the moans the were coming out. Slowly, so slowly that she almost thought she was imagining it, his tongue moved up her leg, edging closer and closer as her back arched, desperate for some kind of relief.

“Please, Colt…please.” She couldn’t stop the whimper. However, he only sat up with a smirk. Ellie blinked up at him, confused. “Wait, no…”

Without waiting for another word, Colt bent again, grabbing her ankle and tracing the same path up her other leg, hands sliding over her skin, followed by his lips and tongue. Ellie moaned; now that she knew what was coming, her muscles tensed in anticipation as his tongue made his way higher and closer and she couldn’t breathe.

As soon as she felt his tongue touch her, oh God right there, she moaned, forgetting where she was, forgetting when she was, God forgetting everything except the feel of his tongue and lips on her.

“Hello?” It was Toby, on the shop floor, somewhere behind them. Crap.

Ellie’s hand flew back to her mouth again but Colt only smiled, lips slowly spreading over her skin as his tongue continued to dance. Her breath was coming faster, lungs struggling to get oxygen through her fingers, but she didn’t dare remove her hand, not when Colt’s tongue was moving just so, every move shooting pleasure through her body.

She was hot, trembling, and she could feel every touch as if it were amplified. Colt’s lips closed around her clit and she keened at the sudden suction, back arching off the seat of the car.

“Shhh….” Colt raised his eyebrows at her. “My mouth has promises to keep and I’d rather not be interrupted.”

“Hello?”

Toby was closer now; she could hear movement outside the car and bit the flesh of her palm to keep in the noises, the obscene sounds falling from her mouth. Colt didn’t seem fazed at all, tongue and lips and suction bringing her to tears, streaks slowly rolling out of her eyes into her hairline.

“Hello?” Toby was still there, voice breaking through the fog. “Uh…is this a shirt?”

Colt chuckled, low and soft against her skin, and eased a finger inside of her, a gentle slide into her body, then another, a slow stretch teasing her as his thumb danced on her clit. “Do you think he’ll hear you?”

“Huh?” Her brain wasn’t working; nothing was making sense except for his hands on her body.

“If I get you to scream, he’ll definitely hear you.” His fingers were still moving inside her, stretching her; when he hit the spot that made her legs twitch, a dull thump against the car door, he caught her eye with smug smile on his face. “And I really want to get you to scream.”

“Colt, oh God.”

“Hello?” More footsteps, closer still. “Is someone here? Or something?” She could see his shadow, moving around the floor, passing the car.

Colt winked and returned to the task at hand, fingers toying with the right spot with stunning accuracy as his lips and tongue descended onto her. She could feel the heat building, tears trailing down her face, and was shaking, both with pleasure and with the effort of keeping quiet, of not making a single sound. Both her hands were clutched over her mouth but she could hear the gasps, the shaky breaths.

More footsteps, this time moving away from the car, thank God. Ellie bit her lip, hard; she couldn’t hold it in for much longer as Colt fucking played her body like a goddamn instrument. Her legs were shaking and all it took was one last circle of his tongue, one last scrape of a callused thumb inside her and she was a goner, completely unable to hold back the breathy moan that poured out from between her fingers, teeth buried deep in her lip painfully.

When she came back to herself, he was caressing her, hands stroking calming patterns over her sides, her legs, as he watched her, smile playing on his lips. He knelt over her to give a gentle kiss to her thigh, then stomach, then neck. Logically, Ellie knew she was lying in the backseat of the car but it felt like she was floating, limbs suspended in space and waiting to come back to earth.

“Don’t you dare move. Don’t move a muscle.” Colt pulled away and Ellie almost moaned at the loss. “I’ll be right back.”

Ellie could only sputter, incredulous, as Colt opened the door behind him and slid out, shutting it behind him softly and sliding through the shop floor. She was too shocked to move but realized where he was going when she heard voices. Colt and Toby were talking, hushed, and she could hear snippets of the conversation, not enough to tell what was going on. Then footsteps, moving away from the car, into the backroom. Then silence. She was alone.

“What?” Ellie whispered to herself and looked around the dim car, absolutely confused, trying to figure out what had happened. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wonder long because the door opened again and Colt ducked back in, clutching her shirt.

She didn’t miss the way his eyes gleamed as he looked her over. “Damn. I’m glad you’re still here.” He melted over her and his lips found hers again, tongue swiping over her lips, soothing the spot she bit when she came. It took everything she had to pull back, still clutching the strands of his hair.

“Where did you go?”

Colt moved to her neck, lips teasing their way to behind her ear. “I was worried he would never leave so I told him I couldn’t sleep and would watch Blown Gasket with him. Again.” His tongue was tracing patterns behind her ear as she struggled to focus on the words.

“What?”

“I even told him he could talk throughout the movie.” His lips trailed down, teasing her nipple again before smirking at her. “The things I do for you.”

“Wait but…we…” He was at her naval now, teeth teasing her sensitive skin.

“One thing first.” Lower still and she had to stifle a moan as his tongue found its target, fingers sliding inside of her. Ellie could only let her head fall against the seat and squeeze her eyes shut. “One more.”

“Huh?” He was muffled, mouth against her; she could feel the breath as he spoke, the raspy puffs of words a contrast to the heat of his mouth.

“One more. You’re so hot when you cum.”

“What?”

He didn’t answer, didn’t need to answer, as his tongue danced around her clit again and the breath left her lungs.

“What about- oh God- Colt, what about-”

His eyes flashed as he looked up. “Don’t you dare say anyone else’s name right now.” His fingers started moving faster and she didn’t think she remembered her train of thought, didn’t think she could form a sentence. He was on a mission and all she could do was hang on.

“Colt-”

“Fuck, I love how you say my name, that fucking moan, fuck.” And with that, he couldn’t say anything else as his mouth was covering her, tongue and lips sliding up her slit to her clit and she couldn’t do anything but moan his name and ball her hands into fists and writhe as the pleasure brought her higher and higher until she broke into a million tiny pieces that she would never be able to fix.

When she came back to earth, he was watching her, smug smile softening into fondness as he considered her.

“I have to get back.”

She felt a pang of disappointment, willing her shaky arms to reach for him as she sat up.

“Oh, your clothes.” Everything had fallen away, somewhere buried in the car, and Ellie sat up as Colt fished her things off the floor. Her eyes widened as she realized that he was helping her into them, sliding the fabric over her head, hands gentler than she ever thought possible. She leaned into the touch as his hands drifted down her neck, her arms, her legs as he helped with her pants.

It was almost as if he was making up for lost time, trying to get his fill; now that his fingertips had finally graced her skin, it seemed he didn’t want to stop, couldn’t pull away from her.

He was still looking at her, taking her in, when she realized that he had never gotten off, had never even taken his clothes off. Before she could reconsider, she moved, sliding into his lap, pushing him back against the seat, getting so close she could feel every inch of him under her. He was still hard; she could feel him against her under the layers of fabric, and she moved closer so their hips met, harder.

Colt’s hands tightened around her hips as his head dropped back. “Ellie, fuck, what are you doing?”

“Turn about is far play, Colt.” She kissed his neck, up to his ear, teasing his earlobe with her teeth. “Maybe I want to show you how it feels.”

“Fuck.” His hips were moving against hers, desperately seeking friction. She bent her head to kiss him, hard, tongue twining together. She could taste toothpaste and her, still on his tongue, and it made her deepen the kiss in appreciation of what his tongue could do.

When she heard his low moan, pulled from his chest, she pulled away, swinging her leg over him to slide out of the car, looking back at him with a smirk. “Don’t you have a movie to watch?”

She could only smile to herself as she sauntered away, trying to file the image of him gaping like a fish into her memory, when a hand on her forearm spun her and his lips crashed into hers. She threw her arms around his shoulders as he backed her again into the car.

“Now you’re playing games.” His voice was low, quiet.

“No games.” She pulled back to look at him, dead in the eyes. “Fuck me.”

He swallowed, hard, licking his lips as he struggled to keep his composure. “Fuck. Ellie, damn, I gotta go.”

“No, not now. Tomorrow night.” She watched his eyes widen. “We can do the real thing, instead of just dreams.”

He couldn’t speak, could only kiss her again, tongue demanding entrance to her mouth, hands twining in her hair, body long and hard against her. She couldn’t decide if she was being brave or stupid but, as she pulled him close, she realized that maybe she didn’t care.

“Colt?” Toby’s voice rang out across the shop and Colt jumped back, eyes wide. His hair was mussed, shirt wrinkled, and she felt a flash of pride at being the one to upset his equilibrium.

He glanced towards the break room one last time and nodded, resolutely.

“Tomorrow.”

Tags: @deimosensblog @alegria1580 @choicesarehard @thefarrari @client-327 @moonlit-girl-wonder @going-down-downtown@soniadotalves @jolietmaraud @hazah@flowerpowell@poeticscolt@brightpinkpeppercorn @zaira-oh-zaira@desiree-0816 @leelee10898 @maxwellsquidsuit @liamzigmichael4ever @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore

#playchoices fanfic #colt kaneko #colt x mc #colt rod #choices rod #n*fw #lemon #30 diamond scene #amy writes

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akitokihojo · 6 years

Text

It’s About Time -Part 3

A bit longer than last week’s portion. A bit more angsty too (considering angst hasn’t even been a thing in this fic as of yet).

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

Miroku retracted his arm from Sango’s shoulder, rolling his head back against the cushion of the couch and groaning loudly. It wasn’t often that he was at a loss, being the type that could break the ice like an actual elephant, but this time was different. His best friend was sulking. Actually and legitimately sulking. Locking-himself-in-his-room, mumbling-words, hanging-his-head-in-defeat sulking. He’d approached the situation jokingly at first, which was probably the worst thing he could have done. Hell, he’d never seen Inuyasha look so dejected before, even after breaking up with Kikyo, so it was perfectly understandable that he almost thought he was being pranked. Once he’d realized how serious this was, Miroku tried a more tender approach. He brought home comfort food, offered some distracting video game time, and even forked up the cash for a bottle of expensive whiskey to help Inuyasha relax and start talking. All of which were rejected.

He’d decided that two weeks was long enough, and it was time to take drastic measures. Enter Sango. After another failed attempt at coaxing Inuyasha out of his brooding stupor, he dashed out into the forty-degree weather, hopped into his car and drove straight to Sango’s apartment. It was against the “Bro Code” to spill about a friend’s personal life, but he didn’t know what else to do and thought a woman’s touch was all the guy needed.

By the end of Miroku’s story, Sango’s roommate came through the front door and froze after noticing him. It wasn’t the first time it had happened in the last week or so, but it didn’t make it any less weird. She hardly smiled, and after a moment, looked away awkwardly as she hung her coat and scarf on the hook nailed to the wall. After disappearing into her bedroom, Sango reluctantly admitted that Kagome had seemed down for a while now, too, with no given explanation.

“And you have no idea what’s wrong with Kagome?” Miroku asked, rolling his head to the side to glance at his girlfriend.

“Not a clue. She was totally fine and then all of a sudden, she just… wasn’t. I’ve asked her a thousand times to talk to me, but she keeps saying it’s nothing to worry about.” Sango replied, a concerned frown marring her features.

“Maybe it’s in the water.” Miroku suggested, feeling defeated.

“Not for Inuyasha.”

Miroku looked at her questionably, turning his body towards her once more in anticipation of what she had to say.

“You said he has a soulmate. What if he found her?” Sango inquired.

“Why would that upset him?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. From all the stories you’ve told me about Inuyasha, he seems like the stubborn type-”

Miroku chuckled, nodding enthusiastically. “Oh, he’s definitely stubborn.”

“Therefore, he may be picky about his women. What if he doesn’t like his soulmate? Better yet, what if he doesn’t like the fact that he didn’t get a choice in the matter? I mean, it seems a little farfetched that 100% of the people that have a soulmate wouldn’t have a problem with their selection.” She shrugged, raising her eyebrows. Miroku sat there for a moment, allowing her words to sink in and process.

“Have I ever told you how brilliant you are, you gorgeous woman?” He boasted, squishing her cheeks in between his hands and pulling her in for a kiss. “What the hell would I do without you?”

She giggled, shaking her head and pushing his hands away from her face. “So, I helped?”

“Are you kidding? Everything makes sense now! That idiot is as stubborn as a mule. In fact, he’s so stubborn donkeys take after him. You’re damn straight he doesn’t like anyone calling the shots for him, especially in the love department.”

“Maybe you just need to help him take his mind off of things for now. Eventually, everything will calm down and level out. Even a guy like him can learn to accept change, right?” Sango asked innocently.

“Oh, uh… Give or take six months down the road he may consider the idea of accepting it.”

“…You’re kidding.”

“My dearest Sango, I never joke about Inuyasha’s attitude. He is, in fact, the worst.” Miroku smiled nonchalantly. “But I’ve tried to keep his mind off of things. I end up more rejected than a high school girl whose senpai won’t notice her. Thank god we’re in this together, huh?”

"We are?" Sango hesitated, frowning at her boyfriend who seemed all-too-eager to include her.

“Of course! Kagome could probably use the pick-me-up too! How about a house party? My place is big enough and we’re on the bottom floor. I’ll invite the neighbors, so they don’t complain. They’re young. They’re hip. Everyone can dance their worries away.”

“I can’t imagine Inuyasha being the dancing type.”

“He is when he’s drunk.”

The pungent smell of alcohol riddled the air as too many people bounced about, shouted, and dry-humped around him to the loud music. Inuyasha distinctly remembered telling Miroku he wasn't interested in hosting a party, and yet here he was; shutout of his own bedroom and forced to stand around awkwardly until the alcohol hit his system. He didn't know how his roommate always got his way, but the man was a master at persuasion and coercion.

He swiveled the red, plastic cup in his hand hoping the motion would make the ice melt faster and cool the warm whiskey so that it was drinkable. He watched as the two ice cubes hit the sides of the container, flowing in a circular motion as a small whirlpool was created. The lower temperature began to seep through the plastic, soothing his irritated hand and helping him to ignore the increasing prickling.

Ever since that day at the coffee shop, Inuyasha had felt like shit and these sensations had increased tenfold. He knew this party was Miroku’s way of trying to help bring him out of it but being forced to hang out in a very crowded room with a lot of drunk, obnoxious people was far from the answer. He just needed to ride the stupid feeling out.

Inuyasha had watched the message he’d written slowly fade from his palm, disappearing completely with no response. He’d stared at his skin for damn near an hour waiting for something to appear. Every day, he’d check his hands for notes or doodles and his flesh remained clean and clear. The only thing that remained to tie him with whomever the fuck this was, was the annoying, unrelenting tingling that spread from his wrists to the tips of his fingers, seemingly growing worse and worse by the minute. Inuyasha wasn’t one for melancholy to begin with. He was the type of guy that swallowed his problems to deal with another day, but this whole ordeal seemed to be eating him away and wearing him thin.

He was exhausted, he was aggravated, and he was anxious as all hell.

He took a large swig of his barely-cold drink, the whiskey burning at his throat as it coated it thoroughly on its way down. Slamming the cup on the small side table next to the couch, he made his way to the open front door, heading towards the fresh air and calmer atmosphere.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, waving over the many heads inside. A girl several inches smaller than him tailed behind, clutching desperately to his hand so as not to get separated. Her long, brown hair was held loosely in a high, messy ponytail that swayed side-to-side as she walked, and her dress was almost too revealing for this weather. "It's about time I finally get the opportunity to introduce you two! This is Sango!"

“It’s nice to finally meet you!” Sango smiled, extending her free hand to him. Inuyasha took it in his grip, making sure not to hurt her nimble fingers with his large hands. To his surprise, her shake was firm and powerful, the squeeze hurting his knuckles. When he’d first learned they were dating almost two months ago, he felt compelled to warn the girl about Miroku and his… tendencies. Maybe Miroku was the one he should actually be worried about.

“You probably don’t remember, but we’ve met before.” Inuyasha smirked, eagerly taking his palm back and rubbing it out.

“I don’t and I’d rather not!” She laughed awkwardly, no doubt remembering the hangover she suffered from that drunken night a few weeks ago. “I believe you know my roommate, too? Kagome? She’s here somewhere!”

Inuyasha’s fists clenched, the familiar surge of points and needles prodding his hands with a burning fury. His head twisted around the room, looking for her long black hair and bright brown eyes but coming up with faces he didn’t know and an abundance of putrid scents that burned his nose. Realizing Miroku was staring at him, he stopped and attempted to come off as casual as possible.

“She is? Well I… um… hope she’s having fun.” He slowly nodded, turning and exiting through the door.

The November air was cold as shit and he wished he’d grabbed a jacket before stepping outside, his demon blood not enough to keep him warm at this time of year. A chill crept through his long sleeve shirt and as his senses began to quiet, he could smell rain approaching in the air. It was cold enough at night where the water on the roads would freeze until the sun thawed it mid-morning, but not cold enough for snow just yet.

He walked outside the apartment building, the music still loud enough to reach his sensitive ears as he shoved his tingling hands into his front pockets for warmth. He was almost tempted to let his fingers freeze and fall off, the cold numbing them and aiding in some form of relief from the undying torture.

“Oh. Hey.” A sweet voice greeted as he turned the corner, nearly bumping into her small body that leaned against the wall. Kagome stood there, her chocolate eyes gazing at him unsuspectingly. Her hands were tucked inside the pocket of her dark blue pullover hoody, the logo for their college printed on the front. Her dark curls flowed over her shoulders and around the bunched-up hood at the back of her neck, her messy bangs framing her face too fucking perfectly. She smiled shyly, causing a piercing jab to his heart as he forced himself to take a step backwards.

“Hey.”

Kagome felt a fluttering rush develop in her chest, expanding throughout her entire torso. She’d come outside for a quick minute to compose herself. The moment she’d seen Inuyasha standing along the wall of his living room talking to absolutely no one and drinking who knows what, she’d felt her breath catch in her lungs and couldn’t get it to come out. It was ridiculous, even for her, so she decided to come outside and start over.

The dim lights from the building provided just enough exposure for her to see the slight tint of pink on his cheeks, which she suspected to be from the cold, and his amber eyes staring back at her with both question and concern.

“I-it was… crowded.” Kagome admitted, tearing her eyes away and looking at the ground.

“Yeah, I get it. Me too.”

“What?”

“I-uh… I thought it was crowded too. That’s why I’m out here.” His voice was low and rough, catching all of her attention. Kagome’s eyes met his again, his gaze burning through her as her hands clutched one another through the large pocket in her sweater, trying to calm the wild nerve endings. She desperately wanted to take a step closer to him, as if he were a magnet drawing her in, but pinched the back of her left wrist with her nails to keep grounded where she was.

What was happening to her? These feelings were becoming too intense to think rationally. She shouldn’t have come to the party. She shouldn’t have wanted to see him again. But, geez, did she want to see him again. She’d kept her hands clean for weeks, kept notes in her cell phone and notebooks, and used hand sanitizer for added effect as a form of detoxing to keep her mind off of things, but it only made it all worse. She was sad, and Sango’s concern proved that it was noticeable. How could she tell her best friend what was going on if she didn’t even know herself? Kagome refused to admit the one thing that kept prodding at her mind. She refused to even consider that Inuyasha was the man on the other side of this. He didn’t believe. He had no idea what it was like to feel as crazy as she did now, and she would only be screwing herself over if she gave in and hoped it was him.

Inuyasha flinched, rubbing out the sudden sting that came to the back of his left wrist. He and Kagome had stood there in silence for a long moment. A small part of him felt calm and content, while a larger part of him trembled with agitation.

Fuck! He wanted to know. He deserved to know. If it wasn’t Kagome, all she had to do was say so and he’d move on.

All he had to do was ask and he’d have his answer.

A part of him felt like he already had, though. He’d sent a message, and he knew it was received. He’d never been so sure about something in his life. Why would shit come through to him but not the other way around? It just didn’t make sense. If he understood anything about this soulmate thing, it was that what happened to one happened to the other.

“Listen, Ka-“ The loud ring and heavy vibration coming from his pocket yanked away his focus. He pulled out the device, ready to silence the thing and turn it off completely when he noticed the name in big, bold letters. He didn’t want to answer. Jesus, why did he slide the bar at the bottom of the screen to accept? He was literally seconds away from getting the yes or no he needed, so why would he even consider answering this call? It was past ten, and nothing good ever came from calls from your ex-girlfriend this late at night.

“What?” Inuyasha’s voice came out harsher than intended. He held the butt of his phone close to his face, neglecting to put the call on speaker phone since Kagome was only a few feet from him, his ears sensitive enough to pick up the hysterical sobbing coming from the other end. He waited a moment, the cries never slowing enough to pick up the words she tried to mutter in between. “Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. I need you to tell me happened. Slowly.” He dropped his voice considerably, his tone coming off as soothing as possible while direct enough to be followed.

“… He hit me, Inuyasha.”

He turned down the volume on his phone, knowing Kagome couldn’t hear what was being said but not taking the chances. Her concerned stare burning into him, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip as the tension increased around him from every angle.

“Where are you?” Inuyasha asked, his amber eyes never leaving Kagome’s brown orbs. He knew he was going to regret this, but he couldn’t leave Kikyo alone when she was this scared or hurt. His stomach twisted and turned painfully, feeling a lump form in his throat.

He was pissed. He didn’t need the details of Kikyo’s situation to feel the anger gnawing at his entire being. He didn’t care that she was his ex and he didn’t care what had happened in their past. She was a sobbing mess, hiccupping between words and begging for him to come get her.

He got the information he needed and hung up the phone, sliding it back into the depths of his front pocket. Unconsciously, he’d taken a step closer to Kagome, her eyebrows raised, and her deep brown eyes drifting back and forth from his own to his lips. He slowly lifted a hand to cup her cheek, his palms stinging all the way, the sensation too much to handle as the padding of his thumb just barely grazed her soft skin so he withdrew it altogether. Fuck, he wanted to make that worried expression disappear. He wanted to soothe her features and tell her everything was alright, but the situation was such a clusterfuck that he couldn’t find it in him to say anything.

“I have to go.” He said hoarsely. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

Inuyasha began backing away from Kagome, finding each step harder and harder to take. He was so damn close to an answer. He was so damn close to her. At this point, it seemed all logic was out the door. He may not know shit about her now, but he was more than willing to take all the time in the world to find out everything he could. God, he wanted her to say yes when he could finally ask her the dreaded question. He wanted it to be her. He wanted it to be Kagome.

She gave him a soft nod, and he was finally able to tear away and head in the direction of the coffee house.

Could half demons tell if they were being followed? Probably. But Kagome knew Inuyasha’s mind was too preoccupied to pick up on her. Every part of her knew this was wrong, but the horrible feeling that had drilled into her chest cavity wouldn’t ease up until she gave in and snuck off after him. She decided that she could beat herself up later about it. For now, she had to concentrate on staying a safe distance behind while simultaneously staying close enough not to lose him.

The icy drizzle fell around her, shocking the tenderly-cold skin of her nose and cheeks. The smart thing to do would have been to put her hood up but she was worried about looking like a shady figure hanging out in the background, so she decided against it. A little rain never hurt anyone.

Inuyasha’s pace quickened as he approached the lit-up coffee house, half adorned with autumn décor and the other half in semi-put-up Christmas lights. He forcefully threw open the door and ran towards the back where she couldn’t see him anymore, a curving wall from the inside blocking her view. Even through the cold, her hands felt clammy. She could hear the scared voice through Inuyasha’s phone. The voice of a female begging him to come get her. Kagome had no right to be jealous. She was jumping to conclusions, another bad habit of hers, and as per usual, it only created messier situations.

The drizzle turned to rain, her damp hair beginning to stick to the sides of her face and neck. She should just turn around and head home. She should go home, get dry, and put on some stupid romcom to distract herself. So why was she approaching the windows of the coffee house? Why was she searching the inside of the dimly-lit, twenty-four-hour building for the familiar face with the unfamiliar woman? Why did it hurt so bad to see Inuyasha cradling a girl's jaw, their bodies so close to one another?

“Who did this?” Inuyasha demanded. He wanted to punch the wall next to them and create a god-awful scene. He wanted whoever the hell it was that had the balls to strike a woman to see the damage he, himself, could do so that he would shrivel down in fear at the beating that was coming for him.

“His name doesn’t matter, Inuyasha.” Kikyo responded flatly, her dark eyes avoiding his. His clawed hands held her face, his thumb caressing her pale cheeks, avoiding the darkening bruise around her eye.

“Like hell, it doesn’t!” He snapped. “If you call me to come get you because some asshole you’re dating hit you, you better be prepared to tell me his name!”

“I didn’t call you because I wanted you to fight him! I called you because I wanted you to take me home!” She pushed his hands away, carefully wiping at her tear-stained cheeks. “But you didn’t even bring your car and it’s pouring outside now!”

“Oh, save it! I was drinking when you called, so I wasn’t going to drive around town like that. And don’t act like it’s the rain you’re worried about. I’ll get you home safely, so shut up.” He rolled his eyes, gently grabbing Kikyo’s chin between his forefinger and thumb, and twisting her face slightly to get a better look at the developing bruise. “Who was it, Kikyo?”

“Some guy I went on a few dates with.”

“Who was it, Kikyo?” Inuyasha demanded again, sick of her attitude already.

“Naraku. His name is Naraku. We got into an argument and the rest is history.” Kikyo lifted her chin out of his hold, turning away so the mark of violence was out of his line of sight.

Inuyasha clenched and unclenched his fists, the tingling making it hard to focus on one thing over the other. He sat back in the corner booth they were tucked away in, seething in anger and wanting to beat the ever-loving shit out of this guy. Hell, he would run off and do it right now if he knew what the asshole looked like and didn’t have Kikyo to worry about. It killed him that a woman he’d known to stand tall with pride seemed so small and terrified, so it made it a lot easier that she didn’t want to be looked at. As good as he was at blowing things out of proportion and going off the deep end, he understood that it was more important to get her home as soon as possible.

He made sure to steady himself, ready to take her arm and guide her back to her place, when the small silhouette in the corner of the furthest window caught his eye.

Kagome gasped, forgetting that the main objective, besides snooping, was to avoid being seen. His eyes pierced through her, and her feet felt frozen in place. Her heart beat erratically as her first instinct was to panic. To run. To get the hell out of there and avoid him for the rest of her life, because there was no way she could face him or live this down.

She didn’t expect it to hurt so bad to see him caring for another woman. She didn’t expect to feel so irrationally betrayed to see him stroking her cheek when she was well aware that this situation and their relationship was none of her business. None of this made sense to Kagome. For the umpteenth time, she asked herself what was happening to her. Her lungs contracted, the air traveling through her pipes painfully as the cold rain wracked her body into tremors.

Inuyasha stared out the window, his eyes adjusting to the difference in contrast as her features became noticeable. The rain caused her bangs to wave and stick to her forehead, the layers of black hair that once created a voluminous look clinging to her cheeks. Her mouth hung slightly open, drops of water running along her face and stopping at the texture of her pink lips. The dark blue sweater she wore looked black from the added moisture, her arms shivering at her side and her fingers shaking.

He jolted to his feet, that action startling both the girl outside and the girl beside him. Kagome turned to walk away, the steps quickly developing into a sprint.

But he was faster.

“Inuyasha, what are-“

“I’ll be right back. Stay here.” He ordered, not giving Kikyo a second look before darting out the door and following Kagome’s path.

The rain made it impossible to catch her scent, but he let his intuition guide him. His legs darted quickly, the downpour stinging his face as he turned a corner he’d taken on the way from his apartment. There she was, just a few paces in front of him, her legs running as fast as they could. His burning hands stretched out in front of him, his fingers latching to the arm of her baggy, soaked hoody.

“Kagome, stop! Stop!” He shouted, pulling back so that she’d be forced to stop running. Her chest heaved up and down heavily as he turned her to face him, her head hung, avoiding his gaze. “What the hell are you doing?”

She bit her lip, her breathing still quick, her body shivering beneath his touch. Inuyasha didn’t let go of her sweater. He was sure if he did, she’d take off again. The street lamps hardly provided enough light to see all the features he’d grown to favor on her face as she stared to the ground at his feet.

“Kagome?” He tried again, holding back the growl that crept up in his chest. No, now wasn’t the right time. She looked sad. Hurt even.

“I’m sorry,” She started, her voice a whisper compared to the sound of heavy water smacking cement. “I shouldn’t have followed you. I was just worried.”

“Then why did you run?”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

His grip on her clothes went slack, dropping his prickling hand to his side. Finally, she looked up at him, peeking through the thick bangs that hung low and hid her lashes.

“Who is she?” Kagome’s voice shook, and it ripped a hole in Inuyasha’s heart. Fuck it all! What the hell was she doing to him? He should have been pissed that she was spying, but he was more concerned that she was wet and freezing, wandering through the streets alone as the night only got later. He shouldn’t have chased after her, but he couldn’t imagine letting her run off when she looked so wounded through those dirty windows.

“Her name’s Kikyo.” Inuyasha admitted, his shoulders sagging as he resisting the urge to step closer and close at least an inch of the gap between them. “She’s my ex.”

Kagome nodded slowly, the statement causing a painful knot to form in her throat. This is what snooping does; if you go looking for trouble, you’ll always find it.

“Why are you upset?” Inuyasha asked, reaching for her hand. She felt the shock. Felt the rush course through her body and she jerked back, feeling more scared than she knew she should have been.

“I’m not.” She lied, trying to seem as natural as possible.

“Why are you upset?” He asked with more fire, stepping toward her and snatching at the sleeve of her hoody to prevent her from leaving like she so desperately wanted to.

“I said, I’m no-“

“Tell me, Kagome!”

“I don’t know, Inuyasha!” She yelled, feeling her resolve crumbling around her. “I don’t know why I’m upset, okay!? I know I shouldn’t be! There’s a lot of things happening right now that shouldn’t be, but I can’t help it!”

His lips curled into a frown, his brows drawing together as he pulled her closer to him.

“Are you her?” Inuyasha asked, his eyes boring into her own.

“Wha-“

“Are you my fucking soulmate!?” He barked, pulling her another step closer. She could feel his hand traveling down her arm, her palm igniting in a heated blaze she’d never felt before. She attempted to jerk backwards again but got nowhere, his skin nearing hers.

“No!” Kagome tore her arm from his hold, her breathing appearing shaky and unstable. The raindrops curved around her brow bone, over her nose, and down her jaw, the path of them numbing her to further cold. She clutched her burning hand to her chest, wanting so badly to feel his wet skin with the pads of her fingertips, but finding the fear of it all too overwhelming. She was afraid it wasn’t him. She was afraid this whole thing was wrong, and she was following all the wrong signs. She couldn’t be rejected. Not here. Not like this. Not while he was looking at her, able to see her break and crumble from the weight of the disappointment. “I’m not your soulmate, Inuyasha! I don’t have one!”

“Bullshit!” He argued, seeing right through her. “Prove it!”

“Back off!”

“Give me your hand, Kagome!” He looked desperate and just as afraid as she was. She could tell he was trying to disguise it with anger, but his amber eyes said everything she needed to know. He, of all people, had a soulmate somewhere nearby. It was becoming painful for him, and he needed to know who she was. Inuyasha’s ache had become just as insatiable as her own.

It didn’t matter. The fear of being wrong overpowered her trembling nerves and made it impossible to put her hand in his.

“I can’t.” Kagome whispered, staring at his open palm, hot tears stinging at her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

His fingers curled shut, the sharp tips of his claws biting into his cold flesh, feeling rejected once again. Why couldn’t anyone answer his damn question? He wanted to break something, curse and shout, anything to release some of the frustration that he’d locked in for weeks now. What the hell happened to happy endings? Why was this so damn hard?

“I should go. I interrupted something that looked important back there. You can go back to her, Inuyasha.” The hurt in her voice was so evident, it shook him to the core. Everything was so fucked up.

“No, look, it’s not what you think. She got into a fight with her new boyfriend and he hit her. She needed help, Kagome.”

“Is she okay?” Kagome asked immediately, mentally kicking herself for the slip. It was none of her business and she should have never butted in.

“She’s fine. Shaken up, but fine.”

“Is there anything I can do?” The hook in her voice was genuine, and Inuyasha wondered how it was possible for someone to instantaneously push their problems aside for a person they didn’t know. His shoulders sunk, unconsciously reaching his right hand forward and gently pushing a sodden strand of hair off of her pale cheeks and behind her ear. Kagome’s heart was so good, and he understood now that she was going to be the death of him.

“No,” He shook his head, relishing in the heat that radiated from their touch. “I’m just going to make sure she gets home safely. That’s all she needs right now.”

Kagome’s eyes fell back down to the floor, blinking quickly to block the dripping water from blurring her vision. His touch was so wonderful yet so agonizing at the same time. She didn’t know this would be so difficult. Of all the tales she’d heard of finding your person, she’d never once heard one so painful. It was always a happy start to a happy end. Nothing was scary or conflicting or the least bit trivial about it. Your hand sent you some sort of signal and the rest was history. A couple had once come to her family’s shrine and described the story of how they’d gotten that infamous tingle and literally walked around for however long it took with their palms held out like a flashlight, following the urges and sensations until they collided with their person and felt a wash of relief they’d never experienced before.

So why wasn’t that happening for her now? Why did she feel so much regret saying no when she had the opportunity in front of her to possibly end all of this torment for the both of them? Inuyasha was clearly going through it too, and she was willing to do damn near anything to ease the lines on his face and take some of that pain away. But she didn’t.

Kagome kept telling herself it wasn’t right. She wasn’t right for him. They weren’t meant for one another and they were only making things worse in the end.

“I should…” Kagome’s voice broke, betraying her as she tried to hold herself together for just a moment longer.

“No, K-“

“I really need to go, Inuyasha.” She pushed his hand away from her, careful to pull the sleeves of her drenched sweater over her fingers to avoid any further contact with him. “I have to go.”

She backed away slowly, trying to bite back the quivering of her bottom lip.

“I’m so sorry.”

#Inuyasha #Kagome #kagome higurashi #inukag #miroku #sango #mirsan #kikyo #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fanfiction #inukag fanfic #inukag fanfiction #angst #inukag fic #inuyasha fic #it's about time #my writing #soulmates au

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dovahgriin-archive · 5 years

Text

Meet-Cute and Other Adventures {2/100}

Pairing: Clint Barton/Reader

Rating: T

Chapter Notes: N/A

In the weeks since you’d been cornered in the alleyway between your home and work, mutant-human relations have been in a steady but constant decline. The news regularly covers scenes where mutant-friendly businesses have been picketed by angry humans. Apartment complexes where mutants live are vandalized. You keep your head down, and hope that no-one will notice you. You really shouldn’t be too surprised when someone tossed a Molotov cocktail into your open living room window.

Shattering glass is what startles you out of sleep. The yowling of your cat by your bedroom window has you scrambling out of bed. Your brain is still cottony as you fling open the casement, letting Sprinkles out. The feline hops out onto the fire escape and wails again.

That’s when you notice the smoke.

Coughing, you pad out of your bedroom and into your kitchen, where you can see fire — fire — flickering off of the cracked linoleum. The smoke and the rapidly growing flames have you blinking back tears and swearing loudly. Someone pounds on your door.

”Help,” you cry out. “I’m in here!”

The fire is between you and the front door. Shit. You scramble to get back into your room, grabbing an empty duffel bag on your way past the utility closet. When you get into your room, you slam your door shut,

You toss clothes haphazardly into the bag, grabbing the comfiest that you can find. Now you remember why Professor X had told your class why you needed to keep a bag packed at all times.

”Humans… normal people… don’t always understand what’s different, and they can be dangerous. It is always best to be prepared to move.”

You have gotten too comfortable in the little life you’ve built for yourself, and this is the result. Stupid, stupid, naïve, you scold yourself, sliding your clunky old laptop in amidst the soft sweatpants and worn t-shirts. This is why you listen to your elders, dumbass.

Biting your lip, you briefly debate digging around in your closet for the delicate gold chain that you’d been given when your family dropped you off at Xavier’s so many years ago. You scoff to yourself. It’s the only thing you have of them; it’s a non debatable necessity.

You’re on your hands and knees waist-deep in the junk that you’ve tossed into your closet when someone taps on your window. You don’t hear them at first, finally wrapping your fingers around the knotted gold chain. They knock on the white-wood frame this time. You hear them and stand up too fast, smacking the back of your head against the lower clothes bar.

“Fuck!”

Rubbing your hand over the newly-formed goose egg, you turn to your window with a scowl. Your apartment is three stories up and the fire escape’s ladder to the ground is always rusted stuck — there’s no way anyone could climb up it. “Who are you?”

”What, you don’t recognize me? I’m hurt.”

That voice… You definitely recognize it, but you can’t place where you’ve heard it before. How do you know him? “Who are you?”

The man slides in your window like it’s second nature. He’s wearing a mask-hood hybrid. A super? He pulls the cowl back, and recognition dawns on you.

“Clint?”

“Hey, sweetheart. Miss me?”

You splutter at his use of ‘sweetheart’. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?”

He raises an eyebrow at you. “Do you really want to have that conversation while your apartment is on fire? Come with me, I can keep you safe.”

Safe, right. Safe is good. You spread your hands out in front of yourself. “Lead the way, oh mighty one.”

Clint makes to grab your duffel, but you beat him to it. “Nope, there’s delicate stuff in here, man. I’ve got it. Can you give me my cat?” He looks confused, but then you point at your incredibly dumb cat; he’s rubbing up against Clint’s legs. The man scoops Sprinkles up and hands him to you. The little idiot is purring like crazy. You unzip the bag and let Sprinkles sit on the top of the clothes before zipping it up.

Clint snorts. You roll your eyes. Sprinkles does look a little ridiculous with just his poofy head poking through the zipper. In your hurry to get to the window, you brush up against the doorknob and hiss. It’s hot enough to burn your skin now. You clap a hand over the burn.

”Okay, I’m good to go. Can we go now?” Your voice shakes with the pain. You’d never been good with injuries in school, and that hasn’t changed over the last two years.

”Yeah, of course. C’mon.” Clint helps you through the window and onto the metal platform of the fire escape. It’s cold outside, and you remember that a weather anchor had predicted snow later on in the week. Clint waves you towards the stairs going up. “This way.”

You give him a very thorough side-eye. “Shouldn’t we be going down?”

Clint jerks his head at the angry crowd below. “You sure you wanna go down there right now?” You shake your head. He nods. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now come on, I have a place where you’ll be safe until we can get you to Xavier’s.”

The two of you spend the next few minutes climbing up the fire escape before reaching the roof. Clint hasn’t even broken a sweat, you notice. Meanwhile, you’re panting and bracing your hands on your knees as you catch your breath. “How,” pant “are,” gasp “you,” wheeze “not,” deathrattle “dying?”

“Because I’ve trained nearly every single day of my adult life to do stuff like this,” he says. You place a hand on your chest, as if that will stop your heart from leaping out behind your ribs. Clint frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine,” you say, breathing heavily through your nose. “Just… give me… a minute.”

Sprinkles meows at you. You idly scritch begins his ears. Your heart rate slows to a more manageable pace, and you swallow past the lump in your throat. “Okay, I’m good, I think. Unless there are more stairs. If there are more stairs, just let me perish.”

Clint gives you a strange look. You shrug. Stairs suck; you’re not afraid to voice your opinion and you tell the archer as much. He rolls his eyes.

Smoke is beginning to cloud the air. “So…” you breathe in and cough. “How do you plan on getting us down from here?”

Clint holds up a finger and makes a one-eighty turn, muttering. You strain to hear what he says, but he’s just far enough away that you can’t quite catch it.

Something sizzles and sparks beside Clint, and you scramble backwards as an orange portal — a portal?! — opens. While you’ve seen some weird shit in your life (Logan peeling potatoes with his claws while on kitchen duty was pretty fucking weird at the time, okay?), this really does take the cake. You’re pretty sure that the orange circle is permanently emblazoned on the inside of your eyelids. It’s bright.

“Go on, I’m right behind you.” You hadn’t heard Clint approach you, and in your surprise you shriek, pitching headfirst into the portal. As you fall, the only thing you can really concentrate on is not squishing your cat.

Your shoulder hits the ground hard, and you groan. Sprinkles meows and licks one of your fingers. Clint’s shoes appear in your peripheral vision as he offers you a hand.

“What the hell was that?”

“Dimensional portal, à la Doctor Strange.” Clint pulls you upright with little trouble when you grasp his hand. You don’t let go of his hand. “It’s safe here, I promise.”

”Where is this place?” You peer at your surroundings. It’s a beautiful building, whatever and wherever it is, with heavy woods and plush carpets and a distinctly art nouveau vibe to it. If you hadn’t just tripped off of the roof of your apartment building and landed inside of another one, you might have relaxed enough to ask questions about the history of the place, but you did just trip through a portal, so your lack of questions could be forgiven. Clint opens his mouth to reply, but another voice cuts across the room.

“This is the Sanctum Sanctorum,” a man in a red cape says as he glides down from the balcony above. Your eyebrows rise. “I am Doctor Stephen Strange. You must be a mutant from Agent Barton’s quadrant.”

“Pleased to meet you,” you say, and then you introduce yourself, pulling your hand out of Clint’s in order to shake the man’s hand. Doctor Strange then returns to the second floor, leaving you alone with Clint. You turn to him, your hand finding a place on your hip. “Alright. What’s going on? Why were you oh-so-conveniently near where I lived? I could’ve gotten away from the rioters just fine on my own.”

“My people — the Avengers — and your people — the X-Men — have joined forces temporarily,” Clint tells you. “There’ve been… threats… against mutants with the new tolerance laws that were passed recently. “

“That’s it?” You are distinctly unimpressed and it shows in the curl of your lips. “Mutants have dealt with worse in the past. What’s so big about this that Professor X has strangers evacuating mutants? Why hasn’t anyone contacted those of us who don’t live at the school anymore?”

Clint runs a hand through his hair. “Uh, well, we’re — I’m — not sure. It’s all very hush-hush, and I’m not an A-list Avenger, so…” He spreads his hands out before him. “I wish I had more information for you.”

“Alright, then,” you sigh and glance around the foyer of the Sanctum. “Is this where I’m supposed to stay? Or is there another stop on this ‘Underground Railroad’?”

”Huh? Oh, ha ha. Funny.” Clint doesn’t sound amused but the corners of his eyes are crinkled up, so you count that as a successful attempt at humor. “No, this is just a pit stop on the way to Xavier’s. Do you have a hoodie or something in that bag of yours? We’re gonna have to walk to my place before I can get you to Xavier.”

Tag List: @wefracturedmotivation

#clint bartonxreader #clint barton x reader #hawkeyexreader #hawkeye x reader #s: actual human disaster #clint barton #hawkeye #reader insert #reader interactive #marvel #mcu #clint barton imagine

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dxlanwrites · 6 years

Text

"Old Roots" .1 (G.D)

A/N: After re-reading the series I didn't like how fast the plot developed so I've been rewriting the current parts that are up. Some parts are still the same, others are different and have added scene's. Here's part 1. She's a long one so watch out. Enjoy.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

~~~~~~~~~~

An eerie quietness fell over the neighborhood as I closed my car door. The quiet thumps of my boots hitting the broken slabs of concrete sidewalk were the only noise that could be distinctly heard. It had to be around 3 a.m by now but I wouldn’t of known since my phone was currently smashed to piece's on my living room floor. Pulling my leather jacket closer to my body to help keep out the chill, I neared my destination. About a block away at the end of the almost abandoned street sat a fairly new looking home surrounded by cars and motorcycles. A warm almost inviting glow was hidden behind the closed curtains that framed the windows. A soft buzz of chatter could be heard as I got closer. Carefully maneuvering my way through the vehicles, I stopped and stood at the bottom of the steps that led up to the door and front porch. Damn. I haven’t been here in years but everything still seemed familiar. I still knew every inch of this house as if it were my own which it basically was to my 16 year old self, but now it was all just a distant memory. Taking a deep breathe, I reluctantly made my way up the steps. My boots sounded heavy against the newly placed wood, no doubt alerting everyone inside that someone was out here. Pulling open the screen door that was the only thing separating me from my past, I raised my arm and moved my clenched hand forward. Only to stop mere centimeters from the wooden door. I should of just called, I thought to myself. There was no need to do this face to face, yet here I was. No more hesitating. I have to do this. I need to do this. Taking another deep breath and rolling my shoulders back to relaxed slightly, I brought up my knuckles banged them against the cold wooden door. Knocking hard three times, I backed up slightly and harded my facial expression. Game face. The chatter inside died down alittle and the sound of footsteps were nearing the door. As the lockes clicked unlocked, my breath hitched when realization finally kicked in. Here goes nothing. The door was swung open and the familiar scent hit me like a ton of bricks but I quickly pulled myself together, pushing back any emotions that dared to break the surface. Looking back at me curiously stood someone I’ve never seen before. He looked pretty young and old at the same time, had to be no more then 17. His scruff aged him more than it should of but his baby face showed his youth. The jet black hair of his layed messily underneath the hood that was lazily thrown up. His bright green eyes were shinning as if he was just laughing hysterically at something. The throat being cleared from this unknown boy helped regain my attention when he caught he taking in his features.

“Can I help you?” His deep voice rang out into the air as his eyes narrowed in on me. Mentally clearing my mind and straightening up slightly to help with the height disadvantage I was at, I began to speak.

“You can help me by stepping aside and letting me in.” I said emotionless.

"And why would I do that?" He said leaning into the door frame as he crossed his arms.

"Because I said so. So move." I said getting slightly annoyed.

"Yeah. Okay." He said stepping back as if he was about to let me walk in, only to shove me back by my shoulder and began to close the door. Okay, I wont play nice then. Kicking my leg out to stop the door from closing, I pushed myself inside. Taken back from my sudden aggressiveness, he quickly put himself inbetween me and the destination i seeked.

“You have about 5 seconds to get off the property or you’ll regret it, little one.” He said down to me.

"Little one?” I repeated quietly as I moved in closer to him, dangerously close. Lifting up my hand, I gently traced my finger down his jawline stopping at his chin.

“Oh honey the only little one here is you.” I said grabbing the collar of his hoodie and pulling him out of the doorway and onto the ground of the porch.

“Word of advice, never threaten me again. Or you’ll regret it.” I hissed at him. As I walked in, memories began to flow. Everything looked fairly the same, some changes had occured throughout the years though. New furniture, fresh layer of paint on the walls, pictures in picture frames taken out and replaced with new memories. A loud familiar laugh soon invaded my ears as it came from where the living room should be, unless that changed too. Before I could chicken out and run away, my feet were already reluctantly moving me in that direction. Fast and loud footsteps were heading my way as I made my way ddeeper inside, no doubt from the boy I just met. When his figure emerged from the corner and spotted me, he lunged forward and tried to grab my arms only to be kneed in the groin and pushed onto the floor. This small commotion caused everyone to turn from their spots on the couches and look at the noise. Confused and shocked faces met my hardened one as they spotted me. No one said anything, just stared back with blank expressions, except for a brunette whose tits were basically pouring out of her tank top.

“Who the hell are you?” She said standing up from the recliner. Before she could take a step forward the arm from the guy next to her shot out infront of her to stop her from moving closer. She looked up confused as to why she was halted and was about to say something but the sound of glass breaking beat her to it. Looking to my right to where the shatter came from I saw a familiar face. My heart skipped a beat in excitement as my eyes connected with his.

“Y/n?” He said in pure and utter shock. A smile spread across my lips as I closed the distance between us and ran into his arms. A few seconds later after his mind click on and realized I was real, he returned my hug and held me tight against him. I don't know what came over me to run into his arms like that but I was secretly happy I did. I hadn’t even noticed a single tear left my eyes until we broke apart to get a good look at one another when he quickly swiped it off my face.

“Ethan.” I said breathlessly. His small smile grew bigger as he released me from his grasp. Our little moment was ruined by a deep groan from behind me, turning around I completely forgot about the boy I kneed a moment ago.

“What happened to you?” Ethan asked as he peered past me. The boy didn’t say anything instead just pointed at me instead.

“She did this? Y/n, you’ve been here for not even 5 minutes and are already causing trouble.” He teased.

“What can I say, trouble seems to follow me. In my defense he didnt let me inside when I was being nice then he threatened me then basically came at me so he’s lucky all he got was a kick to the balls.” I said blankly.

“Still got it I see. Attitude and all.” He laughed.

“Kinda hard to forget. Blame it on the muscle memory.” I joked. Ethan rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up the glass from his cup he broke. Someone else I didnt know got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen to get a broom.

“Damn y/n in the flesh. Never a sight I thought we’d ever see again.” A voice said behind me. I turned around just in time to see two large bodies come hurling at me, wrapping me up in their arms and squishing me between them. I laughed shortly but quickly was over the unwelcomed contact, getting irrated and began pushing them off of me.

“No more y/n sandwhich!” I said facing them.

“Aw c'mon y/n/n, you know you love it. Being between me and Russ is a fantasy of yours, we know it.” Tyler joked as he smirked at me. Roaming my eyes over their body, I couldn’t help but take in the sight in front of me. Definitely not those scrawny 17 year old boys I once knew. Fully grown men now stood in front of me with toned muscle flexing underneath their too tight of a shirt, jeans perfectly wrapped around there muscular legs. Rolling my eyes at his comment, I gave them a small smile in return trying not to crack too much and show my soft. Standing back, I began to take in the new faces around us. A few of the guys that were sitting on the couch watching everything unfold in front of them looked to be around our age while the other 3 relaxing in the floor looked to be in their late teens just like the boy I met at the door. Awkwardly standing around waiting for Ethan to return, my eeyes fell onto a specific spot of the leather couch.

"Take a load off y/n." Russ said taking his previous spot on the couch across the room. Slowly walking to the couch, I hesitantly fell back into the only familar couch that still sat against the wall. It was still in the perfect position to see the TV and best spot to get to the kitchen and bathroom. Taking a seat in the only spot where I ever sat. My spot. The left corner next to the table. Closing my eyes and letting my head fall back onto the couch, I let out a deep sigh and surprisingly allowed myslef to relax into the familiarity. I was brought back to reality from an obnoxiously loud laugh. Ethan was making his way over to me with two beers carefully hheld in his fingers. Putting out his hand for me to take one, e rose his eyebrow when I hesitantly took it from him. He sat down next to me as he laughed quietly and shook his head.

“It’s as if you never left.” He said taking a swing of his beer.

"Oh but thank god I did." I replied under my breath as I took a sip of my beer. Wincing at the strange taste I took my lips of the bottle.

“What the f-. Light beer?” I said looking over at Ethan.

"Yep. We’re trying to maintain our amazing bodies and beer doesnt really help. It was Grays idea.” Ethan said nonchalantly. Tensing up at his name I remembered the main reason I was here. I knew I was going to let myself get caught up with all the reminiscing and comfortiblilty that I would forgot the only reason I even came back here. Noticing my uncomfortably state he gave me a sympathetic look which I didn't like at all. Pushing all flashbacks and feelings away, I refocused myself.

“Where is he E?” I asked not looking up from the spot on the floor I was staring a hole in.

“Around. He was pissed at everyone and everything earlier. Left in a rage. Wouldn't even talk to Hailey.” He said avoiding looking at me after the last sentence left his lips.

“Hailey?” I asked looking up at him. He motioned over to the kitchen with his beer, ignoring my stare. Following the direction he motioned with, my eyes met the backside of the brunette from before. Her bootyshorts road up her ass showing alittle too much booty.

“Figures.” I laughed as I downed my beer. Ethan laughed at my remark and silently agreed with a simple head nod.

“But seriously Eth, where is he? I didn’t just come here to take a trip down memory lane.” I said looking at him.

"Then why are you here?” A deep voice asked from the other side of the room. Freezing up instantly at the sound of his voice, I mentally cursed at myself for letting him take my by surprise and make me feel how I was. An overly excited squeal sounded out from the kitchen followed by footsteps.

“Baby!” The brunettes, or known as Haileys voice broke out into the silence that now hung in the air. From the corner of my eye I saw him quickly dismiss her as he walked closer to us. I smirked inwardly a little but instantly dropped it to remain my neutral look. Giving myself a small pep talk, I reluctantly rotated in my spot and faced him. As soon as my eyes hit his hazel ones, I knew I was a goner. So many emotions flowed through my body at once, I didnt know which one to react with first. Neither of us said anything as we stared at eachotheer allowing the tension to grow in the air. Ethan put a reassuring hand on my thigh to help edge me on, in which Grayson quickly took noticed of right away and narrowed his eyes. Noticing the slight change in his demeanor, I pushed Ethan’s hand off of me like it was on fire. Standing up and placing my beer on the table I stood face to face with him.

“Grayson." I said emotionless as my nails dug into the palm of my hand to help me not shake. Somehow his expression hardened at the sound of his name slipping past my lips.

“Why are you here?” He asked sternly boring his eyes into me as he crossed his arms against his broad chest making his muscle’s flex. In any other moment I would of been drooling over the pure sexual power oozing from him in that tight black shirt but I knew what he was doing. He was trying to intimidate me.

"We need to talk.” I said steadily. He made no advancement to reply or pay any attention to my request. Looking to my side where Ethan sat, I gave him a look we used to share many times when Grayson was being difficult. Grayson was quick to take notice of the smiles that threaten to spread on mine and Ethans face. An animalistic like growl escaped his lips making my head snap towards him.

"Don't even." I warned. That sound was all too familiar to me from the countless fights between me and him or whenever his overprotectness would emerge.

“Excuse me?” He said harshly taking a long stride towards me. Challenging him was one thing he had always told me he admired about me but it always pissed him off none the less. When he was in arms length distance of me and made no motion to be stopping anytime soon, I extended my arm out as it collided with his hard warm chest. At the mere contact he stopped all movement.

“Let's be civil. Talk like the adults we are, or well how I am. I dont know about you.” I sassed as I removing my hand off his chest.

“Im busy.” He said coldly pushing past me. Grabbing at his bicep and turning him around to face I gave him a hard look. I heard someone intake a hard breath as they watched me man handle him.

“Grayson Bailey! If it wasn’t important I wouldn’t of dragged myself back into this shithole.” I said angrily at his childish antics which earned a couple of defensive ‘heys’ from the boys.

“Shithole? Well this 'shithole' used to be your home.” He scuffed and pulled his arm out of my grasp.

“Gray, please.” I said as it came out barely above a whisper. Looking up at him, I noticed he was already staring down at me with an unreadable expression. He narrowed his eyes at me and knitted his eyebrows together as if he was thinking. Then in a blink of an eye, wrapped his large hand around my wrist and pulled me behind him without another word.

“But baby-” An annoying whine called out from close behind us as we walked out of the living room. Grayson stopped mid step, making me inconveniently slam into his back and instinctively wrapping my freed arm around his waist. He didnt turn around but just turned his head back slightly to look at Hailey.

“Leave us alone. I’ll deal with you later.” He said as he contiuned to walk and head towards the stairs. Ethan was causally leaned up against the wall no doubt waiting for us when he finally spoke.

“Gray man, let’s take a second to calm down. No need to be rash.” He said calmly as he tried to reach for my wrist in Graysons grasp. Grayson pushed him back slightly as he brought me forward so my back was now securely pressed up against his chest with his arm holding me in place by my waist. As soon as Ethan took in the expression Grayson was giving him and my knowingful gaze, he lifted his hands up in surrender and backed away back into the living room. He knew how things were going to get settled between us and as soon as Grayson and I had made eye contact but he hoped it wouldn't. Ethan would never admit it but he was always proud and happy for me when I finally left because he knew I could finally be who I wanted to be and reach my full potential instead of being stuck here and never see what the world had to offer. Without warning Grayson quickly rushed up the stairs with me in his arm, almost making me fall over my own damn feet.

“Fuck Grayson, I can walk on my own!” I said pushing myself out of his grasps. He ignored my whine and walked to the far end of the hallway where his bedroom still sat. Following him towards his room, he waited for me to get inside then slammed the door shut.

“Talk.” He said harshly as he walked into his large walkin closet, stripping himself from his shirt and throwing it a basket in the process. He walked back out a few moments later in a pair of sweats that hung low on his hips and a t-shirt thrown over his shoulder. If I say so myself he has definitely been keeping his body in check.

“Sit.” He said pointing to his bed as he pulled on his shirt.

“No. Do I look like a dog?” I said crossing my arms and leaning back against the door.

“Did it fucking sound like an option? And well you are a bitch.” He said as he grabbed my arm and pushed me onto his bed.

“If you keep manhandling me, I’ll swear I’ll chop of your dick Dolan.” I said glaring up at him as I sat up from my thrown position. All he did was roll his eyes and make his way over the the desk that sat in the far corner near to the window. I noticed a small digital clock that sat on the desk and it read 4:45 a.m. Letting out a breath I didn't realized I had held in, all the exhaustion I have been holding back seemed to finally release myself as I let myself fall back into the bed.

“I said sit, not lay.” He said still facing away from me.

“Never listened to you before so why start now.” I said rolling onto my side to face his direction. He was looking at paper work that was scattered on top of the desk when he felt my gaze on him, making him twist around and looked at me. He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts as he watched me. His face seemed to soften up somewhat before it disappeared and he turned around.

“Don’t lay like that.” He said bringing his attention back to the papers in front of him.

“Lay like what? I’m literally just laying down.” I said annoyed as I sat up.

“Like you used to when I worked. Like you belong there, in my bed.” He said as his shoulders drooped..

"But Hailey can lay in your bed because she belongs here right?” I said surprising myself at the petty jealousy that was laced in my voice. He had stopped moving as his back muscles tensed back up.

“She doesn’t come in my room. She especially does not lay in my bed.” He replied. Feeling somewhat satisfied with his answer, I took a moment to look around the room. It was pretty much the same. All the same furniture was still there just moved around, shelves still held the same objects, clothes were still all over the floor. His bed side table still held my initials I had carved in many years ago so that any girl he brought home after me would know hes will always be mine. Reaching out to touch my engraved initials, memories of that day flowed back.

"What are you doing." Graysons voice said startling me slightly.

"Nothing." I replied as I moved my book over the small scratches.

"Baby, guilt is written all over your face." He said walking into his room and over to where I layed. Staring down at me, he tried to pick out any sign as to what I was just doing. When my eyes twitch to the left a little his gaze followed as he investigated the side table. He noticed the small curved wood scraps from when I removed them with his switch blade. Pushing the only thing on the table to the side he stared down at my initial for my first name on it.

"What were you doing?" He asked. Some anger rushed through him at the thought of you ruining his furniture but he was also very curious.

"I was engraving my initials." I said making eye contact with his beautiful hazel orbs.

"Why?" His deep voice asked.

"So that any girl you bring into your bedroom after me knows that you will always be mine." I said staring at my unfinished job. He stayed quiet after my little jealous explosion and simply grabbed his switch blade that was closed up in my hand and contiuned to carve my last names initial in right next to me first.

"No girl will ever come in here after you cause your it for me." He said leaning down and cupping my face gently in his hands. Smiling up at him, I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him down towards me. His soft lips met mine as a smile broke out from him.

Getting brought back from my flashback from his gaze I could feel on me as I mindlessly traced over the edged markings, I knew he felt that same way I did. Dangerous waters we were treading. The possibility of opening up wounds that have been healed up for the past four years was closer then I wanted. Sighing, I lifted myself up off the bed and walked over to where he was standing. Reaching into my pocket to grab the reason I was here, I unfolded it and layed it out infront of him. He quickly grabbed it as he read it over and spun around to face me.

“Where did you get this.” His asked as his voice came out strained as if he was trying to hold his emotions back.

“It was in my apartment, attached to this.” I said pulling out the picture I had in my other pocket. He grabbed the photo from my hands and stared down at it before snapping his head up to look at me.

“Im serious. Tell me where you got this y/n.” He said a little more louder this time.

“In my apartment! On my fucking cutting bored with a knife stabbed throught them." I replied annoyed. He ran his fingers through his hair and pushed past me.

“Don’t fucking play games!” He yelled as he turned to face me. His face was slightly red and his muscle’s were really protruding.

“Play games?! Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I would of came back here if I was 'playing games'. The last place I would ever want to be is back here with you.” I yelled at him as I clenched and unclenched my fists at my side. He seemed slightly taken back by my outburst but quickly stiffened back up as he dropped the paper and photo on the bed and walked over to his dresser. After rummaging through one of the draws, he pulled out a metal box and brought it over. Opening it up he dumped out all of the piece’s of paper that were held with in. Looking down at them, I noticed they all had the same thing written on all of them in the same hand writing.

What’s poor old Grayson Dolan without his girl? And I don’t mean that little whore you’ve been keeping around. How’s y/n? She looks good, too good. Makes me want to have her squirming underneath me as she cried out in pain.

They were all similar to the note I got. Same messy hand writing and same type of paper, but my referred to Grayson and told me things werent as they seemed also mine came along with a picture of Gray and I when we had to be around 18 years old, sitting outside on the porch with me on his lap. Honestly I didn’t know what to say. Grayson had physical hand written threats targeted against me and decide to just keep it a secret. As soon as I saw the note and pitcure at my place, I was in the car making the 3 ½ hour drive over here without thinking but he didn’t even think to even pick up the phone to tell me.

“How- how long have you had these?” I said looking at the piece’s of paper as a moment of silence fell over us.

“A couple months. I recieved some pictures too of you, they looked recent.” He said unbothered.

“What?! A couple months? You've received threats against me for months and got pictures of me recently? Are you fucking kidding me? Did you even think to tell me or was the small brain of yours too stupid and thought ’oh I better not tell y/n cause im a selfish dumbass and only does whats best for me, fuck y/n right? Who cares what happens to her’.” I yelled at him. He stood there taking my yelling with a clenched his jaw then began putting the papers back into the box along with my note and my picture. Once everything was put away he turned to walk back to his dresser.

“Stop ignoring me! What th-” I began to yell but he interrupted me by the loud sound of him slamming the dresser draw close.

“IM NOT FUCKING IGNORING YOU! If you would shut up for just a goddamn second and let me talk then you would of found out I handled the fucking situation already!” He screamed back at me. As he took a step forward I took one back. I wasnt necessarily afraid of him but I knew he was unpredictable when he was mad.

“What do you mean took care of it? Cause from where Im standing it looks like you didnt.” I said.

“When I said I took care of it, I took care of it.” He said walking towards his door and opening it up.

“Now get out and leave.” He spat out at me.

“You're joking right?” I asked in disbelief. Shaking my head I stood up but didnt make a move towards the door.

“After all these years I really would of thought that ego of yours would of actually shrunk but damn was I wrong. 'I took care of it'. What type of shady crap are you back into now? Or did you never leave that part of your life behind like you always promised you would. Cause from what I remember you told me you stopped working for those guys only for me to find you beating some guy almost to death a week later over some money he owed you. Then on top of all that bullshit I found out you had your own little gang and BROUGHT ETHAN INTO IT! And we all know how that ended, don’t we Grayson.” I said as anger rose in me. He looked over at me from the spot on the wall hes been staring at and I could of sworn his eyes darkened.

"You're the one who left. You walked away. I was done with all of that shit then you left.” He said dangerously low as he stalked towards me.

“And why do you think I left? Huh? Maybe cause I was tired of you lying to me, coming back home at ungodly times of the night, bruises all over, money just coming in from nowhere, PEOPLE TRYING TO GET TO YOU THROUGH ME. The list goes on and on! Remember Marcus? What happened there? Who’s fault was that? Who’s fault was it when I was in the hospital for three goddamn days because of a fucking gun shot wound? Huh? I was FUCKING 17 FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I missed most of my stupid senior year because of you. I didn’t go to prom because of you! Couldn’t go to graduation! I almost didnt get the chance TO GO FUCKING COLLEGE BECAUSE OF YOU! My own parents basically disowned me when they found out I got pregant with your baby only to have that fucking miscarriage. I gave up my entire life for you. So dont you fucking stand there trying to acting all innocent and try to blame anything on me. I left because loving you was the DUMBEST DECISION I had ever made!” I yelled. I didnt even notice the tears that were falling down my face until my eyes became so blurry I couldn’t see. I reluctantly let out a loud whimper as a pair of arms wrapped around me and held me against its chest.

“No! Get away from me. I hate you! I hate you.” I said as I punched at his chest and tried to get away. Memories I hadn’t thought about in years kept flooding my mind as I cried hysterically into Graysons chest. The whole house stood quiet expect for my loud uncontrollable sobs. I had soon forgotten that the door was wide open and that everyone obviously had to of heard everything, which made me cry even more. Soon later my sobs quiet down and the tears dried up but my body was drained emotionally and physically. I felt Graysons grasp loosen slightly on me but still held me close as he gently removed my jacket. In one swift motion he had me up in his arms then placed me gently into the middle of his bed. Removing my boots, he pulled up the blanket that was draped messily on his bed and placed it comfortably on top of me. When he was about to pull away, something in me reached out to grab his arm and pull him slightly towards me. He pulled away lightly to much of my dismay as he walked away and closed the door. I thought he had left but soon the lights were shut off and the corner of the blanket lifted up from behind me. Once he was settled in and somewhat relaxed I scooted back trying to get some sort of body contact I was craving at the moment. To my surprise he was on his side facing me so that when I wiggled back his chest was pressed up against my back. He stiffened up at the contact and didnt dare move so I reached behind me, grabbing at his free arm and wrapped it around me. He quickly relax into my touch and tightened his grip around me bringing me close to him.

"Gray..” I whispered as my eyes stung from the tears forming again. He quietly hushed me and kissed the top of my head as he pulling me closer into him. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks and from the wetness on the back of my neck and uneven breathing in my ear. I could tell he was crying as well.

“I’m sorry.” He said softly and he hugged me closer soon lulling us both to sleep.

#grayson dolan #grayson dolan imagine #dolan twins #ethan dolan #dxlan writes #old roots

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just-folie-a-deux-it · 6 years

Note

“Ran out of gas on the highway We walked there and I gave Drunken speeches on sobriety Now we've all moved away and Somehow became men But I remember where it began at” ryden pls !

This is my favorite lyric from that song you go

Brendon tapped aimlessly at his dark phone screen, teeth toying with the flesh of his bottom lip as he stared blankly at the ground.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

A loud, almost angry clanking sounds from the hood of the car and Ryan frowns deeply. “That.” He says flatly, twisting the steering wheel and pulling the car over onto the side of the road.

“There’s smoke.” Brendon says, pointing out the windshield to the front of the car where copious amounts of light grey are coming up.

“Thank you, I can see that.” Ryan mutters, pushing his door open and standing, squinting as he looks up and down the mostly empty highway.

They’re in the middle of nowhere, a few hours outside of Las Vegas, closer to the desert area. The Sun blares bright and hot down onto them, and now that the air conditioner is off, Brendon’s already starting to sweat.

“Should I call someone?” Spencer asks from the backseat.

“No, no I’ve got it.” Ryan calls, waving a hand and walking over to the front of the car and popping the hood, fanning his arms back and forth as more smoke pours out into the air and momentarily obscures him from sight.

“Should probably call someone.” Jon mumbles.

Brendon twists around in his seat. “Well, we may as well drink those beers before they go cold.”

Jon grins and nods. “I like the way you think, Urie.” He hums, popping open the cooler at his feet and handing out dripping bottles.

“Don’t you two go getting shitfaced.” Spencer says firmly. “I am not chasing you around the fucking desert so you don’t get eaten by coyotes or fuckin’ bears.”

“There aren’t any bears out here, Spence.” Jon mutters, twisting the cap off of his beer and taking a long, slow drink.

“And if there are,” Brendon says brightly, sipping at his own beer. “We’ll just feed them Ryan.”

---

“And so, that is why I think that our first president and commander-in-chief, George Washington, was gay.” Spencer says, throwing his arm in the air and sloshing beer across himself.

“Lincoln prob’ly fucked him.” Brendon mumbles, nodding to himself.

“Lincoln didn’t even know Washington, idiot.” Ryan says, walking around the car and wiping his hands on his now filthy shirt. Sweat glistens on his chest and his hair is sticking up in odd angles from when he pushed it back out of his eyes with sweat-damp fingers.

Brendon looks up, blinking dumbly. “They were friends.” He insists.

“They weren’t even alive at the same time.” Ryan rolls his eyes. “Come on, I’ve got it fixed, let’s go home.”

Brendon watches as Spencer stumbles over and pulls a sleeping Jon from his spot curled in the sand. Half of his face is dusty and pale, the other half bright red and sunburnt.

“I’m hungry.” Brendon looks back up at Ryan, who offers him a hand and pulls him up.

“We’ll get food on the way, come on. It’s hot, you need water.” Ryan says, tugging Brendon back towards the car.

“You’re hot.” Brendon grins.

“I am.” Ryan agrees. “And dehydrated, so let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Brendon shakes his head, pulling Ryan to a stop and twirling him around. “No. You’re hot. Like sexy. Like fuck me.” He slurs.

Ryan arches a brow. The shadows on his face seem darker compared to the Sun setting behind him. “You’re drunk.” He says finally.

“Yes, but you’re still hot.”

“I’ll fuck you when you’re sober.” Ryan promises, planting a chaste kiss on Brendon’s lips.

“Promise?” Brendon asks.

“Pinky swear.”

Brendon gives a small smile, shaking his head with a sigh. It seems so long ago, but in reality it was just a few years. Somehow, it’s all changed though, as if someone reached into their lives and took something that should have happened across the span of decades and squished it up before shoving it into less than three years.

Slowly, deliberately Brendon taps out his password and finds the right contact before pressing ‘send message’.

‘What say you we grab a car and break down on the side of the road again?’

A second passes and he doesn’t press send. Another, and nothing. One more, and Brendon closes his eyes before hitting the tiny button and watching the grey speech bubble appear. He stares intently down at the screen as three dots flash back at him for a long while. It feels like fucking hours.

‘I do distinctly remembering a certain pinky promise, though I can’t recall if it was fufilled...’

Brendon grins, his mouth threatening to split his face in half.

‘Well, just to be sure you’d better go ahead and do it anyways’

‘See you in five’

#Anonymous

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yunenosstory-blog · 4 years

Text

SECTION 1

After the ordeal in the car, I awoke in a dark room. I couldn't make out any distinguishing features aside from the table I was laying on being oddly positioned in the center of it. For some reason, my body felt heavy; as if I was being weighed down by something. Attempting to sit up I discovered what was making me feel that way : my ankles and wrists were cuffed down to each corner of the table.

Breathing fast, I tried to calm myself down. Then, something dawned on me - I was breathing through my nose. Trying to take a breath in through my mouth, I realized it had been sealed over with some sort of hard plastic type substance. I screamed, but just like in the car, I could hardly hear myself. So all I could do was lay and wait for something to happen.

After what felt like hours, the door knob turned to the side and it opened to reveal the man with the black tie. He had another bottle of something. Very distinctly remembering what had happened the last time hed had a bottle, I growled as loud as i could and shook my head as he stalked toward my table.

When hed reached his destination, he folded his hand around my lower leg and squeezed, running his hand all the way up my leg and squeezing my crotch; smiling at me. I felt the insides of my ears press to the table as I blushed dark, my pupils narrowed in a feeble attempt of intimidation. We stayed there for a few minutes before he took his hand away. Clearing his throat he announced : “you're going to be quiet. You're going to lay still. And you're going to do exactly what we say. Understand?” not having any other option, I nodded.

He proceeded to take out a small paint brush and dipped it into the bottle while I watched carefully, my ears fully straightened and angled toward him. He squished the brush gently and pulled it out again, reaching toward my face. Alarmed, I tried to turn my head away; but he grabbed me under my chin and held as tight as he could. “stay still. This will burn if it gets on your skin.”

I whimpered meekly as he applied whatever was on the brush to the plastic. This time, the liquid didn't stink. That fact gave me some comfort and I relaxed a little. His grip lessened as well. The man applied 3 coats of the liquid and then put on a rubber glove. He began picking at the plastic substance. Which had softened. I lay completely still as he plucked away until eventually is was all gone.

Seeming proud of himself, he giggled and fluffed my hair; “good job.” i wrenched my head away. I didnt care for his feelings. And I didn't care for his compliment. “Where's my mom?? I want to see my mom.” I wasn't buying his ‘nice guy’ act this time. Black Tie Man ignored my demand and began throwing out the plastic and wiping the brush off with a cloth. I decided to ask again, trying my hardest to sound as assertive as possible : “Where. Is. My. Mother??” he turned and began walking toward the door he'd come from. Stopping before he left, he turned to me, holding it open with his foot. “Mrs. Keiko will be here soon.” I sniffed deeply and snorted at him, a childish and rude gesture any kitsune would recognize. Black Tie Man rolled his eyes. “cut the attitude.” Then he left and I was alone again.

SECTION 1 PT. 2 (18+ in this section)

I'd given up trying to keep track of the minutes and seconds drifting by while waiting for this Keiko person. I thrashed in every way I could and with my mouth uncovered, I yelled for help, I yelled questions, i yelled anything I could think of that may help my situation. But I never got any answers. I fell quiet only when my throat started to sting from the strain of constant vocalization and my heart slammed so hard it made my body twitch.

A woman then entered the room. She was very, very tall with long black hair and a large burlap bag that hung from her arm. She set her bag between my legs. "Hello little friend. You'll call me Mrs. Keiko. It's my job to determine if you're healthy enough to be processed here. Or if you need to be transferred." I didn't feel as nervous around Mrs. Keiko. "So.. You're kind of like a doctor..? You'll check my heart and my temperature and stuff..?" She nodded, "and other things"

Mrs. Keiko opened her bag and pulled out what Id determined to be a stethoscope. She put the nubs in her ears and pressed the small circle to my chest. "Will I get to see my mom after this..?" I tried to hide my hopefullness. Mrs. Keiko took the circle away and looked thoughtful. "You're a smart boy aren't you?" Confused, I shrugged; "i'd like to think so.." She nodded. "And you're brave to?" As honestly as I could answer her question I stated : "i don't really feel like it right now.." She laughed. "Well I'm sure you're smart and brave enough to handle the truth. And the truth is - it's best if you forget about your mother and the life you had outside of here."

A cold panic filled my chest. “But.. I thought if I was good for you you'd let me go and i'd go back home!!" Mrs. Keiko shrugged. "It's your own fault you assumed that. Nobody told you that would happen," she starts digging in her bag again, "Now open. I need to check your mouth." Enraged, I bit my lips together and glared at her. I wasn't listening to this woman anymore. She was just like those men.

Mrs. Keiko sighed and rolled her eyes. "I said- open. I need to check your mouth." I bit down so hard my fangs punctured my lip and i wildly shook my head. She stomped her foot on the ground. "Fine. Be that way. If you won't open your mouth yourself, I'll open it for you." I watched her as she dug through her bag and pulled out a thin metal ring that looked like it could fit me like a bracelet.

"Last chance." I turned my face into my shoulder. Mrs. Keiko then proceeded to get on top of me. She wrenched my face from my shoulder and drove her thumb and her index finger into my cheeks and squeezed. During this time, I violently squirmed and tried to shake her off. But my mouth slowly started to part wider. When she noticed this she moved her thumbs and pressed my tongue down, holding my mouth open.

She shoved the ring inside and hooked it behind my fangs. Then she got off. Furious, I screeched and growled at her. Thrashing with all the strength i could muster.

She just stood back and watched me. After a short tantrum, I tired myself out and relaxed, laying back and panting. "All finished?" She asked in a taunting voice. I glared up at her with overwhelming hatred. Happy with her answer, Mrs. Keiko proceeded to carry out an average dental check.

When she was done, Mrs. Keiko put her tools away. Then, she pulled out a ruler and scissors. Concerned over the odd item couple, i started moving again and a attempted to cover up what I could. Mrs. Keiko bent over me and unhooked the ring from my teeth. Immediately I demanded - "Why scissors??"

"Because." She opened them and began cutting up the seams of my shirt. "hey!! W-what are you doing?!" I was afraid to try and turn away from her. I didn't want her cutting me. Something seemed to warn me that she wouldn't care very much if she did. "Well I have to get your clothes off somehow don't I?" Then she cut up the seams of my pants.

She pulled all of my clothes off in one motion and tossed them in a steal bucket. After that, she did something that shocked me so bad I was at a loss for words : Mrs. Keiko lit my clothes on fire.

I could only stare at the bucket in awe.

Eventually I whispered the only words I could find - "Why did you do that.."

She pet my pelvis. "You won't need those old things where you'll be going. Now I need you to relax as much as possible. I'm going to measure you."

*Measure me..? What's she talking about?*

Not wanting to be touched anymore. I declared sharply : "I'm five foot two!"

She laughed. "Not that kind of measuring. You'll like this don't worry." She climbed back onto the table and kneeled between my legs. The realization of what was about to happen hit me.

Without being able to think of anything else I screamed "no thank you!!" And i began trying to close my legs. But Mrs. Keiko just put her knees on them and held me down. Once she'd situated herself, she used her hand and started squeezing. The sensation shot up my back and i gasped, arching. This continued until it was eventually standing up straight and clear fluid I had never seen before was gathering at the opening. Satisfied, Mrs. Keiko took the ruler and pushed my pelvis down, she measured and got off, leaving me panting and my hips moving instinctively.

She put the ruler back in her bag and took out a key, she unlocked all the cuffs and pulled me up. I slumped back, dazed and rolled onto my side, curling my tail protectively between my legs. Mrs. Keiko put her bag in the corner, pulled out a steel collar, four hollow steal circles and five locks. She separated them as she made her way toward me. Lifting my head by my hair, she closed the collar around my neck, the medium ones around my ankles and the smallest ones around my wrists. Then she locked all of them. And put the keys in the bucket holding the remains of my clothing.

After that, she took two ropes and a long chain. She attached at the chain to the collar, the longer rope to my ankles, which was long enough for me to only walk at a slow pace and the small ones to my wrists, after shed pulled them behind my back. She stood me up beside the table, gathered her bag and pulled the chain. "Come on. We're going to your new room now." We strolled for the door but it hit me when I realized I wasn't wearing anything.

Startled, I stopped and pulled back, futilely trying to pull my knee up as high as I could, trying to hide my most private sections. "I'm not wearing my clothes anymore! I can't go out there!!" Mrs. Keiko hauled the door open. "It'll be fine. Any and all people that might see you are used to this." She tugged me into the hall. I tried to cover myself as much as I could, but she tugged harder and I had no choice but to follow her.

SECTION 1 PT 3

We walked down a very, very long hall way. Before we reached the end, we stopped in front of a huge navy blue door. Mrs. Keiko opened the door, untied the ropes from the cuffs, shoved me inside and locked the door before I had time to even consider making a run for it.

Once inside, I rushed the door and slammed hard bangs on it until my arms ached. *this is pointless* I thought with frustration, so I gave up and surveyed my surroundings. This new room was a lot brighter and smaller than the other one. It was square, had no windows, a single LED light in the middle of the ceiling, a mattress with only a pillow on it in the far right corner and a kotatsu with four chairs in the far left corner.

After my observations were deemed complete, I began taking note of possible ways to escape. Standing in the middle of the room I looked around again and started thinking - *the beds resting right on the ground so there's no chance of hiding there.. I could maybe go under the kotatsu....? No. That would be much to obvious. Behind the door and run for it..? No. What if there's more than one next time.. what if they have weapons..*

With no reasonable chance of hiding, I crawled around on the floor, hoping to find a hollow area or a crawl space. *maybe there's wood under here and I can pull it up and hide in the floorboards?* I pushed the floor as I crawled. But under the tatami the entire ground was concrete. That idea ruled itself out faster than the other one. *if I had a knife I could get inside the mattress.. well.. if I had a knife I wouldn't be here would I.. * I mentally hit myself for thinking of something so stupid.

Defeated, i flopped onto my back and lay in a starfish position, surveying the ceiling. My way out of this place basically flew at me. *a grate to the airducts!!* overcome with excitement, I got up and stood on my toes to get a closer look. The grate had four screws keeping it attached to the ceiling. Lowering back to my flat feet, I searched frantically for something to use as a screwdriver. Then it hit me.

Taking the last link of the chain attached to the collar, i pried it off and bit it into shape. I crushed the end of it under the wood of the kotatsu chairs and chewed on that to. After a while, it began to take the form of exactly what i had aimed for. Now all I had to do was get up to the grate, take the screws out and crawl into the duct. Even if someone saw me go up there, no one would be able to follow me. "We'll just see who's not going home.." I muttered to myself as an idea hatched on its own.

I held my makeshift screwdriver in my teeth and dragged the kotatsu under the grate. I grabbed the mattress and pulled it over top of the kotatsu. Lastly I stacked the four flat wooden chairs ontop of the kotatsu and mattress. Then I climbed up.

I was just tall enough to be able to fold my arm at the elbow and press it flat against the ceiling. *I'll definitely be able to climb in there!* ecstatic, I started removing the screws. I got the first one off, then I heard footsteps coming toward me.

I froze. Up until now I hadn't thought about what would happen if someone were to enter while I was still working.

A square section of the door slid open. I flinched back, trying to steady myself and watch the door while my heart practically exploded.

Two hands reached through and tossed a light purple fabric into the room. Then the square slammed back over and locked again. Climbing down from my tower, I got low to the floor, cautiously approached the fabric. Picking it Up, I discovered it was a huge shirt. Big enough to fit me like a dress. I don't care at this point. All that mattered was the fact that I wasn't naked anymore. I pulled it on and it reached my knees. Happy, I got back up on top of my tower and started working again.

My arms were burning by the time the last screw fell to the floor. But just as I was about to try and push up on the grate, I heard more footsteps coming toward my door. Thinking nothing of it, I continued pushing and managed to pop the grate off.

My door opened and I panicked, pulling myself up while crying and shuddering from desperation. But I'd managed pull myself up to my chest into the duct, then I recognized Blue tie man speak up - "think you're smart do you?" Then he grabbed the backs of my knees, digging his fingers in and wrenching my lower body downward. Causing me to lose what little grip I had and send me crashing to the floor. He pulled out a gun, cocked it and held it to me. "Don't move." I had to stay there.

Blue Tie Man inspected the damage i'd done to the ceiling. He left once he made his conclusions and came back with a welding torch. Turning it on, he picked up the grate and welded the perimeter to the ceiling. Black tie man yanked the chain. "Come on. Someone has to speak with you." He raised his arm up as high as he so I had to get to my feet. He gave blue tie man the chain, he led me out and black tie man walked behind us with the gun pointed to my back.

We traveled down the hallway in the opposite direction of the room I first woke up in, until we came to another door. This one was smaller than my room door, and it was white. It opened and I was led inside. Then I was sat down in a chair and the chain from my collar was locked to it.

They left again. Time to survey this room to.

This new room was very bright. The walls matched the white of the door. There was a giant black camera directly above my table with the lens pointed directly at me.

*obviously..* There was also a window in this room. Stretching up as best as I could, I peered through it. It over looked a giant auditorium type room. With easily a few hundred kotatsu seats and a large stage in the middle. It kind of reminded me of the university classrooms i'd heard my mother talk about before.

The door opened and a different woman entered. She was short, and had shoulder length brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She put a computer and a notebook with a pen on the table and sat down.

"Hello. I'm Hanaya. I just need to ask you some questions." I made a snarky nod and said, "go ahead. It doesn't mean you'll get any answers." Hanaya folded her hands on the table. "Well actually I will because here's the thing - that chair you're sitting in is wired with electricity. The metal of your chain will conduct the electricity and when i push the button on the table itll shock you if I suspect you're lying or if you're being difficult. Each shock will get stronger until you either crack and tell me what I need to know or you pass out from the pain. If it's the latter we'll just bring you back here when you're awake. You can choose. Understand?" I didnt respond. Apparently, Hanaya took that as a yes and began her questions : "what's your full name?" I spat at her, pining my ears back and baring my teeth. Growling at her, "Bite me whore."

She shook her head and pressed the button. A jolt of electricity shot down my back and i tensed before dropping back, panting. "Okay.. let's try again. What your full name?" Through gritted teeth I responded "Yuneno Naebara." Hanaya smiled, "thank you." She continued to ask me basic questions like how old I am, how tall I am, where i went to school and where I'm from. But after a while, there came a question I didn't like at all : "what was your father's name?"

"I don't know.. I never met him." She writes in her notebook. "Well then what's your mothers name?" I became concerned. "Why?"

"I just need to talk to her. What's her name?" I laughed loudly, "you really think I'll tell you?? Those other two told me we'd go 'talk' to my mother and look at me now!" To further prove my point I pulled the chain and showed her the steel cuffs on my wrists. "You're not knowing anything." Hanaya sighed and pressed the button again, the current was stronger this time. I screamed and arched so hard I fell from the chair, nearly choking on the collar suddenly being pulled tight around my neck but I couldn't move, I was frozen in place and shaking.

Hanaya asked again, "what's her name?" I managed to kick her leg in defiance and she pressed the button harder, which made the current even stronger. My mouth fell open and my cries turned into a shivering squeal, I was hardly breathing from the pain. When I began seeing more multicolored speckles on the edges of my vision than the objects in the room, I caved. "Her names Nami!! It's Nami!! Please stop!!" I cried out desperately. Hanaya took her hand off the button and I was left convulsing and grunting on the floor.

Once my body had reduced the convulsions to small twitches, Hanaya unlocked the chain from the chair, picked me up bridal style, and carried me back to my room. Once we arrived, she put me down on the mattress and knelt down beside me.

"Here's what's going to happen now. I'll let Takao know you've had a hard time. He'll be in in an hour or so. Then he'll take you to the showers, where you'll clean yourself as best as you can. Then you'll be taken to the auditorium that the office overlooked. Okay?"

I turned away from her and curled into the pillow. My entire body stung and tingled. I felt worn out and just wanted to sleep.

Hanaya placed her had on my shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry I had to do that to you." I thought I could hear guilt in her voice as she left.

#yaoisoft #storytelling #love story #yaoi

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autisticblueteam · 7 years

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fluff week: wash and lina cuddling on chorus with a side of reminiscing about doing the same with their partner(s) in pfl?

@stormphrax thank you this is ideal.

Few notes: This fic marks the first time I use my Wash and Lina’s civilian names. Yes, my Wash has a different name to canon, for various reasons.

Two, the other ships mentioned briefly here are: Maine/Wash and York/Carolina, they’re not the focus of the fic and honestly if you really wanted you could see either as platonic for the way they’re discussed. Similarly, Wash and Carolina are platonically cuddling here, but it can be taken however with the right eyes!

Nothing Weird About It

[AO3] [Fic Tag]

Word Count: 1257

Summary: Wash and Carolina have a little time to themselves between commitments on Chorus.

“This isn’t weird if you don’t make it weird, Wash.”

“Who said I’m making it weird?”

“Oh, just the ten layers of overthinking I can see on yourface right now.”

Carolina laughed when the pillow was snatched from under herhead, just so he could dump it on her face instead. She grabbed it and swung itout at him, laughing louder at the shocked squawk he made as it somehow nearlyknocked him off balance−though to be fair, he was standing on one leg whilst he undid his boots.

“Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it. I thought you’dlearned that lesson?” She teased, rolling over onto her side so she could lookat him without craning her neck.

“I’m notoriously stubborn, I thought you’d learned thatlesson?” Wash retorted, as he set his boots down neatly at the foot of the bed.Leaning on the edge of the mattress with one knee, he nudged her. “Come on,budge over.”

She shuffled backwards, until her back was only a couple ofinches from the wall. Wash sat himself on the bed, fidgeting and fussing for awhile until Carolina rolled her eyes and tugged at his shirt.

“Wash.”

“I’m getting comfortable!”

“You’re not even laid down yet!”

Wash huffed; Carolina laughed. Finally he flopped back,wriggled a little and then rolled over onto his side so that they were face toface. A brief moment of eye contact−one of the best signs of trust either ofthem could give−and both of their faces split with grins. Wash was the one tostart the playful nudges, kicking her lightly in the shin and getting a knee inthe thigh in return. Over and over they kicked, kneed, nudged at each otherwithout a word but with faint laughter under their breaths, until Washescalated the play-fighting with a joking punch in the arm and Carolina shookher head.

“Oh− just come here.”

The mock salute almost made her push him off the bed. “Yes,boss.”

With an arm thrown over his side, Carolina tugged himcloser. Wash didn’t resist, he draped an arm of his own across her hip andshuffled over. Their legs tangled clumsily together, their arms wrappedproperly around each other’s backs. Closer together like that, their chestsnearly touching and their faces half a foot away from each other, it shouldhave felt more awkward−but instead,they both relaxed.

The physical contact was… nice.

Carolina nudged his leg. “See, nothing weird about it.”

“I never said itwas going to be weird! I used tocuddle up with Connie all the time, and she was one of my best friends too!”Wash said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. “It’s just− new. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Lina, but it’s kinda been awhile since I had time to just cuddle people. Shocking, I know.”

“Hey, watch the sarcasm.” But she was smiling, amused. “It’shardly been any different for me.”

“Yeah, I know.” He ran the material of her shirt back andforth between his fingers, enjoyed the texture of it against his skin. He couldalready feel her doing similar, fidgeting with the tag in the back of hisshirt. “Guess it’s been a while for both of us.”

“Yeah. Guess it has.” There was a moment of comfortablesilence, before Carolina reached up and ruffled Wash’s hair. His facedscrunched. “Sorry I can’t quite squish you like Maine used to.”

“I don’t think anyonecould squish me like Maine used to. Except maybe Caboose? And that’s only a maybe.Still a big size difference,” Wash said, shrugging a little. “Maine was− well,Maine, y’know? Never known anyone else quite like them. Never become so closeto anyone else so quickly.” There wasa note of sadness in his voice, and for a moment Carolina worried that she’doverstepped by bringing Maine up at all, but then he laughed softly. “D’youknow I could practically curl my whole body up on just their chest?”

“Seriously?” Carolina said, raising a brow.

“Seriously.”

“I didn’t think you were that small.”

“I’m not! Now Connie, shewas small enough to pull that off even easier than I did,” Wash said with achuckle, absent-mindedly reaching to tuck a strand of Carolina’s hair behindher ear. She’d long since settled her hand in his hair, fingers laced into theroots and rubbing lazily at his scalp. It was familiar, comfortable, even ifCarolina herself had never been the one doing it before. “And hey, not like Ican give you massages the way York used to. We’re about even here.”

“Actually, Idistinctly remember you giving rather good pressure massages when York wasn’t available,”Carolina said. At the same time, she ran her fingers through his hair andresettled her hand so that she could rub at a particular spot that made him allbut melt, that distinctive purring sound she’d heard Maine and Connie draw fromhim slipping out. She grinned at that. “But… I guess the old lock pick did havea certain gift with his hands.”

“Exactly!”

Another long beat of comfortable silence fell over them, andfor a while they just lay there and enjoyed each other’s presence. EventuallyWash’s eyes slid shut; he was purring quietly, Carolina’s fingers still lacedinto his hair and the pleasant warmth of their contact equally as calming. Asmile settled on Carolina’s face; whilst her eyes didn’t close, she was contentthere. Warm, companionable−it was nice. More than nice, really, but she’d neverbeen any good at putting words to things.

“I miss them, Charlotte,” Wash said, after the silence hadlasted so long that they had no idea how much time had passed. He opened hiseyes, and there was another fleeting moment of eye contact before Carolinasighed softly and pulled him closer. Let his head rest forward against hershoulder, let hers rest against the top of his.

Her words were muffled in his hair, “I know, Seo-Jun. I− Imiss them too.”

Wash slipped his free arm under her, wrapped both around herso that he was truly hugging her and exhaled. With his arms around her, herhand laced into his hair and arm looped around his waist, their legsentangled−they couldn’t be much closer. And for once there was no awkwardness,no slight hesitance behind their shows of affection; for once they allowedthemselves a moment of vulnerability.

If they couldn’t trust each other now, then who could theyever trust? Vulnerability didn’t feel like vulnerability around someone youknew wouldn’t exploit it.

“At least we’re not alone?” Wash offered. “Last twostanding. Sticking together. Well, trying to.”

Carolina smiled, “We got there, eventually. Turns outfriendship takes work, who’d have known, huh?” It was less sarcastic, moreamused and self-deprecating. With anyone else Wash wouldn’t have picked it up,but it was always easier to understand someone who dealt with the same. Theytended to make it clearer.

“Yeah, who’d have known.”

“When is your next meeting with Kimball?”

“Our next meeting,”Wash said. Sighing, he nestled closer, rather than pulling away to grab hisdata-pad. “1300 hours. What time is it now?”

“1100.” She smoothed his hair down, chuckled at the way thewaves popped back up when she let go. She ran her fingers over them instead. “Wehave time.”

“Good. Because I’m not moving.” A beat. “Unless you want meto.”

“Don’t worry Wash, I’m not going anywhere either.”

#rvb fluff week #agent carolina #agent washington #rvb #red vs blue #rvb fic #my fanfiction #prompt fics #collection: rvb fluff week 4 #autistic fics by me

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shipping-goggles · 7 years

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“Some Sort of Neighborly” (7/11) | Once Upon a Time

Title: Some Sort of Neighborly - (7/11) Fandom: Once Upon a Time Rating: M Genre: Romance/Humor Words: 3,232/26,824 Completed: 01/30/2017 Summary: Modern!AU Captain Swan. They're not neighbors, not exactly, and they're not friends either. It's pretty hard to find reasons to bump into the woman who lives next door to your best friend, especially after your only interaction with her has been waking up on her couch one Saturday morning. Sequel to Rude Awakening.

We’re nearing the final stretch now! ;)

On AO3 here | On FF.net here | On Tumblr under "Read More"

Some Sort of Neighborly

Chapter 7

There’s a tupperware of cupcakes tucked into the back corner of Robin’s kitchen counter – one Killian’s sure as hell he didn’t bake himself.

“What are these?”

Robin twists from the fridge to glance over his shoulder, his gaze following the path of Killian’s soapy fingers. He’s not a conspiracy theorist, but he is familiar enough with the Locksley household to know that most of the sweets are kept well out of sight of a certain three-and-a-half-foot-tall preschooler. He’s also observant enough to know that Regina Mills deals solely in apple pastries, as, apparently, everything else she makes tastes like poison, and while he once wouldn’t have put it past her for that to have been an intentional move, something tells him she’s not quite as interested in murdering Robin today.

(That, he’s decided, is the full extent to which he’s interested in knowing about whatever the hell their relationship is now.)

“Cupcakes,” Robin says simply, turning back to continue rearranging the remnants of their meal. Roland’s voice carries with the sound from the television, an off-key nonsensical tune Killian swears he’s memorized by this point. “I forgot: Emma dropped them off. Said they were for you.”

“What?” He almost loses his grasp on the slippery plate in his hand, and he can tell without even seeing his face that Robin’s hiding a smirk. “When?” he demands. “Like hell you forgot.”

“Like hell you’re staying away from my next-door neighbor,” Robin shoots back. By the time he finally meets his gaze, Killian’s pretty sure he’s dripped soapy water all over the floor in front of the sink. “She said to tell you thanks,” he continues, crossing his arms across his chest. “What in blazes did you do to that poor woman?”

The slick surface of his friend’s dinnerware vanishes in favor of warm, soft fingers curled around his. That, however, is distinctly not the reason he feels his face prickle with heat.

“I’m sure you know as well as I do,” he snorts, shaking his head, “I haven’t got a chance of making Emma Swan say anything.”

“So why am I suddenly playing deliveryman to your cupcakes?”

“When did she drop them off?” Killian asks instead. He splashes the plate under the faucet, then props it up next to the others in the drying rack. A quick glance back at the tupperware tells him that she’d stuffed far too many inside (five, he counts, and then stifles his internal grin – one for him, each of the Locksleys, and Regina probably, the full breadth of people in his life she knows, but that still leaves one extra), that the thick white frosting has also been squished and mangled by the lid. The cupcake on the end bears the colorful mark of rainbow sprinkles.

“She came by earlier today,” Robin replies, and he hears the fridge door close behind him. “She also asked about the bar you play at.”

This time, he can’t help the laugh that bursts from his lips. “Did you tell her?”

“Why haven’t you?” A pause. “You love playing for people.” Killian has the feeling that observation was meant to be spoken in the past tense, with a name substituted instead of carefully generalized treading.

But he only continues rinsing the rest of the sink’s contents, as quickly as he feasibly can. “So you did?”

“Bloody hell,” Robin sighs. “I’m going to have to move when you properly muck this up, aren’t I?”

It’s an attempt at deflection – not from a proper answer, Killian knows, but from the weight of what had come close to mentioning. After all, the last time Milah had been discussed in this apartment, a generous supply of alcohol had been involved, along with a lot of cursing and mutual misery, courtesy of Regina Mills and her unfounded jealousy and horrible temperament. But something in his words has him irked for a different reason.

Dumping the sudsy contents of the last glass, Killian sets it carefully to dry, then turns around, wiping his wet hands on his jeans. “There’s nothing to muck up,” he says, with deliberate emphasis. “I’m not going anywhere.”

A tiny rivet forms between Robin’s dark brows. Roland’s giggle bursts to life from somewhere behind the couch, and it seems to take a moment longer than usual for understanding to trickle through the space of the kitchen between them. “You really care for her, don’t you?”

Killian snorts, pressing his lips together. If only to hide his expression (regardless of whether, according to David, the answer would be obvious either way), he swivels around to grab the tupperware in one smooth motion. “I’m going to go thank her for these,” he says. The rich scent of chocolate wafts upward when he cracks the lid open and excavates two of the cupcakes from their prison (though he leaves the one with the sprinkles) – they certainly smell homemade.

He hears Robin’s sigh, and then the call after him, heavy on the sarcasm: “Should I wait up for you?”

Killian doesn’t even bother to look over his shoulder. “I’m leaving my jacket here, you wanker.”

Admittedly, the hallway outside is draftier than he’d expected, so maybe he should have chosen a different kind of assurance: the chill cuts right through his thin t-shirt as he makes the short trek down to 3B. He tells himself that’s the reason he’s so thankful for how quickly she answers the door after he knocks.

But he learns even faster that he doesn’t have grounds in the slightest to complain about his lack of proper clothing.

“Hey,” Emma says, her mouth tilting in a surprised smile. His eyes flicker downward without his permission, caught by the movement of her rocking back on the heels of her bare feet – bare, bare, up to the tiniest pair of pajama shorts, nearly engulfed by the size of the red sweatshirt she’s pulling down her arms.

“Hey.” He has to swallow after that single choked word, but, luckily, she spares him the embarrassment, her gaze zeroing in on the cupcakes balanced in his hand with amused precision.

“I swear, if those taste weird, I didn’t lace them with anything.”

He bites back a grin and struggles to remember the reason he’s here. The desire to make a fool of himself instead is astounding. “You didn’t have to do this, love.”

“You didn’t have to do what you did, either,” she replies with a shrug. “So I guess we’re even.”

Again, the heat of her hand in his flares a phantom of a tingle through the nerves of his fingers – a quiet murmur in the arch of this very doorway. Killian, thank you.

He should be so lucky to hear her speak his name like that again.

“Not every appreciable action needs to be tangibly repaid,” he tells her at last. But her lovely green eyes only narrow.

“Were you late that day, by the way?”

It takes him a moment to realize her meaning. “To my performance?” he chuckles. “No, I wasn’t late. Though, on a related note, I did hear you’ve been asking certain people some very interesting questions regarding my professional life.

The blush spreads like a stain across her pale skin. “Stupid rumors through the grapevine, huh?”

“Something like that.” She only fixes him with a perfectly innocent look until he gives up and asks, “Well, did he tell you?”

“I don’t know,” she replies lightly. Her tight-lipped smile doesn’t even try to hide its serene secrecy, which only confirms his suspicions. “Why don’t you try asking Robin?”

“I can’t believe my closest friend and his neighbor are conspiring against me,” he mutters.

She laughs. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here, you know. But if you’re going to keep stalling, you should just—” She takes a step back from the doorway, giving him room to step inside. “It’s freezing.”

“Poor choice of attire will do that to you,” he says, though he doesn’t mean that descriptor in the slightest.

The warmth of her apartment is a welcome reprieve, even if he only shuffles to the spot in her foyer he’d occupied last time, his back against the wall across from where she’d sat. He feels the hard press of the ring beneath his shirt, its smooth edges between his fingers – but also the curve of the duckling mug, the taste of whipped cream sweet on his tongue. He’d used tap water and the chalky packaged mix he’s never really cared for, but he swears it was the best hot chocolate he’s ever had.

“What are you watching?” he asks, peering at her television. Rather than DVRed children’s cartoons, she seems to have some brightly-colored cooking show blaring quietly on the far screen.

“Uh. Food Network.” After she shuts the door behind them, she stands at his side, her hands shifting to her hips as if in defiance. “How else was I supposed to have learned how to bake?”

Seventeen years. That’s how long I was in the system. “Had I known you’d acquired your cooking skills from television, I’d never have allowed you to help with the cookies for Roland’s bake sale.”

“Liar.” When he turns to her, though, there’s a glimmer of humor in her eye. “We both know those cookies sold out. And besides, it doesn’t even look like you’ve even tried those cupcakes.”

“Not yet,” he admits. He shifts one to his free hand and holds it out to her skeptical gaze.

“I already told you I didn’t lace them.”

“You made one extra.”

“No, I didn’t,” she tells him, with a touch too much defense.

“Then I suppose Robin will have to miss out.” He brandishes the cupcake more firmly in her direction, unable to contain his amusement at her stern expression, until she just rolls her eyes.

“Why,” she begins, her fingertips brushing his as she finally takes it, “does it seems like I’m always dealing with baked goods when it comes to you?”

“Sweets for the sweet?” he suggests, and relishes the sound of fond exasperation that escapes her mouth – a half-chuckle, half-sigh. “If you’d like to move away from baked goods, though, I would not be unopposed to dinner instead.”

Her lips press together in a thin pink line, twitching as though she’s trying very hard not to laugh. Finally, she says, “Why don’t we start with these cupcakes and take it from there?”

Emma leans back into the cushions behind her, narrowing her eyes. Her hair is a mess, she’s not wearing actual pants (again), and her fingers are sticky with frosting, but, at the moment, the only thing she cares about is her admittedly impressed disbelief.

“No.”

“You asked.”

“You’re lying,” she insists, but he only shrugs and picks away at another chunk of his cupcake, amusement flitting through his gaze like the sun on water. “You do not know how to make fucking bombe Alaska.”

“The only tricky part is setting it on fire,” he hedges, as if that’d help.

“That’s the only hard part about it.”

“Then I suppose I’m just about as proficient at making bombe Alaska as you are, love.”

She shakes her head. “What, did you learn how to make it in France, too?” It’s a sarcastic jibe, but his silence in response, the way his lips twist into a crooked smile, is more than telling. “What the hell?” she demands. “Who are you?”

“I used to travel a lot,” he admits, sheepishness tinging the tips of his ears in a way that doesn’t need a critical eye to spot. This information she files away into the back of her mind, where she keeps everything else she knows about Killian Jones – and, it seems, that might not be very much at all. At the very least, she supposes, given that reaction, she can place it right beside his unwillingness to allow her to hear him perform.

(She doesn’t want to use too much scrutiny at all right now, to be honest, because if she did, she knows that several things happening here would be highly suspect. The fact that she’d gone ahead and plopped herself down right beside him on the same couch, despite her lack of clothing and much-needed plans for a quiet night alone, doesn’t even rank – and that’s the worst part about it.)

He looks comfortable as ever in her living room, planted squarely where his ass had also been the night he’d spent, unaware, in her apartment. She tries to salvage the fraying ends of her concentration. “I guess it’s easier when everything on that side of the pond is so close together,” she says finally, deciding to throw him a bone.

“Er.” Despite his cupcake-covered hands, he makes to reach behind his ear before he catches himself. “I actually didn’t start until after I arrived here.” And then, in response to her off-guard frown, in a voice that sounds just the slightest over-detached: “Milah loved to travel.”

Milah. She thinks of the ring he’d held between his fingers like a prayer, the way his eyes had clouded over with the memory of his admissions as he sat across from her on the floor. Even now, the smile on his face dims, and while she wants to say that’s the reason something in her chest twinges at the name she can finally put to his heart, assuming she’s reading him properly – even she can’t manage to make that lie sound real.

So, instead, she says, “Tell me about her.”

His blue eyes capture hers in a slow blink. “About Milah?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“You must have loved her a lot.” It’s a stupid answer, an obvious one that doesn’t really explain anything at all, but she locks her jaw and holds her ground, unwilling to acknowledge the word that should have come at the beginning: because.

He counters with a strange look, and he seems to bite his tongue as he considers her.

I want to know you.

Finally, when he speaks, his words are slow with deliberate attention, spoken after a silence that feels like one long, apprehensive sigh.

“Milah was a free spirit,” he says. “She was bold. Adventurous. Like a gale that never stopped to take a breath.” He pauses, watching her with a serious look, distant but careful. “I think you would have gotten along quite well with her.”

She wants to ask. What happened?

“She sounds a lot like you.”

He cocks his head, the corners of his mouth tilting, and she wishes it would brighten the rest of his expression, too. “You think so?”

“I don’t know about that last part, about getting along,” she says with her best attempt at a coy shrug, “but I can’t think of many people who regularly go climbing up fire escapes and breaking into their friends’ apartments.”

“Those next-door to their friends,” he corrects her.

“And what do you call getting me to pick Robin’s lock for you?”

“A neighborly favor, of sorts.”

She only rolls her eyes, taking another bite of her cupcake. Even without Mary Margaret’s help, they’d turned out halfway decent, she’d been surprised to discover – just as she’s surprised at the way the tension in his shoulders seems to melt away now, as he licks his lips around the smile he finally returns without, apparently, even realizing it. Her bare feet are freezing, but the sight of it alone affords her more than enough warmth.

That’s why she probably shouldn’t be surprised at all by the words he speaks when he continues.

“For everything that Milah was, however,” he says, slowly, “there was something she was decidedly not.”

It feels like a trap. She almost expects his eyes to twinkle, like he’s ready to heft her an ambush of a smirk and turn it into some stupid flirty joke now that he’s got her attention – and, maybe, something in her wants him to. But she still hesitates when she asks, “And what was that?”

The way he’s looking at her – it’s like she’s something precious, not fragile but breakable all the same, which makes it all the more ridiculous that she feels her pulse skip in the way that she’s known in getting ready for a fight. At last, he says, “She wasn’t someone who made me want to be better.”

She wants to drop her eyes to her lap again. She wants to deflect. She doesn’t want to think about that hard drive and lock pick set in her closet, and how, for the first time since she’d buried them there, shaking with anger and something that had no place in her heart after she’d turned eighteen, she’d actually considered digging them out and throwing them into the trash where they belonged, after she’d finished washing both the duckling and pirate mugs from that afternoon.

Forward instead of backward. Neal never would have said something like that. He’d have clung to his demons until the day he died, and, being with him, she knows she’d have drowned in the commiseration, have continued doing the same – had he not tired of her and left before she could realize what had happened. Sentimentality might be an addiction, but she refuses to let it bind her in place.

She’s better off for it, too.

“You have… uh.” There’s a wisp of frosting smudged at the corner of his mouth, one that she probably shouldn’t be pointing out instead of mustering up a response, and yet – maybe there are some steps forward that feel more like strides, her chest wrung tight, her blood skittering thick with an understanding she’s not in a state of mind to fully process.

She gestures, but his sticky fingers only make the smudge worse. His tongue darts out in the wrong place, and she spends longer than she probably should watching where it’d disappeared.

“Did you think I was going to say you?” She stares at him, at the way his lips curl with soft amusement even as he rubs the back of his hand against his lips. “When said there was something Milah wasn’t. You suspected I’d have said you, didn’t you?”

“Shut up,” she says flatly, and she reaches forward to wipe the frosting off of his mouth with the pad of her thumb.

He tenses at her touch, smile freezing in place, but his lips are smooth, yielding. She can feel the breath he sucks in as she moves, and she wants to linger there, feel the warmth of it as it leaves him – but, before she can, she pulls back, and it’s over. Stray frosting secured. Arrogant idiot successfully quieted.

She looks up to meet his gaze now, and she swears his eyes have flickered into a darker, burnished blue, like plunging headfirst into a fathomless pool without breathing.

He’s still far too close.

Curling her fingers, tucking the ghost of his skin into her palm, she leans back into the couch again, and the air rushes back into her lungs the moment her shoulders hit cushion and he finally blinks with long, dark lashes. There’s something dazed in his expression, as though he’s having trouble looking at her directly.

She knows the feeling.

“Are you always this messy an eater?” she asks with a frown.

“Only when I can request assistance,” he says cheekily, but she finds she can’t blame him in the slightest.

Not one bit.

#cs ff #cs mc ff #captain swan #once upon a time #emma swan #killian jones #captain hook #writing #some sort of neighborly

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